So this was me the night after I posted the last chapter. "OH! YAY! Two reviews in under 24 hours!" reading... and... facepalm. I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get the announcment to Lucy since she can't really hear it and what do I do? I don't do it! So, in conclusion, the method in which Lucy heard the announcment reads as such, teleportation, timetravel, and witchcraft. I stick with my logical conclusion.

So I've started watching Hetalia... yeah... anyone wanna tell me what the fudge is going on?

Lucy stood shocked for a moment. The man that stood before her was one she knew well, though still foreign to her. Her tongue sat heavy in her mouth as she was forced to instruct herself to breathe.

"Hello, Lucy." He said. "I've misssed you."

Suddenly, as if my magic, her tongue lifted to form one word, "Loki."

Erza looked up from her position behind the large conference table, filtering through papers Master had given her to look over regarding her few basic duties as the self proclimed president of pantiential matters. The title was final accepted by Master at the encouragement of Mira, saying it would be good for her. Of course, president of patiential matters was too long of a word for most people's tastes so she was commonly referred to as the Duchess of the Dam-ed. A fitting title, and Erza herself had no issues with the name.

She flipped the page of her file once more, searching over every line for errors or mistakes. Master had her do alot of proof-reading, and despite the small jab at her pride, his reasoning was sound. Who better to search for errors than one who can't stand a single one?

As her eyes filtered down the page, they widened slightly. It was addressed to Lucy's father, very formal compaired to his previous letters to parents. Erza herself was an orphan, as were many of the patients here so an informational letter home was not something she saw every day. She began to read it, moreso to satisfiy her curiousity than to point out errors.

'Dear Mr. Heartphilia,' The letter read. 'We regret to inform you that procedures to restore your daughter's hearing are still beyond our reach. We continue to provide the best of treatments for all our patients, but your daughter's condition is so severe we fear she may never be able to hear again. We understand this news is unfortunate and thank you for your generous donations towards this project. We shall also continue to keep you posted as to any breakthroughs within our team. Sincerely, Makarov Dreyar.'

Erza sat for a moment, shocked.

She knew Lucy's ears were bad and all but why would her father make 'generous donations' towards fixing her? On the other hand, there were no spelling errors, no gramatical mistakes, nothing. Master clearly spent a long time composing this letter. If that were true, then why?

Erza's head lifted as three strikes on the door sounded in the room. "Come in," She called. The heavy door opened to reveal more than one person. Gray, Gajeel, Levy, Juvia, and Cana all now stood - or in Cana's case, slumped - in the doorway, faces ashen.

"What is it?" Erza had too much on her mind to fix whatever Natsu and Lucy broke, the mystery of the blonde's father remained fresh on her maind and if she didn't ease it out with answers she'd go crazy, well, crazier.

"It's Lucy." Gray said, now slightly wondering if their worries were grimm enough to include the Duchess.

Erza was unmoved by his response, "What about her?"

Juvia answered, "Lucy-san has a visitor."

Erza's eyebrows raised slightly, her attention now solely fixed on them.

The mystery would soon be solved.

Lucy blinked a few times, letting the information sink in. "Loki, I," She stuttered out, her tongue still heavy. "How?"

Loki's eyes flashed something she didn't catch before smoothing over in a calm smile. "How, what, Lucy?" His voice was steady and if she knew him any less than she did she would've thought he held a certain amused curiousity to his tone. But she knew better. The curiousity was no more amused than it was startled, frightened even, but of what she had no knowledge.

Her confusion as to his presence grew further and her eyebrows cinched. She led him over to a table and sat him down infront of her. Leaning over the table as to help keep their conversation private she continued in a hushed, serious tone. "Loki, everyone thinks you died."

Loki cringed slightly under her probing glance and raised his hands lightly, his shoulders slowly slumping forward in defeat. "Yes, I know." He replaced his hands in his lap and his easy posture arched forward like a taunt drawn bow. His spiked, orange hair held most it's shape as he lowered his head. She could just barely see his eyes through the falling curtain of loose strands and the dark fan of his lashes.

"Did Mother make it okay?" She barely saw his lips move and cupped his cheeks, pulling his head up where she could read them better. He seemed confused at her actions.

"I'm afraid I can't hear you, Loki." She pulled back her hair to show him the small scars that ran along her earlobe. He seemed to understand because he repeated himself.

"Oh, Loki," Lucy said slowly, grasping his hands from the table. "I'm afraid not." She saw small tears prick his eyes and suddenly she wondered why he was here and not with her father, surely he would want to hear that his son was alive? She decided to voice these thoughts and the older boy's grip on her hand grew.

"No." He whispered. "I can't go back there. I won't. After the accident I can't."

"Aunt Karen's accident? That was an accident, Loki-nii." Lucy was confused. Everyone though Loki had died in the accident with Karen.

"No, it wasn't." Loki said firmly. "It was my fault. All my fault."

"What? That's silly, Loki-nii. Aunt Karen hit a semitruck, how is that your fault?"

"You don't understand, Lucy." He said, "Karen and I weren't alone in the car. My friend Aries, you remember her right?" Lucy nodded. "Well, she was there too. Karen was taking us to the park, Aries's favorite place in all of Fiore. While we were riding she became insufferable. You remeber how Aunt Karen was, always in everyone's business trying to make them feel inferior. Well she did that to Aries, and I told her to stop. She began shouting at me, telling me how I shouldn't be around such a girl as Aries and how she was a disgrace. She wasn't watching the road and hit that truck. It was terrible. Karen was bleeding everywhere. Aries and I were spared, luckily, and I was able to get her out of the car. We ran. I don't know why but we did. Straight to the hospital where they treated our wounds. I left Aries there."

"Oh, Loki-nii." Lucy said softly, wiping the pooling tears with her thumbs. "It's alright. That was years ago, a lifetime. Why didn't you just come home? Father became unsufferable after Mama... left. Truly unsufferable." She felt tears prick her eyes and Loki's manicures fingers brush them away. She took notice of her hands still on his face and removed them.

"I'm sorry, princess." He said, his eyes portraying the emotion she could not hear in his voice. "I truly am so very sorry."

They sat like that for a while, each savoring the presence of the other. Loki broke this silence. "Do you still play, princess?"

She smiled at his use of their old nicknames, but the question made her sad. "I try, but I don't know if I'm any good anymore. Taking my shoes off helps but I never know if the piano is in tune. I get so frustrated sometimes I just pound on the keys, a sound I used to hate but now I find it helps. Theres an old abandoned music hallway near my room that I go into often and play on the grand piano. It's a lovely thing, black painted wood and polished ivory. A pity no one uses it."

Loki smiled truly for the first time. "You're smiling, love."

She let a tear breach her eyelid before realizing she was in fact smiling. "Indeed I am, Loki-nii. Indeed I am."

So, were you right? I bet you weren't. It appears I may do something completely different than daddy or piano. maybe both at the same time. Don't know.

WOOO! Nothing better than home grown ** strawberries, although I just had one that made me pucker. My thought, oddly enough, was Green.

** = my state. I not telling you though. HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE.

Oh, shoot. It's begginning to look alot like christmas just came on my music thingy. YAY! It's gunna be stuck in my head tomorrow, I guarentee it.