Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail -_-
Celestial Ties
Chapter 10: The Human World
"Loki, come in," the king's voice came through the door, signaling Loki to move through it. He had been summoned by the King before he could even go and see Lucy.
'I wonder what he wants so early in the morning?' Loki thought with a yawn.
"My daughter has been kidnapped," the king said with sad eyes while Loki's eyes widened in shock.
"Are you sure she was kidnapped?" Loki started worrying about if she left on her own will.
'Maybe my proposal scared her and she decided to run away back to Fairy Tail.'
"Other than the fact that, this morning, Lucy herself came to tell me she had accepted her destiny of becoming queen someday, Aquarius reported to me that a man with dark hair and iron on his nose escaped into the human world with Lucy and some pink haired boy."
"Gajeel…" Loki whispered in recognition.
"So, I take it you know this kidnapper?" The king had obviously heard Loki's whisper.
"He's a member of Fairy Tail," Loki explained, "They must have thought that Lucy was kidnapped here and ordered him to rescue her."
"Awe, that guild in the human world," the king said with recognition, "Well, it must just be a misunderstanding then, but I still need Lucy to come back."
'Don't order me to bring her back. Don't order me to bring her back,' Loki thought over and over, hoping that he wouldn't have to be the one to tear Lucy from her friends and life in the human world.
"Loki, I need you to go to the human world and bring her back," the king confirmed his fears, "After you make sure she has told her friends the truth; that she will not be able to see them ever again."
Loki sighed, "As you wish…"
"Good. Now get going," the king used his hand to wave Loki out, "There's not a single second to waste."
With that Loki concentrated on Lucy and in the blink of his eyes, he was where she was; in the human world.
"Lucy! Lucy! Lucy!" Loki's eyes went wide with curiosity as he heard everyone chanting her name. He also saw that he was in Fairy Tail and all the members were grouped around something in the middle.
He couldn't see around the mob of people so he asked the guy with the picture magic what was happening.
"Cana challenged Lucy to a drink off in celebration of her return!" the guy replied excitedly.
"A drink off?" Loki was shocked, "But she's too young for that!"
The guy just shrugged, "It's a special occasion and it looked like she needed a drink!"
Loki put his hand to his face in exasperation, but then a thought came into his mind.
'Drunk Lucy, I wonder what she'll do,' he thought with a grin, his glasses glinting like usual. He had completely forgotten why he was there in the first place.
A bunch of "awes" and "it's ok Lucy"'s came out of the crowd and Loki knew it was over.
The crowd dispersed and everyone went back to their seats, exposing Lucy. She didn't look too good; a big barrel of alcohol sat at her feet and he could see that she was sweating a bit.
"Loki!" Lucy stumbled over to him and hugged him.
'Oh yeah, she's drunk. Might as well milk this for all I can,' Loki thought with a smirk.
"I drank half a barrel full!" She reported with excitement, slurring her words together as she talked, "But Cana drank 5 barrels of it, so I lost!"
She stuck out her tongue then pouted. Loki couldn't resist laughing; her facial expression was just too funny.
"Stop laughing at me!" She smacked his head, which only made Loki laugh harder.
"Fine," she crossed her arms childishly and started to stumble away, "I'm gonna go marry Natsu then!"
'What does she mean by that?' he wondered, but decided to play along anyway. She was drunk and probably didn't know what she was saying. Loki grabbed her hand before she could escape and pulled her to face him; much like the night that he had proposed to her.
"But Natsu wouldn't be as fun as me," he winked at her with a grin.
"You're right, he's more fun than you!" she stuck out her tongue and started to stumble away again.
That had hit a nerve, even if she was drunk Loki didn't like her saying that Natsu was better than him, especially when Natsu was his rival. Loki pulled her back again and this time lifted her into his arms.
"Then shall I show you how much more fun I can be?" he suggested with a smirk, his glasses glinting.
Drunk Lucy reached up, surprisingly to Loki, and took off his glasses.
"Your eyes are so pretty," she smiled up at him, "You shouldn't hide them with these!"
She then threw them, to his surprise again, and started grinning like a kid that had just committed a crime.
"My glasses!" Loki put Lucy down and was about to run after them in panic. He wore the glasses so that girls wouldn't get lost in his eyes. It seemed to happen a lot, and Lucy was no exception.
"No," Lucy was the one to pull Loki back this time, "Mine."
Loki's eyes widened when Lucy suddenly brought his face to hers and kissed him.
Suddenly he got hit over the head with something hard.
"What?" he broke the kiss to see who had hit him.
"Taking advantage of a drunk girl, Loki?" Cana smiled sadistically and the bat in her hand came up again, "That's low even for you!"
"I didn't do anything," Loki explained in terror of the drunk man abuser, "Lucy's the one that kissed me!"
"You better start running," the wicked smile on her face seemed to get more evil.
"Better run, Loki!" Lucy started laughing, almost like she knew that would happen, and then stumbled away, going to spend time with Ezra, Gray, and Natsu.
"Damn it," Loki cursed before he started to run, being chased by Cana and her metal bat.
Two hours later, he had finally found a hiding place and it seemed like Cana had stopped trying to find him and was now sitting at the bar drinking more barrels of alcohol.
From his hiding place, he had a clear view of Lucy and her friends. There, on her beautiful face, was the happy smile that she usually exhibited. He could tell that she was carefree right now and loving every minute of her life; a mood that she hadn't had while she was inside the spirit world.
'Maybe it's better for her to stay here,' he thought with a smile, but then it turned to a frown. Even though none of the others could tell, Loki could see that she was weakening fast. If he didn't get her away from them soon, they would figure out that she was in pain.
"Lucy, you look tired," Loki had made his way over and said this as Lucy had looked at him, "Let me walk you back to your home."
Loki held out a hand and Lucy, with understanding and thankfulness in her eyes, took it.
"He's right," Lucy told her friends with a fake yawn, "I'm really tired. I'll see you tomorrow."
They all waved and gave their individual "good nights" before Loki and Lucy walked out the door hand in hand.
"Is something going on between those two?" Gray asked the others. He received a shrug from Ezra and Natsu as his answer.
"Thanks, Loki," Lucy told him as she slowly walked beside him.
"No problem," he frowned as he saw her steps slow down, "You're getting weak Lucy. Does it hurt yet?"
"Yes, it's starting to get painful," Loki lifted her up and cradled her in his arms, "How are you not weak or hurting right now?"
"I'm used to it," Loki dissolved her curiosity.
"You know," Loki started, deciding to do the opposite of what he was sent to do, "If you want to stay here for 3 years, you can. You just have to fight like I did."
"I can stay?" Lucy asked with widened eyes, "I thought I would die if I stayed for another day."
"Your father probably told you that so you wouldn't run away," Loki frowned, "You actually have more power than I do. You could probably stay here for 4 years, maybe more."
"Is it selfish of me to say that I want to stay?" Lucy frowned but then smiled sadly, "But there was one thing I still want that would have been given to me in the spirit world."
"What is that?" Loki asked in confusion.
"You," Lucy held up her hand with the ring on it causing Loki's eyes to widen in amazement, "As my husband."
"Whatever you want, princess," Loki smiled before kissing her. This was like the kiss he had given her when he first proposed, but it had so much meaning this time.
He had finally gotten to her apartment, but Lucy was already asleep in his arms.
Loki laid her down on her bed and covered her up before disappearing back to the spirit world.
'I have to do this for Lucy,' he thought with confidence as he barged into the king's office.
"Loki?" the king was confused obviously, "What is the meaning of this? Where is Lucy?"
"Sorry, my king, but I am going to disobey your orders this one time," Loki's face was stoic and his words were serious, "For the sake of your daughter, who wants to stay in the human world, I will protect her and stay with her."
"Loki, what are you saying?" the king was not amused, "You know as well as I do that Lucy will die in 3 years like you almost did."
"Then when she is about to die, I will bring her back," Loki declared with triumph.
"Loki," the king shook his head with sadness, "It doesn't work that way. If a spirit decides to live in the human world out of their own free will, they cannot come back here."
"Why not?" this was new information to Loki. He had thought that he knew all the rules, but he was wrong apparently.
"That is something even I don't know," the king sighed, "That is actually the reason why my wife had to die all those years ago. She chose to stay in the human world, but when that awful human broke up with her, she couldn't get back through. Even I, as mighty and powerful as I am, could not help her to come back."
"So that's it then?" Loki's fists curled in rage, "She stays there, she dies, but if she comes back I can tell you right now that she won't be happy here!"
"There is nothing that can be done," the king said solemnly.
"There has to be something!" Loki had lost his temper now, "I won't let you bring her back here until I can find a way so that she can stay and come back when she's about to die!"
Loki was about to walk away when all of the sudden, he was frozen in place. He couldn't move his body at all and all he could see was the king's furious face.
"Loki, Spirit of Leo the Lion, you have now been renounced from your position as a zodiac spirit," Loki's eyes widened in shock, "Hence forth, you shall be imprisoned in the castle jail. Guards, take him away from my sight."
Spirit guards came in and picked up the frozen Loki before walking out the door.
"Virgo," the king had seen Virgo watching the commotion with uninterest, "You shall go to the human world and bring back Lucy in Loki's place."
"Sorry, my king, but Loki was the only one of us that could get to the human world without being called out."
"Then inform all the zodiac spirits that if Lucy calls upon them, they are ordered to bring her back here to me."
Virgo bowed before disappearing; no doubt she was doing what she was told and visiting all 10 other zodiac spirits to tell them about the king's new order.
Once everyone was gone and the door was closed, the King laid his head down upon his desk in exasperation.
"I'm sorry Lucy," he whispered quietly as he looked at a photo of Lucy's mother smiling happily, "But, I can't lose another one of my precious family."
AN: Wow, the plot is starting to thicken! Sorry to tell you all this, but I'm taking a 4-day weekend for the fourth of July, so this will be my last update until Tuesday _ I know, I really want to know what happens next too! lol
Coming up: Will Lucy get taken back to the spirit world? What will happen to poor Loki?
Stay tuned and remember to review, since I love to hear how you readers like my story.
Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend! =D