The door to her home eased open, allowing Minerva to see the immaculate, well-organized pieces of furniture and bits of art recovered from some of the Bosco destruction. The scant dawn light touched at its fringes, afraid to show what'd been a highlight of a now-dead nation. Minerva kept her hair up as she sauntered through the foyer into the first corridor and then the living room, where her dutiful husband remained, at work as always.

Kiyl was hunched over a desk, whatever light of dawn blocked from touching him as he was covered by a curtain yet had a small lamp flickering there.

"Welcome back," he said, voice as droll as always. His hair was pulled back, an almost welcome sight, so that he could read his reports. No doubt he was writing up a trivial retelling of how the operation to recover her father went.

The young, battle-hungry woman in Minerva screamed out from the depths of her soul to ask what'd happened to Jiemma, if it was true that he was, at last, a demon of Tartaros. But she couldn't summon enough care for that, nor to answer her husband.

Husband.

"Don't disturb me," Minerva said. "I'm going to draw a bath."

Kiyl didn't respond and continued working. Minerva closed the door to her room, decorated with various pieces of paraphernalia from the old Sabertooth guild hall. Trophies of their battles, a few bones of her enemies, and a bow that she'd used in her days on the run from other guilds as she attempted to prove herself to the Twilight Empire.

She eased out of her blue dress, it already loose from her night with Ruhan, an up-and-coming General in the Crystal Division. They'd met at their usual spot at the bar before returning to his home, where they fucked. Or, rather, he fucked her first because she needed to take her mind off of things, and then she fucked him because she needed more release than whatever he could provide on his own.

He was good at it, fucking. Real good. It was what kept her going back to him. The man couldn't tie his shoes without Minerva's help but he knew how to move at a rhythm and with a power Minerva enjoyed; then, he knew how to let his own legs bend to her, how to quiver at her superior touch.

He, at least, had a soul, too. He could look into her eyes as he thrust and grunted, he could demand something from her because he liked it and wanted to. He was not so much an automaton of the Twilight Empire as some.

Minerva eased into the bathroom, catching a glimpse of herself. Her makeup ran a bit down her face. She'd used her Territory magic to get from Ruhan's home to her home in the Dragon Division's tower. Though she and Kiyl were of equal rank, the Empire wasn't so progressive as to let Minerva be the one technically in charge of the relationship. She played second fiddle to his whims and wishes.

The bath warmed quickly, partly because of her own magic, and she dipped a toe in.

Sometimes, she wondered if Kiyl would react if he walked in on Ruhan and Minerva caught in the act at their home. The thought tantalized Minerva, not only for getting a possible reaction out of Kiyl but to get away from the gruff, earthy place that Ruhan lived in.

She sank into the water and let her slick leg stick out, water trailing down it, little droplets running a race back for the rest of the bathwater. Her hair pooled out all around her.

Some bruises were still obvious on her body, particularly her arms and part of her legs. Those weren't from Ruhan—he was rough, but, he wouldn't beat her.

It was those damn Fairies.

When Minerva returned, having failed in her mission, she anticipated a full reprimand. Orga had received one, and he'd apparently only just been released from the torture chambers for his failure. Perhaps he'd finally been Broken, like Kiyl.

Nobody came to visit her. She expected August to come along and torture her, rip the memories out of her mind. Maybe she'd been taken in by Mard Geer and made Demon as well.

The anticipation didn't gnaw at her. The stagnation of it all did. For days she sat around without orders, left to wander the city, and then met some brute idiot for a momentary release of the dullard world before returning to the grays and blacks of her home.

Minerva trailed her finger lithely along the rim of the tub.

What would it be like, she wondered, if Kiyl were…unbroken? Would he come to love her, or did he, deep down, understand the nature of their marriage?

It was an arrangement, an agreement. It was one of several that bridged the wounds from Bosco's destruction into its full incorporation as part of the Twilight Empire.

At that time, Minerva had something to prove. Her power, though great, was nothing compared to the invasive forces that'd so doggedly destroyed her for weeks, years. She had to show them her own mettle, or, at worst, find a way to ensure their good graces so that she may one day usurp its power.

What luck, then, that the new Sea King Dragon Slayer had been made an eligible bachelor, as a part of his home being wiped out. The Empire needed a formidable woman for him to marry, to show unity. Others between the Empire and Bosco had been married off, but this was to be high-profile. And for a time, it was.

For a time it was well-known and spoken of that Minerva of Sabertooth had been married to Kiyl of the Dragon Division. When they were in public, they were followed. Minerva was at the top of the Imperial world and conversation. She quickly rose the ranks, second only to the greatest assassin the world had ever seen, and one day.

But that was all the public saw. Minerva always knew the truth of it, even if, in those halcyon months, she wanted to deny the fate she'd been bound to. Kiyl was Broken almost right away, given to her in his manacled state. She tried to make love to him in ways that could never satisfy him, only her, and, in a short time, even that stopped. She put on a face outside, but within the walls of their tower, she too came to wear the dead-eyed, soulless expressions of her husband.

Until others, until she found some solace from soldiers she kept quiet in the Twilight Division. Then, at last, came Ruhan, who kept their relationship silent and didn't much care for Minerva until they crossed paths. She liked the distance.

Yet, that was it. The trap was set. For resisting the Empire in her early days, they'd bestowed upon her a life she was unable to break free from.

Minerva caught some water in a ball.

Possibly.

There was a way out. An opening, as a result of Fairy Tail's return:

The Hunter's Division had no Captain, only two Generals who'd failed in equal turn. But Minerva was not the one who suffered the fate of Orga. Were they preparing her, preparing things behind the scenes for her ascendancy to Captain? Perhaps then she could negotiate her own place, her own stay within the tower of the Hunter's Division. Then, she and Ruhan—

"Minerva?"

Her eyes widened and at once her nakedness was…alarming. Everything about the place was wrong because of that voice.

The voice of Invel, the Winter General.

How'd he come in? When? Why would Kiyl—ah. Of course. A Broken wizard was nothing safe for a good lapdog.

"I'll just be a moment, sir," Minerva said and eased out of the bath that'd so comforted her.

Invel took his time leaving her room. He wasn't a creep or pervert waiting to get a look at her but was mocking her laziness, taking his time as she'd done herself. She cast a towel about her to help try herself off, casting a spell on her hair to absorb the water out of it and dry it off.

When at last she emerged from her room it was in her more casual Hunter's Division Livery, complete with her General lapel.

Kiyl remained at his desk until he snapped to attention and handed his reports to Invel.

"Very good," Invel said without reading it. "See to it that you speak with Sting and Rogue about this as well."

"Yes, sir," Kiyl said, and departed, fixing his hair so it was back to normal.

The door to the house shut, leaving Minerva alone with Invel, who carefully folded the report and slid it into his coat.

"I'm here on behalf of the Emperor," Invel said.

Minerva raised an eyebrow and welcomed the butterflies in her stomach. "What is his will?"

"In light of recent events there must be a change of the guard, so to speak, within the Hunter's Division," Invel said. He folded his hands. "As Jacob Lessio remains at large, we must at once fill the vacancy left in his absence. Therefore, we have decided that Orga will be filling in as Captain."

Minerva's eyebrow twitched. Invel adjusted his glasses and waited for her to respond.

"His power and formidability have proven out," Invel said. "He is an appropriate foe for the likes of Fairy Tail, it seems, should they take further action. You will report to him moving forward."

"Orga has been defeated by them as many times as I," Minerva said slowly so that the venom in her words wouldn't be so obvious.

"It is a decision," Invel started, "the Emperor made. Do you disagree with him?"

"No," Minerva lied.

"Good," Invel said. "Orga is busy adjusting to the role but will call upon you when it is necessary. Be on the lookout for it."

He gave no further orders, said nothing else, and simply walked out of the room, letting the door ease shut behind him.

Minerva stood, stolid, and stared at the blank door. The horrendously droll apartment. She let the reality of her world crash around her.

And then she obliterated every single bit of furniture in their apartment, ripped apart her clothes, destroyed her trophies, and her past victories, and then stood on the balcony of her home and let the sunrise glow around her.

Rogue was always the one to handle paperwork and administrative work far better than Sting. It bored Sting way too much. He could handle the talking—maybe not the pedantic, hours-long meetings—but Rogue had to do the writing. It was especially frustrating when they had to write out things that everyone had already agreed upon, but, such was life as an official in the Empire.

Axel and Kiyl emerged into Sting and Rogue's shared office. It was a large room built of black stone, with the skull of a great dragon looming overhead, glowering at whoever entered the room. It was one of many that'd been dug out of the Dragon Graveyard beneath the city, a place since blocked off for use and study only by the Emperor.

Green torches flickered around the wide room. Two desks, one for each Dragon Slayer, were there, and several chairs—plenty for the Division Generals and Captains.

Axel took his seat after Kiyl. The Diamond Dragon Slayer nervously glanced at Sting and Rogue before sitting down.

"Look," Sting said as Rogue set down his pen. "We're only doing this to cross something off all of our checklists. It's not a subject we really want to talk about."

"Then we can just leave," Axel said. "We met, right? Technically."

"What happened in Clover Town was an abject embarrassment that cannot happen again," Rogue said. He stood next to Sting, moving through the shadows with ease. "You two must be held responsible for these failures, as Sting has already faced the burden of bearing that before the other Divisions."

"What?" Axel asked. "Didn't we get a win out of it? Fairy Tail didn't beat us, we had them on the ropes, and we took their one Celestial Spirit Wizard off the board. She's with us now."

"Then remind me," Rogue said. "What happened in the tournament itself?"

"I could've killed Natus Dragneel," Kiyl said. "And Gajeel Redfox."

"But you didn't," Sting said. "And you, Axel, got your ass handed to you worse than Jiemma did. Everyone around the world thinks Natsu is the strongest Dragon Slayer out there because of it."

"We'll move past it, we'll become better because of these failures," Rogue said. "But as of right now, you two must be put off to the sideline. You'll be set for the menial work about the city, the tasks Sting and I must accomplish but haven't the time for with the Grand Finals set to start soon."

Kiyl had no reaction, of course. It was an order, and he'd simply follow it.

Axel gripped the seat of his chair.

"Menial work? I've got Lucy Heartfilia living in my place, one of the most famous Fairies. And I'm being punished?"

"Nobody cares about Lucy," Sting said. "They could if you'd beaten Natsu. Now it only looks like you got mad at him so you stole his girlfriend."

"I've given them reason to come here, we can lay traps, we can beat them."

"You did," Sting said and nodded. "But you won't be the one to deal with it." He folded his arms and eased back against his desk. "For now, we're dispatching Thomas and Kristine to find Fairy Tail and see what they're up to."

They were the best scouts of the Dragon Division, Thomas and Kristine. The Darkness Dragon Slayer and Spark Dragon Slayer, respectively. They could be in and out of a place in a pinch and had creative enough spells in their arsenal to likely get out of Fairy Tail's clutches if caught.

Sting was not the greatest fan of having to use them, though. He'd argued for Axel and Kiyl to have shots at redemption, to have their chance to get back at Fairy Tail. If just a few small things had gone their way, several Fairies would be dead, they'd still have Lucy, and there'd be nothing odd about it. People would remember that year's Grand Magic Games as the one where the Empire snuffed Fairy Tail's flames of hope.

Yet it wasn't so simple, as Rogue was quick to remind Sting. They had a reputation within the Empire to uphold, and Sting and Rogue were on as shaky of ground as Axel and Kiyl.

Dispatching other Dragon Slayers, to show their strength, wasn't just a good move but their best one, to remind those within the Empire that it wasn't just four Dragon Slayers but ten that made up the ranks. If two were slightly faltering, the other eight could pick up the slack.

"I won't apologize," Sting said. "You had your shot and you both blew it. Simple as that."

"Bullshit," Axel said.

Sting was on him fast as light, his hand wrapped around Axel's throat. Axel flinched.

"Come again?" Sting asked, steaming light flowing out of his mouth.

Kiyl watched with a blank expression, then glanced at Rogue, who said nor did anything. Axel kept his mouth shut.

Sting flung him aside. Axel stumbled out of the chair.

"Head to the south walls and start your patrol," Rogue said. "I'll see you later for your next orders."

They were gone without a huff, without any bit of retort. Sting opened and closed his wrist, sparing himself a look at Rogue.

"Any word from Zash?" Sting asked.

"No," Rogue said.

"Damn it, where is he?" Sting muttered.

Zash Caine, a favorite child among the Imperials, was their first choice to monitor Fairy Tail, as he had one of the best commands over the Quartum Army. He, after all, had been the one to bring it forth to the Emperor in the first place, and, in exchange, got his pick of the lacrima they harvested from God Serena.

Naturally, as a man of quite monstrous tendencies, he chose to become the Purgatory Dragon Slayer.

"He should return to the capital soon for the Grand Finals," Rogue said. "We can speak with him, then."

Sting nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Alright, are we good here, man? I've gotta go see Yukino."

"Is everything okay between you two?"

"That's why I need to go see her."

Yukino set her glass down on the table and stared out the window. Silk drapes fluttered in the open air toward her, as if beckoning her for the balcony. She stepped onto the surprisingly warm stone, letting her hands fall on the railing as she stared at the bustling city.

Somewhere out there, Sorano ran about carrying out her tasks as a dutiful member of the Twilight Division, or she was caught up in some sort of sodomy. It was the early afternoon, after all. Sting would likely be out with Rogue.

Lucy Heartfilia was in their tower, too, locked away wherever Axel wanted her. Part of her yearned to see Lucy, to just dig a little into that innocent mind, and ask what she thought of all that Crocus had become. Yet, to fraternize with her at all also seemed…pointless. What could Yukino possibly get from it?

She emerged from the balcony, almost startled at the sight of Sting, who emerged as if from behind the flowing curtains.

Yukino shut the door behind her to cull the winds in the room. He was dressed in his finest livery, but was slowly removing some of his lapels and medals. Yukino remained her nightgown, her hair sitting normally about her head.

"I didn't hear you come in," she said, her voice soft.

"What is it, Yukino?" Sting asked. He set down his Captain's lapel. "What is going on?"

"I'm not sure what you mean?" Yukino asked.

Sting removed his heavy coat, revealing his small jacket underneath, the one he always used to wear. Well, it wasn't the same jacket, but a similar version following in the Twilight Empire's colors.

"With us," he said at last. "I want you to tell me. I need to fix it. Every night since we got home you won't look at me, you won't touch me, and we barely speak. Even then, in Clover Town, it was as if you weren't on my side. What did I do?"

"Nothing," Yukino said, and stepped away.

"That's not true," Sting said, his teeth gritted. "Don't do this to me."

Yukino took a sip from her drink. She tightened her grip around her glass.

"You didn't do anything, Sting," Yukino said. "It was something we did."

"We?"

"Yes. Something we continue to do," Yukino said. "And it's be a part of this life."

"The life we have together?"

Yukino set down her glass, but her hand remained tightly balled. She at last turned to face him, her face hot.

"That exact life."

Sting clearly searched for words, but set his jaw in confusion. Yukino, feeling the weight upon her shoulders come off slightly, ever so, took a step forward. Without that weight, or at least as it continued to drift away, she felt the words so deeply suppressed in her soul at last have the chance to take flight,

"You'd rather go back to what we had before, then?" Sting asked. His voice was lower, more hushed. The walls were always listening in Crocus. "Finding whatever safe place we could beneath our guild hall? Or, better yet, finding anywhere to run? Going to whatever town had enough four-wall buildings for us to hide out in before the Empire eventually came for that one, too?"

For years, after the initial strike against Sabertooth, Yukino forgot what it was like to have a proper bath, to have a proper meal. They lived in the dirt, cleaning in whatever river they could find. Her muscles were sore from walking all day, or from fighting off soldiers that weren't yet looking to recruit but kill.

Yukino forgot what it was like to have friends. Everyone was simply allied with one another, working arm-in-arm to fend off the threats the world presented them.

And then, as allies, they came together in the decision that to survive the new world they simply had to let it absorb them.

Though there'd been one who wasn't just an ally. One who went beyond those limits, who found his way into Yukino's heart. One who provided a shoulder for her, who provided another heart to bleed with.

Sting took the hits Yukino couldn't, and she did the same for him. At night, if he was weary and drained from all the fighting, she'd hold him so he could find comfort in her fellow weariness.

When the Empire came knocking, when the could finally have a crumb of peace, they took it, and they basked in the glory of safety for the first time in years. Fresh clothes, warm food, and a soft place to sleep were a luxury that'd long since left either of their lives, and if it came at the cost of raiding a village or town, or turning away when their fellow guild wizards had their minds snapped in half to serve Zeref, it didn't matter.

Better yet was that they could be together in the throes of as much love as they wanted. They were married no long after entering Imperial service-they'd seen through the darkest parts of the world together and still came out of it with some shred of light found within each other. Who else could they spend the rest of their lives with?

Among the shared blues and whites of their home, with the air settled between them, the room still, Yukino knew that she could give Sting an easy answer to his question: It wasn't the life before that she wanted. Not even the one before the Empire, where she and Sting shared few words outside of a round at the Grand Magic Games.

Before the Empire, Yukino couldn't be bothered to give Sting a second thought. He was just a boisterous boy. But survival changes a person.

"I want you, Sting," Yukino said. "It's all I've ever wanted."

"You have me."

"No," Yukino said. "Zeref has you. August, Invel, all of the Twilight Empire. The Sting I know and married, the Sting who I fell in love with, wouldn't have ever let Fairy Tail get away or just dawdled around Clover Town."

"You want me to be brutal, to have blown up Clover Town?" Sting asked. He finally took a step forward toward Yukino, who remained unmoving."I can do that no problem."

"I don't care if you blow anything up or what you do as long as you do it with some amount of passion," Yukino said.

"You're one to talk."

"What does that mean?"

"You've always been the cold one, Yukino. The calculated one. And here you are telling me to get emotional?"

Yukino folded her arms even though Sting was standing right in front of her, looming a bit over her.

"That's who you are, Sting."

"You should've seen me fighting Fairy Tail."

"Sure. But then who was the calculated one? A sneak attack isn't your style, Sting."

"My way of doing things didn't work, Yukino. I wasn't strong enough. Neither were you. Look at us now, though. We're unbeatable."

Yukino took a step back and drifted toward the window, staring out at the rest of the capital while Sting remained where he was.

"Sure."

"Yukino!"

She glanced over her shoulder, and there, for a moment, was the Sting she remembered. His fists trembled, and his face was mangled with frustration. There wasn't just anger there, but a love trying to burst forth questioning why it was not being met or reciprocated.

"I'm sorry," she said. "That things have become like this."

"They don't have to be," Sting said.

"You're wrong. What the Empire expects of us is absolute loyalty to one another, yes, but to it above all. And how can you be the man you truly want to be while grounded like this? Sting, you're a Dragon Slayer. You're not meant to be cooped up like this. You're meant to take flight, to show the world how incredible your magic really is."

"I have. I'm Captain of the Dragon Division."

"You're a chairman for an event that happens once per year!" Yukino shouted. She wheeled on him. "And me? The supposed greatest Celestial Spirit Wizard? I have three keys, three! I haven't spoken or met with the Celestial Spirit King, my Spirits only come when I've summoned them for Imperial work."

In her youth, her Spirits were no more than servants to Yukino. What mattered above all was the strength they provided her. When she was guild-less, friendless, they became her allies, though slowly, found their way into her heart, as they would come to her side whenever she needed them even if their contract was not designated as such.

"We're safe now, yes, but haven't you thought about the price we're paying for that safety?" Yukino asked. "Your dreams, Sting. Have you forgotten those?"

"My dreams died in the rubble of our guild hall," Sting said.

"Did they?"

"What about you? Don't you have everything you ever wanted? You're reunited with your sister, and with Lucy here, you're that much closer to being the bearer of all thirteen Zodiac keys."

There, atop the great shining gem of the magical world as they were all on the precipice of Zeref being able to world in the image of all the great mages, stood Yukino and Sting. The premiere Dragon Slayer and Celestial Spirit Wizard: two incredibly rare, and powerful magics. Who were they to be stopped by anyone, and who were they to claim they needed more?

"It's everything I could've dreamed of," Yukino said. "But I'm not dreaming anymore, Sting."

"What is it then, Yukino? Tell me, so that I can make it happen."

Sting strode across the room to her.

"You want more Keys? I can get them. Do you want to learn more Star Dresses? We can arrange lessons. You want to move somewhere, be away from all of this? Let's go. Let's run away."

Run away.

"That's what I want more than anything," Yukino said. "For the noise to go away, for all the capital to become nothing, and for the two of us to find a little cabin away from all of this."

Sting pursed his lip. Yukino reached forward, resting a hand on his chest.

"With you, Sting. With you."

He grabbed her hands. In his eyes, Yukino saw, he didn't believe he could run away. Not from this position, not from this power.

Jiemma always told them to be the strongest and greatest. It took Sting everything he had to get to that position, to prove to his former Master that he was indeed the greatest Dragon Slayer in the world. What he had left to prove was that he wasn't a phony, and in light of the events of Clover Town, he had to be even sterner against his opposition than ever.

He leaned forward and kissed her, then wrapped his arms around her as she did the same to him. Sting's magic was light, but his body was always so warm to Yukino. He pressed her against the wall, moving her arms back, and she momentarily surrendered to his searching hands and lips as they caressed her body, her curves. He remembered how to touch her.

Better still, he remembered how easy it was to get her out of her clothes, and she him. Daylight continued to spill over the two as their naked bodies intertwined while they remained standing. Yukino ran her hands through his hair as he lifted her, hiking her legs up, and kept her against the wall. She leaned down, kissing his neck while he moved inside of her.

She responded with a gasp, holding on to him tighter. He kissed her neck, then she raised her chest so he could kiss her breasts, and nipples, as she always liked.

When they first made love years and years ago it was almost in an act of desperation, for the two to finally feel anything other than abject despair and pain. And it was explosive, it was incredible. It wasn't either's first time with a sexual partner, but, for Yukino, it was the exact sex she craved and imagined.

They moved to their couch. Yukino mounted Sting, rocking her hips, and kept her arms pressed against him. Their eyes locked, and where Yukino felt the fire burning in her eyes, she saw hunger in Sting's eyes. Hunger for her, her body, her feel, but her love?

Yukino faltered slightly, and Sting reclaimed control. He bent her forward over the sofa and went into her, thrusting with strength and speed that gave him a good time while, for Yukino, she had only to wait for him to be done, with minute flinches of pleasure as Sting occasionally touched her more sensitive spots.

He gave one final push, one last burst of pleasure, before stumbling back and falling onto one of the seats. He sighed, smiling up at Yukino.

"I love you," he said as she came back to standing in full.

She was at once aware of her nakedness, of her presence above the world as the window remained open, completely exposing her naked body. She approached Sting, leaned forward to kiss his brow, and said,

"Thank you."

He raised a confused eyebrow but she gave him no further clarification. She simply washed up, changed into her official uniform, and returned to the room as he slowly put his clothes back on. He sneered at her, just as he did in the old days.

But that was not the same Sting.

"Do you still want to run away?" Yukino asked as she approached the door.

"I—mean, for a vacation, right?"

Yukino let the door open.

"Forever," Yukino said, turning back to him with a tear forming in her eye. "I wanted forever."

The door shut before Sting could respond, and Yukino was left alone in the dark hallway of the Dragon Division tower.

Lucy rubbed her arms. It was surprisingly chilly in the room, despite the heavy clothes she'd been forced to wear as a woman of the Empire. It wasn't the most fashionable wear—a black dress with a gray shawl over her shoulders. Her hair was up in a single ponytail. Her hand fell to the empty spot on her belt where there should've been her keys.

They were locked in a diamond safe in Axel's room across the apartment. Lucy's room was lavishly filled with more Imperial dresses among the finest flowers and decorations the Empire could find, from Fiore, Bosco, or Stella. Bits of Stellanium twinkled freely in the room.

Axel emerged from his room, freshly changed from a meeting with Sting. He was in lighter clothes, ready to head out on patrol after he'd been reassigned jobs, apparently. He told all of this to Lucy as if she was supposed to care. She'd been reading a book written by an Imperial author, and it was horrendous. But she had to see what the Empire was creating or working on, she had to see what art in the modern, twisted world was like.

"I'll be back for dinner tonight," Axel said. "We'll have something brought up. Or, perhaps, we can go out."

"I'd like that," Lucy said, keeping her voice thin.

"It'd be good for you to see the city," Axel said.

He kept his distance. He hadn't touched her, or made an advance on her, since their time in the city started. Lucy figured it was only a matter of time, and, as Axel was out, kept up with a training regimen Erza once recommended for Lucy.

It was horrible, excruciating, but it helped keep her focus from remembering she'd agreed to this horrible situation with this horrible man.

"I agree," Lucy said.

"Maybe you'll even see that other Fairy we've got around here."

Lucy's ears perked and she couldn't help spinning toward him. "What'd you say?"

Axel clicked his tongue and chuckled. "Look at me running my mouth."

"There's another member of Fairy Tail here, in Crocus?"

He grinned at her, a wicked flare in his eyes, then opened the door.

"I'll see you tonight for dinner, babe."

The door shut, leaving all but Lucy's thoughts basked in silence. Her mind raced, faster than it ever had before, not even for who it was but how they could find each other and, more importantly, find a way out of this nightmare.

It was impossible to keep Fairy Tail separate, after all. Lucy closed her hand around her book and she tossed it away, getting up to start her training, but had half a mind to do so as she was eager to find out who else was in the city with her.

She dropped and began her pushups, thinking of all of her friends on their way to the city for the Grand Finals and her friends all around Fiore fighting the good fight. She sit around or let them down. She was Lucy Heartfilia, Celestial Spirit Wizard of Fairy Tail.

And she wasn't going to let some Dragon Slayer keep her away from someone else who needed help.