Found & Forgotten

Chapter 11

"Ugh..." Levy groaned, dragging her feet along the floor.

"Only a bit further!" Erza said encouragingly, sparing barely a glance for Levy as she continued to march down the road.

"I'm sure the Tosho Sekai was only meant to be around 15 minutes away from our hotel..." Levy trailed off, waiting for an affirmation.

"It was," Gray nodded, pulling absently at the sleeve of his white coat, which he had miraculously managed to keep on so far, even if that was only because Erza started yelling at him everytime he showed any signs of starting to strip.

"Then someone tell me," Gajeel growled impatiently, "why we have been walking for almost four hours!"

"We haven't been walking for that long." Erza protested, glaring at all of them.

By this point, though, they were too tired to heed the warning glint in her eyes.

"Just face it, Erza," Levy sighed. "We're lost."

Erza opened her mouth again as if to say something else.

"We've been walking round in circles for the last hour and a half." Gray added.

"Hai, we've passed that ice cream place at least seven times already." Panther Lily observed.

"Can we stop and ask directions?" Levy asked tiredly. "I really can't walk any further."

"No, I told you," Erza said commandingly. "We're heading for that glass dome!" She pointed commandingly to a spot behind her and just off to the right side of her body.

Levy, Gray, Gajeel and Panther Lily looked where she was pointing, rubbed their eyes, looked again, and then exchanged a look to confirm what they'd seen. Or rather, what they hadn't seen.

"Erza," sighed Levy. "There is no dome there."

"Yes there is, look!" Erza turned, jabbing her finger in the air again. "Oh."

There was, indeed, a distinct lack of the huge glass dome that marked the library they'd been searching for.

"Look for it." Erza instructed.

All five of them turned in a circle, Lily even rising a few feet above their heads so as to have a better viewpoint, but none of them could see the glass dome. They all just stood and stared at each other for a while, none of them quite sure what to say or do. If Natsu and Lucy had been there, Gray reflected, they would have been bickering already, and this situation would have been avoided. Apart from the getting lost. On second thought, Gray decided, the getting lost situation also wouldn't have happened, since Lucy was generally very good at organising things like acquiring maps, or by using that compass spirit she had...what was it called? Pyxis? Something like that.

"It seems," Gray spoke, ending the silence at last, "that Buddleia is a lot bigger than we thought it was."

"Can we go somewhere to rest?" Levy asked. "I think I'll fall over if I have to walk any more."

"By some amazing coincidence," remarked Panther Lily, "we have come to a stop right next to the seven-times-passed ice cream place."

"Well, then, lets go there!" Erza decisively marched off, apparently glad to finally be able to take back leadership of the group.

The five of them all headed towards the small ice cream parlour. Lily, refusing to let fatigue get the better of him by flying there, walked resolutely alongside Erza. Levy, who had not got as much stamina as Lily, took a bit longer to persuade herself to start walking again. Unfortunately for her, the street was made of uneven cobblestone. Too focussed on getting some ice cream to properly concentrate on where she was going, Levy caught her toe against a particularly pointed piece of cobble and tripped over. Fortunately for her, Gajeel caught her before she could faceplant on the floor.

"A-arigato." Levy mumbled, blushing.

"When you said you were going to fall over if you had to walk any further, you weren't joking, were you?" Gajeel asked, stooping to pick up the bag she had dropped as she flung her arms wide in a panicked attempt to save herself.

Levy, unsure whether this was a genuine question, a sarcastic comment, or playful teasing, was saved from having to reply by Gajeel.

"What have you got in this thing!?" he was holding her bag up.

"Um..." Levy mumbled. "Just books. And my camera. And some water. And I think a bit of food. And guide books to most of the places I've been on jobs."

"Guide books?" Gajeel repeated, leading her towards the ice cream parlour. "You don't happen to have one of Buddleia, do you?"

"Hai." Levy nodded. "I picked it up from the hotel earlier today."

Gajeel just stared at her for a while. Levy stared uncomprehendingly back. Then she flushed again.

"We could have used that for directions." She stated as they entered the small parlour.

"And you're meant to be the smart one." Gajeel muttered.

Erza had already ordered strawberry ice cream for everyone, so they were able to sit down and start eating immediately. Levy was thankful they were having ice cream, as the temperature of what she was eating cooled her down, effectively erasing the red colour on her cheeks.

"So," Gray started once they had paid for the ice cream. "What now?"

"Levy has a guide book to Buddleia." announced Gajeel.

"Brilliant!" said Erza. "Give it to me!"

"Hai, just I'd like it back, please." Levy said, handing it to the red-head.

"I know," Erza replied, flipping through the book to the map of the city. "Right, I think we're here-"

"No, we're here." Panther Lily pointed out. "See, here's the ice cream shop."

"Hai." Erza moved her finger to point at the spot on the map. "So we need to turn right out of here, take the second left, and basically walk straight down there to reach the Tosho Sekai." She concluded, tracing a path on the map.

The other four exchanged a worried look. How sure could they be that Erza would be taking them the right way? After all, the experience of what had happened last time she led the way was only too fresh in their minds.

"Right, lets go!" Erza handed the closed guidebook back to Levy, who immediately flipped back to the map.

Just in case.

Ohaiyo minna-san!

How are you guys? I'm great, arigato for asking :D

So today in PSD we were doing mini-presentations, and I'd teaming up with my friend who is more of an otaku than I am and, in fact, is the one who introduced me to Fairy Tail! Anyway, our presentation was on Japan, and is was really fun to do and it was hilarious to watch everyones' reactions to J-pop and vocaloids...it was priceless! Especially since we played them Gimme Chocolate by Babymetal (I'll put a link on the side - I hope it works!).

Anyway, back to F&F...how many of you guessed correctly that Erza would get them lost? And how many of you want to find out what happens to Lucy, already?

If that's you, please don't kill me! I'm flipping back and forth between the two groups at the moment because both parts are needed for the plot to advance. More NaLu in the next chapter, I promise! (I did say, I think, that GaLe is my second favourite ship, so there will be a fair amount of them too :3)

Matta ne!

AA