flourish12 sent a message to luckyluce:

stop searching. 

~ ~ ~

"He knows," Lucy whispers. Her phone trembles in her hand. "He must be at this school. The Lisanna case investigation at Fiore University is top secret."

"It could've leaked out somehow," I suggest. "Don't worry about it. It's probably just a prank."

"The principal said he would expel anyone who spread the information to outsiders," replies Lucy. "I'm positive this isn't a prank."

"Descartes' Theorem is fairly simple," the professor says from the front of the lecture hall. He draws a circle on the whiteboard. "For every four tangent circles-"

"-just ignore this 'flourish12' person," I tell Lucy, tuning the professor out. She won't meet my gaze. Instead, she copies the four circles from the whiteboard into her notebook.

"What's he going to do? Kill you?" I continue, not taking my eyes off the worried girl. I take a deep breath. "Lucy, you know you don't have to do this. Makarov said-"

"I'm not going to stop looking for the murderer," Lucy whispers. The lead of her mechanical pencil snaps.

"Okay." I look back at the whiteboard and nearly have a heart attack.

"-and that, kiddos, is how you find Descartes' Theorem."

"Wait...where the heck did that 'b' variable come from? And how in Fiore does 'c' equal 'd?'" My confusion, much to my annoyance, makes Lucy giggle.

"Maybe if you paid attention to Jellal during your tutoring sessions, you would know."

~ ~ ~

Levy takes the cellphone from Lucy's hand and hooks it up to her laptop. "It's really simple. By tracking the location of the message, I can get a good idea as to where this user spends his time." Levy swiftly logs into her laptop. "You see, most people log into their social media accounts in the comfort of their bedrooms. Or, in this case, dorm."

I'm not sure if that's accurate information, but I don't dare tell Levy she's wrong. She's the most intelligent of our ragtag group and I don't intend on changing my relationship with her.

"I know what you're thinking, Erza." The shorter girl smiles. "People are constantly on their phones, even on the go. But here at the prestigious school of Fiore Uni, students have little time to spend."

I nod my head in agreement.

Levy scrunches her eyebrows in concentration. "Hm...south side of the school is where...oh.." She looks up at us, crestfallen. "He sent it from one of our libraries."

The school has three libraries; all three are open to students attending uni. It could be anyone.

"You tried your best, Levy," Lucy says, nudging the blue-haired girl's shoulder. "Don't feel bad. At least now we know he's a student here!"

"I guess..." Suddenly, she straightens up. "Aha! You say he likes your posts, right? I can track those as well..."

After an intense five minutes, Levy reveals he liked two of Lucy's posts while in Cedar,  one of the girl's dorms. Majority of seniors tend to claim rooms there due to its convenient location next to the dining hall and the library.

"Either he's a girl or he was visiting..."

"If he was visiting a girl, who was most likely his girlfriend...I don't think..." She flushes. "...he'd be on social media..."

"So he is a she," I muse. "A senior she."

"Someone's making a lot of sense this morning," Jellal says. I look over my shoulder and find Jellal, arms crossed, standing beside Ultear and Laxus. The blue-haired boy offers me a tentative smile. I smile back. After all, why should I be upset that I caught him kissing his girlfriend?

The tingling sensation in my heart feels like the brush of a butterfly's wing against my chest. It's driving me nuts.

"What are you guys up to?" Ultear asks, genuinely curious. 

"Lisanna case," the three of us chorus.

"Levy found my stalker," Lucy says after a moment's silence. "You know, the one that sent me the message a few hours ago."

"And?"

"The stalker is most likely female. A senior living in Cedar."

"Most likely," Levy adds promptly. "She could be a junior visiting her older sister or something..."

"What are you going to do now?" 

For once, none of us know what to stay. What now? There were thousands of senior girls at uni, and who knows? Maybe flourish12 had meant to send the message to someone else or something...

"Look for her," I announce, cringing at my vagueness.

"Sounds dangerous," Jellal replies.

Laxus snorts. "Jellal's definition of dangerous is changing the way he parts his hair."

"Oh, you be quiet!" Jellal snaps, unable to fight off a grin.

~ ~ ~

flourish12 sent a message to luckyluce:

i know u r looking for me. 

wanna know who i am? 

meet me outside of fairy tail.

~ ~ ~

"It's a trap, Luce," Natsu says, practically begging the blonde-haired girl to stay. "What if..."

...you die?

"I've got Erza with me," Lucy consoles him with a confident smile. "She'll kick this girl's butt!"

"Putting all the pressure on me, huh?" I grumble. "Maybe someone else should come."

"I'll go!" Ultear and Jellal exclaim together.

Thankfully, Laxus intervenes. 

"Wait a second- you guys always do everything without me. This time, I'm going. No arguments."

"Or you'll what? Tell your grandfather?" Ultear asks, narrowing her eyes. I'm not sure whether she's joking or not.

"Okay, it's settled. Laxus, Lucy, and I will go." Jellal's eyes flash with hurt. 

~ ~ ~

"What are you guys doing out here in the cold?" Gajeel asks, poking his head out from inside the coffee shop.

"Waiting for someone," Lucy replies, wrapping her arms around her. Despite our heavy winter jackets, the icy air chills us to the bone. 

"Come inside," the barista urges, even going so far as to hold the door open for us. Customers inside frown in his direction as the cold air hits them.

We hurry inside and find seats at the bar table; this way, we'll be able to face the window. Laxus orders a variety of pastries for us while Lucy and I peer outside, waiting for the girl to arrive. Doubt clouds my mind through every passing second; what if the girl murders us? Sure, it'll be in plain sight- but it won't matter once we're dead, will it?

A part of me wonders if Jellal will feel pain when I die. Not emotional pain- a physical, sharp pain, one that occurs when the bond is severed. If I die, he will surely marry Ultear.

I blink in surprise as the jealousy fades. These dark thoughts...they're unlike me.

"That's her," Lucy cries, nearly falling off her stool. "It has to be!"

Sure enough, a young woman with short, green-hair and a golden choker stands near the bushes. She catches my stare and winks.

Her green eyes dance mischievously, like a fire waiting to be sparked.