Naofumi. She can't believe she let him walk past her and into the cruel world on his own. She can't believe she stood there, not fighting to go talk to him and know the truth. But she did. She watched as he walked by, betrayal and anger written all over him, and watched him disappear behind the doors. Why she didn't reach out to him, call his name or run after him was beyond herself. She was shocked and confused. He seemed so genuine and kind to her. He could never have hurt Myne or anyone else. Before she finally decided her resolve, and ran out into the open bridge of the castle he was gone without a trace. She was too late. He was long gone.

In all actuality, Lucy was only a few minutes too late. Naofumi had already began to wander into the field of balloon monsters by the time she had ran out of the castle and screamed out his name.

"Open gate of The Compass! Pyxis!" The celestial wizard summoned her adorable navigation spirit, who came in a burst of golden light and his signature chirp. The little bird being jumped into her arms and she gave him a tight hug.

"Pyxis, please point me in the direction of Naofumi." She pleaded. He chirped again, and the compass atop his head spun for a few seconds before coming to an abrupt halt. Lucy gave him a small kiss on the head and ran in the general direction with him still in her arms, into the maze of the city and pass a small barrier of trees. It had begun to rain long ago, as the journey on foot wasn't necessarily short. The rain was cold and the grass slippery, and with each step she worried she'd fall face first into the mud. Before the downpour got too serious she let Pyxis go home, not wanting the small thing to suffer from the misery of a cold, and went on alone until finally she found him.

He was disheveled and soaked, head hung low and donning a green cloak she had never seen him wear before with a pile of balloon scraps on the wet forest floor beneath him. The tree he rest his back on provided him with shelter, but it looked like he wasn't there for all too long if he was really that wet. He didn't notice her at first. She took careful, quiet steps towards him, allowing the sound of the rain mask her presence until it no longer could. His head slowly looked up to meet her eyes. He almost couldn't believe it. She looked a lot worse than he did. He took in every detail of her marred appearance. The mud on her boots. The redness of her knees, as if she fell and the rain had simply washed away all the evidence that it could. The deeper color of her clothes, the way her hair clung to her and her bangs framed her face. Her chest was heavy; she ran all the way to him. Seeing her in such a bad state shook him although he showed no sign if it. But there it was again; that terrible, bubbling feeling. She was there when it all happened and she believed them. Or did she? He had no choice but to believe she did.

"Nao-"

"Shut up." He cut her off as soon as she opened her mouth. His heart burned. He was filled with such rage that he didn't notice the way she timidly took a step away from him. But she obeyed. And there was only the sound of the rain. It was like that for what felt like hours. Him under the tree while sky's tears poured onto her freely and made her shiver at its constant touch. She pondered on what she would tell him. How she'd explain her stillness, or how she'd tell him she believed him. But she wasn't truly sure of it herself; Naofumi had been good to her. Was he truly capable of hurting someone? He couldn't be. All he radiated was kindness, curiosity, and life. But that had been completely striped away from him. He was dull, conflicted, and alone. How could she ever change that? In a sense, maybe she had betrayed him, too.

Her eyes met the ground. The rain was miserable, she was cold, and Noafumi didn't even want her around. A sigh escaped her that broke the silence and she began to turn away, content to his wishes to be alone.

"Wait." It was a whisper, and she barely managed to hear it, but she looked back at him with a sorrowful expression. He motioned her to come back, come closer to him, and she did until he had made it to where she sat in front of him under the tree so she wouldn't get rained on anymore. He took off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders in attempt to keep her warm, though the cloak was already drenched she appreciated the effort. Once he was done he eased back into the trunk of the tree and they stayed in silence analyzing each other for another while until he found the courage in himself to speak again.

"You didn't need to come all the way out here. You may get sick now." He scolded, causing her to smile sadly and clasped the lining of his cloak in her hands.

"Yeah, I know. But I wanted to talk to you." Another pregnant silence. He looked back down again and his wet, silky hair draped over his eyes obscuring them from her own. "Is it true, Naofumi? Did you do it? You've been so kind to me, I-"

"I didn't do it! They lied!" He burst out, clenching his teeth. She flinched, and this time he did take notice. Almost immediately he calmed down, ashamed he'd make someone like her scared. Or maybe it was just her.

"I believe you. Last night, I saw how hard she was trying to convince you to drink and how you kept saying no. Her story couldn't be true because she said you were drunk." She reasoned, and he looked up to meet eyes with her again. Trying to find a trace of malice or deceit, but the search was fruitless. She shrunk under his intense gaze. He sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry, Lucy, for treating you wrong. I'm just...frustrated. I'm sorry." He softened, looking into those same eyes and looking now for a sign of forgiveness.

"It's okay, Naofumi, I understand." Her smile lost its drearyness, and he matched it with his own newfound smile. He scoot over and pat the spot next to him, and they sat there together in humble silence until Lucy had drifted off to sleep wrapped up in his cloak. He chuckled and closed her eyes. She was genuine and she was worthy of his trust. He knew he had to keep her close, to ensure his sanity and her safety from the others who went after him. He wouldn't allow her to fall into their temptations and lies.

The next morning Naofumi woke up to Lucy's head resting on his shoulder. He shook her gently, and she stirred awake and blinked away her rest. Her back and bottom ached. She had definitely had better sleep. She looked at him, perplexed, and he shook his head. "What do you look so confused for? It's morning. It's time for us to wake up." He explained to her, standing up and offering her his hand. She took it, sticking her tongue out at him.

"I'm not a kid, you know." The blonde said, dusting herself off before stretching in the embrace of the sun. It felt warm and soothing compared to the harsh rain of the day before. Naofumi, too, stretched, though not as confident and obviously as she had. "Geez, my back feels like crap!" She whined as they walked out of the forest and back into the clearing. The grass looked almost golden in the shine of the beaming sun. Bees hummed and flowers radiated in welcome. The passing breeze was crisp and she took deep, grateful breaths of it.

"Of course it does you idiot. You slept on a tree, remember?" He reminded her, deadpan.

"And whose genius idea was it to be there in the first place?" She fired back. They ended up bickering their way back into town, their heartfelt moment forgotten by their minds but not by their souls. The way they talked felt more natural now, and they walked beside one another as they approached a monster drop merchant. Noafumi ended up selling his giant wad of scraps for an astounding amount of ten copper— not without a little intimidating first of course— much to Lucy's dismay. She gave him an earful of scoldings and manner lectures after seeing his scare tactics. After that, they snuck into what Lucy deduced was a blacksmith or gear shop, where Naofumi left five of his ten coppers on the front desk. Lucy wondered why he would leave half of his measly funds behind like that, but assumed it was some sort of debt he had to repay. Then, they went all the way back to the forest where they found out that Naofumi could absorb materials into his shield and improve quality of plants. And then, they went all the way back into town to sell some of the medical plants he had gathered. If you asked the stellar mage, they were doing a lot of back and forth walking, but all she was really doing was trailing the shielder around like a lost, yappy puppy. When Naofumi finally decided to stop wearing their legs out, they both settled in the same inn he "committed his crime" in, funny enough. They got decent meals, thanks to Lucy of course since she had the most share of money. As they were eating, Lucy decided to go outside to take a breather.

Closing the merry inn's door behind her as she walked into the stone streets, Lucy walked a little ways into a more open spot of town to look up into the starry sky. She beamed, always feeling close to herself and her spirits when she was gazing upon a beautiful sky full of stars. She wondered the same thing she did a few nights ago: if her friends were also seeing the same blanket of stars as her. She wished them good luck and love.

Inside the inn, Naofumi noticed as a group of sleezy men walked out almost as soon as Lucy had; and decided to follow them in suspicion. He'd be damned if he let them do something to her. He kept his distance as he did, just a building or two behind them. Just as he had predicted he watched as they began to circle the unsuspecting and lonely blonde, lust in their eyes. For her body or money, he wasn't sure. He ran right for them.

"Lu-"

"...Cancer form!" His forest green eyes watched as Lucy erupted in a flash of gold light, and fearing the worst he ran even faster. However, as he came to realize, it was not Lucy who was in danger. Her attire had completely changed, even her hair, and in her hands were two twin blades. She made quick work of them men by swiftly stopping the closest one to her with a blade to the neck.

"If any one of you get any closer your buddy here gets it. And you all won't be lucky either." She said, deadpan and she stared deep into their eyes. All the men began to back away, except for the one with the blade to his throat who was too scared to move besides shivering. "You all should know that in this country assault on a woman is a death penalty. How dare you try to harm a defenseless woman." She spat out, kicking the poor man in front of her away. He landed on his ass with a plop where his fellow assaultors helped him up before scurrying off like rats.

'Defensless, huh.' Naofumi thought, while Lucy looked confused thinking it was a little too easy to scare them off. She shrugged it off, and spotted him just staring at her.

"You were here the entire time? Some hero you are." She huffed, Naofumi's mouth wide open as he watched the clothes she was wearing shimmer away into the clothes she was wearing before as she walked by him and back to the inn thinking about paying for that extra spa room again.

"I need a bath."

A/N: Short chapter, I'm sorry. :(

I feel like my writing may be bad, but I hope I improve so this story can be the best it can be. Also I added Pyxis being able to point into people's direction just for convenience, he can't canonically do that, but I don't care LOL.