It starts with Erza and Gray (who had Levy on his back) running toward the guild and screaming about one incoherent thing or three.

"LUCY'S BEEN KIDNAPPED."

"I'M GOING TO FIND LOKE AND KILL HIM."

"MY BABY LUCY IS GONE!"

"LOKE IS BEING A DRAMATIC BITCH AGAIN DEFINITELY I NEED TO GO FIND HIM."

"FIND LUCY FIRST—"

Levy and Gray were rambling over each other, over and over it went, and Erza tries her best to get a word in edgewise three times before she explodes with "SHUT UP!"

"BUT LU-CHAN!"

"BUT LOKE!"

Cana hesitantly raises her deck of cards, "I don't even know what I'm supposed to do here… I wish I had a silencer spell, but alas."

"Just leave them alone," Macao relents.

"Did Loke kidnap Lucy?" Krov asks. "You know better than to disturb them when Loke takes a girl out on a mysterious road trip…"

"Excuse you!? I had dibs on partnership with Lucy!"

"Is that what we're calling it, Cana? Partnership?" Macao snarks, "hey Enno, get a load of this! Cana calls it partnership!"

"We're going to get scolded for the noise again…" Wakaba sighs. "Oh well. But it's got something to do with Lucy and Loke? What, they have a thing now?"

"...come to think of it, we never did figure out what that Sol bastard did to Loke, did we?" Nab says. "Porlyusica said his magic didn't look good, but I'm not sure if Loke went through with the promise to go back for a checkup."

"And Lucy… huh? I thought Levy and Erza were on house arrest for recovery?"

Silence.

Then, "wait, something's seriously wrong here!"

Cana sighs, "you know what, I have no idea what's happening, so let's leave it up to the cards—"She initially reaches for her contact cards, wondering if Loke or Lucy also had any on hand to establish contact— but she aborts that idea and reaches for the tarot instead.

"Can't you just use Chariot on them instead?" Krov sighs, "really grating on my ears here."

"It's The Emperor," Cana says.

Then, it sinks in.

"LUCY'S ASSHOLE DAD?!" she shrieks.

"YES!" Levy and Gray scream at the same time before going back to quarreling with each other.

"OH MY GOD," Cana joins the screaming party as the guild erupts with utter panic.

What do you call the group of vandals that marched their way into Heartfilia land, terrorized the village, and proceeded to demand the heiress?

Well, Lucy-sama's friends, of course!

Basically, Lucy has to start screaming too when Levy, Gray, Cana, and Erza all dogpile over each other furiously screaming, yelling, fighting to get inside the library first.

"LU-CHAN ARE YOU OKAY?!"

"WAR! ANOTHER WAR! I'M MORE THAN READY TO FIGHT DAMMIT!"

"WHERE'S THE BIG BOSS!?"

"I HAVE TEN SWORDS!"

They were still very much injured, though Cana's peeled off the gauze at her ear. Gray missing his clothes, which is not unusual, but it really does draw attention to the bandages thick around his waist and hands. Erza's unharmed, at least in appearance, but her hair seems a little less cared for today, frizzy and frayed where the comb didn't quite run through. Levy's still in half a cast and a crutch.

Needless to say, Lucy needed a lot of time to explain very well everything that occurred to these overbearing barbarians, and her intentions to go home right after this. To her true home.

(Apparently, Erza also started getting hysterical about worst case scenarios on the way here, and thus, the mess of a destruction path occurred.)

(Lucy made them clean up the crumpled and muddied carpets, and pick up Gray's clothes which he lost on the way. Then, they all apologize to the servants.)

"Geez! You could have told us! Don't just leave a note, that's so scary!" Levy whines, lunging over for a hug, tearful.

"Yeah, we seriously thought the worst," Gray sighs, picking himself up and dusting himself off. "Don't just run off, especially when the public still thinks you're a runaway. Most of them, at least. It's dangerous!"

Lucy chuckles. "I know, but I had to do it."

"All's well it's all fine. We're glad we caught up with you," Erza says, smiling with relief, keeping her swords back in her dimension. "But this is quite a gigantic mansion."

"Is your dad here?" Cana says.

Gray interrupts with, "sperm donor," but Cana swats him in the face.

Cana punches the air with determination, "since we're here, I might as well go give him a piece of my mind. Take over the building, it's ours now!"

"No, no, you'll make things worse!" Lucy quickly salvages when everyone's eyes glint with interest at that suggestion. "Plus… this house means more to him than it would ever to me. Let him have it."

Now, Jude will have to handle the reality of how cold this house is, all on his own.

It's justice, to her. She wants him to feel it.

"Well, if you say so then," Cana says, though she's clearly still begrudged. "You sure? You'll just end things with your dad like this…"

Lucy nods. "I'll be fine without him from now on," she says, brimming into a toothy smile. "Not like he's ever been there for me anyways, so good riddance!"

Cana's eyes are set in a skeptical frown.

But she turns away, and relents. "Alright, but once you're done here, we're going home, got it? Everyone's gonna be super helicopter over you for the next month because of this, and you only have yourself to blame."

Lucy whines, "nooo!"

But she's smiling.They noticed, barely a few hours after she went missing. They immediately noticed and tossed aside everything including their own condition to come and find her.

(She's so happy. She's so blessed.)

(She's home , here in Levy's arms, surrounded by their annoying, stern nagging.)

(She's finally home .)

"Wait, so what happened to Loke?" Gray yelps. "We didn't solve that one yet! We just assumed he'd be here but he isn't?!"

"Right! His was a different situation!"

"What? What happened to Loke?" Lucy wonders, "did you need him? He was in the area a few hours ago…"

"HE WAS HERE?!"

"LOKE FOR FUCK'S SAKE!"

"When I catch him I SWEAR I'm gonna put a tracking card on him!"

"A bell would be more appropriate," Erza says, in full seriousness. "Complete with a tag with a return-to address in case he gets knocked out by sketchy girls in the night and ends up lost and robbed clean again."

"Again? You mean that happened?!" Lucy is mortified. "How has he survived so far…"

"Well, what can we say," Gray says, "he's surprisingly hard to kill?"

Lucy's farewell to her servants is loud and full of fanfare. She smiles toward her mother's grave and goes on with a handful of books, knowing Spetto would arrange for the rest to be sent back to Magnolia on courier.

Now, it's onto a new endeavour for her.

They rest back on the open-air four-wheeler, Erza driving. Levy sighs in relief as she finally rests her tender leg in the carriage space. The mansion nurse took off her cast and gave her a more comfortable brace.

"I'm alive again!" Levy cheers, carefully stretching out her sore muscles.

"That's why we told you to stay home," Gray says. "Jet and Droy are going to be crying when they realize you're gone."

"Oh, good point!" Levy says, "maybe I should have gotten them a souvenir…"

Erza sighs.

They've called up everyone.

"Warren's organizing the home effort," Cana says, "I'll call Freed in a second, but they had Lamia help them with the Phantom thing, so they can do that again… We're taking Central, but do you think he'll be further North? We might have a better chance calling Mermaid or Pegasus…"

"We owe all the other guilds so much right now it's not even funny," Gray grimaces. "They were doing damage control with our reputation too, right? This is rough…"

"Let's just focus on Loke for now," Erza says, sighing.

"He wasn't gone too long ago," Lucy says, "but if you're starting from here, there are plenty of carriage outposts or rest stops."

"You… know a lot," Erza says.

"The information I know is outdated, but the stations are still there," Lucy says, with the most bitter voice any of them has ever heard, sighing so deeply that part of her soul almost came out with it. But she's focused, perusing the map with more candor than Gray could ever. "Trust me. I can't forget it even if I try."

The Heartfilia thrive on landmarks, after all. That's how you know what places need a railway, and which ways are best to work toward to ensure the populace benefits.

"Are we sure he didn't bother with a carriage?" Gray says. "I'd take a carriage."

"When you want to be alone, you don't want to talk to people," Erza says, "I'm guessing he either took a bike with an SE Plug, or walked."

"But Loke's not a fan of carriages or bikes, he prefers trains," Cana says, sighing. "Otherwise, he'd just go on foot."

"Going this way by foot… it depends if he wants distance or a hiding spot," Lucy says, pointing right in the middle of Mount Hakobe. "There's one here that's a good hiding spot for runaways, since it's rarely manned, but it's really cold, not ideal. So tactically, I'd go for one that's crowded and easy to blend into the crowd with…"

Lucy scribbles on the map with a pen, circling out every outpost she knew and crossing out the ones that didn't make sense for distance considerations.

"Cana, can you get the others to search the ones further away?"

"Yeah sure, I'll relay it if you just tell me what I'm looking at," Cana says, "no, seriously, what the hell am I looking at? Why do you have such extensive knowledge about tactical runaway roadtrip paths??"

Lucy's genuinely surprised she's asking.

"I spent a year on the run, Cana, how did you think I survived?"

"You're kidding, this is the most unexpected revelation thus far!" Gray gawks, turning to Cana like are you hearing this , mortified. "I can't believe she's better than us at this lost child business! And I spent months travelling across a continent!"

"Alzack and Bisca would love the absolute hell out of this map," Levy says, "maybe I should send them a lacrima capture of it…"

"Well, to be fair, we were like, seven years old and younger when we went on our lonely road trips to Fairy Tail…" Cana says. "We didn't really have time to sightsee."

"But there are still too many to go through," Erza says, thinking deeply. "If only we could narrow things down a little more…"

"Come to think of it, we don't really know much about Loke outside of his whole playboy schtick," Gray says. "We'd have better ideas of where he would go."

Cana frowns. "I've never seen him really go anywhere out of Magnolia, either…"

The group needed a moment to take that in. They've known Loke for three years, and yet, because of recent events, they knew more about Lucy than they did him, and it was a little jarring for them to realize that.

"I think Gramps said, when he came in, that Master Bob recommended him?" Gray says. "That's why he's all playboy like Pegasus, even though he's in our guild."

"But if he was already in a guild, why'd he leave?"

"Wait… Master Bob!" Lucy says, "that's an ideal place to hide for Loke!"

"Right, we're heading that way, then!"

Things about him didn't make sense, the more they discussed. They started bringing up small discrepancies with him, and then, the conversation progressed from there.

"Huh? None of you knew that Loke could use Ability-type Light magic?" Lucy says, surprised. "But he definitely used some when we fought against Ryos…"

"No?" Levy raises a brow. "Are you sure it wasn't just his rings?"

"Didn't he lose most of his rings during the Eisenwald debacle?" Gray raises a brow. "Light rings are pretty rare and expensive. Where'd he get that kind of cash?"

"But light, huh…" Cana frowns, "I could swear I've seen him use light before. I thought they were his rings back then, though?"

"I've seen it before, too," Erza says. "I think he called it…"

"Regulus!" Cana says.

Lucy's hand freezes on her book.

"...What?" Lucy says. "Did you just say… Regulus?"

("I filled it with water for ya. You can use water magic out of it.")

("...You're using it wrong. What does Lionrock look like to you?")

("What about a handle?")

She reaches toward the bracelet at her purse. Even she, someone who grew up in the presence of Aquarius, with her mother who owned one of these, didn't know what this was. Even the workers didn't, and they've known Aquarius longer than Lucy has.

So, why would someone who's as repulsed by Celestial Spirit mages as Loke know about it? Is he acquainted with Aquarius? That's not possible

As long as Lucy's known, Aquarius has been in her possession for just about her whole life. And before that, she knew that Aquarius' former owner was a kindly, older woman.

So… why?

"Found it," Lucy says, turning to Leo's page. "Alpha Leonis… the Regulus."

Did Loke have hold of Leo's strongest Celestial armory? How?

Was Loke using a ring? Did Lucy just not see it?

But the Mastery he had over it… and he didn't have any keys, either. Lucy would have known if he had any keys, they would resonate.

("They're not tools, Lucy! If your life is put at risk because of this, do you think any of your spirits will ever be able to forgive themselves?")

("Do you really think any of them are willing to stand by and watch you risk your life for a risk you don't have to take? Especially if the risk comes from you trying to summon them , and they didn't even know?")

Lucy didn't understand.

Was Loke a Celestial Mage? A former one? And he failed his spirits, is that it? That's why he feels so strongly about spirits, and hates Celestial mages, because they use spirits to fight? Is that why Lucy's attitude during the battle didn't sit right with him?

No… she's wrong. She's getting something wrong here.

"Uhm… guys," Lucy says, "I have… a horrible theory."

When Loke enters Blue Pegasus, there's a din in the conversation on the first floor.

Usually, repeat customers and mages, guild or visiting, go up to the second floor. The first floor's host club and bar is often filled with first-timers and casual, civilian guests.

So when Loke walks in, it is not because anyone recognizes him, but simply because of how ill-dressed he is in this high-class establishment, and how pale he looked, utterly dead on his feet.

Loke pays them no mind, making a beeline to the counter, ignoring the stares. It's unusual for someone to be in cargo here. It's common sense that Master Bob's the only one allowed in whatever he wears. You get judged really harshly on your fashion sense in this building, and being in any less than a suit was a call for a social downfall.

"Your guild's in a panic looking for you, dear," Master Bob informs, with a frown.

Loke simply smiles in resignation. "Well, being too popular is rather troubling at times."

The cold brew that Master Bob makes always blows it all away. The pain, the hunger, the ache, the exhaustion, the frustration— it's cold and bitter, and nothing else matters.

Not the way people upstairs are beginning to notice, not the way someone hollers across the room with a warning, and not the way Hibiki is staring in horror, right at him, his agonized eyes a clear reflection in the glass Loke's holding.

Just then, a single Nicola, baby blue in colouring, approaches Loke with a cup of milk. Loke smiles at it, but doesn't reach out to touch it.

"You should be with your owner, not me," he says.

The Nicola huffs, sitting down and sipping on its milk. Loke sighs.

Hibiki's right behind him.

Maybe it's a coincidence, but Loke's glad he picked the perfect spot where he could pretend to never notice him at all. He'd never be able to meet him in the eyes.

Master Bob shoots a fierce, cold glare toward them— and they collectively shut up immediately, remembering that the Master's whims took precedence over their own emotions.

Loke wraps his hands around the coffee he's been served, cringing at the cold as it seeps into his freezing hands, but he can't let go of it.

His vision is tight, his head aches, a hover to the side clunking through like a heated stone in his skull— he sighs. He wants nothing but to lay down and sleep, but he knows that's not possible.

"You know I can't do this to them," he says.

Master Bob doesn't say a thing.

"How long are you staying?" Master Bob asks.

Loke's laughter comes out in a breath. "You're chasing me away without letting me enjoy my last drink? I'm so hurt."

Loke likes it here. Here, he is reminded of his crimes, and he is reminded of all the reasons he should not cling to the hope of love that has kept him alive thus far. Here, he is given so many reasons to meet his inevitable end with a smile on his face.

Here, he is neither Leo the lion spirit nor Loke the notorious playboy. Here, he is the scum of the earth, who dares to tread back in here with his crimes on his shoulders and with a smile on his face as Master Bob serves him his favourite drink on the house.

Here, Loke is, at his core, who he once was, without anything distracting him.

Here, Loke cannot distract himself with anything. Here, he can only think of Karen, of his sins, and he can only hear the distant curses of those who rightfully wish him death.

So if Loke can live in willful ignorance for just a little longer, maybe he'll feel better.

He feels gratified for them. For all of them, and their honesty. Truthfully, he loves humans, for how wholehearted they can be.

He loves how they can be so prideful and bold, whether in shamelessness or shamefulness. Whether beautiful and justified or ugly and immoral, he admires their hearts and their souls, for how brightly they are capable of shining as long as they live.

Spirits do not have such a fervent will to live and produce. Spirits only be and serve, so even Loke, the spirit of Light, has never been able to replicate such a brilliant shine.

He wanted a greater shine, he craved it, admired it.

But as his powers weakened and his eyes ached too terribly against the weight of the world, he became trapped under bonds and barriers and shields and sunglasses, and the world was never quite the same after that.

"When I first met Karen, she shone so brilliantly under the spotlight," Loke says. "I wanted to be like her. I wanted to be able to smile before the camera flashes, to live exuberantly… just like her. I wonder when it all changed."

Definitely somewhere along the way, when Aries came into her arsenal, and when Karen started getting too confident about her strength.

"She was a star," Loke says, "And I wanted to chase her. So much, I couldn't accept the monster she became, and I believed so strongly she'd one day regain that shine. I suppose it only makes sense that I fell to the ground."

It's ironic that a star like him would covet a star that was only human.

(There's a reason why humans aren't allowed to reach the stars.)

"With time and heart, I believe all humans can be redeemed," Master Bob says. "Karen didn't have enough time to find that heart. But you've tried really hard, dear, so don't fault yourself for any of it."

Loke doesn't smile.

But his heart eases, and he chuckles.

"Haven't you found any other stars you'd like to catch?" Master Bob suggests, leaning over the bar comfortably. "Humans can't reach the stars either, but we always dream of it. You can have dreams too, dear."

Loke hums at the thought.

"There is one," he admits. "One star I'd love for the chance to catch… she was so bright, I thought I'd go blind. When I close my eyes, she's still there. Like a scar, on my eyelids."

Master Bob hums, endeared. "And won't you try to catch it, at least?"

Loke shakes his head. "I don't have the strength to reach out, anymore."

He sips on his bitter coffee, and his next words are weak.

"I was allowed to enjoy the warmth she left behind. That's enough."

"Absolutely not," Cana says.

Back on the wagon going full speed ahead in some nondescript direction that Erza seems to have zeroed in on, Cana and Gray are not really registering things right. Lucy presents her theory in full seriousness, but they don't know if it's a joke.

"You're kidding," Gray adds. "That's just… way too out there for me. I can't suspend my disbelief enough for this."

"No, it makes perfect sense!" Lucy whines, "just— I put that together and now I have trouble believing otherwise! I'm so appalled, I wonder why I never noticed it before!"

"But seriously, Lucy?" Levy says, "A Celestial Spirit? We've known him for years!"

"That's the problem! Why is he stuck in this world for years ?!"

"Are you sure he's stuck or— we haven't decided if you're right yet."

"I am right, I know it!" Lucy's utterly frustrated.

"Okay, for now, let's just calm down, and head to the nearest outpost," Erza says, "whether Lucy is right or not—"

"Oh, so your name's Lucy?" Bickslow's voice cheerfully comes from the other end of the Call Card, which apparently Cana hadn't hung up on yet. "Hey newbie! You a Celestial Spirit mage? That's awesome, you and I should definitely damn hang out sometime."

"O- Oh?" Lucy says, cheeks flushing. She is really not used to being praised by a notorious Fairy Tail member out of nowhere. "Uh. Thank you? Sure? Uhm…?"

"...Bickslow, what the hell!" Cana snaps.

"Seriously, Bickslow?" Gray says, utterly disappointed in him as a human being. "Seriously?"

"Is this the time?!" Erza groans.

Seemingly in agreement, Evergreen pipes right up. "Why are you trying to flirt with the newbie over a card call??" she is appalled. "At least meet her one time first?"

"Okay, okay, you guys are just being mean to me now. Geez. I'm offended. Dude," Bickslow whines, "I was just gonna say that she's right."

There's a long pause of confusion.

Then, "WAIT," Cana and Gray slam their hands against the wagon as Erza slams on the brakes and everyone starts screaming.

"Bicks, for fuck's sake!" Cana screeches, toppled over, "you're trying to kill us!"

"I am sorry, I will apologize…" Erza says, barely catching Gray by the necklace before he fully went over the side. "I was just too shocked…"

Lucy has to hold her head up, befuddled. "Wait… Why do you know that, Bickslow?"

The other side of the call is permeated by complete silence, with occasionally indistinguishable noises in the distance muffled by the cacophony of the crowd.

"Ah, give him a second," Laxus finally says, "Ever and Freed are trying to strangle him right now, he'll be a while."

"Well, strangle him faster, we need answers!" Gray snaps, heaving.

"Master Bob, why'd you even— you know how it gets in here when he comes by!"

"Enough, Ren, it's fine."

"No the fuck it isn't!"

Loke had finished his drink and left.

The guild's closed early, too abruptly, and though this leaves utter confusion across the town, all the members are willing to politely walk their guests out so the guild may be cleared.

The Nicola is on the table, wiping it down by rolling itself into a burrito with the hand towel before proceeding to roll over the length of it back and forth.

Which leaves Ren and Hibiki, a fist slamming loud and hard on the table (startling the Nicola and it topples to the ground with a toy-like squeak,) and a temper tantrum that leaves Master Bob sighing once more.

"You can't just let that traitor spirit waltz back in here like no one's business!" Ren throws his hands into the air in exasperation. "How does that even make sense? He's the reason—"

"Ren!" Hibiki raises his voice, equally infuriated. He puts a hand on Ren's shoulder, holding him back. "I've told all of you, time and again, stop saying that! We don't know if that's for sure and—"

"Well what else could it be?" Ren turns to him, roughly shrugging off his hand. "We all knew Leo and Karen had a big problematic argument and Leo refused to work for months . And then Karen's dead, what the hell else could it all have been?! Doesn't take a damn genius to figure it out!"

Hibiki's teeth grind, his fists balling. "Just be quiet on it!"

"Like you have been? You're too kind for your own good, Hibiki. You don't have to forgive everything ! Leo knows what he did, that's why he's—"

"It's not about that, just shut up about it!" Hibiki snaps, "What's getting mad at Leo going to do, it's not going to bring Karen back!"

"Oh, so he just runs free?!"

Master Bob places two glass cups on the counter, the clear clank of wood against glass immediately ripping Hibiki and Ren away from their conversation.Abruptly, all the anger in their hearts pull unnervingly flat, and the fearful sense of emotionlessness catches them completely off guard.

They turn to Master Bob.

(No one knows his magic, in definition or by name, and yet, everyone knows the effect of it just the same. There's no one that doesn't immediately feel like a helpless child when Master Bob wills so.)

Hibiki and Ren meekly step away from each other, suppressed.

Master Bob casually wipes a glass on the other side of the counter, beckoning them toward the empty seats on either side of him. Strangely enough, Master Bob had left a seat's margin between them.

"We have guests, boys. Let's sit, shall we?" he smiles.

Hibiki and Ren whirl right around.

At the entrance, a blonde girl stands, hard of breath. She has a book in her hand, Fairy Tail's mark on the back of her palm, and a pouch of Celestial Spirit keys at her belt.

"M- Master Bob, sir!" She seems to have just arrived, not even realizing the two before her had just been in a heated argument. She hasn't even realized the hall's completely empty. She runs in here, desperately chasing for breath, gesticulating wild as she tries to emote while thinking up what to say. "I– Hi, I'm Lucy, I'm from Fairy Tail, we met briefly during the Eisenwald situation and— and, I'm uh, really sorry for recent events, but…"

Right behind her are Gray Fullbuster and Cana Alberona, not as exhausted but definitely hauling much more stuff including maps and lacrimas and cards.

"Hi Master Bob!'

"Master Bob, sorry to interrupt!"

Lucy Heartfilia takes a deep breath and straightens.

"We're looking for Loke!" Lucy says, "could you tell us more about him? Anything about him that could be a sign, please!"

Master Bob smiles.

"What a shame, dear. You've just barely missed him," he says.

"Wait, he was here?" Lucy runs up to the counter, briefly stopping when he notices Hibiki, squeaking, " woah, it's HIbiki Laytis, reigning champion of Sorcerer's 'guy I'd wanna date' list!" Then, back to Master Bob, "do you know where he went?"

Lucy steps back in surprise again when the Nicola toddles up to her and pats at her shin, asking to be picked up.

"Oh! A Plue," she says, obliging immediately, taking it in her hands.

"Ahh, that's mine, I'm really sorry," Hibiki confronts, stepping forward and reaching for his side for the key. He naturally brings his customer service smile back on if only to ease the tensions, his own and everyone else's. "Kathy, you can go back now."

The Nicola in question whines in protest, surprising both Lucy and Hibiki. It clings, almost desperately, to Lucy's forearms, unwilling to be sent home.

"Uhm…?" Hibiki is appalled, "wait, Kathy, that's a guest, you can't do that."

"Woah… she's protesting almost as badly as when Loke picked up my Plue," Lucy says, a little troubled. She sends Hibiki an assuring smile, "ah, it's okay… She can stay if she wants to, I guess? Would this be trouble for you? Like, you probably won't be able to summon anything else—"

"Ah, no, this is fine, it's not my main magic," Hibiki says, genuinely taken aback. "But… is it really fine? Is it not… well, in the way?"

"Of course," Lucy says, patting the little Nicola on the head. "I'm sure she wants to tell me something, but doesn't know how to express it. Don't worry little Kathy, we'll figure it out, alright?" she smiles so warmly, as if she were speaking to a child.

And HIbiki can't help but stare, like that was so foreign to him.

(Like he's never seen a Celestial Spirit mage like this before.)

Her eyes sharpened once more, sitting down calmly at the counter as Cana and Gray send them acurt greeting before joining Lucy at the table.

"Master Bob… you know, don't you? Why Loke just suddenly left the guild without telling us anything." Gray says. "Please, we need to know. To understand."

"We can't just let him leave like this, especially if he's in trouble," Cana says. "He's one of us! And he's going to understand when we sit him down and tell him we care about him, alright?"

"Please, Master Bob," Lucy says, filled with resolve. "I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage! I can't just watch this happen— there must be something I can do!"

They already know.

They already know that Loke isn't who he says he is.

And yet, Hibiki somehow realizes that even if they learn about Leo's crimes now, they wouldn't hold anything against him for it.

Hibiki turns to Ren, to notice his eyes widening too, coming to the same, confusing revelation.

I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage, Lucy says, with such conviction. As if it were a mission, a privilege, and something she was so proud of.

Hibiki has a key, but only as a commercial benefit. As something of a commercial trend— to match Karen, once upon a time— and now it was just a temporary helper and a memento of the woman he once loved.

Hibiki is a Celestial Mage, by theory. But Lucy is a Celestial Spirit mage, in truth.

"Master Bob, I'm asking too," HIbiki says, before he thinks it all through. "I know you didn't tell anyone the full story, because it was Leo's to tell and no one wanted to break it out to me… but please, can you tell us the whole story?"

And after that, perhaps, they will find the right answer to cope with all of this grief.

"You should really stay in the carriage," Erza says, when Levy insists on walking herself out of where Erza's parked the four-wheeler.

While Lucy, Gray, and Cana went to Blue Pegasus, Levy had another idea.

"I wondered about this when Lucy brought this book," Levy says, holding up the record Lucy took from her house. The Memoriam of the Stars vol.1, written by someone who only went by the pseudonym of 'Anna'. "This is ancient. Books about Celestial Magic are rare to come by. They're getting less popular over the years, too, so little of them are ever getting properly translated anymore. But… I've seen this book before."

"You've seen it before…?"

"Yeah," Levy says. "It was written in the ancient language of Castor, so I couldn't read it… but I remember it was much thicker, and it wasn't voluminized like this one. Which means what I saw back then was the complete, unabridged edition."

And that's why they're here, standing before a huge, looming building, with a haunting amount of steps and a grand amount of decorations that denotes the local religion and governing body.

"...I see, that's why we're here at the local Council prefectural office," Erza says. "There's a huge library here."

Levy nods.

"But… will you know where that book is, specifically?" Erza asks, "won't it take too long to find it?"

"I do know where it is," Levy says, but despite her confident words, she doesn't lift her head with any bravery at all. "I… well, I mostly grew up in this building. Know it like the back of my hand, honestly."

Erza senses that discomfort palpably, and she puts her hands on Levy's shoulders.

"You don't have to, if you don't want to—"

"No, I should," Levy says, finally lifting her head. "Lucy can definitely handle Loke's situation right now… what I'm looking for is a little further than it."

And so, they begin the climb.Erza lifts Levy up on one arm— an action that genuinely leaves Levy swooning and lightheartedly composing a praise-the-lord-Erza song. Erza chuckles at that.

"Good day, dear miss, if I may ask what brings you to the office— oh?"

Levy turns away mid-chorus to the guard at the door, who also freezes between his escort greetings as his eyes widen with surprise.

Levy's face blooms with recognition.

"Eve!" she greets, "it's been a while!"

"You as well, Levy! Not since school, eh?" Eve Tearm chuckles. "I see you're still the cutest girl I know. Are you free tonight?"

"No!" Levy says, brightly, as Erza sets her down on her feet. "And you're officially a Rune Knight, that's awesome! Since you're on bellboy duty, did you get suspended for fighting again?"

"Hey, I'm actually on break for injury this time, not bad behaviour," Eve insists, mildly offended as he showcases a light mend of bandages around his wrist, hidden under his sleeve. Then with a smile, "you don't seem so well either. I heard what happened, you really alright?"

Levy chuckles, "well, I'll get better."

Eve huffs. "Alright then, I'll take your word for it."

Levy nods. "Ah, and this is Erza," she simply introduces. "Strongest female wizard in Fairy Tail, I'm sure you've heard."

"Oh, Titania! You're just as pretty as the rumours I've heard, are you free to—"

"No!" Levy swats him in the face. "Would you bring us to the library? I'm looking for the Lost Magic section."