The following text is a fanfiction, so I do not own any of the characters or locations mentioned except for Jeanne and her family. Everything else belongs to the genius that is Hiro Mashima. Flames, critiques, and comments are accepted, but I should warn you: Loke and I have become rather close now. Do YOU want to make a lion angry?

"Oh, sweet mercy," Rita sighed, as she sank deep into the warm waters. "Jeanne-nee, you're the best~!"

"Aren't I?" I said distractedly, feeling way too comfortable to really say any more. The heat of the water seeped into every aching muscle and tired bone, and felt really rejuvenating against my still healing bruises.

True to my promise, I paid for three tickets to Balsam Village, a spa town west of Magnolia, and brought my sister and mother to the Inn, which was famous for its spa treatments. We only had a room for the one night, and we'd return home tomorrow evening, but, judging by Rita's face, that was totally fine. Right now, she and I were clad in towels, enjoying the hot springs with our hair up.

The door slid open, and we turned our heads to see a very happy looking woman enter the hot baths. Her hair was wavy, colored dark brown, with tints of red, gold, and grey. Her green and brown eyes were sparkling in contentment. She was rather short, only five and a half feet, slightly plump, and a little pregnant, making the towel she was using bulge a bit in front of her.

"Maman!" Rita and I greeted.

"How was the massage?" I asked, as Maman slid into the water.

"Hmm, c'était merveilleux," she sighed, closing her eyes, her round face breaking into a dreamy grin. "Thank you, Jeanne. You're now my favorite child."

"Hey!" Rita cried.

"Haha!" I teasingly laughed, and Rita responded by splashing me.

"And now Rita is for keeping your ego in check," Maman laughed.

Rita and I shared a giggle. Neither of us were worried; Maman changed her 'favorite' at least once every hour, depending on which of all of us were the most quiet or the most helpful.

"Some of the guests here are rather rowdy, though," Maman commented. "As I was coming out from my massage, I heard this one room going through a rather violent pillow fight."

My eyes sparkled with amusement as I turned toward my sister. "Rita, guess what we're doing later tonight."

Rita frowned. "I don't think so," she said flatly. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"But that masseuse was très exceptionnal," Maman said. "She knew exactly what to do, knew exactly where to go. Do we really have to go back home tomorrow?" she 'whined' at me.

"Maman…" I said in my mock-stern voice. "We can't appreciate the good things if we always have them," I threw one of her favorite sayings back at her.

"Two days of massages is not always having them," Maman countered. "Seriously though, chérie, thank you so much for this."

"Anything for you, Maman," I replied. I stood up, my towel clinging to my every curve. "I'm gonna go around town for a while, I wanna check out that Super Express Restaurant. You guys wanna come with?"

Maman looked at me incredulously. "I just got in here, I'm not leaving for a while yet."

"And I want to stay with Maman for a while now, d'accord?" Rita said.

I shrugged. "Suit yourselves. I'll meet you in the room later." I walked to the dressing rooms, and quickly dried myself off before changing into a light blue yukata provided by the hotel. I looked at my reflection really quick. My black eye from Loke's right hook was no longer swollen, and had gone from a purple and blue color to a nasty shade of green and yellow. Lucien had done his best, but it just was not quite his skill level yet.

Ah, well. At least that might discourage anyone from talking to me. I looked like the person who got the best in a fight. "You should see the other guy," I whispered, as I finished braiding my hair. Of course, I never landed a blow on him, but no one needed to know that.

I was pretty excited to go to this restaurant. They said that the silent chef there was quite something to see, and his dishes were exquisite!

When I reached the entrance, I felt two familiar presences. I probably knew them, but I wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone right then. But, to conceal myself just to avoid them seemed wrong. Besides, if we did know each other, using my magic would alert them to my presence. Instead, I waited outside and peeked around the wall to see who they were.

I was surprised to see Loke and Lucy at the counter. My mind flashed back to when Maman mentioned a rowdy pillow fight. That must've been Team Erza, then.

'Ah. Well, that's possibly no sleep tonight,' I thought.

I thought it was rather odd to see Lucy with Loke, though. Not only did Loke normally avoid her like last week's garbage, but I didn't really think Lucy would be the kind of girl to fall for his charm. So why were they on a date now?

Then I was distracted by the chef. ...Ouais, definitely something to see. With his giant forehead! I mean, it was still kinda cool, but not really what I expected.

I snapped my eyes back to Loke and Lucy. Loke had stopped Lucy from leaving, then stood up, and embraced her!

I frowned a bit in confusion. Mixed messages, much, Loke?

I heard Lucy stammering in embarrassment, before Loke said, softly but clearly, "I don't have long to live."

Lucy gasped. My heart ached for him, but I felt relief as I pulled my head back from the entrance. He probably truly didn't have long to live. It had been nearly three years since he had been in this world. It really was a wonder he even lasted that long. It was about time that he told her, instead of all that running away crap.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard him laughing.

"You fell for it!" he said. "That's just a pick-up line. It really tugs at girl's heartstrings. What do you think? Took you by surprise, didn't-?"

He was interrupted by a loud slap. I peeked back around, and saw that Lucy had her hand raised, and Loke was looking to the side, his sunglasses on the floor. I couldn't see Lucy's face, but I figured that she looked pissed. I know I was.

"Jokes like that," she started softly. "I absolutely hate jokes like that!" she yelled. She gathered Happy and a little snowman, and stomped to the door. I quickly flattened myself against the wall. Luckily, for me anyway, Lucy was so mad, she didn't even notice.

The moment she left, I slid open the door and slipped through, just as Loke was bending down to pick up his glasses. I stood in the entrance, just looking at him, waiting for him to explain himself. He looked disgusted with himself.

"You look like you wanna say something, Jeanne," he said, turning to me. His gaze lingered a bit on my bruise, and a look of guilt flashed by on his face.

I was silent a moment. Did I really want to speak my mind now? Did he really want to hear what I would say?

"Do you always watch private moments like that, Jeanne? Is that how you know so many secrets?"

I scowled. He knew very well why, and I was most certainly not going to correct him. In fact, I thought it was rather a low blow of his to get me to talk about it in public. With that, and his previous actions, I decided to tell him what was on my mind.

"Tu es un cul."

Loke blinked. "What?"

"You're an ass. And an idiot." I walked over to the counter. "I'll have a shrimp udon, please?" The chef nodded and began bustling about.

"When I mentioned you had something to say," Loke said, sitting next to me, "I didn't think it'd be that."

"Well, what did you expect?" I asked. "You're acting like an idiotic ass." Hey, he's already seen me speak my mind, and like he says, he doesn't have much longer on this plane anyway. Might as well give it to him straight while I still can. Besides, le connard punched me. He should shut up and let me rant to him.

"Here's why you're an ass," I said, turning to him. I pointed to the entrance where Lucy stormed off. "That was really dumb, low, and disgusting. Why in the world would you ever say something like that to someone as sweet and empathetic as Lucy? If she hears that you're gonna die soon, of course she's gonna want to do something. You don't play it off as a joke! Especially," I glared at him furiously, "since it's true."

Loke sighed despondently, sinking his head into his crossed arms on the counter. "I can't drag her down with me," he mumbled.

"And there's why you're an idiot. Oh, thank you." I smiled at the chef as he handed me my food. "Itadakimasu!" I nearly melted in my seat as I slurped up the soup. The noodles were delicious! I was so taking Maman and Rita here tomorrow!

"You say you can't get her involved. That you're gonna die soon, and can't be saved. That you shouldn't be saved." I shook my head. "But you want to be saved, right?"

Loke snapped his head up.

"Don't deny it," I warned. "You want to survive, you want to live, and you want Lucy to save you. That's why you told Lucy what you did. You were hoping she'd catch on. Then 'reason' caught up with you, and you laughed it off. Why don't you just tell her?"

"I can't!" he cried, standing up. "I can't allow Lucy to be tainted! She'd die with me! I can't allow my sin to become even greater!"

I regarded him silently. "Don't you think you've suffered enough?" Loke looked shocked and stepped back a bit. "You've been in this world for, what? Three years now? In all that time, did you ever not regret what happened to your previous owner?"

"Karen," he whispered. "Her name was Karen. She couldn't summon two spirits at once, and I forced her to keep my gate open. She never had a chance."

"Why were you even out, again?" I asked.

"What? You don't know?" he said, making a poor attempt at a joke.

I shot him a deadpan look. "I see certain images, not the whole story. I know that Karen would torture Aries, the Ram, and you feel guilty about letting it go on as long as you did, and I saw Master Bob telling you that she had died while on a quest, and how crushed you were at the news. Anything between those times, I don't know for certain. I can always guess the rest, but I've learned to never make assumptions. And you've done quite a few things you wish you didn't within the three years since then, but they're not important right now."

Loke hesitated. "I told her I would return only if she swore to give up my key and Aries's. Stellar Spirit Mages tend to hold true to their promises, grudgingly made or not."

"Ah, and she was such a prideful, possessive bitch, she refused till her dying breath?"

Loke looked surprise at my choice of words. But, hey, tonight he was getting the complete, uncensored me. And quite frankly, that's exactly how I saw Karen.

"Leo," I said, putting my chopsticks aside. "You've regretted, you've repented. And you've been in pain staying in this world for as long as you have. I'd think a three-year penance such as that would allow you some leniency. It wasn't your fault that Karen died. Her own stubbornness and pride took her to her grave. Your death shouldn't have to be the price for Karen's." I looked up in thought. "If anything, I'd say your life should be the price. Live your life to the fullest extent helping other Celestial Mages avoid other incidents like you've been in. Teach them all that Spirits are not tools. Because, as my Maman says, the problem with an eye for an eye, is that eventually everyone ends up blind."

I stepped over to him, who was stunned into silence, and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. "I think Lucy might be able to help you. If you let her know the real situation, I'm sure she could do something, and would." I gave him one last squeeze, and walked to the door. "Instead of black eyes, pay for my dinner. Then we're even."

I left him there, and didn't even look back. I had to get back to our room, and no matter what Rita said, we were having a pillow fight.

However, the best thing about the night? I didn't even feel bad for making Loke pay.

WWW

The next night, we returned to Magnolia to hear that Loke went missing. Nearly everyone in the guild was looking for him.

"Jeanne-nee, aren't you going to look?" Rita asked me.

I thought a bit. "No. Even if I find him, there's nothing more I can say that might help. I've done enough. I'm sure Lucy will find him. She'll do something about it."