Quest for the Eighty-Eight Keys

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Rufus' Rescue

Midnight peeked from behind a tree at an unassuming, most likely abandoned, house that sat in the middle of a forest. He furrowed his brow as he asked the mages who were hiding among the vegetation with him, "we're sure that this is the right location?" His voice was low, careful not to make too much noise in case there was a hidden person who was on the lookout.

Lucy answered, her voice also low, "yeah, it definitely is. Sirius couldn't be wrong." She reached up with one hand and adjusted Rufus' hat, which she had rested upon her head.

Midnight nodded and glanced at Freed, who was finishing up the runes that Lucy had instructed him to put up. Insurance that Terra, Lust, and Nyx won't be able to easily escape. He then turned back to look at the house again. His eyes roamed over the outside, trying to deduce what part of the house Rufus could be being kept in.

It didn't take long for him to spot a small window that sat at the base of the house's exterior. A basement. It was a typical place to keep a captive, but also the easiest place.

"Have you thought of a plan, Lucy?" Freed asked as he returned to where they were hiding.

Midnight heard her hum in thought before she asked him, "Midnight, do have any guesses as to where in the house they could be keeping Rufus?"

Midnight looked over at her before he looked back at the house. He reached out a hand and pointed at the small window that he had spotted. "My guess would be the basement."

Lucy's eyes quickly locked onto the window. She nodded and requipped a silver key into her hand. Midnight and Freed watched as she stood up and stepped backward, away from the tree that she was hiding behind. She raised her key and softly called out, "Open! Gate of the Fly: Musca!"

In an instant, a young man in a fly costume appeared in front of Lucy, sitting with his legs crisscrossed and his chin resting on top of the knuckles of his hand, which were balled into fists while his arms were propped up in the sides of his knees. He grinned up at Lucy and asked, rather loudly, "what'd ya need?"

Midnight gave a slight grimace at his loud tone while Lucy shushed him. She then instructed him, "I need you to turn into a fly and go into that to find out who is where inside."

Musca stood up and brushed the dirt off of his costume before he questioned, his voice now low, and grin still on his face, "how many people am I looking for?"

"Four. Three celestial wizards and one of our friends."

Musca flashed a thumbs-up before he shifted into a fly and flew toward the house. Midnight watched until he wasn't able to see the spirit any longer. He then looked over at Lucy and asked, "what are we going to do with the celestial wizards if we catch them?"

Lucy glanced at him before she looked down at the ground, seeming to be thinking. It was a question that Midnight hadn't realized that he was wondering, but now that he thought about it, he didn't think they had ever talked about the topic, nor had he been told what the plan was.

Freed looked at Lucy with a furrowed brow. "Yeah, what are we going to do with them? None of the books I looked through have any information on them, and Mest hasn't heard of them, so it's possible that the Magic Council doesn't know about them. That could make turning them in difficult."

Lucy nodded as she continued to stare at the ground. Eventually, she sighed and answered, "let's just focus on saving Rufus. Getting him back safely should be our first priority."

Midnight nodded, but he was still slightly concerned with what they were supposed to do with Terra, Lust, and Nyx. It wouldn't be easy to detain and transport them to be imprisoned. While he was on that train of thought, he also couldn't recall them ever learning how the three celestial wizards' mission was possible.