Chapter 31

Return to Paradise

Lucy

I gawked at the being before me. It didn't take a genius to figure out who that was. The Celestial Spirit King had come to intervene. He didn't seem angry or annoyed. Although, I couldn't get a read on his facial expression, so I could have been mistaken.

"Old friend, you know you cannot form a contract with Celestial Spirit Mages anymore." The Celestial Spirit King spoke with a commanding, booming voice.

"Please, let me make a contract with him!" I called out to the Celestial Spirit King.

The King looked at me and replied, "You wish to forge a contract with him? Do you know of his sins?"

"Yes, and I don't care! He's been nothing but nice to me ever since I met him. He treats Aries with love and respect. Please, he was only trying to protect her!"

"Lucy…" Loke muttered.

"Leo had broken the most important rule as a Celestial Spirit. He killed his previous owner. Although his intentions were just, I cannot overlook such an infringement of the rules."

"Then maybe the rule was wrong! Why is it so wrong that he protects his fellow spirits?"

The Celestial Spirit King seemed surprised by that response, "You mean to say that the rule was unjust from the start? Do you realize that this rule is in place to protect you, the Celestial Spirit Mage?"

"I realize that, but I can't condone abuse."

The Celestial Spirit King took on a contemplative pose, "What do you say Aquarius?"

Aquarius looked nervous, she seemed to stumble over her words as she told him, "Well, I mean…he did do it for the purpose of protecting Aries. There was no malicious intent."

The Celestial Spirit King paused for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps, you are right, and the rule was flawed from the beginning. Lucy Heartfilia, are you truly willing to shoulder the burden of Leo's sin and forge a contract with him?"

Without hesitation I replied, "Yes."

The Celestial Spirit King smiled at my response, "Very well, I shall allow you to form a contract, but this contract will be unique. Leo, as a part of this contract, you must follow Lucy's instructions without question and never abandon her."

Loke stared up at the Celestial Spirit King in shock before he replied, "Of course!"

The Celestial Spirit King clapped his hands together, "Very well then! The contract has been forged! Leo the Lion now belongs to Lucy Heartfilia. You shall protect her from all danger no matter the time or place. That will be your contract."

"I accept!" We both responded.

The Celestial Spirit King wore a big smile on his face as he stretched out his hand. A blast of light shot forth from his hand and struck Loke. A blinding light enveloped Loke, and when the light dissipated, he was left standing there, looking much nicer than before. His hair, though still looking like a lion's mane, was much cleaner, his glasses were fixed, and so was his suit. He looked like a new man.

"Show me your resolve."

The Celestial Spirit King began to dissipate into light as the hole in the wall began to fix itself. Aquarius also began to disappear.

"It's on you now Leo," She said, "Lucy can only keep one gate open at a time."

Loke chuckled at that, "I know. I'll take good care of her."

"You better," She said as she turned her head away from us, "I stuck my neck out for you."

With a burst of light, we were back in the real world, or rather time began moving once more. Aquarius was gone, and Loke, now Leo the Lion, stood by me with a confident grin. Leo's hands erupted in light.

"Well, Master Lucy, what shall I do for you?"

"Free Juvia and beat him!" I yelled, pointing at Vidaldus.

Loke leapt towards Juvia. Juvia attempted to slash Loke with water, but Gray stepped in and countered with his ice. The counter created a jagged barrier between Loke and Juvia. Loke jumped off the barrier and on the way down punched Juvia. The resulting hit caused an explosion of light as Juvia transformed back to normal.

"My Succubus!" Vidaldus reached to strum on his guitar again, but I reacted quickly and reached for the whip on my belt. I cracked the whip on his guitar, and it made a disturbing sound.

"Ice Make: Hammer!" Gray materialized an ice hammer that slammed into Vidaldus's torso, breaking his guitar in the process.

From the ground, Juvia, with rage filled eyes, created a water whip that wrapped around the dark mages ankle and pulled him towards her.

Vidaldus was pulled off his feet and came rushing towards Loke and Juvia. Loke punched him square in the face and launched him back into the wall. Vidaldus stood against the wall for a moment before slumping down onto the floor, defeated.

"Did we do it?" I asked.

"Yeah," Gray slouched down onto the floor and looked over at Juvia, "You S-Class mages of Phantom Lord are no joke."

"Juvia could say the same about Fairy Tail."

I watched as Gray smirked at the blue haired water mage, "Hate to break it to ya, but I'm not an S-Class mage."

Juvia's eyes widened in surprise, as did mine. From what I could tell based on their injuries, the two mages were about evenly matched. Given that Juvia was S-Class and Gray was not, what did that say about the S-Class mages of Fairy Tail?

"But enough about that, what happened to you?" Gray asked Loke.

Loke smiled devilishly and gripped his left hand. His hand began to give off a pleasant glow, "Thanks to Lucy's superb negotiation skills, I have been reawakened as the Leader of the Twelve Golden Zodiac Keys, Leo the Lion."

"You're a Celestial Spirit?"

"That's right."

"Celestial Spirits can be Celestial Spirit mages?"

"Only in special circumstances."

"And what was yours" before Loke could answer Gray's question, Gray quickly retracted his question, "You know what, this can wait. We need to get back up and meet up with the others."

Gray slowly rose to his feet but stumbled and fell back down. I ran over to him to give him assistance getting back up. Loke was doing the same with Juvia.

"There's no way you can keep climbing like this." I told him.

"I'm fine, I promise."

"Gray, there's no way we aren't going to experience more resistance. You and Juvia need to get back to the boat."

"Juvia can continue fighting!"

Loke proceeded to let go of the Phantom Lord mage, who fell back to the floor without Loke's support. She picked herself back up and wobbled a bit as she tried to get her footing. Loke grabbed her to help stabilize the water mage.

"Still think you can keep climbing?"

Juvia grumbled, "Fine, Juvia will return to the boat."

"Ice Make: Stairs."

Gray casted a spell that made a staircase of ice extend up to the hole in the ceiling. His body became much heavier in my hands as he did so. Once the spell was complete though, his body relaxed, and he was fine. In front of us now was a staircase that should take us back up to Natsu, Lisanna and the others.

We carefully climbed the stairs and when we reached the top, we found all the guards unconscious. They either had various burn marks, cuts, or bruises on them. Some moaned in pain as we looked over them. Off towards the back was Shô. He was also unconscious was some minor burn marks. Whatever fight took place here was easily handled by Natsu, Gajeel, Lisanna, and Happy. It was clear we got stuck with the more difficult fight, if only because we had to fight our own allies. That thought left a bad taste in my mouth and I quickly discarded the thought.

Gray and Juvia got to supporting each other and began walking towards the staircase leading down.

"Be careful, and don't let yourselves get separated from the group again." Gray warned us.

"We won't, you two get back to the ship safely now." Loke replied.

Gray smiled at Loke and showed him the back of his hand. He raised his thumb and index finger up and raised his arm a little. Loke mimicked the gesture with a confidant grin.

With that, Gray and Juvia wished us good luck and descended the stairs.

"What was that?"

Loke looked at me confused, "What?"

"This?" I mimicked the gesture Gray and Loke made at each other.

Loke laughed to himself before replying, "You've never seen us do that before?"

"No."

"It's a symbol for Fairy Tail. It means that even if I can't see you, no matter how far away you may be, I will always be watching over you."

"That's sweet."

"It really encapsulates Fairy Tail, honestly. Always looking out for each other, no matter what. After all, that's what this is all about."

We both grew serious at that statement. We looked to each other, nodded, and headed towards the staircase leading further up.

Era – Jellal

I stood in a blackened chamber, with the only light being the magic circle illuminating the ground. My appearance was slightly different from usual, with the only major difference being that my tattoo was on my other eye. I was assured the only people who knew I was not my brother were in on our plan. Of course, the only person I knew who knew this was the woman standing to my right, Ultear Milkovich.

My voice echoed throughout the chamber from the recording that was playing before us, "In just two short hours, the R-System will be completed and Zeref will be revived!"

The magic council was in the midst of reviewing the latest threat posed to Fiore, and by extension, all of Ishgar. I had successfully hijacked the airwaves and put out a message to all of Fiore and parts of other countries.

"This can't be real, can it?" One of the council members asked.

"About seven years ago a group attempted this. We destroyed all of their towers, but I suppose it is possible that they had another one built in secrecy." Another added.

"Do we even know where the Tower is located?" The chairman inquired.

Ultear motioned to the video that had been paused in front of us. It continued playing with me eventually giving away said information, under the guise of giving them one last chance to stop me.

"Unfortunately, that is more than half a day's travel from here." I informed the chairman.

"And this is your brother we are talking about?" Ultear asked, knowing the answer already.

"Yes, Jellal Fernandes, my...estranged brother." I replied with a hint of disappointment in my voice.

"Do we know how strong he is?" A Council member asked, "Are there any Wizard Saints near that location we could send in?"

"I've already gone through the trouble of contacting the other Wizard Saints regarding that. I am aware that Makarov and Jose are headed in that direction, but even then, that's too far." I informed the others.

The damage control I had to do annoyed me. Akane Resort was never meant to be attacked. Because of that Makarov and Jose were alerted ahead of schedule and could in theory reach the Tower before the process was complete. With Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord mages invading the Tower as we speak, it was very likely we could end up being behind schedule.

"As for how strong Jellal is," I continued, "I do not know. He could be stronger than me, or weaker."

"So then, what are our options?" A Council Member asked.

"I hate to suggest this, but what about Etherion?" Another member suggested.

"You want to fire Etherion on the Tower of Heaven?" An older Council member asked, "While Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord are in it!?"

This was a part of the damage control I had to take care of. Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord were not supposed to be in the Tower.

"I hate to say this, but if we can't get any Wizard Saints out there, Etherion may be our only option," I added, "We cannot risk releasing Zeref on this world."

"We also cannot risk misusing Etherion. Yajima is right, we cannot fire Etherion while Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord are in the Tower." Another Council member added.

"Thank you, Org." Replied the first Council member to reject the proposal, Yajima.

Ultear gave a loud audible sigh, "Do we really have the time to be debating this? This is Zeref we are talking about."

"What's seven lives to millions?" I asked.

The Chairman shook his head at me, "So naïve. Etherion has the power to strike fear into the hearts of even the most powerful mages. It is not something to be taken lightly."

I closed my eyes and resisted the urge to sigh in annoyance as well. It was going to be difficult convincing them to fire Etherion. If Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord weren't on the island, I might have had an easier time convincing them.

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