I'm baaack! So, again, I'm not going to give any excuses for my previous lack of updating. However, after posting that last chapter, I was overwhelmed with the response I got! It was more than enough motivation to continue, so I managed to get another chapter out! Please enjoy!

Natsu had disappeared into the night, and had yet to come back.

I waited as long as I could. Well after dawn, and easily past lunch time, though my nerves were far too frazzled to attempt eating anything. I finally gave in once my frustration peaked around four o' clock that afternoon, knowing that something must have happened for him to not return. I needed to go look for him.

There was no way I would be able to carry all of our gear while searching for Natsu though, so I summoned Virgo and had her help me pack the supplies before sending them back to the celestial world with her. It felt odd to travel with the bare minimum, which was myself, my cloak, my whip, and my keys, but it made my movements much easier through the endless snow.

First thing, I immediately headed in the direction I had seen Natsu disappear to, towards the nearby mountains. They were only a few miles away, but I had gotten a late start, so the sky darkened before I was even halfway there. Instead of going through the trouble of having Virgo bring the supplies back, I decided to just keep pushing on, only summoning her for a lantern. While it was still snowing, the weather had eased up from blizzard status, which made it easier to see as I approached the dark, looming mountains. It was late by the time I finally reached the base, but my job was far from done. I still needed to find Natsu, and I wasn't even sure if I was in the right vicinity.

I began the slow process of the circling the base of the closest mountain, looking for any dips or alcoves that indicated a possible cave. If Natsu had found a cave, it would have been almost impossible for him to resist exploring it. I took my time, tracking through the deep snow with my cloak pulled tight around me. It still kept me as warm as I could be, but my feet were starting to feel the cold through the soles of my boots. My exhaustion only grew the more I trudged, until well past midnight when my legs effectively started locking up. Every dozen or so steps, I would stumble a bit, forcing me to catch myself so I wouldn't faceplant in the snow. I had barely gotten any sleep the previous night before Natsu had woken us, and I definitely didn't sleep afterwards. Everything was starting to take its toll on me.

"Princess, you need to stop now."

Loke's voice called loud enough for me to hear over the wind. I paused and turned to look at him behind me.

He was wearing his usual suit and messy tie, but his expression was stern. His head was tilted to the side, his brow furrowed with a frown tugging his lips downward. He was using his celestial light to illuminate the area, making my lantern seem dim in comparison.

"Loke, he might be in trouble - "

"And if you keep going tonight, you'll be in trouble," he cut me off, approaching me. "Follow me. There's a small alcove just ahead. You're resting there for tonight." With that, he walked past me and led the way around the curve of the mountain. After looking at the corner he'd disappeared around for a few moments, I finally uprooted my feet and followed, running in a light jog until I rounded the corner and almost smacked into Loke.

Looking around, I could see we were in a small alcove of sorts, nothing huge, but it did block the wind and snow. It was only a couple dozen square feet of mountain rock and some ice, with the ceiling just high enough that I wouldn't have to stoop, but I wouldn't be able to jump.

"First thing's first, where are your supplies?" Loke inquired, looking me over as if just noticing I was empty-handed.

"Um, Virgo has them?" I said hesitantly, setting my lantern down while giving Loke a curious look.

"Go ahead and have her bring them. Quickly, so you don't exhaust yourself even more," he said, taking a wary look over his shoulder to the outside.

"Um, excuse me?" I said, huffing in irritation. "You can't just show up in the middle of the night and start ordering me around. I need to find Natsu."

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Loke narrowed his eyes at me before glowing just a tad bit brighter. His tone was actually quite firm, almost close to angry when he spoke. "I don't care if I can or can't, because I'm going to anyways when it comes to things like this. I can feel your stress all the way in the celestial world. You're physically exhausted and on the verge of collapse. I'm not going to just stand by while my mage puts her health in jeopardy, so you're going to summon Virgo and set up camp while you give me the cliff notes version of where Natsu is. Then you're going to get some rest while I keep watch."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off. "I don't want to hear it. Summon Virgo while you still have the energy to do so. Then we'll talk."

I snapped my mouth shut and glared at him. He was a beloved friend and spirit, but at that moment I saw him as more of a cat asking to be skinned. Instead of trying to argue again, I finally dropped my shoulders and reached for my keys. Pulling the pink-haired spirit's key from the ring, I swished it through the air and summoned, "Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"

The celestial magic formed with a ding-dong, illuminating the area more and highlighting the snow falling just outside the alcove. When Virgo's small frame formed before me, her chains clinking softly, she immediately bowed and held out Natsu's pack. "Your supplies, Princess. Would you like my assistance setting up?"

"No, that's - "

"Yes, Virgo, please," Loke cut Lucy off, giving Virgo a nod.

"Of course, Big Brother," Virgo complied, immediately opening the pack and pulling out the tent.

I tried to protest again, but Loke seemed to ignore me as he manifested a strange blue cube, about the size of a bread box, which had tiny stars and planetoids swirling around it. Setting it on the ground, he waved his hand over it and stood back. In the next moment, it flashed a brilliant blue light before a wave of warmth washed through the area.

"There, that should keep it a decent temperature in here while you sleep. You must be freezing," he said, walking up to me and placing his hands on my shoulders and rubbing them up and down as if to warm me with friction.

"Actually, I'm okay," I said, taking a small step back out of Loke's grasp. I waved my arms a bit inside the cloak, bringing his attention to it. "This cloak was made with Natsu's fire, so I'm pretty warm except for my feet."

Loke's eyes widened a fraction as he looked the cloak up and down. "Natsu's fire? I see. Well, come warm your feet at least while you give me a rundown." Loke pushed his shades up the bridge of his nose and indicated to the warming box.

I complied, sitting on a small boulder by the box and holding my booted feet out to it. "Not much to tell, really. Natsu's missing. Last night, he heard the Sleipnir so he followed them to find out where they were heading. He was supposed to come back once he knew where they were going, but..."

"He never did, right?" Loke finished for me. When I nodded, he frowned. "Hmm. That is a bit concerning. Natsu isn't one to leave a comrade in the middle of nowhere. Especially not you."

"That's my point," I said worriedly, chewing on my bottom lip. "He was going to find out where they were going and come right back so we could head out together. I figured since he ran towards these mountains, he must be somewhere around here. A cave, is my strongest guess. I have to find him, Loke. I think he's in trouble."

"Right, well, be that as it may, it's the middle of the night in one of the most frozen parts of Earthland. You need to rest for a while and then we'll both start searching for him in the morning. You're no good to him if you're dead." Loke's words were harsh, but true.

Sighing in defeat, I nodded.

…

Keeping his word, Loke spent the night keeping watch using his own power while I rested up. More than once did I have to remove him from the tent, however, with the pervy lion offering to share his body heat with me. I was quick to tell him that my cloak was more than enough. Natsu had made sure that I had no reason to have to cuddle with another man again, pretty much, much to Loke's chagrin. Though I was physically exhausted, sleep didn't come easy with the worry that wracked my mind. By the time the sun rose, I had only managed to grab a couple hours of sleep at most - which wasn't great, but it was better than nothing, I supposed.

Loke stared disapprovingly at me as I emerged from the tent, his irritation apparent in his features. Not bothering to maintain eye contact, I turned and started dismantling the tent. "What's with the look?"

I heard Loke stand up behind me. "Did you get any sleep at all?"

I pressed my lips into a thin line as I briefly struggled to disconnect a pole from a joint. When it popped out finally, I said, "... A little."

"... Lucy..."

"What? What do you want me to do about it?" I snapped, turning quickly to face him. To my surprise, he was right behind me, with a stern look of concern. When I looked at him, and saw how much he was worried, I realized that I had been unhelpfully crabby with him in the recent months. He didn't deserve that... Not when everything he did was for my sake. "I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bark at you like that. I really did try, though. To get some rest."

"It's okay, Princess," he said, giving me a grim smile while reaching out to help me take down the tent. "You're stressed. I get it. But don't forget that you always have us spirits that can help ease your burden. Especially me, since I don't require your magic to help you."

"Thank you, Loke," I said, giving the lion Zodiac a small smile as I yanked more poles out of their joints. "I just don't want to bother you and the other spirits so much. I know time moves differently in the celestial world, so even if I wait a month between each summons, that's only a few hours for you guys over there. Doesn't seem like much of a break to me. I don't really want to bother you guys unless I have to."

"Hmm." Loke contemplated my words for a minute, looking thoughtful as we finally pulled down and packed away the rest of the tent and blankets. "I mean, you're not wrong. But at the same time, you also need to realize just how old we are. We've been around for countless millennia. Our sense of time is much different than yours. And not a single one of us would be put out to come to your side, even if just to have some company."

Strapping the pack shut, I raised an eyebrow at Loke.

"Well, maybe except for Aquarius..."

"Right," I said with a half-hearted laugh, handing Natsu's bag to Loke.

Loke looked from me to the bag a couple of times, a look of either concentration or confusion donning his features. After a long moment of me watching him, his eyes widened. "Oh. That's right. I meant to ask, have you eaten anything? I don't think I saw you..."

At that, I pulled my hood over my head, hiding my face. "Um, not really. Provisions are low, and I don't know if Natsu might need it when I find him."

"Lucy," Loke said in a gruff tone, lowering the pack and fixing his glare on me. I didn't say anything, continuing to let the cloak hide my face as I lightly stepped past Loke and out into the open. The skies were a dark, ominous gray, but at the moment there wasn't any snow falling. The mountains I had found myself in towered above me, and the wind whistling through them gave an ominous feel to my surroundings. Mentally slapping my cheeks to prepare myself, I set off once more around the mountain, circling the base clockwise. I had only been walking a couple of minutes before Loke caught up to me.

"Virgo will be bringing you something to eat soon. She's also going to pack your bag with some more rations. Next time I have to take it upon myself to make sure you have food, you're getting nothing but peanuts."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, knowing that he had my best interests in mind and was doing his best to take care of me in Natsu's absence. Not that he needed to, but the sentiment was nice. "Thank you, Loke," I said quietly.

We both went silent at that.

...

The day dragged on slowly, much more slowly than I was happy with. Loke and I scouted around the perimeters of the mountain base for several hours, trekking through the entire afternoon and most of the evening. The snow and wind started picking back up right after lunch, and it only worsened as time moved forward. The blistering wind and snow already made it difficult to see, but as the sky darkened, it was almost impossible. Since I was following a pretty clear path around the mountainside, I didn't bother stopping for the night yet, much to Loke's disdain.

The wind tore past me and screamed through the air, forcing me to clutch my cloak tightly around my body for protection, and ensure it wasn't ripped from my frame. As a celestial spirit, the elements didn't bother Loke, but the wind seemed to irritate him a bit, too. Every time he suggested we stop, I would just brush him off and keep moving. I had to. Something was very wrong, and I could feel it deep inside. There wasn't really any time to waste in my mind. On top of that, it would be pretty difficult to set up the tent out in the open as vicious as the atmosphere was.

I wasn't sure exactly when we found the cave entrance, but since Loke hadn't forced me to stop yet, I assumed it wasn't too terribly late. The mouth of the cave was large, easily dwarfing the guild hall doors. It was pitch black inside the cave, of course, but the way the light from my lantern sloped indicated that it went fairly deep and didn't seem to narrow much.

"It's probably best if we camp at the entrance tonight and explore tomorrow," Loke said, squinting slightly as he looked through the darkness. "I don't see anything, but we should check the surrounding area before we set up, just in case there's something unpleasant around."

I frowned at that. "But Natsu might be in there."

"And he might not be," Loke countered, entering the cave as I followed behind. "Lucy, I understand that you're worried about Natsu. I'm kinda concerned about the pyro, too. But if you fall out from exhaustion then both you and Natsu will be screwed."

I sighed as I continued to follow behind Loke, knowing that he was right. The wind and snow was still pretty strong where we were in the large opening, but after going a couple dozen yards further in, the atmosphere was much calmer and removed from the outside elements. As I looked above and around for any signs of anything, Loke's voice pulled my attention.

"Lucy, look."

When I glanced at his face, I saw his serious look directed towards the ground. When I followed his gaze, I openly gasped at the sight. All around us, fading in from the entrance, were absolutely massive hoof prints. They were all in a waving pattern, flowing towards the inside of the cave where the creatures ran in sync to their destination.

"I guess the snow covered their tracks until they reached cover. I think you found the Sleipnir, Princess," Loke smirked, raising his illuminated palm higher and looking deeper into the cave.

"That means he has to be here," I said, looking into the darkness just outside our lights' reach. "If he found this cave, then I know he had to explore. It's not all that far from where we were camped, and Natsu could have made the trip here and back in no time. He must have gone exploring and something happened. C'mon," I beckoned, starting a light jog forward and putting a bit of speed in my step. "We gotta find him!"

I only made it a few feet before a hand enclosed my bicep through my cloak and lightly jerked me backwards.

"Hold up, Princess," Loke said, using that serious tone of his again. Tugging on my arm, he turned me to face him. "It's getting late. It'll be best if you eat something and get some rest before we tackle this cave. Besides Sleipnir, we have no clue what kind of beasts could be lurking down there. You won't be able to fight if you're dead on your feet."

I could only frown and grumble at that.

...

I was up as soon as the sky began lightening the next morning, eager to tear down my tent and start searching the cave. I was starting to get really nervous with my partner missing for so long, and I could definitely feel the toll it was taking on my sleep. Again, I had only gotten an hour or two at most, and the frown Loke gave me when I emerged that morning said he knew as much, but he refrained from commenting again.

After packing everything away and having a quick breakfast at the behest of Loke, I sent my supplies back to the celestial realm and started my journey into the cave. Loke followed behind, lighting his fist to illuminate the darkness. Why we even bothered to wait until daylight, I didn't know, because it was pitch black in the cave either way. After only a few yards of walking, I could tell that the floor of the cave sloped downwards, possibly descending underground. Loke and I kept a steady pace in our exploration, carefully scrutinizing every inch of the cave that we could see. There wasn't anything special about it, just solid walls of rock, glossed over in some places with ice. There were a few stalagmites and stalactites, but not enough to be concerned about in the event of a collapse.

As we delved deeper, the snow-laden ground transitioned to ice-covered earth, slippery and begging for someone to make a wrong move. It wouldn't have been as difficult to navigate had the ground not sloped even farther just a little ways in. It wasn't very steep, but it was enough of an incline to spell disaster on ice. Thankfully, most of the ice was shattered from what I assumed was the Sleipnir trampling it, but there were easily places where we could still slip.

The frigid air only seemed to grow colder the further we descended, despite the lack of wind and snow. For the hundredth time since Natsu had gifted it to me, I thanked the stars (and Natsu, of course) for my incredible cloak and its toasty warm flame magic. Traveling that icy hell would have been multiple times worse without it, especially after Natsu's disappearance. Even though the elements didn't bother Loke, he seemed to notice the drastic difference and would occasionally ask if I was cold or offer for us to stop and warm by his little box thing (he called it a "cosmic calefacientis", but I knew that was just his fancy way of saying "cosmic heater"). I declined each time, stressing how well Natsu's gift worked and how we needed to keep searching.

It was hard to keep track of the passing time since we weren't outside, and it was quite a dull trek without the wind drowning us out.

"So... I take it things are going well with you and Natsu?" Loke tried to casually ask maybe a couple of hours into our silent search.

"Yeah, why wouldn't they be?" I tilted my head to the side as I looked a bit curiously over at my lion spirit.

"No reason," he said, gently shaking his head and stuffing his hands into his pockets with a smile. "I know Natsu can be really dense sometimes, so I was just wondering how long it'd take him to screw something up."

Drawing my mouth into a thin line, I shot Loke a glare. "Everything has been great, thank you. He's been a perfect gentleman since we decided to put … us … on hold."

"What?" Loke asked incredulously, his eyebrows shooting up into his orange hair. "What do you mean 'on hold'? Did you guys already break up?"

"No!" I said quickly, my cheeks flushing slightly as I clutched my cloak tighter.. "No, it's just, uh... Well, you know how we explained how I'm his 'true mate'?"

"Yeah," Loke affirmed hesitantly, raising his fist a bit higher as he checked around a protruding part of the wall.

"Well, we decided not to do that yet," I said sheepishly, looking down at my feet.

I heard Loke nearly choke at that. "So, wait. You two discovered that you're literal soul-mates and you're not going to go through with it? Lucy, I think you two may need some kind of psychiatric help cause - "

"I said 'yet'," I bit out, not exactly the most comfortable discussing this with my spirit. I'm sure my cheeks were already a brilliant shade of crimson. Careful to not let Loke see my face, I began scrutinizing the solid rock wall passing by my right side as we walked. "It's kind of a big deal, you know? I will literally be binding myself to him, which means my fate will decide his too. Dragons, and by extension Dragon Slayers, mate for life. And this mission has already done a very thorough job of trying to kill us. We don't want to … fully bind ourselves to one another while there's a strong chance that one of us may die very soon. While we've done some things, we haven't actually... sealed the deal. And it was really hard for us to... focus on the task at hand and keep our agreement on the matter, so we just completely put us on hold."

Loke was silent for a few moments, but I didn't bother looking at him while I waited for his reaction. After several minutes he chuckled lightly and said, "Poor Natsu."

That's what had me finally turn to look at him. "What?"

Loke smiled almost grimly. "I know how dragons are and I know what their instincts are like. I knew several dragons a few odd hundred years ago, and let me tell you, I don't think I have ever encountered another creature so driven by instinct. I mean, yeah, they had a sense of control, but their instincts were a driving force in their nature. Possessiveness was probably the biggest instinct they had difficulty suppressing, which is why dragons were known for hoarding and being fiercely protective of their nest. I'm sure you've noticed how protective the slayers are."

"What's your point?" I asked, biting my lip as I sidestepped a small rock in my path. Our surroundings were still pitch dark and nothing but rock and ice.

Loke tilted his head slightly at me, his expression conveying mild concern and surprise. "Natsu denying and resisting his instincts willingly like that must take a crazy amount of willpower. Honestly, it must be agony to know his true mate is right there but he can't act on it yet. Natsu's a much more patient man than I am." With that, Loke wound up his arm and launched his Regulus light down through the cave, illuminating it quite a ways down. From what we could see, it was still just a long stretch of cave.

As Loke relit his hand, I bit my lip and kicked a small rock out of the way. Natsu in agony? I mean, yeah, it sucked really bad to stay away from him, but just how strongly did these instincts affect Natsu? Honestly, most of our dealings were initiated by me, whether I actively started it or instigated it somehow. Natsu had never once pushed me for more than I was comfortable with, and always waited for me to take the lead. And he was almost always the one to stop us, too. So his instincts couldn't have been too harsh on him based on his actions, right? Then again, Natsu wasn't one to really complain or pressure anyone for anything. Had he really been restraining himself that much?

"I... I think he's doing alright," I said almost hopefully. I noticed that my voice echoed around the cave slightly different than usual, which had me straining to look ahead into the dark. "At least, he hasn't shown any signs of impatience or irritation."

"And he's probably not going to," Loke laughed lightly. It seemed he had noticed the change in echoes as well, because he was looking ahead intently the same as me. There was probably a larger opening up ahead causing our echoes to distort. "Natsu is head over heels for you, so there's no way he'd do anything to risk losing you. With the two of you crammed in that tiny tent together, I wouldn't doubt if he constantly needs to picture Makarov dancing naked to keep from completely ravishing you - "

"Okay! Okay! That's enough about our love life - "

" - Or lack thereof," Loke smirked. I shot him a dirty look, but left it alone because only a moment later, both of our lights began disappearing from the wall up ahead, indicating we had reached some type of opening.

Loke and I both looked at each other, nodding at the same time. We slowed our pace, both lowering our statures as we cautiously crept forward. As we got closer, we realized there was actually a very, very dim greenish-yellow light coming from the opening. The two of us quickly extinguished the lights we were holding, not wanting to draw attention to ourselves if we didn't have to. There was a boulder off to the side of the entrance, so we moved behind it for cover as we peeked over to get a look inside.

It actually took a few minutes for my vision to adjust to the extremely low light, which was provided by what looked like some type of glowing green plant life covering the ceiling. I found that very odd, because everything was either solid ice or stone. What kind of bioluminescent life could survive there? The room itself was massive, easily dwarfing Kardia Cathedral in size, though maybe not quite as tall. It was circular, with the center of the room sunken in, and an outer ring raised up and lining multiple tunnel entrances. The floor of the opening we were standing at sloped down to the sunken part, and also split off left and right as a sort of walkway to the tunnels.

And, in the sunken part of the room, were dozens, maybe even hundreds, of Sleipnir. The extremely low light made it difficult to see, but it looked like every single one of them were solid black, looking very much like regular horses except for the extra legs and the fact that they were absolutely massive. They stood around in the shallow pit, not doing much other than the occasional stamping of the ground or shaking out their main or tail. Some were lying down, resting easily, and I could even see a foal or two running between the much larger adults' legs, playing happily as young animals tended to do.

"Oh Mavis..." I whispered in disbelief, my eyes wide in shock. I was barely even able to see the spectacle before me, but it was breathtaking, nonetheless. 'More mythical creatures that actually exist...'

"I don't believe it," Loke said quietly, his eyebrows almost merging with his hairline. "I've heard of these things for thousands of years but I've never actually seen them before. This is crazy."

"Do you think they're aggressive?" I was actually feeling a bit nervous thinking about it. The Sleipnir were huge, much larger than I thought they'd be. Roughly the size of Elfman in his beast form, if I had to compare them to anything. It wouldn't take them much to trample me to death with their many, many legs.

"Only one way to find out," Loke shrugged. "I mean, it's obvious you're supposed to explore those tunnels, and the walkways on both sides go around the Sleipnir. We won't have to disturb them, so I doubt they're going to really do anything."

"Yeah," I nodded, responding in a whisper. "I'm pretty sure they were only used as directional clues. There's no need to worry with them or disturb them."

"Regardless," Loke said in a slightly stronger voice, standing up straight, "we can never be too careful."

I nodded once, pulling my whip from my belt, my other hand lightly resting on my key pouch. "Right."

After observing everything before us for another couple of moments, Loke asked, "You ready?"

"Yeah. Let's do this."

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