Chapter three
A fire's affliction.
Wow...fanfiction is not being nice to this chapter - this is third time I've re uploaded this, so I don't know what to say if you can't see it or not. But then again, you can't see this in the first place if the site continues acting up.
Two months later...
Mavis, Makarov, and most of the Mages in the guild sat from their various places around their beloved guild hall, watching what had to be one of the strangest things in their lives. And that was saying something, with three talking cats (one of which was blue) that could fly, and several people who ate things that would kill a normal person in huge quantities everyday as members.
"Third..." Makarov said from his perch on the second story railing next to the ghost of his guild's founder. "How much longer do you think we should stall before telling him where she is?"
The girl considered it for a second, a hand placed pensively on her chin as she tilted her head back to look up at the ceiling. "Hmm... I think we should do it right before he snaps, which at this rate could wither be a few hours, or a few minutes. It depends,"
Makarov was almost afraid to ask what variable the little genius was considering. "And what would it depend on?"
Mavis smirked, moving her head to look at the Giant Mage, then down at the steaming Fire Dragon Slayer that had parked himself on the bar space right in front of the huge guild doors nearly a week ago. "On how serious he is about taking Lucy as his mate within the next few years,"
Makarov sputtered, inwardly cursing himself for unknowingly (and literally) playing with fire. He doubted the girl's prediction to be wrong, but if what she said was true...he was screwed. Big time, with the damages he might have to soon fix within his guild making him want to hug his wallet out of sympathy.
Mavis giggled, watching as Makarov's soul flew out of his mouth and hovered somewhere around the ceiling. "Don't worry, Makarov. As soon as you tell him she left, he's going to rush out of the guild, and to her apartment to see if it's true. The guild is safe...for now,"
Makarov sighed in relief, soul flying back into his body and hand over his heart as he narrowly avoided a panic attack. He then straitened, turning back to the up-coming problem as an intense heat wave made him and everyone in the room start sweating. And it kept getting hotter, too. "I'll take that as my cue then, before someone has a heatstroke,"
He jumped from the railing, landing a few lengths away from the pink-haired boy, and making enough noise to draw said boy's attention away from his heated glaring contest with the doors. "Natsu, do you think you could stop the heat? Someone's going to pass out like this,"
There were several shouts of approval from around the guild, but Natsu completely ignored them, dark eyes zeroing in on the guild Master instead. Makarov dully noted that they had the look of an annoyed predator, one that had gotten fed up of waiting patiently for his quarry.
"Gramps," Natsu spoke, his voice holding the barest edges of a growl to it. "Where is she?"
Makarov pretended not to have heard him, digging a pinky into his ear as people around the guild gasped and whispered excitedly. Natsu, of all people was getting upset over a girl? This was new.
"Who?"
Natsu actually let loose a growl this time, releasing another dose of raw heat, the air around him starting to shimmer. To everyone around him, it was obvious that he wasn't in the mood for any bullshit. "Don't play coy, Gramps. Where's. Lucy?"
"Hmm..." Makarov grunted, crossing his arms as though he was deep in thought. He sat there for a moment, listening to his other children talk, all of them having just realized that absolutely no one had seen the blonde girl in a few days. "Can't say I know,"
This was the wrong thing to say, apparently, since not even five seconds afterwards Natsu's body exploded into flames, making almost everyone take one or more steps back out of instinct.
"How could you not know where she took a mission at!? You're the parent aren't you!?" The Salamander was a bit hard to understand since he was now speaking in growls, and his flames roared in everyone's ears.
"She didn't take an official mission," Mavis stated, suddenly appearing behind the current master and butting her way into the highly-consequential situation. "She took a personal one, which is why when you asked Mira about it when you got back, she didn't know,"
The effect was immediate, as the angry flames died down - taking most of the heat with it, much to the rest of the guild's relief - and Natsu was left with his skin steaming, a now very grumpy look in his eyes. "Then where did she go without telling anyone? The Akane Resort?"
Mavis blinked, then giggled, picking up on the Dragon Slayer's idea. "Nope; she said she was going training, not relaxing! And even if me or Makarov knew where she was, neither of us would say a word since forgiveness has to be earned,"
Now Natsu - and everyone in the guild listening in on the exchange - were now very confused. What was the first master going on about about forgiveness for?
It was Wendy who called them out.
"Um, Mavis-san?" The blue haired girl asked from where she stood next to Romeo and Charl, drawing all of the eyes in the guild to her. She 'eep'd, shrinking back slightly as she took over the lime-light, but quickly regained her composure. She never was very good with crowds, or public speaking for that matter. "W-what did you mean by earn Lucy's forgiveness? Did we offend her somehow?"
Mavis let a sad smile creep up on her face, the eyes of everyone once again going back to her as though following a tennis match. Neither her nor Makarov's serious expressions did anything to ease their growing tensions.
"Tell me," the girl said, sweeping her eyes across the room, and holding on the pink haired boy who was sitting on the bar with her. "When was the last time anyone had spoken to Lucy, as in an actual conversation?"
She waited, listening as her guild members thought out loud about the last time what she talked about had happened.
She watched, as a dawning look of revelation spread itself across Natsu's face, his eyes widening and his mouth parting. He was smarter than most people often gave him credit for, after all.
"It was..." Wakaba thought out loud, taking the pipe out of his mouth so he could be heard clearly. And everyone could hear the horror in his voice. "Just before Team Natsu and Lisanna left on a mission two months ago."
It was dead silent in the normally rowdy guild hall, and unless there was a sound for dozens of eyes widening in shock, the only thing that could have been head was the labored breathing of a certain salmon-haired Mage.
And then it broke, as panic set in and a flood of people all tried to exit the guild at once, shouting and cursing as everyone in the rush was punched and jostled around. It was complete madness, but before anyone could successfully leave the building, a shout loud enough to rattle the building held all but three in their tracks.
Natsu was almost moving fast enough to be considered a blur, using both tables and people's heads as means to catapult himself over the mob and out the door, Happy flying right behind him as they both hurried to tell their favorite blonde that they were sorry, neither knowing she was already several months-gone.
Grey and Erza had taken a different approach to get through the mob, Erza riding on the back of her teammate's Ice Make magic as he built a path for them above the heads of their guild. As soon as they were out the doors though, they hit the ground, already hot on the Dragon Slayer and blue Exceed's tail as their more logical minds were temporarily overshadowed with worry for their final team member.
Makarov grunted, eyeing the rest of his children as they all stared Mirajane with rapt attention as her loud shouting had demanded. He had no doubt that she was going to try and clarify matters with him for both her sake, and the others.
"If you had all been listening to Master and Mavis earlier, then you would know already that Lucy left Magnolia," Mira stated calmly, though everyone could see the tension lining her jaw. "The whole guild rushing over to her house would send the town into a panic,"
Her reasoning was at least enough to disband the mob, but the air was heavy with both unanswered questions and morbid guilt over the entire event. Especially for a petite blue haired Script Mage, who had been restrained from running into the mass of Fairy Tail Mages trying to leave at once by the strong arms of her boyfriend around her waist.
"But, Lu-chan is more important that the town!" Levy stated loudly, still trying to escape the iron grip she was in. "She's our family, and we're the only family she has left, I might add!"
"We know, shrimp," Gajeel stated, watching the girl struggle in his arms, but not planning on letting her go until she either calmed down, or burst into tears, where he would just change how he was holding her. "But none of us know where she went, and you running out there with Salamander won't bring her back anytime soon,"
"But I have to try," Levy said, her eyes swimming with tears soon to be shed. "And I might find a clue to where Lu-chan went, at the very least!"
"Levy," Makarov said, bringing the attention of the blue haired girl to him. "If Lucy wanted anyone to know where she was, she'd have told them. For now, until we hear from her again, we should leave her alone to organize her thoughts and train in peace."
She slumped in defeat, letting Gajeel lower her slacked body to the ground, a worried Jet and Droy hovering over his shoulder.
They, and the rest of the guild except for the two masters, only hoped that Team Natsu came back soon. And that they found and brought back something to tell them where their favorite blonde was, no matter what their master said.
Natsu didn't think he'd ever run so fast in his. Not during any battle, not during any competition, and not even when Igneel had vanished. He flew down the cobble stone streets of Magnolia, citizens either hurriedly moving out of his way or risking getting mowed over by him and the two others tailgating behind.
What master said couldn't be right...he had to be wrong...Natsu refused to believe that his Luce, his partner, his best friend was gone, that she would leave him without a single word.
He was going to run to her house - something he should have done long ago, when he had first gotten a heavy feeling in his stomach about Lucy's absence - go into her room, and find the blonde there, surprised at first to see him, then angry at his using her window and not the door, and then he would make her laugh at his stupid jokes and idiotic actions.
It was all just one giant prank, her leaving. And he would prove that when he dragged Lucy back to the guild and they all laughed about it.
Seeing her house not ten feet away, Natsu jumped from the ground to the open window on the second floor, not breaking stride as he touched down and waited for the 'Lucy-Kick' that could only mean his best friend was home and happy to see him.
It never came.
"She's not here, Natsu!" Happy yelled, having come in right behind his pink-haired partner and flying around the room in a quick search.
"She has to be!" He growled back, taking off towards the bathroom, then kitchen. "Check the cabinets and her closet! She's probably hiding or something."
Happy nodded, pruning on a brave face, quickly checking in the places Natsu told him to, then snapping his head around when he heard the door bang open. The Salamander quickly joined him, rushing out of his search area, hopeful expressions on their faces.
The looks dropped though, as it was just Erza and Grey coming to help them. The redhead looked around the still-semi neat apartment, noting the dust on furniture and swirling in the disturbed air, her mouth a grim line.
"You two haven't found her?" Grey asked, pushing his way past the still Erza.
Natsu bowed his head, eyes shadowed and fists clenching at his side. This was not happening. This could not happen. She was supposed to wait for him to come back, wait for him to finally make his move, and not...
An armored hand fell on his shoulder. "Let's see if we can find any clues as to where she went,"
Grey and Happy nodded, heading off in different direction. Natsu shrugged her hand off, turning towards the desk to look through the blonde's papers.
After tearing apart the residence for ten minutes, the remaining members of Team Natsu still hadn't found anything useful that would tell them where Lucy had gone. The room around them wasn't the neat, orderly albeit dusty home it had been before their arrival, different articles having been displaced and strewn about.
Grey was the first to speak, the disappointed and depressed air coiling around each individual in the room, weighing them down. "It doesn't look like she left anything for us..."
It was the wrong thing to say. Natsu, practically cloaked in the blackness each of their moods was generating, punched the closest thing - the wall, thankfully - before Grey could even blink.
"Natsu..." Happy muttered, worried. It wasn't like his friend to lash out at things for no reason, but then again, Happy wouldn't dare call the disappearance of the Celestial Mage something small. On second thought, the blue feline was surprised the fire Mage hadn't already burned something down at the mention of his lost loved one.
The four Mages stood in place, each lost to their own thoughts when the door opened again. They rushed to the sitting area in the apartment's entry way, eagerness brimming on their faces as the door opened to reveal, unfortunately not Lucy, but her land lady.
"Well, don't look so happy to see me," the old woman said, raising a brow at the suddenly downcast faces before her. "I came here because of the noise complaints next door. What are you four doing here?"
Erza, being the one usually in charge and with a more level head than either of the boys at the moment, answered for them. "We came here looking for our friend, but it would seem we missed her..."
The land lady nodded. "I'll say you did, by about two whole months! I tell you, I almost didn't give her that holding lease because of the last time. But, that's not to say she just up-and abandoned you. I have the letters she wrote right here, if you guys want them,"
As soon as she took the two envelopes from the purse at her side, presenting them with a flourish, they were snatched from her hand by an apprehensive son of Igneel.
"This one's addressed to the guild, and the other..." Natsu read the backs of both parchments, eyes widening and speech dying on his tongue. "Is for me."
The three others stiffened, then relaxed as a new plan of action arose. Erza reached out an armored hand, palm upward.
"We'll take the one letter to the guild," she explained at the pink haired boys confused expression. "You and Happy can go home if you want and read your letter there. We'll tell everyone else where you went,"
Natsu nodded, and without another word dejectedly headed out the window - Happy right behind him - much to the land lady's chagrin.
"He does realized there is a perfectly good door over there, doesn't he?"
Eza and a Grey smirked, despite themselves. "Flame-brain's always been like that I guess...especially about Lucy,"
Natsu swore to himself that if he ever found Ultear or another wizard whose magic dealt with the flow of time, he would beat the ever-loving shit outta them so they could send him back in time, just over two months, so that he could beat the ever-loving shit out of himself, for being an absolute goddamnedfool.
It had been several hours since he had returned to his bungalow in the woods, and he and Happy having read Lucy's letter a first time. And then a second time, just so that they understood they had read it correctly.
Happy had, promptly, bawled his eyes out about the whole thing, falling asleep shortly thereafter, his emotional energy spent and gone. Honestly speaking, Natsu had run out of energy the moment Wakaba told everyone when the last time anyone had spoken to Lucy was.
He should have joined Happy in dreamland ages ago, but his mind wouldn't let him, tossing and turning the letter's content around and around, each rotation making him feel more and more like scum, and like his heart was going to shatter into dozens of little shards.
Too weak for him, for the team, she said? Strength wasn't always physical, which was something his family had showed him time and time again, and Lucy was by far one of the strongest people spiritually he had ever meet. Not to mention she had more raw magic than him and Grey combined, which said something for how minimally strenuous her training usually was.
She was happy he'd found someone like Lisanna, she said? Lisanna was like a sister to him, one he had missed horribly, and one whose lost had been devastating to hear about. Going on that mission had been a great way to catch up, but during the trip all he could think about was that she wasn't Luce. He'd been brought to Lisanna and the rest of his family; he'd found Lucy, that day in Hargeon so long ago.
She loved him, she said? He could almost hear the strings holding his wounded heart together straining as hollow aches resonated behind his sternum.
Despite what a lot of the people around him might be lead to believe by his personality, Natsu wasn't stupid; he knew things, like how to count, how to tell when rain was coming, how to find a meal in the wilderness, how to fight and defeat an opponent, and most importantly, how to figure out his emotional state. While those may not have been as important to other people, the knowledge proved invaluable during the times he was on missions.
And when he was around the Celestial Mage.
Natsu knew he loved Lucy; from the moments he found her up until he convinced her be his partner he had been taking the time to see what she was like, and why he was so inexplicably drawn to her. It was only a bit later he realized that he was attracted to her, which was a bit strange to him, since he was in a guild tons of attractive females, and this was the only one he had ever liked in this way.
Thus began his quest to wait her out, to see if she would fall for him like he did for her - by doing nothing but being themselves - or if he would need to confess to her or something. Which he, just saying, would have butchered, because despite all those stories Guildarts had told him about wooing women, he would have been absolutely terrified of messing up and scaring away the only woman he'd ever really loved. He wanted to at least know she'd felt the same way, which meant he was going to have to let her confess first.
He got his confession alright, but now it had backfired.
She loved him.
He loved her.
She was gone.
He was lost.
Why was he so stupid? Why did he - how did he not notice she felt the same? Why did he not consider her more, like she had always, always done for him?Whywhywhy!?
Natsu sighed, resting a hand on his forehead, his eyes betraying the swirling state of his mind as they stared at the ceiling of his hut, his other arm dangling off the side of his hammock. His head was beginning to hurt from all these different thoughts and emotions going back and forth, forth and back.
Resigning himself to the fact that fate didn't want him to get any sleep tonight, Natsu continued staring at the ceiling, his view now partially obscured by his hand.
He knew that this was affecting him a lot worse than others at the guild, but still, he couldn't help but wonder how others close to Lucy were going through back at the guild right now, having undoubtedly mulled over their letter's content for just as long as he had.
Four hours earlier.
For the past hour, all eyes of the guild had been trained on the large wooden doors of the guild, wither openly or discreetly. In either case, they were all anticipating the return arrival of what was left of Team Natsu, clinging to the hope that they would bring something back to ease their growing worries.
So it was fairly safe to say that when Erza and Grey both returned to the eerily silent Guild Hall, they were immediately swarmed with people and questions. Upon seeing no way to calm the crowd other than to give them what they wanted, Erza held up the one letter.
"I don't know if this will tell us where Lucy has gone," the redhead stated, flipping open the envelope. "But she wrote this for us,"
Mavis and Makarov shared a look, not that anyone else would have noticed, being as entranced in Erza's reading as they were. From what both masters could tell, Lucy was keeping the stories aligned with each other as well as giving the others some of the reasons she had for leaving. And all the while never hinting at where she might have gone to.
The guild noticed that, and their faces once more took on a gloomy shadow once more.
Juvia looked around, noticing all the depression in the guild hall, and finding that no one else had caught the few words, tacked on to the end of her friend's message, that had kept the water Mage from causing a storm inside the building and causing a flood.
It had been a surprise to Juvia when her first thoughts on the blonde's absence was not that she was happy her 'love-rival' was gone. No, it was a brief flash of grief that had momentarily caused her to liquefy in place, unable to do anything as the love of her life, Erza, and Natsu had run out to do at least something. She had sat useless while her other friends been out searching.
But she had always been observant, and level headed on most things (Grey-sama did not count - he was Juvia's loving Prince Charming after all), so now it was her turn to help out the others.
"Is Juvia the only one who noticed that Lucy said she'd be coming back?" The blue haired girl said, and all eyes went from Erza to her and back to Erza again faster than most people could blink.
"Is what she said true?" Levy asked as Erza reread the letter once again.
Erza blinked at the paper, then smiled at Levy, then Juvia. "Ah, it is."
The guild muttered in appreciation for her find, but Juvia couldn't soak up the attention just yet. She wasn't done, since she spotted one thing in Erza's story about meeting Lucy's landlady that was exploitable.
"Also..." The water Mage continued, drawing everyone's attention back to her. "Juvia wants to know if Grey-sama or Erza asked how long Lucy was holding the apartment for."
"Why would that matter?" Romeo asked from where he stood next to Wendy, both still to young to understand all the ways of keeping an apartment.
"Becuase it would tell us exactly when Lucy plans to come back!" Levy said, hopeful tears in her eyes. "I know where her landlady is, so I'll go ask!"
"Oi, shrimp! Wait up!" Gajeel called after her, speeding out the door with Lily on his shoulder.
"That was a good catch," Grey said, walking up to her and, holy crap, the proud look in his eyes as he made eye contact with her nearly had the water mage's heart explode. His next word cemented the blush on her face, though. "Juvia,"
Juvia, being as love crazed about the Ice Mage as she was, immediately went into overdrive producing romantic thoughts about the both of them together. As normal as that was for her though, the sheer magnitude of the fact that Grey-sama had just praised her, her brain couldn't handle and she passed out, eyes swirling and a steaming red blush on her cheeks.
"Oi, are you ok?" Grey shouted, catching the blue haired girl before she could hit the ground. The only response he heard was a muffled 'Grey-sama'.
The guild smirked at the scene, Mirajane especially. Maybe Lucy leaving, as sad as it was, would be as drastic of a push needed to get the densest males in the guild to notice that they had girls vying for their affection.
Mavis giggled, noticing how just one person had given the whole guild a new perspective on the situation, and that that one person had been the one to expose the footholds needed to find the blonde wizard faster. She couldn't mark it as a coincidence, that was for certain.
Besides Juvia regaining consciousness and glomping her Prince Charming, nothing much happened during the ten minutes it took for the Iron Dragon Slayer and the Solid Script Mage to return, and nobody took their eyes off the door, either. Patience was not usually the first thing that came to mind when describing Fairy Tail, after all.
At least this time, the welcomed pair wasn't mobbed upon crossing the threshold.
"How did it go?" Erza asked, voicing the question everyone wanted to hear the answer to.
Levy sighed, rubbing the back of her arms. Gajeel put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "She said that the hold would either end on the day after the next Daimatou Enbu, or if there was news recieved otherwise,"
"Why would that date be so important?" Charl asked, hovering over the small blue haired girl.
Levy shook her head, eyes landing on the floor and not rising further as Gajeel gently led her to a booth where she could sit down.
"Well that didn't do much," Cana said, swirling around the whiskey she's ordered but not drinking a drop.
"Maybe, but it gives us a deadline to hopefully find Lucy before," Erza said, crossing her arms.
"About that," Makarov started, moving to stand on the bar so all in the hall could see and hear him clearly. While Lucy seemed to be all for the idea of her friends finding her as soon as possible, neither master was convinced it was a good idea for her training to be interrupted. "I hereby declare that no one is to leave in the singular purpose of looking for Lucy,"
A beat of silence.
"What!?" Erza shouted, slamming her hands on the bar. She was not the only one in disbelief; around the room the only expression that could be seen was varying degrees of incredulity. Levy looked completely heartbroken, with Gajeel starting to fret over her emotional state.
"No one here is to walk out the door with the singular purpose of finding Lucy," Makarov repeated, not even flinching. "The punishment for breaking this rule is that,"
"That is an unreasonable request, Master!" Mira argued, coming up to the old man from behind the bar counter as most of the guild members shuddered at the threatened punishment. "And how, I might ask, would you even dream exercise this rule on Natsu? Every other time this sort of thing has happened, he ignored you anyway, and I find it hard to believe that that would even stop him,"
"He is the only exception to the rule," Mavis said, defending the third once again from his angry children. "And the only reason to this is because we wouldn't dare getting between a dragon and his mate,"
Gajeel's sputtering and Wendy's stammering drew the attention of the confused guild from their master and to the two people who seemed to know what this 'mate' business was about.
"Gajeel? Care to enlighten us?" Macao asked, thinking something along the lines of the older Dragon Slayer knowing more about such an...intimate sounding title.
The Iron Mage looked around the crowd, then down at his girlfriend. Upon meeting her eyes, he flushed slightly in cheeks and averted his eyes up to the ceiling rafters. "It's, ah...Metalicana only really said stuff about it in passing, but..."
"'But' what?" Levy inquired, leaning in closer to the evermore uncomfortable Dragon Slayer.
"But I never thought that Salamander would have brain or balls to essentially plan to have bunny girl marry him," Gajeel spat out, feeling the heat creep further across his face.
"He is!?" Mirajane shouted, hands flying to her cheeks and stars in her eyes. There was hope yet for all of her coupling plans!
"T-there's-s m-more to it t-than-n-n that-t," Wendy stammered, coming up behind her Dragon Slaying kin. "G-Grandeeny ex-explained i-it to me m-more,"
"Ok, so can you explain it then?" Macao asked, looking down at the little Sky Dragon Slayer.
Wendy gulped, but somehow found the force to not stutter much during her explanation. "It's, ah, essentially like getting married but, um, the two partners are soulmates. The first step to even being mates is finding each other, which, um, Natsu-san did when he went to Hargeon. Then there's the bonding stage, where both parties get to know each other better before going through with the, um, ritual,"
"What ritual?" Mira breathed, excited to find out more about what this could entail. This way, if either of the girls dating (or soon to be dating) Dragon Slayers held out on her, she could be one step ahead of them. Those little gossip-details would be hers...
Wendy scowled slightly in confusion, then shook her head. "I don't know, exactly. But Grandeeny gave me a book to read about the details for when I was older,"
Gajeel snorted. "Well, it's a good thing you're in the same guild as flame-brain, since I doubt he ever let Igneel teach him anything but fighting,"
"That's true," Lisanna said thoughtfully from next to her older sister. Despite having had a childhood crush on Natsu when they were younger, she was happy he had chosen someone like Lucy to be with. "I remember that Natsu couldn't read when he first got here,"
The Iron Mage let out a harsh bark of laughter, nearly falling out his seat at this piece of info. "That's rich!"
"While this is nice and all," Cana said dryly, putting down her untouched whiskey and twisting to face the room. "Why won't the master even try and enforce the rule on Natsu?"
"Please," Grey said, shirt off and Juvia behind him with hearts in her eyes. "Flame-breath has always acted irrationally and aggressively wherever Lucy was MIA. And if Gramps and Natsu fought full out, Magnolia would go up in smoke,"
Erza crossed her arms, a thoughtful look on her face. "That's true..."
"And let me mention that he'll probably be moody, depending on what bunny girl wrote to him in that other letter you mentioned," Gajeel said, resting his chin in the palm of his hand, his other arm resting comfortingly across his girlfriend's shoulders.
Mavis hummed in agreement. "That's why the third and I are going to give him the space to do what he wants. By my calculations, he's not going to get much sleep tonight, meaning he might be at the guild by noon tomorrow,"
Lisanna's eyebrows furrowed. "'Might'?"
Mavis shrugged. "He might come to the guild, or he might immediately start his search for Lucy,"
"I hope Natsu-nii comes tomorrow," Romeo said, twisting his head to look at the giant guild doors. "He needs to know what we found out about Lucy-nee coming coming home after the next Grand Magic Games,"
And here is the chapter where we introduce Natsu's character so far. I'll tell you now, this is probably the only scenes of Gale and Gruvia we'll see until Lucy gets back, but not the last of Natsu.
He appears twice in a later chapter, I think.
And, uh, I don't have writer's block, for the person who asked. But chapters are going to get further apart since school started for me again (like three days ago). But I have the next few chappies already planned out, so there shouldn't be a major lag in updates until I reach the end of my notes.
And I'll say this - I hate autocorrect. When I went back to look at how the earlier chapters turned out, I felt like face palming when I saw those glaring spellcheck errors. So if you saw any in this, please, just ignore them, okay?