Outside, the party went on, chattering and occasional laughter could be heard from time to time. But none of that registered, all that Lucy could focus on was the man in front of her and the man behind him.

Drake looked to Vanessa, a questioning look on his face. "You didn't tell her?"

Vanessa shook her head. "I haven't; you came in too soon."

Sighing once more, Drake stepped out of the room, dragging Kyle with him to give them some more time to clarify things.

"What's going on? Weren't they the ones who..." Lucy took a breath to calm her nerves.

"Lucy, I know that you're most confused right now, but there is a reason why you're here." Vanessa explained, settling down onto a kneel beside the girl to place one hand holding onto the confused girl's hand.

Lucy slowly moved her gaze from the men and to the woman beside her.

"Y-you already told me."

Vanessa shook her head, guilt on her face, and rose from her kneel.

"No, I meant how you were brought here."

Joel continued, "Everyone knew how tenacious your guild is and how much you value their trust and opinions. That's why we couldn't possibly just go up to you and tell you about this; we knew your guild would rather die before letting you get into this mess or protect you themselves – they would've never let us in."

"So the best way was to let you come to us." Vanessa finished for him.

Lucy leaned back into her chair, staring at the duo in front of her in shock. The rational part of her knew what they had meant but the emotional part of her couldn't help but feel hurt and manipulated.

"S-so you planned this? All of this? Just to get me here?" Lucy asked in disbelief.

Loke placed a hand on her shoulder, reminding her that she still had him while keeping a gaze that showed the others in the room that so long as Lucy gave the word, he will pounce.

"Lucy, I know how you feel–"

"No, you don't." Loke interrupted, "If you did you never would've done this."

Shifting her gaze to the stellar spirit, Vanessa spoke.

"You do not seem to understand the severity of the situation right now. We are beyond kind to have done this the way we did. There were many other worse ways we could have used to handle this, but this was the best we could think of in the short amount of time we had."

"You–"

"Loke, that's enough." Lucy stopped him lethargically, her voice barely even filled with fight.

Lucy turned her attention back to Vanessa, fatigue filled in her eyes.

"I just need to rest now. Please give me some time."

"I understand." She replied before tilting her head to Joel. "Joel."

Nodding, Joel made his way to show Lucy and her spirit to their room. As soon as they left the room, Vanessa took her seat in her couch and sighed.

That could have gone a lot better…

Looking out to the balcony, a small smile graced her lips as she observed the snow fall as the people chatted away, and for a brief, albeit brief, moment, she allowed herself to reminisce the days where her innocence was still intact.

"Milady?" Cain asked as he entered the room, noticing its vacancy.

"Shall we take a walk?"

And ever so slightly, he smiled as he took her hand in his.

"Anytime."

Lucy remained silent as she sat curled up into a ball on her couch that was situated beside her room's window. Her gaze never leaving the white field outside. Night fell and Loke began to worry for her, handing her a cup of coco.

"Here, drink up."

When she didn't respond, he sighed and settled down on the couch in front of her, setting the cup on the coffee table.

"You haven't had anything all day. You should at least drink up."

"…us…"

"What?"

"I'm frustrated…!" She whimpered. "All of this. All of it…and I couldn't do anything but be a baby about it…!"

"You did what any sane person would have done." Loke reasoned.

Lucy shot him a desperate eye.

"Then I'd rather be crazy!" Lowering her voice, she continued, "…and maybe everything would make sense again."

Loke opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself before he lost his cool. He wanted her to know just how confused and frustrated he was, but he couldn't. No, he needed to stay strong for her. If he were to have broken down with her, how was she going to get up on her feet again? He needed to be that pillar for her now. With that resolve, he stood.

"To Bend or to break, it was always a choice."

He turned and made his way to the door and just before he closed the door, he spoke.

"I'll be waiting for you to pick a side."

And the door clicked shut while Lucy continued to stare out of the window. He was right. Although she was still having difficulties wrapping her head around this, she didn't have to do it like this. As a matter of fact, it was making it harder since barely anything was even going through her head right now. She sighed and looked at the mug of coco, steam still rising. Picking it up, she took a small sip that warmed her body and soul before silently thanking Loke.

A/N: Okay, I know, I know, I deserve to be shot in the head for taking so god damned long to write this chapter and only come up with such a short one. BUT I do have my next chapter almost ready and it is much longer (I had originally planned to make it one whole chapter but it was really starting to get a little too lengthy so I decided to separate it into two separate chapters). Of course, thank y'all who have been supporting and patiently waiting for this new chapter and I hope that it met your expectations! CHEERS! *Bows ferociously*