Carrier of E.N.D
Chapter 2: Looking for Master

Under the moonlight, she gazed out of the moonlight of her little makeshift home that her spirits helped her build. It was a bit small, but she had all of the necessities that she needed to make her feel almost at home for the short term. Huddling herself within her sleeping bag with three thick blankets layered on top of her, she thought about what had just happened.

Usually Fairy Tail wasn't that uptight when it came to an arising issue. They were usually very accepting and when one person messes something up seriously, they would work together to fix the problem as a family.

What she experienced was something extremely unusual. Was the problem so bad that Natsu's really going to die with no hope of changing it?

She nibbled on her bottom lip before letting her bottom lip go from her teeth. Sighing as she tried to sleep, she groaned when images of her family's shocked faces all flashed in her mind like a reminder that she honestly messed up someone's life.

"I don't know what to do anymore... They really didn't know what to say to me after - Erza was even too shocked to think of any possible solutions, along with Mira..." she muttered to herself before closing her eyes as the wind rustled against the wooden hut that she was temporarily residing in. Unable to fall asleep, she sat up and furrowed her brows as the hole within her hut refused to let her sleep and forget about her guilt for just a little bit.

Slipping out from her sleeping bag where she stretched, she once again looked out of the window that Virgo insisted on installing. The moon was beautiful but almost covered by the dark clouds that she desperately wanted to use as her sleep time indicator.

"Gray said that the book went away when I closed my eyes, and after that, Sakura came to our rescue... Maybe Sakura might know which direction it may have flown off too," she thought before looking down to her palms that seemed heavy, as if it was still holding onto the pen. Her joints unwilling to allow her clench her fingers to her palm, she gritted her teeth as the weight of her guilt dropped onto her shoulders.

As if the weight was real and weighing her down, she dropped onto her knees and stared blankly up to the stars high above. She knew that her spirits were all watching over her, waiting for her to find her resolve. Perhaps Aquarius was even laughing at her situation currently, telling her that if the guild was doubting her then she might as well summon a sandstorm to wipe them all away and leave her alone with her beloved.

"What do I do... Maybe I should think about this a bit more -" She stopped herself as the wind brushed against her house again. "I should perhaps go and ask Master what he thinks before doing something..." she said before grabbing a thick jacket where she then slipped on her boots.

Leaving her little hut that's roughly twenty minutes away from the guild and hidden somewhere safe and away from prying eyes, she jogged towards the direction of her second home.

Her nose slightly pink with her cheeks flushed, she jogged through the rugged city. Jumping over large rocks and running around boulders that were taller than herself, she made a sharp turn to her right where she bumped into someone in which she stumbled back a bit. "Oh my goodness. I'm so sor-" she stopped her apology midway when a familiar raven-haired man turned to look at her with wide eyes.

"Gray?"

She watched him turn his body to her. "What are you doing here at this time of night?" Gray asked as he examined her attire and concluded that maybe she went for a jog to tire herself out to sleep.

The silence of the night being broken by their hushed tones, Lucy snuggled into her jacket and raised her perfectly-plucked eyebrow to him. "I couldn't sleep because of what had happened over at the guild tonight, so I thought I'd speak to Master and ask him for advice..." she replied where he nodded in reply before pointing to himself. "Well, I do was going to ask the old man the same thing," he stated.

Sighing in relief, she smiled to her close friend. "Shall we go together then? I think he's still there," she offered where he nodded his head and waited for her to get beside him before walking together towards the guild which was roughly five minutes away from where they stood.

"I honestly don't get why the guild reacted like that. I thought that they would've begin to plan our next move together, but that thought flew out of my head when I saw them look at us in terror as if we had stepped on a baby mercilessly," he began, running his fingers through his hair before groaning. "What a total surprise."

She looked at him in question. "Is this the first time that they've reacted like this... Like before I even joined the guild?" she asked, hoping that their reaction wasn't for the first time and that they actually began to work together to solve the issue on the next day.

Her heart sunk when he shook his head as a reply to her question. His arm dropping where he shoved both hands into his back pockets, he then shrugged his shoulders. "Helping each other is a norm here. Them reacting like that... Maybe it's the alcohol influence... They'll start to think of a plan tomorrow," he reassured before silence fell over them again like a blanket.

The clouds covering the moonlight, they found themselves standing in front of a very daunting-looking guild. Knowing that their guild doors will always be opened for them to enter at any time, Gray pushed one of the large wooden doors open to see candles illuminating the entire building where its flames flickered to the intruding wind.

"Master?" Lucy called out in an uncertain tone. The two entering the guild, the door closed along with a passing wind where they stood there still and unknowing what to do. For some reason, the guild being empty with candles being the only light source to fill it up, it seemed like it was the perfect setting for a crime, perhaps murder, to occur.

Both standing there and looking around for a proper light source, they found none other than the candles. Taking a few steps forward, they snapped their heads up to the staircase when they heard some light footsteps approaching them. "Who's here at this time?" a voice questioned where both sighed in relief as a lacrima crystal began to shine brightly, revealing the new guild member staring down to them.

"Gray and Lucy? What brings you here at this time of the night? Witching Hour is about to happen and you're both walking around," the crimson questioned as she walked down the stairs and over to them. "Did you forget something when you left? If you've forgotten my name, my name is Sakura Miyasaki and I'm an old member here," she then introduced before pushing the floating lacrima crystal up to the air where it began to shine even brighter to give them more light from above.

Her head tipped to the side, she examined their rigid bodies. From the looks of it, they were definitely not here to retrieve something that they've forgotten.

"Uhm... Why are you here right now? Shouldn't you return and get some rest?" Lucy asked, hoping that the Master went off somewhere.

The crimson smiled and pointed off somewhere. "I reside within the guild library with my wolves. I don't often stay within one location for that long, so Grandfather allowed me to stay within the library whenever I come back," she replied where Gray pointed to her then making a height reference to show her what he was trying to say.

Sakura chuckled. "I call him that whenever I feel like it. He's pretty much a close family member, Laxus included as well," she answered, understanding that Gray was questioning her relationship with Makarov. "Enough about me, what do you need?"

"We're hoping to know if the Old Man was still around, to ask him some questions," Gray answered, not completely understanding why he was using such formal language to someone that appeared younger than them. His eyes watching the girl furrow her brows, he watched her turn her attention to Lucy in question.

"Both of you?" Sakura asked, trying to confirm or at least think of a valid guess of why they're here at such a late time. Tipping her head to the other side when Lucy nodded her head, she looked over her shoulder. "He sort of knocked out after drinking and celebrating my return... Laxus threw him into the bedroom that he has for when he drinks and knocked out within the guild," she explained before watching their expecting eyes change to sad ones.

She rolled her tongue around within her mouth silently as she watched the two share a look to each other. "Would you like to talk to Laxus, or I, even? We pretty much know the guild inside and out, and we often do majority of the paperwork that Makarov does?" she offered where Lucy shook her head.

It wasn't the right time to speak to her right now, but before Lucy would vocally reply, Gray beat her to it saying the opposite of what she was about to say. "We'd like to know what exactly happened tonight," he said.

Lucy turning her head to Gray, she slapped him across his arm and narrowed her eyes. It was like having an older sibling confess to their mother than they did something wrong and wanted to ask if what they had done was going to get them grounded.

With that sudden reply from the raven, the crimson smiled. "Of course, I knew that was your true intention... Who wouldn't want some questions after the guild completely isolated you after the little confrontation," she said, before smirking as she turned her gaze to Lucy. "When you don't look back to your own footsteps and cover them carefully, people will use them and manipulate them - Like a hunter forgetting to cover his own tracks, and hence the hunted comes after the hunter."