Laxus was very confused when he arrived home to a kitchen full of baking supplies and cooling cookies. He took a seat at the table with watching as Katie moved back and forth, Seph merely reading her book as if she was immensely stressed and didn't want to talk to Katie… Katie seemed the same, honestly, now that he took a closer look. She suddenly placed a plate of cookies down in front of him; nearly making him flinch with how sudden it was before she rushed back to work.

"The cookies are chocolate chip." She told him, pulling a tray of more cookies out of the oven before putting a different tray of cookies into the oven. So, basically, more damn cookies. "There are also peanut butter cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, butterscotch cookies, cinnamon cookies, a mix of butterscotch and cinnamon cookies, and weird coconut cream ones because I wanted to try the recipe. Beware. Let me know if you need anything."

"… Are you stress-baking?" Laxus questioned, hearing the front door open. It was only the Raijinshuu coming in from their little argument outside and he felt sorry for them when they suddenly stopped outside of the kitchen, all three of them making different sounds. Charles came in from the other room with a book in hand, putting it down beside Seph before sitting down beside it, letting it keep some space between the pair of them.

"Yes and no." Katie responded with a sigh, finally pausing in place for a moment and motioning for the other to sit at the table. They did so, out of fear that Katie's cookie rath might kill them if they didn't. "Some of it is… for comfort." There was a pause as they all took into mind what she might've meant. "It's not every day that a Dark Guild shoots a peacefully protesting twenty-three year old who ended up in the hospital because he protected the eight year old that was originally targeted, for some reason."

Oh. Yah, the Guild's were notified of that. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to give Katie free-range of his house, Laxus thought, but he didn't want her to stay cooped up in her and Charles' room all day. Seph finished her book, passing it to Charles and picking up the next one. She immediately started reading and Charles just kind of… sat there, holding the book she had just finished before putting it down where her newly-started book had been. Did Seph stress-read?

"For the record, I didn't know Seph was watching from around the corner. She's very stealthy and quiet, and she takes sudden news very badly." Katie explained before looking around at the kitchen. "… And maybe I take sudden news very badly as well."

A chorus of "uh-huh" from Laxus and the Raijinshuu, plus Charles, rose into the air just as the timer dinged, calling for Katie to pull out her next batch of chocolate chip cookies. She seemed down with baking for now, which was a relief, but Seph hadn't even greeted Laxus when he arrived. She looked like she was thinking too hard… She had been on that first page for about a minute now, which was a new slow record for her. There was a long silence, in which everyone at the table took a chocolate chip cookie to start on destroying Katie's cookie-streak, before the small Exceed finally spoke up.

"It was them. It had to be them." She stated quickly, far too fast for her to even be remotely calm in this situation. This was probably her way of telling her partner and her team that the bad place she came from had been a Dark Guild, and she was shaking quite a bit. "They've never had anyone escape before so they're coming after us because we left and we're going to get caught and killed or worse and—"

"Calm down." Charles cut her off, gaining a pair of flapping paws slapping against his shoulder. They were weak, so he didn't even flinch, but he knew that Seph was far too stressed out. She was terrified.

"They shot someone; don't tell me to calm down because I could be the one with a bullet in my shoulder within the next hour—"

"You have to chill."

"I can't "chill", Charles!"

Seph went silent after that, holding her head in her hands and staring down at the pages of her newly-started book that probably hadn't even been started due to her stress. She was freaking out and no one knew what to do, honestly. She wasn't in the right state of mind right now and she was sitting things out, but luckily she wasn't completely losing her mind.

"Even if it was them, they wouldn't get anywhere near any of you." Laxus merely stated, leaving no room for arguing as he continued. "The Guild wouldn't let that happen. I wouldn't let that happen."

Even if Seph didn't seem to calm down for another couple of minutes, when she finally seemed to go back to actually reading the book in her lap, she was thinking over things calmly. She knew that the Guild was protective of their own, but she was still paranoid of what the outcome would be if they had to negotiate. They might even have to fight, what if they had to go to war!?

She didn't know of the mysterious forces behind everything that happened, but she knew that she didn't like to be scared. She was done being scared and even though she was so determined, she couldn't find the will to stay calm in these kinds of hectic situations.

She felt lost.

Seph sat up on her elbows and blinked, finally and for sure hearing the knocking at the front door. Judging from the groan Laxus gave, she could tell that he was waking up and gave a small yawn, sitting up properly as her partner pushed himself up onto his feet to go and get the door. The Raijinshuu had ended up passing out in the living room last night with some pillows and blankets, and the rest of them simply slept where they usually did: in their rooms.

She let out another yawn as she just sat there, hearing Laxus open the door and things go silent. Shouldn't there have been talking…? Maybe they were just being quiet. She wouldn't be surprised if that was the deal, honestly… She wanted to go back to sleep and despite her overwhelming curiosity, plus never-ending schedule, she managed to lie back down and drift off.

Apparently, her never-ending schedule actually had an end.

The sky above was blue and nearly cloudless, despite the raging storm that went on a couple of nights before. Seph felt much better than the night before as well, going out into town with her whole team and even meeting up with Erza and Lucy at some point. It was a good time while it lasted, and eventually they all just went to the Guild. No one dared to comment on Seph's absence the days before or the big search they went through, but she knew that they were thinking about it and she felt a little uneasy over it. Nonetheless, Seph found herself talking to Mira by herself and having a simple conversation as she worked, just sitting by so she didn't get in the way at all. Eventually, Mira mentioned a museum of some sort in a city nearby and Seph was intrigued, starting a whole new conversation about said museum with her team when they came and sat down. At some point, Levy had come over and told them that she had wanted to visit the museum at some point. A whole group of people were just pulled straight into the conversation and before they knew it, everyone was making plans to go there and Mira was packing some snacks for them with a content smile.

Seph didn't really mind. She wanted to visit the museum, but she wanted to go home and change first. The blood stains on her jumper hadn't come out…

Upon heading home, Seph decided to switch into an outfit that she had picked up earlier upon shopping in the town a bit. It was a black tank top and a pair of blue jean shorts, keeping her white socks except folding them down, and a pair of little orange running shoes with black velcro and some black laces that she had to tie around her ankle so they didn't drag on the ground. It was a complex shoe design, but she liked it… She slipped on a white sweater shirt with a green pocket in the front, two green stripes on the top of the sleeves and green edging it over top of her shirt before deciding that this was a good outfit despite the bandages on her knee being exposed. The bandages on her arms and her ankle were covered, after all…

She grabbed her necklace from underneath her sweater shirt and let it lay on top, out in the open for once. There was no point in hiding anything anymore. She just… couldn't talk about stuff yet.

And that was okay.

It took a simple hour

to get to the museum in the next city, but that was okay. They just had to take the train and walk a bit, although the train part kind of threw a couple people off. Namely, the Dragon Slayers that had tagged along for different reasons besides Wendy. The museum was a three-story building of bricks and wood, the silver paint covering some parts of it chipping in places. Otherwise, the place was lovely. The grounds were well-kept and the pathways were clear of any debris. It made Seph want to go on a treasure hunt, just to find out what exactly this old place that was still running was hiding.

The moment they entered the building, Seph was very excited. If the fact that she had been looking around at every little thing wasn't an indication for that, then what was? Almost immediately, she found interest in one of the exhibits, reading carefully and exploring diligently. Laxus stayed close by even if he wasn't interested in the exhibit because, honestly, he just didn't want to lose his partner again. Eventually, there was one exhibit that Seph stayed at for a very long time, one where there was lots of reading to do on whatever it was. Lots of the others got interested, to say the least, but she was intrigued by the story of the Öjerfalk's. The Öjerfalk Manor was the last thing left of the family, technically.

"What're you reading?"

Seph jumped from the sudden voice, but found herself relaxing when she caught sight of Lily, recognizing his voice soon after and calming down completely. She felt content with him interested in what she was interested in, oddly…

"I'm reading the history of the Öjerfalk family and such." Seph responded calmly. "Can you read?" She didn't mean to be rude and Lily knew that, so he chuckled a bit.

"I suppose I can." He responded, starting to read over the history that was written in front of him. Seph stared at him for a moment, at how focused he was yet so content and so… happy to be in a calm situation, before going back to reading as well.

"Öjerfalk Manor was built in c. x654 by George Öjerfalk (May 9th, x633-December 19th, x672). The plantation home housed five generations of Öjerfalk's from x660 to x710. It was purchased from the family of Henry Robertson in x724 upon the passing of its last residential inhabitant, Henry's granddaughter Sarah Cajoj-Robertson.
George Öjerfalk (May 9th, x633-December 19th, x672) was one of Tosen's founders, along with Henry Robertson, Edward Helsen, Walter Williams, and Clarence Loufred. He and his wife Mabel Öjerfalk (January 2nd, x638-February 12th x673) had four children: sons Harold (September 19th, x651-January 8th, x700) and Leonard (July 19th, x652-January 13th x701; and daughters Clara (June 16th, x654-September 28th x706) and Josephine (December 24th, x657-December 31st, x668).
Harold and Leonard died in battle at war and Josephine died of mysterious means at a young age, bringing the result of Clara being the only Öjerfalk to bear children. She had three daughters: Bessie, Nellie and Tessa; and one son: Elihu.
Elihu ÖJerfalk (February 5th, x673-September 8th, x718) was a family man and yet a successful business man of sorts. He and his wife Caroline Öjerfalk had three children: a son, Clyde (September 1st, x694-September 26th, x705), and two daughters: Josephine (October 30th, x697-September 26th, x?) and Beth (June 5th, x699-September 26th, x705). There was a terrible tragedy of abuse throughout the household that lead to the children all dying on the same day at his wife's hands, although some say that he assisted her to save himself."

Seph took a moment to let that sink in and then recalled what she had read, concluding that the Öjerfalk's had issues. But then again, didn't all families have their own issues?

"Y'know what's weird?" She suddenly asked, gaining Lily's attention in a split second. "It's the question mark on Josephine's name. "They all died on the same day" it says, but they didn't put her year of death down."

"Maybe it was a mistake…?" Lily questioned, but he knew that it would've been fixed a long time ago. Seph shrugged nonetheless before gently grabbing his hand.

"No point in dwelling on it. I see a dinosaur model over there and I don't know about you, but I'm ready to learn all about it."

With a laugh, Lily allowed Seph to pull him along with her as she explored the small dinosaur exhibit. Little did he know that she was indeed dwelling on why Josephine Öjerfalk's death year was questioned, but not the death month or day. Did she disappear?

There weren't any pictures of her, after all… God.

When a time rolled around for all of them to group up and eat snacks together, that's exactly what they all did… except, Seph didn't really eat. She just… sort of chewed on some grapes and worried everyone around her. A few moments passed where no one asked, and maybe it was good that they didn't because she suddenly spoke up.

"My name is Josephine."

There was a pause where they were all silence, and then someone choked on whatever they had been eating.

"But you like to be called Seph?" Laxus asked, gaining a small nod from the Exceed. They found no problem with that, so why…?

"I was reading at an exhibit earlier, about the Öjerfalk family and such. They were messed up." She explained with a slightly shaky voice, but not wavering. "George and Mabel Öjerfalk had three children, their middle daughter being Josephine. She died from mysterious means at a young age. Then Elihu and Caroline Öjerfalk's youngest daughter Josephine apparently died, but… she kind of just disappeared, I think, y'know?"

There was another pause, a longer one this time.

"I just thought that I should tell you…" Seph sighed softly, finally picking up a sandwich and taking a bite.

They all nodded, understanding it now, and went back to snacking away. They could just know that sometimes, Seph had mysterious means of doing things and disappeared into her thoughts sometimes. She disappeared into her past sometimes, but that didn't mean she was gone.

After all, she wasn't exactly Josephine. She was Seph.

Seph screamed internally as she sat at a table alone in the Guild, reading her book. How dare Cole betray Joshua and Aliza!? She was getting far too into this book… far. She was so far that she slammed the book shut upon reading the line "His hand rose with the small pistol soundly rested in it, no remorse shown in his eyes, and he simply pulled the trigger as if he was falling asleep". She wasn't done with this book, not by a long shot, but she needed time away from it. She had been so into it that morning when they got up to go to the Guild; Charles had to tie her shoes for her so she wouldn't end up tripping when she stood up. She had forgotten to do it herself. It was like she was some sort of child.

Maybe she was, honestly.

There had been so much crazy stuff going on lately that she just needed a break from reality, and the fiction book that she had gotten so into was one that wasn't ancient. It was new to her and it was great, but it kind of just tore her soul apart, so… She was ready for reality again, sort of… not really. But she kept telling herself that it was okay. This too shall pass… at some point.

Her saving grace was quite a weird one, right outside in the courtyard of the Guild. She found Gajeel strumming at a guitar, most likely his, boredly without seeming to have any real purpose of doing so… and for some reason, she was totally okay with that. She climbed up onto the table and took a seat, making eye contact for a split second with Gajeel before staring at his guitar.

"… Do you know how to play?" Seph asked, gaining a scoff in response before Gajeel paused and then nodded. Was he… afraid to upset her? Did Laxus scare him? Because, by all means and purposes, she was not terrifying at all. She was the terrified. "I know, like… ten songs. I'm kind of a music geek."

"… You know how to play guitar?" Gajeel asked lowly, seeming to try and focus a bit. She gave him a firm nod and he let out a small "huh", like that wasn't surprising but a good fact to know. "… Do you know how to sing?"

"Mm… Sort of, I guess. What about you?" She questioned, gaining a low chuckle in response at first before he shrugged a bit.

"I know how, but I'm awful at it." He replied, seeming perfectly content with that fact. "It's a good laugh sometimes. I'm sure you're much better." Seph paused for a moment before shrugging and scratching at her shorts.

"Do you know how to play Shiver?" She suddenly asked, staring down at the ground. Gajeel hummed in reply, a hum that told her that he did know how. "… Could you play it…?"

There was a pause before the soft tune carried out from the guitar strings and into the air ever so softly, relaxing Seph as she just sat there, listening. Her Dad used to strum at his guitar when he was bored, too. Then, her Mother would ask him to play something for her and he gladly would. Her Dad was a great musician, but… he was a better artist. The village of her childhood and the borders of her life were very small. They always had been like a crumbling, dusty attic, but at least she would always remember the artist who loved his wife and children. It was easy to remember, but…

It was harder to move on knowing that her childhood was long gone by then.