Chapter 9
Loud Halls

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, Energy Magic, and Ideas

.:+:.

Frea watched silently as Corbynn rapped his knuckles against the heavy word door of Porlyusica's tree, his eyes fixed ahead and both their ears on high alert for some response from the inside.

"Hey, Granny!" Corbynn called through the door, his head tilted as he waited for some semblance of noise outside the rustle of the trees and the flap of wings overhead.

"... she's not here." Frea murmured after a moment, Corbynn glanced backward at her slowly.

"Are you guessing or do you actually know that?" He asked, she blinked at him, sweatdropping slightly.

"...... Guessing." She answered slowly and at length, he frowned slightly.

"Is it really that bad? That you can't even pick out the Old Woman's Energy Signature?" He asked immediately, she sighed.

"... Yeah. I'm having a hard enough time picking out yours." She answered quietly. He stiffened slightly,

"........ You're kidding." He grumbled,

"Unfortunately I'm not." She replied lowly, shaking her head slightly as if to clear her senses of some haze... He knew it would do little good, she knew it too.

His eyes flicked downward from her face toward her hands, winding over the rings on her pointer fingers and thumbs, his eyes narrowing when he saw small, hairline cracks running along the surface of the one on her index finger of her right hand.

"..... You alright?" He asked after a moment, his eyes moving back up toward her eyes. She blinked at him, fave neutral for a minute.

"... Yeah. I'm good." She murmured, smiling slightly. "Hungry and tired as all hell, but I'm alright." He bit the inside of his cheek, looking conflicted for a minute.

".... Let's go to the Guild. Maybe Granny's there." He suggested, she smiled at him, her eyes glinting slightly. ".... We can probably grab some food on the way through town, but we won't stay too long, alright?"

"Sounds good to me." She smirked, he shook his head slightly. "I still gotta stop by the Mayor's to pay off Fairy Hills too."

"Great....." He grumbled, he heard her chuckle under her breath at that. She stepped to the side to allow him room to walk down the stairs, still smiling as he stepped past her.

She followed him back down the steps without a word, and still in total silence even as she rest on arm on his shoulder lightly, and kept it there as they passed under the trees, moving ever toward Magnolia.

Corbynn glanced upward toward her, seeing she had let her eyes fall closed as she allowed him to lead her, a small, faint smile on her face though he could see the exhaustion lingering there still.... Frea was good at hiding most things, but he could usually see what others couldn't.

Or maybe she let him see things she wouldn't other people....

"What kind of food do you want?" He murmured after taking a moment to let out a small sigh. "I'm buying this time."

"Ahh, then you get to pick what we eat." Frea replied softly, "I'm always good with anything, as long as it's edible."

"When's the last time you had a proper meal?" He asked lowly,

"Mm? Well..... Probably a month. I've just been snacking for the most part, since I've been moving around so often." She replied easily, he only just managed to keep himself from scolding her.

"... Hmph. Since you're done with the Triad, maybe you can actually take some time off, for once in your life." He grumbled,

"Heh, that'd be nice wouldn't it?" Frea replied, her head tilting back slightly. She could feel the sun splash against her face as they left the cover of the trees, though she still didn't open her eyes to look.

".... Gotta rectify things with Twilight Ogre before I even think of leaving." She added in as an afterthought.

"That's not happening today." He said firmly, "We go to the Mayor, get you food and head to the Guild to find Porlyusica. No sidetracking to Twilight Ogre."

"You gonna stop me?" She asked lightly,

"If I have to I will." He replied lowly, she smirked, just a little.

".. Fine then, have it your way. Twilight Ogre can wait another day."

.:+:.

"... in essence... Well, she kinda saved the entire country." Macao murmured softly, his chin leaning in his hand as they settled into recounting (the short version) of what major event that had rocked the Guild on its heels.... And particularly it's last remaining Dragon Slayer when the Tenrou Team had disappeared. They had mentioned a few other bits, but it was clear they didn't want to get too far into it, so what they told was little more than an overview, and there were sure to be promptings to tell the stories soon enough.

"Probably more like the entire planet, in the grand scheme of things." Wakaba corrected, ".... If she'd lost, I doubt we'd all still be around."

"You're not serious?" Erza murmured,

"Oh we are." Macao and Wakaba said in unison, before frowning slightly at the one another as if they were about to argue over interrupting eachother.

"It was a big thing.... An insane and crazy thing that almost landed us all dead." Chase broke in. "It may not have been that bad if it hadn't happened so soon after everything with Black Chimera, Death Bolt and Phoenix Tear... And Chess." He broke off, his voice lowering as Macao, Wakaba, Reedus and Max all flinched at the name. "Teach wasn't in a good place before it happened... Neither was the rest of the Guild really. Teach had already been pretty hurt beforehand, and her emotions were on such a high... I'm still surprised she handled it all so well. Especially against someone so powerful."

".... I'm a little confused." Mira murmured. "... What do you mean? Who's Chess? And what did they have to do with... With Frea, and the Guild?"

"... Chess was a Member of the Guild." Chase murmured, his hand lift as he gestured toward a board set behind the bar, where papers and pictures were pinned up in a colorful array, and that hadn't been disturbed in a long time. There were pictures of them, the Tenrou Team, and even some of the Exceeds, and the sisters Aisha and Solana.

In particular he gestured toward one in the middle, their eyes immediately catching sight of a young woman with russet colored hair and icy blue eyes grinning at them, her arm hooked around the shoulders of a younger boy who looked like her.

"She joined along with her little brother, and she and Teach hit it off. They joined up as Partners, and worked together for months. Chess was a spectacular Mage... She could go head to head with Teach, and that's really not something most people can do." he smiled wistfully a moment, his eyes falling closed. "She was stubborn, and nearly as hotheaded as Teach can be... But they worked well together, and grew really close. Chess was about the only person who could get Teach to take a step back and worry about herself more than anyone else.... To be honest she was one of only two people who Teach'll actually listen to, and do as they ask."

Master, Mira, Erza and Gikdarts sat in tense silence, their eyes narrowed and sweatdropping slightly. They could see from the pain and the sadness that appeared in the Energy Mages face that the ending to this tale wasn't so light. Chase let out a sigh, deciding it probably best to start from the beginning.

"... Three Major Dark Guilds formed a Triad among the Baram Alliance. Black Chimera, Phoenix Tear, and Death Bolt. Together they managed to nearly take over all the other Dark Guilds, and all the smuggling and assassinations." Chase's voice dropped, his blue eyes fixing to his cup in front of him. "They were ruled by a collection of incredibly powerful Dark Wizards, and wrought havoc for years. The Council wanted them gone, badly, but hadn't been able round anyone up who was willing to take them on.... Until Frea got involved."

".... Thinking on it now, its been all the trouble with the Flash Beast Triad that's brought all the new members in, huh?" Wakaba murmured, his eyes trailing over Solana, Aisha and the Exceed Trio in turn.

"Yeah, and it's a shitty thing for it to be able bring so many people together." Macao grumbled,

"Mm, about two years after you all went missing, that's when the Triad got really busy." Chase explained, seeing the question appear on the faces of those who hadn't been around. "Teach and I had been running around trying to scrape by, we'd been hearing things about the Triad and even run into a few of them on occasion. Teach got involved where she had to, but never fully took it on- at least until we ran into those two." Chase flicked his head back in the direction of Solana and Aisha- to which the latter was showing off her younger sister to Natsu, smiling all the while.

"Aisha and Solana had started their own war against both Pheonix Tear and Black Chimera, even being as young as they were at the time. They had been separated from one another for a few years, torn apart by Phoenix Tear when the Guild attacked their hometown. Solana managed to escape, and tracked Pheonix Tear for a very long time. She thought Aisha had been taken prisoner by Phoenix Tear, and then Black Chimera." The Tenrou Members stiffened, anger and surprise lighting in their eyes at the news.  "Of course she hadn't any clue Aisha had escaped almost right away, and had instead been tailing Black Chimera, collecting what information could with the intent on crippling them. She thought Solana had been killed, and had every right to think it too, from what I understand of what happened to their town." Chase told them quietly, "They found one another, as you can see. And instead of settling down in a nice town and enjoying life, they decided to wage an all out war against Black Chimera and Phoenix Tear, they spent their time collecting secrets and destroying smaller hubs of the Guilds all over Fiore. Teach and I had been on our way back to Magnolia when we felt some insane amount of Magic.... Hehe, those two idiots were making an absolute mess of a small hideout belonging to Pheonix Tear when we found them. And that was back before they had been properly trained." Chase leaned back slightly, crossing his arms over his chest. "It was trap though, they'd managed to really piss off the Guild Leader- Kane Deatte- set up a series of serious Spells to keep them trapped inside and transport many of his top Wizards inside when they least expected it. It was a ridiculously hard fight, even for Teach and I, but we managed it, and pissed Kane off all the more, no doubt." He smirked, "After that Teach was more than ready to jump into all out war, and Solana and Aisha were all too happy to join up when she told them her plan. They've been here since, and have helped with more than just the Triad. They were fairly strong with Magic when we found them, and have only gotten better since joining- Teach and I helped them train for a year or so. Before that they had been running on luck and sheer talent alone."

"They still do that, but at least they know how to properly fight and use their Magic." Max smiled, Chase nodded.

"Hehe.... well, anyway- the Exceeds joined up three years ago... Well, 'joined up' is relatve. They aren't full time members, but they do help with jobs around the Guild, especially so with things including the Triad." Chase went on, "They're actually the Guild Masters of their own Independent Guild. Teach struck up a formal alliance with their Guild- Three Fangs- to try and fight back and prevent the murders Death Bolt was carrying out. They'd had a run-in with the Guild Leader before, who's son and daughter they had befriended. They hadn't attempted any moves toward Death Bolt until the kids were attacked and nearly killed, and from there they had promised to disband Death Bolt. They found out Teach had accepted the job of defeating the Triad from the Magic Council, and approached her about coming together to get it done. From there they've stuck around the Guild and helped out past what the original agreement was... Not that anyone minds, they're good to have around and we appreciate the help. Especially so since they do it while also looking after their own Guild and it's Members."

"We've set up our own spy network around Fiore. With most of our Guild being other Exceeds, they're good at hearing little trade secrets most everywhere, and we can get messages sent quickly and silently. It's been extremely useful, especially when we were trying to find Death Bolt's main base." Their heads snapped around at the sudden voice, as Moon settled on the bar top with a small, maybe a bit prideful smile, her paws on her hips. "It was enchanted to transport itself to hundreds of locations on a regular basis, so pinning it down for an all out assault wasn't easy. We had our Members keep their ears to the ground in the known meeting locations of Dark Guilds, collecting all sorts of information on where the Guild went and how long it stayed in any one place. We eventually managed to snag a key, that let us enter the Guild from any door we wanted." She smirked, "That one was mostly thanks to Uno's quick paws, but it was a collective effort overall."

"... this all seems like quite the operation you pulled yourselves into." Gildarts murmured, "You said the Magic Council wanted this 'Triad' dealt with, if Frea took on the job, and the Guild took it on in lieu of that, wouldn't you have gotten paid? How are you still struggling with bills?" He paused, "... Or am I to take it the Triad hasn't been dealt with?"

"We got payed for taking down every leg we managed." Chase replied, "Which was two, up until Frea finished off Death Bolt a few days ago, from what the Magic Council has been reporting." He paused, looking weary. "... and it's a large reward, but we are.... Very, very in debt..." He sweatdropped slightly.

"Between paying for Fairy Hills, this Building, food, our own houses and apartments, and of course...  That damned debt we have to Twilight Ogre...." Macao grumbled, "... With how little Requests we actually get, the money we've gotten for the Triad's dismantlement has lasted us a few months at a time, but it doesn't pull us out our debt completely. And with how secretive the Council's been about everything involving the Triad, we don't get hardly any recognition for taking them down either. No one hardly even thinks about Fairy Tail any more we've fallen below the bar so low."

"What's this about Twilight Ogre?" Master asked lowly,

".... We borrowed money from them a while ago, with every intention of paying them back- but they charged some ridiculous interest rates we didn't agree on in the start, and have been a pain in the ass since." Macao grumbled, "... And Frea hasn't made it better, she's been refusing to pay them anything. I don't like the idea of handing over money to those bastards either, but with her being gone so long they've gotten pretty bold.... As you saw earlier."

"They listen to Frea?" Mira murmured,

"Everyone listens to Frea. Lots of people are actually afraid of her." Max smiled nervously, Reedus nodded silently in agreement, his attention fixed to his canvas still, but always listening in.

"She's one scary woman, can't deny." Moon smirked, "She even gets my fur to stand on end sometimes, as she likes me."

"... Why has she been gone so long? Where is she?" Erza pressed,

"You said she defeated Death Bolt a few days ago?" Master inquired, eyebrow quirked- though silently he intended to have a word with this Twilight Ogre Guild Master. Surely if Frea refused to pay them, they didn't deserve to be paid, and he'd like to end what conflict there was between their Guilds swiftly.

"That's what the Council said, though they didn't give any details of course." Chase replied,

"Of course defeated is relative. Death Bolt has been a splinter of what it was for a few years now, we did assault their main Base all together, and arrested most of the Guild." Moon gestured between herself, Chase, Aisha and Solana, and Iki and Uno. "Of course some of them got away and went into hiding, along with the Guild Leader- but they haven't been at full force. The ones Frea took out were just what little of them that was left."

"As for why she's been gone, she doesn't spend too much time in Magnolia anymore. She travels from town to town completing jobs and assignments and hardly has time for a break. She's been gone a few months without stopping in, which is a little out of the norm for her- but that's because she's been honing in on tracking what stragglers she could find in the meantime." Chase took over again, answering Erza's question now. "As for where she is exactly, I'm not sure. Last I saw her was about a week ago."

"We got a note from Nadi this morning, saying he saw both Frea and Corbynn on the road back to Magnolia a day ago." Moon offered the information with a small smile,

"Ah, so they should be here some time today if they don't get sidetracked." Chase murmured,

"Which, knowing them they will." Max chuckled under his breath.

"Corbynn?" Mira echoed,

"Chess's little brother." Chase explained easily, "... I suppose we didn't get to that part either, huh?" He sighed, "... Well, Teach met Corbynn and Chess about... I think it was four years ago now? It was just around after we finished training Solana and Aisha, and had started full swing into tracking down Black Chimera. We hadn't been able to pin Death Bolt down then, and Phoenix Tear was in the wind at the time, but we mamaged to pin Black Chimera into a corner. Teach, Aisha, Solana and I moved out to take on their base, and set free what people they had taken as slaves."

There was a dark flash of anger that ran across the faces of the Tenrou Team, Erza especially.

"Slaves?" Master nearly growled,

"Phoenix Tear handled the smuggling of Magical items and Weapons, Lacrima, that sort of thing." Macao murmured,

"Death Bolt handled all the assassinations." Wakaba muttered,

"Black Chimera raided outlying towns and villages, capturing people alive and forcing them into slavery in other, smaller nations outside of our own." Moon grumbled, "Yeah, the Triad is- well, was- full of bastards. That's why we worked so hard against it."

"We knew where Black Chimera was moving the people out into other countries, so we went to take the base, and that is where we met Chess and Corbynn." Chase sighed, "There's a country on the border, called Agdnei. It's king was paying Black Chimera a lot of money to bring them captured Wizards, more so for powerful Wizards. Agdnei wanted them to make some sort of.... Super Magic Weapon, that fed off Magic Energy. Chess and Corbynn had been captured by Black Chimera for only a few days when we arrived, and they definitely fit the bill for what Agdnei wanted."

"Ah, and before you ask about Adgnei." Moon spoke up when Chase trailed off for a small moment. "That mess was cleared up too, the people who were enslaved and the people who lived in poverty under the crown and it's nobles rose up in rebellion a year ago. Its been in civil war since, with the monarchy destroyed and the common people trying to pick up the peices. What Magical weapon they were trying to make was destroyed in the war, promise. We checked."

"It's a good thing too, Agdnei runs on invention and Magical tools." Max grumbled, "Whatever they were building could have been seriously bad."

"Yeah..." Chase sighed, "... Anyway, Chess and Corbynn were captured, but Black Chimera was having a hard time holding them. They had special bindings for people with Magic, but those two were so powerful even the enchantments weren't doing much good. So much so that by the time we got there Black Chimera wasn't even paying attention to any of the other people they had taken prisoner. Every Dark Mage was preoccupied trying to control Chess and Corbynn, and they weren't having much luck doing it." He smirked, "Getting the other people out was easy, Solana and Aisha worked with me to get them to safety while Teach jumped right into the fray. She had those Magic Bindings destroyed before the Black Chimera mages even realized she was there, and then they were too late to try and defend against Chess and Corbynn's wrath for having chained them in the first place. In one night we had Black Chimera's main hub destroyed and decimated nearly all of their members." He smiled, "The Council was reeling at that, before then they had taken Teach's agreement to help only lightly. They took it a bit more seriously after that, and Chess and Corbynn joined the Guild for the same reason Aisha and Solana had- they wanted the Triad taken out and they were willing to do anything to do it."

"Hmm.... After that, we kept fighting with Triad. Teach partnered up with Chess, Moon and her siblings joined, and we kept at it. Chess and Teach hardly ever went on a job without one another, Teach helped her train Corbynn, and took him under her wing. Those three were quite the Team... And Chess and Teach were nearly unstoppable." Chase's eyes fell closed. "... Nearly being the word. We took down both Black Chimera and Phoenix Tear with her around, and when we went after Death Bolt.... We lost Chess."

Erza, Mira, Master and Gildarts stiffened, sweatdropping.

".... Death Bolt was the strongest of the Triad, and we knew that. But we didn't think we'd lose, and we certainly didn't think anyone would get killed. We were wrong... losing Chess broke everyone's hearts, especially Corbynn..... But losing her just... Broke Frea." He shuddered slightly at the memory of it, his hand holding his cheek and his fingers absently tracing the scar running along the bridge of his nose. "...... She wasn't right for a long time after it...... Even more so since what happened with Mordren came into play only a month after Death Bolt. She hasn't been the same since then, slowly she's gotten back to being mostly her... But I don't think she'll be herself ever again."

"... they.... They were that close....?" Mira mumbled, her blue eyes shinning.

".... They were more than friends, if that's what you're asking." Chase smiled sadly, he could feel the pain prickle from everyone, and the shock and sadness too. "But I don't expect Teach'll talk about with you guys, and it's probably better not to ask her. So its good you heard it from us first."

They fell into a tense silence for a few long moments, their minds clouded with so many thoughts at once, as Master, Erza, Mira and Gildarts tried their best to make sense of everything they had heard just then. It was all the note painful just how much had happened and they had missed when they saw the pain in the faces of those left, and even more so what grief and sadness the Guild had been through in all that time... It hardly seemed fair.

Chase glanced up, his eyes falling behind him and toward the front door for a minute, blinking once or twice. They would have wondered where his attention had gone if the Tenrou
Members didn't suddenly grow still, their bodies freezing as they felt waves of some impossibly potent, and throbbing power reached them on the air.

The air was shaking, pulsing camlmly with waves of sheer, heavy Magic, and Magical Pressure of the likes they had never felt before. It sent shivers running down their spines, even Gildarts and Master as they glanced toward one another. They had seldom felt Magical Pressure like this from each other, let alone wherever this Magic was coming from, or who.

Those left beind felt it too, though they weren't concerned by it in the slightest, they didn't tense against it, it was familiar to them.

Laxus glanced up from listening to Freed and Bixlow bicker on, his eyes narrowed as he felt it too- tense as several other people seemed to grow, though they didn't seem to understand what it was.

"... that Magical Pressure..." Erza murmured under her breath, sweatdropping.

"... Its so potent..." Mira mumbled,

"Ah, speaking of her." Chase smiled, his usual easy going air appearing once again. He lightly stood up from his seat, abandoning his drink as Moon's ears twitched in his direction. "Feels like Corbynn and Teach are back."

Master blinked, his eyes widening slightly.

"... You mean that Magic... Is Frea's?" He asked quickly, "That can't be right."

"Sorry Old Man, but it's definitely her." Moon answered, shrugging her shoulders slightly. "I know its overwhelming at first, but you get used to it."

"Its stifling." Erza answered,

"I told you Teach was stronger than you remember." Chase replied lightly, "And Max is right- she's the strongest one here. No contest." He smiled a bit more, before leaving them in their shocked silence as he headed toward the door.

He felt tenseness prickle from the Tenrou Members as he passed them by, many of them feeling what he could- but not in the same sense. The conversations kept going around him, though they all felt it, regardless of them caring or not.

"Don't look so tense guys." Solana smirked, her green gaze settled on the group of Gajeel, Levy, Natsu and Lucy in front of her.

"... You do feel that, don't you?" Lucy mumbled,

"You'll get used to it, trust me." Solana chuckled,

"It's just Frea." Aisha added in softly, her purple eyes glinting as the group in front of her went utterly rigid at the statement.

"Huh?!" Natsu snapped,

"Silver?!" Gajeel snapped, "That can't be, this feels stronger than the Old Man."

"Well, Frea is our top Mage for a reason." Aisha smiled slightly, "... And you guys are kinda behind on the times." She added in quietly.

"... This feels like a different person entirely..." Lucy mumbled,

Chase pulled up at the doors, smiling slightly still as he watched the doors open, he sweatdropped though.

This Magic... Her Pressure was stronger than it usually was, suffocating almost and yet not so. It faded slightly after a few moments, but it was still there, as ever... And more than it should have been.

Maybe it's time for another ring...

The doors opened as two figures stepped inside the hall, he raised a hand in a small wave as he stood to the side slightly.

"Hey you two," he smiled. "Guess who's back?"

.:+:.

Their trek through the forest hovering over Magnolia was pleasant and slow, Frea's arm still resting lightly on his shoulder as she walked beside him, her hunger satisfied most pleasantly from a shirt stop in a Cafe in town Square. They had taken time to stop by the Mayor's office and pay off Fairy Hills for the next few months at least, leaving the man behind as he most assuredly watched them go with a sympathetic face. Most of the people in Magnolia gave the Fairy Tailers those looks, sadness and regret. Frea would have hated it, but she didn't care anymore. She had long since stopped doing so.

Corbynn glanced toward her every once in awhile, his eyes narrowed as he watched her movement for any sign that would tell him what pain the wound on her back was getting worse. She walked easily enough, if a bit stiffly at times... But he couldn't shake off the dream even now.

People might have said he worried too much about her... But damn it, someone needed to.

His eyes snapped up toward her as her arm lightly slid from its resting place on his shoulder, seeing her take a small step to put some distance between the two of them as her hands moved up to the ties that held her cloak on her shoulders.

"... The air feels nice today." She smiled wistfully, meeting the cloak fall away from her body as she lightly wrapped it up into a bundle and stuffed it inside her bag. His eyes traced over the bits of bandages he could see sliding past her sleeveless shirt.

Her hand moved up to grab the pendant that hung from the collar around her neck, it snapped off the small chain easily with what Magic it was enchanted with, as she promptly tossed that into the bag as well, before tying it closed and holding it in her palm.

There was a familiar wave of pressure that emanated from her in the next instant, silver light dancing up around her hand and the bag. Her Magic sent the bag fading from view entirely, Magically transporting it and everything it held back home and leaving her without having to carry it any longer.

Corbynn stiffened slightly though, he had seen her do something so simple many times before..... But her Magical Pressure made him pause. It was stifling on its own on a regular day... But usually it wasn't that heavy with such a small spell. And the pressure didn't hardly settle down when she was done either.

He bit his lip, he'd have to have a talk with Jynx as soon as he could manage.

The Guild Hall came into sight before long, Frea having continued walking with her arms hooked behind her back. They had hardly made it halfway across the clearing before they both halted.

Frea and the Corbynn quirked their eyebrows at the unconscious and senseless heap that was made up of Twilight Ogre Mages across the clearing from the noisy, and alcohol reeking Fairy Tail Building. They were out cold, and clearly from Twilight Ogre though seeing them there was a slight surprise,

"..... Hmm...?" Frea hummed,

"..... Kinda looks like Moon, Iki and Uno finally lost it and beat the crap out of those guys." Corbynn mumbled,

".... I wouldn't put it past them." Frea murmured lowly, smiling faintly for a split second. "Well, perhaps Twilight Ogre won't be so shocked when I show up tomorrow." Corbynn blinked at her, shaking his head slightly but saying nothing.

He faintly wondered if she would leave the Twilight Ogre Guild Hall standing after their 'chat'.

He glanced up, seeing her nose twitch slightly as a small frown pulled at her face a moment.

".... Mmmm. It smells like they pulled out every type of booze we had left and dumped it everywhere." She grumbled, "..... Maybe we should just... Not, go in right now." He blinked,

".... What? Not interested in why they're being so noisy just because of a smell?" He asked flatly, annoyed slightly as she still seemed slightly intent on giving up on finding Porlyusica altogether.

"..... I suppose.... I do wonder what they're up to." She mumbled, looking wary still. "...... And why it called for so much alcohol. This isn't normal, now that you mention it."

He hadn't mentioned it, but that hardly mattered just then.

Frea shrugged her shoulders slightly, letting out a small breath as she started forward toward the doors.

"Now let's hope someone's sober enough to give an explanation, hmm?" She hummed as he stepped forward after her, her hand reaching out toward the door as she slowly pushed it open, her eyes half-way closed and sweatdropping.

She braced herself for the new wash of liqueur reeking air that was sure to spill out and meet her.

She stopped, the doors opening softly as the noise spilled out, Corbynn stepping up beside her as they both looked into the hall uncertainly.

"... Hmm....?"