"Are you ready?" I asked. Storm took a deep breath, we had given him clean clothes and a haircut when we got back to Magnolia. He was starting to look more like himself now that he had normal clothes on. He had picked out black pants, a purple shirt, a leather torso piece, and a green coat. 

"Yeah," Storm determined. He looked so much older despite the fact that it had only been a few months since I last saw him. I squeezed his hand one more time for good luck and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

"You've got this," I affirmed. Storm's face was speckled with blush as I smiled and pushed the guild doors open. "Hey guys look what the snow dropped in!"

The guild turned to look skeptically at the door. When their eyes landed on Storm, they all cheered and welcomed him home. Everyone was smiling and happy to see the second member of the future team safe at home once again. 

"Stooooorrrrrmmm!!!" 

Storm and I took a step back as Juvia came careening down the guild hall. I squeezed his hand one more time before letting go right as Juvia threw herself onto her son. "Oh Storm I've been so worried about you! I've missed you so much! Please don't ever leave your poor mother in this state ever again!" Juvia proclaimed with tears streaming down her cheeks. 

"Sorry, Mom," Storm sighed, scratching the back of his head. 

"So you made it home," Gray smirked, walking up to his son. He took Storm into a slight bro hug. "It's good to see you," 

Storm smiled and began to talk with Gray and Juvia about his travels in the snowy Fiorian Mountain Range. While he was doing that, I walked over to the bar and ordered a drink. Looking out at Storm talking to Gray and Juvia made me realize that I still had three friends who were missing in action. Reiki, Gale, and Kali could be anywhere in Fiore fighting for survival like Storm and I were. The more I thought about my missing comrades, the more worried I got. 

"Hey Nashi," Natsu called out. He gestured for me to join him and his team. I hopped off my seat and quickly walked over to where they had gathered. 

"What's up?" I asked, noticing Erza and her wagon of excessive luggage. 

"Ice Brain and I got requested for a job together, apparently it's from some big shot guy in the Magic Council," He explained.

"Not just some big shot," Lucy specified. "Warrod Sequin, he's one of the Four Emporers of Ishgar,"

"Anyway," Natsu continued. "I guess the whole team is coming to 'keep Gray and I in line' or something. We'll be back in a few days, think you can hold down the fort while we're gone?"

"Totally," I cheered, excited to get some time to myself for once.

"Awesome," Natsu and his team started to head to the door. "See ya in a few days," He waved on his way out. 

"Don't burn the house down while we're gone," Lucy called out.

"No promises," I yelled back. Storm wrapped his arm over my shoulder as we waved goodbye to the team. 

"Get your paws off my little girl!" Natsu barked at Storm who turned bright red and removed his arm. Lucy scolded Natsu, which made me laugh. I waved one more time and the team was gone and out of the guild. 

"It's a good thing he didn't see you kiss me," I whispered mischievously. Storm made a face and nodded. 

"Hey," I nearly jumped out of my skin at the new voice. "Whoops, didn't mean to scare ya," Levy said sweetly in a joking manner. 

"H-Hey Levy, what's up?"

"I'm really glad to see you two are home safe, but... have you heard anything from Gale?" Her big hazel eyes were pleading with mine to give her some form of comfort. "I heard that you can't remember the past three months and that the future team didn't make it home to their time. Please tell me that you know something about where she might be," 

I didn't know what to say. I honestly had no clue where she was, the only reason we found Storm was because of a crazy coincidence. However, now that I knew they were out there, I was determined to find my missing friends.

"Levy, I want to find Gale just as bad as you do, but I don't even know where to start," I explained. 

"Good thing I do," Storm announced, "While I was in the Fiorian Mountains, I heard a rumor about a girl living at the base of the mountains who could take out bandits hiding out in the caves."

"That doesn't mean it's Gale," I countered. 

 "Doesn't this sound like something Gale would do?"  

 "Well yeah, but-"  

"Need I remind you, Gale is an earth bender so wouldn't it be rather easy for her to manipulate the structure of a cave to force bandits out and into a trap," Storm teased cockily. He enjoyed knowing more than me and it ticked me off from time to time.

"Yeah..."

"So don't you think that we should give this a shot, since this is the only lead we've got," Storm leaned closer, making a smug face. I begrudgingly pushed him away and crossed my arms. 

"I'm not saying you're right," I groaned. I heard him stifle a chuckle as he ran his hand across the top of my hair. I slapped his hand away, not wanting his sympathetic pets and cute gestures.

"But there are hundreds of mountains in the Fiorian mountain range," Levy pointed out. "How will we know which one she could be hiding out in?"

We all were dumbfounded, unable to draw a solution for overcoming this problem. 

"I say we just search every mountain until we find her," Gajeel stated plainly as if it were the simplest solution and we were all morons. We all jumped, not even noticing that he was even there at first.

"Where did you even come from?"

"None of your business," Gajeel growled. 

"Regardless, searching every mountain could take weeks, even months," Storm countered. 

"I don't see you coming up with a better idea snowball,"  

"Well," Levy started, she was obviously thinking hard on the most efficient way they could figure out which mountain they needed. "if we can bring up a map of the mountain range and figure out where she's been then maybe we can figure out where she'll be next,"

"That all went in one ear and out the other, but it sounds like you've got a plan," I said.

"Guys, get me a map, because we're gettin' our girl back,"