Hmm...This chapter is angsty! It's less of a date, more like an angsty one shot :/ I'm not really happy with it, but~After so much revision, I jsut had to psot something, to get over it...Sorry :I

Disclaimer: I own nothing...

Lucy sat, brushing through her blonde locks, the previous date still bothering her. It wasn't the almost dying by Natsu's fire part, though. It wasn't even waking up in Hibiki's lap and apologizing as Hibiki tried to stretch sore and sleeping leg muscles.

No, what bothered her was how sad Hibiki had acted.

It wasn't much, just small hints. They way his smile fell too quickly or appeared too forced. Or how he didn't hold his eyes to her for very long before dropping them. He just had seemed...odd. His behavior wasn't the usual Hibiki.

If Hibiki could have had things his way, Lucy would have never known what bugged him, and what still bothered him. He would have pushed past it all and sucked it up, and given a bit of time would have come to return to his charming self as usual.

But fate favored Lucy, and it just so happened to conveniently fall into place the morning of a designated date day that Lucy was actually in charge of preparing.

Lucy, however, would have to give credit where credit was due, and in this case, that credit laid in a certain stellar spirit.

In a flash of light, startled, Lucy jumped.

"Y-you..?"

"I have a favor to ask, Lucy..."

Hibiki scratched at his neck, feeling the knot in his upper back. The train ride to Magnolia had been more uncomfortable than usual, and he blamed it on the lack of sleep from this week. Shamefully, he had to admit-he almost called this date off. But, it wouldn't be fair to Lucy, he reasoned.

Through tired eyes, he scanned the station. He'd been late to board the train so he was expecting to jump straight into their date. Perhaps just seeing Lucy would put him in a better mood. He did admittedly feel briefly better seeing her smile and wave from across the platform.

As he reached her, he opened his mouth to greet her, but she spoke first.

"Hibiki...I know where we're going to go tonight. It's not very romantic, but...I think it's...appropriate. Will you trust me?"

Possibly the oddest request Lucy had ever presented him, for a moment Hibiki almost felt fearful. But then, he reasoned, why would he?

He laughed, a weak and half-forceful laugh for reassurance, "Of course, Lucy!"

Lucy tried to smile back at him, but something was eating at her inside as well, and suddenly the mood didn't feel quite as cheerful as Hibiki had been hoping. In complete silence, Hibiki followed Lucy as she led them from the station, the back of his mind itching to know where exactly they were going.

Hibiki wasn't sure where they were going, but he had a pretty good idea it involved water. That wasn't his original guess, but the moment the crushing sound of a booming waterfall came into range, he formed a pretty good idea of their destination, or so he thought.

Entering a ravine, he was amazed by the practical full circled encasement of waterfalls that surrounded a single ledge, a cliff of grass and earth. Scattered trees also dispersed around the ground, with a few clinging to jutting rocks and earth in the waterfalls themselves. Like a bowl, the only thing visible beyond the geographical wonder was the stars above. What light did reflect from the gushing water made for a sheer curtain, and Hibiki found himself grinning dumbly at the sight.

What was so unromantic about this?

He almost vocalized such, until he caught sigh of the centerpiece to this display.

Even from a distance, he knew what it was. Even if it was so foreign and new, he knew immediately what it was.

It was a grave.

Hibiki stopped walking, though Lucy had already passed him. She stopped as well, but didn't turn around. Maybe she was afraid to see how he would react.

"I-I know...Maybe I should have told you, but..."

"How'd you know?" His throat felt very dry, and Hibiki felt a bit remorseful at how harsh and dry the question came out.

He felt worse when Lucy winced, his words apparently sounding harsher than he'd meant.

"Loki..."

That's right. That spirit would have remembered...

"Loki?"

In a pink "poof", Loki no longer stood alone.

"A-Aries?"

"H-hello, Lucy! S-sorry..."

Lucy set her brush down, standing immediately.

"Is something wrong? For both of you to be here-!"

"Ah, no, Lucy, it's not that..." Loki shook his head, Aries bowing it shyly.

"You see, it's.."

Lucy watched, waiting for either one of them to speak, before finally Loki offered,

"It's Karen."

"K-Karen? Karen Lillica?"

Aries nodded.

"It's...today is her anniversary...o-of her death..."

Lucy sympathetically looked between her spirits, who shamefully didn't meet her eyes.

"W-we wanted to ask a favor...if we could p-pay our respects..." Aries mumbled.

"She wasn't the greatest owner, but..."

"We...I...still feel some responsibility," Loki spat, bitterly.

Lucy smiled.

"Of course! Do you...Do you want me to come along with you two?"

Aries, startled by Lucy's understanding, shook her head rapidly.

"N-no, that's not necessary! We opened our own gates...We won't be long, just a quick..." She didn't finish, and she didn't need to.

Rather, she couldn't, because at that moment Lucy pulled her into a comforting hug, the wool spirit smothered by her celestial master.

Pulling apart, Lucy suddenly had an idea.

"Loki, actually, I have a favor to ask you. Do...could I bring-"

"Yes." Loki responded, with no hesitation.

Lucy blinked, surprised that Loki hadn't let her finish.

"You don't have to ask my permission, Lucy...besides, it might do him some good." Loki winked before he gripped at Aries' arm, motioning her to follow him. Lucy smiled after the two spirits.

"I-I thought...you'd been so down, lately, and when I learned it was the anniversary of Karen's' death...I thought maybe you'd want to go here..." She chewed at the inside of her cheek, wondering if any of this sounded right. She had been thinking that maybe he felt some remorse, or guilt, like Loki had. And that maybe if he visited her grave...there was something about talking to them, Lucy thought. The sense of closure of standing at someone's grave, like they'll hear you any better from there than anywhere else.

There was an uncomfortable silence, and Lucy almost bolted around to apologize for being so straightforward, but just then Hibiki spoke.

"Ten years..." He scoffed. "It's been ten years...You know, I never once visited her grave?"

He sounded rather bitter, and Lucy bit at her lip. It was sinking in how this might have been a bad idea.

"Ten years..." His voice was shaking. "I wasn't much to her. I really was a dime a dozen. And I knew how she could be, how she was. She didn't treat her spirits the best, and I saw that, and did nothing about it. Because, to be honest, I didn't see the spirits as much more than tools myself. I didn't understand..."

Lucy hesitated between turning to face him and staring continuously at the foreboding grave that stood meters before them.

"And I was young..." He was trying to laugh, but it came out rather pitiful. It sounded strained. "B-but those are all excuses..!"

Lucy winced.

She heard his voice revolt and how he held back soft whimpers.

"I-I really thought I loved her-!"

Not able to withstand anymore, Lucy whipped around, storming back to stand directly in front of Hibiki. He jumped a little, caught between hiding what a mess he was quickly turning into (watering eyes and reddening nose) and standing his ground to hear out what Lucy was surely going to yell at him.

"It's ok!"

He blinked. What did she mean..?

"It's alright to cry...to let things out like this! It doesn't matter what happened, or how you think you sound or what others think. It only matters how you feel...s-so if you want to cry, it's alright! Just don't hold it in, ok?"

Perplexed, Hibiki just stared at her. She spoke so convincingly, so warmly. She spoke in all honesty, encouragingly.

So this was why spirits sought after her to be their master?

Hibiki looked to the ground.

"I never once went to her grave...I couldn't face her. I wasn't there to protect or save her...I was just a kid in love. And I know she never loved me back, not the way I did to her..."

"Visit her now, then!" Lucy smiled reassuringly.

In a quick step, Lucy was beside him, slipping her fingers to lace with his, gripping her free hand at his arm.

"We'll go together. She might never have loved you back the way you wanted, but she must have felt something towards you. She would've liked to know you'd visited her. It'll help you, too, to move on..."

Hibiki didn't nod, and he didn't take his eyes off of Lucy, but his feet did step forward. Pretty soon, at a slow pace, they walked step in step beside each other, closing in towards the grave. An intricate cross design of gold and marble, the statue stood before Hibiki like a looming truth. It was bound to happen. He was going to have to eventually face it.

He wasn't aware when he stood still, Lucy still gripping at his arm. He felt one tear trickle down his cheek, slowly trailing down his jaw and chin. He read the engraved words on the marker, but halfway through they blurred and more tears followed.

And he collapsed.

He fell to his knees and cried. Because Karen had been his first love. Because when he was new to the guild and new to the town, Karen had been among the first people he'd met, first people he'd befriended so closely. And he cried because she'd meant so much to him, and he doubted he'd meant very much of anything to her.

At some point, hysterical tears morphed into a wicked grin and pretty soon he was laughing. Forcing his face towards the sky, he wiped his sleeve across his eyes, smirking as he eyed Karen's grave once again.

Lucy simply stood beside him the entire time.

Hibiki smirked when he thought about it. Karen had been his first love, but not his last. She'd been the greatest stellar spirit mage he'd ever known, and even then she'd been cruel and distant. But, she wasn't all heartless. She was greedy on power, but she wasn't only flaws and no redemption. She would push herself beyond her capabilities, to prove herself. True, that was what in the end caused her demise, but Hibiki didn't see it as a flaw at all.

In fact, it was one of the many things Lucy and her had in common.

Hibiki smiled weakly at Lucy, who in turn crouched beside him, gently placing a hand at his shoulder and giving it a light squeeze of reassurance.

"Thank you, Lucy," He added sincerely. Every year, this time around, he grew depressed. Upset because he felt guilt. Guilt that he'd never visited her, guilt that he tried so hard to forget her when in truth he should have been trying to live on her memory. Ten years, and he'd never overcome that.

Until now.

Lucy just smiled back.

"I used to read about Karen, in Sorcerer's Weekly. I looked up to her, I did. The articles always talked about what a great mage she was, and how strong she was. I kind of wish I'd have met her, just once." She winked.

Hibiki smirked, falling off his knees to sit properly as Lucy followed, all right before her grave.

He knew if Lucy and Karen had ever met, they would have instantly disagreed on how to treat one's spirits. They might never have overcome that difference, and he doubted either one would be able to look past that factor.

But maybe if Karen hadn't been a mage at all, hadn't leaned towards the corruption of adoration and attention and recognition...

They might've gotten along if that had happened.

"Loki was just like you..." She sighed teasingly. "I don't know what it is about you guys, bottling it up for years at a time! Is it pride? You shouldn't let it eat away at you like that-!"

But Hibiki had stopped listening.

He just sat, watching Lucy, who in turn was staring at Karen's grave, yet at the same time looking beyond it at a memory. He was asking himself questions. Questions like what was it about stellar spirit mages? They were stubborn, loud, demanding, scary at times...and they were strong willed.

He thought about Karen, and that Angel, and even about Duke Everloo, whom Lucy had described to him once and he'd read about before.

Really, they seemed such a wicked bunch. But, they were all human, with goals and dreams. They just had been corrupted somewhere along the way.

All except Lucy.

"-She would've wanted you to stop moping."

Hibiki jumped a bit.

Lucy smiled back at him.

"I didn't know her...but, Loki told me that's probably what she would've said, if she saw you now."

And it was, indeed, something Karen would've thrown back, over her shoulder, to the seventeen year old Hibiki, a fresh face at the Blue Pegasus guild hall barely working out a magic as green and new as he was.

Looking up, he noticed the stars seemed a lot brighter and visible out here, in this ethereal ravine, then they did anywhere near the city.

In traditional Hibiki fashion, he straightened up, ran a hand through his hair and smiled like nothing had ever been wrong towards Lucy.

"Come on. I'll take you to dinner."

Lucy perked up at the offer.

"A-are you sure? You're not...you don't need-"

Hibiki stood, stretching a bit as he offered a hand to Lucy. He'd long since forgiven himself to Karen. Just seeing her grave, for once, helped release whatever final guilt or reservations he had. Because maybe it was the influence of loosing her that made him so fond of woman, and treating them individually like they were the only ones on earth. Because maybe it was her untimely death that reminded him that no matter who or how bad or wicked at heart a woman was, she still was a living being and still deserved some fair treatment, because who knew when her last living breadth would be.

The only thing he felt bad for now was how in the course of the last few minutes, he'd spent more time thinking about Lucy than he had of Karen. Because of all the stellar spirits, a common magic, he'd ever known or heard about or witnessed, none of them were quite like Lucy. Lucy was the anomaly.

And it wasn't just in the way she treated her spirits, but people as well.

"I owe you at least some salvation of a date," He joked.

Lucy smiled apprehensively, taking Hibiki's hand as he pulled her up.

There was a brief moment he thought about just leaning in and kissing her. She was completely unguarded and he was sure, more than ever, that he liked Lucy. And that he wanted to kiss her.

But she turned away, unsuspectingly, to bounce off ahead at that moment. And it wouldn't have felt right, to kiss her when he was just recovering from an emotional outburst. They both weren't thinking in the right mind, vulnerable as they were. He just smiled, following after her.

Besides, Karen was watching.

A/N: Random Facts; This concept seemed so much better and more romantic when I first thought up the idea...But, it turned into really sappy angst :/ At least I cut past the kiss-tease that I'm so fond of with a flat out "not gonna happen this chapter" XD I really need work on that...

TBH, the backstroy of Karen and Hibiki always bothered me...to me, it felt like a last-minute mention, what with how Karen was portrayed in Loki's backstory and all of a sudden this loyal declaration of love from Hibiki... I took liberty to interpret that Hibiki was 17 when Karen died~So, I just ran with the idea that he joined Blue Pegasus in his early-teens and became infatuated with Karen, but I don't think she ever took him seriously, not anymore than any of her other play boys :p IDK, his backstory needs either more development, or a whole other oneshot to develop XD

One concept I liked was when Hibiki compares Lucy to the other Stellar Spirit Mages-thinking back, all the ones introduced are ratehr cruel-Angel, Karen, Duke Everlue-and then there's Lucy. I originally would have lvoed to take that concept and write a whole stand-alone oneshot on it, but I didn't get aronud to it, instead cramming it into this chapter and not giving it the justice it deserved. Maybe later...or maybe someone else ;3

*SPOILER* I didn't add in Yukino cause I don't know enoguh about her, or what's going to happen to her, so~ Yeah :p

Also, I have no idea where exactly Karen's grave sight is. I always imagiend it not far from Fairy Tail, what with Lucy chasing Loki there, but thinking logically wouldn't it make more sense to be closer to Blue Pegasus, so farther up north..? :I

I'm not all too sure about this chapter...I loved writing angst, and of course I jump at the chance to do so, but this chapter isn't very good and it's heavy comapred to other chapters...And this Author Note is really long! Sorry! Anyway, not the best chapter, I'll try to make up for it with the next T_T