Forget Me Not- NaLu

Determination

Chapter 13- Determination and Honor

As they reached the top of the mountain-like hill, they began to see some signs from their most previous visit. Craters here and there, a long jagged line from Kur-um, Lucy's- Sonic Electrical Shock.

The death line was visible now. No more happy meadow. Seeing this place gave Lucy a sad and trump feeling. So much had happened on this very mountain-hill. She knew the others who had accompanied her here had felt the same way.

Wendy, Carla, Gajeel, and Lily marveled at the fight seen. Wendy reached down to touch the scorched, once-perfect grass. The grass crumpled to ash upon her touch. Jagged crack lines could be seen in a bare spot of rock, the place where a certain friend had visited to bring Lucy some favorable news.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Carla asked. The others continued to walk on as the scanned their surroundings.

"Anything," Erza said. "Something that might have given Malus a reason to stay and guard here."

The group nodded as the split up to look for things.

Wendy and Erza left to search west, Gajeel and Natsu took East, Lily, Happy, and Carla took South, and Gray and Lucy took north.

Gray and Lucy walked forward. Gray continued to inspect the ruins of the old church while Lucy had other means of research.

"Open, gate of the cross! Croxus!" She brought down her silver key, turning it as if she were unlocking an invisible door, and a cloud of steam shrouded her visibility. She coughed slightly, fanning her face for some breathing room. When the steam had disappeared, her celestial spirit was floating in front of her.

"Whose that?" Gray asked, coming up from behind her. She turned slightly and he walked next to her, examining the cross-like person with a white mustache.

"One of my spirits, he knows everything." She informed him.

"Oh, Lucy, it's been a while," he croaked softly, eyes half open.

"Could you do me a favor and search up on the City of Lost Voices?" She asked. She got no replies, just the sound of loud snores.

"I don't think he heard you. . ." Gray said hesitantly.

"Oh, he did, he's just conducting a search."

"Um, ok." Gray said unsure. They watched for a while and Gray was becoming less and less sure that he was searching, and leaning toward the possibility of the Croxus sleeping.

Just as he was about to turn and continue searching, Croxus awoke (in a very violent way) scaring Gray to death.

"So, what did you learn?" Lucy asked.

"The church that once stood here was mainly a tourist attraction, but had once been a temple sanctuary for monks and priests hundreds of years ago. The building was conducted for philosophy structures and research on religion. Many say that the information that this church once had was hidden or stolen many hundreds of years ago."

"When did the church burn down?" Lucy asked.

"67 years ago in 3.8742 months."

"Then maybe Malus was guarding the research."

"But why guard it?" Gray asked. "They could have just taken the information away."

"That is if they had discovered it, maybe they were still searching." Lucy said as they both began to brain-storm.

"That may explain the reason for the barrier," Gray said, but he still felt something uneasy. Lucy thought hard; if they were already changing the course of time, then it shouldn't be just for the fun of it. Perhaps they already found the research, what if they were altering time based on their findings?