It takes a while before the members of Fairy Tail were able to have a comfortable city again. There was a bit of a town hall, and Master Makarov had to give a formal explanation. The city wasn't too satisfied, but they understood, at least.

They also held a huge press conference that was formally addressed, and formally explained to the general public, regarding Lucy's story, her reasons for running, and her desire to continue staying in Magnolia, no foul play.

The Council also agreed to settle the issue with Lucy out of court, and focused on the remnants of Phantom as they were systematically arrested.

"I know there were circumstances. But you didn't think of us at all!" the florist says, arms crossed. The other worker was packaging the bouquets for sick visits.

Mirajane chuckles. "We're very sorry for all the trouble we've caused…"

The ones to go about doing damage control had to be Mirajane, because she was the only one left that had amiable, long time relationships with the whole town. Everyone else more suitable were still ailing.

Levy's recovering well. Erza and Cana have been pretty heavily injured, so though they can walk about just fine, she's not allowed to leave the dorms. For the boys, Elfman, Gray, and Loke were in the same boat. Jet and Droy were rambunctious enough to start demanding really loud excitable explanations in the boy's dorms, so they were probably fine, too.

"Ah, hold on, take this too," the florist says, handing her a single carnation. "You'll be seeing Max before he goes, right? Hand it to him so he doesn't need to drop by, yeah?"

(As for Max…)

"I mean, at least you two could still be here for the war," Gray says.

"Have fun!" Levy beams, making the effort to come out on her crutch to see them off. "You'll definitely be home for Fantasia, right?"

"That's for sure! Won't miss it for the most important exam in the world."

"No, no, please don't miss that!"

Max nurses his injuries with a dry laugh, wincing as he strains his casted arm. Laki chuckles at that, carrying two duffles bags for both of them. Alzack and Bisca sigh at the sight, their smaller travel bags on each shoulder. The latter two were to accompany them as escorts on the journey.

"I don't think this makes a good impression for college," Max says.

"This is the best first impression! Poetic, almost," Laki beams, balling a fist. "Council school is a warzone, you know! Gotta establish dominance or the Rune Knight wannabes will bully the heck outta ya."

"Yeah… not looking forward to that either… out of the fire into the pot or something."

"Pot, into the fire!"

Pursuing further studies isn't something common for mercenary mages, but Laki and Max were given the opportunity by Master, so they took it. Levy used to go, too, though she didn't follow Laki into succeeding years.

(They had a feeling someone else used to go to school with them, too, but… alas, they can't quite remember who it could have been.)

"Either way, call us once you're there, alright?" Gray says. "Alzack and Bisca, take care of these buffoons on the way, and whatever you do, don't lose Laki, got it? We don't want another OVTI Incident."

"We do not talk about the Orangutan Vocational Training Institute incident!" Laki protests.

"Are you still in contact with them?" Alzack asks, a little mortified.

"Don't worry, I came prepared," Bisca assures brightly. "I'm wearing hunting gear today, so no prey can get away! Fresh game is always the best."

"Don't! We need to be alive when we get to campus!" Max yelps.

If Levy's honest, her smile feels autopilot, and she's not really sure why.

She isn't upset. She definitely isn't. Everyone jumped in to get revenge for her, so how could she still be sad about anything? She hasn't felt more loved in her life.

"You don't have to keep blaming yourself," Levy chuckles, when Lucy meekly serves up a special milkshake for her. Apparently it's from Elfman, because he promised her one and somehow, he accidentally made two.

(Levy understands. He's always been a stress baker, and Levy knows that if any of them dropped by the Strauss house now, they would be getting a full pastry buffet for the next few weeks.)

Levy relishes in the flavour.

"But I can't help feeling a little guilty," Lucy says, lounging on the dorm couch, across the pillows as Levy sits on the carpet, nursing all her wounds in the comfort of Plue on her lap. "If I had just faced my father from the very start…"

"Everyone wants to run from their fears," Levy says. "I think that makes you human. You don't need to fault yourself for it."

Even just thinking back to that day— it makes her hands tremble. Her legs will both need braces for probably the rest of her life, but Jet and Droy were in similar boats, with Jet's arms not quite working right and Droy finding it difficult to work around his aching spine. At the very least, Levy's arms were alright, and Jet's feet were fine, so they could both use their magic as they used to. ( Almost, as they used to.)

There are marks on Levy's stomach that are faint and visible when she looks in the mirror. She had to toss her crop tops and corsets and bikini tops, sticking to the comfortable one-piece dresses in her closet instead. She couldn't handle the faint outline of Phantom's mark on her own body, and it was all she wanted to hide .

Levy cradles the scar on her belly with confliction, and Lucy notices it, frowning.

"It makes me human," Lucy admits. "And I don't regret it… but things can always be better. And I can't hide forever. It'll just come bursting back out one day, and I'll realize everything I've been missing out in the meantime."

She cradles her keys.

She'd nearly lost them all because she was too scared to face her fears— too scared to go back to her past— and she never wants to feel like that again.

"I think we all have the right to take our time…" Lucy says, "but I can't be satisfied until it's fixed for good. I'll never be able to sleep well, knowing my regrets still lie out there."

Levy averts her eyes.

She still trembles, uncomfortable.

She can't fathom how much courage facing your greatest fears could take. Elfman struggles just like her— but Mirajane is taking her steps forward, and Lucy's shoulders are pulled back so she can lift her head with pride.

"Don't overdo it, though," Levy says, hand resting gently over Lucy's. "We're all here for you, and we'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. Don't forget that."

Lucy's smile is blinding, and wonderful. "I know."

Cana groans, resting a hand on the band aid around her tender ear.

"You know, I do think it's weird," Cana says. "I mean, I get that Phantom's sub-branches were all a little far, but whatever happened to them?"

"Well…" Enno chuckles, cooking in the half-restructured outdoor guild kitchen because the guild's getting renovated and the boys are hungry. "I think you'll want to take a look at the newspaper I brought. Let's just say, global warming is pretty scary."

Cana raises a brow in confusion.

She takes the newspaper, opening it and immediately bursting into guffaws.

"GUYS!" she screams in the general direction of the crowd. "GUYS, GUYS LOOK!" she raises the newspaper up as Macao, Wakaba, Krov, Nab, and the others all turn around in confusion. "GUYS, LOOK WHAT LAXUS DID!"

The guild's in tatters.

Gray and Laki did temporary fixes, but in the end, they still had to tear most of it down to rebuild it, because most of the walls were unsalvageable. The able-bodied members of the guild were helping out with the renovation while everyone got things redone.

The town's not too happy with them, but things were working out. They were coming back around well. Sometimes, the town will drop by with food or groceries, knowing the members were far too busy or injured to pick up their own.

It took a long time for the formal proceedings and investigations to settle, but things were fine now.

They gathered around the guild hall like they did every day, and Enno even came back to work part time in what was left of the bar, since Mira had damage control to deal with. They sat around the table and laughed about their guild's antics.

And things were starting to become fine once again.

Laxus sneezes.

"Laxus?! Are you sick?!" Freed yelps.

"Again??" Evergreen yells.

"Someone, call the scary granny!" Bickslow yells, "Laxus rolled around in the mud and got sick aGAIN."

"Aye sir!" Happy calls, zooming right off.

"DON'T YOU DARE," Laxus immediately snaps at the top of his lungs, a heavensent bolt of lightning shooting the imbecile of a cat right out of the air.

He picks up Happy by the scruff and tosses him aside, where Bickslow catches him.

"You're so mean," Bickslows says. His dolls echo his criticism, and Laxus scowls. "Poor Happy got stuck with the mean dragon instead of the nice one."

"You wanna get shot out of the sky too?" Laxus grumbles. "And you've something coming for you if you think Natsu is the nice one…"

With a chuckle, Evergreen reaches out a forkful of cake in Happy's direction, and the cat tearfully allows himself to be fed. Freed pats the cat on the head, hoping that's a form of consolation.

"Can you guys not do that?" The waiter without a shirt groans, dropping the tray with a tower of cupcakes on the table. "The people of Margaret aren't used to lightning and fireworks in broad daylight, without warning. You're freaking them out."

At current, the Thunder Legion are in Margaret Town, enjoying the hospitality of Lamia Scale and staying over at their guild dorms for a couple days. They'd spent the past days dealing with Phantom Lord branches and just got back late last night. Freed even happily answered an exclusive interview when Jason spotted them and squealed about the carnage being reported over lacrima vision.

Laxus scoffs.

"We're not used to seeing guild mages wait tables either, but we can't all have a compromise," he says.

"Hey! I'll have you know this is a legitimate job because we make the effort to help around town often," Lyon Vastia of Lamia Scale slams his hand on the table, "we helped you destroy so many Phantom branches and Jura-san's dealing with the backlash from the council for you! The least you could do is pretend to be grateful!

"Hey, you gnat, don't you dare raise your voice at Laxus!" Freed snaps.

"I raise my voice at whoever the damn hell I please!" Lyon retorts, "how long are you going to stay here anyways?! Go back to Magnolia!"

"Can't," Evergreen says, pulling at Happy's cheeks like he were a squeezy toy. "Master would be mad at us, so we can't go home yet."

Freed nods. "He'll make us do all our own paperwork if we do, so we make a habit of only going back once the paperwork's estimated due date goes by."

"Ain't it fine, we appreciate your hospitality," Bickslow beams. "Also, can we get a refill for the coffee?"

"Plus, you kind of smell like Gray," Happy says. "It's nice."

"Agh, you mentioned him! You better not say anything about this to him!" Lyon snaps, "also, I saw you shock the cat out of the air! That's animal abuse! If you're not going to take care of him, give him to me!"

"Oh, so your love of cats is the same as Gray's."

"Nyeh, I'm starting to miss Natsu already," Happy says, "he would be so much nicer and less overbearing than all of you."

"Thanks for walking me all the way, Natsu," Makarov beams. "Sure is nice to have an escort, every once in a while."

Natsu hums, noncommittal. "Didn't have anything better to do."

And he didn't want to deal with any questions, either. Gramps wouldn't ask anything. He had been injured, too, some broken bones, but other than lining up to get treated by Mama Enno, he did nothing else. The guild members seemed pretty busy, so they didn't ask after him either. It was fine.

Natsu freezes in his steps when he catches the smell of something —

—he turns back abruptly, but the crowd had melded. He thinks he sees an olive jacket in the crowd, but he doesn't find it.

He clutches his scarf.

"What's wrong, Natsu?"

"Ah, no," his instinctive answer, "it's nothing."

Loke always smelled warmly like the scent of Anna-sensei on his scarf. Of course, never as much as Lucy, but just enough to be strange. Natsu didn't ask questions, because he knew he would appreciate the other way around too.

But something was wrong with that smell.

It felt… exhausted .

"Something's clearly bothering you, Natsu," Makarov says. "Won't you sate an old man's curiosity, at the very least?"

Natsu frowns at Master Makarov. But that's fair enough. He'll ask something else instead, Makarov would notice but he wouldn't mind.

"No, it's nothing, it's just… you smell kinda familiar?"

"Well, you've been in my guild for seven years. I'd be worried if I didn't smell familiar."

"Yeah, yeah, not what I meant, just…" Natsu crouches down and picks at the old man's coat, burying his nose into the edge in confusion. "Porlyusica-san always smells like Deeny. Maybe that's it…? No, there's something else."

"You know, I thought we broke this dog-sniffing habit of yours," Makarov sighs.

It is incredibly weird to have Natsu sniff at him in depth in the middle of the road, but alas, what can he do when he has a dragon's child in his guild?

"I got it!" Natsu lifts his head so quickly, he brightens with childlike exuberance that Makarov is sure he hasn't seen in a while. "I got it! You smell like Sunshine!"

Makarov is confused. "Well, I did stand for a while under the sun today…?"

"No, not that, uh—"

Natsu knocks twice on the ground.

"Ryos! Junior, come out, come out!"

A tiny head pokes out of the ground and Makarov is baffled . How long has that kid been in their shadow? How did Natsu know that?

"Junior, wanna take a whiff?" Natsu offers.

"Oh, so I'm not getting asked if I'm okay with it?" Makarov murmurs.

Ryos blinks in confusion, but he seems to notice the smell too, and he leaps out of the shadows so quickly, Makarov ends up with an armful of tiny dragon child desperately sniffing at his chest all over again. He wonders when he signed up for this.

Ryos turns back to Natsu with all the enthusiasm of a child on a birthday shopping trip. "Sting!" he declares. "His magic! It smells like Sting!"

"Right?!" Natsu beams. "He must've been at Polyusica-san's place! Let's go find him, yeah?"

"Sting! Sting's alive! Sting's here! He's so near!"

Makarov can't help but stare at them both.

(Since when has Natsu been so bright and excitable? He's always been… but how long has he not seen it?)

(Why did it take so long for Makarov to notice it?)

"Ah, so that's that," Natsu says, "sorry, gramps!" Natsu says, chuckling, "can I walk Junior to the East Forest?"

"Sure, sure, I'll go back on my own," Makarov says. "Take care of him, yeah?"

"I will!"

"Makarov waves them both off as Ryos follows Natsu side by side instead of going back into the shadows.

The child was from Phantom, so if he was here, the legal proceedings must have finally settled down for Phantom Lord, too. Makarov knows that Gajeel was arrested along with Jose and the rest of the Element Four, but the rest of the members must have been released early on probation.

That child must not have anywhere to go, yet.

"Hmm… maybe I'll offer an invitation when they get back," Makarov murmurs to himself. "It would certainly do good to have him in the guild, if he makes Natsu so happy for once. Laxus would love another little brother…"

"Wha— what do you mean, her room is empty?" Erza's jaw drops.

Levy shakes her head, holding the note. "She said she went home!"

"What?!"

Gray slams the doors of Fairy Hills open, earning a shriek from Wakaba's daughter who was sitting at the sofa.

"GUYS," he calls.

"Only girls here, get out!" Erza immediately hollers back.

Gray gives her a stare. Erza raises a brow right back. Then, Gray continues, "guys, it's important."

"No, what's important is you get out!" Levy snaps, "also, rent a Magic Four Wheeler for us. WE ARE LEAVING IN TWENTY SECONDS."

"Yes, we damn right fucking are!" Gray snaps, then. "Wait, where?"

"To find LUCY, obviously?!" Levy throws her hands into the air.

"What? Where's Lucy?!" Gray screeches, "what happened to Lucy?! We literally just fought a war for her. Where did she go?!"

"Well she left a damn message saying she went HOME!" Levy shrieks, and at this point, no one even understands why they are screaming. Wakaba's daughter covers her ears as she watches the spectacle before her.

"WHY?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"Wait," Erza pushes their faces away from each other. How are they not deaf yet? "What brought you here in the first place then, Gray?"

Gray realizes he hadn't addressed it yet, so he lifts the paper in his hands. "Loke!!" he says. "Loke's gone! And just— LOOK."

He unwrinkles the horribly crumpled paper and Levy leans over to look.

Levy screams. "HE'S LEAVING THE GUILD?!" which makes Erza gasp and Chico, who had been taking an afternoon nap upstairs, comes down the stairs utterly annoyed and confused. "BUT WHY?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Gray yells. "I don't even know where the hell he is!"

"Wait, what's going on?"

"Can we stop screaming…"

"No wait! Loke I don't know, but LUCY WENT BACK TO HER DAD," Levy shrieks again, "This is more urgent! Loke we can go chase him down later, he'll get what's coming for him. LUCY FIRST."

"No, Loke's been acting strange for the past while! Definitely look for him first!"

"But we don't know where he even is?!?"

"Who was last with him– LUCY," Gray balks. "LUCY MIGHT KNOW SOMETHING."

"STOP FREAKING OUT AND HAVE A DECENT CONVERSATION AT A REASONABLE VOLUME!" Erza finally joins the loud screaming team. "BOTH OF YOU SIT DOWN."

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO SIT DOWN!" they yell, synchronously.

Honestly, Loke didn't mean to take advantage of the current unrest to quietly slide out of town without any intention to come back. He left the leaving note on his dorm table in hopes they won't find it too soon. So, perhaps, they'll just be too busy restructuring their lives to catch up to him in the end.

The attacks were getting too frequent, Seizures, too obvious. He couldn't just stay every day in his dorm, hoping to sleep all day long either— so he walked off.

He wanted to be alone. He didn't want anyone to be sad.

"...Loke?"

Loke jumps, completely caught off guard.

Lucy's behind him, and she's dressed well today. It's strange to see her in a modest, mid-thigh pencil skirt rather than the minis she clearly preferred. She's even wearing a turtleneck, and the jewellery she chose today— diamond studs, for an elegant, luxurious impression, despite being cheap fashion jewellery— didn't quite suit her as much as the usual hook and dangle charms. She even donned an unusual branded purse for the occasion.

The only thing that didn't quite match with her outfit today was Lionrock, hanging as a donut bangle at the strap of her handbag.

"Huh? Lucy?"

He didn't expect to see anyone today. Or ever again.

"You, well. You look beautiful. What's the occasion?"

Her Nicola stood by her feet, looking toward Loke with a concerned frown. Loke's instincts take right over, and he's crouching down to pick it up before he even realizes it, helping it to a comfortable perch on his shoulder.

Lucy simply chuckles at that. "Well, it's etiquette for these parts. I can't exactly just show up in shorts and spaghetti straps if I want a conservative adult man to think I'm taking him seriously."

The first step to a sincere conversation was to find common ground and work their way up from there, after all.

"Ah, I guess that makes sense…" Loke, too, preferred to be in suits in Blue Pegasus. He had wanted to meet Karen in her standards, in hopes she would one day see the human in him too… alas. "Wait, where exactly are you going, Lucy?"

Lucy shifts on her foot. "I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing here, Loke?" she looks beyond Loke— then, steps back, pulling the view behind her to the prairie. "What are you doing on the Heartfilia Estate?"

Loke falls silent.

He hadn't noticed. He tightens his hold on— Plue, was that the nickname she gave it? It's just comforting enough to calm him down and come up with an excuse.

"...oh," it comes out, dumbly. "If I'm honest, it's because this place smelled like home to me, for some reason. So, my feet just brought me here."

That wasn't a lie at all.

Lucy's eyes softened at that.

"Why would it?" she says, almost disbelieving. But she composes herself to look toward the mansion. "But if this place could be something like that for someone… maybe that's a good thing. It's a relief to know that there is still warmth here, after all. I've always thought it was the coldest place on Earthland… even though it used to be the warmest."

Loke smiles.

"Do you miss your home, from when it was once warm? Do you ever wish you could go back in time, if only to experience that warmth once more and treasure it better this time?"

Lucy hums. "You say some poetic things sometimes. You do that to pick up girls often?" she teases, earning a bark of a laugh from Loke as he's caught in the act.

"But are you sure? You're going to meet your father alone," Loke says. "I mean… unless, it'd be better if I stopped you right now?"

It might be fortune that Loke got found. What if she hadn't been here to talk, but to return? It would be a disaster, and the guild would be dunked in even worse reputation.

Lucy shakes her head. "I have to do this alone, because it's my problem," Lucy says, eyes firm with resolve. "Thanks, Loke. For offering. And for asking. You're pretty nice when it counts."

"Well, what can I say… I've interacted with enough ladies in my life to understand the 'Not Interested' signals. You're clearly not in the mood, so I can't exactly offer you a drink in these trying times. You would—"

"Refuse you?"

"--refuse me, yes, at best," Loke says, "spike my drink or call the bouncer at worst."

"Loke, that's dangerous. Stop doing that."

"But I don't wanna disappoint the ladies . Don't you know the male species are apparently supposed to take care of themselves?"

"Why are you as old-fashioned as my dad?" Lucy sighs, longsuffering. "Keep playing around like that and one day the stars will bestow their judgment on you!"

Loke pauses in surprise.

"The… what?"

Lucy catches herself, embarrassed. "Oh! Uhm, nothing. Just," she plays with her fingers, bashful, "you know how the stars are always watching from above? My mom used to tell me not to play too many tricks, because they would know. And so, if I became a Celestial Wizard, all I'd ever get are spirits that are mean to me, like Aquarius!"

She laughs at herself, memories fondly rising to the surface.

It's an old Celestial superstition that's still partially correct. The King, at least, continues to watch over the mages from above. The others only watch on occasion, and usually only their owners.

Loke didn't know people still remembered it. Most of them had long forgotten the history of the very first contract, so much that wizards like Karen are now the norm.

Lucy's smile was contagious.

Loke catches Plue humming warmly, and Loke can't help but agree, nuzzling into the little Nicola's cheek as they both reveled in the presence of a wizard that truly, deeply, loved Spirits from the bottom of her heart.

"You should get going, then," Loke says, "may the stars look fondly upon you, may their light lead your path, and may their guidance bring you glory."

Lucy's smile bloomed into something so much sweeter at those words.

"That's such a beautiful phrase," she says.

Loke knows. It used to be customary, but it faded with the respect the Celestials had for humanity. He brings it back, because for the first time in a very long, long time— it felt right. It felt perfect.

"It's been a pleasure being your friend and fighting by your side, Lucy," Loke says, taking her hand and planting a knight's greeting kiss. "Thank you, for allowing me to meet such a wonderful Celestial Spirit Wizard."

Loke doesn't turn around when he leaves. So he doesn't see the way Lucy continues to look at him as he goes.

Lucy doesn't understand what she's seeing.

Plue has always loved crawling around people and asking for hugs, Macao's recently been assigned climbing post— but this is the first time someone has willingly reached for Plue first, other than herself. And it's also the first time someone has comfortably nuzzled against Plue without asking Lucy first.

It is, also, the first time Plue has looked so miserable to be separated and put down. He whined. That never happens.

"Let's go, Plue," Lucy says, picking him up. "Wanna go back to the Celestial World?"

Plue nods, and scatters off in pink smoke. It surprises Lucy, but she chuckles, understanding. It's better like this, anyways. Plue always made people feel warm, calm, and cheerful. Lucy couldn't have those emotions now— she needs to be steeled, determined, and fierce, to show herself as a prideful, confident woman.

She can do this.

She will.

"You have the gall to return after what you've pulled!" Jude raises his voice, "you defamed my name across the country, launched a smear campaign! Now the Fiorean railway is no longer getting the support of the nobles or the royal kingdom, and my connections have all cut contact with me! You've ruined us! You've ruined us all!"

Lucy feels larger than she should be when she dons her mother's dresses.

She feels like she used to do so long ago, when she would play princess and try her best to imitate the woman who was the symbol of perfection and pride to her, because she loved her so much.

Now, Lucy feels like a cheap imitation.

"You did it all to yourself," she says, and her father shoots her a glare so fierce, so furious, she nearly flinches back and turns away. She holds back her instincts to run, to cower, to apologize.

But she doesn't.

She doesn't care if she's being unfilial, or rude, or speaking out of turn.

"What did you just say?" Jude demands. It's a challenge.

"You did it all to yourself!" Lucy affirms. She's afraid. She's so afraid she can't breathe. "You started this all. I was free on my own, and you were thriving here, with your business. If there's anyone that ruined what both of us had, it was you!"

Jude's face morphed in anger.

"If you listened to me for even one time in your life, none of this would have happened!" Jude shouts. "Is it so unreasonable that the only thing I asked for was a good, respectable daughter? I did everything to ensure you would have a good future, and you never listen! Did you ever think that all of this, all of Layla's legacy and property— it's all going to be gone because of YOU?"

Lucy's voice pitches into high, tears burning in her eyes.

"You didn't do any of this for me!" she screams. "You did it for YOU! YOURSELF! I don't want this house! I don't want this stupid, fucking business , what has it ever done for me?"

"I gave you a life of luxury to grow up in!"

"You gave me a childhood where my father spent my birthdays working instead of celebrating!" she yells.

There is abruptly nothing when Lucy takes a breath. Jude doesn't respond.

So she continues.

"Who cares about the house? Who cares about the business ? Who cares about riches and luxuries? I lost it all along with my father seven years ago when mom died, and some monster stood in his place while I tried my best to get any ounce of love from him!"

Jude falls silent.

He falls deathly silent. Almost as if he'd just dumbly, so dumbly realized all of what Lucy's telling him— he took a horrified step back, eyes wide, unable to speak for himself.

"What… what are you even saying, Lucy?"

(Denial. Of course, he's in denial.)

Lucy wipes away her tears and squeezes her eyes shut. Her head hurts from trying not to bawl. Her throat hurts, from just screaming . Everything is too much and she just wants to hit him, but that wouldn't solve a thing.

"You don't have to understand," she says. "I don't think I care anymore. This is all so stupid. I don't know why I even bothered."

Lucy does not want anything from this house. Not the dresses. Not the money. Not the warm, secure atmosphere that it was supposed to have. Not the presence of the parent that couldn't love her by lieu of being a horrid shell of who he once was.

"You know, those many months I spent on my own, struggling to survive on the streets," Lucy says, trying hard not to sound too incoherent through her tears but failing, "those were the happiest days of my life."

Jude's fist clenches, not in anger, but in horrific realization.

What did it mean for him as a father when his daughter tells him something like that?

He didn't need to ask. The bitter, disgusting churn of awful ness could have been a knife through his gut and he wouldn't feel the difference.

There's nothing he can say.

"I wasn't here to throw all my grievances in your face," Lucy says, finally. "So I'll get going. But I'm happy to know we're in agreement. I'll be leaving through the front door this time, and you are going to watch me go without stopping me, and without pulling any of this nonsense ever again."

It's an order. Or a request. Or a prediction, it didn't matter. It's going to happen, and Jude cannot protest.

"Goodbye, father ," the word is sincere.

But it's the most painful thing she has ever said to him.

She throws the greeting to the man he once was, in the same way one would speak to a gravestone of someone that was once loved dearly.

Jude is alive, but for perhaps the first time in a long time, he's realized that he hasn't been living. For seven years, he had been a corpse marionetting the role of what he thought was human, and he had failed to understand that.

For the first time in his long, work-centric life, he has realized what it means to be dead .

Lucy turns around and heads toward the door without hesitation.

The guild mark in her hand suits her, a light, comforting pink so childlike. It is not an appropriate colour for a woman in nobility, for it's customary to go for deeper, mature shades at marriageable age.

Lucy does not conform. Lucy has never wanted to.

Jude has never noticed.

"Wait," he says.

To his surprise, Lucy does.

She doesn't turn to look at him, but he'll take what he can get.

"The property will most likely be seized, once I collapse completely," Jude says. "Everything in this mansion is meaningless to me now, except your mother's grave. Take whatever you want, because in time, it will be the only thing left."

Lucy clicks her tongue.

"I don't want anything in this house!" she insists. "You can take it and go die in a ditch with it, somewhere out of my sight! After you move mom's grave!"

Jude sighs, unable to argue any longer. He'd long run out of points to pretend to have.

"You're free to change your mind," he says. "You can come back, if you need time. You don't even have to greet me, I'll pretend not to see you if that's what you prefer."

"I'm not changing my mind!" Lucy insists, throwing the door open and slamming it behind her. "And I'm never coming back!"

What they had will never return. Perhaps, that's the best for both of them.

Jude sighs, sitting on his desk, head in his hands.

Spetto comes in, a cup of tea on a tray.

He cracks an eye open, frowning. "I didn't ask for tea, though."

Spetto smiles. "Then, I will leave it here so you may watch it get cold," she says. "Surely, that's more entertaining than the paperwork you haven't been reading?"

He closes his eyes, unable to find a response.

He doesn't have the energy to be annoyed.

He doesn't have the right to be.

"Ask everyone in the mansion to go find better jobs," he says. "Quitting immediately would be preferable. It'd be a shame if you let the Heartfilia name hurt your next chances."

He never thought he'd ever have to say that.

But as a former mercenary, (so long ago, so long ago he only vaguely remembers the feeling and doesn't understand much anymore,) he knows how they feel, and he won't fault them for jumping overboard on a sinking ship like this one.

He wishes they'd all go, so he could wallow in his shame in peace.

"I brought this upon myself," he says. "Maybe Lucy is right. I should face it, alone, like the cruel tycoon I was trying to be, as everything I worked for crumbles around me. It would be a befitting ending for me."

Spetto doesn't deny it.

But she also doesn't leave the room.

"...don't you have to see Lucy out?" Jude wonders. "Has she already left?"

"No, she is currently in the library," Spetto chuckles. Seems like Lucy did change her mind, after all. "The perimeter guards have also told us to expect some guests."

Jude hums. "Then see to it that she and the guests receive the finest hospitality the Konzern has to offer. They'll be our last guests, might as well go all out."

Spetto beams, "is that your way of atoning, sir?"

"Of course not. I don't have the right nor the time for such nonsense."

Jude takes a sip of the tea, and picks up the paperwork.

"But you workers of the mansion, and the mansion's name that Layla left behind… it deserves to remain intact. Then, at least…" he sighs. "At least, the name of Heartfilia will remain unsmudged, and 'Jude' will be the only stain in this family's history."

He can't pretend to be doing this for anyone else.

This is all for himself. For his selfish pride, as someone who pretends to be doing this all for the wife that died and the daughter that left him. This is all for himself. So he will be the despicably prideful man he is, and accept his defeat and consequence with grace befitting of a noble.

He preached pride and nobility so much, forced it on his daughter, not realizing how much she hurt to keep it up. He can't throw it aside once it stops benefitting him. He doesn't deserve to run away like a hypocritical coward.

Let him be judged by the heavens as guilty and burned rightfully at the stake, for he has doubled down on his faults and flaws many times without remorse, so he doesn't have the right to start now.

He is pathetic. And a pathetic man he will be, binded by his own values to the bitter end.

Lucy didn't intend to stay any longer than she needed to. But then the maids were pleading for her to take a book or a pastry to go, and Lucy finds herself in the library she has never wandered much in her childhood.

To her, the library was always a world of expectations. To go into the library was to study. There are only records, encyclopedias, journals, and textbooks on business and the records of their associates, all for the Heartfilia family, the Heartfilia family— everything in here she hated, because nothing she did in here was ever satisfactory for her father.

That was why she turned to fiction, to tales of dragons and fairies and adventure, and that was where she stayed.

She did not think this library had anything of value to her.

"Don't say that," Bero and Ribbon usher her in. "There are books here you will never find elsewhere."

She humours them.

There are books about the Celestials, journals of her ancestors who were Celestial Spirit Mages… and despite her grievances, once Lucy picked one up, she just couldn't put it back down.

The gentle weight of each book, the tender, delicate way the words are weaved together as an educational piece— they're different from the light, sporadic notes of an adventure piece meant to draw you in.

Fiction has always spoken more for Lucy, but these, non-fiction, have always felt more like mom , and it brings her back home.

"Hey… Bero-san," she calls, prodding at Lionrock around her purse. "Have there ever been accounts of spirits bestowing magical tools upon humans?"

Yes, there have.

They've had different appearances over the centuries, because they can be altered as the spirits desire, customized for their owners.

"Your mother's rose brooch, that she always wears at the front of her chest… it was called the Algedi, the alpha star of Capricorn's collection," Bero says, "Capricorn offered it to her so long ago, and she never went a day without it."

The damask rose, the symbol of the Heartfilia. Her mother had always worn that brooch, formed so delicately of unknown metal, with so much pride. Though Lucy was put into her mother's old dresses, the rose that the maids affixed to her chest for her had been a fresh rose from the gardens, not her mother's delicate symbol of authority.

Lucy had thought it went missing after her death, but now, perhaps, it made more sense that it was returned to the spirit world at the end of their contracts.

"The… alpha star?" Lucy wonders. "What's that?"

She eats her words right after saying it. How could she not know? She's supposed to be the Celestial Spirit mage, it's appalling that she has the gall to ask so curiously after so long of neglecting any studying at all.

But Ribbon and Bero only smile proudly.

"I believe we have records of it," Ribbon says. "I'll collect them for you. Do wait at the study area, I'll ask someone to fetch you some tea as well."

Lucy's shoulders ease. Why did she ever doubt?

"Alright then, I will."

She doesn't want to stay in this mansion any longer— but if she ignored who this house now belonged to, perhaps, she can revel in this nostalgia a little longer.