At some point during the night, Mirajane felt the call of nature. Probably due largely to the obscene amount of chocolate that had been consumed by everyone before bedtime – an activity Mirajane had thrown herself into with just as much enthusiasm as the rest of the group. Sans Jackal, of course. It was unclear just how much like a canine his digestive system was and Lucy had been firmly against using the trip as the time to discover the consequences (no matter how much Happy – another being that should not be able to consume chocolate – was perfectly capable of doing so and no matter how much the blue cat taunted Jackal with that fact). It had been an interesting night, all told. Mirajane was well pleased that they'd all taken this vacation together.

But now that nature had run its course through her digestive system, it was time for Mirajane to locate the toilet. Slipping out of bed quietly so as not to disturb Mard (who'd clearly had a trying day, as funny as it was both at the time and still remained well after the fact), she made sure to pick up the small flashlight on the bedside table. Although there were lamps, Mirajane felt that there was no need to light them up and disturb everyone else in the cabin-lodge. A simple flashlight was all she really needed to make it to her destination.

Once outside the room, she turned the device on. It was at that point she realized that all of her care to minimize her noises was probably a bit superfluous, given the snores that drifted throughout the building. Natsu and Gray's snores in particular were familiar to her, as was Happy's thanks to a childhood spent with them all. The unfamiliar one mixed in with them was Jackal, she assumed. And beyond the snoring, she thought she caught the sounds of an owl somewhere in the woods, as well as an accompanying orchestra of cicadas.

Having heard the various chorus lines going strong that night, Mirajane didn't take nearly as much care with the restroom door as she had the bedroom. After she was finished, she shut off the light in the room and flicked her flashlight on once again to begin the trek back down the hall to her bed and Mard.

Then, as she was walking down the hall, the flashlights beam caught on a pair of eyes in the dark, flashing a brilliant green and staring straight at her from the depths of the darkness. Mirajane yelped, dropping the flashlight, the object clattering to the ground and ejecting its lacrima batteries in the process – which then skittered away somewhere in the dark.

The hallway light flashed on, and Jackal stared at her blankly, a half-eaten sandwich in his clawed hand. "What's wrong with you?"

Counting her blessings that the noise hadn't roused anyone else, and deeply mortified by her reaction, Mirajane bent to collect the flashlight and its parts. "Your eyes. The light caught them and it surprised me. What were you doing?"

The eyes in question drifted to the sandwich in his hand and then back up to her face. "Eating. I thought that was obvious."

"But why were you doing it in the dark…?" she wondered aloud. Mirajane popped the batteries back into the flashlight.

"Why would I need to turn on the lights?"

Of course. He probably had some form of night vision. "Nevermind," she told him. "I could have sworn you were asleep, though."

"Heard a door shut. Woke me up."

So this was all her own fault, then. Mirajane let out a soft laugh at the realization. Shaking her head, she made her way back to her bedroom. "Goodnight, Jackal. Be sure to hide the evidence of the sandwich before Lucy wakes up." Lucy did not take kindly to midnight pilfering, or so she'd heard.

"Ha!" Jackal laughed, triumph shining clear in his voice. "She won't blame me. She'll think it's Natsu and go for the throat."

Mirajane thought he sounded a bit proud about that fact. "Goodnight, Jackal," she repeated.

"Night."

He switched off the light, and the cabin was once again still and dark.