Lucy's POV

I woke up with a pounding headache. Groaning, I sat up and looked around. Juvia was asleep next to me, curled up in a ball on top of the pool table. Levy had her head resting in Gajeel's lap as he snored loudly. Jellal and Erza had their arms around each other looking peaceful and happy. Bacchus was sprawled out across the floor with his mouth wide open, wearing only his boxers and a tutu skirt.

I almost laughed outright when I saw Natsu and Gray snuggled up in the recliner. Natsu's head was on Gray's shoulder and his arms were around the ice-mage's waist. The pinkette's legs were in Gray's lap. Said boy was resting his head on Natsu's and had one arm around his back, the other over his legs.

I did the only thing I could. I grabbed my phone and took at least six pictures. For good measure, I took one of each of the others as well, just to say I did. Quickly e-mailing them to myself just in case, I put my phone away and went upstairs.

I knew this house like the back of my hand. After the amount of sleep overs and parties I had been to here, it was practically my home away from home.

"First things first, painkillers." I entered the kitchen and opened the cupboard. Downing two aspirins and a glass of water, I made my way to my room. Since I spent so much time here, I had my own everything. Even my own cereal. I grabbed a pair of black sweats and a pink tank top; I headed towards the bathroom to take a shower.

As I poured a generous amount of shampoo into my hand, I started humming a tune. Words soon followed.

Puff, the magic dragon,

Lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

In a land called Honah Lee.

Little Jackie Paper

Loved that rascal Puff,

And brought him strings and sealing wax

And other fancy stuff.

Puff, the magic dragon

Lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

In a land called Honah Lee. Oh!

Puff, the magic dragon

Lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

In a land called Honah Lee.

Together they would travel

On a boat with billowed sail.

Jackie kept a lookout perched

On Puff's gigantic tail.

Noble kings and princes

Would bow whenever they came,

Pirate ships would lower their flags

When Puff roared out his name. Oh!

Puff, the magic dragon

Lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

In a land called Honah Lee. Oh!

Puff, the magic dragon

Lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

In a land called Honah Lee.

A dragon lives forever,

But not little girls and boys.

Painted wings and giant rings

Make way for other toys.

One grey night it happened,

Jackie Paper came no more

And Puff that mighty dragon,

He ceased his fearless roar.

His head now bent in sorrow,

Green scales fell like rain,

And Puff no longer went to play

Along that cheery lane.

Without his life-long friend,

He could not be brave,

So Puff that mighty dragon

Sadly slipped into his cave.

Puff, the magic dragon

Lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

In a land called Honah Lee. Oh!

Puff, the magic dragon

Lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

In a land called Honah Lee

I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. After drying myself off and getting dressed, I grabbed a brush and started taming my blonde tangles.

Natsu's POV

I was the first to wake up. Or at least, I thought I was. Looking around, I realized that Lucy was already gone. When I realized my position, I let out a yelp and tumbled to the ground. It startled Gray awake and he gave me an annoyed look.

One by one, he others rose from their slumber.

Soon enough we were all settled in Juvia and Gajeel's rather spacious kitchen. Juvia was cooking eggs and bacon with help from Levy. The two seemed to be getting along very well. Erza was sitting next to Jellal at the kitchen table as they caught up on the past who-knows-how-many-years of their lives. Bacchus had already left saying something about being late for work and Gajeel was watching the news. I sat on a stool by the bar and listened to Lucy singing in the shower with my enhanced hearing.

The singing ended and the water shut off. A few minutes later, everyone's favorite blonde came skipping into the kitchen. "Morning!" She giggled.

"Morning, Ash." Jellal and Gajeel said in synchronization. Why were they still calling her that?
"Lulu! How are you feeling?" Juvia asked.

Lucy's POV

"I feel fantastic! A few painkillers got rid of the hangover pretty quickly." I said.

"You drank a lot last night though…" Jelly said.

"We all did. And I've had worse. Remember last Christmas at that club in Ginderalle?" Ginderalle was a town a few minutes away from Hargeon. It wasn't well known, but before we lost our fake IDs we used to go clubbing there a lot.

"Not much. We went, we danced, and we took some shots." Juvia said.

"Not some shots. We practically cleaned out their stock of tequila. And Jellal standing on a table doing Gangnam style is not what I call dancing. And a lot more than that happened that night. There was this creepy guy at the bar who kept hitting on you so I pretended to be your lesbian lover to get him away. And Jelly jumped onstage and stole the mic from the band and started started singing 'If Your Happy and You Know It'. And then I started flirting with the cute bartender and Gajeel showed up and dragged us all home before we could do something we would regret. That hangover lasted for two days." I told her.

Gajeel started laughing and Juvia and Jellal blushed. Everyone else gaped at us. Jellal spoke up. "You are the only person I know who can drink that much alcohol and still not have any memory loss whatsoever."

I smiled proudly. "By the way, how much do you guys remember about last night?"

Natsu shook his head. "Not much. You asked me to hand your iPod to Gajeel and then it all goes fuzzy."

Jellal nodded. "I don't remember anything. But I did wake up with glitter in my hair…"

I smiled. "Well…let me think. Jellal disappeared about halfway through and came back shirtless and wearing a pink boa while covered in glitter. Juvia and I danced on the pool table mostly. Natsu handed my iPod to Erza and said 'here Gajeel' before getting into a fight with Gray. Gajeel and Bacchus acted gay and sang badly. Levy flirted shamelessly with Metal head. Bacchus danced around in a tutu and boxers. Oh! And my particular favorite…"

I winked at Erza. "Erza and Jelly making out on the couch."

Gray and Gajeel collapsed anime-style, Levy bit her lip trying not to laugh, Natsu looked confused, Juvia almost dropped the egg pan, and Jellal and Erza blushed so hard you it looked like a tomato monster had exploded on their faces. Neither of them looked each other in the eye.

Juvia came to their rescue. "Breakfast is ready."

After we had eaten, Jellal looked at me. "The Halloween Festival is tonight. Open mic. You in?"

I sighed. "I don't know, Jell. I'm not sure I'm up for it."

"What?!" Juvia shouted "But you have to go! It's a tradition! It had always been our thing to go to the fest every year!"

"Juvia's right, Lu. None of us have missed out on the fest since eighth grade. Not even that time that Metalicana grounded Juvia and locked her in her bedroom. Remember?"

I smirked. "How could I forget? You snuck her out the window while I caused a diversion in the kitchen."

Juvia giggled. "You call that a diversion? You barged in and sat on the counter, banging on a pot with two forks while screaming the lyrics to Disney songs at the top of your lungs."

"Hey, it worked."

"What's the Halloween Festival?" Erza asked.

"It's a thing that they do a week before Halloween every year. There are games, booths, food carts, performances, contests, etc. There is even a designated area for dancing." Jellal said.

"But the part everyone looks forward to is the costume contest and the talent show. They say it's just good fun, but it gets intense and the prizes are nothing to joke about." I said. "Last year Cindy Meers got disqualified for pushing Rebecca James off of the stage. Becca had to back out because of a broken leg."

Juvia spoke. "But in all, it's great fun. We always go early and pull pranks and stuff while wearing ninja suits. No one has ever caught us. Then we can enjoy the festival while watching people get paint spilled on them or have ants crawl out of their funnel cake. Harmless stuff, but awesome to watch."

They looked at each other and back at us. "Can we come?"

Before we could say yes, Gajeel called to us and pointed to the TV.

"Ooh!" Juvia said. "Gossip is on!"

We sat down in the living room to watch Cana on the screen.

"Hey guys! I would introduce myself but I don't see the point since everyone here knows my name!" Cana giggled and we all rolled our eyes. "So here is your latest news. Sabertooth is still the second hottest record label in the country. Their top band, Twin Dragons, is supposedly going to be performing in Hargeon at the annual Halloween Festival tonight."

What?! I thought, shocked. Apparently, everyone else was thinking the same thing because they were all staring at the TV screen, wide eyed.

"And the leader of the band, Sting Eucliffe, is officially dating the pianist Yukino Aguria. In my opinion not exactly news worthy, but oh well." She shrugged. "A lot of you have been asking about Natsu Dragneel and his ongoing 'quest', and I am going to tell you now. As far as I know, he has not made any progress in his search for Lucy Heartfilia."

Natsu gave me a mischievous look. "What do you say, Miss Heartfilia? Have I made any progress?"

I sighed and thought for a moment. Was I ready for this?

Face your fears, Lucy. "Yes, Salamander. I believe you have." He gave me a heart stopping grin and hugged me tightly. Levy overheard our little exchange and beamed.

"Group picture!"

She reached over and grabbed Natsu's phone off of the coffee table. Setting the camera on a timer, she ran back and started posing with us. I was sitting in Natsu's lap with his arms around my waist, both of our hands resting in my lap. I was leaning to the left and he was leaning to the right while we smiled at each other. Jellal was to our right, expressionless. Juvia was sitting on the top of the couch above him, pulling his cheeks and trying to get him to smile. Erza stood behind the couch next to her, grinning at the two. Levy jumped on Gajeel's shoulders and had her hands over his eyes as he tried to pry her off. Gray ran over and started tickling Erza, causing her to laugh out loud.

This is what was happening when the picture was taken.

Natsu ran over and grabbed it, texting it to Cana with the comment; No progress, huh?

We all sat back down and stared at the TV screen in anticipation. Cana's phone buzzed and she looked at it, eyes widening. "How come nobody tells me anything?!" She shouted and looked at something that we couldn't see. "Hey Larry, put this up on the big screen would you?" She sent it to him.

Looking back at the camera, Cana took a drink of her beer. "I was mistaken. My dear friend Natsu just texted me. Here is what he sent." The screen behind her suddenly lit up with the picture that we had just taken.

Cana continued. "It looks like Dragneel has completed part of his quest, but has he convinced his childhood friend to come back to Fairy Tail?" The brunette gave the camera a meaningful look while doing something on her phone. Moments later, Natsu's phone beeped. Cana was requesting a video chat with him.

He ran over to Juvia and Gajeel's computer and logged in to his Skype. Accepting her request, he was suddenly on the screen behind her on TV. "Heya, Cana."

"Natsu! Why the hell was I the last to know about this?" She growled.

"You weren't. In fact, you might have been the first to know." Erza said, appearing on the screen.

She stopped glaring. "Oh." A smile appeared on her face. "Well alrighty then. So tell us Natsu, Erza. How exactly did you find Lucy?"

Erza grinned. "Apparently, she had been close friends with my childhood best friend for seven years. We ran into him, he led us to her."

Cana looked surprised. "Well that's…ironic. Can we speak to this childhood friend of yours?"

"We?" Gray asked.

"It looks like you're the only one talking." Levy added.

Cana rolled her eyes. "Just put him on the screen."

Juvia and I shoved Jellal over to them. Once he was on screen, he turned to us. "What the hell, guys?"

"We are girls, Jelly. Not guys." Juvia giggled.

He glared at me. "You sure about that, Juvia? I've known you a while."

Her smile disappeared and she marched over to him. "Why you little-"

"People!" Erza shouted. "We are on TV for goodness sakes."

Both blunettes turned to the computer in shock. I smirked at them.

"So," Cana said. "Who might you two be?"

Levy jumped up. "This is Juvia Lockster, Lucy's current best friend, and Jellal Fernandes, Erza's childhood friend. Say hi guys!"

They both gave a small wave.

Cana smiled at them. "So tell us, do either of you know why Lucy Heartfilia disappeared off of the face of the earth?"

Everyone froze and looked over at me. They all knew. I assumed that Juvia must have told Gajeel at some point, because even he had recognition flashing through his eyes. I shook my head and took a deep breath before zipping over and sitting in Natsu's lap at the computer screen. "Sorry Cans, but that would be classified information."

Her eyes widened. "L-Lucy?"

I smiled at her. "Who else?"

"Lucy! Come through the screen and hug me! Now!" she commanded.

I rolled my eyes. "I think I'll stay here for now."

She pouted and turned back to the audience. "May I present to you, Lucy Heartfilia!" I waved and she continued, shouting over the crowds cheers. "And now, I ask again. Has our dear Lulu agreed to come back to Fairy Tail?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked over at Natsu, who was giving me an unreadable look. "We're working on it, Cana."

"You are?" I asked, surprised.

"We are." He nodded seriously, and I knew that this was one battle that I could not win.

How long has it been since I updated? I apologize for not writing anything sooner. I can only write good chapters when I am feeling inspired. And I only feel inspired once in a while.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

IMPORTANT: This is actually not the way I had originally planned on writing the story. SO I have decided to write another one. One that has the original story line. But I will not be writing it until after Power of a Song is complete, which is not for a long time people.

If you enjoyed this, feel free to read my other stories!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the songs that I use.

-Fairy