Quietly and quickly as she could, Lucy made her way to the woman's bathroom at the end of Green Hall Two. For the thousandth time, she found herself questioning as to why the school was set up by colour! It was such an odd thing to do, but every year, the hallways received a new fresh coat of paint. Each hall branched off from the main office, dead centre in the middle of the school. It was a giant block, four halls on each side, the principles offices, guidance counsellors, nurse and secretaries offices all lay in the main square of the building. With her back to the school doors, there was Blue Hall One and Blue Hall Two, Red Hall One, Red Hall Two, on her left. To Lucy's right, Green Hall One and Green Hall two, beside that Yellow Hall One, Yellow Hall Two. The number one halls were reserved for grades kindergarten to grades eight, the number two halls, grades nine to grades twelve.

When Lucy first arrived at this school, it took her awhile to get to know the hallways, the schedule was written by colour, teachers' name, class name then the room number. Such an odd and screwed up system, she'd first thought, but once you got used to it, it actually made sense.

Blue Halls was where the gym, swimming pool, indoor tennis court, basketball, soccer – pretty much all the sports in the school were. It was the place where the jocks and 'cool kids' hung out. Once a very pretty blue, seconds after the paint dries, it's stained with mud and sweat, old jerseys lie on the floor as the coach hollers to the team to pick them up – ending up just doing it himself with an exasperated huff. The whole hall smelled of old sweat and socks curled into balls and rammed into gym lockers left to sit for ages. Within view of the opening, the trophy case proudly sat, displaying various accomplishments of past and current students.

Red Halls was for the arts. Rooms for painting, photography, culinary, pottery, even a room for the schools news paper – Magnolia Press – was down the Red Halls. You could smell the sickening mixture of ink and chemicals, paints, paint thinner, warm ink from printing. Feel the chill air from the culinary walk in freezer, tucked at the end of the hallway. Some one had left it open again. On the walls of the red hall were photos of dishes that won culinary contests, the first ever Magnolia Press set to print, the schools news team grinning happily beside it. In a case smaller then that reserved for sports related trophies, various pieces of pottery sat on little stands, displaying not only the work of the pottery students but that of the painters as well. This year, the theme seemed to be anti – bullying logos on the various pots and painted mural behind them.

Green Halls was where the lockers for all the students were kept. A small school, only a thousand students from kindergarten to grade twelve, the halls were cramped, but not overly so. Each students was allowed to decorate their own lockers, be it with stickers, paint, printed paper, sharpie – that can wash off – anything the students wanted as long as the teachers and staff deemed it appropriate. Anything otherwise thought of was taken and disposed of – quickly.

On Lucy's locker, she had pictures of her best friend Levy with herself and some of Levy with her boyfriend, Gajeel Redfox. Lucy had to admit, Levy's boyfriend creeped her out a tad. He was quiet and at times could be extremely grumpy. As an Iron Dragonslayer, he was able to manipulate his limbs into metal objects, used to fight. His half brother, Natsu Dragneel was also a Dragonslayer, but his magic consisted of the use of fire. Lucy had only one picture of him. Natsu, Lucy, Levy and Gajeel all at the beach in their swimsuits as kids, arms around each other, faces squished to fit the shot. Back then, they all looked so very happy and carefree..not like now...at least for her.

Yellow Halls was a restricted area, used for training by the staff and grades nine to twelve students to train with their magic. Once a semester, the room was opened to allow a secure and safe all out battle royale for the students, usually reserved for the last day. In it was set up so any type of magic, Maker, Holder, Caster, Dragonslayer, Celestial – any kind could be used. Once the student was given permission, they were given a wrist band to wear that could force stop their magic if it got out of hand. Smooth and thin silver, it looked like any other piece of jewellery. If the need arose, certain teachers were able to cast a dampening spell within the bracelets. A very weak cast would stop the mage's ability to draw magic energy. A very strong cast would knock them out cold. It took two sometimes three to cast a strong spell, it had only been done once in the history of the school, so not much was known of that specific spell strength.

Casting her thoughts aside, Lucy stepped into the woman's bathroom and discreetly peeked under the stalls to see if there were feet in them. Finding none, the blonde teen entered the largest stall and digging in her bag, took out her cover up make up bottle. She was about to summon Aries, but decided against it...the Celestial spirit would end up apologizing for Lucy's bruises on her back and ribs...and right now, she was in to much of a hurry to console her saddened spirit. About to try and do it herself, Lucy gasped when the bottle was very gently taken from her hands. Looking up, she was surprised to see Loke standing there. Embarrassment and anger filled her and she was about to speak when he tipped the bottle, motioning for her to turn around.

"Loke, we talked about you forcing your gate! What the hell!?"

"Lucy."

About to snap at him again, she could feel herself tense up under his feather light touch as he applied the make up. The anger in his voice, although she knew not directed at her, still worried her. Made her remember last night when her father came home drunk and angry...

"Why did you force my gate closed when Jude was hitting you like that. You should've let me protect you."

"Loke, last time you did that, my father hid yours and the others gate keys! You were the one that brought them back to me, remember?"

A soft sigh was her only answer. A few seconds later, the door to the bathroom opened and Loke tensed. Just before he returned to the spirit world, he held Lucy to his chest and whispered softly into her ear.

"Next time, call me...I'll come. I promise."

Chills raced down her spine at his words. It had never occurred to her before, but now she couldn't help but wonder...could Loke have forced himself out of his gate and covered her in the blanket, left the note and went back into the celestial world? It made the most sense...but deep down, she knew it wasn't him. Loke would have stayed the night, her head in his lap as she slept. Sighing, she adjusted her shirt and tucked away her make up. If she didn't hurry it up, she'd be late for class. She'd already missed two days this week and couldn't afford anymore without having to make yet another excuse...and she was running out very quickly. All washed up and straightened out, Lucy hurried out the door to her next class.