PART I – Resolution

Chapter XVII – Hectic

"I stand there for a while, then sit cross-legged before it and bow my head. "Hi, Metias," I say in a soft voice. "Today's my birthday. Do you know how old I am now?"
I close me eyes, and through the silence surrounding me I think I can sense a ghostly hand on my shoulder, my brother's gentle presence that I'm able to feel every now and then, in these quiet moments. I imagine him smiling down at me, his expression relaxed and free.
"I'm twenty-seven today," I continue in a whisper. My voice catches for a moment. "We're the same age now."
For the first tine in my life, I am no longer his little sister. Next year I will step across the line and he will still be in the same place. From now on, I will be older than he ever was.
I try to move on to other thoughts, so I tell my brother's ghost about my year, my struggles and successes in commanding my own patrols, my hectic workweeks. I tell him, as I always do, that I miss him. And as always, I can hear the whisper of his ghost against my ear, his gentle reply that he misses me too. That he's looking out for me, from wherever he is."
― Marie Lu, Champion

Lucy breathed out, smiling. She could feel her friend's hand engulfing her own and she loved the warmth that was spreading through her whole body through this simple, innocent touch. The wind was softly blowing through the tall grasses of the clearing near the ranch, the birds chirping happily and the sun shining brightly. In short, it was a beautiful day and the children obviously decided to enjoy the good weather. They had been running for more than two hours when they decided to lie down and relax. Michelle was laughing beside her and Gray was exchanging jokes with her other friend. Lyon told them that he was tired and left before them to go back to the ranch.

"I don't know," Gray softly laughed, "I think I'd like to become a racing driver. What about you?"

Her friend didn't even hesitate.

"I'll become a fireman!" he cheered. "Just like dad!"

Gray chuckled and Lucy imitated him.

"Figured you'd say that. What about you, Michelle?"

Lucy's smile widened because she already knew the answer to that question. She shifted in the grass so she could turn and look at her sister. Her pale blond hair was spread all around her beautiful face. Lucy was sure that Lyon had a thing for her. Well, not really, she didn't even understand what that meant, she just heard Silver say it to Gramps.

"I'd love to become a surgeon," she told them dreamily. "My biggest dream is to be able to save people suffering from illnesses that are supposedly incurable. I want to save them and tell them: See? You were right to keep hoping."

A short moment of silence passed as the boys stared at her with newfound admiration.

"That's an awesome dream," her other friend whistled. "What about you, Lucy? What do you want to do when you're older?"

Lucy sat up and turned around to look him in the eye. She smiled brightly and hugged him.

"I want to marry you!"

The boy blushed as Gray and Michelle laughed loudly. They played around for a bit longer before walking back to the ranch, still laughing and joking around.

That evening, the ranch's cook wasn't there, so Gramps had to do the cooking and it went horribly wrong. The food was carbonized and everyone laughed as they forced themselves to eat it or threw it at each other. After dessert, they decided to play cards.

"Stop cheating, you little brat!" Gramps scolded Gray. "Where did you even learn to do that?"

Gray smirked and pointed at the other boy, who was also smirking like a little devil.

"We learnt it from Silver," the latter assured.

Lucy laughed as the two old men argued, Michelle covering Lucy's ears so she couldn't hear their insults. All of a sudden, Lucy felt her sister tense. She looked up and saw Michelle stare at the door. Lucy wasn't the only one to notice Michelle's behavior and everyone turned to look at the door. Lyon was standing there, holding the door open, crying a river. Silver stood up, Gray imitating him right away.

"What's wrong, boy?"

Lyon wiped his eyes, only for more tears to flow down. He sniffed, sobbed, but held the door open.

"I'm... so... so sorry..."

A second later, a gloved hand appeared on the wooden door and another one landed softly on the boy's shoulder. A man entered the ranch. Lucy froze while Michelle jumped to her feet.

"Lyon," she called, "what does that mean?"

A second passed and no one was sitting anymore. Lyon cried even more when he heard Michelle.

"Don't... Don't try to escape... please... I beg you..."

Michelle's expression instantly went from confusion to sheer anger. Lucy started crying when several other men entered the ranch, wearing black military uniforms and balaclavas, all of them holding rifles.

"You dared betray us!" Michelle screamed.

Lucy immediately noted how her voice was filled with fury and pain. No, pain wasn't enough to describe it. Talking about grief would be more accurate.

"Children," Gramps growled, "follow the escape plan. No turning around. Boys, we're entrusting them to you."

Lucy cried tears of fear and sorrow. She was so sure that they'd be safe at the ranch! She didn't resist when her friend carried her in his arms and watched as Gray had to lift Michelle from her waist. Her older sister was still yelling at Lyon and Lyon was still crying. What happened afterwards was hazy. Lucy heard screams from the ranch as they ran toward the barn. She heard the boys curse as they realized that they were armed men outside too. The 'black men' as Lucy called them, entered the barn after the children. Lucy felt her friend's arms tighten around her and she buried her face in his neck.

"Gray," Michelle suddenly called, "take … and Lucy, and run away from here."

Lucy's eyes shot up and she stared at Michelle with panic filling her whole being.

"What? What are you..."

"Don't argue, Gray!" Michelle screamed. "We don't have enough time!"

She took something small and somewhat round out of her pocket. Gray saw it, his eyes widened and he took a step back.

"What the hell are you..."

"Run away!" Michelle ordered, her voice desperate.

She pulled the pin out and the men chasing them suddenly panicked too, they ran toward her. Gray ran toward the exit and his friend, who was still carrying Lucy, followed him. Michelle turned around to look at her little sister as she was being carried away. The little girl held her hand out, desperately trying to reach her sister, crying all the tears of her small body. Michelle's smile was angelic as she extended her arms.

"I love you, Lucy."

She dropped the grenade.

When Lucy woke up, the moon was out and she was lying on the earth, legs still immersed in the river. She was alone, her head was bleeding, she was cold and terrified. And she was suffering from partial amnesia.

oOo

Lucy sighed when she felt the hot water pour down on her aching body. The running water helped her clear her thoughts and her fists clenched when she thought of the counsellor they had just dumped in the river. This man probably had a life to live, Lucy knew. He probably had a family, maybe a wife and some children. And yet, she couldn't bring herself to feel guilty. She still remembered the words he said and his face as he was practically orgasming thinking about the tortures she'd be put through. And Loke had been the one to pull the trigger. She'd bury a thousand corpses in secret if it was for his sake.

Huge clouds of mist followed Lucy when she walked out of the bathroom. Loke was lying on his bed, facing the ceiling.

"Is it bad that I don't feel guilty at all?" he asked. "It's not normal, is it?"

Lucy sighed and sat on the bed, next to him.

"Probably not," she agreed. "But, I don't know if you noticed, but a lot of things happening lately are very abnormal. We'll be crushed if we react like normal people."

Loke sighed deeply and turned his head so he could look at her.

"I'd kill him again if it was to protect you," he breathed. "I'd do anything, really."

Lucy felt the now familiar prickling of hot tears threatening to fall. She sniffed and nodded, leaning down to kiss her friend on the forehead and hug him.

"I know," she smiled. "And I'd do the same for you, obviously."

Loke hugged her back and closed his eyes, finally feeling calm enough for his heartbeat to slow down.

"Someone will notice his disappearance," he finally said.

"I know."

A moment of silence ensued and Lucy chuckled as she sat back up and ruffled his hair.

"Go wash," she told him, "we have to go to the refectory now."

Loke smiled back and sat up as well.

"Why bother? It's late, everyone will be gone."

"Doesn't matter," Lucy answered. "We have to act as if everything was normal. And you skipping diner definitely wouldn't be normal."

Her friend scoffed.

"That's rich coming from you."

She hit him with a pillow and pushed him to the bathroom. As expected, the refectory was almost empty when they got there and most of the good food had been taken. Lucy had to settle for a small piece of chopped beef and some green beans. As they ate, Loke and Lucy made sure to laugh and smile a lot, trying to look as carefree as possible without overdoing it. They were ready to go back to their room when someone patted Lucy on the shoulder. The young woman turned around to find Mira faking a smile at her.

"Hey, Luc," she greeted. "I heard from Erza that you've been busy with paperwork. I'm sorry to bother you when you're probably tired, but the general wants to see you for a moment."

Lucy smiled back as insincerely as Mira and nodded.

"Sure," she said. "Loke, you can go back first, I'll be back soon."

She didn't wait for her friend's answer and got up to follow Mira to the general's office. The corridors of the main building were empty, as most recruits were already back to their rooms, so Lucy relaxed a bit.

"Isn't it a bit late to meet the general?" she asked, hoping to get Mira to talk too, it was strange for her ever-cheerful friend to be this quiet.

Mira shook her head.

"Don't worry, he'll be working all night long," Mira answered. "Talking with you will be one of his easiest jobs."

Lucy arched an eyebrow.

"All night long? Is it because of the inspection?"

Mira nodded, but still didn't look at her.

"Partly. You'll probably hear about it during the meeting. Natsu's there, as well as some others."

When they finally reached Makarov's door, Mira stopped and turned around to glance at Lucy. She was nervous and scared. Sure, the general only wanted a report about her time out of the Academy that day, but it was impossible not to wonder why he absolutely wanted to see her that evening, impossible to forget that they had hidden a corpse a few hours earlier. She gulped and nodded at Mira, who was waiting for her to prepare herself. The colonel opened the door and let her enter the office first. Makarov lifted his eyes when he saw her.

"Hello, child," he greeted, "I'll finish with them and we'll talk after that."

Lucy nodded and quietly waited in the corner of the room. Makarov's attention went back to the commander who was sitting in front of him. Beside him was Laxus and standing behind them were Erza, Clive and, surprisingly, Jellal. Lucy had almost forgotten about him.

"As you can see," he told them gravely, "the situation is extremely serious. I don't know why we never heard of this Butcher before, but I'll personally conduct an investigation on the matter. In the meantime, Natsu, Laxus, Gildarts and Jellal, I want all of you to form teams and patrol the town during night time. Erza, you'll visit the victims who survived and try to gather every information you can manage. We have one week to find him." The old man sighed in defeat as his eyes shifted to Natsu, who was quietly listening. "Otherwise, they will officially order your deployment to Joya."

The commander stared at the general with cold eyes that didn't betray any emotion. He nodded. Lucy gulped and her eyes widened. Joya was an allied country of Fiore, but also the most dangerous country to be at the moment: it was at war against Desierto. She was sure to never see him again if he was sent there.

"A commander sent to Joya?" Laxus growled, "this is ridiculous."

Makarov nodded.

"Of course it is," he agreed, "the Octagon wants to make an example out of him. They want us to know that they're still the big bosses."

Lucy observed them and what she saw surprised her. She saw anger in their eyes, she recognized the unwillingness to submit to any form of unfair authority, she shared it. All of them were lower in rank than the members of the Octagon, so they were forced to obey. But Lucy had a feeling that, if Natsu was really sent to Joya, every person in this room would go berserk. And she was absolutely sure that the Octagon would be delighted with that, because it would give them a valid reason to get rid of them.

"Heh," her inner voice laughed, "who would have guessed? You may be able to find more allies than you bargained for here."

Lucy gulped. She wasn't surrounded by obedient pawns of the Octagon, as she had first thought. But their reaction at the threat directed at the commander didn't mean they'd switch sides to fight for her.

"That's fine," Jellal finally intervened. "We'll simply catch John the Butcher within a week and with that they'll lose the upper hand."

"Don't be naive," Erza growled, "they'll find something else. They know how powerful they are. If they're after Natsu, they'll find a way to get to him, sooner or later."

A heavy silence engulfed the office when she said those words, everyone understanding that they were true. They may have been officers, they were still powerless against the Octagon. Lucy wanted to scream that they were not, that they had a way to fight back, but even she wasn't sure what that way was. She was absolutely sure that they had one, but couldn't remember what exactly that was. Why? The only things she could remember were useless, painful things like the night of the attack. Why couldn't she remember things like the face of the man who dragged her father to the van, or a way to defeat the Octagon. The only thing that came to her mind was an image: a rose. The sound of someone clearing their throat suddenly startled everyone. Mira was waving at them with a small smile on her face.

"Um, we're still here, you know," she chuckled.

All heads turned to her and Lucy and the young recruit could finally see the commander's face. He wasn't as unaffected by this as he wanted to let on. He was tense and the look in his eyes was distant.

"I want to be in a patrol team," she heard someone say.

She frowned when everyone stared at her with surprised eyes and realized that she had been the one to volunteer. Gildarts laughed and the commander glared at him. Jellal and Erza exchanged a knowing glance, which made Lucy briefly wonder if those two had managed to find some time to talk. Mira turned to look at her with bright, watery eyes, and Laxus didn't look like he gave a damn about what was happening. What had she said that was so surprising? She wanted to go hunt a serial killer, no big deal.

"Well," Makarov chuckled, "we'll decide the composition of the teams later, but I'll keep your wish in mind. Now, you can all leave, I have to talk with Luc and Erza. Don't forget to bring me a list with the names of the recruits you want in your team. You can give it to me tomorrow, during lunch time."

Lucy didn't move from her spot as the officers exited the room. Laxus and Jellal politely nodded at her, Gildarts winked and Natsu ruffled her hair before walking out. Lucy smiled as she stood in front of the desk, Erza took the seat beside hers.

"Where's Juvia?"

"She already came to give her report," Erza explained. "She's probably in her room."

Lucy nodded and listened to Makarov as the old general explained her that there was a procedure to follow for recruits leaving the Academy for a mission and she had to write a report for him. It took Lucy ten minutes to do so and she handed the sheet of paper to the old man. He took it and glanced at it before nodding and smiling.

"Perfect," he said, "you can leave now. Have a good night."

Erza stayed in the office when Lucy was allowed to leave and the young woman remembered that Mira had told her that the general would be working all night long. It reassured her to know that he wouldn't let the commander be sent to Joya just like that. And she wanted to help, that's why she immediately volunteered to be in a patrol team. Lucy dragged her exhausted self to the room and found Loke already sleeping when she entered it. She quickly stripped off her uniform and collapsed on her bed less than a second later.

Unbeknownst to her, or anybody else, the following day would be one of the craziest days she would spend at the Academy.

It started a bit before six in the morning when the fire alarm was triggered and all recruits had to hurry and leave their rooms. Lucy was still blushing when when they exited the building: when she heard the alarm, she was still getting dressed and had to have Loke help her put her bandage on... Gray was only wearing his boxers and most of the recruits were visibly only halfway through their morning routine when they ran out of the building. Lucy got a bit angry when they were explained that it was only an academic exercise.

"You were too slow," Natsu scolded them. "If the building had really been burning, you'd be roasting inside as we speak!"

They walked back to their room and Lucy had to bear with Loke's comments on how annoying it had been to help her put her bandage on, but he still would gladly help her out in the future. They went to the refectory soon after and found most of their friends there. Gray had pants on, but his shirt was still nowhere to be found. Gajeel was brooding, glaring at his plate, Sting was laughing loudly with Elfman. The commander pushed Loke out of his way and sat beside Lucy. Mira smirked at him and he averted his eyes, focusing on his food. In the end, Loke was forced to sit beside Erza, who was exceptionally eating with them. Needless to say, breakfast was loud as fuck with all of them reunited. At some point, Sting jumped to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process. He looked pissed off and angrily walked toward the other end of the refectory.

"Hey!" he yelled. "What the fuck do you think you're doing!?"

Everyone at Lucy's table turned around to observe him as he yelled at a group of second years. At their feet, the content of his plate scattered on the floor, Rogue was quietly gathering his things. Lucy frowned when Sting reached the group and grabbed the tallest one by the collar of his shirt.

"I saw you push him, bastard," he growled. "You did it on purpose!"

Sting was an impulsive young man and his brother was his only treasure in life, so he tended to be a bit overprotective. But he was no liar, if he said that he'd seen that guy push Rogue on purpose, then it was the truth. Thinking back on it, Lucy was pretty sure that it wasn't the first time that something like that happened. Yeah, that day when he was pushed against a locker, wasn't that guy the one that did it? Lucy stood up and she heard Gray, Gajeel and Loke do the same. She helped Rogue pick up his food and stand up while the second year pushed Sting away.

"Hands off, fucker," he growled. "Your brother fell on his own."

"On his own, my ass!" Sting retorted. "Apologize to him, son of a bitch!"

"Sting," Lucy scolded, "don't talk bad about mothers."

"Yeah, yeah, I take that back. Now, apologize to Rogue!"

The tall young man had brown hair and a common face, nothing worth describing or remembering, really. He glared at Sting and then sent a disgusted look at Rogue.

"There's no way I'm going to apologize to a fag," he groaned.

Lucy didn't even see Sting move before his fist collided violently with the second year's jaw. He fell to the floor and Sting pounced on him and punched him some more. The jerk's friends joined in and the fight would have degenerated if Natsu and Laxus hadn't been there. The commander pulled Sting back and held him back while Laxus took the second year away. Erza and Lucy took care of Rogue, who didn't dare meet anyone's eyes. Everything happened so fast it was hard to be sure who started the fight, so Lucy hoped Sting wouldn't be blamed for everything.

"Shit," Gajeel mumbled, "I had no idea Sting was this fast. I should have been more attentive, I needed to punch someone too."

Sting calmed down when the other guy was out of the refectory. He turned to face his brother and his eyes were red.

"I'm sorry, bro," he breathed.

Rogue shook his head.

"No need to be," he retorted. "You didn't need to do that."

Sting sniffed and wiped his nose, smirking.

"But now that I've done it, the message's clear: no one lays a hand on my brother!"

Natsu smacked the back of his head and the recruit winced.

"Don't look so proud of yourself," he groaned, "you're in trouble, idiot."

Sting shrugged, his fists were bleeding and his breathing still labored, as if he was still fighting inside his head. Something told Lucy it wasn't the first time Sting had to stand up for his brother, but time and anger made it nearly impossible for him to hold back now. Suddenly, Lucy wanted to punch that bastard too. Rogue never lifted his eyes and this too annoyed her.

"Um..." he hesitated, "I can go sit somewhere else if you guys aren't comfortable with it..."

Sting glared at his friends, as if daring anyone to say that they indeed had a problem with his brother's sexual orientation, and it upset Lucy. Did he really think so poorly of them? The commander slapped the back of Rogue's head this time.

"I don't want to hear such bullshit," he growled. "Raise your head and look at us in the eye when you talk, you've got nothing to be ashamed of."

Morning classes passed so slowly Lucy could barely contain herself. After what had happened during breakfast, no one wanted to sit for hours, listening to the theories of war of an old bastard that had died ages ago. Lucy was nervous and anxious, her leg kept shaking under her desk and she couldn't focus on anything for more than a minute. She kept glancing out of the windows, searching for any sign of agitation. They hadn't heard a thing about Sting yet and it was seriously annoying to be kept in the dark. It didn't help that, for some reason, Loke left the classroom before the end of the lesson. About an hour before lunch time, the door was nearly kicked open and everyone blenched as Loke entered again. His eyes were wide and his face red with the effort, he had been running all the way back to the classroom. His eyes immediately locked with Lucy's and he grinned widely.

"Come with me," he said, "it's important!"

Lucy didn't even hesitate. She ignored Bob's protests and didn't even notice the looks on Gray and Gajeel's faces as she ran out of the room. They were obviously dying to follow them, but decided to wait until lunch time to interrogate them, because they sure as hell would force the truth out of them. Loke grabbed her hand and dragged her down the corridor and the stairs, out of the building and inside the medical wing.

"What's the matter?" Lucy asked, panting a bit.

She soon understood they were running toward Erza's office.

"You'll see," Loke smiled at her over his shoulder and she saw in the way his eyes shone with joy that he had very good news for her. He almost kicked Erza's door open, but seemed to think better of it and knocked five times before entering the office. Erza was sitting at her desk, a pile of files in her hands.

"Already?" she asked when she saw them come in, smiling as well.

Loke forced Lucy in the nearest seat and his smile widened as he came to stand in front of her.

"You remember what I told you when you asked me to tell you what was wrong with me?" he asked. "When you saw me have a crisis?"

Lucy nodded. Did he even need to ask? Sure, she had noticed that he seemed to be doing better lately, but she could never forget the feeling of dread that shook her body when she saw cough blood and cry as he threw up.

"I told you then that I needed time," he went on. "Well, now's the time."

Lucy was hanging on every word as if her life was on the line, she didn't even notice that she held her breath as she waited for what was to come. Loke took a deep breath in and crouched in front of her, taking her hands in his.

"I have cancer," he told her.

Lucy's heart suddenly stopped and her throat constricted, she felt bile acid gnaw at her stomach and rise up her throat. He panicked when she started to cry and his hands shot up to wipe her tears.

"Oh no," he laughed sweetly, "no, no, no. Don't cry, Lucy, I won't die. I've been receiving an experimental treatment for a few months now, and Erza got the results today. My condition worsened lately, but it was normal. The treatment is working, Lucy. I'm in remission."

Lucy glanced at Erza and the redhead smiled fondly and nodded. The blonde's eyes went back to Loke and she cried tears of relief, flinging herself at him, arms around his shoulders. He embraced her back and felt his own tears of joy and relief run down his cheeks and moisten her friend's shirt.

"You'll be fine?" she sobbed, nose buried in his neck.

He nodded and laughed.

"Yeah," he promised, "I'll be fine."

She laughed and her hands clasped his cheeks so she could look him in the eye and kiss his forehead. After what she slapped him.

"Never hide something so serious from me again," she ordered.

He laughed and nodded.

"Alright," he agreed.

They obviously didn't go back to class after that. Loke waited until Lucy's eyes were less red before walking with her to the refectory. It was lunch time already and they still had no idea what would happen to Sting. When they got there, they saw that most of their friends were already sitting at their table. Gray and Gajeel were glaring at them.

"Back so soon?" Gray asked. "I thought you had eloped."

Loke smirked at him.

"Were you jealous?"

"Hell no..."

Lucy was surprised to see that Sting was here, eating beside Rogue as if nothing had happened. The latter looked more comfortable around them since the commander had talked to him, that morning. In the background, Lucy could hear her friends bickering, but she paid them no attention, only focusing on Rogue. He still looked a bit down and anxious, but she was starting to think that it was his normal expression. Melancholy kind of suited him.

"Hey," Loke pushed her shoulder and she looked at him with confused eyes. "Would you mind paying attention when we're talking to you?"

Oh, they were talking to her?

"Sorry," she mumbled. "What did you want?"

"Those guys asked what we did when I came to get you, but they don't believe me, so please, give your confirmation."

Lucy was about to do just that, but hesitated and arched a brow at him before turning to Gray and Gajeel.

"What did he tell you?" she asked.

She ignored Loke's outraged complaints about how she didn't trust him.

"He said you made out in a closet," Gray deadpanned.

Lucy growled in annoyance. Not even bothering to deny it. She decided to violently murder her sauteed potatoes instead, since they had been taunting her for a moment. Her friends continued to joke and laugh at each other for a moment before she heard a low-pitched voice she had almost forgotten.

"And so," the commander was staring at her with serious eyes, "what were you two doing?"

Lucy hesitated, glancing at Loke. He hadn't asked her to keep it a secret, but it was a very private matter and she figured he'd rather be the one to tell the others.

"Nothing important," she shrugged.

She saw the commander's jaw contract and she prayed it was only her imagination.

"You skipped class to do nothing important?" he went on, voice still pretty menacing.

Once again, she glanced at Loke to get some help, but the young man was still laughing dumbly with Gray and Gajeel.

"N...no," she stuttered. "It's just... it's personal."

Natsu's fist clenched around his fork and his eyes darkened considerably.

"If you say so," he growled.

Lucy looked at him as he suddenly stood up and dropped his - now twisted - fork on his plate, picked it up and walked toward the doors of the refectory. The others turned around to stare at him with curious eyes.

"What's wrong with him?" Gray asked.

Lucy shrugged and glared at Loke.

"How should I know," she growled.

Neither of the boys dared ask another question, so they simply stared at Natsu's retreating back only to see him stop when the doors opened on their own. The general was here with the lieutenant-colonel Clive. He went to stand in the center of the refectory and waved at everyone and no one in particular.

"Hello, children," he greeted. "I'm sorry to disturb you during your lunch, but I have a few questions to ask. I'll be quick, don't worry. Firstly, you all remember that we had some members of the Octagon come over yesterday? Well, one of them is apparently missing. The small, old one with weird cat ears? Anyone saw him around?"

Lucy froze and tried her very best not to look at any of her friends. None of them reacted in any way, but they obviously were dying to look at each other to find support in their friends' eyes.

"No?" Makarov asked again. "Ok, I'll tell them he's not here, then. Now, on another matter. Two recruits were involved in a fight this morning. I want to know who started it."

At Lucy's table, the only person who moved was Gajeel, who held Sting back by putting his large hand on his shoulder.

"Let me go," Sting hissed. "I'll take responsibility!"

"Shut up," the punk growled.

Makarov waited for a few more seconds before sighing.

"Children, if you don't tell me, I'll have to investigate the matter and the punishment will be worse..."

Lucy gulped. Sting had been the one to start the fight, but it was the second year that acted like a homophobic jerk in the first place. Sting didn't deserve to be punished for protecting his brother.

Makarov was about to leave when she jumped up and raised her hand.

"I did it," she said.

Every person in the room turned to stare at her. Makarov raised a brow, but Lucy was only looking at the commander's face. He looked baffled and Lucy would have laughed had her situation been less serious.

"I punched him," she added.

Sting practically jumped on the table at this.

"What the hell are you..."

"Wait," Gray interrupted. "Luc's saying it to cover me. I was the one who punched him."

Lucy glared at him when looked at her. She knew what he was doing and didn't find it amusing.

"Um..." Makarov hesitated. "Did you both punch him?"

"No," they both answered.

"Ok, I'll need you to be clearer."

Loke then decided to join in on the fun and stood up as well.

"They're lying, sir, they didn't lay a hand on him. I did."

Gajeel then raised his hand as well, not even bothering trying to hide his amused smile.

"So did I."

Lucy turned around to glance at Natsu and found him massaging the bridge of his nose, clearly not amused with this either. Well, she had to admit that it was starting to be funny with everyone playing along. Sting finally did jump on the table, pointing at himself.

"Don't listen to them, sir! They're idiots! It was me!"

Makarov growled in annoyance and glared at them.

"All of you come to my office," he ordered. "Now."

It took him a while, but Makarov ended up knowing the truth. Sting pushed the second year to protect his brother, who was being bullied because of his sexual orientation.

"You shouldn't have used violence," Makarov scolded Sting. "So you'll have to perform community service as an alternative to expulsion. But what the other student did is called harassment and we don't tolerate discrimination here. Since he physically bullied Rogue at several occasions, he'll be expelled from the academy."

He then turned to glare at Lucy and her friends.

"As for you, idiots," he growled. "What you did earlier will be interpreted by everyone as defying my authority. Be quiet, I know that's not what you intended to do, but you still did it. So, you'll have to work with Sting for a week as a punishment. That's all, you can leave. Go to class."

They obviously obeyed him, all of them aware that the punishment could have been far worse than what they got. Outside the office, the found the commander leaning on the wall, arms crossed over his chest. He still looked pissed, but he often looked like that, so Lucy didn't let it bother her.

"What did you get?" he asked.

"Community service," Gray shrugged.

The commander nodded and slowly pushed himself off the wall.

"He went easy on you."

"We know."

Natsu briefly glanced at her, then at Loke, before turning around.

"I'll see you in class, then."

And he left. Lucy watched him go, frowning in confusion. Why was he so upset?

"He's going to be a pain in the ass during class," Gajeel mumbled. "What's wrong with him?"

Gray shrugged.

"Beats me."

Afternoon classes were even more boring than morning classes. History of Ancient Weapons, for God's sake, what good would studying this do them? Lucy fell asleep during Clive's class and he threw a chalk at her head. It was his thing: throwing chalks at students who fell asleep or chatted during class.

"Next time I have to throw something at you," Clive warned, "it will be a desk."

Lucy believed him. She was almost relieved when it was time to go to her last class: combat training. Almost being the key word here. For this class was taught by Natsu and the commander seemed to be in an awful mood that day. Lucy changed in her sportswear in her bedroom and walked to the field with a small lump in her throat. When she got there, she started stretching with Gray and Gajeel, Loke wasn't ready yet. It was cold outside now that it was this late in the afternoon, but no one had thought of taking gloves. On the side of the field, Lucy saw Natsu doing pushups to warm himself up. He was fast and the muscles of his arm could be seen even through the fabric of his shirt every time he pushed himself up.

"How many do you think he did?" Loke asked when joined them.

Gray shrugged.

"Not sure. Probably around sixty."

Lucy's eyes widened. Sixty and he was still going at it? He didn't even look tired... He stopped when he saw that most of his recruits were already there and stood back up. His eyes caught hers for a second, but he immediately averted them and it started to anger her. He had been like that with her almost all day long and she had no idea why.

"Pick a partner," he ordered coldly.

Loke smiled at Lucy and shrugged.

"He's probably still angry about my joke from earlier," he said, "about the closet. We should switch partners for this time."

Lucy frowned, glanced at the commander and saw that he was indeed observing them from the corner of his eye. This was ridiculous! Who did he think he was to monitor them as if they were troublesome children? Lucy glared at him and grabbed Loke's arm.

"No way," she retorted. "We're staying together."

If Loke realized that she was doing it only to piss the commander off, he didn't comment on it and only nodded, a dumb smile on his face. The commander explained the rules, they were going to learn a new technique. He showed them the movements and told them to be careful when finishing it.

"Remember this is only training," he said, "you can easily break someone's nose with this, so be careful."

Loke played the attacker first and Lucy parried, pulled on his arm and brought her elbow to his nose, only stopping in time not to hit him. Loke laughed.

"I thought you were going to hit me," he said.

Lucy had thought so too, stopping the movement despite the impulse was harder than one would have thought. Loke didn't seem to have any difficulty with it, though. They switched roles a few times, getting better each time. But at some point, while Loke pulled Lucy toward him to threaten her with his elbow, another recruit that had been practising with his partner lost control and didn't manage to stop his impulse. He missed the nose and hit his partner's mouth hard, sending a cascade of blood out as the recruit's lips were split, his teeth broken and his tongue bitten hard. Unfortunately for Lucy, she was very close to the injured recruit when it happened and thus was splashed by the blood that stained her face and shirt.

"Shit," Loke cursed as he helped her up.

Natsu ordered Elfman and two others to help him carry the injured recruit to the infirmary.

"Everyone else stop practising this move and do something else," he said. "Something not dangerous, like stretching or something." Before leaving, he took something out of his bag and threw it at Lucy. "You go change," he said, pointing to the lockers.

Lucy stared at the shirt that was obviously too large for her. Natsu's shirt. Loke gently pushed her toward the lockers as the team escorting the injured recruit walked toward the medical wing. He accompanied her to the door, but didn't follow her inside.

"Wash the blood off and change," he told her. "I'll go back to the field to make sure none of these idiots come here to see how you're doing."

Lucy nodded and entered the lockers, making sure to close the door behind ever, even though she couldn't lock it. It was her first time in the boys' lockers, but she didn't feel nervous or anything, she was just eager to wash this blood off... She shrugged her shirt off, still feeling reassured knowing that Loke was making sure that no one would come to see her. She walked to the showers and turned the water on. Her bandage would get soaked if she kept it on, so she had to remove it. It would be a problem if the soaked bandage left dark stains on Natsu's shirt to let everyone know what she was hiding underneath it. She didn't strip naked, though, and instead bent down so the water only hit the top of her body. Her pants obviously got a bit splashed by water, but it wasn't important. She made sure to clean her hair and face off of the blood before turning the water off. She used the back of her dirty shirt to wipe her drenched hair and face before going back to the bench where she had left her bandage. She thought she heard the door creak, but when she turned around to check, it hadn't moved and was still closed. She shrugged and worked on putting on her annoying bandage. After what she shrugged the oversized shirt on and mentally slapped herself when she realized she had been sniffing it.

Unbeknownst to her, the door had indeed been opened. And the one that had seen her was walking back to the field, trying his hardest not to blush at the image of the half naked young woman that he just couldn't erase from his mind.

End of Chapter 17

Another very fast update (I'm proud of myself). Talk about an action packed chapter, this one should be pretty satisfying, but please, do tell me what you've thought of it!

I wanted to thank everyone who started following me on Tumblr (you guys will be the only ones getting reviews from now on, by the way), and obviously: thank you so much to everyone who sent reviews, favorited and followed the story. Your patience will be rewarded in the very next chapter! Things are getting serious soon, children!

Warning: there will be a steamy scene in the next chapter.

Reviews:

To harin-chan: I tried answering you, but you disabled the private messaging feature, so I can't!

Special thanks to Kauia, 4evrDorkly17 for leaving such long-ass, constructive reviews, to Fiorelies for being so enthusiastic and to sarara1.8 because your review made me laugh.

Questions/Answers:

Q (from StardragonXX): Is the HQ gonna kill Loke, or is it gonna be separate party? What did kill the cat?

A: Well, it seems that Loke will be fine, doesn't it? Or maybe, he won't, who knows? And what killed the cat was a bullet, haha!

Q (from ): so had a random thought. is Michelle actually dead or just "dead to her" like maybe she is kyoka-that would be some twist. looks like loke is going to live through his disease. and is the serial killer tied in with Lucy's past? guessing shirtless guy is it on? so many questions. I'm so excited.

A: You got the answer to your first question at the beginning of this chapter, haha. And no, the serial killer has nothing to do with Lucy's past, he's just a random, deranged psychopath, haha.

Q (from 4evrDorkly17): why all of a sudden did Gray, Erza, Loki and Gajeel simultaneously arrive? Are they all always keeping tabs on her personally or something?

A: Yeah, they're all a bunch of stalkers. Someone should report them to the police.

That'll be all for now, but you're probably almost done putting the pieces together now! I'll soon give you the last very important information and it should be easier for you to understand what really happened that night.