Lucy and the Definitive... Cat?

The Very Good, Bad Idea

Sorry about the delay, my muse needed a break from Mard. We got through it and are back to updating.

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Mard was ready to do another lap around the burnt barn when he saw a small flash of light. He blinked and smiled before breaking out into a full run. Rosebud was standing there, looking radiant and healthy and he quickly scooped her up into arms and kissed her.

She tensed for a moment before returning it and Mard could finally relax. Rosebud was back and for all that was unholy she was perfect, a little damp, but at least in one piece. As their kiss finished, he set her down, "you are never allowed to almost die for anyone. You and Death, will not know each other. Also, Death is boring and likes everything deep fried."

"Mard, it's okay. I'm fine," she sighed, "you should be thanking Corvus."

He looked over her head at the Raven spirit who was pretending to be looking at his black boots. "Thank you for taking care of her, Corvus."

He smiled, "you're welcome. So now what?"

Mard placed another kiss to her forehead, "I should get you caught up on what you have missed."

Rosebud looked around the ravaged farm, "yeah, like where's Cobra?"

Mard explained everything that happened. He talked about Belial taking Cobra to Hell. The theory about the black sludge ball and that Meredy and Natsu were investigating the Dark Guild. Rosebud handled it well, he thought. Well, based on the fact she wasn't screaming, and her lips stayed in a neutral line as she listened.

"Anything else?" she asked and Mard put a hand to her forehead. Rosebud didn't feel warm and didn't look paler than her usual skin tone. She just felt off to him, little too detached.

"You are strangely calm." Rosebud pushed his hand away, "are you sure you are alright?"

Rosebud sighed and nibbled her bottom lip before waving Corvus over to join them. "What's up Queenie?"

"Can you get to Hell?" she asked.

"Yep," he scrunched his angular nose, "it's not one of my favorite places and anchoring your magic is gonna be a bitch. Polar opposites and all that."

"Okay, let's give Belial a couple days. Cobra is a badass he should be fine. We should go help Meredy and Natsu, if that guild was messing with Abyssal creatures and demons. Mard you're our best resource on that." She said, her voice a little disconnected and Mard grabbed her shoulders.

"Where is Rosebud? What is wrong with you?" he felt his left cat ear twitch.

"Nothing, besides the fact you kind of lied to me," she said, and he saw a flicker of hurt cross over her eyes.

Mard let go of her as if she was on fire, shaking his hands in the process. He drew in a deep breath, "I have never lied to you. What happened in the Celestial Realm?"

"I know what an Angel of the Stars is. I know I'm the reincarnation of the Celestial Spirit King's sister. All things you knew." Rosebud whispered curtly as she looked down at the ground.

He blinked, "I was going to explain it to you, but we had other things to handle first. Sitting down and discussing the fact you have an angelic soul, deserved to be handled with care and attention." The rest of her words caught up to his current thinking, "what do you mean Pompous Ass's sister?"

Corvus chirped in, "yeah, it's why he's attached to her. Her name was Aurora, she died in the Kingdom uprising." Mard knew the story of the civil war in Kingdom, it was a literal bloody disaster that fractured the angelic Plane and almost fully destroyed several species of Angels. If those stories were true, then his sister had most likely not died well and for that he felt a moment of pain for his old rival.