#mestlu

It had been a long day, Mest reflected, but a good one.  Construction was nearly completed on the new guild building, and it wouldn’t be too much longer before everything was back to how it should be.  Well... minus Makarov.  For now, anyway.  There was no telling when the signal would come in from him, however, so Mest felt he shouldn’t relax too much, but... Still.  It was really... nice to see the guild members mostly all together again.

That being said, he was exhausted.  It was time for him to call it a day.  “Erza!” he called out to the new guild master, wincing as she abruptly turned to face him while holding a large timber, almost knocking out Max as it swung around.  “I’m heading home for the day!”

She gave him a thumbs up, and then abruptly turned again, once more forcing Max to hit the ground in an attempt to avoid being brained.  Mest shot him an apologetic look and mouthed a “sorry!” in the man’s direction.

“Wait, Mest!” a voice called out to him, and with surprise, he saw Lucy running up to him.

Mest remained rooted in place as she approached, curious about what the celestial mage wanted.  This might have been the first time they’d ever talked, one on one, now that he thought about it.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she teased, coming to a stop in front of him.

He stared at her blankly.  “I don’t... think so?” he questioned, not altogether sure now.  He’d forgotten a lot of things, after all.  And not all of it had come back.  Several large chunks of his memory were just... gone.  Likely for good.  Panic began to rise in his chest.  What was it?  What had he forgotten?  Was it something important?  He wracked his brain, trying to formulate an answer.  He needed to know!

Lucy, unaware of Mest’s spiral, drew out an object from her pouch.  “I have a gift for you, then. I thought I wouldn’t be able to catch you, honestly.  You’ve been flitting about all day.”  She held up the object.  “Where do you want your guild stamp?”

Mest blinked owlishly at her, all of his thought processes grinding to a halt.

“Is... is something wrong?” she questioned, unsure about why he wasn’t responding.  “Oh, wait... did I... misinterpret?  I thought I heard... but... um...”  Lucy let out a mortified little laugh.  “Well, this is embarrassing...”

A jolt ran through Mest as what was happening finally clicked in his head.  “Oh!  No, no, Lucy.  It’s... uh...  I was a little surprised is all.”  At a loss for words, he rolled up his sleeve higher on his arm, the physical labor having shifted the sleeves down over the course of the day.  “I never... lost my mark.”

A brilliant smile slowly spread across Lucy’s face, the expression almost blinding, and the corners of her eyes crinkling.  She held up her hand, the pink Fairy Tail guild mark proudly on display.  “Me either,” she told him.

The sight of the mark and the proclamation drew a small, unbidden smile out of Mest as well.  “Two peas in a pod, huh?”

Lucy nodded.  “So it seems!”  She lowered her arm and gave him a little wave.  “Have a nice night, Mest!”

He raised his arm a little and returned the wave.  “You too, Lucy.”  Then he turned and walked home, the little smile still firmly implanted on his face.

"For your own sake,I'm cutting you off your caffeine supply."

Lucy had never imagined that those wouldbecome her famous last words.  Ok maybenot… last, but at least ones she now regretted a great deal.

In her defense, they were wellwarranted.  Mest had stayed up a few toomany nights in a row at the guild hall, zealously researching something in the archivesthere.  In the process consuming far morecaffeine than any one human should in such a short time frame.  So not only was he hyped up on lack of sleep,he was also cruising with enough pharmaceutical grade caffeine in his system todown a Vulcan (how Mest had even procured the stuff was half a mystery byitself).  So Lucy had had no choice butto declare him cut off, and dispose of his stash.  Wendy was beside herself with worry, and Lucywouldn’t allow Mest’s bad health decisions to affect her teammate.  Whatever had piqued his insatiable curiosityto that extent could just wait for him to be of sound mind once more (and notbe a literal terror to his guildmates).

Mest had not taken this too well.  But the second he attempted to do somethingabout it, he’d collapsed on the spot and had to be carted to the infirmary.

And now, thanks to that, she was sittingby the man’s bedside, two days later, wracked with guilt.  Not for having taken away Mest’s caffeine,no.  She felt guilty for not having doneso sooner.  Before it got to this point.

Wendy had assured her (multiple times)that he would be fine once he slept it off and she had him on a drip to preventdehydration and vitamin deficiency and, “really why are you still worrying,Lucy, it could have been much worse."

But the celestial mage couldn’t seem tohelp but be concerned.  She kept tellingherself that she’d feel this way for any of her guildmates, but it felt alittle hollow in her more honest moments with herself.

Was it because she blamed herself for notnoticing earlier and acting on her concern? Really, it wasn’t a secret that Mest could be singularly reckless in hisquest for knowledge, and Lucy knew full well the extents he was capable of andwilling to go to (Wendy’s recounting of how he’d once swum in a freezing canalduring a snowstorm had Lucy in cold sweats).

The man’s curiosity was like a ravenousbeast, Lucy thought.  It would devour himwhole one day.  And she couldn’t help butwonder if it was a side effect from wiping his own memories, his brainfeverishly trying to fill the void left behind and ultimately unable to slakehis hunger for the world.

Watching over him, Lucy resolved to makesure that that outcome would never come to be.   Itwas altogether too much like how she once was – trapped in the confines of herhouse with naught but books and rumors of the outside world to sate her ownstarving mind.

She’d help him, like she should’vebefore.  She’d help him to quiet hisunquenchable thirst, or at the very least make it easier to restrain orcircumvent.