DAUNTLESS

Chapter XXXI – Loke

Warning: do not read this chapter while listening to a sad song. Or do it, you'll feel it even stronger.

"Rompí a llorar. Me encanta esa expresión. No se dice rompí a comer o rompí a caminar. Rompes a llorar o a reír. Creo que vale la pena hacerse añicos por esos sentimientos.

J'ai éclaté en sanglots. J'ai un faible pour cette expression. On n'éclate jamais de faim ou de froid. En revanche, on éclate de rire ou en sanglots. Il est des sentiments qui justifient qu'on vole en éclats.

I burst into tears. I love that expression. You don't say someone has burst into a meal or burst into a walk. You burst into tears or into laughter. I think it's worth bursting into pieces for those feelings."

- Albert Espinosa

For a moment, Lucy could hear nothing but a heavy hum. Her ears throbbed painfully, she couldn't breathe or see properly. Her eyes were open, but all she could see was a thick layer of dust, dirt and smoke. She tried to move, but something seemed to move inside her head and bump against her skull. She felt disoriented and could taste her own blood, mixed with dust. She tried checking her surroundings when she was on her knees. Everything was engulfed in the dirty mist.

Looking down, Lucy saw blood on her clothes. She reached up with her hand and felt her forehead, there was a lot of blood on her face. What the hell happened? She looked around her once more and saw someone coming toward her. When her eyes finally got used to the dirt, she recognized the man who kneeled in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Jude asked. "You're bleeding, we need to treat your wounds."

Lucy didn't resist at all when her father carefully pulled her up. He kept his arm around her waist to support her and Lucy saw that the mist wasn't thick at all when they were standing up.

"Lucy!"

The commander's voice caught her attention and she turned her head. He was running toward her with a very worried look in his eyes, but he didn't look hurt. Lucy sighed in relief. Then, she saw what was behind the commander. She saw the flames engulfing the ruins of the mine house. She remembered the explosion. She remembered the one who had to stay behind to light the sticks of dynamite.

A few hours earlier

"He's moving quite a lot, today," Jellal noted with a smile.

"Indeed," Erza agreed, "I think he's already fed up with waiting in here."

Lucy smiled brightly. They were in the couple's room, talking about nothing in particular, waiting for the day to end. Loke was sitting on the floor, next to Lucy. Everyone else was getting ready for the night, but Erza and Jellal were forbidden from getting out of the base, so Lucy was keeping them company for the moment.

"I bet he's already feeling the influence of these guys," Lucy laughed. "He's going to be a real handful."

"I'll teach him a lot of funny things," Loke declared. "I'll have to be around him a lot, otherwise you'll turn him into a calm boy."

"Sure," Erza smirked. "I'll just take my frustration out on you, then."

Loke laughed whole-heartidly at that and Erza's smile widened. The look in her eyes softened.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" she asked. "I know you're feeling better lately, but the meeting will be held late at night."

Loke grinned widely, which made him look like an eight year old.

"Come on," he laughed, "I'm not a child anymore! And, as you said, I'm feeling really good lately!"

Erza frowned and glanced at Jellal. It looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn't get the chance. As she opened her mouth to answer, the loud call of the siren rang out in the building. With their situation being this sensitive, every soldier living in the Academy had been forced to become very reactive. It took everyone less than two minutes to gather in the courtyard, weapons at the ready.

Lucy searched the crowd looking for the commander, but she couldn't find him anywhere. Instead, she found Gray and Juvia.

"What's happening?" she asked. "I can't find any of the officers."

"I know," he said. "I was with Natsu when the alarm rang. Laxus called him and they ran to the gate."

"Why?"

Gray shrugged. At first, he only tried to stand on his toes to try and look at the gate over everyone's head, but it was useless. He quickly lost patience and groaned in annoyance as he pushed everyone out of his way, Lucy and Juvia following him closely. When they got to the front of the crowd, someone else called Lucy.

"Mira?"

The colonel looked as confused as everyone else. Lucy wondered why she hadn't been called to the gate with the other officers.

"Is it an attack?" Lucy asked.

The colonel immediately shook her head.

"No, it's not," she assured. "From what I've heard, someone is at the door."

Before Lucy could ask anything more, something even more surprising happened. The first gate opened. Most of the officers were waiting on the other side of the second gate, the others were trying to keep the crowd away from the gates. Soon enough, though, Lucy could hear people gasp loudly.

"It's really him," she heard some people say.

The second gate opened and Lucy saw the officers walk back inside the Academy. Among them, she saw a new face that looked familiar. Lucy squinted her eyes at him, trying to recognize him. When Laxus moved away from the group and gestured to Mira to join them, Lucy got a better look at the newcomer. The first thing she saw was the mop of white hair.

Time seemed to freeze as recognition hit her. Her eyes widened when she saw the scar on his eye, the shy smile he addressed to Mira, the distinctive tattoo on his neck. The picture of him falling off the bridge after he saved his sister came back to her and her eyes burned with tears she couldn't suppress.

Mira froze, too. Lucy couldn't see her face, but she could see Elfman's. He was staring at his sister and he cried just a second before she ran into his arms. Lucy's smile was so wide it made her cheeks hurt. Elfman was back. He was back and holding Mira in his arms. The scene was touching, but no one really dared to move. Lucy was overjoyed, but she quickly realized that some people weren't sure yet if he really was an ally. Everyone knew about what he had done on the bridge, though. Lucy didn't understand their mistrust.

"Elfman!"

Loke's voice immediately caught everyone's attention as the young man ran to the giant and literally jumped on him. Mira barely had enough time to dodge him as he flew right into her brother's arms. Loke was laughing and hugging the confused man with genuine happiness written all over his face.

"We were so worried about you," he said. "Why the hell did it take you so long to come back, asshole!?"

Elfman stuttered and hesitated. He probably expected everyone to be wary of him and keep their distance. When he looked at Mira again, he saw her bright smile and something great happened. He cried some more and hugged Loke back with a huge smile. Lucy's body reacted way before her brain and she ran to them. Gray, Erza, Levy, Sting and Jet immediately imitated her and they all jumped on Elfman when they reached him. Around them, the officers, Gajeel, Rogue, Juvia and the rest of the soldiers watched them with amused smiles. Some of them even cried.

Surrounded by her friends, Elfman in her arms, Mira smiling brightly by her side, Lucy thought she was probably living one of the happiest days in her life. If everything went well, she'd be reunited with her father in a few hours, as well. She laughed some more when she realized they could name that day 'family gathering day'.

A moment later and despite the agitation, Makarov told Elfman to follow him to his office. Mira, Laxus and Gildartz went with him, but everyone else was supposed to prepare the mission they'd carry that night. Lucy watched them as they walked away, Mira clinging to her brother's arm and talking to him with bright eyes and a huge smile.

Elfman probably didn't realize it, but he had definitely saved her life by coming back. Of course, having her brother back wouldn't change a thing to the pain she felt after having lost her sister, but she'd at least have something to hold onto.

"Erza's too careless. You can't jump around with a bunch of boisterous brats when you're expecting."

Lucy smiled.

"You're just jealous cause you couldn't do the same," she retorted.

"Hell yeah," he agreed. "Being an officer sucks, I wanna play around, too."

The young woman turned around with a sly smirk and played with the buttons of Natsu's shirt.

"Well, maybe we could play around a bit before leaving," she said. "If you manage to get some free time, of course."

The commander let out a scoff and shook his head.

"Are you trying to torture me?" he groaned. "I'm not even sure if I'll have enough time to eat before we leave."

Lucy obviously already knew that. She shrugged, but her smile didn't falter.

"That so? Too bad, then."

Natsu glanced at her with a raised brow.

"You did it on purpose, huh?" the commander smirked. "I'll get back at you, you know."

She laughed and walked away from him, waving him off.

"If you can find the time to," she retorted.

"I will," he warned her.

She stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him with a serious look in her eyes. Her smile was still there, but it was subtle.

"Alright," she said. "Don't forget to bring the ring when that time comes."

The commander's eyes went wide and so did Lucy's smile. He smiled back and she left.

Time passed way too quickly after that. Lucy herself barely had enough time to eat. She was part of the team in charge of preparing the equipment. Sure, they weren't going there to fight, but there was still the possibility that they'd have to protect themselves from attackers. They also had to make sure the cars were properly camouflaged and equipped with the usual defense gear.

Ultear's team helped with the preparations. Lucy knew she should have been grateful for the help, but with Lyon's face constantly being in her field of view, it turned out to be pretty difficult. She knew very well now that he had betrayed them because he wanted to try to save Gray's life. She had a talk with Gray about him and she understood that some people made mistakes when they were afraid. Still, it was his fault if the Octagon had found Natsu, Lucy and Michelle on that day. It was his fault that her sister had to sacrifice her life.

It was already pretty late when they finally finished their preparations. Lucy had enough time to join the others for dinner, so she did. She walked to the refectory and sat at the usual table. Almost everyone was here, including Elfman.

"Sorry, but we didn't wait for you," Levy beamed. "The boys were starving."

Gajeel sniggered at that.

"Says the one whose stomach has been growling none stop since morning."

Levy slapped his arm, but didn't deny it.

Lucy had to admit she'd probably gulp a whole elephant down if she could, so she didn't take part in any conversation and only listened to her friends as she ate.

"Man," Loke sighed. "It sure feels good to be reunited with everyone. It feels like we won't lose any battle anymore."

"Right?" Levy beamed. "After we win the battle against the Octagon, we'll meet again and go play bowling or something."

"Real men play bowling," Elfman agreed.

"We'll probably go to Natsu and Lucy's wedding, as well," Juvia added.

The funny thing was that she was dead serious.

Eating in peace turned out to be a bit more difficult after that, so Lucy asked Gray if he was planning to marry Juvia and the center of attention immediately changed.

"That was sly," the commander laughed in her ear. She smirked and went back to her meal.

oOo

Lucy breathed in and out again, but she still couldn't seem to calm down completely. With Elfman's return, a few changes had been made, starting with the members of the team. Laxus, Gildarts and Mirajane weren't coming with them anymore, someone had to hear Elfman out and protect the Academy. The ones who'd attend the meeting were Makarov, Ultear, Jura, Lyon, Bob, Natsu, Lucy, Loke, Gray and Sting.

"You look like you're going to throw up," Loke noted.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry, you're still the most beautiful woman around," he assured. "The commander's way too lucky."

"If we ever break up, I'll run to you," she promised.

"Nice!"

Loke really was the man to have by your side when you felt stressed out. His smile eased their nerves and his jokes lifted the atmosphere. He was like a cute puppy happily following them around wagging its tail. Lucy was sure he'd have been a golden retriever if he had been a dog.

"Is everyone ready?" Erza asked. "We're leaving in five minutes."

"You're not coming with us," Makarov retorted for the hundredth time.

She clicked her tongue and went to help Sting with the zip of his backpack. She quickly lost patience and was about to throw the thing away when Loke ran there to stop her. It took him less than a minute to fix the problem.

"Is it me or is she getting more violent as time goes by?" Gray asked.

"So long as she only takes her anger out on non-living things, it should be fine," Natsu answered. "Are you ready to go?"

Lucy nodded.

"My bag's already in the trunk," she confirmed. "I'm more than ready."

"I can imagine," Gray said. "You're finally going to see your father again. How are you feeling?"

Lucy almost laughed at his question. How did she feel? She wasn't sure herself. Was it normal to feel like crying, throwing up and burst out laughing at the same time?

"Extremely nervous," she answered.

Makarov ordered everyone to get to their car. The trunks were closed, everyone was equipped and ready. Natsu, Lucy, Makarov and Ultear were in the first car. Gray left them to join his team, in the second car. He'd be riding with Loke and Jura. Lyon, Bob and Sting were in the third car. The three groups would take different roads to get to the meeting point and obviously look out for potential threats or spies.

The first car drove through the forest. Most people would find the place gloomy at night, but Lucy kind of liked the atmosphere. It reminded her of the forest surrounding the estate where she lived with her parents. She glanced at Natsu, his eyes were closed, but she was sure that he wasn't sleeping. She then looked at Ultear. She was talking about the meeting with Makarov, but never said a thing about her father.

"You met my father, right?" she asked her. "What did he look like?"

She still had Aquarius' words in mind, but she wanted to know exactly what to expect. Ultear glared at her, obviously not used to being interrupted.

"Why bother asking when you're going to see that for yourself?" she groaned.

Lucy didn't look away from Ultear's angry eyes and the latter ended up sighing. No matter what she wanted everyone to believe, she couldn't help being a kind person. After all, she had been raised by the woman who had raised Gray. And Lyon.

"He looks like a hero," Ultear said. "That's all that truly matters."

This answer satisfied Lucy more than she'd have thought. She glanced at the commander once more and he was smiling at her with a tired look on his face.

It took them a bit more than an hour to find the mine house. They saw the second car already hidden behind the trees, the road they had taken was shorter. Ultear parked near and they climbed out. They checked their surroundings, found nothing abnormal and walked to the abandoned house. The thing had been built in a weird way, half of it emerged from the pretty high mound of earth that led to the mine. A man was standing in front of the door.

"I see that the leaders of the Academy and the Rose's Tear both came with the same car," he said. "Have you both lost your minds?"

"Shut up," Ultear barked. "We're alive, so don't make a fuss out of nothing."

The man was tall and muscular, he probably could knock someone out with one punch. His armor, black eyes and white hair made him look a bit like a warrior angel. He turned to the commander and Lucy and extended a big hand.

"I'm Byro Cracy," he said.

Natsu opened wide eyes and froze during just a second. Byro noticed it and frowned at him. The commander shook his hand, though.

"I'm Natsu Dragneer," he answered.

The look in the old man's eyes softened and Lucy saw that he had just remembered Natsu and the day he had saved him from the Pandemonium. Lucy briefly wondered if they were going to hug or something, but they just nodded at each other and Natsu followed the others inside. Too bad for the touching reunion, she mentally laughed. She shook Byro's hand and he opened the door for her.

The house was small, dirty and smelly. The walls looked old enough to collapse under their own weight at any moment, the only table in the room was covered in dust and surrounded by weird stools, the windows were covered with wood planks.

When she came in, a man stood from his stool and stared at her with wide, glittering eyes. He was as tall as Gray, his hair was a bit messy, but clean, his beard was in the same state. He was thin, much thinner than he was when she last saw him. He also had scars she'd never seen before on his face and arms.

"Luce," he called, his voice almost a whisper.

Suddenly, Lucy couldn't remember how to breath anymore, her legs were weak and her heart was furiously beating in her chest. Her eyes burned like never before and her voice shook even more than the man's when she breathed,

"Dad..."

In the very next second, Jude Heartfilia ran to his daughter and she flung herself in his arms. She cried a lot and she heard him cry, too. He held her stronger than she'd have thought possible considering how much weaker he looked. Despite that, he clearly was the one holding them both up as they hugged. There had been so many times Lucy had thought she'd never see him again, the feel of his warm body under her hands made her feel like she was five years old again.

Everyone was strangely quiet, aside from Loke, who was trying to hold back his tears and sobs, in vain. When Jude released his daughter, he gently took her face in his hands and looked at her.

"Look at yourself," he smiled, "you're even more beautiful than you were when I lost you. Did you know that your mother used to have short hair, too?"

Lucy laughed and nodded, not sure if she could talk, yet.

"I see," Jude laughed again, "it really suits you. My little girl became such a fine woman, and a warlord, too!"

A knot in her throat, new tears sliding down her cheeks, Lucy answered with a shaky voice.

"I never stopped looking for you," she assured. "I missed you so much, I never stopped fighting for you..."

Jude cried a bit more, too. He kissed her forehead and held her close.

"I know," he said. "I've been told. You're much stronger than me, honey. I missed you, too."

Someone coughed and everyone turned to Byro, who obviously was very ill at ease.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said. "The third car is here."

Lyon, Bob and Sting entered the house and Lyon froze when he saw Jude. The latter stared at him with a neutral expression that could mean absolutely anything. A minute passed and Lyon took a hesitant step toward the man.

"I... I'm really sorry..." he stuttered, "Michelle..."

Jude walked up to him, caught him in his arms and ruffled his hair.

"I know, boy," he said. "I know it's been killing you, all this time."

Lyon cried too, and Lucy finally started to think that this boy was probably the one who had felt as much pain as her when they had lost Michelle.

"All that's very touching and even though I really like watching people cry, we have important matters to discuss."

Lucy's eyes widened and she turned around. Aquarius was sitting on the stool next to her father's. Her adoptive mother was smirking, but Lucy could see that she had wiped one or two tears a bit earlier. She hugged her and sat next to her, in front of the commander.

"Look," Loke told him, showing him something in his hand, "I found a diamond."

"That's glass."

"Aquarius is right," Ultear agreed, "let's get started. Jude's daughter convinced the Academy's general to officially ask the Rose's Tear and Byro's men to become their allies and fight Hades' squad. I agreed. What do you say, Byro?"

"I agree, too."

"Good," Ultear nodded, "next point."

Lucy was really surprised to see how easy it had been. Two sentences had been told and both the Rose's Tear and Byro were now officially allied with the Academy.

"We know that Hades is heading our way with a large company," Makarov explained, "thanks to Jellal and Kagura. We know how many men are under his command, we know what kind of weapons they have, we know their plans. Winning this battle is more than possible."

"My spies are still keeping an eye on them," Ultear added. "They haven't changed a thing since Jellal and Kagura ran from there. It's natural to think that they don't know how much our spies learned from their mission. They probably still think that it was only an attack on their commander."

"There's still the possibility that they're trying to lure us," Byro said.

"Indeed," Ultear agreed. "This is why we must attack them before they reach the border. There's no way he can be expecting an attack that far from our grounds."

"That's true," Makarov said, "but it's a very dangerous plan."

"Right," Byro said. "We'll need teams of scouts, snipers, dog handlers, artificers and such."

"We can provide that," Makarov assured.

"So do we," Ultear added.

"Alright, let's plan the operation."

Lucy didn't really take part in the conversation. She paid a lot of attention to everything they said and tried her best to learn from them. These three truly were warlords and she still had so much to learn.

"How do we know that the Octagon won't make their move while our team's fighting Hades?" Ultear asked.

"They probably will," Byro said.

A moment of silence passed and Jude sighed. He massaged his temples and sighed again.

"There's one way to neutralize the Octagon and Hades at the same time," he declared.

Which was a very good thing, but Jude really didn't look like he enjoyed the situation. Lucy frowned and her father looked at her with sad eyes.

"You guys can't know about it," he said, "but as a former commander of the Octagon's private forces, I learned a lot about them."

The room was bathed in the utmost silence as the symbol of the revolution started telling them the whole story.

"Every twenty years," he said, "the members of the Octagon are changed. Every member of the army is allowed to vote for their new representatives. The next elections are going to be held in seven months and there are serious threats to the current heads among the candidates. Younger officers, with values and ideals. They've shown their strength and courage countless times already. The current members of the Octagon are sure to lose these elections, no matter what happen."

Lucy's heart was beating faster. This was a very good thing! No matter what they did, the Octagon would be a brand new organization in seven months! Jude massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed again. For someone giving them such good news, he really didn't look well.

"Of course, as the new heads of the army," Jude went on, "they will have access to absolutely every file, plan, map, message and so on, as long it has something to do with the army. Including the reports concerning the subjects of the human trade. You raided one of the few labs where the files hadn't been destroyed yet and stole them. It was an excellent move."

Aquarius suddenly took Lucy's hand in hers and squeezed it.

"But now, they will do absolutely everything in their power to get these files back and destroy them. They absolutely don't want the world to know about their true goal. The human trade was just a bonus to make money."

Aquarius squeezed more.

"The grandson of the president of the Octagon is terminally ill," Jude explained. "He needs new organs almost every four years and constantly needs new blood cells. This was the real reason of these tests, they were looking for a living blood and organ bank for the kid."

Lucy squeezed her adoptive mother's hand even stronger, a new knot forming in her throat.

"During the tests led as part of the Project 3173, they kidnapped five kids with the same blood type," her father said. "The five of them were compatible, but the sick grandchild's body would always reject their organs, for some reason. Or so they thought, but the fifth child's kidney successfully adapted to the new body."

Lucy gulped when Jude turned to her.

"It was a young girl, she didn't have a name so they called her number 13. From there on, they used her for blood transfusions every month, which was way too much. The girl lost her strength, but they'd never allow her to die. When she turned 4, the scientists started experimenting on her because they wanted to find a way to produce more blood. A crazy bitch named Kyoka went too far with electric shocks and the girl had to be hospitalized. She lost all her memories."

By then, Lucy had put all the pieces together and was staring blankly at the table, Aquarius' hand still squeezing hers.

"I was asked to guard her while she was at the hospital and that's when I learned the truth about the experiments. I waited for my day off to go back there, I killed the other guard, took the girl and ran home with her. My wife called her Lucy. I was sure no one had recognized me and there was no reason to suspect me. It took them a year to figure it out, I was careless. I don't know what happened to the other kids..."

He wiped a stray tear and gulped.

"A bit before they found us, I told Aquarius that I had a bad feeling," he said. "I'm glad she took it seriously. I heard that a lot of you tried to save her after the raid on my house. Words will never be enough to show you how grateful I am."

After that, no one really dared say anything, they were waiting for Lucy's reaction. The young woman was still staring at the table, furiously thinking about everything she had learned. Everything made sense now, she had all the answers she had been chasing. She looked at Natsu and he held her gaze, he'd be a pillar for her. She looked at her father.

"I don't think many people would have done what you did," she breathed. "The first thing you did when you met me was saving my life, thank you so much."

Her father smiled back.

"You saved mine, too," he laughed. "In a different way, but that night, you definitely saved my life, too."

Almost everyone around the table started smiling, feeling a bit more relaxed since Lucy hadn't burst into tears after finding out about her past, which was pretty damn horrible.

"I'm sorry to be the one interrupting this touching scene," Ultear coughed, "but if I understand the purpose of your story, you want us to attack Hades while the new members of the Octagon punish the old ones for their crimes?"

Jude smiled.

"Not exactly, I don't think Hades will kindly wait for the elections to come before attacking us. We have to force the army to hold the elections sooner."

"How?" Gray asked.

Byro stood up and grabbed a large pile of papers he put on the table.

"By publishing the files you stole in the lab," he said. "Showing them to the public. The army will have no choice, but to hold the elections immediately."

"The new members of the Octagon will be in charge of the investigation," Lucy mused out loud.

"And we'll attack Hades while our main enemies are being charged by the new leaders of this county," Makarov concluded.

"This could totally work," Loke beamed, and everyone agreed.

The group started planning the operation. They needed to find a date to publish the files, find someone who'd agree printing and spreading them, more than only one editor would be needed. They weren't sure if it was better to publish everything or if they should hide some things, like the bloody details. In the end, they decided not to censor anything.

At some point, Sting walked out of the house because he needed to pee, but he went back inside immediately.

"Guys," he called, "the forest's on fire!"

Everyone stood up. Natsu, Gray, Lyon and Jura were the first ones to open the door. The forest really was burning, but when the commander tried to walk out of the house, they heard a shot. The bullet grazed Natsu's shoulder and they all went back inside and closed the door.

"Are you hurt?" Aquarius asked, to everyone's surprise.

Natsu frowned.

"No, it's just a scratch."

"Good," she slapped him. "Don't go out when it's such an obvious trap, idiot. We have to evacuate the leaders."

"What!?" Ultear roared. "I never run from a fight!"

"Don't be an idiot," Aquarius countered. "In a few minutes, they'll kick the door down and fire away in here."

"She's right," Jura agreed. "If the leaders of our main armed forces die tonight, everything's lost."

"I'm not dying anytime soon," Ultear growled.

"Exactly," Aquarius agreed, "because you're leaving this place."

Byro kicked down a wall on the opposite side of the room, it led to a very small and very dark tunnel.

"Where does it lead?"

"Far from here," Aquarius said. "It's a long walk, so leave, now!"

"If it's a long walk, the enemies are just going to follow us inside!"

"There's another way," someone said.

Everyone turned to the boy standing in front of the door, he was looking at something on the wall above them.

"The earth is heavy and soaked," he said. "If someone breaks that part of the wall, the earth will fall in front of the tunnel."

"That's right!" Gray said. "That way, everyone can come and the enemies won't be able to follow us!"

"No," Jura groaned. "Someone will have to break the wall."

"That person won't have enough time to enter the tunnel," Natsu concluded. "If the enemies come in..."

"They'll be trapped in the house," Loke interrupted him. "With lit dynamite."

Everyone fell silent and stared at him with shocked looks.

"A suicide attack?" Aquarius asked.

Loke nodded and Aquarius stared at him deeply. What she found in his eyes were devotion and determination. She gritted her teeth.

"Don't say such stupid things!" Lucy roared. "Everyone will enter the tunnel. We'll run as fast as we can and shoot the enemies if they follow us! We'll make it out of here! All of us!"

Loke stared at her, smiled and kissed her cheek.

"You're right," he said. "Let's do that."

Reassured, Lucy sighed and entered the tunnel with her friends. Natsu took her hand and squeezed it gently, but he wouldn't look at her for some reason. Aquarius was the last one to enter the tunnel, she turned to face Loke. There was no trace of mischief on her face anymore. He smiled at her.

"I'd rather die a hero than rot away in a bed at twenty five years old," he smiled sadly.

Aquarius allowed a stray tear to slide down her cheek and nodded.

"You're already the greatest hero of all," she assured before entering the tunnel.

After that, everything happened way too quickly. Loke destroyed the wall with a dynamite stick. Natsu held Lucy's hand tighter when she understood what was happening. The enemies entered the house to see what was happening and prevent anyone from escaping. Loke, hiding behind the door with two crates full of lit dynamite, blocked the door to prevent them from escaping.

When the content of the crates exploded, the house and a large part of the tunnel were blown away. The ones in the tunnel had walked far enough to survive the explosion, but they were flung out of the tunnel by the force of the explosion.

For a moment, Lucy could hear nothing but a heavy hum. Her ears throbbed painfully, she couldn't breathe or see properly. Her eyes were open, but all she could see was a thick layer of dust, dirt and smoke. She tried to move, but something seemed to move inside her head and bump against her skull. She felt disoriented and could taste her own blood, mixed with dust. She tried checking her surroundings when she was on her knees. Everything was engulfed in the dirty mist.

Looking down, Lucy saw blood on her clothes. She reached up with her hand and felt her forehead, there was a lot of blood on her face. What the hell happened? She looked around her once more and saw someone coming toward her. When her eyes finally got used to the dirt, she recognized the man who kneeled in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Jude asked. "You're bleeding, we need to treat your wounds."

Lucy didn't resist at all when her father carefully pulled her up. He kept his arm around her waist to support her and Lucy saw that the mist wasn't thick at all when they were standing up.

"Lucy!"

The commander's voice caught her attention and she turned her head. He was running toward her with a very worried look in his eyes, but he didn't look hurt. Lucy sighed in relief. Then, she saw what was behind the commander. She saw the flames engulfing the ruins of the mine house. She remembered the explosion. She remembered Loke's stupid plan.

She pushed her father away and ran toward the house, her heart furiously hammering in her chest, panic overwhelming her.

"Loke?" she called.

She looked around her. Everyone seemed to be fine. Their injuries were superficial, they'd make it. Aquarius didn't even have a scratch. Where was Loke?

"LOKE?" she called louder.

Her friends were all standing up as she was walking toward the house. She was relieved, but her attention was on the house. She didn't even really realize that the commander was right behind her, following her quietly.

"LOKE!?" she called again, her voice desperate. "LOKE? Where are you!? LOKE!"

She fell to her knees when she realized that she wouldn't get an answer. She'd never hear his voice again. She cried all the tears left in her bodies, hands and face on the earth as if she was praying in the direction of the burning house.

End of chapter 31

Long chapter for the long wait. Yes, I'm back! I'm really sorry, because an awful lot of readers begged me not to kill Loke, but it was decided from the start that he'd sacrifice himself to save the others. It's needed for the rest of the story. Believe me, it hurts, I really loved him, too...

Aside from that, you now know everything about the secrets of the Octagon, about Lucy's past and everything else! Needless to say that the end of the story is very near!

I hope you'll keep reading the story to the end! Maybe you'll hear about Loke again?