Lucy is going back. The report made me freeze in horror and pry for further details.
She leaves in an hour. That was all I could get out of that though. Not why she was leaving or anything of actual importance. Just that she was leaving... And that was not ok. She'd only come along recently, but she couldn't just leave!
It was late morning, so she was probably catching the noon train west, towards her family estate.
I quickly and quietly packed up my books so that no one jostling the table would mess up any of my work, a rough draft for the middle part of my Two Towers rewrite, and I left the 'guild hall' which still hadn't been completed and wouldn't be for several weeks yet. Lucy was going to be heading out soon and I and I was darned well going to find out why. Like heck was I going to let my friends worry about Lucy like this!
-vVv-
I knocked at Lucy's apartment and waited for her to answer. She looked surprised when she saw me.
"Fae?" I hugged her tightly without saying anything. "Fae, what's wrong?"
"You're coming back, right?" I asked in a very small voice. "You're not going back and leaving Fairy Tail?" Her hands came down onto my shoulders and she pushed me back to look me in the face.
"How did you even know I was leaving, Fae? I only decided to go twenty minutes ago." I shrugged. Usually, I let people figure out what I could do. But this looked like a time when I had to say it outright.
"I'm a Story Mage, Lucy. And the one story that I always have a lot of awareness of is my own. Especially when people come or go..." And not always in a good way either.
"You...does that mean you saw me coming? You saw that I was going to join Fairy Tail?" I nodded.
"Right when it became certain that you would." Lucy slowly sank to her knees and stared at me, I could all but hear her thoughts whirling behind her brown eyes. Lucy was a lot smarter than most people gave her credit for.
Where is it...? Where is it, Lucy? Where's the question?
"Does that mean you can read people's life story too?" Did you know about my past? My magic translated what she wasn't saying easily.
"If you're asking if I knew who you were before the whole thing with Phantom Lord, the answer is yes." I scuffed my shoe on the ground. "I don't like to talk about it. It makes people uncomfortable."
Yeah, no kidding..." Lucy looked a little baffled but she took a deep breath and controlled herself.
"Well. Yes, Fae. I am gonna be coming back. I just need to...tie up some loose ends. Just running away from home left problems behind me that Fairy Tail ended up paying for. I need to take care of them so they won't bother us again." I heard the truth ring in her voice and smiled, wide, and very relieved. Now that she'd said it, the confirmation was pouring through my head.
"I'll see you when you get back then! It's Story Night and we're coming to the big reveal of the bad guy in the Forest Temple!" Lucy ran her fingers through my short, brightly colored hair before pulling me into another hug.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, kid." She said fondness and gratitude in her voice.
Fondness because she loves you and how passionate you are about your work. Gratitude because you don't begrudge her the trouble and pain she brought to your family.
I pulled back and cupped Lucy's cheeks, smooshing them gently as I looked her in the eye.
"You gotta stop thinking like that. You're one of us now. And all of us will keep after you until you believe that this war wasn't your fault. You're part of my family too, Lucy. Stop thinking that you aren't just because you're still new." The Celestial Spirit Mage looked someone startled.
"What the heck-"
"I didn't read your mind, just your mood and body language. I can stop saying it aloud if it bothers you."
"I-no, Fae... Thank you."
-vVv-
I woke up abruptly that night, a few hours after Lucy had gone back to put her father in his place about meddling in her life.
Loke has given up. He dies in six days, 23 hours and 59 minutes...
Loke...!
Tracking him down through the guild would be difficult. Mira said he hadn't come in for a few days. And never mind the fact that I hadn't seen him all day, it was the middle of the night and I was supposed to be in bed. And of course Natsu and the others had followed Lucy as soon as they found out she was gone, so they weren't available to help either.
I was on my own for this. So...time to see how a costume change could affect me. I dug out my notebook. There's bound to be something in here for tracking and stealth... Bingo!
"Create a Coat of Midnight." I said softly, visualizing the long dark garment. It was a relatively minor item, given how early it had appeared in the game Sword Art Online, but it granted a stealth bonus that would be useful tonight. With the whole Phantom Lord business, the Rune Knights were out and paying much more attention. I didn't think I'd get in trouble, or at least not too much of it, but it would be better to stay out of sight just in case.
The coat appeared before me, just as I had visualized. Long, black and very simple in design. That took more power than I thought it would... I donned the garment over my regular day clothes. It was pretty warm, but that would have to be a cross I'd bear if it meant finding Loke.
Why I was so focused on this I couldn't say.
I just don't want him to be alone.
That was it then. I didn't want Loke to die as if he had been forgotten.
He isn't gonna die! I thought fiercely. Lucy's gonna save him! He's gonna be alright!
And I had been...warned by the city about climbing onto the cathedral roof so that method of scanning was out of the question...Hmm...Idea! I hunted about the streets for a little bit before I found what I was looking for.
"Don't have a wand, so this will have to do. Point Me, Loke." I murmured, spinning a roughly triangular rock on the ground. It spun several times before it picked a direction. I snatched it up, breaking the spell and started creeping through the darkened streets.
Thinking about it, most people would call this a bad idea. I thought as I skirted through alleys and shortcuts. I mean, I'm back here where the shady folks usually hang out, and I'm a nine year old girl. Then again, if I went out into the well lit streets, some adults would see me and send me home and I was on a mission.
I stopped several more times to verify my direction with my rock before I found the approximate area that Loke was in.
It was the slummy bar street.
Loke's here drinking himself stupid to try and forget that he's going to die. He can feel he's on the last stretch. Well alright then. That posed a new problem. Even though he was a Celestial Spirit, Loke could still get drunk, it just took a little longer. But this place was definitely one that I couldn't go into without someone getting an attack of morality and calling the Rune Knights to get me home.
Then again... I tapped my chin. That might not be a bad solution. Just go in, find someone who is relatively sober, get them to find a Rune Knight, and tug on the heartstrings until they grab Loke for me. Sure, there was always the chance that this would explode into a huge bar fight depending on how drunk people were in there and I'd get grounded. But what did I care about that? My friend was dying and was determined to make himself miserable even though I knew as sure as the sun would rise tomorrow that Lucy was going to save him! My magic says she can, so she will, darn it!
But I can't say that to him. I can't...If I said that and didn't have any proof, then it would just make Loke all the more depressed.
Eventually, I decided to go and try to find Loke myself and if someone found me, then I'd resort to Plan B.
-vVv-
Getting Loke out of the bar was surprisingly easy. Dragging a heavily buzzed Loke through the streets of Magnolia was difficult at best. It was easier once a nice Rune Knight offered to help me.
The next morning met with Loke waking up to me getting right in his face. I had hauled him to the guild hall. Stretched him out on a bench at my table and conjured blankets and bedding for both of us. Well. Bedding for him. I made myself a hammock.
"Gooood Morning...!" I sang at him, causing him to flinch back reflexively before he realized...
"Why am I not hungover?" He sat up, rubbing his head. "Not that I'm complaining or anything just..."
"I used Esuna on you last night." I replied, sitting down and pushing a plate of breakfast towards him. "But, alcohol aside, you still probably should eat something." I caught the barest flicker of a grimace as Loke started to comply.
"Does celestial food taste different from Earthland food?" I asked. He looked at me sharply.
"Oh yeah." He said, taking a gulp from the mug I had placed next to the plate. "It's like the stuff here has more variety and flavor, but I get more nutritional value out of whatever I eat from there." I contemplated that or a moment...
"So...you're saying that the entire host of Celestial Spirits have nothing but vegetables to eat? No wonder you guys like it when you can come here." Loke hastily choked off a spit-take trying not to laugh. It wasn't much of one, but it did make me feel a little bit better.
"That's...one way of putting it I guess."
Thus begins my effort to keep Loke cheerful until Lucy gets her butt in gear and calls out the King about Loke's death sentence...
Assuming Lucy's bond and love for Celestial Spirits was as strong as I thought it was, and given how she was picking up on Fairy Tail life, there was no way she'd make this request any kind of humble petition.
-vVv-
Loke was grateful for Fae's persistent company. But he couldn't help but notice that she was forcing her smile every now and then. Then she'd shake it off and it would all be normal again. But he didn't like those moments in her.
"Princess, why are you doing this?" Loke finally asked her. It had been about three days since he had woken up after drinking himself stupid at a bar at a bar with a bright, cheeky smile greeting him. Fae had been a constant since then. Bouncing, energetic and loving her life. Loving the rebuilding and the people she saw everyday.
Fae went quiet for a moment. "...three days, four hours and 34 minutes..." She whispered. Not looking at him but staring across the canal. Her hand tightened in his and he could feel that she was trembling slightly.
Three days...that's about as much time as I still gave myself to live. Loke's eyes widened. Of course...
He was tired, and sick of growing weaker and weaker by the day. He had decided to give himself one more week of life before he let go and stopped holding himself together. Stopped scraping the bottom of the barrel of his power and just let himself go to be forgotten. It had been three years since he was banished. An incredibly long time for a train wreck to finally hit.
Fae would have sensed the moment he gave up on his life. Felt it like a stab to the heart.
She's trying to make me keep fighting. He concluded, gazing down at the child who was staring straight ahead with glassy eyes. Oh Princess...I'm sorry...
"It's..."
"Don't say it's OK, because you know it isn't." She said in a very strained tone of voice. Had her grip not tightened on his hand, he would have thought she sounded angry with him.
"I get that you're exhausted, and sick of being guilty. I probably know better than anyone else exactly what you're going through. But that doesn't make it OK that you're gonna die for doing what you thought was right. It doesn't make it OK that you're gonna disappear because someone else made a mistake..." Her voice cracked as she tried to keep speaking but couldn't manage it. Her ethernano blue eyes were literally glowing with emotion.
Loke wanted to pick her up and tell her not to cry.
He wanted to pluck the tears out of the little girl's eyes and see her smile and laugh normally again.
But he was powerless against the grief he could see building up again in her eyes. The slow torture of feeling his life slipping away before her eyes.
And in some way, because he knew that she would still be here, remembering him and mourning him, that made it...better. He wasn't happy to die, nor was he ready. But...
"Fae...come on. I guess...there's something you don't know about Celestial Spirits..." She looked at him, electric blue eyes piercing through him and rifling through his soul.
"Oh..." She breathed, eyes widening.
"Your magic just told you everything, didn't it?" She looked somewhat chagrined.
"Sorry?" He shook his head.
"Well, I'm gonna talk about it anyway. It'd make me feel better at least." They walked along the canal hand in hand.
"The Zodiac is an old concept, Fae. We've been around for thousands of years. But our aspects haven't always remained the same. We've died and been reborn as new individuals multiple times with only the Celestial Spirit King remaining the same. I've been around the longest in this cycle, but all of the spirits fade in and out. Once our current aspects fade, we go back to our constellation and we're formed into something new and we eventually come back. Since whenever one of us ends, or is cast out, all the other spirits forget about them, it's just like whenever a new member joins the guild. It's strange, a little nerve wracking, and scary for the new spirit, but it's part of the pattern."
"But you'll still be gone here." Fae remarked. "We'll still miss you." Loke sighed, swing their hands between them.
"Yeah, and I am sorry that you'll feel like that. But-"
"But you won't be sorry that you came when Gray invited you. That you joined us." Fae looked up with a smile that looked a little more sincere and there was a definite sparkle of something devious in her eyes. A little tell tale glimmer of knowing.
"No. I won't ever regret meeting my princess." He ruffled her wavy hair and poked her in the ribs to make her giggle, her smile lighting up his world. "A smart, sweet girl who likes to make everyone around her happy~ She's like a little angel!" He slowly started to raise his voice so people would notice them.
"Loke!" She cried, swatting at his hand. "Cut it out, you're being silly again!"
"Fairy Tail's darling, Celeste D Faerun!" he cried, sweeping her up over his shoulder and breaking into a trot down the street. "Everyone's favorite fairy princess!"
"Only you call me a princess, you dork, put me down!"
-vVv-
I dozed off sometime during my and Loke's 'date', his word, not mine. I called him a sick weirdo for dating a little girl. He promptly replied he was setting the standard for any other guy who wanted to come in and steal my heart.
"Look, if someone's willing to face down the rest of this crazy guild to even ask me out, he's passed the test as far as I'm concerned."
I woke up as Loke carried me back to Fairy Hills. My hand tightened in his jacket, but I didn't say anything...
"It'll be alright, princess." He said finally.
"You're not gonna go drink yourself stupid again, are you?" I asked, wondering if I shouldn't stay up and follow him again.
"Nah. Learned my lesson." No you haven't.
"Wallowing in existential misery isn't OK either."
"Fae...Should I be saying that to you?"
I didn't say anything.
It wasn't fair that I could see all of this and still wasn't able to do anything to help my friend. Why was I even here if I was just going to watch people I cared about suffer and die? Magic was good and wonderful, it could make so many things possible. Magic was the only reason I knew Loke at all. But why was I faced with this then? Faced with the impending knowledge that Loke as I knew him would cease to exist?
The echo of emptiness that still hung where Lisanna had been in my story rang sourly and solemnly.
I gritted my teeth.
No. Not again.
This time was different. This time, I knew what was coming. And I even had a possible way to fix it...
Lucy.
I squirmed out of Loke's hold, all traces of sleepiness gone in the face of my determination.
I knew a way that Loke could be saved. And I wasn't gonna leave it up to the noble idiot to try and let himself die quietly. Screw personal privacy, I was getting other people involved. My determination however couldn't face the fact that I was really, really tired... I yawned and almost fell. Loke steadied me.
"Fae, you need sleep."
"Sleep is for the weak." C'mon...think! There's gotta be something that I can do to wake up...! I went through my standard selection of spells until I found one that might work. I just needed to put a little different intent behind it. I grabbed my head and said the word, focusing on the basic concept and pushing it slightly out of alignment.
"Ennervate!" The spell was normally used to awaken someone from unconsciousness. But if I pushed hard enough and changed it...
The burst of lucidity came and band of amber script formed around my wrist with a timer. Two hours until the crash hits...OK, good enough.
"Come on." I grabbed his sleeve and started towing him along, away from the dormitory where I slept.
"Fae, did you just use a spell to keep yourself awake?"
"It's only temporary and once the Celestial Spirit King has changed his mind, I will sleep."
"You say that as if it's happened before!"
"I'm a fairy, and I'm gonna go enlist the help of other fairies. We're getting you back to the Spirit Realm, full stop."
-vVv-
Tracking down Lucy meant that I found Erza, Gray and Natsu as well. The door was locked.
OK, I can either try and kick it down and look silly when it doesn't work, kick it down and make another repair bill, or just use Alohomora.
"Alohomora." The door opened with a click and I slide it aside to stalk into the room where it looked as though Team Natsu was about to have a pillow fight. "Hi everyone! Loke has something he needs to tell you."
They all stared at me askance.
"Fae?"
"Shouldn't you be in bed by now?"
"Loke, you look terrible, man." The Lion Spirit tried to escape, as he had many times before. I snapped my fingers.
"Locomotor Mortis"
His magic was so weakened that he couldn't remove the minor hex.
"This conversation is happening. You can either be conscious for it or not. I'm not letting you run away from this!"
"Fae, what is going on?" I did something that no one should ever do. I ignored Erza and kept staring pointedly at Loke. He was managing to keep his balance despite his legs being essentially glued together. He glared at me.
"I take back everything nice I ever said about you."
"I'll believe it once you're not dying." I retorted, arms folded and with a mulish set to my jaw. Erza moved forward and chopped Loke on the head.
"Don't say things like that to Fae, Loke. Now then..." Pure murder gleamed in her eyes as she glared down at him. "What's this about you dying and why didn't you bring it up sooner!?"
-vVv-
With an intro like that, suffice to say that everyone else didn't let Loke get away so I just removed my spell on him and watched attentively.
No one was impressed with the Celestial King's ruling, but Lucy was downright furious.
"He banished you just for trying to stop Aries from being abused...?!" She hissed. "If it's your job to protect them, then you did the right thing! Why are you being punished for it!?" Lucy was starting to glow slightly. Plue and Happy had taken refuge behind me as Lucy showed the wrath of a star. Glowing, bright and endless. Gray and Natsu looked somewhat scared. Erza just looked impressed. Lucy got to her feet abruptly, grabbed Loke and dragged him outside, glaring up at the night sky as if it had personally offended her.
"Well, I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage. I can close your gate and send you back through it!"
"Lucy I was banished! I can't go back even if someone helps me!"
"Just shut up and go along with it." Gray advised. I felt Lucy gather her magic, the glow around her seeming to intensify under the starlight. An authoritative command rang out into the still night air.
"Open! Gate of the Lion!" A magic circle written in Lucy's yellow-gold magic expanded beneath her feet as she retained a tight grip on Loke's arm.
The King's words have barred the way.
Well, that wouldn't work like this...
The gates were technically metaphysical, the term was only used for the concept it represented. but...Maybe there was something a little more literal to the word choice.
"Show to me the Gate of the Lion." I muttered, praying that my connection to Loke would be enough for me to see what was happening.
Usually a Celestial Spirit Mage couldn't open the gate without the appropriate key as a focus to condense their power down to a fine enough point to activate the gate. What Lucy was trying to do could easily kill her. It would have killed anyone else.
But not Lucy.
Oh no, not Lucy. Not the girl who had grown up loving Celestial Spirits. Who had learned that love from her mother before she had died. Lucy's magic was her way of connecting with her mother and because of that, Lucy could draw on her love for her and feed that into her magic without little to nothing lost in the translation.
The wind started to pick up as Lucy's magic poured out into the air, determination etched on her features. I started to see the vague outline of a golden gate with a lion etched into it that was barred shut with heavy chains across it. Yellow lightning started to crackle in the air as Lucy let out still more magic and focused it all on forcing that gate to open.
"Lucy, you'll kill yourself! Stop this!"
"NO!" Lucy screamed. "I WON'T SIT BY AND WATCH SOMEONE ELSE DISAPPEAR!"
An eight year old Lucy begging her mother with large shining eyes to tell her more stories about the Celestial Spirits she had once possessed.
Nine year old Lucy watching with concern as the color in her mother's face started to wane. Her discomfort and irritability stemming from the fact that her mother's magic, what the budding Celestial Spirit Mage knew as her mother's soul, was slowing becoming less and less...
A ten year old girl sitting by her mother's bedside as Layla drew her last breaths, suffering from the effects of Magic Deficiency Disease. Watching as her mother slowly faded...
Here was someone who was also fading. But this was someone she could save.
"Lucy!" Erza was starting to see what I was, that Lucy was starting to run out of magic but she just dug into her life force and kept right on going.
"OPEN: GATE OF THE LION! TAKE HIM BACK!"
The King's words have barred the way.
Words...I could do words.
I stared at the gate.
The Celestial Spirit King seemed like a pretty benevolent guy. The only way I could see him allowing one of his subjects and friends to suffer like this was because of a misunderstanding of some kind.
"Show me the life and death of Karen Lilica." I whispered, touching my magic and letting all the knowledge wash over me. There had to be something in there that I could use to counter the words of the King...
Karen Lilica was a Summoner and a Celestial Spirit Mage of the Blue Pegasus guild. She was conceited over both her appearance and her power. She had many lovers and would often allow her spirits to entertain them in her place.
(I bit my lip through at the sight of some of the images I got of that. Poor Aries... But I kept searching for evidence. I needed more.)
When her guild master reprimanded her for her treatment of her spirits, Karen blamed Aries and intended on punishing her by forcing her to remain in the human for for a week. This would have killed her. Leo intervened, sent Aries back and away and took her place, intending on staying out for as long as it took until Karen mended her ways.
Karen came multiple times to beg, threaten and cajole Leo into returning to the Spirit World. He held firm, not willing to bend this time as he had so many others. Every time she promised to change, Leo could sense she was only lying out of desperation.
Eventually, she snapped and decided to leave him to die, closing his gate and leaving him trapped in the human world. She vowed that as soon as he died, she would resume her old ways.
Shortly thereafter, she was killed by another Celestial Spirit Mage, who retains her keys to this day.
When I opened my eyes, the air had gone still. Lucy was no longer trying to force the gate, but staring up at the face of the armored Celestial Spirit King.
Currently, the King was holding Natsu between thumb and forefinger, with a vaguely bemused expression.
"Fight me, toothbrush face!" His shout seemed very small against the vast emptiness of space.
Oh no...Actually, I'm really not surprised, but what did I miss while I was looking all that up?
I glanced over a condensed version.
Lucy's efforts had gotten the Celestial Spirit King to emerge to explain his decision to her, because he saw that she was a valiant, kindhearted Celestial Spirit Mage. He would uphold the laws even if it hurt him. And the law stated that Loke was guilty of killing Karen Lilica.
Natsu had gotten furious at the notion that the man, a king, was so callous as to let Loke die when Karen's death was chiefly on her own head.
"Every wizard when they go on on a job knows that they could very easily die! If she went out and bit off more than she could chew then how is that Loke's fault!?" And naturally, being Natsu, this was accompanied by a hefty, fire enhanced swing. I could see a dent in the King's armor and a scorch mark.
Gray and Erza had also put forward their voices, speaking on Loke's behalf.
"He's been living with this for 3 years, getting weaker everyday. Even if Karen dying was his fault, he's been doing everything he can to make up for it with the time he had left."
"Loke is a valued member of our guild, our family. There have been times where I do not agree with his behavior but never once has there been a moment where I did not believe he was a good person who deserved the chance to live!"
I moved forward, stepping out of the house and raised my hand.
"Sonorous." I muttered before speaking with the Voice of God. It would have sounded cooler if I weren't a little kid, but hey, can't have everything.
"Hey Mister King? Loke is Leo and Leo is the leader of the Zodiac, right?"
"That is correct, little one." My eye twitched for a split second. Oh come on, even the Celestial Spirit King has to remind me I'm tiny? Bah...
"So being the leader means it's his job to take care of them."
"Also correct."
"Does this responsibility come before or after the duty he owes to contract holders who have broken their own oaths?"
"Fae...!" Loke could see where I was going.
"Please elaborate." The King's pupil-less eyes narrowed slightly.
"In order for there to be a mutual working relationship between any two beings there has to be an understanding that one will not harm or take advantage of the other. That is not what was transpiring in the event which is being discussed. Haven't you ever asked Aries what Karen was doing to her? What Leo was protecting her from? Didn't she say anything!?" I glared up at the man as the memories from what I had seen made me clench my fists and shake slightly in anger as my own magic leaked into the air.
"What kind of bass-ackwards contract system do you have where the Spirit can't escape from an abusive master?! Is that a law too? Is that something that cannot ever be changed for any reason?" The massive hulking man knelt and placed Natsu down, offer me his hand.
"Show me your reasoning, you who have witnessed these things."
I started forward.
"Fae!" I couldn't tell who said this first, but I ignored it and clambered onto the massive palm. The King lifted me up and I recast the spell with an alteration.
"Show him the Life and Death of Karen Lilica."
Nothing was said, but I felt the magic pour out of me as I kept the spell going until the King was satisfied.
He carefully let me back onto the ground and stood erect once more.
"Before her death, Karen intended on keeping Aries in the human world for longer than she could bear. And after Leo's intervention, she locked his gate, intending on watching him suffer and die. Both of these violate the spirit of Celestial Law that binds both humans and spirits." He looked down at us, a motley bad of five humans, a cat and a dying spirit.
"And all of you...you humans who spoke in his defense and sought out the truth of the matter, and the human girl who was willing to give her life if it meant he would live. For your sake and the bonds of loyalty and friendship you share, I shall make an exception to the law." I saw the chains around the golden gate that I could still see begin to fade and crumble. He too began to disappear, turning into stardust and retreating to the sky.
"Yeah!" Lucy cheered, relief and joy flashing over her face. "You're awesome stache-face! Thanks!"
"Well that's a relief." Erza smiled broadly.
"Most definitely." Grey looked at Loke with a satisfied smirk.
"Heeey! Get back here and fight me you big coward! I'm not through with you yet!"
A broad grin stretched across the huge being's face at Natsu's angry shout. Erza was holding him back by his scarf and looking a trifle embarrassed.
"Honestly..."
Loke just looked floored. Then again, the fate he had resigned himself to had just been taken away and the prospect of actually living stretched out before him. I went over to him as he stared at where the King was vanishing.
"How do I pay them back?" He asked in a faint voice. "I have to pay them back..."
"I imagine the little one has a good idea." I blushed a little bit.
"Fae?" I hugged Loke, smiling and free for the first time of the sensation of lingering death that used to hover around him.
"There's nothing more valuable in the world than friendship. I'd settle for that."
Loke's arm lifted and went around me, pulling me in close, hand nestling in my hair as I inhaled deeply. Hope, renewed life and heartbreaking relief and gratitude filled my awareness of him as he gently kissed my hair.
"You got it, princess..."