A/N: Just pretend that there are days in between the events so this will work.
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Emi quietly slipped into the inn, careful not to make too much noise and draw attention to herself. She silently made her way to Lucy's bedroom and creaked the door open.
"Psst. Lucy, I need to talk to you," Emi whispered.
Lucy slowly opened her eyes and blinked a couple times as she tried to find the source of the noise. She jumped when she saw that Emi had found her way to the side of her bed.
"You have to give a girl a warning before doing that, Emi."
Emi dragged Lucy out of her room and outside into the vacant street. She ignored the cold and held both of Lucy's shoulders before looking her in the eyes.
"I need your help."
"Okay? What for?"
"I have a date tomorrow."
"No way! You totally asked him out! I was starting to doubt my plan when I just threw you out there like that. How did you find him?"
"Well...he kind of found me. But what do I do on a date? I've never been on one before."
"You mean you don't remember ever being on one before. You've definitely been on one."
"That still doesn't help the fact that I don't know what to do!"
Lucy had calmed the woman down before reassuring her that it would go smoothly as long as she didn't panic. Emi nodded stiffly, making Lucy sweatdrop. She's totally going to panic. Lucy guided Emi back into the inn and dropped her off at her and Laxus's bedroom before leaving to go back to her own.
"Psst. Are you awake?"
There was silence before a quiet voice answered.
"Psst. Are you finally back?"
Emi laughed at the lightning mage before quickly changing into her sleep clothes and crawling into bed. She fell asleep rather quickly once she was engulfed by Laxus's arms.
"Why do we travel around so much? I'm tired of staying in all these different inns!" Emi whined.
Cain turned around as he continued walking. He stopped her and dragged her into a nearby alleyway. He took off the hood on his cloak before looking at her sternly.
"Listen kid. It's going to be bad news if someone spots me. We have to keep changing positions before they find me. You'll be in danger if we stay in one place for too long."
"I still don't get how I would be in danger if they're after you."
"Just trust me, kid."
"Can we at least stop at a food stand and get some ice cream? I'm starving."
"You're fifteen. You can go yourself. I'm going to check us into the inn."
"Wow, you must really be sick of me. You never let me go anywhere alone," Emi sarcastically answered.
Emi held onto Laxus a little tighter in her sleep as she felt the pain in her temples. She squirmed a little.
"Emi! Let's go. We're going to be late!"
Emi reluctantly opened her eyes, saying that there was no way she could get out of bed that day. Kira stood in front of Emi's bed with both hands on her hips. She quickly yanked the blankets off her bed, causing Emi to shiver at the sudden lack of warmth.
"Get up, you lazy ass. We have a job to do."
"And why exactly do we have to leave at three in the morning?"
"Because," a new voice spoke up, "the town is eight hours away and we should get there as fast as possible."
Both Emi and Kira jumped at the unexpected voice before Kira stomped over to the window.
"What the hell are you doing coming through the window? How many times do I tell you not to do that!"
"But I remember you saying I can't come in through the window. I'm not inside. I'm just sitting in the window."
"You're a pain in the ass."
"Can you two stop fighting?" Emi asked through her yawns. "It's way too early. Let's just get on the train so I can sleep."
Both Kira and the young man stayed silent for a minute before Kira smirked and pointed to the man in the window.
"Hah! You totally forgot you had to ride the train for eight hours! This is going to be so fun."
The man groaned in response before jumping down back to the streets.
"Well I won't be sick because Emi's going to do that thing to make me feel better."
"Oh no I won't," Emi declared. "I'm sleeping on the train ride. You can suffer."
"Wow Emi," the man started, "that's super harsh."
Emi looked up at the ceiling deep in thought. She wanted to make sense of all these memories, but they kept containing events that happened too far apart. Her recovered memories were scattered all over the place, and she couldn't find any connections. She groaned before freeing herself from the hold of the softly snoring lightning mage and walked over to the window. She looked out at the sky and found the Little Dipper. Her head began to hurt again and she let out a frustrated whine.
"So?"
Emi looked at the young man before her gaze went back to the two girls behind her.
"So what?"
"You coming?"
"We can't just leave without telling them. What if they wake up? They might think someone kidnapped us. What if they--"
The man put a hand over Emi's mouth, successfully silencing her. He turned back to his friends who were sleeping by the fire and pointed behind them.
"You're forgetting that my little buddy will protect them. He'll tell them where we went if they start asking questions."
Emi eyed the man suspiciously before allowing him to take her hand and dragging her into the forest. He motioned for them to climb a rather tall tree, which made Emi sigh. Once they made it up to a thick and sturdy branch, the young man put his arm around Emi's shoulder before pulling her closer into his side. The man pointed up to the sky.
"You see that thing over there? That's the Little Dipper."
Emi looked up at the stars and her eyes started twinkling. The man saw this and looked at her with a warm smile. He then reached into the small bag that he had taken up the tree with him before pulling out a small book.
"I found this at the bookshop when you were looking at that book on celestial wizards. I figured you might like it."
Emi took the book and looked at the cover: Shining Stars: A Quick Guide to Constellations. She started smiling as she opened the book and found the constellation that they were looking at. Her eyes widened as she quickly soaked in the details.
"It says that it's Ursa Minor, and that it's a bear. It's brightest star is Polaris, and there's another constellation called Ursa Major which is right with it. Did you know that it's the 56th biggest constellation? Did you know that--"
The young man laughed before putting a finger to his lips, signing that she should be quieter. Emi stopped her rambling and turned back to the book, quickly flipping through the pages.
"So?"
"This was so worth the climb."
It was morning and Emi was still asleep. She was sweating and shaking, so Laxus wrapped her in his coat and sat beside her until she stopped. The woman eventually calmed down and slowly opened her eyes to look at Laxus before softly smiling.
"So," Laxus slyly started, "I heard you have a date today."
"How did you--"
"Someone as perceptive as I am can tell."
Emi looked at him before muttering, "You overheard Lucy."
"Yeah. Something like that might've happened. So where are you going?"
"I have no clue, but he said that he'd meet me outside the inn."
"Emi!" Lucy called from the hallway. "Come on, we need to get you ready!"
"Get me ready? For what?"
"Probably your date, remember?"
"Why on earth would I need time to get ready? I'm already dressed."
Laxus shrugged his shoulders before drifting into the bathroom to shower.
"Which one do you like better?" Lucy and Mira held up two outfits - a pink skirt with a patterned top and a short black dress with high socks.
"Um, why can't I just wear what I usually wear?"
The two looked at each other before sighing.
"You need to wear something nice on a date," Lucy explained.
"It will help the date go better," Mira added.
"How exactly...nevermind. I think I'll just wear what I have on."
Emi motioned to her usual outfit before walking to the front door of the inn. Lucy asked her what time she thought she'd be back, and Emi told her that she didn't really know.
"I hope I won't be too long. I wanted to go explore the city with Laxus later."
Emi quietly made her way out into the city and sat at a bench in front of the inn to wait. I really hope that I'm not underdressed now. Maybe Lucy and Mira were right. Emi sighed before leaning her back against the wall. Too late now.
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"Dude," Sting addressed the shadow dragon slayer, "what the hell do I wear?"
"Just wear what you usually wear. I don't really understand what the big deal is."
"But Rogue," Lector interjected, "you've never been on a date before. How would you know?"
Rogue looked annoyed at the exceed before turning to Sting again, suggesting, "Well why don't you just wear what you did in the past? I mean you've dated her before. It's not like it's some stranger who you're trying to impress. Just wear what you did back then."
Lector and Sting looked to each other before Lector gave his friend a thumbs up. Sting went back into the room and changed from his sleep clothes to his usual outfit. He gave his goodbyes to his partner and the two exceeds and ran out of the inn and towards Fairy Tail's assigned inn.
Damn I really hope that I'm not underdressed.
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Emi was watching as the people in Crocus passed by. She looked up when she heard her name being called and saw that Sting was jogging towards her. He gave a quick "yo" before actually looking at her. They both seemed to look at what the other was wearing and both sighed in relief when they saw that neither of them dressed any differently.
"Um, so where are we going?"
"You'll see!" And with that, Sting took Emi's hand and began to pull her around the city.
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"Do you really think that we should be spying on them? I mean this is a kind of serious thing."
"Nonsense," Erza started, "we are just making sure she doesn't get into any trouble."
"Besides," Mira added, "I want to see how this plays out! Two lost lovers finally meet again!"
Lucy and Erza looked over to Mira to see that she had hearts in her eyes. They both sighed before dragging Mira to an alleyway where they would be able to follow Sting and Emi without being seen.