Lucy arrived to dinner at precisely 6:58pm. After some internal debate she had decided to dress in a green velvet dress that she found in the wardrobe of her bedroom. It seemed a little dressy for dinner but her previous outfit was filthy. There were no accessories to go with the outfit unless you counted her newly-formed black eye. Azuma had done a real number of her face that morning.

Zeref was already sitting at the formal table and he stood when she arrived. His eyes followed her as she entered the room.

"Where did you find that dress?"

"It was in my wardrobe," she said as she smoothed out the fabric.

"Ah, It must have belonged to the wife of the previous owner," he said thoughtfully.

Lucy paled. "The one you killed?"

"Relax, I only killed her husband. The wife and child ran away."

Zeref held her chair out for her.

"Since you are playing the part of a lady— one that looks like she was just in a bar fight but a lady none-the-less— I suppose I will be a gentleman."

Lucy ignored him and took her seat.

He rang a little bell and servants began entering the room with trays of food. There was lentil soup, salad, bread, roasted pork, applesauce, green beans, mashed potatoes and carrot cake. It was enough to feed a small army.

"I hope you don't mind—I'm having the servants bring out all the courses at once. I don't want to be disturbed while we're talking."

She looked around at the table. Steam was rising from several of the dishes. Everything looked delicious.

"No, that's fine," she said.

Zeref waited until the servants were gone before he spoke again. "Speaking of clothing, I've selected your outfit for tomorrow so that you can blend in with the era. You would have been accused of witchcraft or prostitution if you showed up in my time wearing your usual attire."

Lucy stabbed the salad with her fork and shoved a large bite into her mouth. She would have liked to tell Zeref where he could shove it but settled for chewing instead.

He continued. "I also plan to alter our appearances with a spell once we arrive in the past. It will reduce the risk of me accidently seeing myself or you."

Lucy choked on her salad and had to take a sip of water. The fact that Zeref was planning to alter their appearances confirmed Loke's theory—Zeref didn't know everything about Eclipse.

"Are you okay?" Zeref asked, watching her closely.

"Yeah, sorry," she croaked. "Something went down the wrong pipe."

He waited another minute for her to regain her composure. "I'd also like go over our plan for the retrieval of the necklace. Hopefully, we will arrive immediately after the battle of Crocus so we'll miss the most dangerous events, however— there will still be injured people, dragons and a few looters. You'll probably be overwhelmed. Just stick next to me and let me do any talking if it's necessary."

Lucy nodded and kept eating.

"We will pretend to be villagers who didn't evacuate in time. To avoid involvement, we'll want to stay away from the main battlefield until Acnologia's transformation. There was a small grist mill that was on the edge of the forest. It wasn't destroyed during the battle, so we should wait there. Once we see Acnologia rise into the sky, we'll want to move quickly towards his liftoff location. That is where I dropped Brotan's necklace."

Zeref looked at Lucy to make sure she was still following him. "Now, this part is important—we will only have about an hour to get the necklace because enemy dragons will return and try to kill Acnologia. Half of the battlefield will be scorched soon after, including the area where I dropped the necklace. If we are too late, the necklace will be destroyed."

"Got it." Lucy cut herself a piece of the roasted pork, eyeing the large carving knife by its side. It would be perfect to bring back in time with her.

They ate quietly for a few minutes as she searched for a new topic to break the silence. "I'll have to ask my spirits if they know Brotan."

Zeref finished chewing. "That isn't likely unless they met him while he was living. Brotan is more like a ghost than a Spirit. He doesn't exist in the same realm as your spirits."

"Interesting—I didn't know there were different Spirit realms."

He gave her a quizzical look. "How is it possible that you've managed to gather all twelve Zodiac Keys and yet you know next to nothing about Celestial Spirits?"

"I wouldn't say I know next to nothing…"

"I would. It sounds like you haven't even visited the Celestial Spirit section of your local library. There's tons of research available, although half of it is conjecture. It's a popular research topic because mortals are so fascinated with the afterlife."

"That's a little unfair, don't you think? I mean, you're immortal right? You shouldn't pass judgement on people who are afraid of death."

He didn't say anything.

Lucy hesitated. "Do you want to die?" The question had been nagging her ever since she had found out that Zeref had tried to kill himself.

He played with his mashed potatoes. "There have been days where I longed for death; However, I won't throw my life away for nothing. Although I have survived for centuries, there are still some things I would like to experience."

He picked up one of the small plates with cake and tried a bite. "But, you don't really need to know all this to complete the mission, do you?"

"No, I suppose I don't.".

They ate the rest of their meal in silence. Zeref had already finished his cake and was watching her eat hers, occasionally tapping his fingers on the table. When she had finished the last bite, he stood up.

Lucy reached for another piece of cake and Zeref sighed heavily. "For goodness sake woman—it's just cake. You're savoring it like you've never had it before."

"I really like carrot cake." She swirled the icing with her fork. "And you can tell this is homemade crème, not the stuff that comes from a container."

"Well, I'd like to retire for the night. Ring the bell once you're done and the servants will clean up."

"Okay. Good night."

"Good night." Zeref turned and left the room.

Once he was gone, Lucy took two more bites of carrot cake and looked around. When she was certain she was alone, she grabbed the carving knife and slid it beneath her skirt, securing it with her garter. She was ready for tomorrow.