"Here you go", Gildarts managed to hand me most of the groceries. He smiled meekly, his prosthetic hand rubbing the back of his unruly rustic red hair.

"Thanks." I flash a quick smile. My stomach flurried with anxiety.

Don't notice them. Don't notice them. Please don't notice them!

"Who're your friends? I don't think I've seen them before--" Gildarts began.

"Uh, yeah!" I suddenly burst, causing the older man to give me a weird look. "We were just heading back home; it's not far from here!"

"Wait, hold on!" He grabbed my shoulder with his real hand, preventing me from high tailing it out of there. "You two are from the Oracion Seis!" well, damn it! "I'm not letting you go anywhere with them!"

Cobra and Midnight tensed, the bags crinkling loudly in their arms. They managed to take on a defensive fighting stance. Thinking only about the guys, I step in front of them, glaring at Gildarts.

"Don't you dare hurt them!" I coldly spat. "They aren't gonna hurt anyone. The Council has handed them over to me for a year to test their ability to cope with people without being evil and whatnot." My semi-long explanation seems to confuse the older man, deeply. And telling by the thick creases in his scrunched up forehead, he was.

"Handed them over? I didn't hear about this? I'd think they'd want someone who was more...capable of handling them." Now that hurt. Did he doubt me?

"Are you insinuating I can't take care of myself?" I glare at him incredulously.

Gildarts realized his mistake and began to sweat waterfalls, "N-n-no! I certainly didn't mean-- It's just I know they're a tough duo, so I just thought--"

"You don't think much, do you?" I huff out sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "They won't do anything, because if they do, the petition is null and void. I doubt they want to be cooped up in cells for the rest of their lives."

"We don't. It's so boring in there!" Midnight grumbled, relaxing from the tense stance he was in and crossing his arms.

Gildarts seemed to loosen up, but his shoulders stayed tense. He never lost that expression of absolute suspicion. He carefully scanned my being, almost as if searching for a hidden answer, which I really hope he wasn't trying to dig out.

"You said you live around here?" His real arm lifted up and he ruffled his hand through his rust-colored hair.

"Yes?" I answer, not so sure where he was going with this turn of conversation.

"Ah, it's--it's nothing, " He sighed with a grimace. "Last time I heard, you were living in Magnolia somewhere, did something happen?"

That question irks me. He has a million questions that could be asked, but instead, he asks this particular one?

"Uh, " I suck in a breath, trying to keep away from being conspicuous. "Well, having these guys around would certainly attract a lot of unwanted attention, don't you think?"

Gildarts met my eyes. They were burning me. Right through my soul where they'd mental marks and scars. My bet is that he's trying to read me.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want that either, but, " He said and continued. "Wouldn't your friends understand if you told them?"

Without even having the tiniest bit of control over my mouth I immediately blurted, "We aren't exactly on speaking terms right now. I doubt they even know I'm gone, they're so busy with other stuff."

I didn't mean to sound so rude, but the questions are stringing my nerves on a silver platter. With each question, it felt like he was becoming more and more suspicious. I didn't blame him if he did, but I really don't like the continuous questions.

The older man goes to speak again, but I hurry up and do the talking before he does.

"Listen, we gotta scat, " I say quickly, "It was nice seeing you, Gildarts."

I scuttle around the mage, gesturing for my 'guests' to follow me and hopefully they wouldn't stray.

~

"Wah!" A high-pitched whine left the furry blue lips of a certain flying-talking cat as he munched on a fish.

He was on his way to give Lucy a whole bunch of his fish, which were currently resting in the green pack on his back. After hearing that they (he and Natsu) couldn't go, he decided to wait a few days and then visit his blonde friend. He genuinely wanted to know if she was okay; he hadn't seen or heard from her in a long while. It doesn't necessarily mean Natsu hurt her...right?

And it worried him to the bones of his cat structure about what happened with Loke. The spirit wouldn't attack someone without cause. Now that he thought about it, Natsu had been acting strange a month before...he had the tweaks of a predator chasing prey in his eyes, Happy remembered. Although no one-- mostly the dragon slayers-- wouldn't talk about it, Happy thought back to when Natsu was talking to Gajeel about it, since he was one of the only dragon slayers in the guild beside Wendy who was actually raised by a dragon.

"Heat", he believed he caught bits and pieces of their conversation. Gajeel left the next day, but Natsu stayed. That's when the fight between his parents begun (Happy thought of Natsu and Lisanna as his parents, as of now). It was a big one, too. Woke him up with yelling and objects being thrown. Needless to say, it got pretty violent.

Natsu had wanted to do something, but Lisanna didn't want to whatever it was. Natsu became angry and...and Lisanna kicked him out for the night. She was a mess, an emotional one. Happy knew she would give her all when she said the final "I do's" in seven--now six -- months. He remembered Lisanna being up most of the night spilling her guts in tears and talking to herself.

He thought it was weird, but he didn't question it. He did offer her fish, that cheered her up some.

"Is that the last of it?" A man clad in the Magic Council's guard uniform was speaking with Lucy's landlady.

"Down to the last speck of dust, " She twirling the violet boa on her pudgy fingers, "Say, what's going on? Is she in witness protection? Last time I checked, she's a pretty strong mage!"

The guard grimaced, "I assure you, it's nothing of the sorts. If I'm being honest, I was just told by her Guildmaster to send this money to you and to see to it that Miss Lucy was taken care of in her new home."

New home? Did she move and not tell him? What was going on?

The guard gave a short bow before heading off toward Happy's direction. Happy sped up past the guard and on toward the landlady.

"Hey, Landlady!" He sprouted his wings and floated in front of her, "What happened to Lushie?"

The old woman's' left eyebrow shot up, nearly into her decaying hairline. "I don't know, Cat. She's moved. Someplace better, I suppose. One day she was here, and then the next, she was gone. Packed up everything and left. The only person I've spoken to was that guard." She jabbed her baseball thumb at the guard, who grew smaller and smaller from view.

"He didn't say where her new home was?" Happy asked hopefully.

"Nah. I'm assuming she was apart of something bad and had to be relocated for her own protection, but that's just me thinking. Probably should lay off on the crime document books." The landlady turned, ready to go back inside and get out of the sun.

Happy was left outside. The fish in his paws suddenly become unappetizing and he tossed it into the canal as the same old fishermen in the boat floated on by. They seemed a little confused as well, Lucy wasn't there for them to greet her. Their usual "don't get too close to the water!" and "Hiya blondie!" was nothing more than a memory of a few days.

It used to feel like home around Lucy, Happy realized that now. Without her, everything felt...bland. It was like heavy rain clouds and fog on a summer day.

"Oh, I know! I can ask the Master about it!"

Happy soared through the streets, the hope never fading from his one-track mind.

Lushie was okay, she had to be!