So here I am, after a . . . three-month absence . . . I have been extremely busy lately and couldn't seem to get motivated for this chapter. Yes, I'm perfectly aware that I'm a lazy arse, and yes, you have every right to kill me.

But on a side note! 100 reviews! Triple digits! *does a happy dance*

You people are . . . amazing.

Oh, and I'm starting a blog, to those who care. Check it out, pretty please, because a blog's only fun when people start reading it.

http: /www. nonsensical-nothings. blogspot.com/

Chapter Thirteen.

Lucy swore she felt the ground vibrate.

The Rune Knight whirled. "Who's there?" He barked.

Natsu tried to back into the safety of the tea table further, but in his hurry he upturned the tiny thing. A pretty, delicate teapot fell to the floor with a crash.

"You!" The Rune Knight's eyes widened. "Intruder! Rune Knights! Intruder! In the name of the Magic Council, I hereby –"

Erza hit him on the back of his head, none too gently.

Lucy giggled as the Rune Knight went to sleep and glared at Natsu, but the three of them stiffened again as the sound of footsteps – many of them – was heard outside.

"Tikon! What happened?" Five other Rune Knights burst into the room.

The Rune Knight, Tikon, looked up. "What is the meaning of this? Nothing's happened, as you can see. A rat merely knocked over a teapot. Nasty things."

"But – but we heard you screaming –"

"Nonsense! A Rune Knight does not scream. You merely heard the crash of the teapot falling down."

The five Rune Knights looked uncertain. "Well, if you're sure . . ."

"Of course I'm sure. Now back to your stations!"

They left, closing the door.

Behind the sofa, Lucy sighed in relief, and she tumbled out of the hiding place with Erza and Natsu.

Tikon the Rune Knight morphed into the twin shapes of Gemi and Mini, cheerfully high-fiving each other.

"We did good, didn't we, Lucy-san?"

"Yep! Thanks, Gemini!"

They disappeared in two puffs of smoke.

"Quick thinking, Lucy," Erza praised. "And you," she said to Natsu, "hold it in next time."

"What? How am I supposed to hold in a sneeze?"

"Figure it out."

"What are we going to do with him?" Lucy interrupted, nudging the unconscious Rune Knight. They had managed to drag him behind the sofa as well, concealing him from the other Rune Knights.

Erza pondered for a while, then pulled the pink tablecloth off the tea table and wrapped it around Tikon. She pushed him behind the door.

"Let's go."

Lucy looked at Natsu, and they resolved never to let Erza knock them out – who knows where she might stash them away.

They met up with Levy, Gray, Happy, and Wendy, who had taken refuge in a bathroom. Bathroom was an understatement, Lucy noticed, as this bathroom was very, very big.

"Did you find anything?" Erza locked the door and turned on the water tap to mask out their conversation.

"Yes," Levy said excitedly. "In the left corridor, there's a meeting room where the Council gathers. The necklace was glowing brightly there, so we're on the right track!"

"Good," Erza nodded. "Lead us there, Levy."

The meeting room was a circular dome with a long table in the middle. Pictures of deceased Council members adorned the wall. Many great pillars formed a perfect circle around the group, standing in the middle of the meeting room.

"Natsu, Wendy," Erza instructed. "Stand guard. Tell us if you smell or hear someone coming."

"Yes ma'am!" They saluted her.

"The rest of you," she said, "start looking."

"For what?" Gray said.

"A secret entrance, a hidden switch, anything that will let us in the Grimoire Heart base."

"So it is here then," Levy said, more of a statement than a question. "It's hard to believe."

For a while, they were all silent, two of them guarding while the rest looked under tables, behind pictures, and (in Happy's case) flying up and assessing hard-to-reach places.

Fifteen minutes passed without a warning from either Natsu or Wendy.

"Erza . . ." Levy said hesitantly, "we haven't found anything . . ."

The redhead frowned. "It's very well-hidden."

"That's an understatement," Gray said, turning over the picture of a particularly old and white Council member.

"Maybe it's not here," said Lucy, who was now jumping on random places on the floor, hoping one of the stone tiles would somehow trigger a secret passage.

"It's here," Gray said decisively. "We're just not looking hard enough."

"What if we get cau – ow!" Lucy's foot caught on something on the floor and she tumbled down. Glaring at the offending object, she saw that the tripper was a hole on a stone tile.

No, Lucy realized, not a hole. A pattern... carved into the stone.

A pattern on the floor.

Looking around, Lucy realized that all the stone tiles were coveredin patterns. Some were just simple holes in a tile, but others were elaborate, taking on the shapes of birds, leaves, swirls of wind, or stars.

Patterns in the stone . . .

Lucy stood up, a light bulb slowly coming to life in her mind.

There has to be something here. Something. A connection . . .

She paced in a circle slowly, taking in as many patterns as she could see.

Rabbit.

Hibiscus flower.

Pen.

Moon.

Dragon.

Necklace.

Book.

River.

Wait, what? Lucy stopped.

Necklace.

Her eyes darted to the necklace in Erza's grasp.

"Everyone . . ." Lucy gasped.

"What is it, Lu-chan?" Levy was the first to come to Lucy. Gray, Erza, and Happy came over in the next instant.

Lucy knelt down on the pattern of the necklace.

"What?" Gray asked, cluelessness evident in his voice.

But Erza's eyes widened as she made the connection, her hand lifting up the necklace and giving it to Lucy.

A shout from Natsu, followed by Wendy's voice: "Someone's coming! Quick!" The two Dragonslayers came running over.

They all jumped. Lucy fumbled with the necklace, frantically pressing its gemstone into an identical oval groove in the floor tile.

Several tense seconds passed, with everyone holding their breaths in anticipation.

Nothing happened.

"Whaaaa . . ." Wendy squeaked.

Footsteps along the corridor. More than one.

And suddenly, the tiles in front of the group disappeared, revealing a tunnel that led into black oblivion.

"Org-san, you have just received paperwork concerning the fishing industry of Hargeon –"

"Pah! Paperwork! Let them rot in the office!"

Seven pairs of eyes met each other in silent panic.

"But Org-san –"

"Enough, I say!"

They toppled in a heap into the tunnel.

Action scene in next chapter, I promise.

- TheAliensDidIt