Celestial Spirits don't need as much sleep as a human, but Loke's the exception among exceptions.

Just existing takes bucket loads of his willpower.

Sleeping is comforting, but there's the neverending paranoia that he would vanish in his sleep, because he wasn't conserving his energy in enough of a balance. Magic is least controlled in sleep, after all. Loke can't risk wasting a single bit of it.

So it's not even two hours later that Loke jerks awake from something short of a nightmare. He's careful not to wake Gray or Elfman up, and slips away from the hall, a slight teeter in his steps.

He finds himself by a sink-- gripping it tight, breathing, breathing-- and breathing hurts.

He thought he'd gotten used to it, this pain. He clutches his chest, and his face in the mirror is just so disgusting to witness. He looks away.

"Loke?"

He jolts, swirling back.

He slips and lands hard, sitting on the ground in relief, when he realizes it's just Bickslow. He catches his breath when Bickslow crouches over him.

"You alright there, buddy?" Bickslow asks him.

Loke nods. He doesn't trust his voice to give an answer, so he looks down and focuses on breathing, waiting for the ever-present migraine to leave, the pain to ebb away.

He looks at his hand, feeling the edges of his humanoid form crumble away. He closes his eyes, blink away the haziness, and tightens his fist.

"This happen often?" Bickslow asks, and yea, apparently he's still there? Loke kinda forgot somewhere along the line.

Loke gathers his voice. "It..." the words are easier, but still heavy, "...it's not something that goes away."

Bickslow is blindfolded, but Loke can somehow tell the man is staring at him, deeply considering the situation. Bickslow's gathered enough from his sight to know that Loke's not human-- but what exactly is Loke? He has to guess.

Loke notices that BIckslow's four obnoxious dolls aren't around. Small mercy.

"So," Bickslow says, "you ever gonna tell me what exactly is up with you?"

Loke doesn't answer. He just stares at the ground, gaze never faltering from that pained, regretful stare-- it's as if his heart is trapped somewhere even Bickslow's eyes couldn't ever hope to see.

Bickslow sighs.

"Should I stay?" he asks instead.

And Loke chuckles. "No, it's weird. Get out."

-

Bickslow goes back to sleep after that, but the next one to wake up is surprisingly Cana of all people.

Loke is seated at the kitchen island, nursing not his first cup of coffee. He catches sight of Cana in the reflection of his mug and, with the fluidity of an expert playboy, swirls around in his seat.

"Oh, sweet and lovely Cana, what a delight to meet you on this fine and beautiful morning! Not that we can see the daybreak or anything of that sort, nor do we know the time, but--"

"Save it, Loke," Cana dismisses him, grinning, "you look like you're going to throw up. Don't force yourself."

And Loke clamps shut, looking absolutely miserable.

Cana pours out a cup of coffee for herself, drinking it with sugar but no cream. She sits down across from Loke, and smiles with the elegance unbefitting of her usual reputation. "Sometimes we just need to shut down from the flamboyance, you know?"

Loke smiles back wearily, "yeah."

"Well we're in luck," Cana says, "we've got about an hour before Erza wakes up."

-

When everyone else wakes up the next morning, it's to the smell of freshly toasted bread in the kitchen. Erza may not be a stellar housekeeper, but she can make a great meal. Mornings in Fairy Hills are always a delight.

The smell of oil suggests ham, and Natsu is the first one up, enticed. He steps on Gray on the way over, and the ice mage in turn accidentally elbows Elfman, which wakes their lightest sleeper Happy up, and while Levy wonders where her hug-toy went, the chain continues around the hall.

By the time they make it to the kitchen, Loke is trying to court Erza, Cana is caught lacing booze in her coffee, and there's an amazing meal set out before them.

It's not usual for them to all be gathered around, eating like this-- but this, Gildarts thinks, is really a nice thing.

-

They sit around, in much more comfortable clothes than yesterday (some of them went on ahead to take a shower, especially people who were on missions before this) and they gathered in the hall around mid-morning.

Levy plays the second disk.

-

"Since Lucy is coming back to Fairy Tail, we should see more of us now, right?" Elfman asks, "yosh, it's finally our time to shine!"

"We'll finally get to see Mira in all her dressy glory," Erza smirks.

"Erza, you're cooking your own lunch later," Mira returns sharply.

"Ooh, that's bad," Lisanna says, "Mira-nee's cooking is amazing, so you're going to lose out, Erza."

Erza scoffs, "I will be fine."

"Ah, it's the council members!" Natsu 'urk's. "We're seeing them too?"

"They're complaining about you again, Natsu," Lisanna sighs.

"I wouldn't be surprised if one day they snapped and just blasted our guild out of existence," Cana says.

Levy shivers, "please don't insinuate that!"

"That guy showed up in the opening, right?" Gray jumps at that, "with Erza."

Erza looks away, face falling, "...yes, he's Siegrain."

Gray wants to say more, but when he sees the look on the girl's face, he doesn't ask.

"Did he just... help us?" Mirajane asks, "Yajima-san I can understand... he's good friends with the Master... but Siegrain is strangely nice to us too."

"Maybe it's because he's our age," Freed says, "our guild is rare for having as many young people as we do. Siegrain is also odd for being in the council despite being so young."

"There's also the lady, Ultear-- those two are really young," Levy says, "I suppose they just have a soft spot for us for some reason?"

"And we're back!" Natsu cheers, "about time!"

Loke fixes his glasses, "I suppose it's finally time for the rest of us to make an appearance."

"I can't wait to see Mira-nee in a dress!" Lisanna says, and Erza nods with an excited smile. Gray and Elfman nod as well, secretly anticipating.

"I'm absolutely dreading the moment," Mirajane groans.

"That's a very typical Natsu entrance," Erza considers.

"Are you incapable of opening doors with your hands?" Loke asks, exasperated.

"Why would I use my hands if I can use my feet?" Natsu asks right back, and Loke turns away, facepalming.

"My, my Natsu, violent as ever," Mirajane chuckles, "I definitely taught you something right!"

"Mira, if there's one thing he shouldn't have learned from you, that, exactly, is it," Erza waves a finger at the screen, "look at the mess he's making. We'll have to replace the tables, you know?"

"Why are we never worried about the victims?" Gray groans.

"Poor Krov," Lisanna says.

"Aye," Happy mumbles.

People in the hall were laughing again. This was such Fairy Tail typicality, yet each cause for every fight just got funnier and more ridiculous as the years went by.

"You didn't have to fight him, literally, but you did," Loke sighed, "what crazy did I bring myself into?"

"Get used to it, Loke, you'll be infected soon!" Gildarts assured him.

"Look, Lucy's already infected by the madness," Gildarts made his point.

Loke chuckles at that. "She'll fit right in."

"Me!" Gray straightens.

"And you're picking a fight too, Gray," Happy says.

Loke chokes on his saliva, and Cana burst out in laughter.

Gray flusters, "what's with that narration?!"

"But it's true!" Cana guffaws in a very unladylike manner, but she doesn't particularly care for that, "it's your trademark now, Gray!"

Meanwhile, Natsu and Happy are laughing themselves to death in the corner.

"Cana, you've been reminding him that for years, it's time to give up," Elfman sighs.

Gray's still blushing, "I don't do it on purpose!"

"How exactly do you accidentally take off your clothes?" Cana teases him, so Gray just turns away with an angry huff, face still red.

"But Cana, you're still underage..." Loke mutters, exasperated.

Cana has the gall to look proud of the fact.

Gildarts laughs loudly, "Macao and Wakaba definitely had something to do with that!" he says, "they really don't know how to take care of a girl, huh?"

Cana's gaze on him turns accusingly exasperated for a moment-- then she sighs.

"You're scaring Lucy, Cana-chan," Levy tells her, "seriously, where does all the drink go into your thin body?"

"Yeah, Gray, how about you get dressed before you fight, what are you, a drunkard?" Natsu scowls, his tone dead but his demeanor playful.

"Oh shut up, you're wearing nothing under your vest," Gray retorts.

"It's fashion."

"What part of that nonsense if fashion?!"

"The clothing part," Natsu says, "I guess you wouldn't understand, since you don't wear clothes."

Gray sputters at first, but composes himself for a comeback. "Hey, we all know I have better fashion sense than you when I do wear clothes!"

"You know, Natsu," Happy speaks up, "Gray's actually right."

"Et tu, Happy?!"

"And it's my turn!" Elfman cheers, "I'm cool!"

"You haven't changed at all, Elfman," Freed says, "unlike Mira."

"You do look a little older," Lisanna observes, "so I'm thinking this is only about two to three years ahead of us. Oh, I wonder where I am?"

Everyone turns to Lisanna curiously.

"That's true," Cana says, "you would've been the first to greet him."

"Oh Lucy," Levy chuckles, "you'll have to get used to it. That's literally what happens every day with us."

"There's not a day without a fight in this guild," Evergreen sighs, "I wonder what manner of insanity possessed us?"

Elfman's jaw drops, and Mira bursts into laughter.

"Oh, some things about you never change, Elfman!" she laughs, "it's hard to believe you were so meek when we first came in."

Elfman looks dejected.

"Don't mind, Elf-niichan," Lisanna assures him, "I'm pretty sure a lot of us are no match to Natsu and Gray either way."

Loke smiles at that. So he's still around, after all, looking like he's having fun.

Gray laughs, "you don't change either, huh?" he says, "and you made some dumb ranking."

"Hey, that ranking means I'm in competition with Blue Pegasus boys, you know?" Loke says, "I'm proud of it."

"I'm more surprised Master Bob didn't snatch you off," Erza says, "he always likes the handsome and popular ones... and you fit the bill."

Loke chuckles at that.

Bickslow starts laughing, "he's infected!" he declares, "Loke's officially as crazy as a Fairy Tail mage! We gotta celebrate!"

Loke could only chortle awkwardly at that. "I've got the violence bug."

"And you still manage to do it while being an obnoxious playboy," Gray says, "that's kinda amazing."

"Aye."

That caused another round of laughter.

"Lucy's not a fan of the playboy types!" Gray laughs again, "tough luck, Loke!"

Loke flushes slightly, turning away, "well, that's fine too... I'm pretty sure future me is still going to try, though--" his face falls, "...oh wait, she's a Celestial Spirit Mage, so maybe not."

Cana doesn't miss it, "what, something wrong with Celestial Spirit mages?"

"Uh, yeah..." Loke stumbles, shrinking back as all eyes turn to him, "bad experience with them, I guess."

Lisanna inches closer, "even though you seem to know a lot about Celestial Spirits?"

Loke fumbles for the first ever time in front of a girl.

"Now, now you guys," Bickslow interrupts them, "the show's still going on, you know?"

And a wave of screams, ranging from lovingly enthralled to bloody murder, pass across the room.

The loudest scream was probably from Mira herself.

"Oh my god, what is that?!" Natsu shrieks, "Mira's smiling! She's smiling!"

"Her smile doesn't promise death!" Gray shrieks in turn, "this is impossible!"

"No, that's the most terrifying smile I've ever seen, by far!" Natsu says.

"I hate to say this but you're right!" Gray says, panicking beyond belief.

Gildarts whistles, and Freed looks, slightly awed. Laxus and Cana are speechlessly impressed and Erza's eyes glint with the admiration of a rival. Lisanna and Elfman are still chanting the 'my sister is the prettiest thing in the world' song; and Loke's dead.

"Alright, enough!" Mira erupts, morphing right into a Satan Soul right there.

Everyone shoots away.

They continue watching, Mira still in her Satan Soul form.