Quest for the Eighty-Eight Keys

Chapter Twelve: I'm Fine!

Freed leaned against the bathroom's counter, his hands gripping the rim of the sink. Dressed in only a pair of pants and his long hair still wet, he stared into the mirror. However, he wasn't focusing on his appearence, but instead, he was listening as Lucy summoned her three new spirits to make contracts with them. Their voices were muffled due to the bathroom door being closed, but he was still able to hear them if he remained quiet. He listened as Loke took his leave, saying something that he hadn't been able to catch.

The green-haired man pushed off of the bathroom counter and pulled on a white shirt, buttoned it, and turned around to exit the bathroom. Upon stepping out, steam flowing from behind him, he found that Lucy was standing next to her bed, staring at where he assumed Loke had been.

Freed walked toward Lucy, coming to stand a few feet in front of her. Silence stretched between the pair until the rune mage spoke, "what happened?"

Lucy was silent, various emotions that Freed was unable to identify swam in her eyes. The blonde woman then responded, diverting her eyes to look past Freed, "what?"

Freed repeated, "what happened?" After a few moments, he clarified, "did Nyx do anything to you?"

Lucy looked at the bed that Freed and Rufus had slept in. It was telling to Freed that she wasn't looking at him. He watched as the celestial wizard shook her head, answering, "he and I just talked."

Freed furrowed his brow slightly. He had previously been unsure, but now he knew that something was wrong with Lucy. Worry rapidly built up in his gut. A desire to help and comfort her became strong. He took a few steps closer, questioning, "what's wrong?"

Lucy looked at him. She took a step back as she responded, sounding almost panicked, "what do you mean?"

"Something is wrong. I can tell. What is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. There is nothing wrong."

"You're lying."

"I'm fine, Freed!"

Right after Lucy had exclaimed her response, the hotel room's door opened, drawing the attention of the two Fairy Tail mages. Rufus walked in, sighing, "I couldn't find him. I searched all over the town. If he and the other two were staying in this town, then they left soon after Lucy's encounter with him." He was dressed similarly to Freed, a black shirt and a simple pair of pants. They had noticed that Lucy was missing almost immediately upon waking up and, in their rush to find her, had thrown on the first articles of clothing that they saw.

Lucy nodded, responding, "that's fine. We'll likely encounter them again sooner or later."

Freed turned his attention back to Lucy. He wanted to get the truth out of her, but not while Rufus was present. He heard Rufus walking forward to stand beside him. He turned his head to look at the blonde man, finding that he was subtly glaring at him. Freed turned away, walking past him to sit on their bed. He was confident that Rufus had feelings for Lucy, something that he didn't like. He had intentions to speak with the man in order to gain either confirmation or honest denial, though he was expecting to get comfirmation. He could tell by how the Saber would glare at him or treat him rather coldly that Rufus had the same suspicions about him.

The rune mage had no intention of allowing Rufus to win over Lucy. He had already made up his mind to woo her. But their conflict would have to wait. His first concern was Lucy's well-being. He looked up at her and questioned again, this time with a more stern tone"what happened?"

Lucy looked at him. She crossed her arms over her chest as she spoke, "between me and Nyx?"

Rufus spoke up from where he stood between the foots of the two beds, "I'm curious as to what happened as well. Did he attack you? You don't appear to be injured."

Lucy sat down on her own bed with a sigh. Silence followed before she finally explained, "I had picked up the keys and was going to take them to the shopkeeper, but Nyx appeared behind me. I thought that he was going to attack me. He didn't, though. We had a short conversation in which he told me that he wasn't interested in the keys. He asked what the point was and then he walked away."

Freed stared at her in confusion. Looking over at Rufus, he found that the other man was staring at her with just as much confusion. He looked back at Lucy, questioning, "he didn't want the keys?"

Lucy shrugged, "I don't understand either."

Rufus then spoke, fingers cupping his chin, "it's definitely a confusing turn of events. Surely he would be committed to their cause and would want those keys."

Lucy shrugged again before Freed added, "and they don't seem to be anywhere too. That means they aren't planning to attack Lucy later."

Freed looked down at the floor, racking his mind for a possible explanation for this unexpected turn. As he silently questioned the event, his attention was brought back to Lucy when she suggested, "could he be changing his mind about their plan?"

Rufus inquired, "like a change of heart? I suppose that's possible, but I am having trouble believing it."

Freed spoke up, "the only way we can know for sure is if we manage to talk to him, separate from Terra and Lust." He looked over at Rufus and asked, "Rufus, are you sure that they aren't in town?"

Rufus responded, "I searched everywhere I could."

Freed was about to speak again when Lucy suddenly stood up and walked past Rufus to stand in the middle of the room. Freed stood as well, walking forward to stand next to the other man. They both watched as the celestial wizard requiped one of her silver keys into her hand. She pointed the blade of the key away from herself and called out, "Open! Gate of the Telescope: Telescopium!"

A young boy with brown hair and dressed in a white shirt and overalls appeared. He was sitting on a floating, blue and white carpet with a small telescope in his hands. The boy exclaimed when he saw his wizard, "Lucy! I'm so happy that you summoned me!" He floated closer to the blonde woman and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a tight hug that Lucy returned.

The corner of Freed's mouth twitched upward in a half smile. The boy was adorable, he would admit. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched the interaction between the celestial wizard and celestial spirit.

Lucy asked, "could you find someone for me?" Telescopium nodded his head vigorously, prompting his wizard to continue with her request, "I need you to try to find a man named Nyx."

The boy nodded before he floated to the large window on one side of the hotel room, opened it, and flew out of it, somehow not hitting any part of his body on the frame. As they waited for the spirit's return, Rufus spoke, "I suppose that he can track people?"

Lucy nodded, looking back at the open window. Not even a minute passed before Telescopium flew back into the hotel room. He was frowning as he shook his head, explaining, "I'm sorry, Lucy, I couldn't find him. The man you're looking for isn't in this town."

Lucy scratched the top of the boy's head, assuring him, "it's alright, Telescopium. Thank you." The spirit then disappeared in a flash of silver light.

Lucy then turned to her two partners, telling them with a serious tone, "nevermind Nyx's weird behavior. We need to get going to the next location before those three find it."

Freed and Rufus nodded in agreement, both watching as Lucy made her way into the bathroom. The two men then set about packing up their things for Virgo to take back to the Celestial Spirit World. The green-haired man made a mental note to talk to Rufus and Lucy individually the first chance he gets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Midnight will be appearing in the next one.