If Only You Knew

Chapter Eight - The Price to Pay

After several hours of thinking, the fairies still had no idea what the crystal's words meant, so they decided to call it a day and get some rest, hoping to have a fresh perspective in the morning. That night, they all had the same exact dream. There was a voice, and it spoke to them, but it wasn't truly speaking. It was more like a presence in their minds, and just by being there, it conveyed its message to them, and all of a sudden they just...knew.

The message was:

To save the girl, you must travel far,
Miles and miles from where you are,
And once there, you must capture a falling star,
But you can't let it burn you, there must be no scar.

Once this is done, if your questions you speak,
The star will give you the answers you seek.
But even when you finish your quest,
Even then you cannot rest.

For the prince of ice has made a deal,
A dark one that he has tried to conceal,
And even though it has caused him great fear,
He has sworn to comply by all he holds dear.

If the boy wants to be free of his solemn vow,
There is a way, and I'll tell you how,
But you must give me my payment now,
There is no exception that I will allow.

All that I ask from each one of you
Is one memory, not three, not two,
Just one memory, in all of its splendor,
And you may choose which one you surrender.

The wizards awoke, thinking it was just a nightmare, until they realized that it wasn't. That they all had heard the same thing. The wizards turned to Gray.

"What the hell did you do that for, ice princess?" yelled Natsu. "Now we all have to give up a memory."

"I did it for the information I told you. If I hadn't, we wouldn't have any leads at all." responded Gray, upset at being discovered. "You don't have to give up a memory. I'll pay the price."

"Are you kidding me?! Like we're gonna let you go sacrifice yourself. No way!" exclaimed Natsu, ever loyal despite his teasing.

Gray was touched by what his friends were doing for him. It made him happy to know how much they cared. He decided to give up the memory of Juvia giving him a dakimakura with a picture of herself imprinted on it. It was a moment he would rather forget. Natsu gave up the memory of the time he stole Erza's strawberry cake and she fought him. It was the biggest and most humiliating loss of his life, and he wanted to forget the pain. Lucy gave up the memory of the time Aquarius had tried to drown her after being summoned while on a date with Scorpio. She figured it would stop the nightmares. And Happy decided that he wanted to forget about the time he tried to kiss Carla, and she backhanded him across the guild hall. He had a mark on his cheek for a month.

There was no slow draining of the memories, and there was no moment when the Wizards realized that the memories were no longer there. The memories were simply...gone. And in their place was an image. The image was of a small clearing, somewhere in the demon world. There was nothing remarkable about it, but just like that, the wizards knew where to go.