Summary: 'All little girls are my enemies'….how different would Lucy and Aquarius's relationship be if Lucy was a boy? A closer look at the relationship between Luca and Aquarius.
Pairings: Parental Aquarius/Luca, Aquarius/Scorpio, implied Natsu/Luca, implied Sherry/Luca, implied Erza/Luca, implied Cana/Luca, mentions of Cana/Loke friendship and Gray/Loke friendship, Luca/Loke friendship and hinted other Celestial Spirits/Luca friendships.
Author's Note: Okay, first things first...I'm sorry it's been so long since I have updated this. I was first really absorbed with the MLB fandom which I'm sure most of you who follow me had noticed. And then some really bad personal stuff happened and it's been a struggle to write for months at a time but I'm pleased to say that I'm back and have a solid fifty chapters planned for you all. Secondly...THANK YOU ALL FOR GIVING ME OVER FOURTEEN THOUSAND AND TWO HUNDRED REVIEWS! Extra special thank you to Carla the wizard, your reviews especially helped recently.
Aquarius hated women.
She didn't know why. She just did. There was just something about another pretty girl who might be more beautiful or clever or talented that just got under her skin like nothing else. It didn't help that she didn't know any other woman that was actually likeable.
Aries had always been a wet blanket and had only gotten soggier and more pathetic as the years dragged on, Virgo had always been disturbing, Pisces was always bragging about her son, and Aquarius could never actually tell whether it was Gem or Mini that was supposed to be the girl twin.
Women seemed less likeable outside of the Celestial Spirit World as well.
But that might just be because they were all the same blonde, big bust, brown-eyed, bossy archetype photocopied over and over again.
Aquarius never had a male master.
Four hundred years with the Heartfilla family and never a single boy in sight. Just the same too beautiful, pain in the backside, whiny girl that expected Aquarius to obey her every whim and wish.
Aquarius had tolerated Anna because she had been a true leader, she had pitied Anna's daughter because she had been left alone in a difficult situation, she despised the granddaughter, and she loathed every other daughter afterwards.
By the time Layla came around, Aquarius had become bitter, hateful, and furious at the sight of another blonde, busty, bossy little thing that ordered her about like a servant.
And then suddenly, the cycle was broken.
Luca was born.
Aquarius didn't meet him officially until he was five years old and by then he was already the perfect miniature gentleman.
His silky blonde hair was styled neatly as he wore the perfect little shorts, shirt, and blazer outfit that no normal five year old boy would be caught dead in if they had a choice. His too solemn and grave expression (undoubtedly picked up from both Layla and Jude who took themselves far too seriously as leading members of society) immediately lit up in delight when his big, brown, eyes landed on her.
"Look Mama!" he cried out as he pointed at Aquarius. "It's a mermaid!"
"Excuse me?!" Aquarius snapped indignantly. "A mermaid?! I'm not some freakish sideshow attraction. I am Aquarius, the Water Bearer. A celestial spirit and your superior."
Her temper which had cowed so many Heartfilla girls before didn't so much as make the first Heartfilla blink. He merely gave Aquarius the sweetest sheepish smile she had ever seen before he bowed at her.
"My apologies, Lady Aquarius," his tiny childish voice barely tripped over the words though if she strained her ears she could probably catch the slightest lisp. "It is an honour to meet you."
Flattered in an instant, Aquarius puffed her chest out proudly. "Yes it is," she said smugly, "and perhaps if you play your cards right, you'll get the honour to summon me every Wednesday too."
Luca smiled radiantly at that which caused Aquarius' heart to do a weird fluttery thing that it hadn't done since Scorpio first kissed her. "It would be the greatest honour!" Luca enthused.
And with that Aquarius was instantly smitten with her future master
And then Layla had to go and ruin it!
Words could not describe how furious Aquarius was when she was finally summoned back to the human world only to find herself in the hands of a tiny, uppity, girl with green hair because Layla had given her away.
As if she was an object!
The Heartfillas had lost keys before. Anna Heartfilla had once owned all twelve golden keys and the thirteenth secret one and by the time Layla got hold of her inheritance there was only three left.
But no Heartfilla had ever dared to trade in Aquarius before!
The indignity and insult of it was infuriating beyond belief!
But Brandish was a good and obedient girl, and Aquarius couldn't help but feel rather sorry for the poor girl that was so desperate for company that she would let Aquarius treat her as a dog.
Literally.
Aquarius used to get the girl to roll over and do tricks in exchange for dog biscuits. The girl's guardian, one of Layla's simpering disciples who always made Aquarius' skin crawl, did absolutely nothing to stop it either.
Poor girl was going to be screwed for life.
Not that Aquarius could drum up much compassion for the child because almost as instantly as she was given away she was soon back in Heartfilla hands where she belonged.
Only this time Luca was her master.
Finally!
A boy!
The cheerful five year old had grown into a very sad and lonely ten year old. His manners had blossomed into perfection but that meant all the very real, jagged, edges of the boy was hidden beneath a polite, smiling, façade that no one bothered to look past.
His mother's death affected his life in many ways, his father became unapproachable and uncaring, and his friends dwindled down to just the odd servant, Aquarius, Cancer, and a couple of those useless silver keys.
Aquarius found herself summoned constantly.
Summoned for afternoon tea, summoned for a piano recital, summoned for a game, summoned just for a conversation – summoned, summoned, summoned! If it had been anyone else, a little girl perhaps, Aquarius would have lost her temper at the amount of time with Scorpio that was being lost.
Yet one look a Luca's pale, withdrawn, face with it's beautiful, polite, smile plastered on, and Aquarius found her anger evaporating away like water on a hot summer's day.
And with her usual bitter, irritable, loathing attitude put aside, Aquarius found she enjoyed tending to a human's needs. She enjoyed conversing a great deal with the boy, she actually liked listening to the boy practise with the piano even if he butchered a sonata or two in his attempts, and that she had a strong urge to bundle the child into her arms and protect him from the rest of the world.
She actually insisted to teach him to fight so she would worry less!
The brat – as she thought of him when he was being particularly stubborn and Heartfilla-ish – had argued against it at first. "But Aquarius," he protested whiningly, "I already know how to fence! Father ensured I had lessons and I've actually won the odd tournament here and there."
"Fencing!" Aquarius scoffed. "That's just little boys poking each other with sticks. You don't even use real swords with those silly blades dulled to the point of uselessness. Never mind those ridiculous rules! Let me tell you something now, you ungrateful brat, no kidnapper is going to wait for you to dance back and forth like a prat before they grab you."
Luca flushed bright pink at that. "Father hasn't upset that many people," he mumbled, "I hardly doubt anyone is about to kidnap me."
"Don't bet on it," Aquarius said flatly, "you're far too pretty for your own good. There are many perverts out there who would delight in defiling you six ways before Sunday, so you listen to Mama Aquarius, and learn how to defend yourself."
"…Mama Aquarius?" Luca repeated timidly.
At this point Layla had been dead for two painfully long years and the absence of a maternal influence was still a great, gaping, wound in Luca's heart and soul. Aquarius could see hope and fear raging battle behind those big beautiful brown eyes and she caved before the thought of denial ever crossed her mind.
"Mama Aquarius," she confirmed. "Now don't argue with your Mama or I'll wash your mouth out with soap."
She was rewarded by the most radiant and beautiful smile yet. "Yes, Mama Aquarius," Luca said obediently.
Aquarius would then be rewarded with years of love and devotion that touches her in ways that no other previous owner of her key was ever able to do so. Luca summons her every Mother's Day in which she was gifted with a piano recital dedicated to herself and an afternoon tea with flowers and a card. Sometimes the boy would shyly edge into her personal space and give her the most adoring stares that would embarrass her as she pretended to turn away huffily. Some nights she's rewarded with tucking him into bed and being able to express a little affection without being totally embarrassed by it. And all the time, Luca confides in her with every dream, and fear, and worry, and hope, and wish, and secret he ever has and she returns the favour with an actual comforting shoulder and listening ear.
Sometimes she even gives advice.
"You're almost seventeen, Luca!" she snapped irritably one day. "A couple hundred years ago you would be considered an adult, a married one with children in fact! It's time to stop moping and wishing, and start doing instead!"
"Do what?" Luca asked miserably. "I'm not allowed to do anything but stay at home with my lessons."
"Then leave!" Aquarius huffed. "You're not literally kept prisoner. You do have free will, don't you?" Luca nodded timidly at that. "Then go!" Aquarius barked. "Walk out of that front door and chase after your dreams. Join a guild! You keep talking about that Fairy Tail, so why don't you join them and have some adventures before you settle down to write that book you always wanted to write?"
"You think I should?" Luca said anxiously. "I'm not exactly Fairy Tail material."
"If Fairy Tail thinks that then they're not worth your time," Aquarius sniffed haughtily, "you're a Heartfilla. There is no other celestial mage family tree more powerful than yours. You have a heritage to be proud of, you have actual power in your corner, and you have the strongest celestial key in your arsenal. They would be fools to dismiss you."
"I don't know…."
"Go," Aquarius said, "or I shall forever be disappointed in having a son so spineless that he won't leave his own gilded cage."
She regrets those words.
Not because they hurt Luca's feelings (they didn't. they did exactly what they were intended to, and spurred the boy on into running away and making his own future), but because they lead to a never-ending journey of terror, danger, and heart-break.
She has grey hairs now because of this brat!
The nine months of wandering the country alone in order to 'be worthy' of Fairy Tail had been harrowing enough. With the living on the roads, bumping into bandits, and the less said with exactly how Luca acquired Taurus the better. But the fact that it took Luca to be essentially kidnapped by some creepy of a sex slave trader for him to join Fairy Tail really took the cake!
For her key to be flung into the ocean with the others leaving her previous boy defenceless (well, okay, not entirely defenceless as Luca now had to fight hand to hand combat, and had the whip she taught him to fight with) was one thing!
To be reunited with a blue, talking, idiotic cat to witness it all was another thing entirely!
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!" she had raged furiously the moment she entered the human world. "HAD I TAUGHT YOU NOTHING?! THERE'S A REASON THEY CALL IT STRANGER DANGER! I OUGHT TO DROWN YOU WITH SOAP FOR THE STUPIDITY YOU HAVE SHOWN!"
"I'm sorry Mama Aquarius!" Luca wailed. "You can punish me later but right now Natsu needs my help, could you please-"
"That's your Mummy?!" the blue cat's eyes bugged out. "But she's a delicious fishy! Does that mean part of you is a delicious fishy? Which part?" he eyed Luca hungrily which really ticked Aquarius of (along with being degraded with the insult of delicious fishy!). "Can I see it?"
"I'm not part fish, Happy!" Luca cried out exasperated. "Mama Aquarius is just my surrogate mother. Now can we focus on the matter-?"
"WHY HAVEN'T YOU DEFENDED YOUR MAMA FROM THIS FLYING RAT'S INSULTS?!" Aquarius shrieked. "WHERE HAVE YOUR MANNERS GONE IN THESE LAST FEW MONTHS?! I'M NOT A FISH I'M THE STRONGEST ZODIAC SPIRIT THERE IS!"
And with her temper finally lost for good Aquarius had summoned a tidal wave which not only punished Luca and Happy but swept the sex slave trader's boat back onto shore and destroyed part of the town that was stupid enough to host such a creep!
"When you have remembered your manners you can summon me again to apologise!" Aquarius said huffily. "Until then I have a date to keep with my boyfriend, who is more of a gentleman than you are right now!"
And with that she stormed back into the celestial world.
Luca had summoned her back a few days later with an eloquent apology and the most horrifying series of stories that she had ever heard. She didn't know what was worse, the mountain adventure in which he was kidnapped by a giant perverted ape and had to depend on Taurus of all people to rescue him, or the time he was forced into a maid's uniform to tempt another pervert (and won Virgo's key), or the stupid idea of going up against an entire dark guild with only a girl and a flying cat for back up.
Either way Aquarius returned home with several grey hairs and a deep, distrustful, dislike of Natsu Dragneel who apparently likes to keep breaking into Luca's apartment for reasons he was too innocent to figure out.
The name of this skank alone bothered Aquarius, it was eerily familiar to the point it gave her goose bumps but Aquarius dismissed it to Fairy Tail being obnoxiously notorious for their destructive ways (which was probably why Luca liked them so much because it was so different and freeing from the stifling perfect life he had to lead beforehand).
The fact that the wild pink-haired girl liked to climb through her precious innocent boy's bedroom window and rifle through his drawers just pissed Aquarius off.
So when her moron of a son decided to take a freaking S-Class Quest and ended up battling some pink-haired tramp in a skanky black and pink lace dress, Aquarius had no problem drowning the bitch.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TRYING TO SEDUCE MY PRECIOUS BABY BOY, YOU HARLOT?!"
Her tidal wave was powerful enough to nearly drown both the pink-haired tramp and Luca. Aquarius was too furious though to care too much as her boy spluttered and choked on the salty sea water as his cheeks burned with humiliation. The pink-haired tramp was equally red-faced and splutter-y which was definitely a victory in Aquarius's book.
"SEDUCING HIM?!" The pink-haired tramp shrieked. "WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT?! THIS GUY IS NO WHERE COOL ENOUGH FOR THE LIKES OF ME!"
"Oh ho!" Aquarius sneered. "Are you saying you're too good for my boy? Because I can assure you, you're not!"
"Mama Aquarius!" Luca hissed. "She's not seducing me! We were fighting!"
"Oh?" Aquarius hummed knowingly. "Honeymoon period already over then? Clearly this is not the love story of the ages like my boyfriend and I are. Take it from someone who knows all child, this Natsu Dragneel here is not worth it if she goes around tarting herself like that and trying to kill you within the first few weeks of a relationship."
Luca choked and – if it was even possible at this point – turned even redder as he tried to curl into his soggy sweater in a poor attempt to suffocate himself to death. "W-w-what?!" He stammered out. "Natsu and I are not in a relationship!"
"I'm not Natsu Dragneel!" the pink-haired tramp squawked out. "Do I look like a slob raised by animals?!"
Aquarius eyed the pink-haired tramp who had the audacity to claim that her baby boy was unworthy of her attentions up and down slowly before she smirked. "Well," she drawled out, "if the shoe fits..."
The pink-haired tramp let out an indignant shriek.
"Mama Aquarius!" Luca cried out equally indignant. "That's not Natsu! Her name is Sherry Blendy and I was in the middle of battling her to prevent her from raising one of Zeref's demons! She's got the power to control people like puppets."
"Hmm..." Aquarius glowered at the pink-haired tramp one last time. She didn't know what was worse, that this trashy brat in black and pink lace was trying to raise one of Zeref's demons (don't any of these morons know their history? Zeref's demons were not something to play with) or the fact that it took Luca this long to tell her. "Well in that case, I'll take out the trash shall I?"
And before the pink-haired tramp could open her mouth for another shrill indignant squawk, Aquarius raised her urn and released a long blast of salty sea water at the girl. She flew back into a tree and promptly passed out.
"Next time you tell me straight away that you're in danger!" Aquarius snarled furiously at Luca. "How the hell am I supposed to do my job if you're too busy faffing around about your pathetic lack of a love life with unworthy girls?!"
"But...but...but...!"
"Don't argue with me young man or I'll wash your mouth out with soap!"
Luca, like the good and occasionally spineless boy he is, slumped in defeat and mumbled the usual 'Yes Mama Aquarius' that Aquarius liked to hear. She may have to reinforce this lecture with a few additional beatings (or as she preferred to call them combat lessons) in the near future because she strongly suspected the lesson was not sinking in.
(Damn! She knew she should have encouraged Luca to join Blue Pegasus instead of Fairy Tail, all of that moronic Fairy Tail recklessness was clearly rubbing off on her boy!)
Aquarius was on the verge of returning back to the celestial spirit world when a red-haired girl dressed in armour suddenly rushed down the beach towards them.
"Luca!" She called out briskly. "What the hell were you thinking?!"
"I, erm, well..." Luca mumbled sheepishly. "...wasn't thinking?"
Aquarius snorted. "You got that right!" she said disdainfully. She took the opportunity to assess this new girl in her boy's life, this one was clearly also not Natsu Dragneel (no pink hair just a long stream of scarlet hair that Aquarius had the sudden urge to yank) but she was equally inappropriate with her short skirt, armour, and masculine manner that instantly grated on Aquarius's last nerve.
"This girl is also unworthy of you!" Aquarius barked.
The red-haired girl flushed bright pink as her mouth dropped open in shock while Luca merely buried his face in his hands and groaned with mortification.
Aquarius vanished into the celestial spirit world feeling incredibly satisfied with herself.
This feeling, unfortunately, does not last long though.
There had been a few blissful days of kissing Scorpio and enjoying peace knowing that Luca wasn't doing anything more dangerous than getting slightly singed by Natsu Dragneel's clumsy attempts to fight the run of the mill monsters and baddies that Fairy Tail fought on a daily basis. Aquarius really ought to have known then that it was all too good to be true and it hadn't really surprised her when she felt her connection to Luca through the key suddenly get cut off as Luca stupidly drops them in the middle of the street.
He got kidnapped by a water mage!
All of those years of training and indoctrinating the need to keep one safe from kidnappers and what does the ungrateful brat do? Get promptly kidnapped by some wannabe water mage.
A water mage!
A FUCKING WATER MAGE?!
The sheer nerve! It seriously pisses Aquarius off! Did Luca not pay attention to any of her lessons whatsoever over the years?!
Seriously!
"I did pay attention, Mama Aquarius!" Luca said eagerly. "I got out the first time because of your lessons! The Phantom Lord guild master had no idea what hit him!"
"Well clearly they didn't stick well enough because you promptly undermined your great escape by getting kidnapped a fucking second time!"
Aquarius then promptly spent the next few days ensuring that this time the fucking lesson sticks!
(Aquarius was reliably informed by a snickering Leo a few weeks later that Luca was unable to sit down for a week after Aquarius's refresher cause which lead him to the be the butt of every lewd joke the likes of Cana Alberona could think of. Aquarius decided right there and then she despised this Cana with every fibre of her being. Another woman unworthy of her son's attentions.)
She couldn't stay mad at Luca though.
Her precious prodigy of a son did something incredibly beautiful when he outright refused to let Leo die and instinctively tapped into that long forgotten celestial magic that no Heartfilla had tapped into since the days of Anna (the loss of the celestial clans and their grimoires filled with celestial knowledge and spells will always gnaw at Aquarius) and summoned the King to demand mercy on Leo's behalf.
Aquarius couldn't think of anyone less worthy of such fierce love and protection than Leo (who was now declaring himself as Luca's new wingman and planning to besmirch Luca's innocence with so many ladies much to Aquarius's everlasting irritation) but she was so fiercely proud to see Luca stand up for what was right like the man she knew he could be and wield powerful magic with the ease of simply breathing.
Aquarius thought her heart was going to burst with such pride and joy.
It vanished rather quickly though when the next time she's summoned it's inside the body of the very water mage that had kidnapped her boy mere weeks ago.
She felt so filthy and defiled from that that it had taken dozens of baths and Scorpio's gentle touch before she felt somewhat restored again.
She would have been furious with Luca and follow through that threat of washing his mouth out with soap if it wasn't for that fact she was equally chuffed at his resourceful thinking and achieving his first ever unison raid.
Still she made it brutally clear that Luca was never to summon her again using Juvia Lockser's body .
(Luca apparently couldn't sit down for two weeks after that scolding.)
And then suddenly something even worse happens.
Months of peace and average run of the mill missions – barring the disaster that was apparently a civil war in Fairy Tail but Aquarius lost interest when Leo began bragging about his own prowess - lulled Aquarius into a false sense of security because, of course, her stupid brat of a boy couldn't keep himself out of trouble for too long.
One moment Aquarius is canoodling with the love of her life and then the next moment she is facing him on the battlefield.
She is then faced with an impossible choice.
Her boyfriend or her son.
She could either fight her boyfriend and hurt him terribly in defence of Luca's life (for Scorpio's mistress was a dark mage that he didn't like to talk about whatsoever when they were alone and, of course, Luca's latest enemy couldn't be some hapless fluffy bunny or anything easy) or she could throw in the towel and leave Luca defenceless to Scorpio's attacks.
The dark bitch that owned her Scorpio smirked smugly.
"Do you really think that your spirit is going to fight her lover for you Luca?" She taunted.
Luca inhaled sharply as his eyes widened in realisation. "This is your boyfriend?!" He cried out.
If Aquarius wasn't already paralysed with indecision she would have smacked the impertinent brat for implying there was something wrong her Scorpio.
(Scorpio was the finest specimen of a man and Luca should be bending over backwards to emulate him not scorn him!)
Instead she choked slightly as she tried to force an angry retort to her lips and instead a humiliating croaky plea came out instead. "Please!"
Please don't make her choose.
Please force her to fight or force her back home because she could not choose! Not between her man and her boy!
It was times like this that she cursed the fact that Luca wasn't born a girl.
If Luca had been a girl the choice would have been so easy.
She would have been able to bring herself to leave if Luca had been a girl. But no, Luca had to be so preciously rare and one of a kind in the Heartfilla family tree.
Luca had to make her life a million times difficult.
But Luca was also so very good and kind and compassionate. His eyes widened even more before that spark of defiance and fury lit up and he nodded grimly. "I understand Mama Aquarius," he said softly, "don't worry. Loke will help me fight."
Before she could either protest or thank him, Luca firmly shut her gate and pushed her back into the Celestial Spirit World. She had forgotten that he could do that now, he had grown leaps and bounds in terms of power since joining Fairy Tail and now pride mingled with her tears as she waited anxiously for news.
She didn't have to wait too long as Scorpio appeared before her a little out of breath but beaming with pride.
"I refused to fight him," he said immediately, "your boy, I refused to fight him and Angel tried to make me but I managed to resist her commands."
Aquarius's eyes widened.
Resisting a Celestial Mage's commands wasn't impossible but it was difficult to do. A contract was a contract after all, Aquarius was one of the strongest of the Zodiac because she had figured out how to skirt round her commands and do what she wants when she wants.
(Irritatingly, Leo will always beat her in that department of free will though.)
"I refused for you," Scorpio continued a little desperately, "I wouldn't hurt you by hurting him."
Aquarius's smile was weak and watery as she reached out caress her sweet boyfriend's cheek. "I know you wouldn't," she reassured him, "you're too good to me."
"You should be proud of your boy," Scorpio murmured as he pulled her in for a loving embrace, "he's a strong kid. Reminds me of the mages back then with his principles and inner strength."
"Well," Aquarius shrugged trying to remain cool and calm, "he is of Anna's line."
Scorpio threw his head back and laughed at that. "Stingy as ever with your praise," he teased before he kissed her lightly.
Well! Aquarius thought huffily, Someone has to be!
She couldn't afford her boy to suddenly become insufferable.
After all Luca once again shined radiantly as he mastered another old celestial spell defeating Scorpio's mistress almost instantaneously. Scorpio, Aries, and Gem and Mini then all teamed up to break their contract with the bitch and made their way into Luca's possession. This is suddenly the most zodiac keys that a Heartfilla has owned in centuries and it was incredibly impressive and easy to go straight to one's head.
Luca might be a gentleman but he was still a teenage boy.
After such immense success there was another wonderful brief spell of peace where Aquarius got to enjoy snuggling up to Scorpio and worry less. Though it had ended again all too quickly as now apparently Luca couldn't even sit in his guild building without suddenly getting sucked into an alternative dimension!
(Aquarius made it very clear that if Luca was going to wear as much eye make up as his Edolas self then she'll happily wash it off herself with the full extent of her water magic. Luca assured her that it will never happen.)
And then almost immediately afterwards there was Tenrou Island.
While Aquarius ought to have been indignant as hell that her incredible boy hadn't been picked for the S-Class exam, she was more relieved than anything else considering the danger Luca managed to get himself on what is supposed to be a normal trip to a casino let alone a normal mission! Gods knows what sort of danger Luca Heartfilla would find himself if he became an S-Class Mage. Aquarius was too young and beautiful to start getting grey hairs worrying about that sort of shit.
So when Leo came back to the Celestial Spirit World with news that this slag by the name of Cana Alberona had gotten Luca to agree to be her partner for the S-Class exam by appearing naked in his shower, Aquarius was beyond furious.
"Are you saying this drunken slattern has seduced my baby boy into danger?!" She screeched furiously.
"Cana isn't a slattern!" Leo protested. "And she didn't seduce Luca. Luca didn't go into the details but I believe he agreed the day after she appeared in his shower when he found her unconscious in the snow and she cried on his shoulder about something personal."
"Classic seduction tactics!" Aquarius scoffed. "I've seen how those Fairy Tail girls dress, they're such tarts!"
Leo's eyes flashed furiously at that. "You will not insult my fellow guild mates," he said coolly, "or I shall have to remind you exactly why I am the leader of the Zodiac."
Aquarius glowered back mutinously but managed to hold her tongue on the subject.
Ever since Leo got back from his banishment he had been disloyally loyal to humans who were not Luca. His ties to Fairy Tail were not so easily severed as shown by the fact that Leo has chosen to also compete in the S-Class exams as someone else's partner!
It was as if Leo had become less spirit and more human over the years.
"If a single hair on Luca's head is harmed," Aquarius said haughtily, "you won't be the leader of anything as I will lead the most bloodthirsty coup ever known to man."
Leo didn't even falter when he met her gaze without hesitation. "Luca will always come first," he promised her, "if the choice is between Gray and Luca's safety, I will pick Luca."
Aquarius nodded, not entirely satisfied but willing to let the subject go.
She had other fish to completely obliterate from the face of the planet after all.
To say she had been rude to this Cana Alberona when Luca summoned her for a battle against his fellow guild mates would be an understatement. She threw some of her nastiest insults at the brunette tart in the bikini top and much to her pleasure the brunette retaliated with some nasty insults targeted at Aquarius's age.
It gave Aquarius all the permission she needed to drag out the insults even further.
"The fact you needed to accost my boy in the shower of all things speaks volumes of how unworthy you are," Aquarius sneered down at the haughty teenage brat, "you will never be worthy to any man in any capacity with that sort of shamelessness."
"Mama Aquarius!" Luca snapped as Cana flushed with shame and lowered her eyes to the ground. "That is enough! Cana is a very good friend and has nothing to be ashamed of, she didn't accost me in the shower! And I wish that you would stop telling all my female friends they're not worthy of me like that, it's degrading and completely untrue. If anything I'm not worthy of their friendship."
Cana lifted her head up proudly at that and Aquarius could see the hopeful gleam in her eyes that needed to be squashed out quickly.
"All girls are unworthy of you," Aquarius informed Luca coldly, "I will never see one worthy as all little girls are my enemies."
Luca lifted his chin defiantly as he showed that new spark in his eyes that Fairy Tail had recently brought out in him. "It doesn't matter," he said calmly, "what matters right now is that I'm in a duel with two mages who rank higher than me in magical strength and I need your help."
Aquarius turned to look at the the long green haired weakling with glasses and the moron who decided to pair a helmet and swimwear together, and then promptly scoffed in their faces.
"These weaklings?!" She snorted. "They're nothing in comparison to us."
And with a quick, persistent, rapid-fire of her water magic she had Luca's competition unconscious on the ground.
"Go on then!" She huffed. "Go and win this stupid competition for this tart over there and then get home safely."
"Why don't you go back to the hole you crawled out from and moisturise those wrinkles out of your face, you bitter hag!" Cana snarled furiously.
"Why you little-"
Aquarius didn't get to finish her insult (which would have been devastating for sure) as Luca hastily closed the gate.
...she won't see him for years after that.
It was as if the Gods weren't satisfied with how dangerous these S-Class exams were supposed to be on their own. First Zeref had apparently been on that island (at least that was what Leo deduced from the vague descriptions Natsu had given to the guild and the fact that a dark guild was hunting for the bastard on Tenrou), then the waging war with a dangerous dark guild, followed shortly by an attack by Acnologia of all people!
Was Luca trying to kill her with a heart attack?!
Because she swears none of the other Heartfillas had ever gotten into this much trouble before!
(Was this why she heard women say that daughters were easier?!)
This led to her baby boy being trapped in some sort of time freeze where he had been unreachable in every way possible. Her connection through the key had been devastatingly weak and all of them – including the newly found Capricorn who had been missing for so long because of the dubious choices of Layla Heartfilla – worried and mourned together until the spell was finally broken and Luca was home again.
Aquarius didn't think she could ever let her boy go again as she held him tightly while he sobbed into her shoulder.
It had been seven years since Luca had been in the real world and since then Jude Heartfilla had died.
Aquarius had never liked Jude (but then she didn't like many people if she was honest) but even she felt the pangs of regret that Luca had never mended his relationship with his father properly and now never would.
She held her boy all the more tightly long after the sobbing faded to silence and the tears and snot had dried uncomfortably on her bare skin. By then the loud obnoxious mess that went by the name of Natsu Dragneel appeared to loudly complain that someone had robbed her in the last seven years.
The pink-haired slob took one look at Luca and suddenly something changed within in the girl as she went from childish annoyance to a serious young woman. Aquarius didn't even have the chance to open her mouth let alone protest or insult the brat when she suddenly pulled Luca out of her arms and into her own embrace.
Aquarius watched uncomfortably as for the first time in her presence Luca focused all his attention on another female.
Natsu Dragneel.
Aquarius didn't like her any more than she liked any other little girl but for some reason there was something more irksome about this girl than any other. There was something about her name that itched under Aquarius's skin.
Something that she should remember but couldn't quite put her finger on it.
It gnawed Aquarius more and more as she tried to figure out what she had exactly forgotten.
"You might have met her ancestor," Leo shrugged unbothered when Aquarius voiced her concerns to her fellow Zodiacs. "Humans are like that you know, they name their children after their ancestors."
Aquarius knew that better than anyone. There had been, after all, too many Annas and Lucys and Elenas and Helens in the Heartfilla family tree that they have all sort of melded into one person in Aquarius's mind. They were all the same blonde, bossy, bratty little girls.
But Natsu Dragneel was different and Aquarius didn't know why.
And it bothered her.
It gnawed at her in the back of her mind more and more as Luca joined the Magical Games Tournament and got kidnapped in order to open the Eclipse Gate. The Eclipse Gate brought back terribly uncomfortable memories with huge gaping holes in them and Aquarius couldn't help but think they were related to Natsu Dragneel somehow.
She never voiced this to Luca.
She never got the chance to as suddenly as one danger was over there was another, and then just as suddenly there was Tartaros.
She didn't even have to think about it.
Her baby boy – the one she had taught, nurtured, and cared for for so long – was being tortured. His allies were trapped and he was so very alone, there was only one way to protect him and it meant Aquarius had to sacrifice her key.
Luca's last words – I love you – echoed in her ears as their connection was brutally severed and she was immediately shoved back into the Celestial Spirit World before she could so much say one last goodbye.
Thank you, felt so inadequate the more she thought about it.
She should have told him that she loved him too.
It worked though.
The Celestial King had freed the rest of Fairy Tail to fight those awful abominations of Zeref and had temporarily granted Luca the use of her magic in order to defend himself. The Celestial King had been kind enough to tell Aquarius that Luca would make her proud as he soundly defeated the bastard that had tortured him before she sacrificed herself.
As soon as the relief had sunk in though – and her fellow spirits owned by Luca were strengthened once more as Luca recovered rapidly – Aquarius felt nothing but bitter regret that she had lost her connection to Luca.
She wasn't lost to the human world forever. Her key was already made anew and was somewhere out there in the world ready to be found once more, but her key had been in the Heartfilla family for centuries, almost a millennia, and now she couldn't feel the bond any more and it made her felt adrift from everything else.
She kept coming up with new regrets each passing day.
She should have spent more quality time with Luca, she should have hugged him more, she should have been kinder more often and less strict, she should have told him that she was proud, she should have told him that she loved him more, and she should have hugged him more.
She wished she could go back to those moments when she tucked him into bed or listened to him play on the piano and savoured those moments properly. She hadn't known how precious those moments truly were until she could never be able to repeat them again.
She would kill just for one more conversation, for just one last smile, for one last little touch...
This must be what it felt like when a human's loved one died.
All those little moments lost forever and yet people so desperately wished they could relive now it was out of their reach.
Aquarius felt like she might as well be dead.
Like Layla, she could never speak to her boy again. They were trapped in different worlds from one another and it hurt so very much.
The pain was almost unspeakable.
It didn't help that Luca was so painfully alone now.
"What do you mean Fairy Tail has disbanded?!" Aquarius hissed furiously when Leo returned from another summons from Luca. "Who is helping Luca through his grief?!"
"I am!" Leo said hotly. "And so is Virgo, and Capricorn, and Scorpio, and everyone else. Luca isn't alone. He has us."
"He needs human friends!" Aquarius fretted. "I thought Fairy Tail was supposed to be all about Nakama, why aren't they there to support him? Don't they understand the literal hell he went through to save them?! Don't they know that he had been tortured and forced to sacrifice me for them?!"
"I don't think they do," Leo said sadly, "I don't think he's told anyone but me. Luca has never been open about the pain he's going through. None of us had a clue about Jude and to this day I don't know what exactly happened when Gajeel beat the stuffing out of him."
That typical of Luca and was entirely Jude's fault, Aquarius decided furiously, he had been the one that insisted on instilling that stupid stiff upper lip nonsense. Layla had been all about being vulnerable and open about one's feelings despite the secrets she had kept.
All Heartfillas kept secrets though.
Natsu Dragneel...
Why did that still bother her so?
She should have warned Luca, another regret.
She still had so many things she wanted to tell him...
"He's doing well though," Leo said softly in an attempt to reassure her, "he's getting stronger every day and is starting to practice celestial magic that I forgot existed. Do you remember the days of old when celestial mages were able to use our powers?"
She barely remembered that.
If she recalled correctly Anna Heartfilla had mastered a couple of the Star Dresses as did her daughter. It was another facet of celestial magic that got lost as the clans died out and the keys were scattered into the palms of the fake celestial mages, the ones who merely had the gift of holder magic rather than descended from a celestial bloodline. It didn't surprise her one whit though that Luca was reviving the old gifts once more, she always knew her boy had been special.
The first boy in centuries of Heartfilla women.
Of course he had been destined to bring back the old ways.
"He's been mastering my powers recently," Leo bragged, "we make a good team."
Aquarius would have slapped him for rubbing salt in the wound if it wasn't for the fact it eased some of the pain in her heart to know that Luca was still thriving.
She didn't want him to dwell, not really. No parent wants their child to dwell on them when they could be out there living their lives. She wanted her baby boy to take the world by storm.
And so he does.
Her fellow Zodiacs return with new tales of how Luca was getting stronger day by day. He was mastering all the different Star Suits and was finally crafting his writing by becoming a journalist, and each day he got a little better and was a little less grief-stricken.
And then of course Natsu Dragneel barged back into his life like the obnoxious brat Aquarius always thought she was.
Instantaneously Luca's life was in peril again and again as he was flung into one dangerous situation after another. Just as he returned home to Fairy Tail he was suddenly gearing up for a war with Zeref of all people!
And then as quickly as it had been ripped from her very core, their bond was suddenly restored for one precious golden moment.
One second she had been trying to focus on her magazine and ignore the building anxiety knowing her boy was out in the world fighting, and then the next second she could feel him suffocating to death, the very air was being ripped out of her own lungs, and was suddenly tugged out of the Celestial Spirit World and into the human one.
She was greeted with the unwelcome sight of Luca being strangled by some green-haired whore.
To say she was furious was the biggest understatement of the century.
"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OF MY BOY, YOU MURDERESS BITCH!"
The green-haired whore didn't even have a chance to register Aquarius's screeching before Aquarius had flung her into a nearby wall with a strong blast of water. Luca gasped as he sat up quickly and panted heavily as he grappled to catch to his breath.
Those beautiful brown eyes widened when it finally sunk in that she was hovering before him.
"Mama Aquarius!" He breathed out. "You're here!"
His assailant struggled onto her feet and Aquarius was on the verge of attacking her once more when the green-haired girl suddenly went down on her hands and knees before her.
It was Brandish.
The stupid little girl that used to let Aquarius treat her like a dog.
And now she had grown up to be one of Zeref's disciples.
(Layla well and truly lacked any good judgement in who to entrust with their keys, hadn't she?)
Moved by pity and lacking in time in the human world (she could feel her bond with Luca unravelling by the second), Aquarius straightened her shoulders and held out a hand. "Come with me," she said briskly, "I have something to show you."
There was so much she wanted to tell him and not enough time to say it all. Not now she could suddenly remember what it was that bothered her so much about Natsu Dragneel, not now that she could suddenly remember the first Anna Heartfilla with crisp clarity.
Besides, Luca knew she loved him. He didn't know that Natsu Dragneel's life force was tied to her psychopath of a brother and that the Heartfillas had promised to save her as well helping her to defeat Acnologia.
(Boy did Aquarius have some words to say about the decisions made by generations of Heartfilla women, and not one of them was a kind one.)
So instead of doing the things she longed for or say the words she had regretted she had never said, Aquarius dragged both Luca and Brandish through the timeline to see Anna Heartfilla opening the Eclipse Gate and passing on the all so important information.
She could see Brandish instantly revaluating her life choices of siding with Zeref and Luca's eyes sparking with understanding and realisation of what he had to do before she dropped them back unceremoniously in the Fairy Tail Infirmary.
There was still so much she wished she could tell Luca but she had to settle on the last little bit important information he had to know.
"My key has been remade and is somewhere out there in the world," she told him, "come and find me."
She was pulled back into her own home world just as she heard Luca call out his promise.
"I will!"
She smiles proudly at that.
It doesn't surprise her later when Leo informs her that Fairy Tail won the war and that both Zeref and Acnologia are finally defeated for good. Luca had succeeded in what he had to do and Natsu Dragneel was alive and well too.
They were setting out for their first hundred year quest with their fellow teammates and Aquarius knew it was only a matter of time when Luca found her.
After all he was her boy.