Hello, minna! ♥ Nice to see you all again, haha! ^.^  Here is the next chapter, I hope you all like it!  I will try to update again, I promise!  Let's hope I can, haha!  I dedicate this chapter to littlesmile07; thanks for all the feedback you've given me, along with reading my stories! ;w; ♡ It means a lot to me! ^^  Anyways, I hope you all enjoy, and until next time, minna~!

яу-¢нαи, тнє иαℓυ ωяιтєя ☆

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"Can you recite the riddle again, Lucy?"  Erza asked, sitting in a chair across the table.

Everyone was currently sitting in the lobby of the hotel Erza and Wendy had found.  It's name was Forward Arrow, and it was an extremely nice ten story building.  There were four couches surrounding a gold-colored table, and that's where everyone sat.  Natsu was sitting next to Lucy, Gray by Erza, and Wendy with Happy and Carla.

Lucy nodded.  "Sure."

Closing her eyes, Lucy strained her mind to bring up the riddle again.  "Shrouded by many, located in the middle of attention.  Giving mystery and the solved tales, breaking despite the notoriety, find the image of past.  Find the answer, you find the clue.  To your next travel."

" 'Shrouded by many'? "  Erza recited, thinking thoroughly.

"What does 'breaking despite the notoriety' mean?"  Wendy asked, anxious.

Everyone sighed.

"Well,"  Lucy piped up excitedly.  "At least we have a new clue!"

Gray nodded.  "Ah, we do."

"Good work, Lucy."  Erza replied, smiling with amusement.  "I'm proud of you."

Lucy smiled brightly, proud of herself.  She laughed happily, blushing slightly.  Natsu was grinning at her happily, proud of her too.

Erza stood.  "We should get some sleep.  We'll be working all day on trying to solve this riddle."

"Alright!"  Everyone exclaimed, pumped for the next day.

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The next day, when everyone woke, they all went into Lucy's assigned room and sat in a circle, with Lucy placing a notebook onto her lap.  She wrote down the riddle, and then after finishing, placed it into the middle of the circle.

"Alright."  Erza replied, her arms crossed.  "Let's start with the first line and see what we can come up with."

" 'Shrouded by many'... "  Gray muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

"Remember, this could be any building, place, or even a person."  Lucy replied, having a history of solving riddles.

"Does 'shrouded by many' have to do with being surrounded by a bunch of things?"  Wendy asked, clutching Carla in her lap.

Lucy had a hand to her chin.  "It could..."

Natsu groaned.  "I ain't good with stupid riddles!  What's with this, anyway?"

Erza closed her eyes, her face matter-of-fact.  "This line isn't very descriptive.  So many things could mean being surrounded.  Like a person surrounded by people, or a building surrounded by trees."

"We should try the next line."  Gray replied, his arms also crossed.

"The next one is 'located in the middle of attention'..."  Happy mewed, his eyes confused.

Everyone thought for a moment.

" 'Located in the middle of attention'..."  Lucy murmured.  "What if we tried looking in the middle section of the city?"

"That's a large area, isn't it?"  Gray asked, looking at her.

Lucy nodded once.  "Yeah, but this is the best lead we've got."

She pointed to the line on the paper.  "I feel certain this means the middle part of the city."

There was a short silence, but then Erza nodded.  "Alright, then.  We'll go investigate, and see if we can find anything suspsicious."

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The problem with that...  Lucy thought.

Is that we don't know what we're looking for!

Lucy was walking sluggishly through the city street, the time already being the beginning of the evening.  She was walking alone, since everyone had split up on their own to cover more ground.

Why does the middle section of the city have to so big?!  Lucy wondered, sweat-dropping.  Maybe we shouldn't have done this...

Giving up her search, Lucy saw that it was time to re-group with everyone and see if any of them found anything.  Turning around, Lucy started heading back, walking up the large hill where that view was.  When Lucy spotted it, she couldn't help looking at the view for a few minutes.  The museum, the rest of the town, and the distant rolling hills all looked peaceful.

The inn coming into view, Lucy stopped as she saw Natsu and Happy heading near the doors.

"Man, I wouldn't know a clue if it bit me in the ass!"  He whined, his hands behind his head as he walked inside.

Lucy sweat-dropped.  Looks like Natsu and Happy didn't find anything...

Walking slowly in after him, Lucy saw that Gray, Wendy, and Carla were all back as well.

"You two are back?"  Erza asked.

Lucy nodded, as did Natsu.

"Did you find anything?"  Erza asked.

"Of course I didn't!"  Natsu exclaimed lamely, looking up at the ceiling in boredom.  "Nothin' wierd was goin' on!"

"I didn't get anything either."  Lucy murmured, annoyed.

Erza and Gray sighed.

"I take it you didn't get anything either, Erza?"  Lucy asked, hoping Erza was just sighing because she was disappointed they hadn't found the same thing she had.

Erza shook her head.  "Nothing."

Gray had his hands in his pockets.  "Nothin' from me or Wendy, either.  This town's way too peaceful."  

Wendy acknowledged the fact she hadn't found anything either by nodding sadly.

Lucy sighed, putting her head in her hands.  "Great..."

"Well, we knew this wasn't going to be easy."  Erza murmured, her voice deep and calm.

She looked at the others.  "We should get some rest, then.  Eat, sleep, and we'll try again tomorrow.  Maybe we missed something."

Everyone nodded, a little annoyed with the riddle.

"Man, I hate riddles..."  Gray mumbled, rubbing the back of his head as he walked away.

Lucy didn't leave before the others; she was still sitting on the couch in deep thought, her expression worried.

"Luce?"

Lucy looked up in surprise, seeing that Natsu was still there.

He tilted his head to the side.  "You okay?"

Lucy slowly nodded.  "Yeah...fine.  I'm just trying to see if we missed anything, is all..I'm usually really good with riddles."

There was a small silence but then Natsu grinned.

"Oi, Lucy.  I really gotta tell you somethin'."

Lucy looked at him in surprise.  "Eh?"

He smiled widely, his cheeks slightly pink.  "I can't thank you enough for doing this.  It means a lot to me you care enough to do all of this to help me find Igneel."

Lucy stared at him with surprise, but then she smiled, slight blush on her cheeks as well.  "Mm.  Why wouldn't I do it?  This is really important to you, so of course I'd help."

Natsu surprised Lucy by pulling her into a one-armed embrace over her shoulders.

"No, really Luce."  Natsu replied, letting the shocked Lucy go.  "I really gotta repay you someday."

Lucy smiled, the color in her cheeks not fading.  "I'll hold you to that.  Just like if I ever fall, you'll catch me, right?"

"Yeah!"  Natsu exclaimed, and they high-fived.  "Let's do this together!"

"Right!"  Lucy exclaimed, smiling brightly.

Their hands resided in the air slightly longer than it should of, and this was the moment Happy decided to pop in.

"You liiikee each other!"  Happy exclaimed, the words rolling off his tongue.

"Happy!"  They yelled simultaneously.

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Can you solve the riddle?  Give it a shot, come on, I'm curious! ^.^

Stay tuned for Chapter 9: Solved! Lucy's Victory, and the New Clue!