Quest for the Eighty-Eight Keys

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Big Dog

WARNING: REFERENCES TO ABUSE!

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

Lucy stared at the fire that was beginning to dwindle as she took a bite of her breakfast. She, Freed, and Midnight sat around the fire as they ate in silence. Virgo had summoned herself to cook the three of the something. Pancakes and eggs. It was good, very good. Though, Lucy had already known that Virgo's cooking was good.

Freed was the one who broke the silence. "Any suggestions on where to begin our search? Or even how to conduct our search?"

Midnight then spoke, "it'd take far too long if we search together. Might be best if we do what I believe you two and Rufus did when I caught up with you guys: split up and use Lucy's keys to signal that we found it."

The two men looked at Lucy, wanting her say on the matter. Lucy continued to stare at the fire as she took another bite of her eggs. The forest they were in wasn't particularly big, and probably could barely be considered a forest, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be difficult to find Sirius' key. They were, after all, in a forest. The damn key could be anywhere.

Lucy swallowed her bit of food and finally answered, "I agree that it would probably be best if we do what we did on the night that Midnight showed up. We can go in different directions and each use a key to signal if we find Sirius' key." She gave a sigh, gaze drifting to the food in her hands. "Let's hope that we'll find it soon. We can't make Rufus wait long. They'll do terrible things to him if we don't find him soon."

Her voice sounded empty even to her own ears. She hadn't meant to bring the mood down more than it already was, or make Freed and Midnight feel worse than they probably already were, but once she started thinking about what Terra, Lust, and Nyx were capable of putting Rufus through, what she had gone through, it wasn't exactly something that she could help.

She felt an arm slide across her shoulders, giving her a sort of side hug. She looked over to find Freed sitting next to her and giving her a comforting smile. She almost missed the light dusting of pink on his cheek that wasn't hidden by his green bangs. "We'll save him before any actual harm can come to him. I promise, Lucy."

Lucy knew that he wasn't entirely sure if what he was saying was true, it was clear in his uncovered, sea-green eye that she had always thought was beautiful, but it was an honest attempt at comforting her, and she appreciated it. She leaned closer to his side, letting him fully give her a side hug, as she responded, "thanks, Freed. I feel a little bit better." That was a lie, but she did want to make Freed feel as though his comfort attempt had worked, if only a little bit.

Lucy and Freed were brought back out of the comfort bubble that they had somewhat formed by Midnight abruptly standing and saying, "we better get looking while it's still daytime."

Lucy pulled away from Freed and gave Midnight a puzzled and slightly concerned look. She couldn't quite put her finger on what emotion his tone was reflecting, but it didn't sound happy to her. Was he upset? What upset him? Did her talk about what could happen to Rufus make him worried? She hadn't meant to worry or upset either of her friends. Her facial expression shifted to one of sympathy and guilt as she watched Midnight take down the tent and roll up the sleeping bags.

Deciding that she should apologize and put his worries to ease, or at least try, Lucy placed her now-empty plate on the ground and stood up, holding out her hand to Freed to help him up to his feet. Once she pulled her guildmate up off of the ground, she turned to Midnight and said, "I'll summon Virgo and she can clean up here." When Midnight straightened up and looked at her, she walked closer to him until she was close enough to continue in a low voice, "I'm sorry about just a few minutes ago. I didn't mean to make you upset or more worried."