"She treated us both exactly the same…and she had no particular feelings on the love doctor who helped her." It was a strange feeling, looking at a soul and knowing that it had the same response to someone it'd once cruelly subdued as well as a complete stranger. Like every person wore the same face, so she treated them all the same, regardless of who they were. "I don't think it would have mattered who talked to her, she would have reacted the same. I would have to ask her more questions…but from our brief little interaction, that was the vibe I got."

Lucy rubbed her arms together, even though it was getting warmer, despite the overcast sky. "That's awful…" She looked at Cobra apprehensively. "This isn't my fault, is it? With the advice I gave…"

"I don't think that had anything to do with it…but the fact that Minerva is acting like that, and the strange rumors…maybe something really is connected to the Doctor–that place." He wasn't going to say the name out loud any more times than he had to. He felt a sudden spike of anxiety over Sorano and did his best not to let it show on his face. "Just…don't worry about it. What you said. Whatever that was has got to be either magic or–" Cobra stopped as he noticed Lucy heading in the same direction Minerva left in. "Hey, hey! Where are you going?"

"I need to see her again. I need to make sure she's ok."

"What?!" Now it was his turn to be bewildered. "No! Look, she's fine! She's not exactly herself, no, but I didn't get the impression that she was in danger."

"And how do we know that?" Lucy replied. "Whatever this is, it can't be a good thing. How do we know it's not going to get even worse?"