Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Fairy Tail characters that honor belongs to Hiro Mashima!

I do own the Ocs that appear in this story and the plot~

Chapter 53: The Lion and the Fox

Loke had often been described as perfect.

He mostly heard this phrase from women and it was mostly based on his looks or his suave personality. Like most things in the world, perfection was something that was subjective. What was considered perfect differed from person to person. No one had the same checklist for anything. The lion spirit assumed that he fit the bill that many women had for what they considered a perfect man and that was why he was described that way by so many. Either way, he never agreed or disagreed with these comments.

He would just laugh it off and brush it aside. The leader of the Zodiac was not that narcissistic, though his ego did enjoy the comments. That was one trait of his he could never deny. Loke did have a huge ego. And he had an abundance of confidence to boost it. Despite his ego he never claimed perfection and he never will. He had his imperfections, like his constant need to flirt or his rash, impulsive actions. Oh, and he was a womanizer too though he treated each women with the attention and care they deserved. Still, he had his fair share of blunders that occurred from time to time. There were times when he detected his mistakes and was able to rectify it. Then there were other times. The times when he missed his errors and by the time he caught them it was too late to fix them.

Today he made such a mistake.

He had not perceived the mistake until it was too late. And this mistake had consequences that affected him and those around him. In retrospect, he couldn't really fault himself much. He may be a spirit, but even he had some of the limitations humans had, like making errors. There was only so much that he could do and capable of doing. His mind had been elsewhere. He had been focused on other things, like if Lucy was okay and finding something back to take to the blonde woman. It was the constant worry of his princess well-being that had him truly distracted. It didn't help ease his mind that they were in an extremely hostile environment and he was not near his Celestial mage. His heighten sense of danger was not going to be depleted any time soon. That and the added pressure of finding something useful that could help their side out didn't help either.

Truly, his heart was doing the panic dance inside him and he was sure his hair would turn gray.

He would need a long break after all this was over for good.

They had arrived to their destination in no time. The port had been surrounded by the Misted and the pair of spirits thought they have had to fight their way in, but they were wrong. The Misted were still giving them the cold shoulder, thus they had been able to get inside with no incident. Once inside side Loke and Shizuka made the choice to focus all their energy on their goal. They needed to search the surrounding area, including the many warehouses, in order to find something. They had no concrete idea of what they were searching for, but once they found it they would know.

The two spirits briefly considered splitting up in order to cover more ground. That idea had been dismissed as soon as they thought of it. If they split up one of them could be attacked and it was a possibility that the other would not know. They couldn't risk that happening since it would draw attention, which was something they didn't want. So they stayed together since it was easy than being separated. Besides, they could efficiently search the area with two pairs of eyes instead of one and it would be faster too.

Their investigating had been good so far. As good as it can get at least. They had yet to find anything that had any worth for their mission. It had been same for the other areas too. It was not until they had been searching the outside walls of the warehouses that they found a clue. The warehouse that was located furthest to the back had an x-shape painted on the wall. Upon closer inspection the pair of spirits recognized the fading odor of blood. The x had been painted on with blood. That sent their sense to high alert, especially when another sweep of the other warehouses didn't have the x on them. This was the only one that did and they wondered why.

What was so important about this warehouse that it had to be marked in such a way?

They wouldn't find the answer unless they stepped inside.

The first thing they had noticed was that warehouse was filled with fish. The entire area inside smelled like days old fish. The smell got even worse when they opened the crates and looked inside them. Loke swore it would be awhile before he would be able to eat fish again. The texture of the guts and rotting scales was not something pleasant for him. From Shizuka's scrunched up face she was feeling the same as he was. Still, it was not a huge setback to their plans. They continued to search the warehouse up and down trying to learn what could be hiding inside here. In the end, they found nothing.

They found absolutely nothing.

Loke was to frustrated and wallowing in disbelief to even vocalize it. He didn't want to say that this search had amounted to nothing. He didn't want to know that he had allowed his princess to wander this place without him for nothing. It had been Shizuka who had voiced it. Her voice may have been its normal monotone, but look could hear the undercurrents of the same frustration he felt in her voice when she spoke. Hearing state that maybe there was nothing of importance to this place or inside it. They had run into a dead end. Even when she stated the obvious the lion sprit didn't want to give up. He decided that one more sweep was in order and if they found nothing then they would leave.

She hadn't argued with him. She just went back to searching like he did. It was during this second search when Loke had made his mistake. He hadn't paid enough attention to Shizuka. The orange haired man's attention had fully been on investigating his side of the warehouse that his mind had cut off things that didn't relate to it. He had been so preoccupied that he missed when the fox spirit disappeared from the open area. And his nose didn't pick up that her scent was farther than it should have been. He probably would have never noticed if hadn't been for the loud clank echoing off inside the warehouse. It had been loud enough that it broke his one track mind and forced him to turn towards the sound.

His hazel eyes landed on the pipe that was rolling on the ground, but he didn't keep his attention on that small detail long. From the corner of his felid of vision he caught movement and his eyes reacted by moving onto the source. That was when he realized that something was amiss. His breath hitched inside his throat when the absence of the little fox reached his notice. It didn't help that he had realized this only because of what he seeing now. As his mind rapidly processed it he couldn't help, but call her name.

"Shizuka!" The lion spirit called for her.

His voice was filled concern and fear. His natural instinct was to move towards her and to protect her. She was the weaker one between the two of them. She couldn't use her magic openly like he could not when Lucy was holding onto the petal. The fox spirit had to restrain herself from using it and that made her easy prey. Loke knew this and he wanted to aid her, but didn't dare move towards her. He didn't move because she wasn't alone.

Some entity was holding her up by her neck.

And it was big.

It was bigger than Elfman and Laxus put together. His massive size was more pronounced as he held the smaller sprit in its grasp. Size aside, Loke noticed that it had a hostage had a humanoid form. It was a possibility that the monster holding his companion hostage could have been human originally. How it became this thing was not something the lion sprit care for much at the moment. The monster was covered in what looked to be flesh of some sort. It was a blackish colored flesh bubbled sometimes in sporadic spots on its body. It's flesh seemed alive. Disgustingly, some of the flesh dripped off its body in large chunks. There was also what resembled wisps of darkness floating around its body.

Its torso and limbs were elongated, like it had been stretched beyond its limits. The fingers on its hands resembled talons more than actual fingers. It had powerful looking legs that had the same talon like appendages like its fingers. The only facial features he could clearly distinguish were large wide eyes that with tiny pupils that were dyed red. The whites of his eyes were littered with what resembled scribbles. Then there was its mouth. Well, he was only able to make out the mouth was because it had reacted when he had shouted the other spirit's name. When he had called her name the entity had open its mouth wide showing off his razor sharp teeth. It released an angry hiss aimed at him.

It smelled pretty bad too.

His nose did not appreciate the smell wafting from the thing. He may have not been that close to it, but he was still able to pick up its scent clearly. So clearly that he may as well have been standing next to it. The lion spirit was positive it was worse for Shizuka. The poor woman was actually next to it, though that may have not been her main concern. She was probably as worrying about other things like trying to breathe. He could see that the fox spirit's face was beginning to get a blue-purple tint to it. And from her repeated attempts to pull the thing's hand off her throat it was obvious that she needed air in her lungs.

It truly was a hideous sight to behold.

It was as much of a struggle for his eyes to look at it as it was to smell it, but he had to keep his eyes on it. He didn't want to miss a chance to get Shizuka out of its grasp. Plus, this information could prove valuable to their side later. He would burn every detail he could to his memory awhile he tried to figure out how to help her. He couldn't rush at it. With those hands the thing could easily snap the fox's neck. It could probably snap him in half too if he got caught. He knew that he had to find some way to make it release her, but his mind was coming out blank. As he thought of plans his eyes stayed on the scene before him.

And then to Loke's horror it tightened its grip on Shizuka's small and delicate throat. Her eyes screwed shut for a second before they reopened and her hand moved up to the thing's hand covering her mouth. It was to no avail, but she continued her struggle. As this happened the leader of the Zodiac swore that the thing grinned at him as it did this. The lion spirit was certain that it was certain that it was mocking him and it was using the other spirit's life to do so.

The fox spirit wasn't giving up though. Her hand was still struggling to remove the monsters hand. Her tugs were desperate and her face was turning blue by the minute. It was apparent that she didn't have the strength to do it and the lack of air was not helping her. Her eyes were fluttering rapidly telling the leader of the Zodiac that she was struggling to stay conscious. Loke felt like it was pointless for her to say awake. He was the one that needed to do something. He almost was going to give in to the impulse of attacking and ignoring the consequences, but he was stopped. Something happened before he could act.

The monster reeled its hand back and screamed out in pain.

And then he heard Shizuka's hoarse voice shouting at him.

"Leo-sama…run!"

His pushed her words aside. Hearing her voice caused him instinctively to move towards her. He called out her name again, but this time his eyes took in the frighten expression reflecting on her face. That was when his mind recognized her words. She had given him a warning. He just didn't know what she was warning him about, until it happened.

The world around him exploded into shadows.

The next time Loke was conscious the first thing he registered pain.

His body was filled to the brim with pain. It felt like he had been rammed repeatedly against the ground and then was hit by a vehicle. Honestly, he felt like his body was an entire bruise. He probably was bruised from head to toe. When he got home he knew that would be taking a hot bath to soothe his aches and working on making his bruises to disappear. Even with the pain his body was currently in his mind registered that he was against a hard surface. He was probably against a wall or maybe a crate. Whatever it was it was uncomfortable.

He slowly opened his eyes and blinked. He ended up shutting them closed again because his world was completely disoriented and he was seeing double. He waited a few seconds before he tried again and again and again, until finally he was able to keep them open. Sadly, his vision was unfocused and blurry. At least he was not seeing double anymore. Still, he wasn't able to see very well, not even a few inches in front of him. He tried to correct that first. He did this by taking in a couple of deep, very deep breaths. Eventually, his eyesight to clear up though that didn't help much either.

Then there was the other problem to deal with.

After his eyesight had corrected itself he realized that he had a massive, throbbing headache attacking him from the inside of his skull. From the amount of pain coming from it Loke knew that it was not going to lessen any time soon. That didn't stop him from trying to make it hurt less. He attempted this by lifting up one of his hands and gently massaged his temple. He hoped it would soothe his headache somewhat. It was during this when he felt a small streak of stickiness above one of his eyes. It was not that hard for him to figure out what it was, especially after he took a whiff of the air. It was blood, his blood.

He allowed his hand to follow streak and sure enough he found the spot of blood that was matting his hair. He assumed that he must have bumped his head against something hard enough to make him bleed. That was also probably the reason why his body hurt and why he had a headache. Another breath left his lips and he slowly moved his body upwards so he could be in a sitting. He then scooted so his back could be against a wall. This made it easier for him to breathe. He used the moments in between breaths to not only to calm his adrenaline pumping heart down, but also to give his mind to catch up with whatever his reality currently was.

It only took a minute for his mind to assault him with images of what had happened before he knocked out. Surprisingly, he could remember it all pretty clearly. He recalled searching the area then he heard something falling and then saw the thing holding his charge captive. He remembered how she managed to get the thing's hand off her mouth. And then she shouted at him. It had been a warning and then something behind the monster had exploded. That was when he had been thrown back and had lost consciousness.

Wait, was Sizuka okay!

His hazel eyes quickly scanned the area around him and took the details around him in. He saw that his blue-tinted glasses were shattered a few feet away from him. They were mangled beyond repair and they would have to be replaced. There were also crates that were thrown over and the fish were scattered all over the ground. He knew this happened because of the explosion. None of that mattered not when he was looking for Shizuka. He didn't immediately see the other spirit, but that didn't mean that she was around. Just because his eyes didn't see her didn't mean she wasn't here. She could have been tossed somewhere that was out of his sight. His eyes settled onto the area where he had last seen her standing. The crates were also tossed over, but they blocked off the area behind it. He couldn't see past them. If she was anywhere she had to be there. It was possible that she was behind there.

He needed to check.

He did this by calling out to her.

"Shizuka…Shizuka…hey, answer me!" The lion spirit shouted out her name. He hoped that hear him and respond back. He waited for a few minutes, but it was only silence that surrounded him.

He assumed that she was knocked out.

She had to be unconscious.

That meant that he had to physically get up and search for her manually. He tried to get up, but his body refused to cooperate with him. He had moved up too quickly for his body to react accordingly. Even if he got up slowly his body still protested. He momentarily considered going back to the Celestial Spirit realm so he could heal himself. It would be easy to phase out of here and head there. He would be healed and could just return back, but it was chancy. The time flow in the Celestial realm and in the human realm was vastly different. He could be gone for only a few minutes, but days could pass if he spent too much time home.

No, he wouldn't do that.

Loke would just have to let his body heal naturally with whatever magic he had left. It would be a slow process and it wouldn't get rid of all the pain. He would only be somewhat heal and some of the pain would be eased. He would just grit his teeth and bear it. It would be enough to get him moving forward. He had just to be careful. He could do that, but first he needed to get up. He inhaled another large breath of air and slowly began to raise himself up. It was a struggle just to get into a standing position. It was still difficult to stand, even with most of his body weight leaning against the wall. That and his legs were a little shaky too.

He was sure the trembles would disappear eventually. He just needed his magic to run its course. With that in mind, he took his first step and another and then another, until he had reached his target area. He reached the spot where he had last seen the fox spirit. She had to be here. She had to be unconscious behind these crates. He peaked over them expecting to see her lying somewhere on the ground. To his disappointment, she wasn't there.

Shizuka was gone.

He feared the worst.

"Fuck. Fuck, this is bad." The lion spirit cursed loudly though he was the only one present to hear it. "Shit, whatever that monstrosity was it probably took her with it."

He closed his eyes blinking away the momentarily flash of pain and panic.

"She's in trouble. She doesn't have enough magic to even cast anything. She won't be able to fight it off either. I need to find her."

Who knows maybe during his search for Shizuka he would find something important.

That was a prospect, but most importantly he had to find the fox spirit. He began his search by exploring the area behind these crates. He couldn't really maneuver around crates and he didn't feel like jumping over them. So he simply shoved them to the ground and out of his way. Loke ignored the loud crashing sound it made as he walk past them with ease. As soon as he walked into the area his nose was assaulted with the smell of decay. It was the other scent that was mixed in that only mattered to him. It was one he recognized. He had been around it for so long that he wouldn't miss it floating in the air. It was the flowery scent of orchids and that was fox spirit's scent.

Her scent was not the only thing he found behind the crates. There were scorched marks on the floor and some on the wall. The area had been burned black and the explosion was the likable cause. It was located in the exact same area where the monster had been standing. Still he had his doubts that it was a fire base explosion that had caused this. Loke's nose told him that much. The blackened area didn't have the distinct smell of burnt. It smelled purely of magic. The source of the explosion had been the monstrosity's magic. At least he knew that it was not fire base. This was some good information so filed it away inside his mind for later use.

He brought his mind back to his main task. He inhaled the air again catching the missing fox's scent again. His footsteps may have been shaky, but he was able to walk nonetheless. He was able to follow her scent into the darkness. He followed it and found a pile of rotting flesh. The decaying bodies stopped him in his tracks. Loke should have not been surprised by the discovery, especially considering what he knew about Fear. Dead bodies being thrown around the area was something he would find in this place under Fear's control. Despite that, it was still a disturbing sight none the less and it made his stomach churn with queasiness.

That didn't stop him from wishing them peace in the afterlife.

"May you forget this pain and only remember the happiness you found in life. May your souls find peace and find their way out of the darkness." He whispered softly as he closed his eyes for a moment.

This was the least he could do was them

The orange haired spirit did nothing else after that. There was nothing else he could really do for them. He looked over the pile once more and decided that no further investigation was needed. He could easily figure out what had happen to these people. Loke had seen enough rituals in his long life to what had befallen them. These people were used for a ritual and what remained in this pile were just the leftovers. Their strewn around organs and unattached limbs told him that much. There was no method for him to know exactly which ritual it was.

Digging through the pile would prove fruitless as well.

So the lion spirit continued on with his tracking. He kept on walking and walking and walking. He observed that it was becoming darker the further he walked in. He was glad that he was able to see clearly in the dark. His nocturnal vision was helping him out immensely. That and he could easily see more bodies tossed onto the ground. There was so many he sure that this place should have smell like the decomposing bodies instead of the fish. Loke was positive that the fish smell over power the smell of the corpses by the numbers. Other than that the male spirit felt like this warehouse was more of a butcher house than fish storage. The crates of fish were probably just a cover to hide its true purpose. He wondered if the places with the mist had hidden places like this too. He may never know, but it never hurt to ask. There had to be someone that knew. He added that as something else that could be investigated.

He thought no further on it and walked on. Eventually, his trek through this hallway came to an end. He had reached what looked to be a dead end, but he didn't believe it. There was no way that this was a dead end. If it had been then he would have found his missing friend and the monster at the end of this. There had to be something else here and that was easy to figure out. He saw the sludge-like flesh that the entity had left behind. The leftover flesh was still bubbling and moving around. The lion spirit decided it was best to avoid touching it. He crouched down and carefully touched the area that was clean of the foul item. He felt around until he felt a ridge.

There was something on this wall. He followed the ridge of it and his fingers found a button. He pushed it, his heighten hearing caught the sound of a click. Once he clicked it he felt a part of the wall open and revealed that the ridge was that of a door. When he pushed it open completely he saw that there a square shape hole in the wall. His nose was assaulted with different smells. He could smell the ocean, moss and mold. Most importantly, he could smell the scent he was tracking. He peered into the darkness hoping that he could see something, but all he really saw was some hanging lights flickering in the darkness.

One thing was obvious, this was an entrance to somewhere else.

"A secret passage, huh? That's convenient. We would have never found this if she had not been taken by that thing." Loke muttered to himself as he shook his head in disbelief. "Guess this is one of those good things come out from a bad situation, a silver lining."

Saying those words didn't help him much. It made his gut twist with guilt. He hated this. He hated that the only reason this place had been found was because Shizuka had been kidnapped. He wished it been under better circumstances. He wished the two of them had found this place together, though maybe they would have been attacked by that thing. He wondered if together they may have been able to take it down. There was no way of knowing that now. Maybe he could find out when he rescued her though he probably wouldn't risk it. He was just going to find her and then both were going to get away. They were going to get as far away from that thing as possible.

The only bad thing was the time it would take to find her.

And it gave the thing plenty of time to hurt the little fox.

He didn't like the idea of her being hurt awhile he searched for her. By the time he reached her she could be severely injured or worse. The added fact that she couldn't return to the Celestial realm without him or without cutting Lucy off put her at a bigger disadvantage. She couldn't do anything. He shook his head away from terrible thoughts. He needed to believe in her. He needed to believe that she would stay strong and endure until her found her. She was a survivor.

She would survive.

With his panic quelled a little, Loke inhale another gulp of air and jumped down. He landed easily enough and there was nothing inside here except for him. That was a thing in his favor. He didn't think his aching body would be able to handle a battle at the moment. He looked around the place noticing how thick the concrete walls were. This place was built to take hits and stay standing. He came to the conclusion that this place must be some sort of emergency escape. Loke knew that this place would hold together. He walked hearing his footsteps echo around him. His ears did faintly pick up the sound of waves off in the distance above him. He was still near a port so it had to be the ocean he was hearing. The only other sound he heard was swinging lamplights flickering between on and off.

His pace had been slow at first since he had to rely on a hand on the wall in order to support himself. Slowly, that changed. He began to notice that his legs were not shaking as badly as they were earlier and the pain was dulling. He eventually was able to walk without the aid of the wall. The decrease of pain meant that his magic was doing its job and was healing him. Soon he would probably not be able to feel the pain anymore. It may be completely gone by the time he found the missing spirit.

Thinking of Shizuka gave his thoughts the right to drift towards the point when their relationship had changed. He would never forget that event, that intervention. It had been forced onto him and the fox spirit by Virgo and the others. Both had been caught totally unaware when it had happened. Hopefully, that would be the last time he was caught unguarded by any of his fellow spirits. Since they had not been prepared the lion spirit and the fox spirit were easily trapped in a room. They had been trapped inside his home no less and it had not been pleasant. He could remember the tension drifting in the air, especially during the second week of entrapment.

Loke had been furious. He had felt like a caged animal and being trapped with someone he didn't particularly like made it worse. His rage had settled inside every nerve in his body and it was able to saturate the air in the room. It was only a matter of time before the tension snapped one of them into action. Looking back, the lion spirit would admit that it was no surprised that he had been the one to snap first. He was well aware that he was the more emotional volatile one between him and the fox. And Shizuka had a very good control of her emotions. She didn't give in to her feelings that easily.

So it had to be him.

The lion spirit could not really tell what had set him off. It could have just been all the pressure or how the fox remained stoic. It could have been a combination of both. It could have been nothing for all he knew. Heck, he couldn't even accurately remember the words he had shouted that day. It was all muddled by his anger. What he did know was that he had snapped into a terrible fury and that he had shouted insults. They had been scathing insults that were meant to hurt. Once the shouting began, he remembered how the smaller spirit reacted. She had cowered into the couch she had been sitting on and attempted to make her body small as possible. It was a defensive position. He had seen this defensive position he had seen many others perform when there was danger about.

She was in danger.

He was a danger to her.

If his mind had not been riddle with anger he would have laughed at this reaction. He wasn't a danger to her, if anything the fox was a danger to all those around her. She had no reason to be in a defensive position. He felt irritated by her actions and more by the fact that her eyes were still on him. The position didn't stop her ice blue eyes from looking at him. Like always her eyes were blank and empty, just like her face. She gave nothing away about what she was feeling as she listened in to all his insults. It was like he was not hurting her at all.

His words did nothing to her.

The lion spirit was sure it had been her lack of reaction that had driven him deeper into his anger. Or maybe it was the fact that she felt that he was a danger to her. It could have been both. Whatever the answer was it didn't matter. His face drew itself into a snarl and he had moved. He had launched himself off his seat and heading straight towards her. At this point all his rationality had taken leave of him. All that was left was the simmer anger that continued to taint his mind. His verbal abuse didn't stop and it was not going to stop anytime soon. He shouted with his fists resting at his side and with his mouth running with no filter. The lack of filter meant that his most colorful vocabulary had made an appearance.

Then there was the other phenomenon that was happening inside him.

His predatory side was peeking out.

Loke could feel the inner stirring of it beneath his skin. Normally, he would try to keep his inner predator and the instincts that came with it in check. He may be a man, but he still was part lion too. He had to keep both parts of himself in perfect balance. Usually, he had no problems doing this, but sometimes an unbalance happened. There were times when he needed to be more lion than man or sometimes under stressful times his inner lion peeked out. That was what was happening now. All the suaveness and gentlemanly qualities he normally possessed were gone for now.

So during this time he had been thinking with his more primitive side. His lion side was in charge and that made it harder for him to reign himself back into a clam state. He knew that this was happening, but he found himself not caring. He found himself agreeing with his lion side. It wanted the fox spirit to feel hurt. He wanted her to feel the same amount of hurt she had cause to others all those decades ago. He accepted that he had fully immersed himself to his baser instincts. He knew that this would make this easier for him to find weakness.

Currently, it was telling him his current form of verbal attack was not working. These insults were not affecting her. He had decided to change the subject of the insults. He attacked her weaknesses. He brought up her past, but talking about her old master only did so much. So he moved to the other subject that he knew would cause a reaction out of her. He insulted her old spirit partner. That was when he caught his first whiff of weakness. As soon as his words formed about him he saw the change in her eyes. She may have not physically wince, but this was definitely affecting her. He kept his verbal assault on hoping for more. In the end, he had gotten the fox spirit to react to his words, but it was not what he had anticipated. He had expected her not to do much. He had been wrong. He had forgotten that she was as much of a sentient being as he was. He had forgotten even she had a limit to the abuse she could take.

Loke supposed she had finally reached her limit.

She had snapped.

Before the orange haired spirit could react the smaller spirit had pounced onto him. He distinctly felt her small hands make contact with his chest and pushed him away from her. He hadn't been ready to be pushed back so he wasn't able to keep his body balanced. His feet stumbled against his carpet and he tripped over one of his fallen pillows. He had been so surprised that his anger had fizzled out. His mind was still reeling in surprise that he had little time to react when Shizuka had moved again. She was out of her seat and she was now standing over him.

Despite her small stature, she looked frightening. She looked as every bit as threatening as any big predator. Her tiny mouth was pulled into a snarl that showed her sharp teeth. She was spitting out words that were scornful and cold. Her words were like a steel blade that was hovering threateningly under his throat and waiting to cut him open. There was also the feeling in the air. Shockingly, Loke could feel her magic buzzing in the air. Usually, her magic was restrained and barely visible, but not now. It was clearly visible to his eyes. Her magic was the same color as her eyes, but paler. What was generally clam and serene was feral and violent. It was seeking to fight and destroy whatever got in his path. The fox's magic was raw and powerful, like an electric current that made the hair on his body stand on end.

Honestly, he had become enthralled.

He was simply enchanted with how the fox spirit looked at the moment. To Loke she resembled a tempest, a tempest that was aiming its destruction towards him. The intensity glowing inside her ice blue eyes made his hackles rise and his heart beat with excitement. His body felt like it was melting into useless mush. His mind told him that her magic was trying to force him into submission. He should have been worried but he wasn't not when he was so intrigued by her and his eyes didn't want to leave her. His attention would have stayed focused on her eyes, but he caught a movement from the bottom of his field of vision.

It had been her hand.

Her small hand had made a jerky movement causing his attention to flickered down towards it. The female spirit's hands, which were generally in a relaxed and fixed position by her sides, were slightly raised. They were raised and in the recognizable shape of claws. Her fingers were twitching in and out like she wanted to do something. He got the distinct feeling that she wanted to claw him out of anger. He thought this, but doubted she would do it. She wasn't the type to do something like that, like he was too. He had never physically struck her, even in all his anger. It seemed his assumption gad been correct. Her hands moved upward, but instead of attacking him her body twisted away from him and headed to another direction. She took her fury out on the room instead. The pillows, his expensive and soft pillows, were what were attacked the most. She had shredded into them mindlessly until they were all gone. Once she ran out of pillows she moved onto his couches. In her state of mind she had been able to turn them over easily and gave them the same treatment as the pillows.

In end of her rampage the lion spirit knew that many items in the room would need replacing. The little fox had done a number on the room. It was like a storm had gone through the room. He also assumed her body had been pumping anger and adrenaline was the main reason why she had been able to do so much damage. It was a huge mess. Feathers and fabric from the pillows and some couches were scattered all around the floor. He even saw some of her white-lavender hair spread out on his carpeted floor. She stood over the debris of feathers and fabric with a trembling body. Her small chest was heaving heavily as her breaths came out ragged and short.

She was just standing there not doing much. Shizuka resembled an empty doll and it was like her mind didn't know what to do next. It was apparent that she had ran out of steam, but that didn't mean this whole ordeal was over. The fox spirit may have been standing still, but Loke didn't dare move any part of his body. It was possible that one movement could set her off again. The only movement he made was his breathing and moving his eyes. His hazel eyes roved over her body, but her eyes caught his attention again. They were wide and unseeing with a trail of tears dripping down her cheeks. Her eyes may have seemed vacant, but he could see sparks of something in them. They were emotions that he recognized immediately because he was familiar with them. During the incident with Karen he had felt the same emotions the fox spirit was having. It was self-hatred, guilt and anguish. As he stared into her eyes he was reminded of himself.

His throat filled with possible words he had wanted to say but he didn't.

He didn't because she had moved again.

She had collapsed amongst the mess she had created.

Loke was sure it was the heavy feelings that had finally gotten her.

He watched as her legs gave way to her own body weight. She fell onto the carpet causing the feathers to flutter upwards for a few seconds before they fell back down. The words inside his throat disappeared as he watched her sitting with her hands resting against the carpet. His body coiled up in tension as he readied himself for something to happen. Seconds passed by and she had not moved an inch. He waited another few seconds and that was when she did something.

She spoke though he didn't think she was speaking to him directly.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry!" The little fox's voice was as quiet as ever, but there was a distinct difference in it. It was overflowing with guilt, so much damn guilt that it made Loke's gut churn unpleasantly and his anger disappear. Her small hands were in motion again as she lifted them up towards her face. Her trembling grew more violent and looked to be uncontrollable, like her broken words. "I'm… so sor...ry! Spirits, I am… so sorry…!"

She looked like she was being torn from the inside by her feelings.

She hiccupped and attempting to catch her breath as she continued to cry.

"It's my entire fault! I should have stopped him earlier…I should have seen it earlier! I'm such a failure, such a bad spirit. I should've been a better spirit! My master is dead because of me. I did it! I did this to my master and to him! I am the cause of everything that had happened those centuries ago!" She released an agonizing sobbed as her hands left her face and entangle themselves in her hair. She pulled her hair so hard that the lion spirit was confident that her scalp was hurting. "Please forgive me, my master…my master, you're dead because of me! And my dear friend suffered because of it too…because of me! They suffered because of me! I only bring suffering!"

He watched her hands moved to grasp her shoulders and she curled into herself, like she had done on the couch earlier. She was making herself small again and this time Loke had different feelings. This time he didn't like it. He really didn't like it. He didn't know why, but he did. The lion spirit didn't know whether she was trying to hide from herself, her feelings or from him. Maybe it was all three. Maybe she didn't even know whether or not she was in the present or in the past. Whatever the case the leader of the Zodiac could hear the emotions clearly echoing off her voice.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I don't deserve forgiveness…don't deserve anything… not even this useless life I have!"

The words that had left her lips were colored with darker feelings than the last. As she spoke her thin fingers dug deeper into her clothes, but it was possible that the fabric of her outfit didn't protect her skin from the pain. She would definitely have deep marks imbedded onto her skin. She probably wouldn't care. It was clear to Loke what was going on. He was witnessing the fox spirit falling deeper into her guilt and despair. She was losing herself to her anguish and she was allowing it to happen. He observed this and again his heart was unsettled. Seeing her fall apart had reminded of himself when he had blamed himself for Karen's death. He had been the same way. He had been exactly like her once long ago. He knew how hard it was to carry the heavy burden of guilt and self-hatred like the other sprit was feeling now. He would rather see her behaving as her normal stoic self or her rampaging in anger. He didn't want to see her like this anymore. Seeing her like this made him come with a clear conclusion.

He hated it.

Loke hated seeing her like this.

Those walls that surrounded her were gone and it showing Loke how vulnerable she actually was. She was much more breakable than he originally thought her to be. She was like shattering glass that was trying to hold together. Seeing her like this made a switch turn on inside him. Normally, he had no good feeling aim towards her. Those positive feelings were shut off when it came to Shizuka. Negative feelings were only reserved for the fox spirit and he had good reason to feel animosity towards her. She didn't deserve any of good treatment from him.

She was just a Lapis Stella.

That was all she was to him.

So he had treated her as a criminal, even after Lucy had told him to be nicer to her. He would admit that he had been a complete jerk to her. He had been since her key had been released from her prison. He would have continued to do so, but after this he didn't think he could treat her the same way anymore. Now, there was a feeling that wouldn't allow him to do so. It was a feeling he had never expected to feel towards the fox spirit. He felt sympathy for her. And that feeling was dictating what he felt next.

His anger came back along with the feeling of hate, but they weren't aimed at the fox spirit. These two emotions were aimed at himself for what he did to her. Witnessing her vulnerable breakdown made him regret every bad thought, insult and actions he had made against her.

He regretted how he had treated her.

And then that was when he realized it.

Shizuka was not just a Lapis Stella. She was more than that. She was a Celestial Spirit like he was. She was still living by the code they had been raised to follow. She was still a spirit that would do anything for her master. She was as loyal towards her master as any other Celestial Spirit was. When she had been released and not allowed to serve Lucy immediately she hadn't fought it. She had done nothing against them and remained adamant that she would be of service to her new key holder, to Lucy. She had offered no resistance as she was isolated inside a cell again and when it was decided she would be publically judge.

She did nothing, but accepted it.

And her reasoning had for doing everything had been so she could freely serve the last of the Heartfilia family. There had been only once when she had acted out against them. It had been when she had broken out of her jail cell and gone to the human world. Many, even Loke believed that she had ran away, but he had proven wrong when her magical signature appeared near her key holder. She had gone straight to Lucy, her master. She had only escaped in order to save the blonde's life knowing that the consequences would be stacked against her. Her instincts had been to her master.

Her intentions had proven to be good and pure.

It was clear that her intentions were true. She was dedicated to Lucy Heartfilia as any other spirit would be towards their master, probably even more so. She had told Loke many times before that she would do anything for her master. Shizuka's past was proof of that too. She had stated that she knew her duty. She had acted upon that feeling of duty and loyalty all Celestial Spirits felt for their key holders. The fox spirit had acted upon what she had thought was best.

Loke's own actions with Karen had been driven by the same thing.

Could he really condemn her actions?

He thought of Lucy as he pondered this. There was no denying that he was dedicated to the blonde woman, really dedicated. She had saved his life. She had had pulled him out of the darkness. The Celestial blonde mage had become his light in the abyss and made him want to live again. She was his strength. It was true that Loke was only alive now because of her. He loved her for being her. The lion spirit wouldn't hesitate do something for Lucy, even if went against the laws of the Celestial world or the Celestial King himself. He would accompany her across the world and beyond, even in death.

Just like Shizuka could have been with her old master.

He was positive that the fox spirit would have had similar thoughts like he did at present. No, he knew she had felt the same reverence towards her old master. He knew this because of how she reacted whenever her past had been brought up. There would always be a momentarily shine of fondness in her eyes before it was tainted by guilt. She had had felt the same way as he did now towards Lucy.

The two spirits were similar in those aspects.

This thought in mind cause Loke to wonder even further. He questioned if Lucy had committed the same choices as Shizuka's pervious master what would he have done. If Lucy had become her own worst enemy and became what she hated would he have been able to bear it and gone along with it quietly. Would he have been able to watch his beloved master become something she wasn't and commit atrocities? Would he allow his beloved master to fall deeper into evil until Lucy was no longer the person she used to be?

This was all speculation. The lion spirit knew that Lucy would never fall into the darkness that easily. She had too many friends that would be there to pull her out. The lion spirit would be there to keep her smiling. And yet his mind went deeper into the hypothetical scenario and he came to the conclusion that sounded so simple, but so complicated too. He would have not been able to see her end up like Shizuka's pervious master.

Loke would have set her free.

The leader of the Zodiac would have stopped her. He would have done everything in his power to help her, even if it meant breaking the number one Celestial Law to save her. He could see himself coming to the same choice and action the fox spirit had committed. He would have done it and it would have torn him apart. This must have been what Shizuka had gone through. She must have felt torn by the choice she made long ago, but she had done it to save her Master. It had been the only choice she had left. And oddly that choice made sense to Loke when he had put himself in her place. The fox spirit had only acted upon her duty to her master. It was her duty that had driven her to do what she did.

The understanding he felt setting inside him didn't help his feelings much. It made him feel worse about his treatment of her. He had been unfair towards her. He had judged her without ever thinking about her reasons or even asking her about it. The lion spirit had only bothered to see her by what she had been labeled as. He had only seen her as a Lapis Stella and as nothing else. He understood that she was just a spirit like he was. And if he thought about it further he had committed a similar crime like she did. They both had committed the same sin of causing the death of their key holders. The circumstances between their choices were vastly different but the end result was the same, the death of their masters. And they both had suffered from their choices.

They both had made mistakes.

The only difference between them was that Shizuka was still dealing with her trauma and he was over his. His trauma didn't affect him that much anymore. On the other hand, the fox spirit's trauma still affected her life to this day. She was still living in her crime and hadn't found a way out of it. She was still drowning her soul in blame and she had no intention of leaving it. She was still trapped in the past and being isolated from any form of support had not helped her. She had no one to help her. That was when he realized that she was more like him than he wanted to admit.

Maybe she needed someone to pull her out it just like he had needed it.

She needed someone to help out of this deep hole. She needed someone, but because of her label no one was helping her. And she wasn't helping herself. The fact that she had cut her emotions off meant that she had not dealt with the trauma herself. She had forced herself not feel and that she possibly had all her emotions trapped inside her. Lucy had warned him of this. She had told him that as the leader it was a part of his job to watch out for the well being of others. The blonde woman had seen the hurting fox and tried to get Loke to see that too, but he had refused. He couldn't do that to her anymore.

The fox spirit needed him.

She needed her leader.

With his mind cleared of anger and hate and his heart drenched in compassion and care he knew what he had to do. His hearing could still pick up the sounds of her repeating apologies. She was still placing more guilt on herself when he made his move. She had been so deep into her dark hole that she didn't react to him standing up and moving towards her. It wasn't until Loke had physically touched her that she noticed him. Once his hands made contact with her shoulders she sat up straight and her eyes were filled with life again. The leader of the Zodiac knew that she was paying attention because she released a small gasp when he forced her body to be turned so she was facing him.

The little fox spirit was frozen with wide eyes as she stared into his hazel eyes. Her ice-blue eyes misted with free flowing tears as confusion colored her eyes. Then her expression changed. It was an expression of someone who thought little of themselves. He could tell that she wanted to move away and hide, but she didn't. The shock of him doing this must have frozen her. As she stared at her his mind quickly pondered what to say to her. It took him awhile but he finally thought he knew what to say.

She must have noticed that something had changed within him because her breath got trapped in her throat. He noticed the small spark wonder and hope. It worked towards his goal. He wanted to tell her that he understood and that he cared. He wanted to do this with both with his actions and words. The lion spirit felt like his silent message got through. In fact, she looked like she wanted to tell him something too, but couldn't find the words. With a quick movement of his hands and arms he pulled her towards him without second thought. He felt the weight of her small body fall against him and her face resting against his chest. He moved to hug her appropriately, like how someone was meant to be hugged.

As Loke held her in a comforting embrace he spoke his first words to her.

"Sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't know…shit, I didn't know you were suffering this much." His voice was soothing and gentle knowing that he was speaking with someone who could break easily. He tightened his arms around her as he continued to speak. "Just let it out. I won't say anything and I won't judge you. Just, please don't keep it in anymore."

He was sure what he was saying was shocking the small spirit considering that she didn't react instantly. She probably didn't understand what was happening. She probably was confused, very confused. Loke couldn't blame her for her reaction or lack of considering their relationship. The things between the two of them were anything but friendly. Their relationship was a hostile one, but that would be in the past. He would make sure that it would be. Loke was going to do this for Shizuka. He was going to be the hand that would pull her out of the dark. He would provide her with all the comfort, understanding and encouragement she needed in order for her to pull herself back together.

He would help her get over the trauma and be able to smile again.

"Please, just don't keep it in anymore." He stated with small plead in his voice.

Those words had an effect on her.

Not only had his words broken her out of her stupor, but had also broken her inner walls too. She had broken down completely. She had allowed herself to let go and be drowned in her emotions. Before he knew it her tears increased into steady sobbing as she buried her face into his chest. The room echoed with her endless apologies. The lion spirit allowed her to do this. He kept silent for the most part. He could feel her tears creating a wet spot where they were soaking in on his shirt and her fingers were holding onto him like a lifeline. At the moment, he was her lifeline and he didn't mind it.

She continued crying, even when he removed one arm from the embrace and moved it up towards her hair. He moved his dexterous fingers and treaded them through her white-lavender hair in what he knew was a soothing gesture. Shizuka must have enjoyed it because she had leaned into his touch. He kept this movement up as he listened to her sobs. He noticed that her crying was beginning to subside in frequency. Even her shaking began to slow down to small bouts to completely gone. Then her sobs changed into small sniffles and hiccups. Her breathing was becoming much steadier. A few seconds later he felt her body slump, which caused his other hand to move downward onto her lower back. He subconsciously began to rub circles though she probably didn't feel it through her clothes.

He briefly thought that she had sniffed him, but it happened so quickly that he didn't know for sure. Before long her crying had completely stopped and her breathing came out in even intervals. Eventually, she had fallen asleep against him. Loke didn't think about waking her after what had just happened. The pair of them had just had breakthrough in their relationship, but it was not enough. There was still so much for them to discuss, but now was not the time. They could do that at a later date.

For now, these wordless gestures of comfort would be enough.

His flashback ended and his thoughts were back to the present. He was still walking inside the underground pathway, but his lips were stretched into a grin. The memory made him smile whenever he thought of it. That intervention had been something else. It may have been forced and unexpected, but it had worked out. In the end, it had helped him and Shizuka out. Not only had he been able to articulate his thoughts and changing opinion on the matter, but they were able to work out their differences. Honestly, if they hadn't been forced to deal with the bad blood between them they may have never changed.

Their relationship would have still been the same.

Loke still feel and act hostile towards her. He would have never seen past her label of Lapis Stella. He would have never tried to be amicable towards her. He would have never given her a chance. He liked the fact that he was no longer feeling anger towards her constantly was refreshing. Being angry all the time wasn't healthy for him. He liked and Shizuka did too.

Truthfully, the intervention had been therapeutic for both of them. Now that most of the tension was out of their relationship it was easier for them to be around each other. They could be together without feeling like the other was waiting to rip your throat out. It got to the point that sometimes they would just sit around enjoying the company the other provided. They could simply sit with another and not have to talk. There were those times when they talked to each other. It was during these times when a noticeable change had happened between them and it was a good change.

It was pleasant change.

They were becoming friends.

Still, it was safe to say that they had not suddenly become best friends over a single night. Their friendship needed time to developed and settle. It was a good thing that time was something they both had to spare. It had taken them a total of about four and a half weeks for them to get to the present point they were at in their relationship. It had taken many talks filled with anger, tears and comforting and sometimes silences but it was well worth. After all of it their relationship had reached a point where Loke could openly state that he had become the fox spirit's friend. He was her confidant, who she told almost everything too.

Between them it had become an unspoken agreement that whatever was said would stay that way. It would stay between the two of them. The leader of the Zodiac found that he liked this. He counted himself lucky that she would even dare tell him anything remotely about herself. She had placed her trust in him and that was not something he was taking for granted or taking advantage of it for malicious means. He wouldn't do that to one of his friends. He would never speak a word of what she told him behind his closed door to anyone. It was their secret that wouldn't be shared with others.

Besides, it was good for her to speak about things that bother her. He would not allow her to keep so many things locked up inside her anymore. It was not a healthy method for her. It would do her more harm than good. It wouldn't help her out and would hinder her healing process. He told this and explained that he knew this from experience. So the orange haired spirit made certain to that he encouraged her to always come for him when she needed it. The little fox spirit never questioned him or his offer. She just accepted it.

She didn't come to him immediately.

He understood her hesitation. She had gotten use to being pushed away and being ignored. She was still being wary of him and his possible motives. He knew this so he didn't force her to do anything. He just waiting painterly for her to make the choice. It had taken her at least three days to make it, but it had happened none the less. The little fox usually came to him during the late hours of the night when he was already laying on his bed. There would always be soft knock against his door that told him of her arrival. He would open his door and find her shifting uneasily and her eyes would be focused onto anywhere but him. She would never say anything even when he smiled at her knowingly. He would just wordlessly take hold of her hand and gently pull her into his room closing the door behind her.

Why she always came at night he didn't know and it never occurred to him to ask her. He had no problem staying up late at night so he allowed the session to happen at night. These night sessions usually involved a combination of crying or talking. Sometimes it was both. Either way it didn't matter to Loke. He wouldn't deny her the reassurance she needed. It was almost becoming second nature to him to embrace her or for his hand to find its way into her hair. Shizuka would only ever leave his arms when she felt like she didn't need comfort anymore. When she left nothing would be said between them, but there were those times when she wouldn't leave. Sometimes she would stay inside the embrace of his arms. The times when she stayed had become more frequent though he didn't mind.

He had no problems sharing his bed with her. He didn't think that the fox spirit minded it either. She had been alone for so long that it was only natural for her to want some company. Besides, Loke like that she liked to snuggle. He would never deny himself a good snuggle with a woman. Still, they never spoke of it outside his bedroom. It was never mentioned around anyone else. He could imagine what would happen if the information that Shizuka shared his bed got out into the open. The rumors that would come out of it would be enough to keep his fellow spirits to talk for days. He was sure that Virgo and the others wouldn't be surprises by the development. They knew him well enough to know this, but they may be surprised that he did it with the fox spirit. And if the rumors reached Lucy she would be on his ass faster than he could blink. The ex-heiress of the Heartfilia family would bite his head off if she ever thought he was taking advantage of Shizuka. Loke would never do that to a woman. He had his morals and codes and taking advantage was not something he approved of. His morals and code applied to Shizuka too. What occurred inside his bedroom was always consensual. He would never push the fox spirit's boundaries like that or force to do anything she wasn't comfortable with.

So it was kept to themselves. They didn't even talk about amongst themselves either. Loke had noticed that, but that changed too. He had been the one that had initiated that change. He did this so she could be more comfortable around him no matter where they were inside his house. He didn't think that restricting her comfortableness to his bedroom would help her healing process. They needed to be able to speak and hold a civil conversation in other parts of his home too. He didn't do it right way. He didn't want to overwhelm her so he started slowly. It had worked. They were able to converse with each other anywhere inside his house.

Eventually, the subject of their conversations changed too.

They delved into things that friends would normally speak about. This made their relationship closer. It had been another good breakthrough their relationship and many more followed after that. Still, even if their friendship was growing there were still some obstacles. It was true that their conversation had become a daily ritual for them, but the fox spirit still had some trouble. It still took Shizuka some effort for to open up about herself and speak about her feelings. Sometimes she needed a lot of effort. There times when she was still hesitant and guarded about certain aspects of her past. Sometimes she could easily talk about her past like her previous master and sometimes she couldn't. This was all a part of the healing process, but there was subject she avoided.

There was one subject she was actively avoided and that was the subject of her old partner. It was immensely difficult for her to even utter a single word about the spirit that had been a part of her life for so long. Just the mention of her old partner caused her to lock herself back into her shell. She would back to the way she was before. He, her old spirit partner, was a painful subject for her, an extremely painful subject. Loke knew this because of her eyes. He could tell from her eyes that the subject was something that probably hurt her more than what had happened with her old master. That pain was too much for her to handle so he didn't push her to talk about him. She was not ready to open up that subject anytime soon. That didn't bother him too much. All that matter was that she was trying. She was trying her best to move on.

Still, Loke knew that she would have to talk about. If she wanted to move one completely she need to talk about that taboo subject and get her feelings out in the open. The lion spirit would not allow her to be chained by that burden. He wanted her to be free and that meant putting all parts of her past to rest. The lion spirit knew that she would be ready to talk about it one day and he would be there ready to help her out. Other than that, the orange haired spirit knew that their talks were helping the blue-eyed spirit out. She had told him herself. Shizuka had told him that talking to him had helped her come to terms what she had done. She was getting better and she was happy. Every now and then she had those times when she had her relapses. When these relapses happened Loke was there to bring her out of it and encouraged her to stay positive. She always made sure to thank him for her help.

Frankly, things between them were good.

It was so good that Virgo and the others didn't quite believe the sincerity of their new relationship. In fact, they had the audacity to call them lairs that were just pretending to be friends. When they had been proven wrong things seemed have settled down. The others didn't know the full story of what had happened between them and Loke was not planning on telling them. Everyone was glad that he and Shizuka were no longer fighting though he was still upset with them. Loke had made his displeasure well known to his fellow Zodiac spirits. He warned never to do something like that to him again or there would be dire consequences.

They had made no promises.

After that whole ordeal had been sorted out life had become relatively normal. Then Lucy had been attacked and they were stuck inside this hellhole. His key holder was walking around this place without her keys and searching for Gajeel. She had no way to defend herself, except for a petal that protected her against the illusions. That was not a helpful thought. Loke hoped that she was doing fine and hadn't run into any trouble. The fact that the blonde woman had sent them on a mission made his nerves worse. He and Shizuka had to traverse through this place too with a huge disadvantage. It was a disadvantage that the fox spirit had placed upon herself, but it meant protecting Lucy. Her magic was low and was draining the longer it took Lucy to find Gajeel. The fox spirit may have not said it earlier, but the lion spirit knew the depletion was affecting her faster than desired.

She was weakening as they made the trek to the port. The pair of spirits knew that Loke would be the one who would have to do the fighting if a fight happened. He was well aware that he would be protecting both of their backs. That was why he wanted her to stay so close to him, but something unexpected happened. Shizuka had been caught by that thing. It hadn't given the lion spirit any opening to save her and it took advantage that. Loke would admit that he had been caught off guard and now his friend was missing though she would not be missing for that long.

He would find her and bring her back.

There was one thing that the orange haired spirit didn't understand and it was really bothering him. Why had this monster attacked Shizuka? He didn't understand it. They had traverse through this place and the Misted hadn't bothered with at all, unless they purposefully attracted them. So why had this one attacked? This question had bothered him since he started this search and there were other things that bother him too. The monster that had attacked them had a different bodily structure the others. It was no longer human. To further add how different this monster was that it had taken Shizuka with it. Why it had taken her was another question he had no answer for. He had a feeling that he wouldn't find those answers.

A part of him thought that it didn't really matter at all. To Loke it was just another monster that had attacked him and then kidnapped his friend. All that matter was that his friend was counting on him and he needed to find her before his time ran out. Once her current form became too much for her magic to sustain she would change into a smaller body. That smaller body would weaken her further though there were some advantages to it. She would be harder to catch and she could easily avoid any enemies. He would be able to carry her or she could hang on his back. It would be easier to protect her too.

Well, it didn't matter at the moment.

He needed to find her first. As his thought this he felt some water dripped down onto his face. The feeling of cold water snapped him out of his thought process. This was a good thing because he almost tripped into a step. He didn't dare think what he would have been covered in if he had fallen into one of the large puddles. The puddles looked and smelled nasty. He was glad that had avoided that predicament. He didn't want to smell like whatever was inside the puddle. His eyes moved away from the puddles and roved over to what was beyond the steps. It was another door, a door made of iron that looked like it would make a loud creaky sound if you opened it.

He was proven correct when he pushed the heavy-looking door open. The bottom of it had scraped against the ground causing an earsplitting screech to assault his ears. He couldn't help but wince at the sound of it. He quickly pushed the door open with only enough spaced that allowed him to squeeze through. He did just that easily. Once he was on the other side of the door he found himself inside another room. At first, Loke believed to be inside some sort of storage room where people could hide out, but as he moved his eyes around the area he realized that it was more to it. His eyes widen when they landed on the wall. The wall had writing on it in giant letters.

Fear is my salvation. Fear is my way to paradise.

Those words were quite clear. Whoever had been here and written that on the wall was follower of Fear. Those written words convince the lion spirit of that. He didn't focus on those words too long. He looked around the room and noticed that someone had to be living in this room for some time. There was canned food and even furniture. His first glance through didn't tell him much and he wondered if he could find something if he investigated this area thoroughly. He wondered if there was something hidden in here that could help Lucy fight against that monstrous boy-thing. He thought this, but he did not act upon it. He was hesitant to spend some time searching because he was on a time constraint. He wasn't exactly sure how much magic Shizuka had left to spare. He just knew that it was not enough to help herself. If he spent too much time here he could be putting her in additional danger and he may not reach her in time. He didn't want to risk that.

Still could he really afford to pass this chance up?

Loke weighed out his options. He could search the area now and possibly find something, but it could take a large amount of time to look through the entire room. If he took too long something awful could happen to Shizuka. With her unable to return to the Celestial realm she would be bearing whatever pain she encountered until he arrived there. This was not a nice consequence. The leader of the Zoidac didn't want to leave his fellow spirit in harm's way, but it was an option he had to consider. The other option was that he could return back to this room after he had rescued the fox spirit. He could save her and the pair of them to journey their way back here. They could investigate the area together. Two pairs of eyes and noses would be better than one. Plus, it would increase the chances of them finding something in this room too.

This option sounded good and it was the one he was leaning towards. If he found and saved her first then he wouldn't have the cloud of worry over his head. She would be next to him where he could keep a better eye on both their backs. It sounded like the best choice for him to make, but he could see some problems with it too. There was a chance that wherever the fox spirit had been taken could be on the other side of this area. She could be so far away that traveling back to this room would cost more time. It would especially be tricky if her magic was running on fumes by that point. He would have to navigate his way back here with a weaken partner through the Misted and possibly the thing that took her. He was sure he could get through it, but if he exhausted himself then they would both be in trouble.

Both options had huge risks attached to them and it didn't make his decision any easier. He knew that he was wasting his time already by thinking so hard about this. He had to make a choice and he had to do it quickly. Loke may be impulsive, but this was not the time for it. Not really finding a solution for himself the lion spirit asked himself what the fox spirit would do. If he asked her about this, what would she tell him? He came to a conclusion to this scenario quickly. He had spent so much time with her that he could probably accurately guess what she would tell him. She would say something snippy and smart, like how he wasn't acting like his usual self. She would tell him that he didn't have to worry about her and that she was capable of taking herself. If anything she would tell him to put Lucy before her. The fox spirit would be disappointed with him if he allowed this chance to help their master slip through his fingers.

The choice was obvious.

Thinking of the fox's reaction to this dilemma helped him. Whenever he was unsure of something he would find himself asking for her advice. Sure, he could ask the others, but the fox spirit was always near him. Since she was always near him she was readily available to help him pull his head out of his ass as Shizuka often stated. Loke had gotten use to her being there for him to bounced ideas off. So used to it that here he was pretending that she was with him and doing just that. He depended on her as much as she depended on him. That wasn't the only reason he liked being around her. He had many other reasons to have her next to him.

Most importantly, Loke just enjoyed her company.

It was nice just knowing that he had someone to turn to or just sleep next too. Shizuka didn't expect anything back from their relationship. She had no ulterior motives. The lion spirit was certain that when his time as her appointed babysitter ended that she was going to stay. The little fox spirit would still be living with him after they completed the Celestial King's decree. Loke knew that she felt the same since they had discussed it during one of their many late night conversations. He was glad that would stay with him. He didn't think that he would be able to get use to his house being that empty again. An empty house with just him around was not something he thought he could do again. That and he liked having her always standing next to him on his right side. It wasn't like he was treating her as his sidekick. She wasn't his sidekick. To him the fox spirit was more than that. Shizuka was more than that to him, but exactly what he didn't know. He really needed some time to think about that—

And here he was getting distracted.

He needed to focus on the task on hand. Nothing would come out of being side tracked at this moment. Actually, this time around something did come out. He had come down to a decision. He knew that no matter what option he chose the end result would still be the same. The fox spirit's magic would still decrease to a level where her body would try to compensate for it. Her body would revert into a smaller one in order to sustain some magic. Loke had decided that the best option was to stay and search the area. If he found something then that was a good thing. If he found nothing then he was out of luck. Either way he was still going to rescue his companion in the end.

With his choice made, he began his investigation. He searched the cot that was against the disgusting looking wall. He noticed some ugly looking stains on the sheets. He avoided those not wanting to get unknown germs on his hands. Besides, from the smell wafting off the sheets he could tell what some of the stains were. He smelled some mold. The mold gave the sheets tinted green hues that cover up some other stains. The other stains clearly had the scent of bodily fluids that made Loke wrinkle his nose in revulsion. At least now he knew that person that had been living here had been a man, a man who had spent a lot of time alone. Besides that, there was also the scent of blood. There was not just one scent either. There was many. He wondered else this person did that involved this much blood covering his sheets.

He didn't want to know.

In the end, the search of the bed did not bear any fruit. He moved on to other places of the room. He even looked behind the shelves and inside some of the cans. He didn't find anything of interest. All he found was a bunch of rotting food. He made his way through the room meticulously and left nothing untouched. He eventually reached the small writer's desk that was located almost on the other side of the room. Loke noticed that there was a small shrine located inside a hole in the wall above the desk. The shrine was disturbing to look at. This shrine was clearly dedicated to Fear. Above the shrine were the words he had noticed earlier. He ignored the shrine and moved his attention towards the desk.

It was made of wood and it was the color of dark red. It was a nice desk, probably the nicest item inside this room. Pushing that thought aside he began his search. The desk was covered in loose leaf paper that was scatter in no distinct pattern. There were some pens strewn around. One pen was even leaking ink onto a stack of paper. He avoided that area seeing that most of the paper was blank where the spilled ink was. He shuffled around trying to find anything that would look important. He found nothing and move on. Once he cleared out the top area of the desk he decided to look though the drawers of the desk. It was inside one of those drawers that he had found something that could be useful.

It was a small leather book in the same red color as the desk. Loke could tell that the book was handmade. He could see wiry thread that held the book together at the spine. The thread had been stitched into the spine in a simple pattern. Besides that detail, the lion spirit could tell that the book was old. It had been through some ordeals and had been well used. The corners of it were fraying and were curling up inwards. There were some faded areas on the cover too. The only thing keeping it closed was some string tied in a knot so it was relatively easy to open.

Just from the outside he could not tell what sort of book it was. He had no idea what was written in the inside. For all he knew it could be nothing important. It could be a book only listing inventory things or filled with dark rituals. Honestly, the entire thing could just be filled with nonsense. He wouldn't know until he opened it. His fingers reached the knot and pulled it apart. It only took him a few seconds to undo the string. Once opened it he glanced at the first page and noticed the old and large handwriting on it. The date was written in the corner in such a large print that it almost took up the entire corner. His hazel eyes roved down the page as quickly as possible and he realized what he was looking at.

It was a journal.

After reading the first few pages, he decided that he would find nothing of value those pages. He skipped ahead only stopping at every other page and reading over them. If there was nothing of worth then he moved on. He did this several times until he made it to a point in the journal timeline that piqué his interest. The page was dated two months ago. As he read the pages he noticed that what was being written and the tone changed. The writer had mentioned that they had met a cloaked figured who had called themselves S. As he continued to meet with S the writer's words grew darker and alarming. He spoke of some sort of cleansing and finding a paradise that would make his dreams come true.

As Loke read on, he noticed that S had become a constant fixture in this man's life. It didn't take long, but the writer eventually was introduced to Fear. After the man had met Fear it was obvious that sanity and individual thought were completely gone. His writing became ramblings. He wrote of doing anything for his new master Fear. In the end, the man had volunteered to do something for his new master, but he didn't write what. The last few pages were just the writer logging down everything victim he had chosen for the ritual he needed to complete and how he was preparing himself for the final step. It went on and on, until he reached the last page with any writing on it. The only thing written on the last page was the sentence: It was time to end my human life.

There was nothing written after that. He had flipped through them to be sure. All that remained after were a few blank sheets of paper and nothing else. Then again he should have expected this, especially after reading the last sentence. Loke had no doubts that the owner was no longer alive. That last sentence reeked of death. The only thing he could not figure out was whether the man allowed his murder or took his own life. He reread the pages again just to see if he missed anything the first time around, but he found nothing else that stood out to him. Sadly, the man didn't include any names of the rituals or what he trying to do. That and some of the things he wrote down Loke didn't quite understand.

Not that he was too worried about it too much. From the few pages he had read he knew that this journal was a good find and could help them out in the long run. He decided to take it with him. He closed the journal and retied the knot on it. He placed in his inside pocket of his jacket for safekeeping. Once he was back in the Fairy Tail guild and Lucy was safe then he would hand this over to her. Besides, he had feeling that once they were out of this place that the Celestial mage and the Iron Dragon Slayer were going to have a long over do talk with one another. They would want to get reacquainted with one another and he wouldn't mind doing the same with Shizuka. Frankly, it didn't matter because the blonde would get the journal no matter what.

With the journal safe and a plan in mind, he searched the desk one more time. He found nothing else. The lion spirit had search the room from top to bottom and this journal was all he found. He knew that he wasn't going to find anything else in this area. It was time for to leave and go back to tracking Shizuka down. He returned to following the lingering traces of her scent, which told him where to head to next. It led him to the other side of the room where he found another one of those doors This one didn't require him to open it himself since it had been left wide open. From the amount of sludge-like skin covering it he knew it had been the monster that had left it open. At least with the door open he could avoid touching the leftovers. He went through the door to see that there was a ladder attached to the wall. He moved his hazel eyes upward hoping he could see where it led. He couldn't.

All he could tell was that it led up, nothing else. Loke assume that there was another area there all together. He hoped that the area above was safe for him to venture in. He had no choice, but to go up. He wasn't looking forward to going up since the ladder was rusted. He was concern about it. The damn thing looked like it could break with the slightest amount of weight on it. He needed to test it. He walked up to it and pulled on it a bit to see if it was firmly attached onto the wall. It made some creaking noises, but it looked like it would hold. He then tentatively placed a foot on the ladder and stood on it so he could test if it could hold his weight. It felt like it could. He took another step upwards and another and another until he was traveling higher up the ladder. As he went upward he told himself that if the ladder held the monsters weight and the added weight of Sizuka then it could very well hold him too.

His assessment had been right. The ladder had held on and he was able to make it to the top. His eyes swiveled around the new room and noticed that there was nothing really inside this area. There was only a ceiling light and there was another door. That was it. He didn't stay in the room long. He left it behind going through the door and after walking a few steps more only to arrive at split hallway. His was thankful for his nose at this point. It made him easy to know where he had to go. The scent went towards the left path. This hallway was not as long as the others. In fact, it was smaller than the other one he had been through.

Thus it was a shorter walk.

It was shorter walk where he ended up in front of another door, much to his annoyance.

"How big is this place?" Loke muttered out loud to himself as he went through yet another door. This door opened up to another hallway similar to the first hallway that had led him here. "I swear someone could lost in here if they didn't know where they where they were heading."

He hoped this was the last door he would need to get through.

He emerged from a hole in the wall. It was just like the hole in the wall in the other warehouse. That was not the only thing that looked similar to the orange haired man. He recognized that he had arrived inside another warehouse. This one was also filled with filled boxes that were covered in red colored tarps and stacked to together by lettered sections. This one was a little bit more filled than the other one. It didn't take the lion spirit long to find the way out of the place. When he exited the warehouse he was staring at an outside area that resembled the port he had just left. The only difference was that this one was nowhere near the water. He continued tracking, but he didn't get too far.

He had heard the sound of a large commotion from somewhere nearby. From the amount of shouts he could hear, he deduced that a fight was occurring. He moved towards it without thinking. There was trouble and it was possible that it could be civilians that needed his help. He wondered if the fox spirit could be there, but he doubted that. He couldn't pick up her scent coming from that direction. What he did smell was the scent of fire and it smelled quite familiar to him, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Maybe he would figure it out when he arrived to that area. It didn't take him that long to get to the source of the noise.

It was indeed a battle that he had heard. Loke moved in as close as he could possibility get without being seen. He spotted some people running inside one of the warehouse as two others stayed in the front. The two staying in the front were acting as a barrier between the runners and the crowd of Misted. He saw whirlwinds pushing the Misted back. From the amount of wind being called upon on a non-windy day the lion spirit came to the conclusion that it was not natural. It was magical and there had to be a wind user down there. The other magic he noticed was the fire he smelled earlier. This element was not as controlled as the wind. It was blazing around erratically and destroying some parts of the port. The fire also provided him with some light to see. When the fire user jumped into the air they unintentionally gave Loke a good view of them.

Well, mostly he saw their hair.

"You got to be kidding me." Loke whispered as he rubbed his fingers against his temple. He felt a headache coming onto the forefront of his head. He recognized that amount of destruction and pink hair anywhere. "That's Natsu down there."

The Fire Dragon Slayer, bless his good natured heart, was not the type to handle this sort of situation. He was way too impulsive and could easily get lost in the excitement of battle. The amount of destruction he was causing and the fact that the wind was also pushing his flames back was proof of this. Still, the pink haired man had good intentions at heart. He could never say no to someone in need. Loke was the same way. His mind quickly assessed the situation and he was already moving to help. His fist was alit with his light magic and a well place Regulus Impact did the job. The sudden flash of light had not only blinded the Misted, but it also caused them to stop moving.

"What the—Loke, what are you doing here?" Natsu was the first one to notice his presence.

"Not now! Quick, roar a fire onto the ground in front of us! That should give everyone enough time to get inside! Do it now!"The orange haired spirit ordered the other man.

The Fire Dragon Slayer did as he was ordered without second thought. The blazing fire spread out in front of them and did its job. And like planned it had given those running enough time to get inside. Loke and the other two were not that far behind them. Once inside the warehouse doors were closed shut. The orange haired man could hear that some people were crying. Actually, a lot of them were crying out that they were afraid. Some were whispering that wouldn't escape from this and that they had been so close to get away. The more Loke listened the more he understood that these people had been trapped here for awhile. They wanted out of this area and he couldn't blame them. Before he could ponder anything else he was roughly pulled forward by someone and his body was shook with so much force he saw stars.

"Loke, where's Luce! Is she okay? Is she hurt? Where is she so I can go rescue her?" Natsu asked these questions so fast that it took Loke some time to decipher them. "Answer me Loke!"

"Shit, stop it Natsu!" The leader of the Zodiac was able to get out of the Dragon Slayer's grasp and push him away from his personal space. "Only the ladies are allowed to be close to me."

"Loke—"

"This is not the time for it! There are other matters that need handling, like what is going on here. Who are these people?" He chastised his fellow Fairy Tail mage. He understood the pink haired man's worry over Lucy, but that didn't mean he was going to allow himself to manhandle by him. "We're trapped in here with those things out there. We need to do something."

"Fine, but then you tell me about Luce."

"Agreed."

Once that was settled the leader of the Zodiac was quickly caught up on the situation. He was introduced to Kaze, who used wind magic. He learned that Kaze had been helping these people survive inside this port, until it was obvious that they couldn't stay in this area any longer. They had to escape, but the turquoise haired woman was the only one who knew magic so she had tried to find help. That was how she met Natsu, who had agreed to help her out. Then the Dragon Slayer picked up the story from there. He told the spirit about how Hibiki had gotten in contact with them and told them what had happened after that. They learned that Lucy had gone missing so they selected a group to go and find her. Loke was told of the plan and most importantly about the rendezvous point.

It was a place that he knew well.

It was a good thing that he had lived here before so he was able to tell them the fastest way to get there. He even told them what could be the best place to hole up in until they were picked up. Loke even came up with a plan where they could all get there faster and undetected. He told them about the warehouse with the secret entrance he had found. He explained that going through there would be the shortcut they could take, especially since the rendezvous point would be closer. It didn't take the leader of Zodiac long to convince the woman named Kaze. She was all for it and since Natsu was helping her out he went along with it. Since he had already been through there he was able give them the exact route they should take. And he told them what areas to avoid.

It took several talks but they were able to come up with a decent plan. All they had to do was to sneak out back, which was possible if Natsu used his fire to punch a hole through the wall. The pink haired man would watch their backs by shooting a wall of fire between them and the Misted awhile Kaze did the same in the front. As the two did that, Loke would lead the survivors to the warehouse. It was a simple plan. They didn't need to do anything to elaborate so they kept it simple and easy. After the plan had been agreed on Loke made good on his word and told the worried Dragon Slayer about Lucy. He told him that it had been Jose that had attacked her and taken her hostage. He stated that the Celestial mage had escaped from him by herself by the time he and Shizuka had arrived. She was planning on meeting with Gajeel, who had her keys, by following the magic of her keys. Overall, she was a hurt, but not hurt enough that she couldn't find the Iron Dragon Slayer. He also explained how she was protected from the mist by the fox spirit's magic.

He assured Natsu that blonde would be fine. He would see her when they escaped from here. Throughout the entire time he spoke Loke could tell that the other man wanted to go out and find her himself. He was edgy and twitching like he wanted to run off, but he didn't. When he had finished it looked like the pink haired man was going to grill him again, but the sound of Kaze's voice stopped him. He moved over to her quickly and she told him that they were ready to leave whenever they were. Natsu grinned at her with a broad smile telling her that everything would work out. He proclaimed loudly that all they needed was to have faith. The Fire Dragon Slayer words seemed to have an effect on the somber mood. There were some smiles and happy chatter, but all that stopped once it was clear the plan was moving forward.

Strangely enough the plan went without a hitch. They had managed only to get the attention of a few Misted. It proved not to be too much of a problem. The trek to the other warehouse didn't take that much time. They had arrived inside before they knew it. Showing the secret entrance was quick too. The spirit watched as some of the survivors disappear down below. It had only taken a few minutes for everyone to make their way down. Before the lion spirit knew it, he was standing amongst them talking to Natsu again.

"Alright, this is as far as I can lead you." Loke mostly spoke to the Fire Dragon Slayer, but he could see that the turquoise haired woman was also listening. "The rest should be easy for you guys. Just follow my instructions and you should be fine."

"Thank you for this. Now we have a higher chance of surviving because of you." The wind user smiled gratefully at him. "If you ever need anything don't hesitate to ask me."

"No thanks needed. Just seeing you guys safe and your beautiful smile is enough for me. Just make sure that you guys get to the rendezvous point safe and sound."

She nodded at him before she left to speak to some of the other survivors about what to do next. The lion spirit's eyes didn't waver from her as she left. If anything, her swaying hips were nice to watch, very nice. Natus must have caught onto his thoughts because the next thing he knew was that he was punched in the shoulder. It was not a friendly punch either. His hazels eyes involuntarily left the swaying hips and were focused on the angry onyx eyes of his fellow Fairy Tail mage.

He look pissed.

"Stop that! Stop staring at her like that." He growled at him. Loke could see his sharp teeth peeking out.

"What, I was just looking." He replied back without thinking. He couldn't help but look at beautiful women, especially since it had been awhile that he had gotten the chance to flirt. "She is pretty easy on the eyes.

"That's the problem. I don't like it, so stop it!" This time he shouted. His shout caught the attention of the others, even the person who was the subject of the conversation. Natsu smiled and waved at them silently telling them that everything was okay. This seemed to suffice and the others went back to their own conversations. "Just stop your perverted staring okay."

"Fine." The lion spirit shrugged, which seemed to pacify Natsu.

Loke thought that was going to be the end of the conversation and he was about to excuse himself to leave, but the other spoke again.

"By the way, where is the other spirit that is always with you?" The pink haired man asked as he looked around. It was like he was searching for the other spirit, but Loke knew that he wouldn't find her. "I don't see her here with you and she is always with you. So where is she? Is she somewhere else?"

Natsu just had to ask that question. The one question he didn't want to answer or explain at the moment. He knew what the other man's reaction would be if he told the Fire Dragon Slayer the reason why Shizuka wasn't with him. The pink haired man would quickly offer his services in helping to search for her. No doubt he would want to help. That and Loke just didn't want to explain it to the other. He didn't want to tell him that he had been careless and that his carelessness had led to his charge to be whisked away. If he admitted out loud then it would make it more real. It would make his feeling of failure all the more real. He didn't want anyone to know.

So he didn't.

"Shizuka, she's waiting for me in another area. She's probably pissed that I'm running late, though you wouldn't be able to tell. Her facial muscles are dead so her face doesn't change much." He said with a chuckle following the end of his words. He made certain that his voice remained steady and calm. He didn't want to give any sort of hint about how worried he was about her. "I'll be in her icy company again before I know it."

"Really? I thought you guys were not supposed to be separated." Natus was watching him closely, too closely. It was like the other man knew that he was not telling the whole truth. "I remember that was what you explained to us when we first questioned why you had a stuck on, Loke."

"There are exceptions to every rule, Natsu." He replied back with a polite smile on his face. The spirit briefly missed his glasses. His glasses he could hide his eyes from view. It would be easier to hide this from the sometimes perceptive Dragon Slayer. "We had to separate for a reason and like I said she is waiting for me."

"Then maybe you shouldn't keep her waiting." Even though he stated this, the expression on the pink haired man told the spirit that he still had doubts about what he had been told. "Ezra always told me it was rude to keep someone waiting, especially women."

"I know that. You don't need to tell a gentleman how to treat a lady."

"If you say so, but if you need any help I am here for you. All you got to do is ask for it and I'll tag along with you, Loke."

"No, I don't need any help, but thank you for the offer." The spirit declined the offer quickly.

"Are you sure?" The Dragon Slayer asked one more time, like he was trying to convince him to say yes.

"Yes, I'm sure. For some odd reason the Misted don't pay much attention me and Shizuka. It's like we are invisible to them. We are able to move freely and not have to worry about being attacked by them." Loke explained to the other man. What he was saying was not exactly a lie. It was the truth. Still, if he didn't want to vocalize his failure and the situation had been different he would've accepted the assistance. He had another reason to decline the offer of help and he made the other aware of it. "Besides, I think these folks need your help more than I do. They need some back up and your strength."

"Huh?"

Spirits, how could the Fire Dragon Slayer notice some things and not others, especially when the answer was obvious?

"Natsu, do I have to really spell it out for you?" Loke stared at his fellow mage with a face colored with disbelief. "There is no way you've haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?" The pink haired man arched an eyebrow up as he waited for some sort of answer to his question.

The leader of the Zodiac didn't vocalize his response.

He just nodded towards the turquoise haired woman, which caused onyx eyes to follow.

"Kaze? What does it have to do with her?" His eyes were focused the female mage. That only lasted for a few seconds before his face fell into an expression of distrust and his eyes rotated back to the spirit. He was eyeing suspiciously. "You're not having disgusting thoughts again?"

"No, and even if I was I'm not going to tell you."

"Loke…" Instead of a growl the Dragon Slayer released a snarled warning and his fist flickering with fire in an erratic rhythm.

"Enough of this, we're off topic." He waved his hands in a blasé manner before he continued with his response. "I am saying you should stay with them because they need your help more than I do."

"Then why did you point out Kaze?"

"Natsu, from what I gather from her story and yours is that she's the only mage in the group. Sure, she has done a perfectly fine job of protecting them for this long, but that came at a cost. Look at her, really look at her and you'll see what I mean."

Lucy's former partner did just that. He stared at the wind mage, who wasn't speaking with anyone anymore, like the lion had suggested. Said spirit watched his fellow Fairy Tail mage observe the woman with the turquoise hair. Loke studied his eyes mostly. The orange haired man noticed that there some strange emotions shining in the other's eyes. There was a large of amount of awe and gratefulness reflecting inside them. And there was something else that the spirit couldn't really decipher. There was that and the fact that Natsu was observing the wind mage much longer than was necessary.

Plus, the added fact that other man had reacted particularly aggravated about the possibility that Loke could have been having perverted thoughts about Kaze. The only other time the leader of the Zodiac could recall the other acting that way was when it involved Lucy. The Fire Dragon hated when Loke flirted with the blonde Celestial mage, but never put a stop to it because he knew Lucy would have his head if harmed one of her beloved spirits. Natsu wouldn't risk the blonde's wrath aimed at him.

Well, Lucy was capable of rebuffing his advances by herself just fine.

That was beside the point. This didn't involve the blonde woman. It involved the wind mage, which Loke was sure Natsu barely just met today. Actually, they had been acting too friendly for strangers that just met. Their earlier behavior when they had been explaining the situation to him had clued him in to that detail. He wondered if the pair had left something out from their story. He was positive that they had left something out. Something had to have happened between them. That was the only explanation he could think of. Whatever the case, Loke knew one thing was certain. Natsu was behaving strangely around this woman.

Ah, and here he was getting distracted again.

He chased away his thoughts of the Fire Dragon Slayer's odd behavior around Kaze. This wasn't the time or place to speculate about it. He had his suspicions, but wouldn't explore too much into it, yet. He would think about it once this entire ordeal was over. He mentally added that his do list and would tackle the subject when he has the chance. With that settled Loke was about to speak up again, but Natus must have detected what the spirit saw.

"She's slumping a little and breathing hard. And she's putting a lot of her weight against the wall in order to stand up. It's like she's about to fall over any second." The namesake of Team Natsu stated as his eyebrow furrowed and his lips frowned with worry. "It's like She's tired, really tired."

"Of course she is! She has been using a lot of magic. No offense to the little lady, but I don't think she will be able to defend herself and these people much longer. She is practically running on fumes." He explained in a terse voice. "Now do you understand what I mean that you should help them out instead of me?"

"Yeah, I got it." He nodded.

More wasn't explanation needed, but they did speak with one another for a bit longer. They spoke about subjects that related to the other reason they were in this town and if either of them had found anything. They briefly talked about Lucy and Gajeel's relationship, which had been brought up by the pink haired man. The lion spirit easily told the other man what he felt about the situation between her and Gajeel. He admitted that he believed that the Celestial Mage and the Iron Dragon Slayer would make up and stay together. He wasn't being malicious when he stated this. Loke truly believed that what Lucy had with the other Dragon Slayer would be forever. Of course, Natsu was not too happy about that, but he didn't deny it.

Besides, Loke had inside knowledge.

That was something the other could not dispute. If the Zodiac leader said that she was going to stay with Gajeel then it was true. The subject of Lucy soon ended and they moved onto other conservations. They talked until they found they had nothing else to discuss. Obviously, it was time for them to separate and get their respective missions completed. There was only so much time left before they had to leave. Neither of them wanted to stay here longer than necessary. The two men shook hands telling the other to stay safe. After that, the lion spirit watched Natsu and the others go down the ladder and disappear below. He stood inside the secret passage until he heard the door close. Once he heard the sound of it closing he went outside again. He intended to leave the area.

Before he left the area, he decided to do something that could higher the survivors' chances of reaching their destination. He moved some of the crates in front of the area where the entrance to the hidden passage was located in the wall. He didn't place them too close that it would hinder the hidden door in the wall from being opened. The crates were just near enough to hide the fact that something was located in the wall. This way no enemy would be able to find it, unless they searched for it. Well, except him and the monster that kidnapped the fox spirit.

Shizuka…

He wondered if she was okay.

This detour had taken some time out of his search for her. There was a chance that he had lost so much time that it placed him and her at bigger disadvantage. The fox spirit didn't have all that much magic left. Her body had most likely morphed into a smaller form in order to compensate her lack of magic. There was only so much she could do in that tiny body of hers. And with the added fact that Lucy was relying on that petal for protection from the illusions meant she couldn't risk using her magic. The fox spirit was vulnerable, very vulnerable.

There was no doubt about that.

It was time for him to get back on the trail once again. He left the warehouse and traveled back to where he had last smelled her scent. It wasn't that far from where he was located so not much time was wasted getting back there. When he had arrived he went back to sniffing out the fox spirit's scent. Luckily, it didn't take him that long to find it again. He was on the move again. Traversing through the city was not that difficult, especially with no enemies going after him. The Misted were still not paying too much attention to him as he passed. The lion spirit was invisible to them as he walked by. He didn't mind it. It meant that he was able to travel the scent faster and without any hurdles to go over.

Besides, there were not many around.

That situation soon changed and he ran into an actual obstacle. He followed for another three city blocks and the number of Misted around increased. The area he had been led to was a condense area that was filled to the brim with Misted. Shizuka's scent went through the horde so he had to go through it. He believed it wouldn't be much of a problem since he was nothing of interest to them. It would just be a hassle trying to find a suitable way through the masses. A heavy sigh left his lips and he gritted his teeth as he took a stepped forward. That had been his first mistake. No, his first mistake had been assuming that the Misted would behave the same as the others. His second mistake had been going out into the open.

Either way he had miscalculated and he almost paid for it.

As soon as Loke had stepped out into the open the nearest Misted had locked onto him and then the others followed its example. They had rushed him like a pack of rabid dogs. This change in behavior had happened so quickly that his mind didn't have enough time to question it. Some had even managed to grab him, but he was able to escape their grasp. Despite it happening rapidly, he was able to avoid being pulled further in and being grabbed again. He used some of the shadows to cover his escape. Then he used the opportunity to scale up a tree. In the tree he was out of their reach, which was an excellent thing for him. It also gave him time to catch his breath and analyze the situation at present.

These Misted were different from the others. He wasn't sure why, but they were. They were much more aggressive. They were ready to attack him and to tear him apart. It would be an error to walk out into the open again in front of this mob of Misted like he done seconds ago. He could get caught and that was something he couldn't risk. Someone was depending on him, thus he need to re-evaluate the situation. He was high enough in the tree that he could see the surrounding area without problems. The entire area was packed with the bodies of the Misted. It was so packed that even the Misted could barely move without bumping into each other. And there wasn't really any area where he could easily seek cover from them. There were too many that one of them was bound to see him.

It was going to be difficult to navigate this area and follow the scent. Whatever he chose to do it would require him stay on path of Shizuka's scent. The path also needed to give him as much as no contact with the Misted long enough for him to reach the fox spirit. His plan had to work in favor of both of those aspects. He didn't really have an idea what to do. When he took another long whiff of the air that was when a plan clicked into place. He noticed that he could still smell the scent trail if he stayed up in the trees. To his advantage the trees were planted in a row. The trees were close enough that he could jump from one to other. He could easily travel through them, stay on the scent and avoid contact with the Misted.

He went with that plan.

His hazel eyes measured the distance between each tree and made his jump. He thanked his feline abilities, which made jumping easier. After all, lions were a part of the big cat family so they had some jumping skills. His feet landed on one of the branches and he felt some of the leaves rustle around him. He was able to silently jump from tree to tree as silently as he could. Miraculously, his planned worked with no problems. He hadn't caught the crowd's attention so they left him alone. As he traveled amongst the trees he noticed that the scents were getting stronger. Loke knew that this chase was coming close to ending. He reached the end of the tree line and found himself facing a building. And to his displeasure he found something else.

What he saw he knew would prove to be a problem.

One of the buildings looked like it had seen better days, but that wasn't an important detail. The most important detail was that there was another mob of the Misted surrounding it, but it didn't look like they had a choice in the matter. They were walking around in a circle inside a large ditch with high walls. Someone had ripped apart the asphalt road and created a deep ditch. That was where the Misted were in and the ditch walls were high enough that could not escape from it. It was basically a moat filled with enemies. Loke was positive that it had been that humanoid monster that had created this. The other thing he was sure of was that Shizuka was inside there. The fact that her scent passed the ugly moat told him that much.

She was in there waiting for him.

And he had to get through this new obstacle.

Too bad there wasn't a bridge he could use to go over it. That would have been nice, but there wasn't. He had to somehow traverse a freaking moat of Misted in order to get inside. Whatever, it didn't matter much. Shizuka's scent led in there and he was going to go in there moat or not. He was going to get inside. Determination may have been pumping in his blood, but Loke was smart enough not react impulsively. He couldn't just jump in. The idea of being man handle again wasn't agreeable. He was going to avoid those grabby hands. He believed the best route was to avoid the moat entirely. He wanted to avoid causing any sort of commotion. If he made too much noise then it was possible that he would lose his element of surprise. He didn't need the monster to know that he was here. Catching the entity off guard was something that would work in his favor.

It would be best for him to climb his way up into the building instead.

With this in mind, he explored around to see if there was a decent place where he could jump too or climb up. It would be all the better if he could find a place where he could do both. It didn't take long to figure out a good place. There was a nearby building that was close to where he needed to go. It was close enough that he could get out of the tree and hide behind some cover. Then he could easily climb up onto the ledge and into the other building through the window. He would be able to get in without much of a fuss, unless their enemies waiting for him inside. If there were enemies inside avoidance was the best solution. He could sneak around them, but if given the opportunity he would take them out. Once he found his missing companion then stealth would be tossed out the window. His goal would be to escape with her and to get far away from here until they were safe.

It was a good plan as any. It was the plan that would work the best in this current predicament. Thinking of a plan was the easier part, but executing successfully was another thing all together. He could do it he told himself. He had experience in these sorts of rescue missions many times before so it would go as planned. He would rescue his missing friend and they would escape. He released the breath that he hadn't realized he was holding in. It came out as a sigh, but it helped him keep his focus. The tension his muscles had been coated in began to dissolve away. His magic was humming alongside his pumping heart as he rolled his shoulders and neck in a swift movement. He was already crouching, preparing for his jump when a sudden noise broke his concentration.

It was the sound of glass breaking.

Loke snapped his head towards the direction of the sound. The window that had broken was pretty high up, but not that high. He watched the glass shards fall down towards the moat of Misted, but they did nothing to move from the onslaught. He didn't keep his eyes on them long. He caught sight of something falling alongside the broken glass. It was obvious what was tagging along was what had that caused the window to break. He was still able to make out the object even from where he was hiding, but he wished he didn't. He recognized the familiar color he saw and he what had broken the window. It had been a person. A person had broken through the window and was plummeting towards the ground from a height that could kill them. It took his brain a few seconds to put a name to the body.

It was Shizuka.

She was falling.

Happy 2018 my dear readers! Hope you enjoy the new chapter! So I stated in the last chapter that I will be changing my schedule up a bit. I really want to meet goal of finishing this story up. It would be nice if I can finish on the same day that i published this story~Anyways, I spent some time thinking about this and came to the conclusion that after chapter 54 updates after that will be double chapters.

So yeah, after chapter 54 instead of getting one chapter you will get two chapters.

Also, be on the look out for a complete update schedule on my profile. It should be posted before chapter 54 comes out.

Until next time!

Next Chapter update: being pushed back due to work schedule