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Chapter Forty-Two: Back at Magnolia

"So, Minerva, have you decided to place a bet yet?"

Mira leaned over the bar counter to smile hopefully at Minerva. Minerva took a sip of her drink and answered simply, "no."

Mira frowned. "Why not? Even Rogue is betting."

Minerva shook her head. "It's stupid. You're betting on who Lucy will end up dating. Don't you think she has other things to worry about? The last thing the poor girl needs is for her love life to become a source of entertainment."

Mira leaned away and crossed her arms over her chest. "You know that's not what it is. If anything, we're using Freed's, Rufus', and Midnight's love lives as a source of entertainment."

Minerva scoffed. "It's still stupid. It's none of our business either."

Mira simply shrugged her shoulders. "You can't deny that watching Rufus be in love with Lucy was fun." When Minerva rolled her eyes, but had a slight upward quirk to her lips, Mira continued, "when Freed first realized that he had feelings for Lucy, he was a blushing mess for a long time."

Minerva looked up at her, interest in her eyes. "Really? I wouldn't have imagined."

Mira giggled. "I wouldn't have either. I still remember it very well. Laxus, Evergreen, and Bixlow knew before the rest of us that something was up. Not long after Freed and Lucy started hanging out more after a job they had taken together, he had always blushed when around her, he frequently fussed over whether he looked nice or not before hanging out with her, and he would often take her somewhere like a cafe or quaint restaurant. Eventually, Laxus, Evergreen, and Bixlow got tired of watching him pine for Lucy without realizing it, so they had a pretty long talk with him. When he finally realized that he was in love, the poor guy couldn't look at Lucy without blushing like crazy. He had to take a long job by himself to process his feelings. When he came back, he started trying to get closer to her in an attempt at wooing her." Mira ended her little story with a light laugh. She enjoyed remembering this, always finding it amusing to think about.

Minerva gave a slight chuckle and a small smile. "Rufus realized it on his own, I believe. He put it together pretty quickly. If I remember correctly, he realized his feelings when he overheard Yukino and Sorano talking about who they should try to set Lucy up with. He didn't like hearing other men's names being mentioned, but he did like that he was being considered as a possibility."

Mira laughed a little. "So, it was jealousy that helped him realize?"

Minerva shrugged. "I suppose so. He and Lucy developed a good relationship after she started visiting Sabortooth fairly frequently. Turned out, they had quite a bit in common. After he realized that he was in love, his approach was similar to Freed's, get closer to her in hopes of winning her heart. He was very close to asking her on a date once, but she was dragged away for a shopping trip before he could actually ask."

There was a hint of sadness in her voice and eyes when she mentioned her deceased guildmates, but she decided to not say anything about it. Instead, she was glad that Minerva was able to talk about them, if indirectly.

Mira then brought a hand to her mouth a laughed. "Poor guy. That must have been frustrating." Minerva laughed along with her.

Once their laughter died, Mira wondered, "I wonder if Midnight has realized his feelings yet."

Minerva raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of, I've been curious about something for a while." Mira gave a short hum, telling Minerva to continue, which she did, "you and everyone else call the former Oracion Sies by their real names, except for Midnight. Why is that?"

Mira looked down at the bar counter and drummed the fingers of her right hand on the surface. She hadn't expected Minerva to ask that question. It was a genuine question, so she didn't have much of a reason to deny answering it. She sighed and looked back at Minerva. "Well, we kinda collectively agreed in silence that we would call the former Oracion Sies by their code names until they told us themselves to call them otherwise. None of us really knew what names they were comfortable with. Erik, Sorano, Richard, and Sawyer all did so eventually, telling us to use their real names instead. I'm pretty sure they knew what we were doing. However, Midnight never did. He just let us continue calling him by his code name, and whenever someone would call him by his real name, they'd get stared down intensely. We all just guessed that he preferred his code name, or he wasn't ready to be addressed by his real name."

Minerva nodded, understanding clear on her face. "You said that you wonder if he's realized his feelings, yes?"

Mira nodded, a smile returning to her face. When she was told by Erik that Midnight was still in the dark about his own feelings, she was excited to help him out, however, he left to join Lucy and the others before she could even make an attempt. To her dismay, all she could do now was hope that he would realize his feelings for Lucy before it was too late.

"Yes, I did. Erik told me about it." Mira looked over at Erik, who was nearby and doing a poor job of pretending that he wasn't listening to their conversation. "Erik!" she called out to him. Erik turned around and looked at her. When Mira gestured for him to come over, he did so, sitting at the bar counter beside Minerva.

"What do ya need?" Erik propped his arm up on the counter and rested his chin in his open palm.

Mira questioned with a smile, "do you think Midnight has realized his feelings yet?"

Erik gave a rather loud laugh as he shook his head. "Doubt it. That guy's in deep denial. I've been trying for a while to get him to see that he's got a thing for Blondie, but he just keeps on denying it."

Minerva chuckled. "Really?"

Erik nodded. "Yeah, really. Makes me wonder how he's usually really smart. He's clearly in love with the woman, but he can't seem to see it! It's frustrating as all hell."

Mira and Minerva laughed at that. Minerva then asked, "do you think he'll ever realize his feelings?"

Erik chuckled. "It'll take a while. Like I said, he's pretty damn deep in denial."

"What did the rest of Crime Sorciere think about Midnight leaving to help Lucy, Freed, and Rufus?" Mira poured a mug of an alcoholic drink and offered it to Erik, knowing that he was going to ask for one eventually.

Erik took a long sip of the beverage before answering, "we were hoping that it meant he had finally realized that he was in love with Blondie, but when I talked to him through a communication lacrima not long after, he was still in the dark about his own feelings." He sighed. "I swear, I'm this close to going to wherever he is and smacking some damn sense into him." He raised up his hand and showed that his thumb and index finger were dangerously close together.

Mira and Minerva both laughed. Minerva commented, "that might actually do the trick. The man seems to be about as dense as Natsu when it comes to his feelings."

Erik chuckled. "He'll realize eventually. When he does, he'll definitely get Blondie to go out with him."

Minerva rolled her eyes. "Rufus has already tried to make a move, the fact that he was interrupted aside. I doubt that Midnight would be able to ask her out before Rufus. I think Freed would be a more likely opponent." She leans against the bar's counter, arms folded on top of it. "Besides, I think that Rufus or Freed has the highest chances with her."

Mira watched an amused smile on her face as Erik began explaining to the Sabertooth mage all of the ways that Midnight does, in fact, have a chance with Lucy. All of his points were met with reasons for why Rufus had a better chance.

She found it wonderful, how these two former enemies of Fairy Tail, Lucy in particular, could sit comfortably in Fairy Tail guildhall and discuss which of their friends had the better chance with the blonde mage. She laughed to herself before joining the debate, presenting Freed as a contender and defending her case with growing enthusiasm and match-making passion.

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WARNING: NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE!

Chapter Forty-One: Equuleus

Freed looked at the berries that Lucy had crouched in front of to examine. He glanced back at Rufus and Midnight, who were both still packing up the group's campsite for Virgo to take back to the Spirit World. He turned back to the berries. The shrub wasn't small, but not large either. The leaves were a striking, dark green color and the flowers were a lovely purple color, bell-shaped in a way that reminded him of those bell-shaped flowers that Evergreen had taken to growing in her Fairy Hill's residence. The berries were round and shiny, with a purplish-black color to them. 

He looked over at Lucy and asked, "do you know what these are?" 

Lucy gave him a teasing smile. "The all-knowing Freed doesn't know instantly know what berries these are?" She then gave him a light jab to the side. 

Freed chuckled, feeling his cheeks heat up a little and a fluttering feeling beginning to fill his gut. He then responded, "I'm afraid my knowledge of the many species of berries is quite limited." 

Lucy gave a light laugh. Freed smiled at the sound. When was the last time he heard a genuine laugh pass through her lovely lips? He had forgotten how much he loved the sound and he felt a growing urge to make her laugh more. Or, to at least make her forget their mission and the heavy weight that was placed upon her shoulders, if only for a few peaceful moments. 

Lucy's sweet voice brought him out of his thoughts, "they're called Atropa Belladonna, also known as Deadly Nightshade. There are several highly toxic and potent psychoactive tropane alkaloids in the belladonna berries. All parts of the plant are poisonous. Symptoms of poisoning include rapid heartbeat, dilated pupils, delirium, vomiting, hallucinations, and death due to respiratory failure. Even handling the plants can cause absorption through the skin and cause severe dermatitis. Belladonna has many uses, both medicinal and in warfare. For example, they can be used to poison an enemy army's food reserve. Atropine, which is found in belladonna, is used to dilate pupils for eye exams and surgery. It's also used as an antidote for opium and chloroform poisoning, and as pain relief from sciatica, gout, and cardiac palpitations." 

Freed raised an eyebrow at her. "How do you know all of that?" He would be worried about her knowledge of the poisonous berries if he didn't know better. 

Lucy smiled at him. "Before I ran away from home, I would read the books in my Dad's massive library. At some point, I went through a phase in which I was weirdly obsessed with learning about all sorts of poisonous plants. I don't know why." 

"You probably worried most of the staff." 

Lucy almost barked out a laugh at that. "Yeah! Yeah, I probably did!" 

Freed listened as she laughed a bit more. His smile grew and his cheeks warmed as the fluttering feeling in his gut became more prominent and his heartbeat became just a little bit faster. He watched as Lucy continued to observe the berries. As the morning sun shined down upon them, he couldn't help but notice how her blonde hair glowed an almost golden color in the sunlight. The slightly chilly breeze rustled her hair just a little. Her brown eyes sparkled in the sunlight, a sight he hadn't seen in a while. Not since all of this started. He hated to think about it, how the ever-present sparkle in Lucy's eyes was put out by this crushing mission. 

His eyes rested on her lips. They were plump and had a bit of a pink tint to them. Before this mission, he's had an almost constant temptation to press his lips against hers, to find out what her lips feel like. Now, he was tempted again, for the first time in weeks, to find out what it feels like to kiss her. Of course, he doesn't give in to temptation. That would be very rude and improper. Now also wasn't anywhere near the right time to even try to tell her of his feelings for her. It would be better to wait for the success of this mission. 

Instead, he looked back at the berries and asked, "Erik is a Poison Dragon Slayer, correct? Would he be able to eat these? In a similar manner to Natsu and the other dragon sayers eating their respective elements?" 

Lucy gave a short hum. "Probably. I would assume so, but I've never thought to ask him." 

"He can." 

Freed and Lucy turned around to find Midnight standing behind them, no particular mention showing on his face. Lucy asked, "what was that, Midnight?" 

Midnight repeated, "he can." After a short pause, he clarified, "Erik can gain power by eating poisonous plants, like how the Salamander can do the same by eating fire, or Makarov's grandson-"

"Lasxu." Freed interrupted. He never did like when people referred to Laxus as simply "Makarov's grandson." He may not be obsessed like he used to be, but Laxus was still his best friend. 

Midnight continued, "right. Laxus can by eating lightning. I've seen Erik eat a whole bush of belladonna berries before taking out a bunch of enemies." 

Rufus then spoke up from where he stood by the packed-up camping supplies, "we should probably get a move on." 

Freed stood up with Lucy as the celestial wizard responded, "yeah, we probably should." 

After Lucy summoned Virgo and sent their camping equipment with her, the small group began walking further into the forest. Lucy took up the front, while Freed walked slightly behind to the side, and Rufus and Midnight walked on the opposite side of her. 

As they walked, Midnight asked, "where did that scroll of yours say the key was?" 

Lucy promptly answered, her eyes not moving from where they stared ahead of herself, "Arnoss Peak. It's a cliff on the outside of this forest. We're not too far. Getting there shouldn't take us long." 

Rufus glanced over at her. "A cliff? That sounds rather dangerous?" 

"Where would it even be on the cliff?" Midnight muttered, probably partly to himself and partly to the rest of the group. 

Lucy shrugged. "We'll find out when we get there." 

Silence then descended upon the group. Freed placed a hand on the hilt of his rapier, readying himself for an attack. Since getting Rufus back, he couldn't shake an ever-present feeling that something was going to happen. Normally, he would call himself paranoid. Now, however, he simply called it being rational. They've been attacked by their enemy too many times for him to even consider that they were 100% safe. And, looking at the other three mages with him, he knew that they were thinking the same thing, judging by their tense body language and observant eyes. 

True to Lucy's word, they arrived at the end of the forest rather quickly. They stepped out into the open to find a cliff. The top of the cliff was covered in green grass and jutting out over the side was a large, lopsided tree, its branches reaching out. 

Freed observed the area quietly, momentarily taken by the beautiful view. He absentmindedly spoke, "this would be a lovely place for a picnic." 

Midnight chuckled. "Yeah. I'm sure any woman would want a picnic date here." 

Freed responded, "I know a few who wouldn't." 

Midnight looked at him. "Really?" 

Freed nodded. "Evergreen wouldn't like a picnic date here very much. She would be too hesitant about the edge. Kind of strange when you can consider that her magic allows her to fly." 

Midnight only chuckled at that. Their attention was dragged away from their short conversation when Rufus spoke, his voice cautious, "Lucy? What are you doing?" 

Freed and Midnight looked over at Rufus, seeing that he was staring at something with wide eyes, and his body was tense, as if he was ready to fight at any second. The two other men looked to where the blonde was staring. 

"Lucy! Stop!" Freed called out, raising his hand as though he would be able to grab her from where he stood. 

Lucy stopped in her tracks and turned around, smiling at the men calmly as she spoke, her tone just as calm as her smile, "it's okay." She then turned around and continue walking toward the tree. 

Freed took a step toward her. "What are you doing?" Worry swirled within him and he wanted to grab Lucy, to pull her away from the edge that she was approaching, to hold her in his arms and never release her. 

Lucy answered, "there's a key on that branch." 

Freed looked at the tree, narrowing his eyes at it. It didn't take more than a minute for him to spot the glittering of the silver key in the sunlight. It was hanging off of the end of one of the branches, dangerously far from the edge. 

Midnight called from where he stood next to Freed, "someone else should get the key. Do any of your spirits have the ability to fly?" 

Freed nodded his agreement. "I can create wings for myself. I can get the key. Lucy, you shouldn't get so close to the edge!" 

Much to the men's horror, however, Lucy ignored them. Just as she climbed up the tree and made her way onto the branch, Freed ran forward. He looked up at Lucy, his eyes wide and panic in his voice, "Lucy! You probably shouldn't be doing that!" 

Lucy only answered with a simple, "I'll be fine. Trust me." 

Rufus stepped up beside Freed. "Lucy, you should come down from there. You'll fall." He was clearly just as worried and fearful as Freed. 

Midnight was more forceful as he stood on the other side of the tree. "Lucy! Get back down here now! Don't make any of us force you down ourselves!" His brow was furrowed, making him look angry. His voice was stern, reminding Freed of that time Master Makarov scolded Laxus for some dangerous and stupid stunt while in his teenage years. 

Freed looked back up at Lucy as she responded, "go ahead and try." 

She sounded confident. Freed couldn't ignore the worry and fear that enveloped him. His heartbeat picked up its speed and he felt almost sick to his stomach. However, he also knew that he had witnessed Lucy doing more dangerous things. Not to mention the dangerous things that he hasn't seen. 

When Midnight made a move to climb after the woman, Freed's hand shot out and grabbed his arm tightly, keeping him on the ground. Freed looked over at him, finding that the other man was giving him a looked that was a strange mixture of confusion and threatening. Freed simply said, "if she can take on demons, then she can get that key." 

Midnight opened his mouth, most likely to argue, but was stopped by Rufus, "let's just wait. She might be able to get it." 

The three of them ended up watching with bated breath as Lucy climbed toward the silver key. Freed kept his eyes locked onto the space between her hand and the key, watching as she struggled to reach it before inching a little bit closer to try again. The branch bent underneath her weight, causing his stomach to twist and turn and his heartbeat to become faster with fear. He tightened his grip on Midnight's arm, nails digging in. He might have drawn blood, or at least left fingernail marks, if the other man wasn't wearing a coat. 

All too soon, the branch bent too far, and a cracking sound was heard. Rufus was the first to yell, "Lucy! Get down!" 

Freed released Midnight and leaned further over the edge of the cliff, keeping his hand on the trunk of the tree. "We can get the key in a safer manner! Get back down here before the branch breaks!" 

When their calls were ignored, Midnight muttered what were probably curse words under his breath and began climbing the tree. Freed looked at him, saying, "I don't think that's a good idea." 

"Why?" Midnight barked at him. 

Freed didn't even flinch at the harsh tone. "Because, if your body weight will only add to hers and make the branch break faster. You could also make her fall in your haste to grab her." 

Before Midnight could say anything in response, the sound of the branch continuing the break was heard. Freed looked up at the breaking point of the branch and placed his hand on the hilt of his rapier. "Lucy, get down! Right now!" He demanded one last time. When Lucy didn't obey, and instead continued to reach for the key, Freed unsheathed his rapier and raised it to write an enchantment that would catch Lucy in her fall. 

Just as he began writing, the branch snapped and Lucy screamed as she plunged to the rocky ground below. 

Rufus yelled her name before backing away from the edge, his eyes wide and hands covering his mouth. Midnight stared wide-eyed at where the branch was. 

Freed could only watch the two men's reactions, his eyes going from one to the other before settling on his feet, his arm still raised and his rapier still held tightly in his hand. His stomach had dropped and his heart has hammering against his chest. His mouth was slightly agape and his wide eyes were unblinking. 

His mind raced with questions. What were they going to do now? How were they going to tell Fairy Tail? What were they going to tell Fairy Tail? What did this mean for the celestial spirits and their world? The questions and other thoughts filled Freed's mind until his head began to ache. He dropped his rapier and placed a hand on his forehead. He took a few steps back, willing his brain to think properly, while also knowing that it wouldn't be able to. 

"Lucy..." He mumbled, tears burning his eyes. He never got to tell her how he felt. He never got to hold her hand or finally kiss her. He never got to see the look on Lucy's face when she completed her mission. He never got to see Lucy recover and move on from what she had been put through. 

"Lucy..." He mumbled again, a bit louder this time. His shaking legs gave way underneath him and he fell to his knees. Tears slipped down his cheeks as he became unaware of what was happening around him. 

Then, like a popular character returning to a battle after a fake-out death, someone spoke from below the edge of the cliff, "'please tell me you three aren't thinking that I'm dead', she says in exasperation." 

Freed startles before blinking a few times. Did...did he hear that? Did he actually hear someone? He looked at Rufus. The blonde man was staring back at him in a mixture of surprise and confusion. Freed then looked at Midnight, who was staring down at the mystery person with wide eyes, a grin spreading across his face. 

Freed, alongside Rufus, scrambled to the edge and looked over. They found a living, grandfather clock standing on a ledge several feet below them. Inside the glass case was Lucy, who was smiling and waving her new key for them to see. 

Freed heaved a sigh of relief as that same feeling washed over him like a large wave. He called down to Lucy, "are you alright?" 

Lucy spoke, but her voice was silent. Instead of hearing her, they heard the voice of the living clock speak in her stead, "'I'm fine', she says calmly. 'This is Horologium, one of my spirits. He can summon himself when he senses that someone near me, or myself, is in serious danger and protect them', she explains." 

Rufus kneeled beside Freed. "Do you want us to come down to you, or can you come up here yourself?" 

"'I can use Pegasus to get up there', she responds." 

Freed and Rufus both nodded and stepped away from the edge of the cliff. Within minutes, Lucy was standing in front of her three friends, having used Pegasus to fly back up to them, and then dismissed the celestial spirit. 

Freed walked over to Lucy and scolded, "that was very dangerous, Lucy! You could have died!" 

Lucy smiled at him, as if she had not a care in the world. "I appreciate that you guys were worried, but there wasn't a need to be. I've faced literal demons, a dragon, and multiple powerful dark guilds. Do you really think that a simple fall would kill me?" 

Freed looked down at the ground, his brow furrowed. She was right. He knew that she had been through more life-threatening situations. After all, he had said as much just a few minutes ago. But, he couldn't help but be worried for her, nor could he be just a little upset that she ignored their protests to her continuing to get the key when there were other options. He sighed, "just...don't risk your life when there are other alternatives, okay?" 

Lucy gave him a comforting smile. "Okay. I'm sorry for scaring all three of you so badly." 

The pair then turned to Rufus and Midnight when the former asked, "what key did you get?" 

Freed looked back at Lucy, watching as she held up the new silver key for them to see. The blade was typical for a regular key, while the bow was circular and had the shape of a white, miniature pony. 

Lucy announced, "it's the key of the Little Horse, Equuleus!" 

Midnight questioned, "where are we going next?" 

Lucy lowered her arm and answered, "I'll need to look at the scroll. Let's get out of the open so I can make my new contract. After that, we can go looking for the next key." 

She then walked back into the forest, Freed, Rufus, and Midnight following behind her. 

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: TORTURE AND DEATH THREATS!

Chapter Forty: This is Your Last Chance!

Nyx yelped when Terra's hand met with his cheek in a hard slap. His own hand would have flown up to this stinging cheek if both of his hands weren't tied up in a chair. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as he kept his head down, practically cowering as Terra chastised him, "you let our captive go? You let our captive go! We complete failure! You absolute failure! You had one job! One job! You were supposed to keep him in the basement and ensure that he isn't able to fight back and capture the others! And what do you do? You let him go, gave him the book that we needed, and let the others go too!" 

Nyx screwed his eyes shut, his body trembling. His heart was beating rapidly, knowing what was going to happen. His face was jerked up by a hand that gripped his chin so tightly that it was painful, causing him to look into Terra's frightening, blue eyes. 

Terra snarled, "you are a disappointment. I took you in, saved your life, gave you a place to belong when you had nothing, and this is how you repay my kindness? Betraying me? Going against my plans?" 

Nyx felt tears slowly roll down his cheeks as he stared into her eyes, unable to talk back, both due to the woman's grip on his chin, and due to the fear that was coursing through his body. He was only able to let out a weak whimper. Terra scowled at him and roughly pushed his face away. Nyx kept his head down, eyes locked on the floor of the basement of the house they had recently returned to. 

Lust chuckled from where he stood at the table filled with torture devices. Nyx listened as Terra walked a circle around him, tears continued to fall down his cheeks and his breathing became shallow as his body trembled. The woman then stood behind him, taunting with a low tone, "maybe I should teach you a lesson." Nyx tensed at that, his stomach dropping. Terra then continued, "Lust, bring over your lighter and one of your cigarettes." 

Nyx held his breath as he listened to Lust slowly approach. After about a minute, Terra gave another command, "open his coat." With that, Lust stepped in front of Nyx and leaned toward him. As his hands worked his buttoned coat open, he whispered into the younger man's ear, mockingly, "your days are numbered, William." 

Nyx jerked away, causing Lust to tighten his hold on the coat. The younger man shot Lust a glare, but lacked the usual ferocity due to the tears in his eyes and the tear streaks down his cheeks. When Lust finished the task, he walked away, back to the table he had previously been standing beside. 

When Terra stepped in front of him, Nyx tensed once again, his eyes, wide with fear, fell to the lit cigarette that was in her hand. She leaned down, a smirk on her face and a sadistic gleam in her blue eyes. Nyx's body continued its trembling, his eyes following her hand's movement of pressing the lit cigarette to his bare chest. Nyx gritted his teeth as he grunted in pain, not wanting a yell to escape from his lips.

Terra hissed, "you're a failure. A damn failure." She pulled the cigarette away and pressed it to a different spot on Nyx's chest, resulting in him groaning again as he struggled to keep the scream that rose from within his throat down. Terra continued to taunt, "I should kill you. I saved you and betrayal is my payment." She pressed the lit cigarette to another part of Nyx's chest. "You're lucky I haven't killed you yet. You're lucky I've decided to have mercy and let you live for now. You deserve to die." 

Terra continued to press the lit cigarette to different parts of Nyx's chest, causing him to bite down on his lip until it bled, the blood dripping down his chin and onto his burn-littered chest. By the time Terra pulled away, Nyx was gasping for air, trying to focus on anything other than the pain that seemed to envelop his entire body. The pain from the dozens of cigarette burns went beyond just his chest, going done to the bone and spreading throughout his upper body. His body trembled and tears streamed down his face. 

His face was once again grabbed and yanked up so that he would look up at Terra, who spoke coldly, "if you do anything, anything at all, to help that bitch and her boytoys, then I will skin you alive. Is that understood?" 

Nyx could only release a pained sob as he weakly nodded. When Terra released him, his head dropped and he could only remain there, tears flowing and breath heavy, the only thing he felt being burning pain. His chest rose and fell with each pained breath he took, causing his chest to feel like it was being stretched painfully. 

He remained where he was tied to the chair, breathing heavily and unable to think due to burning pain, for what felt like an unbearably long time before his mind shut down and darkness filled his vision. His head fell forward and his trembling body slumped a little as he lost consciousness. 

Nyx groaned and grimaced in response to the pain he felt as he lifted his head and straightened his body a bit more. His eyes blinked open, vision still hazy. He looked around himself at his surroundings, his memories of where he was and what had happened slowly coming back. 

The day after talking to Rufus, he, Terra, and Lust met in the kitchen. As they went over their plan, they spotted someone walking through the trees. Terra had sent Nyx to observe the intruder, who they could tell was Freed Justine. 

Nyx had observed from a hiding place as the Fairy Tail mage created a barrier of runes around the house. He took note of how the runes were written, knowing that Terra would want him to undo them. Once he returned to the house and made his report, Terra's reaction was more or less unfazed, merely altering their plan so that they could escape. 

The next events happened so quickly that Nyx had difficulty completely understanding them. After Terra and Lust left, Nyx released Rufus and told him that he and his friends were going to have to wait for him to find them in the near future. He then summoned one of his spirits before dodging the leader of Rufus' group, Lucy was her name, apparently, and rushed out of the house, using his newly acquired knowledge in writing enchantments to undo the barrier that Freed had set up, allowing himself and his two partners to leave. 

When he met back up with Terra and Lust, he was met with fury due to going against the plan. He was supposed to use his celestial spirits and ability to write runes to capture Lucy and her three other friends. This resulted in Nyx quickly finding himself tied to a chair, in the house's basement, and being interrogated by Terra. This interrogation turned into torture and scolding. 

Nyx's eyes went to the stairs when he heard the sound of footsteps descending them. Terra quickly reached the bottom and, as she strolled over to him with an unnerving calmness, his body tensed and his eyes stayed fixed on her. 

Terra stopped in front of the young man and glared down at him, causing shivers to run up his spine. "Well? Do have anything to say for yourself?" 

Nyx gulped as his body began to tremble. He was unable to think, speak, or look away. Fear flooded his body, joining the dulling pain that was isolated to his entire chest. He could feel an overwhelming sense of doom descending upon him. 

Terra sighed. "You're a disappointment. You can't do anything the way I want you to, can you?" 

The words caused Nyx to hang his head, a sense of shame coming over him. He had always hated the way her voice sounded when she was disappointed. No matter how much he hated her or what happened, he would always feel bad for disappointing her whenever she used that tone of voice. His throat felt like it was closing as his eyes burned with tears. 

Terra continued, her voice maintaining that disappointed tone, "I took you in, Nyx. I saved you when your parents tried to sell you. I taught you Celestial Spirit Magic. I gave you Apus, your first key. I nurtured you and cared for you. I gave you a place to belong, a family, and power over an entire guild, and this is how you repay me? This is how you show your gratitude?" 

Nyx wanted to lash out at her, something that he's been wanting to do for years. He wanted to yell at her, and counter everything she said with the truth. Everything she was saying was lies. She only "saved him" because she wanted someone with a lot of magic reserves to use. She didn't "nurture" or "care" for him. She was harsh in her teaching and tortured him whenever he didn't meet her expectations. However, he was unable to stand up to her, like always. So scared of her, so intimidated by her presence, that he wasn't able to speak against her directly. 

When his hair was tightly gripped and painfully yanked on, forcing his head back, he yelped and grimaced as he stared up at Terra's disappointed frown and angry eyes. Just like that, the building desire to lash out at her died down and was taken over by fear. 

Terra hissed, her eyes narrowed, "I should kill you for this betrayal. I shouldn't allow this to happen, especially unpunished." She then smiled, a sweet smile that made Nyx feel sick and unnerved. "However, I have decided to show mercy," her tone was sweet, like that of a loving mother, and it sounded condescending and threatening rather than anything else, "and give you a second chance. I will allow you to live and continue to work with me and Lust." 

When she released Nyx's hair and his head fell forward, Terra kneeled in front of him, cupping his face and wiping away his few stray tears with her thumbs. When the younger man flinched away from her, her smile fell into a disapproving frown before returning when he didn't fight against her. Terra stroked his hair with one hand as her other hand remained on his cheek, a gesture that would have been comforting if not for the current circumstances. "I know that you're feeling unsure of what we're doing, but I assure you, Nyx, we are doing the right thing. We are saving the celestial spirits from horrible celestial wizards. We are doing good. You love your celestial spirits don't you?" 

Nyx closed his eyes, trying to keep his tears from falling again, as he weakly nodded. Terra gave a short hum, "then stop letting that blonde celestial wizard and her friends get to you. Stop trying to fight me and Lust. We are the good guys in this. We are saving the celestial spirits. I didn't want to hurt you, Nyx. I hated hurting you. It breaks my heart to see you in pain. But you brought it upon yourself. You made me hurt you because you disobeyed me and went against me. Do you understand, Nyx?" 

Nyx could only nod. He felt Terra press a kiss to his forehead before she pulled her hands away from his and say, "we're leaving tomorrow. I trust that you'll act in accordance with my expectations." Her voice then became cold and stern, "this is your last chance." With that, she walked away, up the stairs, and slammed the door closed behind herself, causing Nyx to flinch once again. 

Nyx kept his eyes screwed shut as he thought over what Terra had said. Anger filled him, both at Terra and at himself. He was angry that she continued to lie to him. He knew that she wasn't doing this to "save" the celestial spirits, he had seen both Terra and Lust abuse their own spirits too many times to believe that, and refused to let himself be tricked into believing it again. He was angry that Terra continued to act loving toward him when it was a farcry from how she actually felt toward him. He was also angry at himself for not being able to fight her. He was angry that he was weak when faced with her. 

Tears broke through his tightly closed eyelids and he clenched his teeth so tightly that it was almost painful. He silently cursed at himself. Among the anger and pain that he felt, he also felt uncertainty. Would he be able to do this? Would he be able to help Lucy and her friends? He had been sure that he could help, but now he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure if he could actually do much to help, especially if he had to stand up to Terra directly. 

Left in a basement, his chest littered with burns from a cigarette, and tears slipping down his cheeks, he could only hang his head as feelings of anger, shame, and uncertainty mixed with pain. What was he going to do now? How was he supposed to help Lucy and her friends, and more importantly, his own celestial spirits? He didn't know, nor was he sure if he could. 

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: TALK OF CHARACTER DEATH!

Chapter Thirty-Nine: That's Not How You Heal from Grief

Lucy looked up to find Rufus standing in front of her, smiling down as he waited for her answer. She nodded, mustering a small smile as she did so, and watched him sit next to her. "Here to convince me to side with you?" She questioned her friend quietly. 

Rufus chuckled before answering, "no, not at all. I know that it won't do much besides stress you out more." 

Lucy hugged herself and looked at him. "Why are you here then?" 

Rufus stared out in front of himself, observing something that wasn't there. "Just wanted to provide you with some company, and make sure you return to the hotel safely." 

"What are Freed and Midnight doing?" 

"Getting all of us food." 

Lucy nodded before returning her gaze to her lap. She felt uncomfortable. Why did she feel uncomfortable? Maybe it was because of the argument she had witnessed just a few hours ago, the final decision weighing upon her. Maybe it was because of the memories of Aquarius that were resurfacing again, making her miss her first friend more than she had before. Or, maybe she just didn't want company at the moment, not even from a good friend. She didn't voice this to Rufus, though, preferring to simply accept his company and push down the uncomfortable feeling she was experiencing. 

A few moments of silence passed before Rufus spoke, his tone soft, "I didn't mean to place a lot of pressure on you." 

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. "It wasn't you or the others who placed pressure on me, it's the weight of the decision itself. This is such an important mission, and really any decision can put its success in jeopardy." 

Rufus nodded, his gaze falling to the ground. "I understand. This is a lot for one person to take on." He then looked at Lucy, drawing her attention. She was a bit comforted by his small smile.  "However, you must remember that you are a member of Fairy Tail. You and your guildmates have accomplished many things, and overcome many obstacles. You defeated the Oracion Seis, Grimoire Heart, Tartaros, and have done many more impressive and seemingly impossible things. If anyone can save the Celestial Spirit World, it's you, Lucy." 

Lucy felt her cheeks warm a little at his words. She moved her head so that her face was angled away from his sight, hoping that she hadn't noticed her blush. A small smile crept upon her face as she spoke, "thanks, Rufus. That actually helped a bit." That was the truth. His words really did make her feel better, if a little bit. 

A short period of silence passed again before Lucy hesitantly asked, "did Nyx really let you go?" 

Rufus nodded. "He came down and told me that you, Freed, and Midnight were there to rescue me. He said that he had to go with Terra and Lust, but he would try to find us. Then, he gave me the book and left." 

Lucy nodded. She chewed down on her bottom lip as she thought to herself. From what Rufus had said when the question of whether they should trust Nyx or not came up, she couldn't get out of her head just how much Rufus seemed to be convinced that Nyx really did want to help them. Rufus was a smart man, one of the smartest members of Sabortooth. If he didn't see any indication of Nyx lying, or if he is so sure that they should trust Nyx, then maybe Nyx was being genuine. Then again, Freed and Midnight were very smart themselves, and not easily fooled, even though Rufus isn't either. However, neither of them spoke with Nyx. 

Lucy rubbed her temples with her fingers. She could feel a headache coming on already. She dropped her hands into her lap. She looked over at Rufus, observing how he seemed to be staring off into space, lost in thought. As she observed him, her eyes ended up landing on his red and gold mask. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember having ever seen Rufus' face without it. 

She remembered having asked Yukino and Sorano if they had seen his face without his mask: 

Yukino and Sorano looked at Lucy with widened eyes. The three young women were sitting at one of the tables in the Fairy Tail guildhall. Sabertooth had come by for a visit, resulting in a few fights and some lighthearted competitions. Lucy sat across from her two friends, sipping on her favorite flavor of milkshake. 

She looked at the surprised expressions on the sisters' faces, eyebrow raised. "What? It's just a question." 

The pair of sisters were silent for a few more moments before grins broke onto their faces. Lucy paled a little and her lifted eyebrow fell. She knew, right at that moment, she had made a mistake. 

"Why do you want to know?" Yukino questioned, her tone teasing. 

Lucy felt her cheeks warm a little and she exclaimed, "i-it's not like that! I was just wondering!" 

Sorano cooed, "are you sure you aren't interested in him?" 

Lucy's blush deepened. "N-no! Not all! I've never seen Rufus without his mask, so I was wondering what he looked like! And if there's a certain reason he wears his mask constantly!" 

Yukino and Sorano laughed, both taking great enjoyment out of their friend's embarrassment. Lucy could only drop her head onto the table, an attempt to hide her red face from anybody who may look over. 

Once the sisters' laughter died, Sorano spoke, no longer teasing, "we've never really seen his face either. We also don't know why he always wears a mask." 

Lucy lifted her head to look at the pair as Yukino nodded, adding, "we've wondered the same thing, but we never asked...in case it's a sore spot." 

Lucy straightened in her seat and nodded in understanding. She looked back over at Rufus, who was talking to Levy. She understood Yukino and Sorano's reasoning, but she couldn't help but wonder, was there anything under Rufus' mask? She turned back to her friends and moved on to another topic. Maybe one day she'll be able to ask him herself. 

Lucy stared down at her still-bandaged hands in her lap, tears welling up in her eyes, a few of which slipped down her cheeks, as a result of the memory. She sniffled and wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. 

"Lucy, are you alright?" The man beside her asked. 

She looked over to see Rufus staring at her with worry in his green eyes. She took a breath and looked back down at her hands, answering, "just...just remembered a conversation I had with Yukino and Sorano." 

She looked back at him to see that he was nodding with understanding. Rufus then said, his voice low, "the same thing happened to me while I was in that basement." 

Lucy gave him a sad smile. "I'm not surprised that you haven't moved on yet. You might have been closer to both of them than I was." 

She watched as Rufus looked at the ground and sighed. "If I'm being honest, I was expecting to be over their deaths by now." 

Lucy's smile dropped at that. She hadn't expected him to say that. She furrowed her brow in confusion and questioned, "what do you mean?" 

Rufus was silent for several moments. Lucy fidgeted with her hands, being careful to not aggravate her still-healing, fingernail-less fingers. Worry swirled in her gut as she was about to ask him again when he finally spoke, "I just thought that I would have moved on by now." 

Lucy murmured, "I don't think it's even been two months." 

"And I was expecting to be over their deaths by now." Lucy gave a small flinch at his hard tone. Before she could even think of something to say, Rufus stood up, informing her, "it's getting late. Freed and Midnight will be worried if we don't get back soon." 

Lucy stood up as well and looked at the sky, just now realizing that the sun had disappeared, the moon now rising. It wasn't quite dark, but it would be long until it was. She watched as Rufus began walking away. She was still confused about what he had meant. She was also worried. Did he really think that two months was enough time to "get over" the deaths of two close friends? Moving on its own, her bandaged hand shot out to grasp Rufus' sleeve, stopping him, even though he didn't turn around to look at her. 

Lucy opened her mouth, but closed it when no words came out. What was she supposed to say? All she could do was stare at her friend's back, knowing that she had to say something, but not knowing what exactly she should say. 

Why did Rufus say that? Surely, he knew that grief was a lengthy process, oftentimes not even having an exact end. Now that she thought about it, she didn't think she had ever seen him show any amount of grief over Yukino's and Sorano's deaths. Never even heard about it. She at least heard from Erik that Midnight was devastated over Sorano's death. Was Rufus even grieving properly? Did he know how to? 

Rufus' low, solemn voice broke her out of her thoughts, "'time heals all wounds.' Isn't that the saying? I don't understand why it hasn't worked yet." 

Lucy was silent for a few more moments before she finally spoke, her voice far too weak for her liking, "that's not how you heal from grief." 

Rufus finally turned around to face her. She looked up at him, seeing that tears were brimming his green eyes. He asked, his voice just as weak as hers, "then how do I heal? I've never experienced a loss like this. How do I get over them? How do I stop this pain?" 

Lucy felt tears burn her eyes as she responded in a whisper, "not by repressing your emotions. Not by focusing on other things to keep yourself from thinking about them. Rufus, losing two close friends is not something you can simply move on from. It's not even something that you will completely recover from, probably. Forgoing the grieving process is not good, or healthy. You can't deny yourself the time to grieve your friends." 

She stepped closer to the man, slowly wrapping her arms around him so as to give him enough time to pull away if he didn't want a hug. When Rufus did not resist, she pulled him into a tight embrace, her tears now slipping down her cheeks. She felt her throat tighten and she sniffled a few times before she spoke again, her low voice strained, "I'll always be here for you, Rufus. You're my friend. I love you a lot. I don't want to see you hurt. You need to allow yourself to grieve properly. Only then will you start to truly heal." 

When Rufus was silent and didn't move for several moments, Lucy began to worry that she had done or said something wrong, crossed a line that she should have known not to cross. She was just about to pull away and attempt to correct her mistake, when she felt Rufus wrap his arms around her, pressing her body against his more as her buried his face into her hair. Lucy tightened her hold on him when she felt his body tremble, his shoulder shuddering occasionally. It didn't take her long to realize that he was crying. Finally crying for the friends he had lost. 

As Lucy's tears continued to fall and she struggled to hold herself together for her friend, she wondered to herself: wasn't she doing the same thing that Rufus had been? Or at least, wasn't that what she was attempting to do? When had she taken the time to properly cry and grieve for her dead friends? She had been so focused on her mission, and on trying to not fall apart from the memories and self-hatred that had been plaguing her. Was she a hypocrite, giving her friend advice that she, herself, was not able to follow? 

As Lucy's crying escalated to quiet sobs, burying her face into Rufus' chest. 

Lucy stepped into the hotel room, Rufus following close behind her. As soon as she took a few steps into the room, her shoulders were clutched in a tight hold, causing her to look up in surprise. Her brown eyes met sea-green ones and the owner of those eyes spoke, his voice heavy with a sort of mixture of worry and relief, "Lucy, where were you? I was about to go looking for you! Do you not realize what could have happened to you? It's not safe to be out at night, especially considering the current circumstances we've found ourselves in!" 

Lucy mustered a comforting smile as she placed one hand over Freed's mouth, silencing him. "I'm fine, Freed, I promise." 

"But-"

"I understand your worry, and I appreciate it, but I'm fine. I've returned. You don't need to worry anymore." 

She watched as Freed pursed his lips as he stared back at her, his eyebrows pinched together in still-present worry. After several seconds, he retracted his hands from her shoulders and stepped away, muttering an apology. She patted his shoulder before walking further into the room, stopping at the bed and sitting on it. 

She looked over at the other bed, seeing that Rufus was laying on it, on his back. He stared blankly up at the ceiling. A twinge of pain shot through her heart at the sight and the corners of her lips pulled down into a frown. Not wanting to make herself cry again by remembering what happened barely even an hour ago, she looked to the front of the room, seeing that Midnight was sitting at the table, which Freed stood beside. Both men were staring expectantly at her. 

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "What?" 

Midnight answered, "have you made a decision yet? We need to decide on something before we leave tomorrow so that we can properly plan our next steps." 

Lucy nodded and looked down at her lap. She had been dreading sharing her decision with Freed and Midnight, afraid that they would get angry with her. Knowing that she couldn't delay her announcement for much longer, she took a deep breath and raised her head. All eyes were on her, even Rufus', which she could already feel on her without needing to look at him. 

She took a few more moments to steel her nerves before speaking, "I've decided that we should give Nyx a chance." When Midnight and Freed both opened their mouths to speak, Lucy continued, "I don't think that we should trust, at least not yet. He has information on Terra, Lust, and their mission that we need. He can be very useful. We should give him a chance to prove he was being honest." 

Midnight and Freed were both silent for some time. The former leaned back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the drawn curtains in front of the window, while the latter leaned against the table that he stood next to, his arms also crossed over his chest as he stared at Lucy intently, as if analyzing her. 

Lucy had begun to shift uncomfortably when the silence was finally broken by Freed, "we can't change your mind, can we?" 

Lucy shook her head and stared back at him with what she hoped was a steadfast look on her face. A period of silence followed before Freed sighed, "alright, I may not like your decision, but I'll accept it nevertheless." 

Midnight nodded, his eyes still locked on the drawn curtains. "agreed." 

Lucy released a quiet breath of relief. She wasn't particularly confident in her decision, nor was she sure if it would end well for them, but she did know that she needed to know, not only the extent of what Starfall was, but who exactly Terra, Lust, and Nyx were. She had to know who they were and why they were doing any of this. She had questions, and she needed answers. She just wished that the only source of these answers wasn't the man who had tortured her. 

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: MENTIONS OF TORTURE AND REFERENCES TO SEXUAL ASSAULT!

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Decisions, Decisions

"We should give him a chance," Rufus argued for the umpteenth, looking between Freed and Midnight as the three of them stood in the middle of the hotel room that their small group had gotten for the night. 

Midnight shook his head, "there's too much of a risk. What if it's a trick? He could just be trying to get us to trust him so he could kill Lucy, and maybe the rest of us, while we sleep." 

Rufus argued back, "we don't need to trust him. All we need to do is hear him out, at the very least." 

Freed countered, crossing his arms over his chest, "I agree with Midnight. We don't even need him."

Rufus turned to Freed, his eyes narrowed into a glare, "don't need him? He knows his comrades well enough to know how to capture them. He also knows more than we do about Starfall." 

Midnight sighed and closed his eyes as he stuffed his hands into his coat pocket. "We don't need to know anything about any of them, or a bunch of information about Starfall. We just need to collect as many keys as we can before they do, and then capture them so we can take their keys and throw them into the Magic Council's prison." 

Rufus turned his gaze onto Midnight. "It would help us in convincing the Magic Council of their crimes. It'll also help with figuring out who they are and why they are doing this, for their trial. Starfall is something that the Magic Council needs to know about." 

Freed was the one who responded, "We can gather information about them once we capture them, something with Starfall. We do not need Nyx." 

Rufus questioned, his voice softened noticeably, "and what about Nyx? Why should he be given a serious punishment when he had a change of heart and didn't take part in the worst of their crimes? If anything, he's more of an unwilling accomplice." 

Midnight groaned, opening his eyes to stare at Rufus in disbelief. "Rufus, don't tell me you're actually convinced that he's innocent in all of the." 

Rufus shook his head. "Not innocent, just not as bad as Terra and Lust." 

Freed questioned, "so what? Do you believe him when he said that he never wanted to do any of this? That he truly does want to help us?" 

Rufus responded softly, "isn't it possible?" He then added, his voice a bit louder, "maybe it's true. I'm not saying that we should unwaveringly trust him, I just think that we should consider that he could have been genuine and hear his out." 

Midnight almost yelled, "he tortured Lucy almost to death! He allowed Yukino, Sorano, and the Queen to be tortured to death! He kidnapped and tortured you-" 

Rufus snapped back, "and you tried to destroy the world twice, tried to kill Lucy and her friends during both of those attempts, and tried to use Lucy as a sacrifice!" 

Midnight's eyes widened and he flinched away, albeit slightly. He looked taken aback as anger continued to swim in his red eyes.

Rufus added, his voice quieter, but still stern, "you have no right to speak on his crimes when you've done worse!" 

Lucy, having spent the entire argument looking through the book that Rufus had gotten from Nyx, looked up at Rufus' outburst. She jumped off of the table that she was sitting on, placing the closed book on it next to her. She raised her hands in a placating manner and spoke in a calm and stern tone, "let's calm down. We can't afford to fight." 

The three men looked at her for a few moments before Rufus took a step away from Midnight, responding with a much calmer tone, "you're right, I apologize." 

Lucy nodded. She looked between the three men as she spoke again, "I understand where you are all coming from. Midnight, Freed, your worries are perfectly understandable. Nyx could be trying to trick us with the intention to harm us. However, Rufus is right in that it's possible that Nyx is being truthful." She dropped her hands and stared down at her feet, continuing, "Nyx was the one who tortured me. Terra and Lust never laid a finger on me, only ridiculed me whenever I was in my cell." As memories of her torture began to flood into her mind, tears burned her eyes. She screwed her eyes shut and forced herself to continue, "something that I remember well was the look on Nyx's face whenever he would torture me. He looked like he was uncomfortable but was trying to hide it. It seemed like he didn't actually like doing it. He didn't torture me nearly as badly as Terra and Lust tortured Yukino, Sorano, and Hisui." 

Rufus spoke, his own tone low and eyes cast downward, "that's how he looked the few times he waterboarded me, and when he was in the basement whenever Terra would visit." 

Lucy looked at Rufus, noticing that he cringed a little when he mentioned Terra's visits. She nodded and looked at Freed and Midnight. "The possibility of Nyx being genuine in his claims of wanting to help can't be denied." 

Freed questioned, "so then, what should we do, Lucy? I'll go with whatever you decide." 

Lucy looked back down at the floor. Honestly, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Acknowledging that Nyx could be telling the truth was one thing, but actually giving him any amount of trust was a different thing...something that she wasn't sure she could do. 

She looked back at the table that she had been sitting on previously. Next to the closed book were the silver keys that Freed, Rufus, and Midnight had gotten for her at la Cour de Velours. She had yet to make contracts with her new spirits. She sighed and turned back to her friends, answering, "give me some time to think about it. I'm going to leave so I can make my new contracts alone." 

Without waiting for an answer from her friends, she picked up the keys and left the hotel room, making her way to the park that sat in the middle of the large town. 

Lucy sat on the edge of a fountain, which rested in the middle of the park. She watched the centerpiece in silence. It was a stone statue of a young woman clothed in flowing robes. She held a water jug above her head, from which three streams of water strongly flowed. Her stone face was set in a serious expression as she stared ahead. 

The sight of the statue reminded Lucy of the time she and Natsu took Asuka on a small job to earn some money. Aquarius hadn't been pleased about having to act as the fountain, but went with it when Asuka remarked upon how pretty she was. 

Lucy couldn't help but chuckle at the memory. It was one of her fondest, seeing Aquarius actually show an emotion besides anger, even if it was only when a child called her pretty. She turned away from the fountain and stared down at the keys in her hands. Her heart suddenly felt heavy and tears pricked the corners of her eyes. She quickly wiped the tears away and ignored the heavy feeling in her heart, knowing that Aquarius wouldn't like seeing her like this. Her talk with Scorpio helped her to remember that. 

Taking a deep breath, she raised one of the keys and looked it over. The blade wasn't particularly special, as far as gate keys went, while the bow was of a rabbit head with perked ears. She pointed the blade of the key and called out, "I connect to the World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Hare: Lepus!" 

In an instant, Lepus stood a few feet in front of Lucy. The celestial spirit took the form of a short, teenage girl. She was dressed in a black leotard with hot pink accents, and hot pink flats on her feet. Her hair was white, which contrasted with her brown skin. Her eyes were a bright blue color. On her head was a headband with black and white rabbit ears attached. Lucy was quite sure that her outfit even had a cotton tail on the back. 

Lepus gasped at the sight of Lucy and bounced forward, taking the blonde's hands into her own and pulling her up into a tight hug. Lucy yelped at the sudden action, but allowed it, nonetheless. When Lepus rested her head against Lucy's breasts, the celestial wizard chuckled. "I guess I don't have to ask if you want to make a contract with me." 

Lepus shook her head before she pulled away and took a couple of steps back. She clasped her hands behind her back and beamed, "I've waited so long for you to get my key, Princess! I was scared that one of them would get it first, but I knew that you would get it eventually!" Her voice was high-pitched, not in an annoying way, but rather, in an adorable way. 

Lucy smiled down at her, feeling her heart warm a little at how happy the small spirit seemed to be. "I'm glad I got your key too." She sat back down before she asked, "what can you do?" 

Lepus' smile widened into a grin as she exclaimed happily, "I'm a really, really, really fast runner! I can outrun the fasts person in your guild, promise! I'm also really, really, really good at espionage! I can turn into a rabbit, so I can spy on anybody without being noticed! And, and," she lifted one of her feet to rest on the fountain beside Lucy. The blonde observed the leg that was offered to her to look at, noticing that Lepus' legs were surprisingly muscular. "I have really, really, really strong legs! My kicks can break down any kind of wall or door!" 

Lucy smiled up at the spirit. "That's amazing!" When Lepus retracted her leg, Lucy continued, "what days can I summon you on?" 

Lepus answered with a small hop, "any day except for Saturdays and Sundays!" 

Lucy nodded. She stood up and opened her arms, silently offering a final hug. Lepus leaped into her arms, giving her a tight embrace. Upon pulling away, she said goodbye and returned to the Celestial Spirit World. 

Lucy requipped her new key to join the others before she picked up another key and looked it over. The blade resembled the feather of a peacock and the bow was shaped like a peacock with its tail feathers spread, small gems decorating the the tail, blue and green in color. She pointed the key and called out, "I connect to the World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Peacock: Pavo!" 

With a flash of silver light, a tall, young woman stood in front of Lucy. Her skin was pale and her blue hair was pulled into a high bun, a peacock feather clipped to it. She was dressed in clothing that was reminiscent of a ballerina, a blue leotard, and a wide tutu skirt that was patterned like the tail feathers of a peacock. Encasing her long legs were green leggings and on her feet were black ballet shoes. In her hand was a folding hand fan, also stylized to resemble the tail feathers of a peacock. Her green eyes stared at Lucy without much emotion, her pretty face expressing just as much emotion. 

Lucy smiled, greeting the spirit, "hello, Pavo. I'm Lucy. I was wondering if you'd like to make a contract with me?" 

Pavo answered coolly, "I don't have much of a choice." 

Lucy hesitated at her response, but quickly continued, "what can you do?" 

Pavo answered, holding up her fan, "my fan produces feathers in an assortment of colors. Each color has a different effect. the blues create cold attacks, the greens create a blinding fog, the whites create a shield or barrier, the blacks create nullify attacks by engulfing them, and the tans create sand attacks." 

Lucy's smile got a bit bigger. "That's very useful!" 

Pavo nodded her head. "Yes. I am one of the more powerful silver-keyed celestial spirits." 

"I can see why." Lucy stuffed her bandaged hands into her pockets and asked, "what days can I summon you?" 

Pavo's answer came with no wait, "any day that does not fall within the first week of each month." 

Lucy nodded, committing the agreement to memory. She then said, her voice soft and kind, "I'm happy to be working with you, Pavo. Welcome to the family." 

Pavo gave a small curtsy as she responded, "I look forward to your next summoning of me, Miss Lucy." She then straightened and disappeared with a flash of light. 

Lucy gave a small sigh, hoping that she would eventually be able to get Pavo to open up a bit. She turned back around and picked up the third key. She looked down at the silver key and its design. The blade didn't resemble anything of note, but the bow was circular with a green shield on it, and blue gems dotting the edges. She smiled down at the key and raised it. "I connect to the World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Shield Constellation: Scutum!" 

Within a few seconds, a celestial spirit that looked like the stereotypical knight in shining armor appeared. Lucy was only able to take in their armor-clad form when the spirit dropped to one knee, kneeling before her as though she were royalty. Feeling her face heat up in embarrassment at the sudden action, she stuttered out, "um...h-hello, Scutum. I'm Lucy. Would you like to make a contract with me?" Her embarrassed smile felt a little strained and she hoped that it wasn't visible. 

Scutum, clothed in shining steel armor that covered every part of their body and a green shield on their back, responded, head still bowed, "greetings, My Lady. I am honored to be your spirit. I pledge to you my service and protection for as long as my key is in your possession." 

The celestial spirit's voice was deep, telling Lucy that Scutum was a male spirit. She nodded at the acceptance of her offer. She reached down and took Scutum's arm into hers, gently urging him to stand. Once he followed her silent order, though, with slight hesitance that Lucy ignored, the blonde spoke, "what can you do?" 

Scutum answered, "as a defense-oriented celestial spirit, I am capable of shielding you and your allies from any type of attack, no matter how strong. It is my sworn duty to protect my keyholder and their allies. You will always be safe whenever you summon me, My Lady, this I swear to you." 

Lucy smiled up at him. She kind of liked having such a devoted spirit, though she also hoped that she would be able to get him to show more emotions and relax, if a little bit. She enjoyed seeing her spirits have fun and be themselves, wanting them to be free of celestial wizards who would abuse them, along with the fear that would accompany such a thing. 

"What days can I summon you on?" 

"Whenever you need my services, I will be there at your every call." 

Lucy nodded. The contract-making ended when she thanked Scutum, welcomed him into the family, and watched as he bowed to her before disappearing. She turned around to pick up the last key. She looked over the key's design. The keyblade appeared to be frozen, with three icicles hanging from it. The circular bow had a sparkling river designed on it. 

She raised the key and called from the last time that evening, "I connect to the World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the River Constellation: Eridanus!" 

A bright flash of silver light signaled the arrival of the celestial spirit. Lucy held the key to her chest as she gazed upon the young woman who appeared. Eridanus was tall, with a curvaceous figure and a beautiful face. Her white hair was low, braided bun, a few curled strands framing her face. Her eyes were an icy blue color that sent a shiver down Lucy's spine, and her skin was pale. Light blue eyeshadow was dusted around her eyes and on her lips was a clear lipgloss that made her plump lips shimmer in the light of the setting sun. She was dressed in a floor-length, sheath gown. It was pale blue in color and had a frost-like design running up the skit before it faded upon reaching the bottom of her bodice. The sleeves were mesh and off the shoulder, reaching her elbows. Her elbow-length gloves were white. Around her neck was a light blue chocker that had a white, icicle-shaped crystal hanging from it. 

Eridanus curtsied to Lucy and bowed her head as she spoke, "greeting, Lady Lucy. I've heard much about you. It is a pleasure to serve as your celestial spirit." She then straightened and raised her head, a warm smile on her face and a softened look in her eyes. 

Lucy snapped out of her stupor, having been taken by her new spirit's elegant appearance. She smiled back and responded, "I'm happy to meet you too, Eridanus. Um...you've heard about me? I hope that what you heard wasn't too bad." 

Eridanus raised a hand to rest over her mouth as she gave a light laugh. Lucy was nothing short of memorized. Even Eridanus' laughter was elegant. "I assure you, My Lady, everything that your spirits have told me was good, very good. Even Aquarius has told me good things about you." 

Lucy felt her heart clench and warm at the same time upon hearing that. "She did?" A hopeful smile found its way to her face and her grip on the key in her hands tightened. 

Eridanus nodded with a lovely smile gracing her face in return. "Yes. Aquarius would mask her compliments of you with complaints, but it's not difficult for me to see through her words and into what she really means." 

Lucy gave a silent sigh, bowing her head to look at the ground. A feeling of happiness washed over her. She wasn't sure why, but hearing that Aquarius spoke positively of her, even if the comments were masked as insults, made her feel rather happy. She then looked back up at Eridanus and asked, "what can you do?" 

Eridanus folded her hands in front of herself and answered, her voice so calm and serene that it probably could make Lucy forget her worries, if for only a short while, "I am specialized in Ice Magic, this being regular Ice Magic and Ice-Make Magic. Though, I must note that while am powerful in terms of magic, like Pavo, I am one of the more powerful silver-keyed celestial spirits, I am afraid that I do not have much talent when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Physical fights are not something I can do much in."

Lucy shook her head and offered a reassuring smile, "that's alright! Your power is still very useful and I have plenty of spirits who can take care of physical fights." 

Eridanus nodded her head once, seemingly in acceptance at the attempted reassurance. Lucy next asked, "what days can I summon you on?" 

"Any day you wish, My Lady, I am always free to offer you my services." 

Lucy nodded. After thanking Eridanus and welcoming her into the family, she watched as the celestial spirit disappeared in a flurry of sparkles. She requipped her remaining keys to join all the rest of her keys. She then sat back down on the fountain's edge, her mind drifting to the argument that had taken place just a couple of hours ago. 

She still wasn't sure what they should do. She knew that Nyx could be tricking them. If that was the case, then things could get bad very quickly. However, he would also serve as an important source of information. To be honest, Lucy was torn between the two options. 

As her mind dwelled on the situation, a familiar voice broke her out of her thoughts, "mind if I join you?" 

[isabellafoster13]

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Rufus' Rescue

Midnight peeked from behind a tree at an unassuming, most likely abandoned, house that sat in the middle of a forest. He furrowed his brow as he asked the mages who were hiding among the vegetation with him, "we're sure that this is the right location?" His voice was low, careful not to make too much noise in case there was a hidden person who was on the lookout.

Lucy answered, her voice also low, "yeah, it definitely is. Sirius couldn't be wrong." She reached up with one hand and adjusted Rufus' hat, which she had rested upon her head.

Midnight nodded and glanced at Freed, who was finishing up the runes that Lucy had instructed him to put up. Insurance that Terra, Lust, and Nyx won't be able to easily escape. He then turned back to look at the house again. His eyes roamed over the outside, trying to deduce what part of the house Rufus could be being kept in.

It didn't take long for him to spot a small window that sat at the base of the house's exterior. A basement. It was a typical place to keep a captive, but also the easiest place.

"Have you thought of a plan, Lucy?" Freed asked as he returned to where they were hiding.

Midnight heard her hum in thought before she asked him, "Midnight, do have any guesses as to where in the house they could be keeping Rufus?"

Midnight looked over at her before he looked back at the house. He reached out a hand and pointed at the small window that he had spotted. "My guess would be the basement."

Lucy's eyes quickly locked onto the window. She nodded and requipped a silver key into her hand. Midnight and Freed watched as she stood up and stepped backward, away from the tree that she was hiding behind. She raised her key and softly called out, "Open! Gate of the Fly: Musca!"

In an instant, a young man in a fly costume appeared in front of Lucy, sitting with his legs crisscrossed and his chin resting on top of the knuckles of his hand, which were balled into fists while his arms were propped up in the sides of his knees. He grinned up at Lucy and asked, rather loudly, "what'd ya need?"

Midnight gave a slight grimace at his loud tone while Lucy shushed him. She then instructed him, "I need you to turn into a fly and go into that to find out who is where inside."

Musca stood up and brushed the dirt off of his costume before he questioned, his voice now low, and grin still on his face, "how many people am I looking for?"

"Four. Three celestial wizards and one of our friends."

Musca flashed a thumbs-up before he shifted into a fly and flew toward the house. Midnight watched until he wasn't able to see the spirit any longer. He then looked over at Lucy and asked, "what are we going to do with the celestial wizards if we catch them?"

Lucy glanced at him before she looked down at the ground, seeming to be thinking. It was a question that Midnight hadn't realized that he was wondering, but now that he thought about it, he didn't think they had ever talked about the topic, nor had he been told what the plan was.

Freed looked at Lucy with a furrowed brow. "Yeah, what are we going to do with them? None of the books I looked through have any information on them, and Mest hasn't heard of them, so it's possible that the Magic Council doesn't know about them. That could make turning them in difficult."

Lucy nodded as she continued to stare at the ground. Eventually, she sighed and answered, "let's just focus on saving Rufus. Getting him back safely should be our first priority."

Midnight nodded, but he was still slightly concerned with what they were supposed to do with Terra, Lust, and Nyx. It wouldn't be easy to detain and transport them to be imprisoned. While he was on that train of thought, he also couldn't recall them ever learning how the three celestial wizards' mission was possible.

He looked over at Lucy again, asking, "how are they even able to take over the Celestial Spirit World?"

It was Freed who responded, his tone a little on the harsh side, "I don't think that talking this much is a good idea. We can figure all of that out when we capture them."

Midnight suppressed a glare at the other man's tone while Lucy turned to Freed and soothed as she place a hand on his shoulder, "his questions are understandable, I'm curious too. Try not to be harsh, please."

A light dusting of pink appeared on Freed's cheeks as he softly replied, "right, I apologize." It was clearly directed toward Lucy rather than toward Midnight. However, that wasn't what bothered Midnight. A feeling of irritation swirled in his gut as he grimaced at the sight of the blush on Freed's face.

He turned his head away, to look back at the house. He still didn't understand why it irritated him so much when Lucy would be so affectionate toward Freed or Rufus, before his capture, resulting in either man blushing lightly. There was something about the occasional display that would make him want to steal away Lucy's attention, even though he never responded much better than Freed and Rufus whenever Lucy would focus her attention on him, praising him for any sort of accomplishment.

It especially frustrated him that he had yet to figure out why he felt this way about Lucy. Recently, he's found himself watching her more than he used to. Without realizing it, he would end up staring at her with a warmth on his face and in his heart, along with a fluttering feeling in his gut, as he watches her do anything, typically admiring her newest keys.

Speaking of, has he, Freed, and Rufus given Lucy any of the keys that they collected at la Cour de Velours? He knew that he hadn't given her the two keys that he collected, having forgotten about doing so due to Rufus' capture. He wouldn't be surprised if Freed was the same way and Rufus most likely didn't either due to having been captured.

He turned back to look at Lucy again. She was staring intently at the house, one of her hands resting on her opposite arm as she, seemingly absentmindedly, picked at non-existent lint on her blue shirt sleeve. He quickly found himself staring at her again, but couldn't find it in himself to care very much about how weird it might look. So, he doesn't look away. Instead, he observes how the freshly risen sun shines down on Lucy's golden hair, making it glow beautifully. Her dark brown eyes seemed to sparkle in the light, something that, as he's noticed, was a common thing that happened whenever it was sunny outside.

A sudden sharp, but incredibly brief, pain snapped his attention away from Lucy and over to Freed, who had silently moved to stand just behind him. The green-haired man gave him a silent glare, which was clearly a warning that he should stop staring at Lucy. Midnight returned the glare, continuing the sort of standoff until Lucy spoke excitedly, yet still softly, "Musca! He's back!"

Midnight and Freed watched as Lucy walked past them to speak with her spirit, who returned to his more human form to give his report. The fly costume-clad young man gave a large grin as he chirped, "your blonde friend is in the basement!"

Lucy asked, concern lacing her voice, "did he appear to be hurt?"

Musca shook his head. "Not really. He's tied up, though."

"What about the celestial wizards?"

"Two of them seem to be preparing to leave. The other one is gonna stay, I guess."

Lucy nodded and hummed in thought. "Who are probably leaving?"

"The chick and a guy with blue hair."

Lucy thanked Musca and dismissed him back to his realm. When she turned back to face her two friends, Midnight questioned, "what's the plan now?"

Lucy answered, "we should get to Rufus first. Terra and Lust would know that we're here once they discover the runes that Freed set up, so we need to release him before they get to us before we can get to him. We also need to deal with Nyx, but I'm sure that the three of us can take care of him just fine."

She walked back to the tree that she was previously hidden behind and peered at the house. A few moments of silence followed before she spoke again, "we should wait for Terra and Lust to leave. Once they do, we can go in from different entrances." She turned around to look at her guildmate. "Freed, how many doors did you see?"

"Three. The front door, back door, and a side door." Freed wasted no time in listing off the entrances to the house that he had seen while setting up his runes.

Lucy nodded. "I'll go in from the door opposite of the one that Terra and Lust exit from. While I look for Rufus, Freed, you'll look for Nyx and try to capture him. Midnight, you'll stay outside and go after Terra and Lust."

Midnight nodded along with Freed, agreeing with the plan. The three then turned back to the house to wait for Terra and Lust to exit the house. Midnight tapped his fingers against the tree that he leaned against, feeling unusually restless. Well, he supposed that uneasy would be a better word. He wasn't sure why he was feeling this way, but really irritated him and he itched for Terra and Lust to finally come out of the house so that they could get on with the dual rescue and capture plan.

It took several minutes of tense waiting, but eventually, Terra and Lust finally exited the house through the front door, making their way toward a part of Freed's rune wall. Lucy then nodded toward the two men and the trio set out to their assigned jobs: Lucy to find Rufus, Freed to capture Nyx, and Midnight to capture Terra and Lust.

Midnight quietly but swiftly made his way in the direction that Terra and Lust had walked in. As he got closer, he readied himself for a fight. As confident as he was in his ability to fight, he couldn't exactly deny that he was nervous about this confrontation. He had no idea what other forms of magic these two were capable of using, or which spirits they had. Going by what Lucy had said about when she, Sorano, and Yukino were captured, Terra knew Sleep Magic. The chances of her knowing other types, or Lust knowing other types, were higher than Midnight was comfortable with.

His train of thought was abruptly cut off when he bumped into Freed's wall of runes, the enchanted writing a glowing purple upon contact. He groaned as he rubbed his dully pained nose. He hissed a curse under his breath and looked around, searching for the two mages he had gone after.

Where were Terra and Lust? They should be here. Did they walk in a different direction? Why would they? His movements were silent, so they couldn't have heard him. Did they go back to the house after finding the wall of runes? He would have surely heard them making their way back if they did.

"Looking for us?"

Midnight whipped around to find a pink-haired woman standing several feet in front of him, a smirk on her face. Next to her, a blue-haired man stood with three silver keys in his hand. Midnight looked back at Terra, his eyes narrowed in a glare, and shifted his tensed body into a fighting stance.

Terra only continued to smirk, her body eerily relaxed. It unsettled Midnight, just a little. His instincts, honed from a lifetime of fighting, told him that there was something more here, something that he was missing. The smirk on the woman's face was too smug, too sure of herself, too...knowing.

Midnight continued to watch her closely, his brain working to figure out what it was that he was missing. When Terra's eyes flicked to the rune wall behind him several times, he chanced a quick look behind himself, his body's stance not changing. His eyes widened and his body froze when he saw the runes glow a purple color before disappearing entirely, clearly deactivated.

Midnight looked back at the duo in front of him. It was then that the realization hit him.

These three celestial wizards knew that they were there and what they were planning.

As soon as the realization struck him, Midnight was enveloped by flames. He screamed as his knees buckled and he fell to the ground, the flames that lapped at his exposed skin burned painfully, but didn't leave any marks.

Seemingly as quickly as they came, the flames died out and Midnight was left on his hand and knees, his eyes stinging with tears as his whole body stung, his clothes smoking a little, as well. His breathing came out in gasps as he looked around for the two celestial wizards, or for the celestial spirit who attacked him from above, but he found nobody in sight.

He cursed under his breath as he pulled himself to his feet, his slightly singed clothes rubbing against his still burning skin painfully. He was able to catch a small glimpse of blue hair disappearing in the direction that lead away from the house. Tempted to give chase, he reluctantly decided to instead make his way as quickly to the house as his pained body would allow him. He knew that he wouldn't fair well in a fight with those two, and Lucy didn't need to deal with two injured men.

He eventually made his way out of the trees and looked up to find that Lucy and Freed were standing in front of the house, seeming to be talking, while Rufus sat on the front steps, what looked like a book in his hands.

Midnight made his way to them. Upon noticing him, Lucy wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace, causing him to grimace with a pained groan. Lucy jumped away with a slightly panicky tone, "sorry! Sorry!"

Midnight waved her off and asked, "anybody hurt?"

Freed answered, "my scuffle with one of that man's spirits will certainly leave me with a few painful bruises, but besides that, I'm unharmed. Lucy, too, isn't hurt, and Rufus, rather surprisingly, isn't injured."

Midnight looked down at the blonde man, his iconic hat now firmly on his head. A small wave of relief washed over him upon seeing that Rufus was, indeed, not injured. His attention went back to Lucy when she spoke, "Rufus found something big." There was a delighted smile on her face, something that Midnight hadn't seen in some time and, unexpectedly, missed a lot.

He looked back at Rufus and asked, "that book?"

Rufus nodded and stood up. "This is a book of Celestial Spirit Magic spells. It contains the spell that will allow a celestial wizard to take over the Celestial Spirit World."

Midnight's eyes widened at that. He stepped closer to peer at the book. "How?"

Rufus tipped the book closer to him, allowing him to read the page. When he stepped away, his curiosity partially satisfied, he looked at Lucy and asked, "what's the plan now?"

Lucy opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Freed, "hold on a moment." All three mages looked at the rune mage. His sea-green gaze was set on Rufus. "How did you find this book? And this spell? You were tied up in the basement, weren't you?"

Midnight nodded. "That's a good question." He looked at Rufus. "How did you?"

Rufus closed the book and tucked it under an arm. "This is going to be difficult to believe, but yesterday, Nyx told me about the spell and gave me this book."

Midnight narrowed his eyes at him. It wasn't in suspicion toward Rufus, he knew that the Sabertooth mage wouldn't do anything traitorous, rather, it was in suspicion of the fact that one of the celestial wizards they were combating had, seemingly, freely given up such important information.

It seemed that Lucy, too, was suspicious. "Are you sure that he can be trusted, Rufus?"

Rufus sighed, looking down at the ground for a few moments before he finally looked at the three of them and answered seriously, "look, I understand why you'd be hesitant to trust him, but I spoke with him about it. He came to me with this information, I didn't need to push. He was insistent about wanting to help us. Furthermore, he let me go when he saw that you were coming."

Lucy questioned, a surprised tone in her voice, "that's why I ran into you on my way to the basement? I thought that you had gotten yourself free."

Rufus shook his head. "Nyx had let me go. He wanted to speak with you. He's sworn up and down several times that he wants to help us."

Midnight couldn't believe what he was hearing. He shook his head. "You can't honestly believe his word. Have you forgotten who we're fighting?"

Rufus countered, "I understand your concerns, but what if he is being honest? If we can team up with him, then it would most definitely give us a great advantage. I'd say that it's worth the risk."

Midnight could only disagree. They didn't need to know anything about their enemy, they just needed to know what they were planning. Now that they had this book, they could more easily figure out how to stop those three celestial wizards. He looked to Lucy, prepared to urge her against the idea, but wanting to listen to her initial response first.

Lucy stared at the ground for a few moments longer before she looked back up and answered, "let's find a place to stay in the town before we make a final decision. I don't want to stay here for much longer, in case they come back."

With that, the small group set off toward the nearby town, an argument almost certainly waiting to happen.

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: REFERENCES TO PAST CHARACTER DEATH AND SEXUAL ASSAULT!

Chapter Thirty-Six: Why Should I Believe You?

The sun's warm rays shined down on a field of healthy grass, flowers of an assortment of colors doting the green canvas. Sitting underneath a tree was a blonde man, dressed in casual clothes, or rather, casual in his opinion. A book was held in his hands and his hat was nestled in the grass next to him. A serene smile had found its way onto his face as his green eyes took in the story that the book had to tell and the warm, summer day filled his body with a sense of peace. 

The moment was eventually interrupted when a pair of arms wrapped around him in a warm embrace. A cheerful voice soon followed, "hey, Rufus! What're you up to?" 

Rufus turned his head to see Yukino smiling at him, her dark eyes sparkling and pale blue hair reflecting the sunrays beautifully. He smiled back at her and answered, "just enjoying this lovely day with a book. I can't recall the last time I was able to do this." 

Yukino sat on the ground next to him, leaning against the large tree behind them. "Guess what I did." 

Rufus looked away from his book, which he had just closed to move to the spot right beside his hat, and at his friend. He raised an eyebrow that was mostly hidden by his mask. He didn't miss the mischievous glint in her eyes. Sting was really rubbing off on her, huh? 

Rufus felt suspicion stir in his gut and his eyes narrowed accordingly. "What?" 

Yukino's grin widened even more and Rufus knew that she was up to something, and it was definitely going to involve him in some way. Yukino clasped her hands together and announced happily, "I invited Lucy to come here tomorrow! She plans to stay the whole day!" 

Rufus froze at that reveal, his brain stuttering to a stop. At the thought of the blonde celestial wizard whom he had been infatuated with for a while, his face burned with a red blush and his stomach flipped. His mouth opened and closed like a fish before finally remaining open. 

While Yukino laughed at his response and Rufus remained frozen with a mind that was blank except for the image of Lucy with a radiant smile on her face, a new voice joined them. "Close your mouth, Rufus. You look traumatized." 

The pair looked over to see Sorano approaching them, a teasing smile on her usually blank face. She sat down in the spot in front of her sister and friend before she reached over and pushed Rufus' chin up to close his mouth. She then spoke again, "so, are you gonna tell her that you love her finally?" 

Before Rufus could even think of an answer, Yukino clapped her hands a few times as she cheered, "can my sister and I help you?" 

At that, Rufus finally found his tongue. "No, no! That wouldn't be necessary!" He sighed and answered more calmly, "look, I do not need assistance with my love life, nor do I plan to confess my affections for Lucy to her. I would rather work up to that by beginning with an excellent friendship." 

Yukino leaned closer to him. "But, Rufus-"

"That's fine, Rufus," Sorano cut off the beginning of Yukino's whine, "but, if you decide that you do want help, then you know who to come to." She gave Rufus a wink and teasing smile, causing Rufus' blush to renew. 

Green eyes snapped open and glanced around frantically, confused as to where their owner was. Rufus' racing heart and heavy breathing calmed as memories of where he was and how he had gotten there quickly flowed through his mind. He heaved a sigh and stared down at the dirty floor. 

That dream he had. It was a memory. 

He remembered the day well. It was the day after Yukino and Sorano had gotten him to admit that he had romantic feelings for Lucy. They had decided that it would have been a good idea to invite Lucy to the guild, giving Rufus a chance to either confess his love, or form a close friendship with her. Predictably, he went with the latter option. 

After that day, Sorano and Yukino had been his biggest supporters, giving advice whenever he was going to hang out with Lucy. He would admit, it tended to get annoying, but he nevertheless appreciated that they cared enough to try to help. 

Rufus' eyes burned with tears at the memory of the two sisters. His gut twisted and his breathing became heavy. As he stared down at the floor, his mind slipped away from the fact that he was a captive and focused on Sorano and Yukino. 

He had never cursed his impeccable memory before, not until he bore witness to the aftermath of what was done to them, Lucy, and the Queen. The sight of their bloody and torture-ravaged bodies had effortlessly burned itself into his memory. The fact that Yukino had come so very close to recovering just as Lucy did before her condition suddenly sank and never rose again.

He choked on an uncontrollable sob as tears poured out of his eyes and soaked into his mask, a handful of drops managing to roll down to his chin and drip onto the ropes that he was bound in. His breaths were shuddering as he inhaled and exhaled, his eyes screwed shut. He felt a stab of pain in his chest, as if his heart was being stabbed. 

Why was he crying now? Why wasn't he over Sorano and Yukino's deaths yet when it's been more than a month since they died? He had done everything he could to distract himself from their loss. He was so sure that if he did so, then the time that passed would help him move on without him needing to spend a lot of time dwelling on the deaths. Why hadn't it worked? Surely enough time was passed that he shouldn't so easily be reduced to a sobbing mess. 'Time heals all wounds', isn't that how the saying went? 

His body trembled against his binds and he curled his hands into fists, a helpless attempt to distract himself and stop his tears. His sobs soon became heavier and louder, memories of Sorano and Yukino assaulting his mind. 

The time when Yukino and he got caught in a hard downpour after a job and ended up being soaked to the bone, getting sick for the next couple of days as a result. The time when Sorano had shown up at his front door in the middle of the night because she begrudgingly wanted his help to bake a cake for Yukino's birthday, the endeavor somehow ended with flour covering the entire kitchen and their own bodies. The time when Yukino and Sorano made him stay up all night by educating him on Lucy's interests, along with things he should never say to a woman. 

These memories and others filled his mind and caused his grief to force its way out of him more. The pain in his chest became worse as a nauseous feeling filled his gut and his mask became soaked with tears, bound to sick to his face uncomfortably. 

He didn't know how long he had been crying, nor just how loud his sobs were, but his tears did stop falling eventually, though, his breathing remained heavy. He blinked his eyes open and sniffled a few times. His mind went blank, now devoid of memories of Sorano and Yukino, or any memories at all. 

He was staring blankly at the floor when the sound of footsteps walking down the wooden staircase caught his attention. He unconsciously tensed at the sound and kept his head bowed, eyes locked onto the floor. His heartbeat picked up its pace and his gut turned. He knew who was walking down onto where he was being held. 

That horrid woman who couldn't seem to keep her hands to herself. He could already feel her hands roaming over his body, somehow pushing past the ropes to slip under his shirt to feel his abs before those same hands rubbed against his private area. He scrunched up his face in disgust. That woman even had the disgusting audacity to latch her mouth onto his neck after adjusting his clothing to expose it. Thankfully, she never left a mark, but he was sure that it was only a matter of time before she did. He dreaded that day. 

He listened in tense silence as the footsteps walked closer to him. When the footsteps stopped, he screwed his eyes shut and waited for the nonconsensual touching and uncomfortable remarks to begin. 

However, neither came. Instead, he heard a rather unsure and masculine voice speak, "I need you to listen to me." 

Rufus hesitantly lifted his head, finding that the person who was standing in front of him was not Terra, but instead was Nyx. The younger man stared down at him with a furrowed brow and a frown on his face, though his eyes didn't seem to match his facial expression. In his arms were two large books, clutched tightly to his bare chest. 

Rufus asked, his voice a little bit raspy and not as strong as" he wanted it to be, "what do you want? To torture me some more?" 

He watched as Nyx gulped and spoke, "I-I have to talk to you about something important." He paused and looked down at the books in his arms. "I have information that you should know." 

Rufus furrowed his brow at that. His mind was slower than it usually was. His brief grieving rendered him tired and uninterested in doing much thinking. "What?" was all that he could respond with. 

Nyx lifted the books to show him the covers. Rufus looked at the covers, seeing that one was titled "Celestial Spirit Magic Spells: Book One" and the other was titled the same, except the number was two instead of one. He raised his eyes back to Nyx and questioned, "what on Earth do you mean?" 

The other man exclaimed as he hugged the books to his chest again, "one of these books holds the spell that will make taking over the Celestial Spirit World possible."

Rufus' eyes widened. He looked back down at the books before flicking his eyes back at Nyx's face. He was tempted to ask for more information, but it didn't take a genius to know that this whole thing was suspicious. Why would one of the celestial wizards who he and the others were combating give him such vital information? 

He narrowed his eyes and questioned, "why are you telling me this?" 

Nyx sighed and sat down on the floor in front of him, setting the books to the side. "I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to go along with this plan any longer." 

Rufus could only stare down at him. The look in his eyes and on his face made him almost think that the younger man was being honest. Almost. He still had enough sense to know that he shouldn't trust so quickly. This could easily be a trick. He furrowed his brow and responded critically, "you think I would believe that? How insulting." 

Nyx responded by placing his hands on Rufus' knees, resulting in the blonde man tensing at the unwanted and unexpected touch. This, of course, went unacknowledged by the younger man. Nyx only exclaimed, "I'm being completely honest! I don't want to do any of this anymore! There's not even any point anymore! I want to help you and your friends!" 

Rufus raised one leg to push the other man away. "Why should I believe you?"

Nyx offered, "I'm telling you about it, right?" 

"You haven't told me anything." 

Nyx then picked up one of the books and began flipping through it at such a fast pace that Rufus found it difficult to believe that he was able to comprehend what the contents of the pages were. "Look, I understand your hesitance to believe me-" 

"You tortured two of my friends to death, one nearly to death, knocked out another friend, and tortured me after kidnapping me!" 

Nyx snapped, "I only tortured one of your friends, and I didn't want to take or torture you!" 

"That makes any of this better, how?" Rufus narrowed his eyes again and raised an eyebrow. 

Nyx's eyes cast downward and he sighed, "It-it doesn't. I just..." He trailed off, remaining silent again before he resumed his flipping through the pages as he continued, "there's this Magic Item in Pergrande Kingdom. If all of the Celestial Spirit Keys are taken to it and an encantation is said, then it will cast a spell that basically brainwashes all Celestial Spirits, including the Celestial Spirit King himself." 

Rufus's widened and his mouth dropped open. This was an unexpected revelation, if, of course, it was true. He still wasn't convinced, but that didn't mean he had to completely dismiss what Nyx was saying. For all he knew, the younger man was telling the truth. 

"What is it called?" 

"The item itself has no name, at least, not one that we were able to find. The spell itself is called Starfall, so that's what we've been calling the item itself as well." 

"How did you find it in such a faraway country?" 

"I don't know. Terra was the one who told us about it. I've only been to its location once." 

Rufus watched as Nyx continued to flip through the book. Whatever he was looking for, the Starfall spell, assumedly, wasn't in the book, apparently. Nyx switched to the second book and began to rapidly flip through it. 

Rufus was torn over what he should do. He could call the other man's bluff and turn him away, but then that would mean that he, Lucy, Freed, and Midnight would be without anything concrete. They don't know anything about the Starfall spell or where the Starfall item is, assuming this was all true. He also knew that this could be a trick to lure him and the others into a trap. 

He watched as Nyx flipped through the book furiously, seeming to be almost desperate. It was a good act, he would admit that. Too good, he could say. Maybe it wasn't an act. He couldn't deny the possibility. 

Rufus sighed, "if you can help me escape, then I'll get Lucy to hear you out." 

He knew that he was taking a major risk, but it was one that he was going to have to take. If worst comes, then he's sure that he, Lucy, Freed, and Midnight could get out of whatever situation they end up getting put in. They each were, after all, among the strongest in their respective guilds. 

Nyx looked up at him with surprise clearly written on his face. He then grinned and exclaimed, "I already have a plan for that!" 

Rufus silently nodded, indicating that he wanted him to tell him said plan. Nyx continued to look through the book as he explained, "tomorrow evening, Terra and Lust are going to leave and search for your friends. I've been given the task of torturing you until they return. I can let you go once I'm sure that they are long gone." He looked up at Rufus, his dark eyes hard and serious. "But only if you promise that you can get the blonde Fairy to listen to me."

Rufus hesitated. He knew that under normal circumstances, Lucy would listen and possibly even give him a chance, after all, she was pretty big on the redemption of her previous enemies. But, he had no way of knowing if that would hold true now. She wasn't exactly in a great state of mind. Add in what Nyx had done to her, and there was clearly no guarantee that she would be willing to listen, or trust, Nyx. 

Nevertheless, he had to escape as soon as possible and this information that was being offered to him was too important for him to pass off as a trick. He silently cursed at himself and gave his response, "I can only promise that I'll do my best." 

That seemed to be enough for the younger man as he looked back down at the book in his hands. A few long moments of silence passed before he finally picked the book up and held it for Rufus to see. 

Rufus leaned as close to the book as he could, which wasn't much. The page that was being shown to him had "Starfall" written across the top, in large, black letters. Below was a detailed description of how to activate the spell. He read through it and furrowed his brow. The book seemed to be real, the pages being obviously aged. However, he couldn't be 100% sure that it wasn't a fake if he couldn't examine it, and maybe get the others to look at it as well. 

He sighed and nodded. "You really do want to help us?"

Nyx lowered the book and nodded his head furiously. "I do! I really do!" 

"Then you better hold up your end of our deal. If you do, then I'll hold up mine." 

"I will! I promise that I will!" 

Nyx then nodded and gave him a weak smile before he jumped to his feet with the two books in his hands. Looking almost like a skittering, small animal, he bounded back up the stairs and out of the basement, leaving Rufus to think twice about what he had just done and mull over the possible consequences, if this was, in fact, a trick. 

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: IMPLIED SEXUAL ASSAULT AND ATTEMPTED MURDER!

Thirty-Five: Escape Plan

Nyx sighed as he flipped through a book, sitting at a dusty dining room table in a dirty dining room. He was using the glass, sliding door next to him, trying to catch the morning light that was streaming through. His eyes scanned the contents of the pages. After a few more minutes, he sighed once more and leaned back away from the book and table, raising his hands to rub his temples. He's had a pounding headache since waking, something that seemed to recently become a frequent occurrence lately. 

"You're hard at work, huh?" 

Nyx looked over at the entrance to the dining room, seeing Lust walk in with his arms crossed over his chest and a lit cigarette held tightly in between his thin lips. He stopped at the dining table and raised a hand to take the cigarette out of his mouth, holding it between his fingers, and stuffed his other hand into his pocket. "How long have you been looking through that?" 

Nyx leaned forward again, resting his arms on top of the table in front of the open book. "All morning." 

Lust huffed a short chuckle. "Terra's been pretty unhelpful lately." 

"How so?" Nyx raised his eyebrow. He had been so focused on torturing their captive and looking through this book, that he hadn't noticed what his other two partners were doing. 

Lust took a long drag of his cigarette and breathed out the smoke. "You've been doing this," he gestured with his cigarette-holding hand toward Nyx, "and I've been keeping an eye out for the princess and her friends and getting supplies in the town."

Nyx stared down at the book. "What's Terra been doing?" 

"What do you think? She's been down in the basement with that Sabor." He scoffed. "She's got a thing for that guy that I don't understand." 

"I don't think he'll like her very much." 

"You think that'll stop her?" He took another drag of his cigarette and breathed out. "I went down a couple of hours ago and found her fondling him." 

Nyx furrowed his brow at that, his gut twisting with an uncomfortable feeling. "You mean...?" He didn't want to voice what he was suspecting Lust meant.

Lust nodded his head. "It's disgusting." He rolled his eyes and strolled over to the sliding door, leaning against the wall next to it. "I was tempted to deck her." 

"You don't have a problem with torture though." It was almost comical to him, that Lust was against what Terra was doing but not torturing people. Though, he supposed that ironic was a better term. He leaned back and wrapped his arms around himself, suddenly feeling more sympathy for the blonde man in the basement than he did before. 

Lust shot him a glare and jabbed his cigarette in Nyx's direction, sneering, "don't tell me how to live my life." 

Nyx only rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the book in front of him, hoping that it would be a suitable distraction from their topic of conversation. However, not a lot of time passed before Lust spoke again, "what are you even looking for?" 

"Terra didn't tell you?" 

"Hell no. That bitch is too busy molesting blondie down there and barking orders whenever you try to take a break." 

Nyx sighed again and continued to stare down at the open book. What was he supposed to tell Lust? He was under strict orders by Terra to not tell him about Starfall. He couldn't tell Lust what he was really doing. Why was Lust even being barred from the knowledge of Starfall? Nyx hadn't been able to figure it out. He flipped the book closed and leaned back in his chair again, purposefully avoiding Lust's gaze that he could already feel boring down on him. 

Nyx took a deep breath before he finally spoke, "it's just a book of Celestial Spirit Magic spells. Terra wanted me to learn some new ones." 

His gut twisted and his heartbeat picked up speed. He kept his eyes locked on the book. Lust's eyes seemed to burn into him, making him want to run out of the dining room so that Lust wouldn't be able to call him out on his half-lie. 

After several moments that lasted a little too long and were a little too tense for Nyx, Lust finally spoke, "alright. Good job, I guess." It was obvious from his tone that he didn't actually believe what Nyx had told him. 

Nyx listened as Lust walked out of the dining room. He breathed a sigh of relief and reopened the book, continuing to look through it. It didn't take long for him to get lost in the spells that were contained in the book, his eyes searching for one in particular. He ended up being so engrossed in the contents of the book that he failed to notice the arrival of a woman at the glass door. 

A knock caused him to jump and whipped his head around to look at the door while he stood up and raised his hands in preparation to fight. Almost immediately, he relaxed upon seeing who it was. 

A young woman stood at the door, a bright smile on her face. She was a little on the short side and quite lithe. Her snow-white hair fell to her hips, wavy and possessing a sort of feathery look at the end, as did the strands of hair that framed her round face. Her brown skin had a slight glow in the sunlight that shined down on her and her black eyes held a softness in them. She was dressed in a white, knee-length, circle dress. The sweetheart neckline of the dress was decorated with white feathers, semi-covering her ample bust. Topping off the outfit were white, flat shoes, and white opera gloves. The most noticeable feature about her was the white wings that sprouted from her back, folded behind her.

Nyx smiled at the sight of her, as well as at the sight of the book that she was holding tightly in her covered hands. He walked over to the glass door and slid it open, greeting the young woman, "hey, Columba. It's about time you got back." 

Columba bounded into the room and stopped in front of the table, across from where Nyx had been sitting. She laid the new book on top of the table. "Yeah, sorry it so long, Master. I ran into a bit of trouble." 

Nyx sat back down and looked up at her with a concerned expression. "I hope that you didn't get hurt." 

"No, no, not at all. It was just some guy looking for a date, nothing to worry about." She waved her hands in front of herself dismissively. 

Nyx pulled the open book closer to himself. "Well, it's good that you were able to find that. I'm starting to think that the Starfall spell isn't in this one." 

After that, Columba was silent. Nyx watched her as she bit down on her bottom lip and rubbed her upper arm, looking away from her wizard. He raised an eyebrow at her, knowing that there was something on her mind that she was wanting to say. It was a little amusing to him, how bad she was at hiding her emotions, especially if the emotion she was feeling was worry.

"Columba." The spirit snapped her head up to look at him. "Is there something that you want to tell me?" He watched as she hesitated, opening her move before quickly closing it as her look of unease slowly became more and more apparent. After about a minute, Nyx spoke again, trying to make his voice sound as soothing as possible, "if there is something bothering you, then you can tell me. You know that I won't relay anything we talk about to Terra or Lust." 

Columba nodded and heaved a deep breath before releasing it. She was silent for a few moments before she finally asked, her eyes looking at the books on the table, "are you sure about all of this?" 

Nyx sighed. He should have known that was what was bothering her. He slowly stood up and approached her, placing his hands on her shoulders. When she finally looked at his face, he responded with a soft tone, "I know that you don't want to do this. I don't either. But, we don't have much of a choice." 

Tears filled Columba's eyes as she whimpered, "it's my home, and they are my friends." 

Nyx didn't respond, only pulled her into his arms and allowed her to silently cry into his bare chest. They stood there like that for a few minutes, Nyx wishing all the while that he could do something, as well as silently cursing himself for not having the balls to do what he's tried to do several times now. 

When Columba finally pulled away, sniffling and wiping her leftover tears, he spoke, "why don't you go back to the Celestial Spirit World? Take some time off. You did well." 

Columba smiled at him and nodded before she dismissed herself. Nyx then walked back to his chair and sat down. He stared down at the book that was open in front of him, no longer being able to bring himself to flip through its pages.

He jumped once again when he heard the basement door open and close with a bang. With bated breath and his eyes locked on the book, his body tensed as he listened to Terra stomping past the open dining room door and up the stairs to her bedroom. Once, her footsteps faded, his body relaxed and he released the breath that he had been holding in. 

What was he going to do? He didn't have any motivation to continue with their plans. He didn't even have the desire to. Hell, he wasn't sure if he ever had the desire to. He couldn't go through with conquering the Celestial Spirit World, especially not after he bonded with his spirits. He knew that he couldn't stop Terra and Lust through reasoning, they were too focused on their desire to conquer the Celestial Spirit World to listen to reason. He also knew that he couldn't stop them by turning them in to the Magic Council because then he would get arrested too.

His eyes drifted into the kitchen, the entrance to which was open and right across the room from him. He remembered when they had first settled at this house. Once of the first things he did was look through the kitchen for anything that could be of use to them. He had found some knives, still sharp, along with a few other typical kitchen things. 

It made him think back to something that he had thought of before. If he couldn't talk to Terra and Lust, or turn them in, then maybe he could kill them. It wouldn't be difficult. Just needed to get them when they were sleeping. But, he was never able to do it before, so what made him think that he would be able to do it this time? 

His hand unconsciously came up to his bare chest, fingers brushing against the wetness from Columba's tears. His stomach twisted with anger. Her quiet sobbing had clenched his heart painfully. Terra and Lust had strongly discouraged him from forming bonds with his spirits several times, and he now knew why. 

Nyx stood up and walked into the kitchen, taking out a knife from one of the drawers. He then walked to the stairs. Maybe he could do it now. Maybe Columba's crying and the thought of his spirits suffering because of all of this would be the motivation that he needed to finally do it. 

Before he knew it, he reached Terra's closed bedroom door. He stared at the wooden door and breathed slowly and deeply, trying to calm his racing heart and ignore the way his stomach felt as though it dropped to his feet. He placed a hand on the doorknob as his other hand tightened its grip on the knife. He took a deep breath through his nose and eased the door open to peek inside. He found that Terra was laying on the bed, clearly asleep. 

He opened the door a bit more and stepped inside the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him. He then carefully approached the sleeping woman until he stood at her bedside. His stomach continued to roll and his heart continued to hammer in his chest. His breathing was shaky as he raised the knife above Terra's chest, readying himself to slam it down through her heart. 

Nyx gulped despite his throat having tightened. His hands trembled around the handle of the knife as he struggled to strike, his mind ordering him to do it, but his body refusing to listen. He eventually stepped away from the bed until his back pressed against the wall and the knife was resting against the side of his leg. He gulped down air as he thought about what he was about to do. 

More accurately, what he couldn't bring himself to do.

He didn't understand. Why couldn't he do it? He could torture people, albeit with no enjoyment, but he couldn't kill? He couldn't kill one of the people who were harming his spirits, had harmed him, and was going to harm more innocent celestial spirits? He couldn't force his body to listen to his steadily growing desire to fix things. Or at least attempt to.

Why the hell was he such a coward? 

He then heard Terra shift on the bed and decided that he shouldn't be seen by her. He swiftly exited the bedroom, making sure to cause no sound as he did so. Once he was in the hallway, he leaned back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. 

What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't reason with them, or turn them in, or kill them, so what options did he have left? Was there any other way to stop them? Could he even escape them? Surely, he could do something. 

After an unknowable amount of time, he finally arrived at an idea. What if he went to that Fairy Tail woman and her friends? Maybe he could get them to listen to him. Maybe he could help them and not just escape Terra and Lust and stop their plans, but also avoid being imprisoned. But, how could he do that? They had no reason to trust him. He had to convince them somehow. 

Nyx's eyes went to the staircase a short distance away from him. 

Rufus Lore. 

Maybe if Nyx could release him and convince him that he wanted to help, then it might make convincing the Fairy Tail woman that he wanted to help that much easier. 

With renewed determination, Nyx pushed off of the wall and walked down the stairs. Once he reached the door to the basement, he paused to think about what he should say. How could he convince the man who was tied up down there that he truly wanted to help? 

Maybe if he confessed the details of their plans. With that thought, Nyx rushed into the kitchen and picked up the books before he finally went back to the basement door and walked through it, silently hoping that his plan would work. 

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: REFERENCES TO ABUSE!

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Big Dog

Lucy stared at the fire that was beginning to dwindle as she took a bite of her breakfast. She, Freed, and Midnight sat around the fire as they ate in silence. Virgo had summoned herself to cook the three of the something. Pancakes and eggs. It was good, very good. Though, Lucy had already known that Virgo's cooking was good. 

Freed was the one who broke the silence. "Any suggestions on where to begin our search? Or even how to conduct our search?" 

Midnight then spoke, "it'd take far too long if we search together. Might be best if we do what I believe you two and Rufus did when I caught up with you guys: split up and use Lucy's keys to signal that we found it." 

The two men looked at Lucy, wanting her say on the matter. Lucy continued to stare at the fire as she took another bite of her eggs. The forest they were in wasn't particularly big, and probably could barely be considered a forest, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be difficult to find Sirius' key. They were, after all, in a forest. The damn key could be anywhere. 

Lucy swallowed her bit of food and finally answered, "I agree that it would probably be best if we do what we did on the night that Midnight showed up. We can go in different directions and each use a key to signal if we find Sirius' key." She gave a sigh, gaze drifting to the food in her hands. "Let's hope that we'll find it soon. We can't make Rufus wait long. They'll do terrible things to him if we don't find him soon." 

Her voice sounded empty even to her own ears. She hadn't meant to bring the mood down more than it already was, or make Freed and Midnight feel worse than they probably already were, but once she started thinking about what Terra, Lust, and Nyx were capable of putting Rufus through, what she had gone through, it wasn't exactly something that she could help. 

She felt an arm slide across her shoulders, giving her a sort of side hug. She looked over to find Freed sitting next to her and giving her a comforting smile. She almost missed the light dusting of pink on his cheek that wasn't hidden by his green bangs. "We'll save him before any actual harm can come to him. I promise, Lucy." 

Lucy knew that he wasn't entirely sure if what he was saying was true, it was clear in his uncovered, sea-green eye that she had always thought was beautiful, but it was an honest attempt at comforting her, and she appreciated it. She leaned closer to his side, letting him fully give her a side hug, as she responded, "thanks, Freed. I feel a little bit better." That was a lie, but she did want to make Freed feel as though his comfort attempt had worked, if only a little bit.

Lucy and Freed were brought back out of the comfort bubble that they had somewhat formed by Midnight abruptly standing and saying, "we better get looking while it's still daytime." 

Lucy pulled away from Freed and gave Midnight a puzzled and slightly concerned look. She couldn't quite put her finger on what emotion his tone was reflecting, but it didn't sound happy to her. Was he upset? What upset him? Did her talk about what could happen to Rufus make him worried? She hadn't meant to worry or upset either of her friends. Her facial expression shifted to one of sympathy and guilt as she watched Midnight take down the tent and roll up the sleeping bags. 

Deciding that she should apologize and put his worries to ease, or at least try, Lucy placed her now-empty plate on the ground and stood up, holding out her hand to Freed to help him up to his feet. Once she pulled her guildmate up off of the ground, she turned to Midnight and said, "I'll summon Virgo and she can clean up here." When Midnight straightened up and looked at her, she walked closer to him until she was close enough to continue in a low voice, "I'm sorry about just a few minutes ago. I didn't mean to make you upset or more worried." 

Midnight was silent for a few moments, just staring at her with a look that Lucy couldn't identify. Then, he finally sighed and responded, his voice just as low as hers was, "it's not your fault. You were just being honest. Can't get mad at you for that. Let's just get going so we can save the Sabor." 

Lucy nodded and requiped a few keys into her hand. She first summoned Virgo and asked her to take care of the campsite. Once that was finished, she handed Taurus' key to Freed and Gemini's key to Midnight, keeping Virgo's key for herself. 

She turned back to Midnight and instructed, "sending a signal with these isn't difficult. Just channel some of your magic into the key like you would any other magical object and form a circle with the key above your head. It'll send up a firework that Freed and I should be able to spot." 

Midnight looked down at the golden key in his hand and nodded before he raised it above his head and moved his hand in a circle, golden sparkles following the movement. Within just a few seconds, a firework burst in the air, a flurry of golden sparkles showering down before they disappeared before they could reach the ground. 

Lucy nodded at Midnight. "Yeah, exactly like that." She then stepped away and turned around to face her two friends. "Freed, you go West," she pointed in said direction, "Midnight, you go South," once again, she pointed in said direction, "I'll go North. We work toward the East. If we don't find Sirius' key in our designated directions, then we'll look together in the East." 

When Freed and Midnight nodded, the trio quickly headed off in their assigned directions, keys held tightly in their hands. 

Lucy trudged through her foresty surroundings, bending down and stretching as far as she could every few moments to look inside of holes in the ground and trees. All the while, she reached out her magic, hoping that she would feel an answering wave of magic from the key she was looking for. 

She sighed and sat on a stump, flexing her feet and rolling her ankles in hopes of somewhat soothing the aching in her feet from walking for hours. She cast her eyes up to the sky, taking note of how far down the sun had gone. It was barely visible through the trees, inching closer to the horizon. She guess that it was the beginning of the evening hours. 

"This is taking a while, huh?" 

Lucy jumped at the sudden voice and turned around to see who had spoken from behind her. Loke stood there with his hands in his pockets, a warm smile on his attractive face. She sighed, "Loke. You scared me." 

The celestial spirit chuckled as he sat on the ground beside her stump. "Sorry, didn't mean to, Princess." 

Lucy rolled her eyes. "My feet hurt." She rubbed her feet through her shoes. 

Loke gave a sigh and nodded. "Yeah, I'm not surprised." 

"Why is Sirius' key here? If he and Orion are so tied together, then why aren't their keys together?" 

Loke was silent for a while. Lucy watched him with her brow furrowed in confusion. She knew that it wasn't likely that Loke would know the answer, not unless he was in regular contact with either spirit, but she had to know why two spirits who were so closely connected that one could not appear without the other having their keys so separated. 

Loke stared down at his hands that were wringing together in his lap, almost nervously, it seemed. Lucy was tempted to go back on her question, starting to get worried that she had said something that caused Loke to become upset. However, her voice would not come when she tried. She could only watch Loke in silence as he seemed to mull over the question as he avoided her gaze. 

After a felt like several minutes, Loke finally spoke, "Orion hide Sirius' key...at some point in the past." There was another long pause. Loke lifted his head to stare across from where he sat, at the trees that stood there. "All of us celestial spirits have had abusive keyholders. Some have had it worse than others." Another pause. 

Lucy was able to guess where this was going. She didn't want Loke to feel like he had to tell her, but she also wanted him to tell her if he was fine with doing so. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and said, softly but with a hint of firmness, "Loke, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to. I understand that talking about abusive keyholders is difficult and painful for you. Don't say anything that you aren't comfortable with saying." 

Loke shot her an appreciative smile, his hazel eyes glistening with unshed tears. He whispered, just loud enough for her to hear, "it's alright. I'm fine. I promise." 

Lucy doubted his words, just a little bit, but she still nodded her head and allowed him to continue.

Loke heaved a sigh before he spoke again, this time louder after he cleared his throat, "Orion and Sirius were two of the ones who got it the worst. Eventually, Orion decided to hide both of their keys...separately. I guess he cared more about Sirius than himself, if he hide that hound's key this well. I'm not surprised, though. He always did have a major soft spot for the mutt." 

Lucy nodded. "That makes sense. I feel terrible that he felt like he had to go to those types of lengths to keep himself and Sirius safe." 

Loke placed his hand onto hers. "He's not the only one. Others have hidden their keys. A lot of us have hidden our keys at some point." 

"Even you?" She looked down at him, her voice barely above a whisper. 

"Yeah. Even me." Loke looked up at her, a sad smile on his face. Upon feeling a few drops of tears escaping from his eyes, he wiped them away. He then sniffled before he looked back up at Lucy, a smile still on his face, and said with a voice that was a bit brighter, "but I have no need to do it now. Not since you're the one who has my key. And I know that whoever will have my key next will be just as kind as you. You won't let any of our keys go to someone who would be any less." 

Lucy smiled down at him. She moved off of the stump she was sitting on and to the ground right in front of Loke. Kneeling in front of him, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tight, warm embrace, one that Loke returned quickly. 

"You're right, Loke. I will never give any keys to someone who I don't trust with all my heart to treat you all with the love and respect that you all deserve." 

"Thank you, Lucy. This is why you're the best celestial wizard to ever exist." His voice was shaky with tears. 

Lucy didn't say anything else. She simply continued to hug her friend as she tried to blink away the tears that were stinging her eyes. 

They eventually pulled away from each other when they heard a faint bang. Lucy looked up at the sky, seeing a shower of golden sparkles in the distance. It was in the direction that she had just come from. South. Lucy turned back to Loke and said with a smile, "it looks like Midnight found Sirius." 

Loke looked up at the sun, which could scantly be seen through the high branches and many leaves of the trees. "About time. You guys were losing daylight." 

Lucy nodded and stood up, taking Loke's hands and pulling him up as she did so. With another hug and a quick goodbye, Loke dismissed himself and Lucy ran as fast as her legs could carry her in the direction that she had seen the signal come from. 

Lucy found Freed and Midnight standing underneath a tree, both staring down at a hole at the base. Upon her approach, both men turned to face her. "The key is in this hole, but neither of us can reach it." Midnight pointed at said hole. 

Lucy nodded, taking back the two keys that Freed and Midnight handed to her and requiping them back to join the others. She then smiled at her friends and responded, "don't worry, I have a spirit that can grab it." She requiped a silver key into her hand and pointed the blade at the ground in front of her. "Open! Gate of the Little Dog: Plue!" 

With a puff of smoke, Plue appeared in front of Lucy, greeting her happily and shaking, as per usual. When Lucy picked him up and hugged him against her chest, Freed chuckled. "I haven't seen this one in a while." He then stepped closer and rubbed the top of Plue's head in greeting. "Hello, Plue. How have you been?" 

Plue answered with sounds that nobody could understand. Nevertheless, Freed chuckled again and continued the pet the top of the celestial spirit's head. Lucy smiled at the sight. It reminded her of when she first summoned Plue around Freed. They had decided to take a job together in an effort to get to know each other better. To her surprise, Freed took a great liking to Plue. Ever since, Freed's always enjoyed having Plue around, even if he never actually said it. He never needed to, though, Lucy could tell by the way her guildmate would seem to always be petting or holding Plue. And Plue, of course, liked Freed a lot due to the attention that the green-haired man would give him. 

"I hate to interrupt, but we have a key to get."

Midnight's voice dragged Freed's and Lucy's attention over to him and the hole at the base of the that they were all standing underneath. Lucy's brow furrowed a little in confusion. Midnight's lips were pulled into what looked to her like an irritated frown and his brow was furrowed considerably. Was he upset? What could have upset him? Lucy wasn't sure. Maybe she should ask him. Or would that be prying too much? 

Lucy sighed, deciding to just focus on the key. She stepped closer to the hole and kneeled in front of it, placing Plue on the ground. "Alright, Plue, I need to try and grab the key that is there." 

Plue gave a happy salute and hopped over to the hole, diving headfirst into it. It took only a few seconds for the little dog spirit to emerge, a silver key held above his head in triumph. 

Lucy cheered, "good job, Plue." She took the key and allowed Plue to return to the Celestial Spirit World. She then stood up, turned around, and walked forward so that she was a few steps ahead of Freed and Midnight. She looked over the key in her hands. Its bow was circular and had the black silhouette of a large dog on it. The blade was shaped like a dog's paw print. She pointed the blade away from herself and called, "I connect to World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Big Dog: Canis Major!"

In front of Lucy, a bright, silvery light shined and a large bell rang. Lucy smiled at the sight, happy to be one step closer to finding Rufus. However, her smile quickly fell when the sound of menacing growling reached her ears. The light soon faded and Lucy was faced with a sight that greatly scared her. 

A large, black dog stood a few feet in front of Lucy. It was much bigger than Lupus, its shoulder reaching her breasts. Its eyes were frightening, blood red color, and its sharp teeth, which were now bared as it couched into a threatening posture, were a glistening white. Its muzzle was long and thin and its ears were large and pointed, from what Lucy was able to tell despite them being flat against the spirit's head. 

Sirius gave a loud bark and snapped its large jaws at Lucy, causing her to yelp and jump back. In an instant, Freed and Midnight had both jumped in front of her, shielding her from any attack that Sirius might try to launch. As Lucy watched the stand-off, her stomach had dropped to her feet, heart picked up its pace dramatically, and her body practically froze, she questioned what she should do. 

She didn't like the idea of fighting a celestial spirit, especially one that's been harmed as much of this one has been, but she supposed that she didn't have much of a choice. At least, not unless she could get Sirius to calm down. She took a few steps back. How could she calm Sirius? 

The dog barked again and launched itself at the mages. Midnight grabbed Lucy and pulled her to the side, out of Sirius' way as Freed drew his rapier and quickly threw his own attack, calling out as jumped away from the large dog, "Dark Ecriture: Pain!" 

Lucy watched with wide eyes as the spell had no effect. Sirius only turned its threatening gaze onto Lucy and stalked closer to her. Freed gaped, "my magic had no effect!" 

Midnight stepped in front of Lucy. "Mine will!" He then raised his arm and swiped it from one side of himself to the other, calling out, "Spiral Pain!" 

This too didn't have an effect. When a vortex of distorted air swirled around Sirius, the spirit only stopped walking. Once the spell came to an end, Sirius snarled back and continued to stalk toward the pair. 

Midnight backed himself closer to Lucy's front. "How the hell is this thing immune to our magic?" 

Sirius then bounded forward, pushing Midnight to the ground off to the side. Fear filled Lucy as she was backed up against a tree by the hound. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, her body trembled, and a few beads of sweat raced down the sides of her face. She could faintly hear Midnight groaning in pain as he stumbled back to his feet and Freed yelling at her to run. She wanted to run, her mind screamed at her to run, but her body refused to listen, and her legs remained rooted to the ground. 

As Sirius slowly stepped closer, growling and glaring, Lucy's hand tightened on the object that she was holding onto as if it would save her. Her eyes glanced down at the object in curiosity of what it was, having somehow forgotten that she was holding Sirius' key. Upon the sight of the silver key in her hand, an idea kicked its way into her mind. 

Wait! Orion! Lucy requiped Orion's key into her other hand and pointed it at Sirius. Screwing her eyes shut, she called out, "Open! Gate of the Hunter: Orion!" 

A flash of silvery light signaled the arrival of Orion, something that Lucy was relieved to see. She watched as a large man, so large in fact that Sirius' shoulder reach his hip, appeared. The man's reaction to seeing his hound was instant. "Sirius! There's my special girl!" Just as quickly, Sirius went from being threatening and scary to playful and happy. When Orion kneeled in front of her, Sirius jumped onto him and licked his face affectionately, tail wagging. This caused Orion to laugh and pet her fiercely. 

Lucy slowly walked around the pair and back over to Freed, who looked pretty shaken by the encounter, and Midnight, who was rubbing his back with a grimace on his face. She smiled at the sight of hound and master reuniting under one wizard. 

The reunion came to an end soon when Orion stood and commanded his hound, "heel." Sirius instantly obeyed, sitting right beside her master. Orion then looked down at Lucy with a smile. He was tall and muscular, intimidatingly so. His skin was brown and his hair was long and tied into a low ponytail. A few locks of hair framed his handsome face. He was shirtless, the only pieces of clothing that he wore being a large piece of dark green cloth that was wrapped around his waist and held there by a brown belt, and a pair of brown sandals. On his back was a quiver filled with large arrows and in his hand opposite of Sirius was a large, wooden bow. 

Lucy smiled up at him, her body already recovering from the earlier scare. "Hello, Orion. It's nice to finally meet you. I was a bit worried that something was wrong when you didn't come when I first summoned you." 

Orion's red eyes softened as he responded, free hand rubbing the back of his neck, "yes, I apologize greatly for that, My Lady. I simply refuse to work under a wizard if they do not also have Sirius. I also greatly apologize if Sirius scared or harmed any of you. She does not kindly to celestial wizards. However, not that you have me too, I'm sure that she'll warm up to you." 

Lucy nodded, gaze drifting to Sirius, who simply gazed back at her blankly. She looked back up at Orion and spoke, "no harm was done, so it's perfectly fine." She then quickly added, "I'm Lucy, by the way, but you might already know that." When Orion nodded with a kind smile, she continued, "so, what days can I summon you two?" 

Orion answered, "any day at all, just as long as you summon both of us." 

"What can you two do?" 

"I am skilled with the bow and arrow, though, not as skilled as Sagittarius, I must admit. Sirius is a tracking dog. She is also quite the fighter." 

Freed spoke up, "I have a question, if you don't mind. When Sirius tried to attack us, she seemed to be immune to our spells. How is this possible?" 

Orion gave a laugh. "She is impervious to magic attacks that are not elemental based." 

Lucy then took her chance to do what she's been waiting several hours to do. She summoned Virgo, the maid spirit dutifully appearing with a "you summoned me, Princess?" 

Lucy requested, "bring me Rufus' hat please." 

When Virgo disappeared, she explained to Orion, "one of your friends was kidnapped and we need your help to find him. Loke, ah, Leo, told us that you could track down anybody with just something that they own. Could you please help us get him back? The mages who took him are incredibly dangerous." 

Orion chuckled before he smiled kindly down at her. "Of course, Lady Lucy. I would be more than happy to find your friend." 

When Virgo reappeared, she handed Rufus' hat to Lucy and dismissed herself back to her own realm. Lucy then handed the hat to Orion, who remarked, "it's not so much me who can track a person, but rather, Sirius who can. I'm simply the only one who can understand her and keep her under control." 

He then lowered the hat to Sirius, commanding, "sniff, Sirius." The dog did as commanded, sniffing the hat several times. When she pulled away and barked, Orion commanded once again, "track, Sirius." The dog followed the order by walking away and pointing with her nose in a direction, one of her front legs raised. 

Orion turned to Lucy and explained, "she's located your friend." He handed the hat back to her before he continued, "I would advise that you use Auriga to keep up with Sirius, she's quite fast and does not stop until she reaches her destination."

Lucy nodded and requiped Sirius' and Orion's keys to where the rest were before she requiped Auriga's key into her hand. She pointed it and summoned, "Open! Gate of the Charioteer: Auriga!" 

In an instant, a large, brown and white horse with a large, red and gold chariot hitched to him. She hopped onto the chariot and motioned with her head for Freed and Midnight to join her. Orion walked over to Sirius with the statement, "we are going to be incredibly fast, so hold on tightly." 

Lucy nodded before she turned her attention to Auriga, ordering, "follow Sirius, Auriga!" 

The horse neighed and gave a single stomp in understanding. With that, Orion gave Sirius the command to lead them to Rufus' location and the group took off with great speed. Sirius and Orion ran ahead, leading the way, and Auriga ran just behind them as Lucy, Freed, and Midnight held onto the sides of the chariot for dear life as the wind whipped at the faces and picked up their hair. 

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: WATERBOARDING AND SEXUAL ASSAULT!

Chapter Thirty-Three: You'll Regret Every Crime You've Ever Committed!

Rufus groaned as his mind stirred awake, slowly blinking open his eyes and raising his head. He grimaced at the stab of pain in his upper back and tried to stretch, but suddenly stopped when he found that he couldn't raise his arms, or even move. His mind and body jumped to attention as his eyes widened with alarm and panic. He looked down at himself, finding that he was sitting in a chair, thick rope tied around his upper body and arms. 

Taking a calming breath, he tried to focus on summoning a small amount of magic, testing whether or not his ability to use magic was in some way hindered. When nothing happened, he looked down at himself again, searching for something that would give him a clue as to what was keeping him from using his magic. When he didn't see anything on his person that would suggest that it was canceling his magic, he guessed that it was instead the work of the ropes that bound him.

He looked around at the room he was in, hoping that there would be a method of escape. He appeared to be in a dimly lit, unclean room. The walls and floor were made of stone while the ceiling was wooden. There was no visible escape route and the only other thing in the room besides himself and his chair was a wooden wardrobe that sat against a far wall to the side. There was also a wooden staircase in front of him that lead to something he was unable to see, but he assumed it was a door.

He sighed, knowing that he didn't have much of a chance of escaping. However, he also knew that he shouldn't give up hope of escape. After all, Lucy and Freed were members of Fairy Tail, and Midnight was a reformed dark mage. There was no way they would simply abandon him. All he had to do was do what he could to remain alive and relatively unharmed until they arrived to rescue him. Although, that didn't mean he had to rely on them entirely. He would, of course, take the first opportunity to escape that presents itself. 

He looked at the stairs upon hearing the door at the top open and close. He listened as the new arrival walked down the steps, his heart picking up its pace just slightly as the seconds ticked by. He took a deep breath and settled his face into a frown with furrowed brows behind his mask, not wanting to look at all nervous in front of his captor. 

The person was soon standing in front of him, and Rufus gave him a quick lookover. The man looked young, probably not at all older than himself. His skin was brown and his hair black, his eyes appearing to be just as dark. His hair was styled in dreadlocks that reached his shoulders. He was dressed in a navy-colored trench coat and black, baggy pants. Like Gray, he lacked a shirt, revealing a muscular physique underneath the coat. 

Rufus glared up at him and demanded, "why am I here?"

The man, who Rufus was quite sure was Nyx, simply stared down at him, his facial expression unreadable. He remained where he stood for a few more moments before he walked over to the wardrobe. Rufus called to him forcefully, "where are you going? Tell me why you and the other two captured me!" 

Nyx still did not respond, only opened the wardrobe and rummaged through it for a minute before he closed it again and walked back over to Rufus with some items in his arms. He sat a metal bucket down on the floor, just behind Rufus' chair and to the side, along with a piece of cloth and a large kettle. 

Rufus watched him with a critical eye, wondering what he was doing, while at the same time, feeling dread rise from within his gut at the possibility of what was to come soon. Nyx was soon out of his sight, having walked behind him. The blonde man listened to the rummaging that the younger man was doing, along with a few clanging sounds of metal and the sound of splashing water. 

Rufus swallowed thickly as he listened. His mouth was dry and he feel a bead of sweat slide a short distance down his temple before it soaked into his mask. His hands balled into fists, his fingernails digging into his palms. He gritted his teeth as an anxious feeling filled him, giving him a faint feeling of nausea. He locked his eyes on the staircase across the room from him as if he was trying to set it on fire with only his gaze. 

Suddenly, a hand gripped his long, blonde hair and yanked his head back. He hissed at the throbbing pain in his scalp, his eyes screwed shut. After a few moments, he opened his eyes a little, resulting in a narrowed gaze, as he tried to see what Nyx was doing. The younger man kept a tight hold on his flaxen hair as he used his other hand to take off his red and gold mask. 

"What are you doing?" Rufus demanded as strongly as he could, though his voice was noticeably strained due to his hair being painfully held back and his neck already aching as a result. 

However, Nyx didn't respond. Instead, he draped a piece of cloth over Rufus' face. Rufus' heart leaped in speed and his stomach twisted. With this, his brain went into a panic. Thoughts of what could be coming raced through his mind. His arms strained against the ropes that bound him as he already began struggling to free himself. His breathing was heavy, the cloth causing him to feel as though he couldn't actually breathe. 

Time seemed to move slowly as he helplessly waited for whatever Nyx was intending to do to him. The suspense was almost killing him, sort of like when a normal person watches a horror movie and knows that a jumpscare is coming up. 

Rufus felt as though he had been sitting like this for hours when suddenly, water began pouring onto his face. The memory-make mage's body spasmed as a result. His arms pushed against the unbudging ropes in a way that was going to be painful later and his legs, which were left free, kicked up as high as he could reach, as if he would be able to kick Nyx away. He tried to thrash his head from side to side, trying to shake off the cloth, but due to Nyx's hold on his hair, he couldn't move his head much at all. 

The lack of ability to breathe caused Rufus to involuntarily open his mouth, resulting in water that seeped through the thin piece of cloth to enter not just his nose, but also his mouth. His lungs burned with a lack of oxygen. Rufus choked, his body forcing him to attempt to gasp for air without him consciously meaning to. This only worsened his condition and made him struggle more. 

As suddenly as it began, the waterboarding ended. The next thing he knew, Rufus' hair was released and the piece of now-wet cloth was taken off of his face. Rufus greedily sucked in air, his chest heaving. The ropes were tight, too tight. He felt as though he was unable to breathe due to the tight ropes restricting his chest's ability to expand very much. He strained against his binds with every breath. Water dripped off of his face and onto the rope and his clothes. 

He sat there, trying his best to breathe properly despite the restrictions of the ropes, for an unknown amount of time when he felt an unexpected hand on the top of his thigh. He jumped in response and raised his head to look at who was standing in front of him, his breathing still heavy and shallow. 

He found a tan-skinned woman standing in front of him, bent down at the waist. Her hand rested gently against his thigh and she stared at him with a smile on her face, amusement dancing in her blue eyes. Her pink hair was tied into a high ponytail with a black ribbon and she was dressed black, cropped tube top and baggy, camo-patterned pants. This must have been the leader: Terra.

Rufus huffed, "w-what are you...doing here?" 

Terra's smile got a little bit bigger and she answered, as calmly as though she was talking about what she did over the weekend, "what? did you expect me to just ignore the fact that there's a pretty man in my basement?" 

Rufus furrowed his brow at her and narrowed his eyes. "What?" He was already starting to feel repulsed by this woman. 

Terra chuckled. "I've always had a thing for blondes." She then raised her other hand a ran her fingers through Rufus' hair. 

Rufus tried to lean his head away from her hand, failing in doing so due to his binds. The feeling of this woman's fingers in his hair and her hand on his thigh made him angry and disgusted. He has had thoughts of a woman doing these things to him, but that woman was always Lucy. He didn't want just any celestial wizard to so him this kind of affection, only Lucy. 

"Don't touch me!" Thankfully, he had managed to regain control of his breathing enough to put some good bite behind his barked response. 

Terra only gave a breathy laugh as she continued petting his hair. Rufus glared at her hand, moving his head as best he could to dodge the fingers that were so insistent on touching his hair. He then froze when he felt something rise up his thigh and rest below his abdomen. With widened eyes, he looked down, finding that Terra's other hand was now resting on one of his groin areas, fingers dangerously close to touching his private area. 

He felt an urge to recoil as he growled, "I told you to not touch me." 

"Don't tell me you're not enjoying this." 

Rufus was very much not. His gut twisted and his heartbeat picked up its pace. He clenched his teeth so tightly that he could have broken them all if he clenched them any tighter. As one of Terra's hands fingered through his dampened hair, her other hand slowly inched closer to his crotch. His fingernails dug into his palms even deeper as his mind screamed at him to stop her. His legs were free, and yet his body was frozen, even as his brain panicked and demanded that he fight back. 

His breath hitched when felt Terra's fingers brush against his clothed penis, her blue eyes boring into his and a kind smile still on her face. Rufus wanted to kick her. He wanted to kick that look off of her face. His arms strained painfully against the ropes once again. His eyes screwed shut and finally, his legs obeyed his brain's commands. He kicked up his legs as much as he could, managing to make her back away with a solid kick to her gut. 

He watched with heavy breathing and wide eyes as Terra clutched her abdomen in pain. The woman quickly straightened and gave him a smirk before she turned and slowly walked back out of the basement. 

Rufus yelled after her, "just wait! When my friends and I get our hands on you and your lackeys, you'll regret every crime you've ever committed!" He was answered with the slam of the door. 

Rufus was then left alone again. His breathing was quick and his heart was pounding. Disgust and anger filled his being and he had the urge to throw up, which he managed to bite back by biting his lower lip. Even though her hands were no longer on his body, he could still feel her repulsive, unwanted touch on his thigh and her fingers in his hair. 

As he sat in that basement, tied up in magic-canceling ropes, his disgust, anger, and the lingering feeling of her touch on his hair and private area caused tears to burn his eyes before falling, despite his attempts to blink them away. 

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: MENTIONS OF TORTURE, DEATH, AND SELF-BLAME!

Chapter Thirty-Two: Talk with Scorpio

Lucy looked out the window of the train as it rolled along to their destination: a forest town called Jasmin. Her thoughts were almost entirely centered on Rufus' kidnapping. How could she let it happen? How could she be so blinded by herself that she didn't notice Terra, Lust, and Nyx being at la Cour de Velors? 

Her bandaged finger rubbed against one of the long scars that ran up her upper arm from her elbow to her shoulder. The sleeve of her shirt raised ad fell slightly with the movements of her fingers. How long had it been since she lost wore the clothes that she used to enjoy wearing? She couldn't remember. It seemed that the only clothes she wore were jeans and normal shirts, not shorts, skirts, or cropped tops. 

Lucy's brown eyes closed and her mind returned to Rufus and his kidnapping. She couldn't do anything right, could she? What was next, she would lose one or more of her spirits somehow? Her stomach twisted with a nauseating feeling, making her body tense and her arms wrapped around her midsection as she struggled to keep back the urge to vomit.

What was happening to Rufus at that moment? She couldn't stop the question from rising. A picture of Rufus, tied to a chair and being tortured by an unseen torturer who was dragging a burning hot, metal rod along his bare chest flashed through her mind. Lucy's eyes snapped open and she flinched at the sound of her friend's pained scream that she could clearly hear in her ears, albeit short. 

Her arms tightened around her midsection and she gritted her teeth. She had witnessed Yukino being tortured in that same way. It was sickening, the sight of the torture and the sound of her screams, and it was something that Lucy knew she would never forget, among other things that she had witnessed. 

Lucy jumped once again when she felt a hand rest on her knee. She snapped her eyes over to the man who sat across from her. She found Freed, sitting right in front of her with a large book open in his lap. He was leaning toward her with his hand resting on her knee. Lucy blinked a few times before she made her body relax as much as she could and gave a small, slightly strained smile, hoping that her guildmate would be put to ease even a little bit by it. 

Freed's sea-green eyes softened and he gave her a small smile of his own as he retracted his hand and leaned back in his seat. He picked the large book in his lap back up and asked with a soft tone, "are you alright?" 

Lucy's eyes shifted back to the window as she answered, "as alright as I can be." 

"Worried and scared, I suppose." When Lucy silently nodded, Freed added, "I understand. I am too. Angry as well." 

A stretch of silence followed, but was quickly broken when Lucy looked down at the book in Freed's hands and asked, "have you found anything?" 

Freed sighed. "No, nothing, unfortunately. After this one, there will only be one more book. I'm losing hope of learning anything about these three." 

Lucy also sighed and looked down at her hands in her lap. "I'm not very surprised. To be completely honest, I wasn't expecting you to find anything. I'm still disappointed, though." 

Freed resumed flipping through the book, responding, "I did have some hope, but I suppose that I shouldn't have had any."

"Where did Midnight go?" 

"He wanted to go for a walk through a few of the cars. He seemed to be stressed." 

Lucy nodded. She could understand why Midnight was distressed. Being faced with an ally being kidnapped by dark mages while you're a reformed dark mage yourself couldn't be easy. She knew that it wouldn't be easy on herself. She looked back out of the window next to her, the darkness of the night preventing her from seeing anything. 

"Do you think that Mest would know anything about them?" 

Lucy looked back at Freed, giving a 'hm?' in response. Freed then repeated, "do you think that Mest would know anything about them?" 

Lucy shrugged. She hadn't thought about asking Mest. It did sound like a good idea, but how could they know if he would know anything that these books Freed was looking through didn't? Weren't these books released by the Magic Council itself?

Freed continued, "I had thought about it a few days ago. However, I'm hesitant to contact Mest since it's not very likely that he would know about a few mages who aren't in any of these books I've been searching through." 

"I don't think that it would hurt to try." That was true. Honestly, what did they have to lose? If Mest didn't have any information, then they wouldn't have lost anything. If he did have even a few pieces of information, then they could learn something that they could use to get an advantage over Terra, Lust, and Nyx, or at the very least, figure out who they were. 

Freed nodded and looked back down at the book. "That's true. First chance we get, we should contact him." 

Lucy only nodded and looked back out of the window. She laid her head back against her seat and looked at the night sky through the window. The stars could barely be seen, something that made Lucy frown because she had hoped that seeing the stars would make her feel a little bit better, put her at ease if, only slightly. 

"Did I miss anything interesting?" 

Lucy looked over to see Midnight returning and taking his seat next to her after he moved Rufus' hat, which had been on the seat next to her, onto her lap. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave Lucy a small smile, one that Lucy was able to return for only a few moments before turning her head away again, her fingers absentmindedly caressing the pink plumage of Rufus' hat. 

Freed answered, "that depends on how you define 'interesting'. Lucy and I had just agreed that contacting Mest would be a good idea. It doesn't appear that I will be finding anything on Terra, Lust, or Nyx, so I figured that Mest might know something about at least one of them." 

"Mest is the Magic Council guy who was a member of Fairy Tail, right?" When he received a confirming nod from Freed, he continued, "that possibility isn't very high." 

Freed gave a small sigh. "True, but it wouldn't be harmful to try, would it?" 

"I guess you're right. I doubt that you'll get anything from him," Midnight responded with a silent sigh. 

Silence fell upon the trio after that and the train barreled along to their destination, carrying Lucy and her two friends to the location where they were hoping to find a key that would help them find their kidnapped friend.

Lucy awoke to gentle shaking. She opened her eyes, finding that she was leaning against someone's shoulder, that same person gently shaking her. She sat up and yawned, rubbing her eyes and then stretching her arms. She then looked over at the person who was sitting next to her. Midnight gave her a small smile and spoke, "we've arrived at our destination." 

Lucy looked out of the train window, seeing the night sky beginning to lighten with the sun that was, at most, a couple of hours away from rising. She nodded and stood up, following behind Midnight and Freed off of the train. 

Once they stepped onto the platform, Lucy took the lead and lead her two friends out of the train station and toward the forest that surrounded the town of Jasmin. She stated, more to herself than to her friends, "the scroll didn't give specific details on where Sirius' key is, just that it's in this forest." As they got closer to the forest and away from the light that the town was giving off, Lucy requipped Virgo's key into her hand and channeled some of her magic into it, making it glow so that they could see where they were going. 

Freed suggested, "it would probably be best if we set up camp and rest. We would have a better chance of quickly finding the key if we are better rested and it is daytime." 

Lucy bit her lip upon hearing that. She knew that he had a point, but the suggestion still made her hesitate. As she remembered the week she spent captured by Terra, Lust, and Nyx, it seemed that all she could think about was what could possibly be done to Rufus. She didn't want to delay his rescue more than it had to be. Finally, she responded, "I don't know about that. It might take us too long. Who knows what's happening to Rufus right now." 

Freed countered, "I understand your worry, but we won't be able to save him if we are sleep-deprived and additionally tired from a long search. It would be most beneficial if we rest and search during a time in which we can see properly, then we would be better equipped to save Rufus upon finding him." 

Midnight added, "yeah, if we tried to fight three mages who are in really good condition and haven't skipped sleep, then we aren't going to do well against them if we aren't in good condition as well." 

Lucy sighed, knowing that she wouldn't be able to persuade her friends to agree with her. She knew that they were right, and was partly glad that they weren't backing down, but she honestly doubted that she would be able to sleep or even relax. She was far too worried about Rufus and too scared to fall asleep again. She hadn't meant to fall asleep on the train, but she supposed that she was too tired. Not wanting to have another nightmare, and wanting to make sure that Freed and Midnight wouldn't be harmed while they slept, Lucy decided that she would just stay up for the rest of the night. 

"Alright, let's do that." She looked down at the key in her hand and then back up at the path they were following, adding, "once we find a place to stop, I can have Virgo set up a campsite for us." Knowing that Freed was going to object, saying that he could do that himself, she stated, "it'll be a whole lot quicker if she does it. Trust me, Virgo can set up a tent and campfire in five seconds." 

When Freed and Midnight didn't respond, she decided to leave off there and continue walking, hoping that they would come across a clear space soon. It took only a few minutes of walking for the trio to find a small clearing that was suitable to camp in for a few hours. True to Lucy's word, Virgo had a large tent, campfire, and three sleeping bags inside of the tent set up in just a few seconds. 

Once the maid celestial spirit was dismissed, Freed walked toward the tent, saying, "we can conduct our search once the sun has risen enough for us to see more than a few feet in front of us." He then stopped walking and turned to look at Lucy, adding, "if, of course, that's alright with you." 

Lucy gave him a small smile and nodded, following him into the tent, with Midnight following behind her. It didn't take long for Freed and Midnight to be settled into their respective sleeping bags, Lucy lay awake, waiting for her friends into sound sleep before she snuck out of the tent to the side of the fire to keep watch. 

Once she was sure that Freed and Midnight were in deep sleep, she slowly and soundlessly got out of her sleeping bag and got to her feet before she stepped out of the tent and walked over to the campfire, sitting on the ground next to it and watching as the flames licked the air, sparks floated up and out of the fire before fading. The warmth that the fire gave off reminded her of Natsu and his own fire, something that had long ago become a comfort for her. 

She gave a sad smile to the fire in front of her. She wondered, what was Natsu doing now? Probably causing chaos, like he always did. Lucy scooted herself closer to the fire, wanting to take in as much of its comforting warmth as possible. 

If Aquarius was here, she wouldn't like the fire very much. Lucy didn't know where that thought came from, but it made her smile fondly at the fire, remembering how Aquarius was never a fan of fire. However, the smile was quickly replaced with a frown when the memories of when she broke Aquarius' key and, more recently, she had a nightmare of Aquarius trying to kill her. Her eyes soon burned with tears, a mixture of anger, regret, and sadness swirling in her gut, making her heart feel heavy in her chest. 

She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, burying her face into her knees as tears slipped down her cheeks. As her tears became heavier, she bit her lip, not wanting to wake Freed or Midnight with her sobs. Her body trembled with each quiet heave and each silent sob, sniffles slipping through a few times. 

"Aquarius...I'm sorry." She whispered to a celestial spirit that she knew couldn't hear her, and wouldn't for a while. 

"You know, my mermaid bombshell would totally not like this at all." 

Lucy's head shot up from her knees upon hearing that familiar voice. She whipped around to look behind her, seeing Scorpio standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and a stern, with a hint of sympathy, look on his face. 

Lucy furiously wiped her tears away and turned back to the fire, asking, "what are you doing here, Scorpio?" 

She listened as the celestial spirit walked closer and sat next to her as he answered, "I came because Aquarius isn't too happy with you." 

Lucy wrapped her arms around her knees again, practically curling into herself. "I can't say that I'm surprised." 

Scorpio chuckled. "To put it simply, she said that you better buck up before she disobeys the King and forces her way out of the Spirit World to beat some sense into you." 

Lucy gave a breathy chuckle. "That sure sounds like Aquarius." 

Scorpio's arm then wrapped around her body and he spoke again, his tone noticeably softer, "you know, you're only doing yourself more harm, being like this." 

"I know. I'm sorry, I really am. I just don't know what to do." 

"Hey, you don't need to apologize. Look, Lucy, you've been through something horrible, and you've been missing Aquarius majorly, you're not exactly wrong in feeling this way. You're feelings are understandable and valid, but what isn't valid is the way you're coping." 

Lucy looked up at him, finding that he was staring down at her with a mixed look of sadness and sympathy, a soft, comforting smile on his face. She stated, fresh tears springing to her eyes, "I don't know what else to do. I don't want to burden anyone with my problems, especially since everyone else has things to worry about." 

Scorpio pulled her closer, against his bare side. "I know. It's totally not wicked that you feel like you have to deal with this alone. But, you're forgetting something totally important: you've got Fairy Tail on your side. It doesn't matter what's going on, they'll always support their friends during difficult times, you should know that by now." 

"Yeah, that's true." 

"And you're not at fault for anything that's happened." 

Lucy looked up at him again. "What?" How could that be true? Of course she was at fault for several things that's happened. It is because of her that Aquarius' key broke and she has to find the new one. It's because of her that Yukino, Sorano, and Hisui died such horrible deaths. It was because of her that Rufus was kidnapped. How were these things not her fault?

As if he was hearing her thoughts, Scorpio shook his head. "Aquarius told you to break her key. She's not mad at you for that. It was the only way to save your friends and she totally believes that you'll find her new key. As for the deaths of your three friends, how could you have saved them? You were locked in a cell and weren't able to requip any of your keys, the same thing goes for the other three. And what time you didn't send in that cell, you were being tortured. Their deaths aren't on you because you couldn't have done anything. And that dude's kidnapping. How the hell were you supposed to know that those three celestial wizards were there? How could you have known that they were planning a kidnapping? How could you have known anything, really? You need to stop blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault." 

"But-"

"No buts! You aren't at fault for any of that! Now, stop blaming yourself and take those sorry excuses for celestial wizards down! And then, when you get back to Fairy Tail, tell them what's been going on with you. You need help, not isolation!"

Lucy sighed, knowing that Scorpio wasn't going to let up until she agreed with him. She wiped away the few stray tears that had managed to escape during their talk and muttered, "I guess you're right, Scorpio. I can't really make any promises, but I can do my best." 

"You're damn right that I'm right! It'd be better if you stopped altogether, but I guess I'll have to be satisfied with that." He then gave her a grin as he added, "oh, and one other thing, if you want someone to talk to, just summon me. I promise that Aquarius won't be mad." 

Lucy gave a nod. "Thanks, Scorpio." 

If that, Scorpio gave her a pat on the back and dismissed himself, disappearing with a shimmer of golden sparkles. Lucy remained where she sat, still feeling her spirit's warm side pressed against her. She looked back at the fire and smiled to herself, feeling a little bit better. She doubted that it would last long, but she would sure as hell enjoy the feeling while she could. 

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: MENTIONED/IMPLIED TORTURE AND A PANIC ATTACK!

Chapter Thirty-One: I'm No Traitor

This Rufus guy was heavier than he looked. Nyx gave a soft grunt as he followed Terra and Lust. Their conversation filled his ears. 

"I still don't get why we didn't just take the princess." Lust twirled a lock of hair around his finger as he questioned his partner. 

Terra smiled at him. "Because it's not fun to torture someone twice." 

"There has to be another reason." Lust glanced back at Nyx, who was carrying their captive on his back. Nyx simply sighed and looked away from Lust's. He was interested in getting dragged into the conversation. 

"There is." 

Lust and Nyx both looked at Terra. She stared ahead as they walked through the forest, making their way to their hideout. The pink-haired woman was silent for several moments before she continued, "we can use him to make the little princess give us her keys and whatever she's using to find the other keys." 

"Really?" Lust raised a questioning eyebrow. 

"Yes. Fairy Tail is very friendship-obsessed. They have a long history of preaching the 'magic of friendship," she said the last few words with a mocking tone, "so, if we use one of the little princess' precious friends, then, as a Fairy, she'll be forced to save him. Once she does come to save him, we can threaten to hurt him unless she gives us what we want." 

Lust exclaimed, "that's genius, Terra!" 

Nyx pressed his lips in a line. He wasn't all that sure about Terra's plan. While she was right that the Fairies would never leave behind a friend, but that didn't mean this plan would work. Fairy Tail also had a long history of saving their friends despite any obstacles that stood in their way. The Fairies weren't the types of mages who should be underestimated. 

Nyx spoke up, "I think that you're underestimating them a bit too much. Have you even looked into the things Fairy Tail has managed to accomplish because their friends were in danger?" 

"Oh shut up, Nyx! I keep you around to do the dirty work, not make up criticisms about my genius plans!" He gave a small flinch at Terra's biting tone. Instead of snapping back at her, he instead looked away from the pair in front of him and focused on keeping up with them while trying to not accidentally drop the man on his back. 

The trio continued to walk in silence for several more minutes until they reached their hideout. Once they stopped in front of the doors, Terra turned to Nyx and commanded, "take him to the basement and tie him up. Once you do that, I want you to meet me in my room." Her eyes narrowed and her tone dropped to sound low and threatening. "You and I need to have a talk." 

Nyx nodded, hoping that his nervousness wasn't showing, and walked past Terra and Lust to enter the hideout. Although, it didn't look like a hideout all that much. It was actually just a two-story house that had been recently abandoned. They had happened upon it and decided to use it for their temporary lodgings. 

He quickly made his way to the staircase that lead down to the basement. Once he had descended the steps, he made his way to the wooden chair and magic-canceling ropes that sat in the middle of the cold, dim, dirty basement. He deposited Rufus onto the chair and quickly tied him to the chair. Once finishing this, he took the time to lean closer to the blonde man, checking for signs of consciousness. When he was sure that the man was indeed still out cold, he gave him a final look of pity before he turned and walked up the stairs. 

Nyx closed and locked the door that he stepped through and made his way to another staircase, this one leading up. As he made the journey up the stairs and down the resulting hallway to Terra's bedroom, he tried to push down the feeling of anxiety that swelled within him. His hands clenched into fists and his brow furrowed, he pushed himself forward. He didn't know what Terra wanted to talk about, but it had to be about something that he had done wrong. Although, he had no idea what that could be. He hadn't done anything that she would disapprove of recently. 

His mind raced, searching for any idea of what he could have done or said that would make Terra upset. However, he wasn't able to come up with anything. His footfalls thudded lightly as he walked down the hallway to the wooden door that was at the end. 

Nyx stopped in his tracks halfway. As his hands trembled, balled into fists at his sides, he gulped down the lump that had formed in his throat. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple and dripped off of the side of his chin. He took a deep breath and pushed himself forward, continuing what felt like a walk to his execution. 

Upon reaching the closed door, he reached a hand toward the doorknob. Time seemed to slow as he turned the doorknob and slowly stepped into the bedroom. His eyes roamed over the room. It was dimly lit and barren, save for a dusty dresser, an empty closet, and an old bed that had a dusty blue cover and a single pillow. Terra sat on the end of the bed, one leg crossed over the other and her arms crossed over her chest. Lust leaned against the wall, right next to the single window. 

Terra spoke, her tone commanding, "Nyx! Stand in front of me!" 

Nyx obeyed, closing the door as he walked further into the room. He faced Terra, but his dark brown eyes were cast down at the wooden floor, which was in desperate need of a cleaning. The silence stretched on for an unbearably long time. Nyx felt the urge to break the silence as it began to weigh down on him like a large slab of iron that he wasn't able to move. 

Finally, just when he felt as though he was going to suffocate from the heavy silence, Terra spoke, her tone cold and calm, "what do you think about the little princess, Nyx?" 

Nyx swallowed, a fruitless attempt to relieve the dryness of his mouth. "W-what do you mean?" His voice was weaker than he wanted it to be, more timid than he was used to. Terra always had this effect on him. She always managed to make him feel lesser than her, like he was nothing more than a servant who could be replaced at any time, and had to go to any lengths possible to prevent such a thing. He hated that Terra had this effect on him. 

Terra's eyes bore into him, making him feel like she was staring directly into his soul. She spoke again, "you know what I mean." Her statement sounded like a sneer. 

Nyx locked his eyes onto a dark stain on the floor, wishing that he could disappear forever. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to be faced with Terra's unpredictableness, or be cornered by Lust's loyalty to Terra. 

His mind mulled over Terra's question. How did he feel about the blonde celestial wizard? He had never thought about it before, so how was he supposed to know? He remembered when he would torture him for several hours each day for a week. He remembered not using methods of torture that were as bad as the ones that Lust and Terra used on the other three women. He remembered forcing himself to listen to her cries of agony, wishing that she would just shut up already. He could still hear those screams, in the darkness of the night when he tried to sleep. He remembered feeling stabs of pity, maybe even sympathy, with damn near every single scream that erupted from her mouth. He didn't know how he felt about her, if he felt anything. 

He raised his eyes to look at Terra again, finally answering, "I-I don't know." 

Terra gave a short hum. "Is that so? Well then, please tell me why you let her have those keys from that Magic Shop." 

Nyx's breath caught in his throat at that question. His heart hammered within his chest and his stomach dropped to his feet. He screwed his eyes shut as he managed to respond, "I-I don't...know what you're talking about." 

Lust gave a bitter chuckle as Terra sighed. The pink-haired woman stood up and strode over to Nyx. Once she stopped in front of him, she raised a hand. Without meaning to, Nyx flinched as she rested her hand on his shoulder. "William," Nyx tried to recoil at the sound of his real name being spoken by his boss in her soft, yet chilling tone, however, he wasn't able to due to the tight grip that she had on his shoulder, keeping him in place, "I know that the little princess bought the keys that I had sent you after. When you returned to me and Lust, you didn't appear to have been in a fight. So, why is that so? Why did you allow her to take Ursa Major, Coma Berenices, and Telescopium?"

Nyx could feel himself sweat as his body trembled. Terra was shorter than him, and yet she felt so much more intimidating than any other dark mage had ever felt. A wave of nausea washed over him and he clenched his teeth in an attempt to stop himself from vomiting. He struggled to keep his breathing under control as he tried to ignore Terra's oppressing presence. 

Lust called out mockingly, "answer the question, William!" 

Nyx shot a glare over at the other man, receiving a cocky smile and amused chuckle in return. Terra then snapped, making him jump, "well? Why did you just let her go with the keys?" 

At that, Nyx made the mistake of locking eyes with her. The moment that his dark brown eyes were caught by her piercing blue ones, he was unable to look away. Her eyes pinned him to the spot where he stood, unable to escape the situation. He gulped as Terra's eyes narrowed. He felt like she could see the truth in his eyes, and he almost wanted her to say it so that he too would know why he did what he did. He didn't know why he let her take the keys and escape without a fight or even a real exchange of dialogue. 

"I-I...I don't-"

"Are you dedicated to our mission?" 

Nyx blinked a few times. "What?" 

Terra repeated, "are you dedicated to our mission? Are you going to betray us to the blonde whore the first chance you get?" 

Nyx's mind was blank, making him unable to come up with an excuse, not that he was able to at any other point. He opened his mouth, hoping that he would be able to say something, anything, but nothing came out, leaving him to simply open and close his mouth repeatedly, like some kind of fish. 

Terra leaned closer, her face soon mere centimeters from his. She hissed, "are you a traitor, William?" 

Nyx could only stand there, frozen under her glare. His heart was beating rapidly in his chest, the sound loud in his ears. His body was trembling and his stomach was twisting with rising nausea. Time seemed to slow to a snail's pace to him. Seconds turned into minutes as the prolonged silence and threatening aura that rolled off of Terra in waves pressed down onto him so heavily that he felt as though he couldn't breathe. He had to get out. He had to get away and to someplace where he could breathe. 

"...no." His response was whispered, weak, but he knew that Terra had heard him. 

"What was that?" Terra raised a pink eyebrow, her blue eyes still narrowed and her tone still threatening. 

Nyx swallowed and forced himself to say, a tiny bit louder, though not at all stronger, "I'm no traitor." 

Terra continued to stare at him, analyzing him as though she was able to tell if he was lying and pick out the truth. Eventually, she leaned away before she walked back over to the bed and sat back down, returning to the sitting position that she had been in at the beginning of the interaction. She gave Nyx a final, critical lookover before she waved him away. 

With that, Nyx wasted no time in rushing out of the room and to his own room. He slammed his bedroom door closed and leaned against it, his breath coming out in heavy huffs. Sweat gleamed on his forehead. Suddenly feeling suffocated by his dark blue trenchcoat, he pushed it off of his body and threw it away from himself. He resumed leaning against his wooden bedroom door and slide down to sit on the floor, his knees pulled up to his chest and arms wrapped around his legs. He buried his face into his knees, simply sitting there in silence as he tried to focus on calming himself. 

As time passed, only one thought could linger in his mind: 

I'm no traitor.

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: NIGHTMARE, MILD DESCRIPTION OF MAJOR INJURIES, MENTIONS OF BLOOD, PANIC ATTACK, MENTIONS OF SELF-HARM, STRANGLING, AND KIDNAPPING!

Chapter Thirty: Rufus Has Been Captured

Lucy opened her eyes to find that she was floating in a black abyss. She looked around herself frantically, searching for something, anything. The abyss felt like a black ocean that she could breathe in. Her body felt as though it was being weighed down by tons of invisible water. Her brown eyes were wide with alarm at her surroundings. She opened her mouth and tried to call out for help, call out to anybody who may hear, but no sound came out.

Her stomach turned and her heartbeat became erratic. Her breathing started to become shallow as she tried to keep herself calm. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't possible. But...what was happening? She had no idea.

Suddenly, a familiar voice broke through the heavy darkness, making her body tremble under its thunderous might, "you!"

Fear enveloped her being at the sound. Her stomach dropped and her heart pounded so hard that she could hear it in her ears and felt it in her chest. Her eyes were impossibly wide and she froze, as if she was able to move in the first place. Her mind raced but didn't stop long enough for her to make sense of her own thoughts.

The voice sounded again, "this is your fault! We're dead because of you!"

Lucy gasped when Yukino suddenly appeared right in front of her. The sight was horrifying. Her dear friend was clothed in only bloodied and dirty rages that remained of her clothes. Her body was covered in festering burn marks and blood, a handful of long cuts littered around, while her left leg was twisted and discolored, so much so that Lucy couldn't help but cringe at the sight. The dead celestial wizard's eyes were merely black pools, gashes laying over them, which resulted in streams of blood flowing down her face.

Yukino was clearly unhappy, her arms crossed over her barely-covered chest, her brow furrowed, and pale lips pulled into a deep frown. Lucy trembled at the sight, tears burning her eyes. Her friend leaned closer, causing Lucy to struggle in the ocean of black, heavy water-like pressure, desperate to get away but not able to put any distance between herself and her dead friend.

Yukino sneered, her face inches away from Lucy's, "this is your fault. If you were more competent, if you tried harder, you could have saved us."

"I-I'm sorry." Lucy's response was whimpering as fear rushed through her veins and panic pooled in her gut.

"You're sorry? That's a great excuse!" A second voice scoffed.

Lucy looked to her left to see the source of the new voice, finding that Sorano was floating there. Yukino's older sister was completely naked and her body was almost mangled. Whipping marks and burn wounds covered her body, leaving almost no room for unmarred, healthy skin to show itself. Her fingernails were gone and her once captivating eyes were just as gone. Lucy choked on a sob at the sight of the empty eye sockets, blood, and mucus pouring out of them.

Sorano continued with a sickeningly sweet smile and a tone that matched, "you're such a good friend, Lucy! You've taken spirits that don't belong to you and are now dragging your friends along on a mission that doesn't concern them at all and is only causing them harm! How selfless and kind you are!"

Lucy shook her head. "No, no! I-I didn't plan for a-any of this to-to happen!" She was barely able to register the streams of tears that flowed down her cheeks. Her breath came in shallow quick gasps as she struggled to maintain some amount of control over herself.

"Well, what was your plan, huh?" A third voice joined.

Lucy's head whipped around to look to her right. Hisui floated there, her appearance just as terrifying as Yukino's and Sorano's. The dead queen was also naked. Her body was mutilated, covered in whip marks. Her left hand and right foot were gone, and her green hair was nearly shorn. Half of her face was charred and bloodied, seeming to have been completely burned to unrecognition. Lucy clamped a hand over her mouth as a sob forced itself from her.

"Are you gonna say something?" Hisui's strangled voice was taunting. "What was your plan? For this mission of yours to go perfectly well? For everything to be sunshine and rainbows? Was that it?"

Lucy removed her hand, managing to breathe out, "no!" She once again fought with the pressure that surrounded her to get away from her horrifying and mangled friends, however, she quickly found that she was getting nowhere, so she instead curled herself into a sort-of ball, as if she thought that if she made herself small enough, then Yukino, Sorano, and Hisui would leave her to float alone in this black abyss.

She whimpered, "I-I'm sorry...I didn't-I can't...please."

Her hands covered her face and her knees were pulled up to her chest. Her body trembled and her heart pounded against her chest. Suddenly, a pair of hands gripped her shoulders, causing Lucy to yelp and jerk away. She looked up to find that Yukino, Sorano, and Hisui were gone. She then hesitantly turned around to see who was holding onto her shoulders. She released a shaky gasp upon seeing Aquarius staring down at her.

Lucy fully turned around and exclaimed, "Aquarius!" Hope and joy fluttered from within herself as she peered closer at the newcomer, a smile pulling at her lips as she slowly raised her arms for a hesitant hug. What small amount of hope and joy that had begun making its appearance disappeared entirely when Aquarius gave her a murderous glare and shot out her hand, fingers wrapping around Lucy's neck and palm pressing against her throat.

Lucy's hand immediately grasped at Aquarius' wrist as she struggled for air. Her teary, brown eyes looked up at the mermaid spirit, only to be met with malice and apathy. The blonde's struggling slowed and her eyelids dropped as the seconds without air ticked by. It didn't take long for her to go limp and her eyes to close.

Lucy's eyes snapped open and stared up at the ceiling, her mind was blank and her breathing was heavy. She was frozen as she layed in bed, her mind trying to understand what had happened and where she was. Eventually, she bolted up into a sitting position and looked around frantically. Fear shot through her as her brown eyes searched for Yukino, Sorano, Hisui, or Aquarius.

However, she only found that she was alone in a room with two beds, a table, a chair, and two doors on opposite sides of the room. Her body trembled and her heartbeat pounded against her chest as her mind reasoned that she was safe if nobody was there, reminding her that she was at la Cour de Velours and that Freed, Rufus, and Midnight had left some time ago.

Lucy looked down at her lap, seeing that her fingers were wrapped in white bandages, as were her wrists. Her bangs stuck to her forehead due to sweat and a small amount of tears continued to slide down her cheeks.

After several minutes, she was able to regain control of her breathing and stop her body's trembling. She ran her tongue over her dry lips, realizing that her mouth was dry. She looked over at the bedside table to see a glass of iced water. She reached for it and quickly downed the water, setting the glass back down on the table once she was finished.

She then reached for the communication lacrima that was also sitting on the bedside table. She wasn't particularly interested in talking to someone else, but she needed a distraction right now, any sort of distraction. She knew that she couldn't let herself think about her nightmare.

The other side of the communication lacrima was answered by Mira, who grinned at her with sparkling, blue eyes. "Lucy! How have you been?"

Lucy forced a big smile onto her face and answered, using all of her might to make her voice sound steady and bright, "I'm doing great! We've collected a lot of keys! At this rate, we'll be back in Magnolia before the year is over!"

Mira cheered, "that's great!" She then exclaimed, seeming to just remember something, "oh! Natsu wanted to talk to you!" The white-haired woman then left Lucy's view before Natsu suddenly appeared only a few moments later.

"Lucy! What's up?"

Lucy gave a fake laugh at Natsu's excited yell and childish grin. "Just calling to see what's going on at the guild. Did I miss anything?"

Natsu hummed in thought before exclaiming, "Levy and Gajeel are getting married!"

Lucy's eyes widened at that. "Really?" She was surprised to hear that news, though she supposed that she shouldn't have been. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

"Yeah! You should have seen it! Gajeel sang a song and made a big deal of it! It was funny!" Natsu laughed at the recount.

Lucy asked, "is Levy there?"

Natsu's laughter stopped so he could answer, "no. She's gown shopping with Bisca, Erza, Juvia, and Evergreen."

Lucy gave a small frown at that. She had wanted to hear about it from Levy. She then brushed it off and opened her mouth to ask about anything else that happened, but was stopped when Natsu spoke again, "Happy found a job request, I gotta go! See ya, Lucy!"

The line was then cut and Lucy was left by herself again. She muttered, "...bye." She then pushed the communication lacrima away, her smile dropping into a frown and her body losing the straight posture that it had managed to maintain for the past minute.

She stared down at her bandaged fingers and wrists. What was that for? Was a job request really more important than talking to her? Why did Levy not tell her about her engagement sooner? Why did her best friend not try to reach out to her and deliver the news herself? Lucy quickly stopped her questioning. She couldn't expect her guildmates to focus on her when they had their own lives. She scolded herself, telling herself that she had no right to be upset. She was the one who chose to leave, after all. She couldn't expect her friends to put their lives on pause just for her.

Lucy lifted her gaze to look at the end of the bed, finding that Rufus' hat was sitting there. She lifted her head and continued to stare at it, confusion causing her to furrow her brow. How long had that been there? Why was it left behind? Did Rufus know that he had left his hat in her room? Her eyes roamed over the pink plumage, her fingers itching to weave through the soft feathers.

With a soft grunt, she reached for the hat and pulled it toward herself. She laid it on her lap and lifted a hand to the mass of pink feathers, her bandaged fingers dancing through them. Her frown deepened a little when she found that she couldn't feel their softness through her bandages, so she rested her bare palm against the feathers, feeling how soft and silky they were.

One corner of her mouth ticked up at the feeling and a small wave of comfort and calmness washed over her. It was strange. The pink plumage of Rufus' hat brought her a sense of calmness. It made her feel comforted. She remembered when she was sitting in Fairy Tail's infirmary, holding her friend's hat in her hands and feeling the feathers. She had felt calm and comforted then too.

She took the pink plumage into her hand and lifted it to her face, rubbing her face against the feathers. Her lips formed a small smile at the feeling. She rested her face in the pretty, soft plumage, releasing a sigh. She then fell backward to lay back down, hugging the plumage to herself, pressing it to her face, and closing her eyes. She made her mind focus on the feeling of the feathers against her skin, not wanting to think about the nightmare that she had just had.

A flash of light signaled the arrival of one of her spirits. She looked up to find Loke, standing beside her bed with a look of concern and panic on his face. He exclaimed, "Lucy! Are you alright?"

Lucy blinked at him a few times. "How did you know that something happened?"

"I sensed your panic."

"Oh...it took you a while to summon yourself."

Loke relaxed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, sorry. I had to get away from a few other spirits." He then gave her a sparkling smile and sat on the end of the bed. "But I'm here now. So, are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?"

Lucy sat up and looked down at the pink plumage in her hands. Her face dropped. As bits and pieces of her nightmare returned to her, she struggled to push them away. The sights of Yukino, Sorano, and Hisui flashed through her mind and the feeling of Aquarius' hand gripping her throat returned to her neck, faintly, but still there. Tears burned her eyes and she sniffled, leaning forward to bury her face into the feathers that she had been absentmindedly weaving her fingers through.

Tears spilled over and rolled down her cheeks as she bit her lip, trying to hold in the sobs that threatened to slip past. She felt Loke rest a hand on her back. "Do you want anything?" His voice was soft, with a hint of sadness in it. Lucy shook her head. She didn't know what she wanted, if she wanted anything. All she could do was continue to cry silently, her brain working tirelessly to stamp out any images of her nightmare, keeping her from reliving the terrifying sights and sounds.

Her body trembled and her teeth sunk deeper into her bottom lip. Her bandaged fingers clutched Rufus' pink plumage tighter, as if it was some sort of lifeline. Loke muttered to her after he gently pushed the feathers away to look at her face, "you shouldn't bite your lip like that, you could break the skin." He ran his thumb under her lip, urging her to release it from between her teeth. She did so, and then rested her head against his shoulder, clutching Rufus' plumage to her chest.

She took a breath before she continued her crying, a few choked sobs escaping her. She felt Loke wrap his arms around her and she leaned even more against him. Her body shook with each breath she heaved and quiet sob she released. Her fingers dug into the pink feathers in her hands, holding them against her chest, and she buried her face into the side of his neck.

Eventually, Lucy's crying subsided and she pulled away from her close friend, leaning back against the headboard of the bed. She stared down at the pink plumage in her hands, her face blank and her cheeks red and wet from her crying. She muttered, "sorry."

Loke questioned, "for what?"

"For," she paused, trying to find the right words. What did she want to say? For what? For being so weak? For not being a better friend to Yukino, Sorano, and Hisui? For sacrificing Aquarius' key? For not being faster in her mission? She sighed, deciding that she couldn't dump any of that onto Loke. She relented, "nothing. It's nothing."

There was a small stretch of silence before Loke muttered, "are you sure?"

Lucy nodded and layed back down, her back facing Loke. It didn't take long for Loke to get the hint that she wanted to be alone. He informed her that Virgo was going to check on her soon before he dismissed himself.

Lucy held the pink plumage of Rufus' hat to herself, pressing it against her face. She stared at the wall across from her, willing her eyes to stay open. She didn't want to fall asleep again. She didn't want to fall asleep ever again. She just wanted to lay in bed, nobody coming around to see her, nobody she has to pretend to be fine around. She just wanted to disappear from the world, never to be seen or remembered again.

She heaved a sigh. That was just wishful thinking.

She continued to stare blankly at the wall for, who knows how long, when the door that leads to the main room opened with a muffled, but still clearly heard, bang. She propped herself up on an elbow and looked in the direction that the sound came from. It was out of character for any of her companions to enter a room in such a way. It was confusing and a feeling of worry began building in her gut. Did something happen?

The door to her bedroom burst open, hitting the door. Lucy bolted into a sitting position upon seeing Freed. He was standing in the doorway, a hand bracing himself against the frame. His eyes were wide with an assortment of emotions. Worry, alarm, anger, and disappointment all mixed together in his sea green eyes, even bleeding into his facial expression a bit. His breathing was a little heavy, making Lucy guess that he had been in a hurry.

Lucy threw herself out of the bed and rushed over to Freed, asking him with alarm and concern clearly heard in her voice, "what's wrong?"

Freed straightened his posture and answered, "the celestial wizards, they've captured Rufus."

"What?!" Lucy screamed and ran past Freed, out of the main room and into the large corridor. Her mind was in a frenzy, unsure of what to do. All she knew was that one of her friends had been taken, and she had to save him. She started off toward the entrance to the la Cour de Velours, thinking that maybe she could find them if she went outside.

She was stopped by Freed grabbing her arm and pulling her back. When she looked at him, he informed her, "the other end of the corridor." With that, Lucy ran in the other direction, pushing past any person who stood in her way. She was barely able to register the shouts of anger and curses that were sent her way.

Her heart pounded against her chest and her breathing was already becoming heavy from her running. Her bare feet slapped the floor, bound to leave them hurting for hours afterward. Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her eyesight. Her mind raced with all sorts of thoughts. Thoughts of what could be happening to Rufus right at that moment. Thoughts of what she could have done to prevent this. Thoughts of how terrible of a friend she was. She pushed herself further, desperate to reach the end of the hallway and holding on to the small amount of hope she had that she could save Rufus, even if that bit of hope was unrealistic.

Her eyes widened when she caught sight of Midnight slowly walking in the direction that she was running. She called to him, "Midnight!"

When he turned around she skidded to a stop in front of him and gripped his arms tightly, trying to get out her words as she stared up at him, fear clear on her face and her brown eyes shining with tears. Midnight stared down at her with wide eyes and alarm on his face. He whispered, "what's wrong?"

Lucy opened her mouth, but could only answer with a choked sob and pressed her face into Midnight's chest, her grip on his arms tightening. Tears raced down her cheeks and she felt dozens of pairs of eyes on her, making her wish that she could disappear from sight. Her body trembled violently and her knees felt weak. It was taking all of her strength to remain standing. Her breathing was heavy and shallow.

She jumped when a pair of hands gripped her shoulders. She bit down on her bottom lip, trying to silence herself, as she heard Midnight say, "we need to go outside and see if we can still find them. They might not have gotten very far."

Lucy's hand was then grabbed by a warm one and she was pulled along, through the crowd and toward the end of the large hall. Tears continued to fall and she silently scolded herself for the way she was acting. She couldn't even pull herself together. Could she be any more useless at that moment?

A sudden gust of chilled air hit her, causing her to open her eyes and look at where she was now. She was standing outside, grass, small rocks, and twigs softly digging into her bare feet. She watched as Midnight and Freed spoke together, looking into the surrounding forest.

Lucy stared down at the ground, her mind had suddenly gone blank. Her body trembled, filled with so many strong emotions that it almost made her feel numb. Her breathing was heavy and her heart was pounding. What should she do? She knew that she should do something, but what?

She jumped once again when she heard a new voice speak from beside her, "what happened? Lucy, are you alright?"

The voice, Loke's voice, was loud and stern at first before it softened upon being directed to her. Lucy looked up at Loke, seeing that he was staring down at her with concern. She willed herself to say something, anything, but could only stare up at him, tears gleaming in her eyes. She was unable to speak, not even able to move. All she could do in her shocked state was stand in one place and tremble.

Her eyes dropped back to the ground as she listened to Loke, Freed, and Midnight converse. Loke started, his voice going back to being stern and hard, "what the hell happened?"

Freed was who answered, his voice mostly calm, but there was a slight hint of something else that Lucy wasn't able to identify, "I came out here because I believed I found Terra and Lust. I was ambushed by them and the other one. Apparently, Rufus had followed me. He tried to get help, but was knocked unconscious by a celestial spirit. I don't quite know what had happened after that. I was hit in the back of the head and blacked out. When I came too, I was laying on the ground, and the celestial wizards and Rufus were gone."

Lucy's hands balled into fists. Her inner voice scolded her for being weak enough to let them go on their own. She couldn't disagree. If she had been strong enough, she could have prevented this. If she had been better, none of this would be happening. She resolved that she had no one to blame but herself for any of this.

Midnight then spoke, "I doubt that they're still in the area. Who knows how long ago that was, and they could have a spirit who can teleport them. Or, if they know how to use Teleportation Magic."

"Telescopium could make sure." At Loke's suggestion, Lucy's head snapped up. The three men looked at her expectantly.

Dragging herself out of her own mind, she slowly nodded and raised a hand, requipping Telescopium's key into her hand. She turned around and pointed the silver key, summoning with a noticeable lack of energy, "Open! Gate of the Telescope Constellation: Telescopium!"

In an instant, the little boy on a flying carpet appeared. He grinned excitedly at Lucy, only for it to fall upon seeing the grim expressions of the men and woman who were looking back at him. He asked, his voice soft with rising worry, "is something wrong?"

Lucy felt a pang of guilt shoot through her at the sight of sorrow that filled the boy's eyes. She took a deep breath and finally spoke, though her voice was weaker than she would have liked, "Telescopium, can you try to find Rufus? He's been taken by three other celestial wizards."

Telescopium solemnly nodded and soared into the sky. The gathered mages remained where they were, all silent and holding their breaths as they waited for the coming news. When Telescopium returned he gave a sad sigh, "I couldn't track anybody. They aren't in the area. I'm sorry."

Lucy shook her head. "It's not your fault. Thank you, Telescopium." When the boy disappeared, Lucy turned around and asked, "any ideas on what we should do now?"

Loke was the one who spoke up, "do you have Orion?"

Freed answered, "yes, but he won't appear, not unless Lucy has his hound first."

Loke nodded, "yeah, that's Orion. But, he is ridiculously good at finding people. All he needs is something that belongs to whoever you want him to look for. If you can find Sirius, then Orion can definitely find where Rufus was taken."

Midnight almost scowled, "and how do we do that? We have no idea where the mutt's key is and we can't know if the damn magical scroll will give us its location next."

Loke looked at Lucy, asking her with a softened tone, "Virgo has the scroll, right?"

Lucy nodded, "yeah, why?"

"I might be able to persuade the king to make it give you the location of Sirius' key next." With that, he disappeared.

Lucy stared at the spot where Loke had been standing, her mind still trying to process what he had said. The bit of hope that she had just minutes ago sparked back to life, though small. She then heard Midnight question, "you think that's actually gonna work?"

Freed shrugged. "I've never met this king that he spoke of, so I have no way of knowing."

Lucy offered, "he might. The Celestial Spirit King is kind and understanding. If Loke explains the circumstances, then he might do it."

Freed and Midnight nodded in understanding. A flash of golden light then appeared again, and the three mages turned to look in its direction. Loke handed the scroll to Lucy, and a proud smile on his face. Lucy accepted the scroll, an appreciative smile pulling at her lips. She didn't need to ask to know that he was successful.

When Loke disappeared again, Lucy looked at Freed and Midnight, saying, "let's gather our things and get going. We need to save Rufus as quickly as possible."

With that, the three mages made their way back inside and toward their rooms. Within the hour, they would be setting off for the coordinates that the scroll was giving them.

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: GAMBLING, PANIC ATTACK, SELF-HARM, AND VAGUE MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE!

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Hand Knife Trick

Midnight opened his eyes, his mind in a haze. He slowly sat up with a soft grunt and placed his hand on his forehead. He grimaced at the feeling of his head dully pained. His eyes were still trying to remain open as he looked around at his surroundings, trying to remember where he was and why he was there. He looked down, seeing that he was sitting on the floor. He gave a short groan as he used the table next to him to pull himself to his feet. 

He looked down at the table, seeing that three cards with a faint star silhouette on the back of two of them. One of the two stars was moved slightly higher than the second one. He was suddenly hit with memories of what had transpired in that room, causing him to give a breathy gasp as he took a few steps away from the table. He heard a metalic clinking sound as his foot stepped on something. He looked down to see a silver gate key. With a shaking hand, he reached down to pick up the key and stuffed it into his coat pocket. 

Midnight remained in place as he stared down at the table. His breathing was heavy and his heart was pounding against his chest. His mind was racing with questions. Why was Abeze here? It's been a little more than a decade since he last came here with Brain. How could someone remain in one nest of gambling dens for so long? Why would he remain here for that long? 

He brushed his hand over his upper thigh, still feeling the man's hand there dispite knowing that it wasn't actually there. He felt a sudden wave of cold wash over him, causing him to shiver. He leaned forward to brace himself on the table when he was taken over by a feeling light-headedness and he placed his other hand against his chest when he felt a sharp pain there. The reflector mage's stomach turned with nausea and saliva flooded his mouth, making him clench his teeth and hunch over the table in an effort to prevent himself from vomiting. 

Midnight tried to calm his own breathing, but wasn't able to focus properly due to his attempts to suppress unwanted memories and ignore the feeling of hands on body. Tears welled up in his eyes threatening to spill. His bit into his lower lip and moved his hand from his chest to his forcefully wipe at his upper thighs before kneeling on the floor, his forehead resting against the edge of the table when his shaking knees gave out from under him. Sweat ran down his temples and dripped from his chin. 

He bit harder into his lower lip, pain shooting through it as he broke the skin and a bead of blood dripped down his chin. A creak sounded at the door, causing his red eyes to flick over at it. Fear raced through him as he watched the door intensely, silently begging for it to not open and reveal Abeze. He couldn't face that man, not again, not ever again. He didn't think he could fight off the older man, not like this, at least. 

He didn't know how long he had been like that, kneeling beside a table and tearfully staring at the door as fear of the man who had left him there filled him. His heart was racing, his breathing was heavy, sweat was almost drenching him, his body was trembling, and he felt strangely cold. It seemed to all end suddenly. 

Midnight was no longer feeling cold and his body's trembling was gradually slowing. He no longer felt rough hands roaming over his body and his chest pain had eased majorly. He gripped the table with both hands and pulled himself to his feet. His heart was still beating quickly, though it had already started to calm, and he was still in the process of calming his breathing. 

He leaned against the table for several extra minutes, waiting for his heartbeat to return to its normal pace, his breathing to calm, and his legs to stop trembling. Once this happened, he was left feeling tired and a slightly sore feeling was in his muscles. 

He pushed himself off of the table and took a deep breath as he looked across the room from him. He quickly spotted a small shelf that was filled with an assortment of games against the wall. His eyes locked onto a folded washcloth and several dice on the top shelf. The man walked over and picked up the washcloth, pressing against his still-bleeding lower lip. As he waited for it to stop bleeding, he lifted his other hand to pick up the dice one at a time, finding that they were all loaded. Six dice in total, each loaded on one side. He thought back to to the games that he and the others had encountered and decided to stuff these loaded dice into his coat pocket, noting to himself that he might need them.

When he was sure that his lower lip was no longer bleeding, he tossed the bloodied washcloth onto the floor and walked over to the the door. He gripped the doorknob and paused, silently praying that he wouldn't see Abeze on the other side of the door. After several tense moments of hesitation, he opened the door, finding that Abeze was nowhere in sight. 

Midnight ambled into the wide hallway and made his way through it. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He definitely couldn't go back to his rooms. That might mean needing to face Lucy, and he couldn't bring himself to do that just yet. He knew that he looked bothered and obviously not okay, and he knew that if Lucy saw him like this, then she would get worried. The last thing the celestial wizard needed right now was reason to worry about someone who didn't deserve her concern. No, it would be best if he looked for any other keys before making his way back, try to give himself some time to recompose himself as best he could. 

As he walked along, his head ducked as his eyes locked onto sign after sign, his eyelids dipped a few times and almost every movement caused noticeable soreness to shoot through his muscles. 

He was nearing the end of  the hallway when he finally spotted a sign on a door that announced that the den owner behind it was offering a Celestial Spirit Gate Key as a prize. He approached the door and grabbed the doorknob. He swiftly opened it, wanting to quickly get into a gamble so that his mind wouldn't be able to wander to other topics. 

He found two young men in the room. They appeared to be identical twins. They both had long, red hair and were both dressed in simple, white button-up shirts and blue jeans. One twin was sitting at a table while the second twin was leaning again the head of the table. The only way to tell the two apart was the fact that the twin who was sitting down had his hair pulled into a bun while the other twin left his hair loose. 

Midnight walked further into the room and stood in front of the pair. The twin who was standing pushed off of the table and spoke, "I'm Mam and this is my brother, Mon." He nodded his head at the empty chair on the side opposite of Mon, "take a seat and we can start." 

Midnight silently walked over and sat on the empty chair, watching through the corner of his eye as Mam walked over to a cabinet and took something out of it. A knife and timer lacrima were set on the table. Mam announced, "you'll be playing the Hand Knife Trick. You two will take turns stabbing between my fingers. Whoever is able to do this the most amount of times in one minute will win. There will be four rounds." 

Midnight wasted no time in stating, "I'd like to see the key. I want to make sure that it is real." 

Mam nodded with a small smile and reached into his pocket. He sat the key  in front of Midnight. Midnight picked up the key and analyzed it. It was silver in color. The blade was pretty typical of a normal gate key, if a bit more fancy, and the bow was shaped like the head of rabbit, its ears perked as though it was listening for any signs of danger. When he was sure that the key was real, he layed it back down. He had been hoping that the game was one that he could use the loaded dice in his pocket to win, but supposed that he could win this without them. The game was about speed and precision, both of which were strong points of his. 

Once the key was layed back down and pushed to the side, Mam spoke, "let's begin then." He looked down at Midnight and said, "our guest can go first." 

Midnight nodded and stood up, taking the knife into his hand. He moved his eyes from Mam's hand to his face, asking, "is harming your hand a violation of the rules?" 

Mam explained, "no, you can harm if you'd like. Also, this timer lacrima will count down the minute and keep track of the amount of stabs." 

Midnight nodded before he looked back down at the den owner's hand. It was laying, palm-down, on the table, and his fingers were spread out. Midnight raised the knife in his hand. He waited for Mam to start the timer lacrima. Once it gave a ding, signalling that the count down had started, he began slamming the knife down on the table, starting on the outerside of Mam's thumb and moving back and further between the red-haired man's fingers. 

The reflector mage's brow was furrowed as he focused on stabbing the table as quickly as possible. He was sure that he was probably cutting Mam, but he didn't pay any attention. He focused on winning the key, not allowing himself to care about how much harm he could be doing to the den owner. 

He hadn't realized that the minute was up until he heard the loud ding that it gave off. His hand froze in mid-air and looked over at the lacrima, wanting to see what his count was. He looked below the timer part of the lacrima to see the number of stabs that it had counted. 

Fifty-three. It wasn't as high as he was hoping, but for a time span of one minute, it wasn't too bad. He sat the knife down on the table and leaned away, watching as Mon took it up and waited for the timer lacrima to reset and start its countdown. 

Midnight looked down at Mam's hand, seeing that it had several cuts that were bleeding onto the table. He knew that he should feel a little bit bad, but he couldn't find it in himself to. He couldn't find it in himself to care even a little bit about anybody at la Cour de Velours. Maybe it wasn't good for him to dislike people who didn't have any hand in his experience at this place when he was a child, but he couldn't help himself. These people frequented this nest of dens for no other reason than fun. They were taking part in harming others. he didn't care how nice anyone here was, he couldn't see any of them as anything other than people who only cared about themselves and were more than willing to do immoral things to achieve whatever goals they have. 

He was broken out of his thoughts when the timer lacrima went off again. The stab counter was forty-seven. Midnight felt a small tinge of excitement, but quickly squashed it, reminding himself that this was just the first out of fourth round, which meant that there was still a possibility of his opponent taking the lead. 

He took the knife again and raised it, waiting for his signal to begin. As he waited, he looked over Mam's hand, noticing that it wasn't further injured. It was a bit surprising to him. Was Mon being careful to not harm his twin? Midnight supposed that he shouldn't be too surprised about that, it it was true. Siblings were usually really close and cared about each other a lot, right? 

If this was true, then it was possible that Mon could seek some sort of retribution for harming his twin, Midnight wouldn't put it past the people who frequented these dens, but a gate key was the prize, and Midnight couldn't lose it. He decided to stab between Mam's fingers with reckless abandon, and deal with any repercussions that may result. 

When the timer lacrima signaled the beginning of the countdown, Midnight began stabbing the table in between Mam's fingers, picking up the pace of his stabbing with no care for the amount of harm that he could be doing. He had to win this key. The sound of the knife stabbing into the wooden table with force filled his ears, only being broken by the alarm from the timer lacrima. He slammed the knife into the table and looked at the counter. 

Sixty-two. 

The corner of his mouth ticked up slightly in a tiny smirk. He leaned away and watched his opponent take his turn. He looked at Mam's hand. It was cut even more, blood pooling around his hand on the table. As Midnight stared at the man's hand, a question popped into his head. What would Lucy say if she was here? 

That thought made Midnight glad that Lucy wasn't here with him. She was kind and cared about others, even her enemies. Well...to an extent, at least. The point was, Lucy was very caring toward others and didn't like harming others unless they were endangering herself, her friends, or innocent people. 

Midnight knew that she wouldn't like this. He knew that she wouldn't be happy with him. He could almost hear her voice now, scolding him for being so willing to hurt someone and not caring about it. The thought made him feel a bit bad, not because the harm that he had caused, but because he knew that Lucy would be upset. He knew that he should feel some remorse, but he simply couldn't. Everyone at la Cour de Velours was a bad person in some way. He was sure that Mam had done something to deserve this. 

His red eyes went to the stab counter when the timer lacrima went off. The number was fifty. Midnight won the first two rounds. He just had to hope that his opponent would continue to let his possible reluctance to harm his twin to hold him back. 

Midnight picked up the knife and raised it. He pushed away thoughts of Lucy and what she would think of his behavior if she was present and waited for his signal to start. When the timer lacrima began counting down the minute, he began stabbing with as much speed as he could. Accompanying the sound of the knife stabbing into the table was the feeling of drops of blood being flung onto his face as he continued. It made him wish that he hadn't abandoned the washcloth in Abeze's den. 

His hand froze when he heard the cutting sound of the timer lacrima's alarm. He looekd down at the counter, seeing that he had reached a stab count of eighty-one. He pushed the knife to Mon and wiped the small amount of blood off of his face with the sleeve of his black coat. 

He watched as Mon began his turn in the third round, his mind wandering. he supposed that it was funny in an ironic way that he believed the den owners and frequenters of la Cour de Velours to be bad people when he wasn't much better. He was a member of a dark guild that was in an alliance with other powerful dark guilds. He harmed innocent people without a care. He tried to sacrifice Lucy. And now, he expects the blonde to forgive him and accept him as a friend? How could that happen? He wasn't much better than the people here. He was a terrible person too. He didn't deserve Lucy's friendship or forgiveness. So, why was he trying? He knew that it was a pointless persuit, so why did he want Lucy to forgive him? Why did he want to be her friend? Why did he want to spend as much as time as possible with her? Why has he been having thoughts of tender moments with Lucy? That's not what friends normally do, right? So, what was going on with him? 

His constant, silent questions came to an abrupt end when the alarm went off. The stab counter was set on the number fifty-three. As soon as the bloodied knife was sat down, he picked it up and got ready to start. He pushed away his previous thought to focus on the cut up and bleeding hand below him. When the timer lacrima began counting down and gave the signal he was waiting for, Midnight began slamming the knife down. Once again, several drops of blood splattered onto his face and on the table next to him. The pool of blood had grown to a size that would probably be considered alarming. Nevertheless, Midnight didn't pay it any mind. He deserves it, he thought to himself. He didn't know what Mam had done, but he was sure that he did something to deserve this. 

The alarm that signalled the end of the minute caused him to stop. He threw the knife down and stepped away, once again wiping away the bit of blood on his face. He gave a sigh when he looked at the counter and saw that he had achieved eighty-six stabs, relieved that the game was almost over. There was no doubt that he won. He looked at the floor before moving his eyes to the door. 

His thoughts from just few minutes earlier returned, even despite his attempts to push them away. Why? Why was he feeling this way about Lucy? Why did he want to experience moments of tender care and intimacy with her? Why did her smile make him feel warm and make have to fight back the urge to smile as well? Why did Lucy's mere touch make his face heat up and redden? Why did just hearing her talk with no worries make his gut become filled with butterflies? Why did just looking at her make him feel happy and safe? Nobody had ever had this effect on him, so why did she? It confused him greatly. In his life, he's never been faced with something so puzzling. He was always able to figure things out with little difficulty. Why now/ Why was he now faced with something that he couldn't figure out? 

With the suddenness of one of Natsu's attacks, Erik's voice spoke in his mind, you're in love with Blondie. Midnight balled his fists at his sides. That couldn't be true. There is no way that he could be in love with Lucy. He had no chance with her. She had many better options than him, so why would she even consider him for a love interest? He simply couldn't be in love with her! There had to be another explanation! There had to be!

The alarm sounded and Midnight jumped before he snapped his gaze to the timer lacrima. Before he could look at the counter, Mon handed him the key, saying with a tiny smile, "you win, congrats." 

Midnight nodded and took the key before he walked to the door and exited the room. He closed the door and sighed, still not wanting to go back to his rooms and face Lucy. Maybe he should go outside and get some fresh air. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and began walking in the direction of la Cour de Velours' backdoor, at the end of the wide hallway. However, before he could get very far, he heard the voice of the woman who he didn't want to see just yet.

"Midnight!" 

He whipped around with widened eyes. Lucy sounded panicked. He watched as she raced toward him and grab his arms once she reached him. Lucy's hands were clutching his arms in a death grip, her face fear-striken as tears welled up in her eyes. The sight caused Midnight's stomach to drop and his blood run cold. He managed to whisper, "what's wrong?" 

Lucy tried to answer, but all that came out was a choked sob as she leaned her head against Midnight's chest, her grip on his arms becoming impossibly tighter. Midnight could feel himself internally panic as questions filled his mind. What was going on? What happened to Lucy? Was she okay? That was stupid, she clearly wasn't. Was she hurt? Did someone attack her? He gulped as he hesitantly wrapped his arms around Lucy, hoping that it would give her some sort of comfort. His heart pounded against his chest and he looked up, thinking that, maybe, she was being chased. 

He watched as Freed ran toward him, appearing to be panicked as well, but a lot more put together than Lucy. Midnight questioned when the rune mage reached him, "what happened?" His voice sounded weak, at least to him. 

Freed fixed him with a look that clearly showed his panic and worry, despite how strangely calm he seemed. "Rufus has been captured by Terra, Lust, and Nyx." 

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: GAMBLING AND DRINKING!

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Double Memory

Rufus walked with his arms folded behind his back, his hands clenched into tight fists. He had been hoping to not gamble again. After what happened the first time he took up a challenge, he loathed to run the risk of doing it again. He sighed, his green eyes roaming over the signs on the doors that he walked past. 

He didn't regret being put in that position. He knew that if he hadn't accepted Abezou's challenge, then Lucy would have been the woman's victim, and he didn't think that he would have been able to get over indirectly subjecting her to that gamble. 

Though, he still wished that he could have gotten out of that gamble. When he stayed in their rooms after they returned, he wasn't able to do much besides laying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling as his mind refused to let him forget the event. He wasn't even able to sleep much, if at all, due to his brain deciding that it was a good idea to make him relive it in his sleep. This caused him to lay in bed all night, wishing that he could turn back time and some how stop all of this from happening. 

He reached his hand up to scratch at a small itch on the back of his hand, stopping in his walking upon realizing that he wasn't wearing his hat. He thought back to that morning, trying to figure out wear he left it. It didn't take much effort for him to remember that he had taken off his hat and sat it on Lucy's bed when he was trying to ensure that she was alright after finding a small puddle of blood on the floor in front of the couch. He had been dragged out of the room by Freed, not given a chance to grab his hat. 

Rufus sighed and continued walking. He thought about going back for it, that would give him an opportunity to avoid a second gamble, but he knew that doing so would just be procrastination. If he was able to find another gate key, then would need to gamble for it, he knew that. There was no point in avoiding it. Besides, Lucy most likely wouldn't appreciate him walking in just for his hat. 

Lucy. 

He was worried about her. This mission couldn't be easy on her. He couldn't imagine the amount of fear and stress that she was going through. It made him saddened to think about. Perhaps she'll feel better when they finish this mission and return to Magnolia. He doubted that the scars she has obtained will fade completely, but he still hoped that succeeding in this mission and returning to Fairy Tail will help her heal. Think about the kinds of torture that Lucy had gone through at the start made her heart clench painfully and his fingernails dig into his palms in anger. If he was successful in winning Lucy's heart, he would ensure that she will never be subjected to such cruelty again. 

His eyes eventually zeroed in on a door that held a sign that announced the offering of a gate key. He walked over to it and gripped the doorknob. As his heart began to beat quicker and his throat tightened, he stood in place and stared down at the doorknob. He could feel his body tremble, the urge to back away from the door becoming stronger with each second that passed. 

He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. He remembered the breathing technique that Loke had walked Lucy through a couple of days ago. He breathed in through his nose for four seconds, held it for a count of seven, and exhaled for a count of eight. He continued this until his body's trembling lessened to the point that it was barely noticeable and his heartbeat had calmed. He still had the urge to turn away and leave, but it was more of a flicker, rather than the fire that it had grown into. 

Rufus took another deep breath before opened the door and stepped inside, trying to steel his nerves. He walked into the room and closed the door behind himself. His face twisted into a look of disgust, having almost immediately been assaulted by a strong smell of alcohol. Trying to ignore the smell, he took a look at the room. It was dimly lit, just like all of the other gambling dens that he's stepped into, and along both walls was a large bookcase, filled with all sorts of titles. A quick glance at them lead him to suspect that at least a majority of the books were about magic. 

Sitting on one of the two couches that were on either side of a dark brown, wooden coffee table was a man. The man was leaning back on the couch, one arm drapped over the back of it, and his head was tipped backward. He was downing a bottle of alcohol. Rufus looked down at the man's feet, finding that empty alcohol bottles were scattered around. He grimaced at the sigh and smell, hoping that the smell wouldn't embed itself into his clothing. 

The man finished off the bottle and let it drop onto the floor before he looked over at Rufus and greeted him with a shit-eating grin. "Hey there! Sit down! Make yourself comfortable!" 

Rufus watched as the man stood up and slowly stumbled over to a shelf of alcohol bottles, most of which were already gone, and grabbed as many as he could hold in his arms. The memory-make mage sat on the couch opposite of the one that den owner had been sitting on. 

When the man sat down, Rufus looked him over, seeing that he was dressed in a very casual and rather messy manner. The man had shoulder-length, wild brown hair and he wore a green t-shirt and pair of baggy, black jeans. The man deposited the bottles of alcohol on the couch next to himself and offered one to Rufus, asking, "want one?" 

Rufus shook his head, hoping that he was able to keep his disgust off of his face. "No, thank you." 

The man simply shrugged, opened the bottle, and began downing its contents. Rufus cringed at the display of poor manners. He couldn't remember the last time he's ever witnessed such unmannered set of actions. 

Once the man had finished off his bottle of alcohol, he tossed it onto the floor. He picked up another and slurred, "so...I'm Lial." He hiccuped before he continued, "we-we are going to-to...play Double Memory-" 

Rufus interupted him, "I hate to be rude, but I would like to see the key. Make sure that it's real." 

Lial gave him a puzzled look, probably trying to process what he had said, before his jovial grin returned and he reached into a pants pocket. He layed the key on the table and watched as Rufus picked it up.

Rufus picked up the silver key and looked at its design. The blade was shaped like a feather, intricate designs embedded into it that made is resemble the feather of a peacock. The bow was shapped like a peacock that had its tail feathers spread in a wide display, tiny gems of varying shades of green and blue decorated the tail. 

After confirming that it was real, he laid it back down on the table, pushing to the side of the table, close to the edge. He then looked back up at Lial, asking, "you said that we will be playing Double Memory?" 

Lial nodded, grin still on his face. He reached into a back pocket and pulled out two decks of cards, explaining as he set aside his bottle of alcohol, took the cards out of the boxes, and shuffled them, "you just have to...match at least half of the deck. You-you have to match a c-card with one that has-has the same suit and number as the one you t-turned over in order to get a pair." 

Rufus nodded at this. A smirk grew on his face. One of the perks of using Memory-Make Magic was the excellent memory that it granted. His fears of a repeated Russian Roulette gamble far away from his mind, he was confident in his ability to win this game. He watched as Lial laid out the two decks of cards. 

When Lial leaned back again and took back up the half-empty bottle of alcohol that he had sat down, he gestured toward the cards lazily, telling Rufus to go first. Rufus leaned closer to the coffee table and reached for a random card, turning it over. It was a two of hearts. He reached for another random card, flipping it over to reveal an ace of spades. He noted their positions, committing them to memory, and flipped the two cards back over onto their fronts. 

He straightened his posture and watched as Lial reached forward turning over two cards at random. An ace of diamonds and king of hearts. The cards were flipped back over and Rufus reached forward again. He turned over a card, finding, to his delight, that it was a king of hearts. He moved his hand to the matching card and flipped it over. He picked up the two cards and stacked them off to the side, away from the rest of the hundred-and-two cards. 

Lial reached forward again to turn over two cards, a three of hearts and a six of clubs. Before they were turned back around, Rufus memorized their positions. As he leaned back again and watched as the memory-make mage took his turn, Lial asked after he took a swig from his bottle, "so...what is your m-magic?" He hiccuped and took another swig. 

Rufus made another pair and placed the two cards off to the side, glancing up at the other man as he leaned away from the coffee table. He answered, watching the man's hand reached toward the cards, "Memory-Make Magic. You?" 

Lial gave a drunken chuckle, "it's called. Magic Card." 

Rufus nodded, recalling that Fairy Tail has a card mage. He asked, his curiosity genuine, "are you a member of a guild?" 

Lial shook his head as he leaned away from the coffee table after making a pair and moving the cards away from the others. "No, never my...thing." 

Rufus gave a short hum. He supposed that he souldn't be surprised. What Guild Master would allow one of their mages to frequent this place? 

Lial then asked, "what about you?" 

Rufus was silent. He reached forward to turn over a card, queen of hearts. He looked over the cards, trying to decide which one he was going to try. While doing so, he thought about whether he should answer truthfully or not. His guild mark wasn't visible, thankfully, which meant that he could lie and get away with it. However, he also knew that Lucy and Freed had their guild marks on their hands. That meant there was a possiblity Lial already knew he was accompanying two guild mages. 

He turned over a second card. It was a queen of diamonds. He memorized ther positions and turned them over, finally answering, "I am." 

That seemed to be enough for the drunken man, which surprised Rufus. He had been expecting some prying, but he was, nonetheless, glad that there was none of that. After Lial made another pair and set them to the side, Rufus reached forward, finding that the first card he flipped was an ace of spades. He moved his hand to where he knew the second ace of spades was, moving the pair to the side after revealing them. 

He leaned back again as Lial stated, "we almost n-never get mages here..." He finished off his bottle of alcohol and discarded it onto the floor before he opened up another one. 

Rufus gave a silent sigh. He couldn't wait to get out of this gambling den. He responded as Lial reached forward and turned over two cards that did not match, "I'm not surprised." 

"Why...are you here?" Lial gave him a goofy grin and leaned back against the couch. 

Rufus made yet another pair as he answered stiffly, "that's of none of your concern." He had hoped that his tone made it clear that he wasn't going to divulge into the topic. 

However, it seemed that Lial wasn't going to take the hint. Instead, he prodded, "it's strange for...a m-mage to be here. What's...up with that?" 

Rufus fixed him with a glare. "That is of none of your concern." His tone gave no room for arguments. It was obvious that he wasn't going to speak anymore on his reasons for being here. Fortunetly, Lial seemed to have taken the hint at last. 

The game went on for several silent minutes. According to Rufus' prediction, he won the gamble by a wide margin. He silently thanked his excellent memory as he took the key and walked out of the room. He was starting to make his way back to Lucy, but stopped when he caught sight of green and red. He turned to see Freed walking past. He noticed that the rune mage's brow was furrowed and seemed to be in some kind of determined trance. It made Rufus suspicous as to what he was doing. He watched Freed disappear past several people as he silently questioned what the man was doing. 

It didn't take long for his mind to come up with an explanation. His feet moved to follow after Freed. Had the Fairy Tail mage spotted Terra, Lust, or Nyx? He weaved through small groups of people, being mindful to not run or appear to be in a hurry so tha he doesn't draw unwanted attention. 

He finally came to the end of the wide hallway, finding a closed, steel door. After looking around and not seeing Freed, he made his way over to the door. He pushed it open with a grunt and stepped through. He looked up and froze at what he saw. Freed was being pinned to the ground, his arms held behind his back. A man with black hair was pinning him down, while a pink-haired woman and a blue-haired man stood to the side. 

Rufus gritted his teeth and prepared to attack just as Nyx requipped a key onto his hand and summoned, "Open! Gate of the Serpent: Serpens!" 

With the blink of an eye, a large, green-scaled snake darted toward Rufus, snapping it's fangs at him. Rufus jumped away, only faintly hearing Freed urging him to retrieve Lucy and Midnight.

Serpens continuously snapped at Rufus, not allowing the man to get a chance to cast a spell. All he was able to do as jump away, trying to make his way to the door. He knew that he wouldn't be able to fight all three of these mages, not while Serpens was attacking him, at least. The only option he really had was to bring Lucy and Midnight here and hope that it wouldn't be too late by the time he leads them here. 

He managed to make it to the door, however, as he attempted to open it, he clutched onto the doorknob and gritted his teeth once he felt a sharp pain in his upper back. He clenched his teeth to suppress a scream of pain before he forced his eyes open and attempted to look behind himself, finding that Serpens had sunk its fangs into his upper back, just in between his shoulders. 

Rufus gave a pained gasp when the celestial spirit released him. His knees almost instantly felt weak and his body trembled in pain. His legs quickly gave out underneath him as his breathing became labored. He turned his upper body around to look up at the large snake. He raised his hand, an attempt to cast a spell that would hopefully send the spirit back to the Spirit World. However, as sweat rolled down his temples and his eyelids became impossible to hold up. The last thing he was able to register was falling over onto the ground before he slipped into unconsciousness. 

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: GAMBLING AND MENTIONS SELF-HARM!

This chapter was originally going to be Nim Type Zero, but that would have taken too long for me to write, so I decided to instead use this chapter as a chance to write more about riddles, which I love. 

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Riddles

Freed walked through the hallway, having separated from Rufus shortly after leaving Midnight. He wasn't saddened over the loss of the Sabertooth mage next to him, he honestly preferred going off on his own to look for other keys. He supposed that it would be best if he had one other person with him, in case he got into trouble with a den owner, but he's been around enough people since arriving here. If they split up, then they will get the keys sooner, which means, the sooner they can leave. 

As he walked and scanned the signs on the door, his mind turned to what had happened earlier. What had happened to Lucy? He had noticed that something was wrong, but he has yet to figure out just what it was. 

He wasn't surprised that Lucy seemed to be on edge and not as happy as she used to be. She had been through something horrible, and it was understandable that she was negatively affected by it, but it seemed like there was more to it. 

If it was just the torture and loss of her friends, then wouldn't Lucy be more moved to defeat Terra, Lust, and Nyx? Freed couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be bothered by other things. He didn't know how to explain it, even to himself. All he could say was that he had an inkling that there were more reasons for Lucy's behavior than there seemed to be. 

Freed thought back to when this suspicion became more noticeable to himself. He had risen out of bed, noticed that Lucy was still buried underneath her bedcovers, got dressed, and walked into the main room. He was surprised to find that Rufus was standing in front of the couch, staring wide-eyed at something on the floor.

He had asked the blonde man what was wrong as he approached, only to stop in his tracks when his eyes fell upon the floor. A chill rolled over him as he stared down at the small pool of blood, trying to keep his thoughts from running wild. He and Rufus hadn't wasted much time in going back into the bedroom that Lucy was in, both silently reasoning that she might know what happened due to being the last one to go to bed. They found her in bed with Virgo sitting on the side, but were unable to get any answers out of her. All that would happen was Virgo telling them to leave, that Lucy was unwell and wanted to be alone. 

Freed was worried and almost desperate for information on where the blood came from, but he could tell that pushing Lucy would do no good, and that they needed to hurry with collecting gate keys. So, he decided to drag Rufus and Midnight out, hoping that Lucy would be feeling better by the time they returned, even though he kind of doubted it. 

He was still worried about what could have caused the small pool of blood. He doubted that Lucy was sick, she didn't look sickly and there wasn't anything or anyone around that could have made her sick. So, what happened? He had a guess, but he didn't dare think it, much less speak it aloud. If he were being honest, he wouldn't exactly be surprised if Lucy had harmed herself, resulting in the blood. A sickened feeling swirled within his gut and he grimaced at the possibility. He prayed that he was wrong. 

Freed sighed. He had no idea what to do. It was obvious that Lucy was going through something terrible, but he didn't know how to help, despite how much he wanted to. His chest hurt and his stomach twisted at the thought of Lucy being in pain and harming herself. How was he supposed to help? Should he talk to her about it? Should he encourage her to talk to him on her own by assuring her that she can freely? What was he supposed to do? 

He stopped walking, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath through his nose before releasing it through his mouth. He then opened his eyes and continued walking, searching the signs that he passed by for one that mentioned a gate key as a prize. He would worry about Lucy later, but right now, he had an important job to do. 

It took several minutes, but he did eventually find one. He approached the door and reached for the doorknob, opening it slowly and peeking inside. He found a woman sitting at a table, an empty chair across from her. Freed walked inside and closed the door silently. He stood in place, a feeling akin to anxiety flowing through him as he watched her, waiting for her to take notice of him. His mind reminded him of Rufus' first gamble. He prayed that this woman wasn't like that sadistic wrench. 

The woman was slouching forward, almost laying completely across the table. She twirled a strand of green hair around her finger as she blew a bubble a few times in a row with the pink bubble gum that she was chewing. She was dressed in a baby pink dress, the neckline dipping lower than Freed was comfortable with, and her short sleeves were puffed and hanging off of her shoulders. 

Freed cleared his throat, causing the young woman to snap her attention to him. She smiled at him as she straightened in her seat, greeting him cheerfully, "hello! I'm Belph!" 

Freed nodded as he walked over to the chair that she gestured to, sitting down as he responded, "I'm Freed." 

Belph smiled sheepishly as she stated, her soft tone apologetic, "I'm sorry for not noticing you sooner. I'm blind, so I need guests to be a little louder." 

Freed was taken aback by that fact. He looked into her eyes, noticing that their blue color was clouded. He responded, "don't worry about it. I apologize for being so quiet." He knew that he shouldn't feel bad, but he still felt that way, if only a little bit. 

Belph waved her hand dismissively as she reached under the table and raised her hand to show him what she was retrieving. It was a silver key. She handed him the key as she spoke, "I guess you're going to want to check that it's real, right?" 

Freed accepted the key and looked at it in his hands. Its blade was pretty typical for a key while its bow was circular with a green shield on it, and a few small, blue gems adorning the edges. He knew that there was a shield constellation, having read about the eighty-eight constellations several years ago. If he remembered correctly, the constellation was called Scutum. 

After he ensured that it was real, he looked back up at Belph, seeing that her hand was still being held out, waiting for the key to be returned to her. Freed placed the key in her hand, allowing her to take it back she gave him an appreciative smile. She laid the key on the table, right in front of herself, before she spoke again, "I'm not exactly good at gambling games, so I was thinking that I could ask you ten riddles. If you get at least six of them correct, then you win the key. Agreed?" 

Freed gave a small sigh of relief. He lucked out in finding a pleasant den owner who had planned a gamble that wasn't nearly as stressful as he was expecting. He enjoyed riddles and he was very good at them, so he felt quite confident in himself. He responded, "yes, that sounds like fun." 

Belph clapped her hands joyfully before she began, "first riddle: I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I?" 

Freed didn't need much to think about the riddle. It was one that he had heard before. He answered easily, "an echo." 

Belph clapped, announcing, "correct!" She then continued, "second riddle: You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I'm quick when I'm thin and slow when I'm fat. The wind is my enemy." 

Freed hummed thoughtfully to himself. He decided to work backward. Something that can be opposed by wind, or killed by the wind. Quick when thin and slow when fat. That suggested that the size of the object affected how long it remained. Its life is measured in hours and it serves by expiring. The rune mage quickly came to the answer. "A candle," his voice reflected the confidence that he felt. 

"That's right!" Her smile had widened. "Third riddle: Saynne, Esteng, Vugla, and Amotust all attend the same summer camp, where they can cook, kayak, rock climb, and zip-line. Each child has a different favorite activity. Saynne's favorite activity isn't rock climbing, Esteng is afraid of heights, Vugla can't do her favorite activity without a harness, and Amotust likes to keep his feet on the ground at all times. Can you figure out who likes what?" 

Freed replayed the woman's words in his mind, focusing on each piece of information. If Saynne doesn't like rock climbing, then that left cooking, kayaking, and zip-lining. If Esteng is afraid of heights, then that left cooking and kayaking. If Vulga can't do her favorite activity without a harness, then that means it's either rock climbing or zip-linning. If Amotust prefers to stay on the ground, then that means it had to be cooking. 

He ran the information through his head, working by the process of elimination. Once he believed he had the answer, he looked back up at the woman across from him and said, "Saynne likes zip-lining, Esteng likes to kayak, Vulga likes rock climb, and Amotust prefers to cook." 

Belph once again announced, "correct again, Freed!" She clapped her hands before folding them in her lap and continuing, "fourth riddle: Old Granny Adams left half her money to her granddaughter and half that amount to her grandson. She left a sixth to her brother, and the remainder, one-thousand jewel, to the dogs' home. How much did she leave altogether?" 

Freed suppressed a smirk. He knew what she was trying to do. Trying to get him to mess up by focusing on a hypothetical starting amount. He knew that he should focus on the fractions. He added the fractions up, the answer being twelve. Since the remainder was one-thousand jewel, that meant it was one-twelfth of the starting amount. Quick math brought him to a total of twelve-thousand jewel. 

He finally spoke his answer aloud, "twelve-thousand jewel." 

"You're on a roll, Freed!" Belph was grinning now, clearly pleased with his fast-working mind. "Fifth riddle: What single digit appears most frequently between and including the numbers one and one-thousand?" 

Freed thought about the riddle. The numbers one through nine appear exactly the same amount of times in every ten numbers, which meant no single number appeared more often, however, with the addition of one-thousand, the number one was an extra digit. He answered rather quickly, "one." 

"That's right!" Belph picked up the key again and turned it around in her hands. "Since I set the rule that you have to get at least six riddles right to get the key, and because I like you, I'll let you have the key if you get the sixth riddle right." 

Freed raised an eyebrow, feeling suspicious. It was strange that she was being so nice, too nice, in fact. Even so, he complied, "alright, thank you." 

Belph nodded before she gave the last riddle, "What is the smallest whole number that is equal to seven times the sum of its digits?"

"Twenty-one." Yet another riddle that he's already heard. 

Belph slid the key to him, silently letting him take it and leave. Freed accepted the key and stood up as he said, "thank you very much, Belph." 

The young woman smiled and nodded. "I enjoyed our meeting." She then waved as he left the room. 

Once he closed the door behind him, Freed stuffed the key into his coat pocket and began walking down the hallway, making his way to Lucy so he could give her the key and check on her. As he walked, he heard a woman who was past him say, "I don't know about that, Lust." 

Freed stopped in his tracks and whipped around, searching for the woman who had spoken. He quickly found her, walking away from him, her pink hair pulled into a high ponytail with a black ribbon. She was walking next to a man who had hip-length, blue hair that was tied into a low ponytail. Freed couldn't see their faces, but he could see that their clothes and hair fit the description that Lucy had given. 

He thought about finding Rufus or Midnight to report to them that Terra and Lust, and almost certainly Nyx, were here. He banished the thought of telling Lucy, knowing that it would just cause her more distress. However, he quickly decided to just go after them himself, not wanting to risk losing track of them. 

Pushing down the feeling of anxiety that had begun to appear in his gut, he kept his eyes locked on the pair and followed after them, keeping his distance so that they won't notice him. He followed them to the end of the long, wide hallway of gambling dens and found that at the end was an iron door. 

When Terra and Lust walked through the door, Freed followed after them, pushing up the door with a soft grunt as quietly as he could. He opened the door just enough to stick half of his body through, aiming to see what was behind the door. To his surprise, he found that on the other side of the door was a forest. It confused him. Why was there a forest here? Weren't they underground? 

Freed slowly stepped out of the doorway, grabbing a large, nearby rock to put against the door. It wasn't open enough for anybody to see him, but just enough for him to be able to open it again easily should he need to go back inside quickly. The rune mage slowly walked into the forest, his hand on the hilt of his rapier and eyes scanning his surroundings with his brow furrowed. 

When he heard a rustling in a bush behind him, he stopped and turned around, watching the dark flora, waiting for someone or something to emerge. As he waited, he was suddenly tackled from behind. He released a groan when he hit the ground, his head turned to the side on instinct to avoid the ground hitting him square in the face. When his arms were twisted behind his back painfully, he clenched his teeth. 

A young-sounding man's voice then whispered to him, "don't fight and you won't get hurt." 

Before Freed could bite out a response, a woman proclaimed, "good job, Nyx!" 

Freed could hear a pair of footsteps approach. As he listened to them, he silently cursed at the situation. He was outmatched, alone, and being held down. This wasn't looking very well for him. 

He craned his head as best he could and questioned, his voice strained, "how the hell did you know we were here?" 

Terra walked to stand beside him and kneeled down, smiling down at him as if they were having a pleasant conversation. "Belph is a sweetheart, isn't she?" 

Freed sneered up at her. He had to figure out a way out of this.