[GRAYLU] Effet Papillon

2 ~ The Carriage Ride

"WHO ATE MY STRAWBERRY CAKE!!!"

Erza, Gray and Natsu gawked at the scene. A tiny Erza was chasing Natsu and Gray, who was also smaller than they were now.

"What is this?!" Gray exclaimed, but Lucy was quick to assess what was going on.

"We were sent back to the past..." She trailed off and the men gave her incredulous looks. "We what?!"

Lucy sighed, and tried not to fawn over how cute all of them looked. "I don't know! It must have something to do with that bright light from earlier!"

Meanwhile, Erza was admiring the scene in front of her, reminiscence flooding her body. Her past self had punched the two idiots to the ground, her fist clutched tightly.

Lucy sweat-dropped and was amazed at how little her teammates had changed. But, she also recognized the severity of their situation as she attempted to gather their attention.

"Hey! We have no time to waste! Don't you know what happens whenever things like this happens? If we change something in the past, we could seriously affect the future! So let's quickly find a way to get back to the present!" Lucy explained, and Erza caught on to her urgency.

"I see. Natsu and Gray, did you hear-"

She stopped in her tracks as she stared at the empty space that was once occupied by the two men. Her mouth twitched as she projected her anger at Lucy, her face wielding a cold look. The blonde yelped and backed away, feeling Erza's wrath from a mile away.

"Those two are so stupid! We need to find a way to get out quicker now, before they change anything!"

Lucy nodded in agreement and grabbed the book that caused all of this commotion. "Maybe if we read through it, it will tell us how to undo all of this."

Erza grabbed it from her and nodded. "Very well then. I'll stay in this tent to decode this while you go around and search for any clues. Make sure to interact with as little people as possible." Erza commanded, stressing the last part- but already knew that fate wasn't playing in their favor.

"Okay!" Lucy affirmed and was about to walk out before the red-haired girl grabbed her wrist.

"Wait. Put on this disguise, so your identity will be hidden."

The girl stared at the bunny suit and gawked, wondering how Erza reached this conclusion. "I'm only gonna draw more attention to myself in that!" Erza was already equipped into her cat suit and Lucy simply gave a mortified stare at the older woman, who gave her an arched eyebrow.

"Lucy, put the damn thing on before you get a smack instead of an eyebrow raise," Her conscious warned and the celestial spirit mage gulped and laughed nervously, before quickly changing into the 'disguise'. She quickly fled to avoid any other repercussions from the re-equip wizard, her trembling ceasing as she strayed farther from the tent.

It was getting darker, and Gray had lost Natsu when they decided to explore around their old town. He wasn't really worried for he was too busy discovering forgotten memories that were hidden around the seemingly ancient buildings.

He smiled as he saw how much things have changed, especially at the biggest change- which was the new addition to their 'clique'.

Just as he was thinking about her, a carriage had rushed passed him, as a flash of blonde hair flown right past his eyes.

Lucy?

His eyes quickly followed the vehicle, noticing in horror how no one was controlling the horses, the screams of a little girl growing fainter as it got farther and farther away from Gray.

His body quickly acted on impulse as he projected his hands towards the ground and chanted a familiar phrase.

"Ice-Make Floor!"

The road quickly glistened into ice and he gracefully skated across his own creation. He managed to catch up to the carriage, his hands fumbling to reach the reins that constricted the horses to the vehicle. Once he felt his finger graze the thin rope, he immediately froze it and watched it shatter into a million of crystallized pieces.

While this all occurred, the blonde girl inside was carefully watching in amazement as she saw a tuft of raven hair through the corner of the shaded window. The figure appeared at the front as the temperature lowered, her shivering and quick breaths echoing throughout the dark, silent carriage.

She caught a glimpse of his body- there was a dark blue symbol, like a tattoo, that adorned his chest. She recognized it faintly, searching through all her memory to recall what it was.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a female voice yelled out, the figure turned alert and the shadow quickly disappeared from the front, where the girl had been observing him at. She quickly brushed the curtain aside to watch the encounter between her savior and the mysterious girl.

"Gray! Why did you wander off like that?!" The woman scolded and the voice seemed awfully familiar.

"Sorry, Lucy. Natsu and I were exploring."

The little girl's eyes had widened at the sound of the name escaping his lips. She looked over to the lady and gasped. The woman was almost an exact replica of herself, but older! Her hand was on the man's shoulder, with a disapproving look on her face.

"Ah seriously, don't run off like that! You made us worried. Come on, let's go back to Fairy Tail. Erza's waiting."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Let's go." The man said, his voice was deep and masculine, which sent shivers down her spine. His wild raven hair and toned body made the girl stare shamelessly, curiously observing the smiles the two exchanged each other.

The little girl watched from the view in the window, her lips parted in awe. Were the gods sending her a message? Were they showing her the future?

She stared longingly at her dream man and luckily for her, Gray had remembered that someone was in the ruined carriage. He looked back lazily and his eyes met with strikingly familiar brown orbs.

That gave little Lucy enough time to memorize every single feature on his face. She admired his handsomeness and those dark blue eyes which captivated her soul.

Gray turned back to Lucy and scrunched his nose. Maybe he was hallucinating. He brushed it off and continued to walk in a comfortable silence, secretly sneaking glances towards the oblivious blonde wizard.

Little Lucy watched the figures disappear into the fog, his beautiful ice melting as his feet tapped upon the crystallized water. It was so dream-like that she was overwhelmed, her eyes sparkling in the bright moonlight. At that exact moment, she had concluded that this vision was definitely a sign for her future.

That's when she knew that she had found the one.