Author's Note: Hey everyone thanks for taking the time to read this side fic or my second fanfic; not really sure. This has been in my mind for a while and I finally got around to write it. I'd really like to know what you guys think about it and if you want to see more of it, but don't worry if you're following my first fic. I'm still going to be working on Emotion Potion and an Ice Mage or EP and AIM for short, so it'll be something I'll work on the side. This is a re-upload due to some strange text popping in and I had to look into it, by the way this may contain spoilers to certain events if you haven't been following the manga lately but not too many. I guess that wraps up what I had to say so review and enjoy The One Who Isn't there!

Prologue

It was an orange sky above her, the sun was setting and a cool breeze swept past her as she let her tears fall into the river's water beneath her. Her one good eye kept dropping tears as the pain in her heart wouldn't cease to leave her alone, constantly filling her young life with grief. Her heart yearned for those she had abandoned back at the Tower of Heaven and wanted nothing more than to be spared this pain and save them.

The sound of rushing footsteps reached her ears as someone came running down the hillside behind her. She knew who was coming down the hill, but at the same time it was as if she didn't know at all. It was someone that always bothered her, questioning why she was at the guild and what she was doing there if she wasn't getting along with the others.

"Get ready Erza, cuz here I come! I wont lose to you this time!" Came his voice, it sounded so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. She knew the voice, but it didn't register in her mind.

She let her thoughts go and turned to face this person calling her out, if he wanted to lose again than she wouldn't stop him. A stray tear fell down her eye when she looked and the person stopped dead in his tracks, although Erza couldn't tell who it was. His young body was visible, wearing what she believed to be either shorts or really long black boxers, however his face was shadowed out by his hair.

Erza couldn't make out what the boy looked like facial feature wise and didn't understand why, but she replied nonetheless to him. She needed to keep her image up as strong person who wasn't going to let a little taunting get to her, it got her this far in the guild already.

"If you want to get beat up so bad then come at me. What are you scared?" She said to the boy since he hadn't moved an inch and his body seemed to be in a shocked position. She quickly wiped away the stray tears she had and faced him with a sharp glare.

He still stood in an awkward position and she was beginning to lose her patience, but was surprised to hear what he said next.

"W-Why were you crying?" He asked as Erza was still trying to grasp the fact that someone asked her what's wrong.

"I-I get nervous around other people." She replied as the thought of letting down so many more people would break her heart even more than it already is.

"Well you're not alone now, so why are you crying?" He asked her and her heart had stopped in that moment, this boy somehow knew that on the inside she was lonely. He understood her, he actually understood how it felt to be lonely.

He started marching forward until he stood next her by the water's edge and sat down cross legged. Erza knew he said something, but she just let it go and focused back onto the sun set standing next to the mysterious boy. For once in her young life she was truly happy again and a long forgotten smile spread across her face.

Erza woke up with a jolt, this had been the seventh time she had that dream in a month and it didn't compare to the ones over the years. She first had this dream about three years ago around the anniversary of the day she joined Fairy Tail. She couldn't explain it at all and only this time she was able to see almost all of his body except for his face.

Whoever this person was meant more to her than anything else and yet no one in the guild came close to looking like him. He was a complete mystery to her, but she kept it to herself not wanting to worry the guild if she was being plagued by something. She didn't want that for them at all now that after four years they had finally recovered from Fairy Tail's war against the Alvarez Empire.

It may have lasted only for a few weeks, but the revelations that war gave had pushed many of Erza's guild mates to their limit. Everyone was shocked to know the truth behind Fairy Tail and those of some of its members, but they overcame it like the family they are. Although there was a small fragment during that time line that was fuzzy for her, yet she never knew why.

Erza shook away her thoughts and got ready for the day, she needed to stay focused since she was the next guild master in training now that Master Makarov was deciding to step down soon. She tried her best to let those dreams stay what they were and be happy for the arrival of her teammate returning from his honeymoon. She knew Natsu wasn't much for traditional things, but the guild was happy for him after what he's been through because of both Alvarez and Zeref.

With a quick shower and a freshly polished armor on Erza made her way towards the guild, smiling towards any of the citizens of Magnolia that she came across. The city had improved as best as it could as well, one of their major battles nearly demolishing a fourth of the city. She stopped part way in her walk when she passed the bridge from her dream and took time to give it a look.

Erza had this strong connection to this seemingly insignificant place, but it always drew a blank in her mind when she thought why it did. Giving up on what it would mean she continued her walk towards the guild hall ready to start the day and welcome the married couple. Though in the back of her mind, she wanted a sketch done about the boy to see if it would jog her memory.

"Maybe I should ask Reedus to draw him for me?" The red head thought as the large guild building was coming into view.

As she stepped inside she was greeted by many hellos or good mornings with the occasional waving of a person's hand. Life in the guild hadn't changed much over the years, everyone was still the same rowdy bunch they were years ago except for a few changes.

Obviously the increase of new mages was apparent, but those who were the original bulk of the guild had changed. Elfman and Evergreen were one of the first married couples in the guild, Wendy had grown up to look like her Edolas counterpart and was now dating Romeo, Levy had finally started to date Gajeel and are close to their two year anniversary, plus Lucy had published a few successful books. Then there was the newly wed couple of Natsu and Lisanna that are on their way back now.

"Hey Erza, over here" Lucy called as she noticed the requip mage had finally entered the guild, a few scraps of paper around her as she was jotting down her latest idea.

"Good morning Lucy, I see you're being busy today." Erza said as she took a seat with her teammate, who smiled up at her for a brief moment before continuing her writing.

"I sure am, there's this story that's been picking at my brain for a while and I've decided to give it a shot." She replied, finishing up writing on her current page as she leaned back to crack her fingers.

"Care to say what this one's about Lucy?" Erza asked as she picked up one of her discarded papers from off the floor.

"No problem Erza, it took me a while to get it straight, but this is how I see it going," Lucy began and Erza sat attentively. "It involves a man who's lost everything in his younger years, but as he travels the continent to search for new meaning in his life, he comes across this town with an interesting group of people and it slowly changes him the longer he's with them." Lucy said happily, having just got some of her plot finally expressed in her own image.

"Very interesting Lucy, looks like you're making your main character a man this time" Erza said since the blonde had only done female protagonists in the past.

"Yeah well this story was actually buzzing itself in mind for a while now and I decided to go through with it." She said smiling towards her, going through a few scraps of paper looking for something. "I've actually got a character description around here to show you how he'll look like, I was hoping you'd like to hear it and see Reedus draw him out."

"Sure I wouldn't mind, but is it simply his face or entire person?" She asked, since Erza knows that it falls between those two categories of created characters; completed face or completed character.

"Sorry Erza it's just his face, but I can tell you he looks pretty cute in my mind. Hopefully Reedus gets it just right like he always does." She said still looking, before a smile spread on her face as she took out a piece of paper from the pile. "Here it is!"

"Go on Lucy, I want to hear how you describe this cute protagonist." Erza said, readying herself to picture this man from Lucy's upcoming novel.

"Alright let's see... He has pale tone skin that is very reminiscent of snow, a scar at the top of his left brow although you can't see it very well because it's hidden underneath his black spike hair. He hardly shows a lot of emotion, kind of the the type who's cool, calm and collected. His usual face is mainly serious, but what he lacks in his face is better seen in his eyes." Lucy seemed to very intrigued by her character description, like any author would be, but Erza felt a small pounding in her head as she heard more of his appearance.

"His eyes are droopy with dark blue pupils, but they have this strong look of seeing so much in such a short lifetime. Even more is that his eyes can almost read a person like an open book." Lucy was internally gushing at the thought of actually seeing her character in real life, full believing that he would be as hot as she thought he would.

"Well he does sound like he would be a handsome person Lucy, I'm sure Reedus will do this character justice." Erza said as she helped Lucy pick up her things so they could find the picto mage somewhere in the guild.

After placing her pages in the right order and her character sheet at the top, Lucy and Erza made their way around the guild in search of Reedus. It hadn't taken them long for the two to find him and he happily agreed to start the painting. Setting up his easel, the picto mage started his work following closely to the paper Lucy had given him to the letter. The two beauties waited nearby to allow Reedus to work in peace and discussed a bit further into detail about this new book.

Close to a half-hour later, Reedus was almost complete with the final brush stroke although he felt this strange pounding in his head as he kept painting. It felt to be a headache just coming along and he knew it would pass, but after a while it didn't. Oddly enough, he felt like the painting of the young man had something to do with it and he didn't know why. With the last stroke he was finished, yet at a closer look the young man looked very familiar to him.

He signaled the two woman that he was finished, however that feeling of familiarity never went away as if he should know that person. Lucy and Erza had made their way over and the celestial mage was more than happy that Reedus had gotten his look just perfect, yet this eerie feeling of knowing him crept up on her like a cold breeze. Erza on the other hand felt the pounding return, but much stronger than before and it began to hurt her mind.

This person was someone she knew, but who could it be? He doesn't look like anyone she remembers at all, neither from her childhood or from the guild. She felt like the room was spinning and was trying her best to keep herself together, but the continuous pounding was keeping her away from that. It wasn't right, something wasn't right and she knew that whoever that dark haired man is had to do with it.

The room still felt like it was spinning and Erza couldn't balance herself well anymore, which drew even more concern from Lucy and Reedus. They took notice of how she swayed from left to right as if she were drunk, but that wasn't the case since it was too early and Erza hardly drank. Their concern turned to panic when Erza fell to her knees, her eyes watery with a look of pain on her face, but what caused their panic to double was the blood curdling scream she let out.

"You don't always have to wear your armor Erza, you can count on me" A gentle voice rang in her ears as the pounding intensified, one that she's heard somewhere before.

"That voice. I know that voice, but from where?" Erza thought to herself, the pain becoming unbearable until she let out another blood curdling scream that the whole guild heard once again.

The intense pain and pounding from her brain slowly faded away along with her consciousness. she could feel the running footsteps of her guild mates and the worried stricken voice of Lucy, but they sounded muffled to her ears and unclear. Through the mass of legs, she could see the guild doors wide open with the happy couple running straight for her, but what caught her interest was the blue sky above them. For out of that cloud filled blue sky there was a single gray cloud amongst all the white.

Erza focused on that singled out cloud for a while before her world slowly turned black and the voices of Lucy and the now returned Natsu faded into quietness.