Okay, so I'm leaning towards the Dragon Slayers going to Gaia but I'm not too sure yet. The characters might be OCC but this is a story but its a story.

I would also like to thank my review-ies: my guests, Cade Mistral, MakogirlY14, and Goldenseal.

Also as far as the others finding out what Leo is... that won't happen for a long time, I mean it'll probably be in a situation inwhich he cant put it off any longer or something, like maybe a life and death situation? :) Lol, IDK.

I think I might have a spirit visit Loki first though since I think that they being in a separate realm allows them to roam a lot more and have more access as well. Or maybe I could just say it's divine intervention on behalf of the King. So surprise in this chappy!~

Yeah, this chapter might have been inspired by the slow and sad version of the Fairy Tail Main Theme. I swear I turned into a sissy because I cried like a bitch so many times watching Fairy Tail.

"I don't understand!" Loki shouted as he used his body to shield Aries* of Lucy's impending blow. He grunted as he felt her heels dig into his back and he tries to comfort Aries. She's crying as she holds on to Loki's suit.

"P-please mistress! Stop-p this! What did we do?" Aries cries, as her eyes water. She hates what's happening. She thought that they had been past this, that her and Leo wouldn't have to go through this agony again! Wasn't Karen enough?

Lucy cracks her whip open and they both flinch at the loud snap it made against the floor. They were in a secluded shady hotel in Magnolia. It didn't seem that anyone would be helping them soon. The place looked like a dark guild hideout.

"Do you know what you did! You piece of trash, you cost me hundreds of Jewels!" Lucy growls, her brown eyes burning dark with rage. "Because of you!"

"It's not her fault! You know that Aries that doesn't specialize in attacks! But you summoned her anyway!" Leo argued, his grip around Aries tightning. "Go back Aries, I'll switch with you", he tells her gently.

"No!" Lucy yells. "You'll stay right here and watch! If you don't want me to do this to someone else then you'll get the fuck away from him and watch!" She points at the other side of the room. "If you so much as look away I promise I'll make it feel a lot worse! Do you understand?"

Leo grits his teeth. He didn't want any of the others to get hurt. He didn't want so much as a scratch on them. As the leader of the Zodiac he felt it was his duty to take on any pain coming their way first. He knew that they could handle themselves, that they weren't weak... but he didn't want them to see Lucy like this. When it concerns her, he'll deal with whatever she bring on because deep in his heart he still hopes that Lucy will go back to her gentle and loving ways.

If they hadn't been under contract... They can't raise a hand against the summoner.

Aries whimpers and Leo places a hand comfortingly on her cheek "It's okay... go." he whispers. She looks at him worridly. 'Why is she doing this? Is she under a spell?' she wonders. She gets up anyway despite her doubts and she stands up looking back and forth between her leader and Mistress.

"Get your shirt off." She demands, her tone cold and calculating.

"What?"

"Don't. Question. ME!" She hisses, and her whip crackles with energy.

He clenches his hands before looking at Aries. He had hoped that she had been able to leave... but then all of the sudden she dissolved into golden light. Lucy screams in rage. "What did I say! Get back here Aries! NOW!"

"I switched out with her!" Aquarius appears, her beautifull features twisted in rage. "What do you think you're doing Lucy?!"

"I don't answer to you!" She cracks her whip towards Aquarius' face and she barely dodges, shocked that the girl she'd looked after since was young attacked her.

"Stay where you are! If you don't want me to summon another one of the other spirits here and leaved them locked here, you'll back away! And I can and will do it! I know the fucking spell." she threatens.

Aquarius and Leo both stiffen as they looked incredulously at Lucy. Both of them wondering if she was bluffing but they didn't want to find out if she was telling the truth or not. "Just stay where you are Aquarius."

"But Leo-"

He smiles reassuringly at her. "It's fine." He feels like his heart is dying though. Aquarius can only look on, hating that she couldn't do anything.

He takes a deep breath and mentally steels himself for the impending pain. He takes off his blazer and shirt, his green Fairy Tail tattoo on display on his lithe form.

Lucy grins, her eyes full of an emerging insanity and anger. "I am going to have so much fun with this." She licks her lip in anticipation. She laughs at their tense expressions. "Don't be such downers! Don't worry Aquarius! You'll love his screams as much as I will!" she cackles.

Then without warning she snaps her whip towards Leo's back. He barely suppresses his scream. He clenches his jaw to keep from making any sound. No. He won't give her the satisfaction of him making a sound.

This, however, enrages Lucy more and feeds her anger. She growls and she raises her arm higher and brings her whip harder. Aquarius can only look in horror as she watches Leo's back get torn open. The blood was quickly pooling under Leo's haunched back as he tensed with each strike.

"Come on Kitty-cat! Scream for me!" Her laughter is cruel, and it echoes in his mind.

Loki wakes up abruptly. His eyes staring into the darkness of the room for a moment before getting out of the bed. He walks to the bathroom with a sense of urgency. There's a cold numbness settling over his body, his heart is pounding, and his back is flaring with a phantom pain. It hurts more than he can think.

'It's okay. She's not here. She's gone. She's gone. She can't hurt them. She can't hurt them...' It repeats over and over again in his head. He clenches his eyes shut and he raises his hands to his face, pressing them to his eyes until he sees different colors. A shuddering breath escapes him and it's all he can do to keep from crying.

He wonders of the unfairness of it all. Hadn't Karen been enough? Why did he need to remember all of this now. Loki had managed to put Lucy's abuse to the back of his mind and he had asked Aquarius and Aries to keep quiet about the incident. Of course the others had noticed the recent behavior of their summoner but they hadn't said anything. Leo had put thought into the recent on goings and when she had threatened his fellow spirits that had been the last straw.

Loki tries to go to sleep but he spends the night awake, wondering if it was possible for Celestial Spirits to become independent.

In the morning Nanaki wakes up burrowed by Loki's side, his head using one of his arms as a pillow and his other free arm thrown over Nanaki. Cloud is looking at him with hidden amusement.

"What?" he growls.

"Nothing." Cloud says, his voice nonchalant. He gets up from the bed, vareful to not wake up Loki.

Loki sighs in his sleep, unaware that he's being watched, and he buries his face into Nanaki. Surprisingly Nanaki purrs, unknowingly comforting the troubled spirit. Loki is rousing from his sleep though and its not long before he opens sleep laden eyes.

"What time is it?" he asks, his voice groggy. Nanaki gently nudges his side which prompts Loki to remove his arm so the big wolf-cat like being could move. "Sorry."

"It's fine. It's a bit late than when we usually get up... it's eight in the morning and we usually get up around six and some even earlier. It had been a long day yesterday so it's not unusual that we woke up earlier."

Loki blinks. "Ah." He sits up on the bed and sighs. 'Man, I need to get my act together. This isn't like me. I'll just have to focus on what I need to do. I won't focus on Lucy. I'll deal with her later.'

"Did you sleep well?" Cloud asks, dressed in his usual black garb.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks." Loki smiles at him and he gets up. He grabs his clothes and he heads to the bathroom to get changed. When he got out the room was empty. 'They must be in the kitchen.'

When he gets out to the kitchen Cloud is rummaging through the fridge and Zack is there too. Zack is pouting and he's looking at the fridge morosely. They notice him soon enough though.

"Hey Loki!" Zack smiles and briefly Loki wonders how he can be so damn happy in this time of day.

"Hey."

"Did you sleep okay?"

'Did they know I woke up or something?' "It was fine thank you... ah are you looking for something to eat?" he asks, curious.

Zack pouts. "We are but there's nothing good to eat! We aren't that great in the kitchen either."

"I can make you something if you want. I just need to see what you have." Loki was itching to do something. He wasn't used to being too idle lately, what with Lucy taking on back to back missions for money...

"Really?" Cloud says and he looks faintly relieved. "That'd be great. Because we really suck in the kitchen. Seriously." he deadpans.

Loki laughes at them as Cloud steps aside from the fridge. He takes note of what they have in the fridge. "Do you have flour?"

Zack opens the pantry as he checks for said product. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

Loki humms and he gets out the milk, eggs, butter and a few other ingredients as well. "Are pancakes fine?"

"Yeah, but we don't have the mix though..."

"I'll make them from scratch." Loki said and he puts everything on the marble counters. "Can I have a bowl please?"

"Wait from scratch? Seriously?" Zack gapes, no one ever really cooks except for maybe Angeal but he gets tired from doing it a lot.

"Of course. Thanks Cloud." He accepts the bowl handed to him as well as a whisk. Without asking the blond also takes out a few pans. "It's not as hard as it sounds, Zack." Soon enough he has the batter ready and he mentally takes into account the SOLDIERs' huge appetite.

Loki rummages through the fridge again and he cheers a mental hurrah as he finds bacon in the fridge. He takes that out as well as the syrup and along with strawberries and blueberries. 'Hmm, maybe they like a few on top. Bacon and eggs seem like a good side as well. I'll probably end up using all the carton of eggs though.'

The smell of bacon sizzling is in the air and they can hear others waking up. Angeal,Genesis and Genesis walk in as well as a sleep rumpled Reno. "What's up yo?"

"Is that Kittty-cat cooking?" Genesis asks.

"I smell bacon..." Elena and Cissnei walk in with the rest of their entaroge. Vincent steps in quietly, red eyes taking everything in.

"Yeah! Loki volunteered to cook since no one can cook worth shit except for Angeal." Zack quips in, ignoring the protests his way. It was true anyway. Nearly half of them already near burned the apartment down with their nonexistent cooking skills. Seriously. They were lucky they were strong too and for the mako in their bodies because they would have died ten times over with food poisoning by now.

"As much as it pains me to admit, Zack is right." Rufus sighs, remembering all the god awful things he's tasted at the hands of his Turks.

"Yeah remember Elena? She tried making eggs and we got a mouth full of shells, yo."

"Or the time she thought that the chicken was done just 'cause it looked a bit golden on the outside..."

"Or the time she mixed hot sauce in the pancakes..."

"Or the time we nearly broke our teeth eating her rice..."

"I get it you assholes!" Elana puffs and she glares at her fellow Turks.

Loki laughs, not once looking away from the food. He has a nice stack of puffy pancakes, and the eggs are cooked sunny-side up, as well with a fair amount of crispy bacon. He takes out something to drink for everyone, which is orange juice and coffee which Cloud had made. Making coffee is an essential life skill after all.

"Can you get me some plates Seph?" he asks the silent General who was nursing a cup of coffee. At first Loki had been nervous about the guy but he had decided earlier on that he would treat the guy as a regular person.

Seph looks at him for a moment but he nods anyway and does as asked. He hands the spirit a stack of plates, careful to not drop them or break them with his strength.

Cloud and the others watch their interactions quizzicly but most of them with faces of approval. It's refreshing to have someone not suck up to them and have genuin intentions and to just be treated normally.

"Thank you." Loki says, as he rolls his shoulders.

"Is your back hurting?" Zack asks and he steps up behind the spirit and he lifts his shirt up and seems to forget any concept of privacy.

"Zack!"

Loki nearly sends a pan of hot oil flying but he restrains himself luckyly.

Zack ignores his protests though and he gently runs a hand down Loki's back. The spirit's back still had bruises but they were only a lighter shade of what they were yesterday and the medicine they had applied hadn't seemed to do much. They did look a bit painful...

"It's fine. Don't worry about it Zack." Loki says softly, his grip on the spatula tightning. He had been hoping they had forgotten about the artwork on his back, but some wishes don't come true sadly. In his opinion they had spent enough time on the matter.

Zack makes a mournful noise on the back of his throat.

"It's fine. Besides it wasn't your fault anyway. I had gotten into a scuffle the earlier on yesterday when I bumped into you." It was true. There were some people harassing some Wutains and he had decided to step in and the fight had been easy as well. Though the bruises hadn't come from the fight at all... They didn't need to know that though.

"Fine." Zack gently pulls back down the shirt.

Loki smiles at his worry, a warm feeling surging through him at the concern being shown. 'Imagine Zack being my summoner instead... Ha! What a thought...' He hands the First Class SOLDIER a plate of pancakes topped with strawberries and lathered in syrup. On the side were fluffy eggs and crispy bacon.

Zack accepted the plate with a smile. Soon enough everyone had a plate with fluffy goodness .

Reno moans as he takes his first bite. "Holy shit. This is delicious." The others take their cues to dig in and praises were sung around the table.

Sephiroth's eyes widen for a second before he takes in another bite, and another, and another, and another...

"Wow Seph you really like those 'cakes huh." Genisis snickers.

Loki raises a brow, wondering why they seemed to enjoy the pancakes so much. They were just regular pancakes agfter all.

"Ah, we forgot to tell you Loki... Sephiroth is kinda, maybe a sugar addict..." Angeal explains as he hands Sephiroth an energy drink and the General opens it wordlessly.

Rufus hummed. "Today, we'll get your registration in order today Loki. We'll get you settled in your bunk as soon we can and Zack and the others can help you settle in. IDepending on how you do we can get you place in SOLDIER or Turks, which ever you want."

Zack cheers. "What are we waiting for then?"

"We can sign here if you want Loki. I had Rude get the paperwork yesterday." Rufus says calmly.

Loki doesn't know what to think. He did want to sign up with Shinra, because it was practically the only place to try to find a way to return home. However, being in a military like operation like Shinra was a new thing to Loki and he really didn't know what to expect. Fairy Tail had been a more free for all kind of thing and do what ever the fuck you want to earn money type of thing. And Master Makarov wasn't really the type to give orders unless they or someone was being threatened or received requests from the Magic Council, like Oracion Seis.

"Here they are." Rude handed Loki the papers.

Loki took a seat on with the others. He reviewed the contract. He read everything even though Zack seemed to be impatient. "Just sign it already!"

"Wait a minute Zack. I want to know what I'm getting into you know. It's good to think ahead you know." Loki snorted as he looked at Zack amused. He could already imagine Zack jumping into the fray first thing in a battle, but he was taught by Angeal. He knew better.

Zack flushed. "Come on! You're going to sign anyway! Here I'll help you. You sign here, here and here." He pointed to specific lines, "Oh, and initial here."

Angeal sighed. The puppy was just so eager to have a new friend. He always loved to e around people, always interacting and just being a social butterfly. He looked at Sephiroth, who was getting himself a third helping of pancakes and Genisis on his second. Seph could get some pointers from them...

Loki chuckled to himself. "Okay, I'm going. I'm going." He hesitaded but he signed Leo Stellarum.

Cloud looked on curiously. "Leo?"

"That's my name... My friends used to call me Loki and the name just stuck. So these days I just go by it because it's the name they gave me." He answered somewhat nervous.

"Really?"

"Yeah..."

They looked at him curiously but they didn't ask questions. Zack looked like he was going to ask something but he held himself back. He didn't want to seem rude and he felt like he was bothering Loki a bit anyway. He'd just until Lok- Leo gave him the story.

Rufus sighed and he took the papers from Leo. "Well then that's that. Welcome to Shinra Leo," he said as he held a hand to Leo - who blinked for a moment, confused, - but he shook it as a slow smile spread on his face.

Zack whooped. "Yes! Now we get to show you around Lok- I mean Leo!"

"Just call me whichever one. I don't mind Zack." He reassured.

Zack smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "We should all go out today and do something fun you know?! We've been running ragged and we've been too stressed out these days."

Sephiroth sighed. "For once Zackary, I agree." The others laughed as Zack pouted.

"I should be getting home then." Leo went to gather the plates to put them in the sink but he was stopped by Genisis. "You'll do no such thing! We will leave this dreadful apartment and you're coming with us!" Leo made a move to protest but he was beaten to the punch, "No arguments yo! Besides you're going to be hangin' around with us for a while if I know Fair."

"But-"

"No arguments!" Zack scowled.

"Well let go home to get changed at least. I'd rather not walk around the same clothes as yesterday and get a shower..."

"No need yo! You can borrow a suit and shower here!" Reno grinned.

"But-"

"It's fine." Rufus said and he snapped his fingers. "Show him to the bathroom Elena please." Cissnei was already beside him with a suit in hand, which she shoved to him. Elana grabbed a hand and she already pulling him away before Zack or the SOLDIERs could say anything.

"Wait a minute!" Zack sputtered.

Tseng just smirked and the other Turks had a smug air to them and a look on their face that said 'What are you going to do?', even Rude who still looked stoic as fuck.

"You ass! You aren't turning him into a Turk!" Zack protested.

"Whatever do you mean Zackary? We're just being curtious." Elena and Cissnei giggled, and Reno cackled madly.

Zack pouted and the others left to get changed as well.

Soon enough everyone was in the living room ready to go. All they were waiting for was Loki and soon enough he came. And they were left staring and some were gaping.

Leo was wearing a black blazer, which he had buttoned, a white undershirt, black pants and shoes. He had his usual glasses and his bracelet (which had turned back into charms, though he wonders if anyone had noticed the glow before, probably not. Let's say NOT) All in all he looked like he usually did (which was okay) in his opinion, which is why he didn't understand why they were staring at him the way they were...

Rufus and the Turks were impressed. They didn't expect for Leo to pull off the look so well and he was looking comfortable and confident in the suit already. Even Vincent was a bit surprised.

"Wow," was all Reno could say.

Sephiroth and the others were rather surprised too. Zack though wasn't sure what to think. He wanted Leo to be SOLDIER but he was sure now , though, that the others would try to get him to be a Turk. But by Gaia if he wasn't Zack Fair, he would fight tooth and claw to get Leo into SOLDIER! See if the bastards get to him first.

Zack grinned madly, which caused Cloud to step back and bit and Angeal's hand to meet his face.

"Shit yo, you look great!"

Leo tugged at his blazer a bit. "Aren't I a bit overdressed though?"

"Nope! You're fine. We're all heading out to Rocket Town to check on AVALANCHE but then we're heading out to Costa Del Sol to relax on the beach. Sound good?" Rufus said, though he already knew what the response was.

The others cheered and soon they were heading out.

"Wait doesn't that mean we have to get a change of clothes?" Elena asked, her voice soft.

"Well yes... Everyone get what you need. Money, clothes and whatnot because I am not going to waste any money on you." Rufus glared at Reno.

"So I guess we'll have to stop by your home Leo, because I doubt any of us are your size." Cloud said.

Leo nodded as he ran a hand through his hair. "Yes and I need to get my money too. I'd rather not be an inconvenience."

"You're not." Zack said, already having his belongings on hand. The other returned quickly, as they were eager to leave.

Soon enough they were heading out to the vehicles and towards Leo's apartment, Leo giving directions to the General and the Turks following behind.

They had arrived to his home soon enough. Leo was feeling faintly nervous and he was beginning to have a bad feeling in his stomach, though he didn't know why.

"You guys know you could have waited in the car? I'm just getting my wallet," he pointed out.

"What and miss out where you live? Not a chance.~" Genisis laughed.

"Yeah! I would have found out where you lived sooner or later anyway!" Zack leered and Leo just rolled his eyes.

Loki stepped into his apartment as the others followed close behind him. As he stepped into his apartment he smiled a bit sadly to himself and said, "Tadaima."

What he didn't expect though was the reply, "Okaerinisai."

A/N: Ha! Cliff Hanger! Anyway I gave Leo a last name. Leo Stellarus. It means Leo of the Stars in Latin. Yeah, I suck at names but whatever.