Sup Everyone! Grimlock here, I'd like to announce that I am now looking for someone to beta for my stories. I've never had a beta before, so I figure spreading the word like this will get the most responses.

"Master!" Levy shrieked as she ran into the guild, throwing the doors open in her rush and gathering the attention of most everyone inside. Her pupils had shrunk in panic, sweat rolling down her face and her breath rapid and shaky. "Zangetsu's missing!" She finished, dread and anxiety dripping from her words.

Sitting atop the bar with his legs crossed and a mug next to him, Makarov's face pulled to a frown. He had paid close attention to the horned beast when he first arrived, admittedly concerned about how safe his guild would be in the demon's presence. After a few days, it had become clear that the spirit meant no harm- at least, no more than what any of the guild members were expecting out of each other. Concurrently, his time spent watching the spirit had also made it clear that accepting Lucy into the guild had been a good decision. There were very few in the guild who could not recognize the signs of grief, after all, and the demon practically emanated depression. However, outside of a period of acclimating to basic human behavior, Makarov didn't see why Zangetsu seemingly going missing was of serious concern. A brief glance at the beast's magical energy implied that he could hold his own against any S-Class mage in Fairy Tail, possibly including Gildarts. Contrary to his looks, the demon was generally nonconfrontational, appearing uninterested in…anything, really. Outside of lacking any form of money for food, which Makarov had no shame in admitting likely wouldn't be a problem, there wasn't any reason to believe Zangetsu was in any danger simply because they didn't know where he was.

"Catch your breath, my child." He gently encouraged. Although he didn't see reason for concern, it didn't change the fact that Levy was panicking in front of him. She did as asked, bracing her hands on her knees as she panted. "Explain what happened. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think." He attempted to soothe, only for her head to shoot up, desperation in her eyes.

"No! You don't understand!" She shouted back immediately. "He was staying with Lucy!" A chill went through the guild hall, the balding Master feeling as though he had been dunked in icy waters. That single piece of information was crucial, as it led to one, horrific, conclusion: Zangetsu's absence was most likely due to him joining Natsu and Lucy on their quest. Their stolen S-Class quest. That situation suddenly became far larger of an issue, and no longer one he could treat with any degree of passivity. He stood immediately, his magic power flaring.

"LAXUS!" He demanded.

"What do you want, you old geezer?" The blonde complained, as at ease now as he had been when they discovered Happy had stolen the Galuna Island quest.

"I am ordering you to go out and retrieve Team Natsu and Zangetsu from Galuna Island! Bring the Thunder God Tribe, commandeer a boat, I don't care! Pull them out of there as quickly as you can!"

"You already sent out Gray to nab 'em, why-" The man with the lightning scar was cut off, his mocking and lackadaisical tone having permeated his every word.

"THIS IS NOT A SUGGESTION FROM FAMILY, THIS IS A DIRECT ORDER FROM A GUILD MASTER TO A GUILD MEMBER!" The diminutive man grew nearly ten feet in his rage, glaring at his grandson. "YOU WILL LEAVE THIS VERY INSTANT TO RETRIEVE NATSU, HAPPY, GRAY, LUCY, AND ZANGETSU FROM GALUNA ISLAND, AND BRING THEM BACK HERE AS QUICKLY AS YOU ARE CAPABLE!" A flinch rocked through the man's body. It wasn't often that his grandfather reminded the guild of the immense power he possessed, power that granted him the title of Wizard Saint. Clicking his tongue, Laxus stood, a frustrated look on his face as he walked towards the stairs leading down to the ground floor of the guild.

"Fine, I'll bring in the idiots and that moocher." He spat as he began stomping down the steps. "But know that this is because I don't want to deal with the legal trouble, ya hear me?!" The man blindly waved his arm forward, a trio of individuals immediately getting up from where they sat in the corner of the guild to rush over and trail behind him.

"Legal trouble?" Jet asked only after Laxus and his team had left the building. "I get that Natsu stealing an S-Class quest is an issue, but is it that bad?"

"The problem is, not only is that a bad start," Mirajane spoke up, "but the situation became a lot worse because Zangetsu joined. Since he's not a member of the guild, bringing him along for a quest means that anything that happens to him is on us. With no one on that quest being S-Class, and the mission having been stolen, he could get a stiff back and we could have the Magic Council be coming for our heads."

"Oh, shit." The speedster gasped, his face paling nearly as much as Makarov's had upon first hearing the news.

"I…" Levy turned further downtrodden, anxiously rubbing her arms. "I hadn't even considered that. I was more worried for his safety." The balding Master's face relaxed at her words, and he shrunk back down to his normal size, walking up to the nervous bluenette.

"That, at least, is something I can soothe." He spoke warmly. "You and I both know that Natsu and Gray, as impulsive as they may be, would never allow Fairy Tail's reputation to be dirtied, and keeping Zangetsu safe would be included in that. And, in any case, I highly doubt Zangetsu actually has anything to worry about from the Galuna Island quest." The elder gave a light chuckle. "I garnered a feel of his magic power when he first came to the guild, there is no doubt in my mind that he could give any S-Class Wizard in Fairy Tail a run for their money."

"…Are…you absolutely sure?" She continued to worry. Once more, he allowed a chuckle to leave him, his smile broadening when he saw her shoulders loosen just a bit.

"He smacks around Natsu and Gray as easily as Erza does, my child!" He reminded. "You usually have a better view of that than I do!" Finally, a small smile broke through her concern.

"Yeah, you're right." It fell quickly, though. "I…still can't help but worry about things going wrong."

"Something which I can understand." The man nodded sagely. "Which is why I had Laxus go to ensure their safe return." Her lips turned up again, with more certainty this time.

"Right!"

The morning air of Galuna Island was humid, and the Hollow hated it. His body didn't seem to sweat, but the moisture clung to his skin to make him feel uncomfortable and irritable. The blonde sitting on his shoulders didn't help, as it caused more moisture to build up and her sweat to roll down his shoulders and back.

It had all started when they all woke in the early morning, to most everyone's complaints, with the Celestial Spirit Mage declaring that they should scour the island to see if they could learn more about the curse. Everyone had eventually agreed that was indeed the best course of action, and they left the village…wherein the blonde remembered that a jungle took up the majority of the island. Lucy had abundantly refused to ruin her boots trekking through the mud, and the Hollow had been half-tempted to throw her into it just for that reason alone. Initially, her first response had been to summon some sort of walking grandfather clock, but it had taken one look at him, acknowledged his existence as a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow, and promptly returned to wherever it came from. With that in mind, her next course of action was to attempt convincing him to let her sit on his shoulders. He had refused, at first, but she had pestered him with puppy dog eyes until he gave in. This led to the situation they were currently in, where she sat comfortably on his shoulders with a gentle grasp on his horns to keep herself steady.

"Zangetsuuuuu," Happy whined, "my wings are tired, can you carry me too?" The blade did not even spend the effort to acknowledge the cat, continuing to stomp forward. Not that he communicated such to the rest of the team, but he had taken point due to having sent out a pulse of Pesquisa. The radar-esque ability informed him of a great mass of people on the other side of the island, so he was going directly to that congregation. Natsu and Gray were searching high and low around him, each in their own uniquely stupid ways, at least in the Hollow's point of view. The dragon slayer's search methods were genuinely stupid, but kicking over rocks and scouring through bushes was at least an expected class of idiocy from him. The ice mage was attempting to look for tracks and signs of magic use, the Hollow was deeming him stupid due to a combination of mutual irritation and sincere curiosity over what the stripper thought he was going to achieve. Funnily enough, none of the wizards had seemed to yet realize they were following the zanpakuto, or that he was walking with such purpose. "Luuuuuucy, can you convince Zangetsu to carry me too?"

"If he doesn't wanna carry you, that's outside of my power." She stated with false innocence. A gentle snarl left the demon's throat, with a mild shake of the shoulders to seal the deal of reminding the blonde of her position. She 'eep-ed' as she was startled, before guiltily turning silent and looking away. "Um, thank you for carrying me on your shoulders, Zangetsu." She mumbled for the sake of pacifying the blade. A snort left him, the only response he was interested in bothering with. "By the way, where are you heading? It seems like you're not just wandering." Of course it was right after he took notice of their lack of awareness that one of them rectified it.

"…Souls…this…way." He pointed in the direction to emphasize his point. The Fairy Tail mages instantly all turned to stare at him. Natsu was frozen, arms deep into a bush, while Gray was on his hands and knees attempting to find tracks in the dirt. Happy was…just standing to the side.

"WHAT?!" All four of them screamed. He turned his head slightly out of acknowledgement, before deciding to not speak.

"You can't just stop there!" Lucy argued. "Explain!" Another snort left him, this time out of aggression.

"…Sense…souls." The horned beast stated. "…Big…group…far…that…way." In perfect tandem, the four wizards gave a single stunned blink.

"Right." The dragon slayer started.

"He can do that." The ice mage continued.

"Why wasn't asking him to do that the first thing we did?" Lucy finished.

'Because you're all fucking stupid.' The Hollow couldn't help but complain. He would've shaken his head at their simplicity, but that would have likely knocked Lucy off balance. To his great relief, the other mages fell into step around him, having temporarily ceased in their searches.

"So, can you tell how many are over there?" Gray asked, having lost his coat somewhere after leaving the village. That was actually a good question, the Hollow decided he would waive the next insult the Ice Make Wizard sent his way. He focused his reiatsu sense over the mass on the other side of the island.

"…Five…wiz…ard." He counted. "…Twelve…not."

"Can you tell how strong the wizards are?" Lucy was the next to ask. A frustrated whine slipped from his throat.

"…Yes…but…talk…hard." He reminded. All three of them winced, realizing that his particular impediment would necessitate creativity with explanations.

"How about a scale of one to ten?" Natsu suggested. "One is a normal guy that doesn't use magic, and let's say ten being Erza." Unfortunately, while the other two nodded in support of that idea, there was one glaring issue.

"…Who?" The male duo tilted their heads in confusion.

"You know, Erza!" The pink-haired one stated, as though it were obvious. "She took Lucy and us on the Lullaby quest!" The Hollow remained staring blankly. "She's one of the most famous members of Fairy Tail, her nickname is Titania!" His expression did not change. "She's always wearing armor, has long red hair, smells like strawberries!" The mental image presented to him was nothing he was familiar with.

"She's gotten mad at Natsu and I for attacking you." Gray offered. "Had us bow on our knees in forgiveness to you. Mira told her that you liked sweet things, so she sat at Levy's table with you after getting both you and her strawberry cake." Did she? Zangetsu's eaten a lot of different things since coming to this world, and it was relatively common that someone would sit and engage in conversation with Levy. He often tuned them out. In response to their reminders over the Erza person, he couldn't help but weakly shrug his left shoulder.

"…Zangetsu, would you be able to tell me who Nab is?" Lucy asked gently, a note in her voice sounding as though she already knew she wasn't going to like the answer. He grunted in the negative. "What about someone by the name of Makarov?" The male duo shot a look up at the blonde, before snapping their gazes down when he repeated himself. "What about a Jet? Or a Droy?" At this, he shook his head as much as he could. Natsu and Gray seemed horrified and confused.

"Final Question:" She announced. "Outside of us and Levy, who in Fairy Tail are you familiar with?"

"…Mi…ra." He rasped. "…Ca…na." All of the Fairy Tail mages were perturbed by his short answer.

"I see." She hummed mournfully. "Anyone that isn't a constant presence ends up slipping from your mind, huh?" That, he grunted affirmatively. The scarved man turned crestfallen, thankfully only sympathy appearing in his gaze. The stripper, in opposition, scoffed, as though admonishing himself for thinking better of the zanpakuto. "Well, if Erza doesn't work, how about we then say Natsu is a five?" The blonde seemed determined to not have the most recent revelation distract them. "We keep the one to ten scale, with the same one, that way if there's someone super strong, you can tell us by how much." The blade hummed in acknowledgement, then held out his left hand, fingers curled in. He stuck out his first finger for them to see.

"…Eight." He lifted his second. "…Five." His third and fourth. "…Three." Then his thumb. "…Two."

"So one person that's out of our league, one person that's on equal terms, two that we're stronger than, and one that's hardly more powerful than a normal person." She recounted. He bobbed his head slightly, just enough for her to tell he was confirming her words. "…Do you think you can beat the person stronger than us?" She asked, slight nervousness in her tone. If the Hollow could sneer in derision, he would have. Him, against someone who was comparable to Hanataro? He'd have been insulted if it were anyone other than Lucy asking.

"…Yes."

After that conversation, it had been dreadfully quiet amongst their group. It didn't take a genius to understand that the silence was awkward on the part of the Fairy Tail mages, but Zangetsu couldn't bring themself to care. In the Hollow's mind, it got the idiots to finally shut up, and in the Quincy's, it allowed him to ponder the situation without distraction.

The Quincy wondered what the intent may be, for whatever was causing the transformation of the villagers. It was a side effect of something else, of that, he was absolutely certain. Since they've arrived on the island, there has been no interaction between the passive energy in the air and their party. That has allowed him to conclude that whatever the villagers were experiencing was not intentional, else it would already be attempting to affect them. As a zanpakuto, reiatsu control was innate to them, enhanced by their Quincy side. This meant that they were certain they weren't accidentally wrapping the Fairy Tail mages in a barrier of reiatsu to keep them from being affected. It was already curious that the villagers were transforming in moonlight, especially if their reiatsu was already akin to the supposedly fully-transformed Bobo. If they were not completely turned, then it made no sense for their reiatsu to be fully demonic, and if the moon were the cause, then their reiatsu would change when it affected them. There was a heavy presence of foreign reiatsu, but it simply hung like a fog rather than cling to individuals. There were definitely missing pieces in the equation, with a near-certainty that answers would be found amongst the group they were nearly upon.

By this, it meant that their group had reached an old and weathered temple. It was overgrown, covered in greenery and vines. The temple was made of large stone blocks, yellowed and worn down by time. There were two entrances they could see from their angle, one at each face of the pyramid-shaped temple. Standing at the edge of the clearing, just inside the brush, Zangetsu was the one to speak up.

"…Inside." He announced, hoping they understood his (lack of) words.

"They're in there?" Lucy clarified. "Let's head inside. Natsu, at least try to be quiet, we don't want to risk running into that super strong mage."

"But didn't Zangetsu already say that he could beat him?" The dragon slayer questioned.

"We shouldn't be reliant on him." Gray huffed. "This is our quest. Would you rather know that someone else pulled all the weight?"

"Fine…" He whined. As a group, they snuck into the temple, or at least most of them snuck. While the mages all crouched and did their best to make as little noise as possible while traversing the clearing, the zanpakuto irately stomped behind them. He doubted they would stop if he told them that everyone was deep inside, too deeply to be able to see or hear them. At least, that was the justification he gave himself. They quickly found their way inside, entering a massive main hall with stone pillars holding up the ceiling. Upon confirming all on their own that no one else was in the room, that is to say, forgetting that someone who could casually confirm the locations of their enemies was amongst their party, they all spread out to investigate. Lucy and Gray went close to the walls, checking to see if there were any markings indicating what purpose the temple originally served. Happy mindlessly wandered, munching on a fish he pulled from his backpack. Zangetsu remained static, standing in the center of the room in wait for the others to move on.

Natsu stood in awe of how the stone appeared so brittle, yet had not collapsed under its own weight. Lifting a foot, he chose to impart that same amazement unto his comrades.

"Guys, look how cool this is! This place looks so old, it's amazing that it's so sturdy!" He punctuated this with a heavy stomp. The zanpakuto silently watched as cracks rapidly spread from where the sandaled foot met the ground. "See, I can stomp on it and it's-" In no time at all, the floor collapsed, a massive chunk underneath the fire breather falling first, then the rest following with blinding speed. Once more, the blade was unfortunately treated to the screams of the Fairy Tail mages as all of them were helpless to the unforgiving power that was gravity. A sight he witnessed while standing on a platform of reiatsu he had formed under his feet as soon as the pink haired moron lifted his foot.

"ZANGETSU, YOU BASTARD, I SEE YOU FLYING!" The mage in question bellowed as he fell. The blade did not even flinch, watching as they all crashed on the ground far beneath the temple. Collecting himself quickly, Natsu turned his head up and spat out a small fireball at the horned beast in irritation. It dispersed harmlessly upon his Hierro, and he responded by lifting a chosen finger towards the scarved man. Before the dragon slayer could respond, Lucy hurled Happy at his head as hard as she could.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" She shrieked. "THE TEMPLE IS BARELY STANDING AND YOU DECIDED TO STOMP ON THE FLOOR?!"

"I didn't think it would come down!" He attempted to argue back, rubbing the bruise on his head.

"THEN WHAT DID YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN, FLAMEBRAIN?!" The ice mage responded, equally as enraged. While they shouted at each other, the spirit shot down in a burst of Sonido, landing gracefully on the floor. He found himself glancing around, sensing that three of the enemy wizards, namely the weaker ones, were slowly encroaching on their position. Neither half doubted that they heard the collapse and were coming to investigate. It was at least an appreciated time saver that they were already at the underground level, only a few of the non-mages had been in the temple proper. The demon readied his blade as he faced the tunnel he presumed they would come down. Zangetsu did not know the structure of the tunnels, so they just decided to keep their gaze on the entryway that was closest to where the reiatsu signatures were.

"Zangetsu!" Natsu's call brought them to return some focus to the group of mages, and the blade informed them of this by turning his head slightly towards them. "Is this thing the 'Eight' you were talking about?" Baffled by the question, as he could sense nothing else in the room with them and certain the 'Eight' was still on the other side of the temple, he had to bodily turn around towards the fire mage. This action allowed him to realize why Natsu asked the question, as even he was surprised by the sight before him.

'That thing's as big as a Gillian!' He couldn't help but compare. A gargantuan, and clearly demonic, figure was trapped in an equally massive block of ice, though they could see that it was noticeably thinner towards the top. The base of the glacier was far below them, with the level they were on being around waist height to the creature and its head almost reaching the temple main floor. Gray, the Quincy noticed, was glaring hatefully at the creature, physically shaking with restrained fury. The zanpakuto figured they now understood where his grudge against them came from, even if they had yet to know the story as to what birthed the hatred. Remembering that he had been asked a question, the spirit answered.

"…No."

"I could have told you that." The Ice Make Wizard ground out. "There's no way Deliora would be any less than a 10. It's an immortal force of destruction, a demon so immensely powerful that the only way to stop it was to seal it in that ice prison." …Well, Zangetsu could confidently state that at least one part of that sentence was wrong.

"…Dead." He informed. Gray turned his head towards him, then quickly shifted back to glaring at the ice.

"The ice must be keeping you from sensing it. Or it's so powerful that you can't. Nothing thrown at that thing was able to even scratch it, that ice is the only thing keeping it from continuing its rampage." The stripper's first suggestion was outright impossible, and the second so ridiculously unlikely that he didn't want to waste the words to explain, so the Hollow simply decided that was Gray's free pass and turned back towards the tunnel.

"…Three…coming." He instead chose to announce. Natsu and Gray both immediately shifted into battle stances, facing the same direction the zanpakuto was. Happy even lifted his fish menacingly.

"Wait, no!" Lucy drew their attention. "We still don't know anything about what's going on, let's hide and see if we can pick up on any hints on what's happening!" The raven-haired man clicked his tongue, his face contorting in such a way that it was clear he didn't want to agree.

"We're on a quest, we have to complete the goal." He spat out before ducking behind a large rock. The blonde pumped her fist at the small achievement and followed him, with Natsu and Happy joining them after a second of hesitation. Snarling, a Sonido brought Zangetsu in between Lucy and Natsu, stabbing his blade into the ground and turning to sit back against the rock with his arms crossed over his chest. The three on their way were the weakest wizards of the enemy, he sincerely doubted they would be the ones to truly know anything that was going on. Having already been most of the way to them, it did not take long for the trio to make their way into the cavern.

"This is where the voices were coming from." A male voice sighed, as though irritated that they were assigned such a task. A moment of silence passed, likely the wizard looking around for any obvious signs of intruders. "…Hey, did you bathe in the Moon Drip last night? You're looking a little odd." Both Lucy and the Quincy caught notice of the second statement, paying closer attention to the conversation as they realized they were likely to actually provide useful information. Another masculine voice responded angrily, correcting that his 'costume' was just that.

"Yuka-san, Toby-san, it's so sad!" A female voice bemoaned. "Angelica has been terrified all day, she won't even let me feed her!"

"She's a rat, stop worrying about her!" The second male voice remained angered.

"She's not a rat! She's a hunter, prowling through the darkness!" The woman took in a breath. "She is…love." Next to them, Natsu whispered that the trio were not from the island, explaining their smell gave them away.

"Well, do we have intruders or not?" The first male complained. "I'm all sleepy."

"Angelica would not be so frightened over something mundane. A great evil must have come to this island." Unbeknownst to the trio, the Fairy Tail mages all silently turned to the zanpakuto, who would have rolled his eyes had he been capable. He settled for flipping them off once more. "And it's almost time for the moonlight to be gathered. Why did such a sad thing have to happen now?"

'Gathering moonlight? Surely it must be for some sort of ritual. For what purpose?' The Quincy asked to himself.

"Let's drive out this evil before Reitei-sama hears about it. Before the moon even appears!" She declared. "They must have seen Deliora. They must not be allowed to live. We must send this evil to an endless slumber, in other words, introduce them to 'love.'" The angry male once again provided his own input, shouting that there was no need for flowery speech, and they were just going to kill the supposed evil. Spending no effort to look more thoroughly, the trio deemed the area to be clear and left to continue their search.

"…What the hell's going on here?" Natsu questioned once he felt they were far enough away.

"Who were those people?" Happy continued.

"More importantly, what could they have brought Deliora here for?" Gray snarled, which prompted Lucy and the Quincy's attention.

"Brought?" The key-bearer encouraged. The ice mage's eyes widened, seemingly not having intended to provide such information.

"He was sealed in a glacier in the Northern Continent." Despite his surprise, he did not hesitate to explain. "Ten years ago, he appeared somewhere Isvan." The man paused for a moment to gather himself, yet again glaring at the frozen beast. "My Master, who taught me magic, Ur, placed her life on the line to seal it up."

"What?!" Lucy held a hand over her mouth in shock, as Natsu's eyes widened.

"I have no clue what this has to do with the curse on this island, but someone is planning something I refuse to come to pass!" The shirtless man shouted heatedly. "Whoever this 'Reitei' is, if he's planning to disgrace the name of Ur, I won't let that happen!"

"This demon was sealed by your teacher?" The pink haired man cautiously asked.

"I'd never forget what Deliora looks like." He confirmed. "He's trapped in ice that cannot be melted, not even the hottest magic could do anything to it. It's a forbidden spell, called Iced Shell." Gray spoke the name with a trepidatious reverence. "…But they should know that. So why move it?"

"Maybe they don't know?" Lucy offered. "Maybe they brought it here to try to melt it?" The temperature lowered several degrees as he snapped his glare to her.

"Why would they do that?!"

"I-I don't know…" She nervously responded in the face of such focused aggression. It was thanks to her suggestion, however, that Zangetsu pieced at least a small part of the puzzle together. The horned beast lifted his left hand and pointed directly at the frozen monster, the action catching the attention of the mages.

"…Ice…thin." While the other three simply stared at him with wide eyes, Gray violently turned to follow where the blade's finger pointed. When his gaze caught what the spirit had noticed nearly immediately, his skin paled.

"…They…" His voice trembled. "…They're…melting…?" The man seemed at a complete loss, unable to comprehend the sight before him. Seeing that the other man was far too stunned to do anything but teeter on the edge of a breakdown, Zangetsu provided what they figured was the answer as to how.

"…Moon…light." With it put together for her, the Celestial Spirit Mage understood, horror dawning upon her.

"That's what they're doing." She realized. "They're using moonlight to melt the ice trapping Deliora!"

"There's no way!" The ice mage screamed instantly. "There's no way that's how it's being freed! There's no way that's what they're trying to do! There's no way anyone wants to have a monster like that out on the loose again!"

"Some people are truly despicable, Gray." The blonde argued. "And they want to do truly despicable things."

"No!" He shook his head. "There has to be more to it! There's something else we're missing here! This doesn't explain how the villagers are transforming!" Gray turned his head up towards the sealed demon as his brain worked. "We'll stay here until the moon comes out." He decided. "We'll be able to see how they're melting the ice. We'll be able to figure out what's causing the transformation of the villagers." Natsu simply turned to Lucy, seemingly having deferred all decisions not combat related to her. She watched the Ice Make Wizard for a long moment, before sighing heavily.

"It's barely past noon, but it's better to not lose sight of Deliora just in case something happens. We'll wait until the moon comes out, then stop this 'Reitei' guy once we find him."

Gray nodded gratefully, and took a seat a little ways away, facing the monster with his back to the group. Shrugging, Natsu also wandered slightly, only going a couple steps before he claimed the spot as his own. Happy flew the short distance from where he had been to being by Natsu's side, laying back against his partner. Frowning slightly at how nearly everyone created distance between each other, Lucy hugged her legs to her chest. Tension filled the silence, a mixture of Gray's fear, Natsu's concern over the villagers, and Lucy's worry for her friends. As she thought over the situation, having little else to do than stew in said thoughts, something resurfaced in the blonde's mind. She had been unable to tackle it earlier, as things had quite quickly come up which prevented her from doing so. With an interruption in the next few hours unlikely, now was a good time to hope for a response.

"Hey, Zangetsu?" The key-bearer began hesitantly. The blade turned his head slightly toward her, displaying his attentiveness. "If you don't mind, what is a Hollow? You said on the boat that's what you were." A grunt left him in acknowledgement, and his jaw quickly opened to form an explanation. However, after a moment of his jaw simply remaining open, it shut. Brown eyes blinked at the behavior, caught off guard by the hesitation. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he tilted his head back, staring upwards in obvious thought. A tired hum left the demon, his chest rising and falling significantly with the heavy breath. The horned beast straightened his head so that he was staring forward, and that was when Lucy realized he was deliberating with how to execute the explanation with his speech difficulty in mind. But, it seemed to be more than that, she could tell even as soon as she had that realization. His hands clenched and relaxed, his fingers curling into fists before loosening repeatedly. His toes dug into the ground beneath him, stabbing into the stone and carving gouges. It was almost as though he was trying to keep himself from curling into a ball, and that desire was instead manifesting where it could.

When he actually opened his mouth the second time, however, he spoke with a tone that stunned the group present with him. It was gentle, thoughtful, breathy in a sense that intoned it was stated with carefully managed emotion.

"…Hollow…one…that…" With gentleness that surprised the blonde, he lifted his hand to brush the tips of his fingers along the edge of the hole in his chest. "…Lost…heart." There was an intentional pause, it being unknown by the others whether it was so he could collect his thoughts or for some other, deeper reason. Still facing away, Gray lifted his head ever so slightly, his shoulders and back tensing with surprise. Lucy's lips parted as she absorbed the information, her eyes widening with a newfound clarity. Natsu, merely lying on the ground with his eyes closed, tensed his jaw as he frowned slightly. Zangetsu lifted his hand further, a thoughtful deliberateness to touching the side of his jaw. "…Mask…hides."

"…What does it hide?" She voiced, nearly a whisper. The zanpakuto turned, his head lifting as he slightly tilted to have her at the edge of her vision, but not daring any more than that. Silence passed, heavy and dense with weary pain. There was no doubt in the minds of any of the Fairy Tail mages that the spirit's muteness in this instance was purposeful, and it inversely spoke so much more because of that. Once he was certain that his intent was understood, Zangetsu allowed his head to fall, sinking into a slumber-like haze to distance himself from the void in his heart, distinctly separate from the hole in his chest.