Chapter edited 8/26/18.

Freed, no matter how hard he told himself otherwise, just couldn't find anything satisfying about shredding the trees outside his house through the window.

Technically, he could be outside exerting his magical power, but thus far he'd seen nothing from Lucy that hinted she would actually be okay braving the outdoors right now. Since returning from Crocus she'd spent most of her time in his house avoiding the windows, and pretty much everything else.

Ever since the stint this morning with Laxus she'd secluded herself to the spare room, dragging with her probably too many books to read, but he wasn't going to argue. Instead he was leaning out his second story window using his sword to blow up random objects in the neighborhood.

He should really be using the training grounds or the woods for this.

Glancing back into his room he sighed, finding no satisfaction in the experience. He'd already tried another means of distraction, and several coats now lay strewn around his room in an effort to find something to replace his red jacket that was still seeped in blood. Even magic was having a hard time returning the coat to its former glory.

It was terribly disappointing, but he didn't want Lucy to know that. She already felt bad about everything that was going on, he didn't want to add anything else to the list.

It's not like anyone can get inside without you noticing. Just go train for a little, you will feel much better. Lucy's just fine here.

Yet Freed couldn't make himself leave the house. He knew she was safe, and logically his magic reinforced the point, but he doubted she would believe it. She was timid, and for whatever reason she was absolutely terrified of this Midnight guy and whoever these other people were. She'd let that little detail slip earlier, and he wouldn't soon forget it.

But he wasn't sure how to get her to say anything else. She was too timid.

"What are you doing?"

Freed paused trying to make things blow up. Glancing over his shoulder he found Lucy, standing uncertainly in the doorway. He hadn't noticed her coming to his doorway, and he hoped she hadn't just been standing there for too long.

Sheathing his sword, he cast her a smile. "Just doing a bit of magic. Are you feeling better?"

She hesitated a moment before nodding, rocking back and forth on her feet. Her eyes danced around the room from the coats he'd cast aside to the open window. "Am I keeping you inside?"

Surprised, he took a moment to respond. He didn't think she'd be so perceptive, but then he wasn't giving the girl enough credit. She was known to be brilliant. Without wasting a second he reached out and shut the window, latching it closed. "You're not keeping me inside, I'm choosing to stay in here with you."

"But… if I wasn't here you'd be outside training, right?"

"You could say that."

Lucy bit her lip, hands clamping down on the hem of her shirt. She looked away briefly, staring at the collection of jackets before speaking again. "You… you could go outside."

"I don't think that's a great idea," Freed said seriously, already dismissing the thought. "You spent an entire week alone. I'm not going to leave you by yourself now. It's not hurting me to stay inside."

"But you don't want to!" she argued quickly, eyes widening. "I can tell you are agitated. I'm sure going outside will make you feel better."

"Lucy, I won't leave you alone."

She frowned, looking out the window again. It really was a lovely day, and he didn't live in the center of town where a lot of people would be roaming. They shouldn't see anyone even if they went outside. She clasped her hands together, taking a shuddering breath before speaking again. "We could go outside… together."

Freed paused, staring at the girl like she had two heads. "You want to go outside."

"…yes."

"Where we might run into people."

"I… yes."

Unconvinced, Freed crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Someone may want to talk to you. Laxus wanted to talk to you and you panicked."

She swallowed, eyes dropping again. "Well I-I don't want to be scared of everyone forever, and if no one should be coming this direction then… then I think the outside air would be nice."

Sighing, he debated if she was being truthful or just trying to do something that would benefit him. He'd love to go outside and really stretch, but at the expense of her sanity he just couldn't do it.

"Lucy-"

"You want me to try and get better," she interrupted quickly, gripping her hands together tighter. "And everyone else wants me to try too. You don't have to tell me they are, I know Fairy Tail. At least let me try going outside with you. I'm sure… I'm sure Midnight wouldn't attack during the day unless he had to. It's not really his element."

Freed arched an eyebrow, wondering if the same thing went for the other people she failed to mention. Instead he pushed the question down, deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was gaining confidence because she now had things of her own to cover her body, or she simply wanted to push herself.

He could always drag her back inside if things suddenly went south.

"Alright, we'll go outside but I plan to train. I don't know what you plan on doing."

She smiled, just the ghost of a smile but enough for him to notice. "I don't have my keys or my whip… I don't think I'm ready to train yet. But I love to read outside."

Freed smiled, stepping towards the bedroom door. "Alright, outside it is."

Lucy felt okay sitting on Freed's porch reading. She wasn't getting a lot of reading done, constantly getting distracted by either her mindset or by Freed's impressive display of power.

She thought he wanted to come outside and go through a series of relaxed training exercises. She didn't expect that he'd be using such large amounts of power so close to his home.

"Dark Ecriture Wings," Freed said, casting the spell on himself to give flight. He shot up, and Lucy watched as he flew around the area, now destroying things as he was airborne.

She couldn't help but smile. Rarely did she get to see members of the guild in combat and have the luxury to sit back and watch their abilities leisurely. He was deft, agile, and much more violent than she assumed he'd be for an afternoon workout.

Everyone's more violent than they seem to be.

Lucy flinched, reaching up to grasp her head. She couldn't think like that. Not everyone was out to get her, and everyone certainly wasn't looking for a viable chance to kill her. She just had unreasonable odds when it came to finding herself in dangerous situations.

That might be a bit of an understatement.

Glancing down to her book, she tried to focus on that instead. She didn't want to get sucked back into her thoughts, not when she'd gotten up the courage to go outside with Freed. She'd been reveling in being safely tucked indoors since her visit to the guild, but if she ever planned to go find her keys and save her spirits then she had to get over this. He wouldn't just attack her out of the blue during the day unless he brought reinforcements, so she should be okay sitting outside.

At least, that's what she was convincing herself of.

Thinking back, she wasn't even sure there would be reinforcements anymore. There was a fallout the day Freed found her, some shouting she'd heard but hadn't seen. They weren't all on the greatest terms, so she really wouldn't be surprised if they all double-crossed one another.

"Lucy!"

She almost jumped out of her skin, throwing the book away from her as she jumped but shaking, holding up her arms. She wouldn't go back without a fight, and she'd be damned if she got taken down so easy. The door to Freed's house was close by, she could run that way –

"Lucy?"

Jerking her head around, she let out a breath. Freed had landed a few feet away, but he wasn't being defensive. Actually, he'd sheathed his sword.

Erza. Gray and Erza. They were approaching from the other side of the house, Erza's voice carrying in the wind. The pair slowed as they noticed the panic in her eyes, exchanging a glance. Lucy took a breath, feeling ashamed. There was no reason to be afraid of her friends.

The pair stopped not too far from her, watching the panic in her eyes carefully. Apparently her defensive stance was enough to make them pause, and she could practically feel the worry coming off of them.

It was the first time she'd gone outside, and she couldn't even handle it when her friends showed up. How pathetic.

"Hello Erza, Gray," Freed said, breaking the silence. She relaxed a little as she studied her friends, Freed coming up beside her to gently pat her arm. Dropping the stance she moved backward until her back hit the the chair she'd been sitting in, letting her legs collapse back into the seat.

Their eyes, it said it all. Pity. Concern. All the things she was trying to avoid were right there in front of her eyes, staring her in the face as her friends took her in.

Still, she couldn't disappoint them. They already looked so sad to see her in the fragile state, she had to make an effort to at least show them she was trying to help herself out.

So she went with the easiest thing to say, hating the way her voice squeaked. "Hi."

Erza smiled first, even if the action looked a little forced. "Hi Lucy, it's wonderful to see you outside."

She nodded, tightening her hands into fists. She felt tense, but there was no reason to be. They were probably just coming over to see Freed and ask how she was doing. She knew they'd come and spoken to him once before, so she assumed that was their plan again.

Looking around, she forced out the next question. "Where is Natsu?"

The pair exchanged a look, Gray reaching back to scratch his head. "Well, they've set up a search party at the guild to see if we can find who attacked you. Natsu took off to Crocus last night to partake. We already went that way once, but he said he sensed something and headed off again. Idiot almost forgot Happy."

Lucy felt a smile tugging at her lips. "That sounds like Natsu."

Her response got her teammates smiling, and she felt a little better. Maybe Natsu was being rash (and doing exactly what she didn't want) but his intentions were in the right place. She could feel her anxiety building up, but tried to keep it at bay.

She didn't want her friends to think she was too weak. Showing the fear she felt inside would worry them, and she hated that. Natsu, despite her lingering fears, was pretty damn unbeatable. It would probably take Midnight and reinforcements to take him down, power ritual be damned.

Internally, she cringed. She didn't want to be thinking about the awful things they wanted to use her spirits for...

"What made you come out?" Gray asked, glancing between the pair. Sometime between when Lucy replied and when she got distracted with her thoughts he'd somehow lost his shirt.

Freed didn't seem to notice her wayward thoughts, even if he was usually pretty perceptive with her. "I wanted to come outside to train, but I didn't want to leave Lucy all by herself. She decided getting some fresh air and reading might be nice."

"That's wonderful," Erza agreed, smiling. "I'm glad we got to see you. Everyone will be happy to hear you're doing a little better."

Lucy nodded, not missing Erza's word choice. Her friends could tell she was still off, too timid and hesitant to be considered herself. At least they weren't asking her how she was doing. That would open a whole other world of problems.

"We were actually hoping to talk to you," Gray continued, turning away. It took the blonde a moment to realize he was looking around for his missing shirt. "We wanted to talk to you… about Midnight."

She flinched, immediately feeling the air around them drop several degrees. Whatever inviting atmosphere they had amongst the four was evaporated almost instantly, replaced by tension.

Freed shifted beside her, and she was kind of interested to see what he would do. There was no reason to get defensive towards her friends, but he knew from trying himself that Lucy wasn't interested in talking about the other people involved just yet. Her friends hadn't spent a lot of time with her since her return, so they didn't know this little tidbit.

She'd really hoped it would just never come up.

"We know you don't want to talk about what happened," Erza said, sharing an uneasy look with the ice wizard. "But we all have history with Midnight. We just want to know who else we should be looking for or who we might be able to question."

Lucy didn't miss her choice of words, hands clamping down on the arms of the chair. Great, either Freed told them about his sneaking suspicions or they put two and two together and figured he wasn't working alone. She gulped, fearing their questions now.

"We've already ruled out Cobra," Gray added, looking away as he continued the search. "And Richard. But we can't pinpoint Racer or Angel right now, and Klodoa really didn't seem like much of a threat."

Lucy remained silent, tense, unwilling to argue or agree with anything.

Erza nodded into the silence, seeming to take the quiet as a sign. "We didn't know if we'd be able to speak to you in person or not. Last time we spoke to Freed and he ensured us he would relay the message we left. If you didn't want to talk to us today, we were just going to request Freed to ask you these questions instead."

"And you don't have to answer right now," Gray interjected. "We know acknowledging and discussing what happened is a big ordeal. Just… think about what we've asked. We are trying to track down Cobra to ask him some questions, maybe find out who Midnight likes to hang out with these days."

Lucy jerked her head in reply, her movements having gone stiff. From the corner of her eye she could see Freed watching her, as he always was the past three days since finding her.

"I'm sure Lucy will think over the names you listed, but it's been a rough day on her," he interjected, saving her from replying. Perspective as always, he knew her limits from experience interrogating her. She didn't ease up when Gray and Erza finally relented their questions, smiling at her and explaining again how happy they were to see her outdoors.

Then Erza moved to hug the blonde, and she nearly fainted from fright, actually falling off the chair to curl in on herself in fright.

Erza froze, looking down at the cuddled blob her friend had become. She was curled in on herself, like that would somehow save her from affection.

It was heartbreaking to watch.

At a loss for words, Erza dropped her hands and looked towards Freed, like he had some sort of explanation. The green haired man looked just as stunned before dropping down onto the porch beside her, reaching out to cautiously touch her shoulder before he spoke.

"Lucy… Lucy, come back to me."

He was distracted talking to the girl, trying to bring her back out of her haze. She was shaking, hands gripped tight over her temples as she faced the ground, quietly muttering to herself.

Freed, distressed, turned and glared up at the pair who'd pushed her too far. "Go!"

Thankfully, her friends didn't argue. He turned too quickly to see their reactions, focusing back on the girl, realizing she was now breathing heavily.

He'd actually thought things were going well. And they were until they pushed their boundaries and Lucy flipped out.

Quieting the irritation circling around in his head, he focused solely on the girl who'd so quickly dissolved into a mess. He tried to not come at her too quickly, but Erza's harmless action was a little too much for her to handle.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he realized he'd have to be more careful when she pushed to do more. She couldn't dissolve into a heap on the ground whenever she got too frightened of those around her.

"Lucy-"

"I-I couldn't do it!" she cried, surprising him. Half the time he'd found the battle to be getting her to talk after panicking. "I couldn't talk to my own friends. I... I couldn't even hug Erza."

Freed sighed, disheartened that she was so broken up over her own abilities. Erza and Gray didn't look hurt when they bolted, they had the same amount of understanding as everyone else in the guild about the boundaries that couldn't be crossed with Lucy right now. Even if they didn't like it, they wouldn't be upset at her for being terrified. He wanted to yell at Erza for taking that extra step, but how could he fault her when all she was trying to do was comfort her friend?

"They understand," he replied softly, stroking her shoulder. Anything to get the shakes to relent. He didn't want to carry her into the house. If she could pick herself up and do it, it would be a step in the right direction as far as her self-confidence went. It may have only been three days, but he didn't want her to be codependent on him.

No one should be. He couldn't support someone like that, even if he wanted to. Besides, Lucy was better than that. She could stand up on her own two feet and face any opponent anytime, she just needed to be reminded of her own abilities. Treating her like glass was an insult to her capabilities.

"But-but I-"

"Stop feeling bad," he interrupted, standing again. "Come on, get up with me. We'll go back inside. I've gotten more than enough training in for today."

Lucy hiccupped, finally lifting her head up off the ground. There was an imprint of the stone from Freed's deck on her cheek, and her eyes were already red from crying. Freed felt his heart tense, wondering how she would rise up from where she was right now if she continued feeling so awful when she couldn't handle something.

Three days. They were pushing a lot for her to get better. It wasn't enough time.

"Come on," he said gently, helping her stand. It wouldn't be the worst thing to help her, she wouldn't be codependent on him just yet. She didn't buckle and fall over again when she stood upright which was a good sign, but she also didn't pull away from him as they walked back into the house, her body hugged against his side like she was afraid to separate.

He looked around as they walked, trying to not alert Lucy that he was doing so. He wasn't bothered by her response, but he knew the barrier around his home didn't block them from outside viewers. They could still be seen outside the building's walls. If this Midnight guy – or whoever all those other people were – was watching, he wasn't sure what they would gauge from this picture.

It didn't matter. He had no intention of letting her leave his house for a while. Not until she could handle it.

"Freed, open the door."

He tensed, wondering if telling his team to not so kindly fuck off would work with him or against him. So far they'd left without much complaint, but they wouldn't be brushed off so easily every time. The Thunder Legion was known for their overwhelming attitudes.

Glancing at Lucy, he noticed she was still asleep on the couch. After this afternoon he didn't know if she would react very well to having people in the house, even if they were fellow guild members. At least his team was less likely to try and hug her.

"Yo, we want to see cosplayer too!"

"And if you don't hurry up and open the door Laxus is gonna blow it down," Evergreen yelled again, as though it would somehow convince Freed to open up.

Freed groaned. Laxus might not be able to breach the enchantment, but he would successfully weaken the barrier and destroy a lot of his hard work. He didn't want to go through the grueling steps of replacing it again. And he really didn't like the idea of dents in his door.

Besides, it's not like they would just go away.

"Laxus, don't blow my door off," Freed replied, opening the frame. Evergreen smirked, looking at her friend over the rim of her glasses.

"I told them that would work."

"I would've actually blown the door off," Laxus agreed, raising an eyebrow. "So how's bl- Lucy. How's Lucy?"

Freed smiled slightly, grateful his friend hadn't forgotten the incident he caused this morning. "She's asleep right now."

"Tough afternoon?" Ever asked knowingly, trying to see around Freed's shoulders. "Erza and Gray told everyone how well things went when they came by this afternoon."

"Titania almost blew the whole guild up wailing about it," Bickslow agreed, grinning. "I think she made a promise to herself not to frighten her so much next time."

"That does sound like Erza," he replied, nodding.

Laxus huffed, glancing away from the trio. It was evening now, the sun nearly gone in the distance. "So can we come in or is she gonna wig out again?"

Freed tensed, glancing over his shoulder. He could see Lucy on the couch, still completely passed out. He hadn't noticed if she had any nightmares yet, but given the nature of the others he figured it would be pretty obvious.

"Well she looks decent," Bickslow continued, startling him. Whipping around he noted that Bickslow's babies had come into the home, and were circling around just above his head. They were moving slowly again, and Freed had no doubt her soul was in the same place it was yesterday. "On the outside anyway. She's still going through an internal hell."

"Pain," the babies hummed quietly, the lights within dimmer than usual, "pain."

He looked at Lucy again, debating. He wanted to talk with his friends about his suspicions, but he didn't want to scare her. He also had a sneaking suspicion that if she learned he kept turning them away for her sake she'd be upset. Before he could lose his resolve he swung the door fully open, keeping his eyes on the blonde.

"Kitchen, now. We have to be quiet. If she can actually sleep it's a good thing."

The trio abided for once, making their way to the kitchen without the usual ruckus. Ever and Bicks walked slower to the kitchen than he preferred, studying the girl as they passed. He knew they were looking for some sort of external sign that she was suffering, but unless Lucy was in the middle of a panic episode she looked physically fine. They wouldn't be able to see the changes unless she was awake and they got to talk to her.

Laxus however stopped just inside the doorway, staring at the girl he'd accidently terrified that morning. He tilted his head to the side as he watched her sleep, the stoic expression on his face breaking apart a little bit.

Freed shut the door, coming to stand beside his longtime friend. "Laxus?"

"Do you think she'll scream if she sees me here?"

Surprised, the three stilled and focused on their leader. There were few moments in life where Laxus ever seemed regretful of anything. Apparently scaring the life out of Lucy was one of them.

"If you don't call her blondie I don't think she'll mind you being here," Freed said, keeping his voice low so she couldn't possibly hear the term, even in sleep. "She was hesitant this morning, but she didn't get upset until that happened."

Laxus scoffed, turning to stock into the kitchen. The half wall would let Freed keep an eye on Lucy as they talked if he sat in the right chair, but they were far enough away hopefully she'd continue to sleep.

"I did a little research on who else this Midnight person is affiliated with," Evergreen said, pulling out a pad of paper the moment they sat down. Freed didn't even bother asking where she'd been hiding that. "Levy helped too. We've actually encountered some of them before. The neo-Oracion Seis?"

The name clicked in Freed's mind. He'd recalled the name before, but he'd never been able to place what Midnight looked like within the group. He didn't however have any problems remembering the fight he had with a certain mage. "Ah, yes. That's why the name Angel seemed so familiar."

"Yeah well we aren't doing a recap," Evergreen snapped, flipping through the pages. "She may not even be a problem. There's a chance she's no longer connected to Midnight – or Brain the second, or whatever you want to call this moron. Sounds like he's gone back to Midnight though, at least from what Lucy's said."

"Right."

"And Natsu may or may not be in Crocus trying to find Cobra – or Erik, depending on who you ask. I guess he was released from the prison there and is walking around who the hell knows where. I think Natsu's just gonna go sniff around that house again until he can find something, but maybe he'll have enough sense about him to look for Cobra too. He's the most reasonable member of the original Seis."

"Alright," Freed agreed. After talking with Natsu and seeing how somber he'd become in the wake of Lucy's torture, he had a bit more faith that the pinkette may be able to find this Cobra guy and get some information from him. "But how does any of this help us right now?"

Ever scowled, slamming the notebook shut. "Well, I was hoping maybe Lucy said something to you about all of these names! I know Erza and Gray tried the same thing. She's said nothing."

"It's hard to get her to talk to begin with," Freed argued. "I'm not going to push her, not right now."

"They also reached out to Yukino from Sabertooth," Bickslow intervened, looking between the pair. Freed realized he had removed his mask, but couldn't recall when that happened. "We want to ensure she wasn't attacked as well, and warn her if that's the case. Who knows, maybe she has an idea why a mage tried to steal her keys."

"Mages," Freed corrected, his eyebrows drawing together. "I know everyone is looking for these people to see if they know something about Midnight, but Lucy made it sound like more than one person wanted her keys. She kind of let it slip earlier."

"Doesn't everyone want those damn keys for something?" Laxus grumbled, glancing back towards the living room. "Did she mention why?"

Shrugging, Freed replied, "Something about getting their happy ending. I don't know what she was talking about."

Bickslow made a face, the expression mirrored by his babies as they titled to odd angles, looking confused as well. "Keys are going to make them happy?"

"I don't know, it's what Lucy said. When she heard these things when she was probably half delirious with pain. I wouldn't be surprised if she misheard, or missed something important. She was just trying to stay alive."

"Well, she did get that part right," Evergreen agreed, leaning on her hand. "I don't get it. There's no good angle. Why take keys? He also had a very pretty girl under his control. I feel like the options for what could've happened aren't as bad as they could be."

Freed tensed, thinking back to what Lucy told him. It was his favorite endearment. He didn't feel better about that even after training this morning, and he figured he probably wouldn't until this bastard – or these bastards, depending – were caught. Still, he tried to take Lucy's word for it. She said she wasn't assaulted, so he believed her, even if it was a little hard to comprehend. He was grateful, but he still had lingering doubts at times.

"That's one way to think about it," Laxus agreed, tilting his head. He narrowed his eyes, at the same time Bickslow's babies suddenly stood at attention and the man himself straightened up. "B – Lucy's breathing changed."

Freed's eyes flashed. Nightmare.

Standing from the table he made his way over to her, gesturing for his friends to remain put. If she woke up before she started crying or screaming it wouldn't worry the rest of his team so much, and it would save Lucy some embarrassment later. He'd rather keep her from reliving the awful experience in her dreams anyway.

Just like before, he crouched down beside her and gently shushed her. This time was a little different than the others though. Since Laxus and Bickslow picked up on her mood change early enough, it seemed like the beginning of a nightmare and not the end. If she came out of it early she might feel better.

He shook her gently, just in case he frightened her. Surprising enough her eyes snapped open almost immediately, her breath catching in her throat. He really thought it would be another battle to try and get her to wake again, but this time she didn't fight it.

It only seemed to take a moment for her to realize where she was, the tension in her shoulders slipping away. She still bolted upright, her breathing evening out as she looked around the room.

"Lucy," he said gently, watching her eyes zero in on the trio still sitting at his table. From her position she should really only be able to see Laxus, but of course his nosy friends had all jumped up and were crowded around the edge of the table to stare at her.

Subtle.

Immediately her eyes focused on him again, a question dancing behind her iris's. Instead of letting her mind ran ramrod he intervened, hoping she wouldn't freak out on him. He decided to ignore the fact that he just woke her from a nightmare. "They just came by to see us, they won't stay long. I'm sorry if we woke you."

She paused, remaining silent. He could tell she was debating with herself, either to trust him or panic he wasn't sure. Either way, if she managed to not freak out and he could get her back upstairs to the guest room she liked to lock herself into, he thought she'd be okay.

Instead of replying she stood, wobbling just a little. Freed fell back, sitting on the table as he watched. He wasn't really sure what he expected, but he hoped it didn't involve more crying.

Then she did something he wasn't prepared for. After rocking back and forth on her heels a few times she cleared her throat, glancing towards the curious group and looking away twice before she managed to say anything. "Hello."

Well, Freed couldn't argue with that. Talking was much better than panicking.

Laxus recovered first, probably because he saw her yesterday. In a very Laxus way, he tilted his head and asked a question, "So I take it you aren't afraid of me anymore?"

Lucy smiled, and Freed just about fell off the table. Maybe she felt comfortable because there was enough distance between herself and the others, but this was going a little better than her conversation with her own friends that morning. Maybe she just needed the practice.

"No… I'm not afraid of you. I'm sorry about before."

Laxus scowled, looking away again. "Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything."

She didn't reply, nodding silently instead as her eyes danced over the other two members of his team who waved in return. For once they had enough sense about them to not blurt out the first thing that came to mind. After a moment she looked back to Freed, her eyes silently pleading with him.

Well, at least he could read her now.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," Freed said, nodding to his friends. Lucy took his hand instead of letting him lead her away, something she hadn't done before. Her fingers gripped him like a vise, the broken nails digging into the skin of his hand, but he didn't complain as he led her upstairs.

"You did good," he encouraged, shooting her a smile as they walked. "I wasn't sure how you would react with them here."

She wet her lips before replying. "They are your friends. I trust them… like I trust you."

Freed paused when they reached the second floor. She really didn't tell him a lot, so to have her say she actually trusted him – and not just him, but those he chose to associate with – was a surprise in itself. Smiling he led her the rest of the way to the room at the end of the hall, pushing the door open.

"I'm glad you trust me, and my friends. And you should trust yours as well."

She nodded, slipping past him into the room. "I do, it's just hard... right now."

"I know, but no one wants to hurt you, remember that. Everyone just wants to help you and see you get better."

"Yes," she replied quietly, staring the other way.

He hesitated, wondering if she would listen to anything else he said. "Just remember, you can tell me anything. When you're ready, the more we have to work with, the sooner we can stop these guys and get your keys back."

Lucy nodded, keeping her gaze away from him. Deciding he should leave her with her thoughts he turned to go, stopping when she caught his hand again.

Looking back she wasn't actually focused on him, her eyes trained out the window. For a moment he wasn't sure what she wanted, wondering if she just didn't want to be alone.

"Thanks Freed… for everything."

"I haven't done anything different today," he reminded, frowning.

"Oh um… I know. But thank you anyway, for not pushing me."

He smiled, squeezing her hand tightly. "You'll tell me in your own time. Get some rest Lucy."

She nodded again, dropping his hand almost immediately, taking a step back to clasp her hands together. He could feel her peeking out the door as he walked away, eyes following him down the hallway.

He knew she'd tell him, he just wished it'd happen a little bit faster.

A/n: Yup, I suck with my updates, I know. Hopefully this one was okay and I'm going to try to be back sooner this next time… two months is a little excessive. Let me know what you thought!