A/N: As promised, another chapter already! Hope everyone likes it! Here's the important part of the note: Erebus will seem OOC. After all, he was particularly demonic before and now he is the picture-perfect celestial spirit. I just want to remark that all of Lucy's spirits love her and want to protect her. (Even Aquarius, despite being particularly tsundere about it.) Hope it's not too OOC. Happy reading!
Erebus stared up at the tall sloped ceiling that served as Draco's quarters. Ordinarily, and even previously, the former demon would have thought the white-gold color that surrounded him was far too brilliant. In his first days training under the dragon's tutelage, that brilliance had been bright to the point of pain, often causing him to lash out in any and all ways possible.
But now, even his own form shimmered with some innate light that he would not have been able to identify without aid.
Erebus was a fraction of his demonic height, closer to the size of a slightly over-tall, over-broad man than the near mountainous size to which he was accustomed. His body was mostly black, much of it covered in chitinous armor plating, and his eyes tended to glow red whenever he used the power that came so natural to him, glowing gold with starlight when he was not. The parts of his body that were not covered by the demonic armor were gray like ash and his black hair stood in dangerous-looking spikes. Physically speaking, he was still every inch the demon but the mindset, the fury and rage that had driven him to such destructive lengths were no longer present.
As Draco had stated, he was now Erebus the Chaos Spirit. Erebus the Demon was long dead.
Even though he knew that they had only been training for what would have been a week on the material plane, the time felt so much longer. As had been explained to him, time in the spirit realm was a transient idea. Because timekeeping was a concept developed by man, the twists and folds of the spiritual plane could not be constrained by such a small-minded idea. Draco had told Erebus that as little or as much time could pass as they willed. Because of the celestial mage's need, the dragon had decided to pour as much training into as little time as he could. However, should humans join the spirits in revelry, time would be far more likely to speed up around them.
Because of his former state as a timekeeping creature, despite the fact that human time had meant little to him, the way time didn't particularly behave as it should in the spirit realm had thrown him for something of a loop. Even now, though he was becoming accustomed to the way time seemed to twist and fold around him here, he wasn't entirely sure how to compare it. Time passed and the way it did so was fluid and temporary.
Sighing at himself, he turned his mind away from inner philosophical debates on the nature of time and focused instead on the effects of his training. Despite the first few days in which he had done his utter best to resist everything about being a spirit, Erebus had to admit that the idea of serving Lucy Heartfilia had become more appealing than odious. When he had inquired about it, Draco had launched into a long lecture.
For a rare moment in his life, the demon had deigned to listen.
The reason for his change of heart, as well as for the inner glow that now suffused his body, was the celestial mage that had essentially created him. Even though the demon had been loathe to admit it, he had already been dead. Even if he had been able to successfully possess the blonde's body as he had attempted to do, her magical core would have destroyed him within days. However, between Draco's key and Lucy's gentle nature, Erebus's essence had been preserved, altered though it may now be.
No matter what he had thought before, he wanted to obey Lucy's every whim, even though there was still a deep, inner part of him that was equally pleased at the thought of causing pain to others. Especially to others that would cause the celestial mage harm. All in all, it was very difficult for him to explain, even to himself, beyond the fact that every fiber of his being loved a girl he had once despised and that her safety seemed paramount to his own.
Before Erebus could begin once again to detail feelings that somehow seemed far beyond his reach, there was a soft pop as the space around him first distorted, warped, and then snapped into place. Where there had once been empty space beside what could only be described as Draco's nest, now there stood the dragon himself in his human form. When the dragon-man passed an agitated hand through his golden hair, Erebus felt intrigued. What had happened to make the (mostly) unflappable Draco upset?
"Lucy asked for you to accompany her to Caelum."
For a long moment, Erebus was confused. The name was obviously a country but as a demon, he'd never paid heed to boundaries and sovereignties, never mind the fact that their names were likely to have changed during his time in the Belos Manor. However, he brushed the small detail aside, knowing that it was likely the least important aspect of the dragon spirit's irritation. "Why?"
"She needs a strong spirit with her, guarding her the whole time. Leo has temporarily suspended his contract and she had... ordered me to keep an eye on her guild while she's gone."
Erebus snorted, releasing the tension from his shoulder that the thought of Lucy being in danger had caused. It was an involuntary reaction, to be sure, but that didn't mean he liked it. "Is that all? Even if we haven't been training for long, I should be able to guard the little mage." He grimaced inwardly almost immediately. Despite how his feelings had altered, his habits of speech had yet to follow suit.
However, the rebuke he was expecting from Draco didn't come, forcing the chaos spirit to stand up and move around the room until he could clearly see the dragon's face. Because he wasn't particularly skilled in reading the emotions on a human face – or, well, reading emotions at all – Erebus found himself floundering to explain Draco's expression. His golden eyes were narrowed and downcast, giving the feeling of anger, but the skin around his nose and mouth were pinched in a particularly sad way. It took the former demon a long moment to clearly identify the expression accurately.
"Are you..." Erebus paused, clearing his throat to block the chuckle that threatened to make itself known. "Draco, are you pouting?"
"You shut your mouth," the dragon growled in a rare show of reactionary anger. As if the very harsh words had burned him, Draco took an unintentional step back from Erebus and offered him a small, apologetic smile. "Sorry. I just... Hydra will be there. That's the reason Lucy is going."
Erebus frowned to himself for a moment, trying to remember why that name was significant. Hydra, the seven-headed serpent of myth...? "Another platinum gate key?" he ventured at a guess, relatively relieved that he remembered something from the dragon's explanation of gate keys and their differences.
"Yes, he is." Rolling his shoulders, Erebus could almost feel Draco forcing his negative emotions away. "Well, what's done is done. I will guard Lucy's friends whilst you guard her. It shouldn't be too difficult. But there is one thing you must not let her do, no matter what."
The chaos spirit straightened immediately, listening closely to the more powerful spirit. "What would that be?"
"If my gate is open, you cannot let Lucy call Hydra."
Erebus frowned more deeply, trying to figure out for himself what the reason would be. "Why?"
"There's a possibility that the magical drain could kill her."
"I don't understand."
Happy looked up at Natsu, feeling once again that those three words were a motto of how the pink-haired dragon slayer's mind normally worked. But watching Lucy direct members of the Love & Lucky merchant guild, the wall of confidence and her business-like expression reminding the Exceed that once again they didn't really know their friend as well as they thought they did, the blue cat could only feel the same.
"I don't, either."
The dragon slayer crossed his arms, turning his head away in a childish pout. "She should be going with us to the S-Class Exam."
Happy deflated instantly, wondering how his partner's mind could be so consistently... petty. While it seemed that Natsu was merely upset that Lucy would miss out on the fun that was the S-Class Promotional Trial, the Exceed could only wonder what had happened in the last week of the constant busywork of mission-taking that had resulted in their blond team member not only joining this non-magic guild that also held her father as a member but also in leaving on a two-week expedition to another country altogether.
Two weeks!
"Natsu! Happy!" Lucy waved at them from a distance, a delighted grin brightening her face intensely, and then she ran to them. "You didn't have to come, you know."
Casting a sidelong glance, Happy could see that Natsu still showed the telltale signs of having been aboard transportation recently. Even though the port from which Lucy was departing was a short train ride from Magnolia, the time spent aboard transportation seemed to mean little to the dragon slayer.
Kneeling down to rummage through a satchel that the small cat just noticed had been near their feet all along, Lucy removed a small bundle of cloth and a bottle of water. Pouring the water over the cloth, she immediately pressed it to Natsu's forehead, who responded by nearly wilting in relief. Happy laughed to himself, so accustomed was he to Natsu's poor reaction to travel and Lucy's instantaneous non-magic fixes.
"What?" Lucy asked, her grin gentling down to a broad smile.
Almost as if he couldn't contain himself any longer, Happy stepped forward quickly and wrapped his paws around one of her legs. "I'll miss you, Lucy!" He could feel big tears threatening at the corner of his vision but he didn't care. Lucy would be gone and so far away.
Would they really be able to concentrate on the exam?
He immediately relaxed at the feel of Lucy's slender hand on his head, knowing innately that everything would be fine. Looking up at her, he could almost see Lisanna in her expression. Lucy and Lisanna were so similar: slender in build, bright and smiling, always standing between Natsu and some of his poorer choices. But they were so different at the same time. Lucy would argue with Natsu for days, often achieving the upper hand, when Lisanna often let him have his own way conditionally. Lucy had this strange ability to be scary from time to time, maybe from constant contact with Erza, whereas Lisanna was more likely to echo Mirajane, always accepting and often airheaded.
It was as these thoughts passed through his mind that he wondered if he would have liked Lisanna as much if she hadn't been present at his hatching.
"I'll miss you too," Lucy said in a soft tone. "Both of you. I wish I could say I hope you win, but I sort of hope that Cana does."
"What?" In a moment of reactionary anger, Natsu yanked the bottle of water out of the blonde's hands and drank it down in three gulps. Even as Happy merely gaped at their teammate, the dragon slayer continued what promised to be a rant. "Why?"
"Lucy-hime," a gravelly voice interrupted, "are they bothering you?"
At that, Lucy turned around to face a man with skin the color of ash and thin, chitinous armor covering his torso and arms and legs. "Why are you calling me Princess?"
The man blinked once and inclined his head. "That's what Virgo said to call you."
"Lucy," the girl in question enunciated in a long drawl. "Just call me Lucy." She waved a hand dismissively. "And Natsu just likes to argue. Don't worry."
Happy stared up at the man, feeling something like fear but not quite in his small cat bones. It felt like his very presence created something wrong in the air around him but the feeling itself seemed to be tempered somehow. "Lucy, who is he?"
She smiled weakly at him. "Why don't you go back to the ship?"
"There are a few reasons," the man began, seeming to utterly ignore the presence of both Natsu and Happy. "One, Draco told me I was to guard you at all times."
At that, Happy and Natsu gave each other meaningful looks and mouthed, "Draco?"
"I will not defy the dragon," the man continued. "Two, and more importantly, I don't seem to have absolute grasp on my powers quite yet. There seems to be... leakage of some sort and only your presence seems to counteract it. My presence was quite disturbing to the passengers on the ship."
"You're the demon!" Happy exclaimed suddenly, finally connecting the dots in his head. "That's why you feel so weird."
"Happy!" Lucy snapped, the force of her voice cracking like a whip through the plaza in which they stood. Both the cat and the dragon slayer cringed in response to the fury in her voice while onlookers within earshot gazed at them in open curiosity.
"Sorry, Lucy," both Natsu and Happy said glumly, as it was obvious that it was only the pink-haired mage's distraction that had kept him from making a remark.
"I was a demon," Erebus reminded her, his rough voice surprisingly gentle.
"You're a celestial spirit now and you will be treated like one," Lucy told him, the edges of her words like sharp knives. She looked back at her teammates. "Is that understood?"
"Yes, Lucy," they said in stereo, their eyes downcast at the rebuke.
"Good." Lucy turned back to Erebus, a bright smile on her face giving lie to the fact that she had just reprimanded a wizard that she felt was far above her own power level. "Go back to the ship and barricade yourself in our quarters. The physical barrier should diminish the effects of your powers until I return."
He narrowed his glowing gold eyes at her, wavering slightly. Finally, he answered, "Fine, but don't tell Draco."
She nodded and he moved away, the feeling of wrongness leaving with him. "You're going to be alone with a demon for two weeks?!" Natsu demanded suddenly. "Sorry," he murmured immediately, obviously trying to keep from making her mad right before she left on a long trip.
Happy sighed, realizing that there was no real way to dig themselves out of the hole that was any discussion about Erebus. So, he changed the subject. "What about Cana? Why would you want her to win? I don't think you even know her that well."
Lucy looked at them both for a long moment, long enough to make the Exceed feel uncomfortable. "She just told me that this would be her last try. I guess..." At that, Lucy sighed but Happy felt like it was overdone, as if she was acting. "I'm a little worried that if she doesn't get S Class this time, she'll leave the guild. Stupid, huh?"
At that, a voice called out, "Lucy Heartfilia!"
"Oh, I gotta go! See you in a couple weeks! Have fun!" At that, Lucy dashed off, leaving her teammates dumbfounded in her absence.
