Chapter 5

THIS STORY IS NOT, AND NEVER WILL BE ABANDONED!

Please forgive my very late and overdue update on this story. I have 4 other stories that I am currently writing as well as this one. That is a lot and I've been super busy with work so I really only have time on the weekends to get anything done. Writing chapters takes a while at times, so please be patient with me in updating. I know I haven't updated this story in two years, but I'm going to try to be better about that. I was currently working solely only Centaur Paradise but will be taking a short break from that story to try to update the others that need attention.

Please excuse any mistakes I have made!

Lucy walked slow and steady, holding onto the orange-haired man in her arms tightly. Chocolate brown eyes looked up ahead on the brick layered path they walked on. She mustered a smile as she adjusted Lokes' arm over her shoulder. "We're almost to my apartment. Are you still holding up ok?"

"You really needn't concern yourself too much about me. I may be human now, but I can still take care of myself." The stubborn orange-haired man said in a low and exhausted tone.

The blonde-haired wizard closed her eyes and stuck her head up slightly in annoyance. "And you don't need to be so stubborn around me!" She waited a minute before opening her eyes and bringing her head back down. Her voice was calm and serious as she spoke. "I really want you to be able to trust me and become my friend again so we can work together. Don't feel like you have to keep your guard up around me all the time."

Loke could hear the pain her voice. He waited for a long minute before responding. "You can't expect me to change in an instant just because I am supposed to live as a human."

Lucy kept her chocolate eyes on the apartment that was in sight just up ahead on the brick layered path they walked on. "I'm not asking you to change in this moment. I'm just asking for you to be open to my friendship and to not think of this as some kind of punishment… even though it kinda is."

"It very much is a punishment. Just a slightly less harsh one than the one the Celestial King wanted to put on me." The weakened man said quickly.

"Well, try to not think of it as a punishment! Try to think of it as a mini vacation from your celestial duties!" The blonde-haired mage said with positivity.

Loke let out a sign as he hung his head. 'This girl isn't going to give up so easily… which is going to make this whole experience even more a pain for me to go through.' Olive-green eyes shifted to the girl holding him up as they walked. 'But if I want my powers back… I'm going to have to suck this up. I need to make some kind of attempt to follow His orders, or else I will face a punishment worse than death.'

Lucy finally reached the front door and pulled out a key from her pocket, unlocking the door quickly and pushing it in so they could get inside. The two paused a foot away from the open door so Lucy could turn around and close it before making their way up the stairs to her half of the apartment building. She half smiled as she spoke jokingly. "And this is the part that sucks about living here. I'm on the second story of the building so we've gotta get up these stairs. Think you can manage?"

The orange-haired man let out an annoyed sign. "Yes. I will be just fine. You don't need to coddle me. I am not a child."

"Yeah but… you've had a lot of your energy taken away, along with your spirit powers. I'm just trying to get you to my place so you don't pass out on the damn stairs!" Lucy said in frustration.

"I can make it the rest of the way without your help!" Loke snapped back quickly.

The celestial wizard growled to herself as she unwrapped the man's arm from around her neck and shoulder. "Fine then!" She took his hand into her own and forcefully placed a key into his hand. "This is the key to my place. Go make yourself comfortable and wait for me to return."

Confusion and disbelief suddenly came over Lokes' expression. "Wait— what?! Where are you going?!"

Lucy looked at the man leaning against the wall with rounded eyes as a pair of olive-green stared back at her with slight alarm in his expression. The blonde-haired wizard smirked as she brought her hands to her hips, pushing out her left side slightly as she spoke. "Concerned now, are we?"

Loke scoffed as he hardened his expression quickly, turning his head away and up from the girl standing beside him. "No!" His fist clenched the key in his hand tightly. "Like I said, I'm not a child. I don't need your help with anything."

The celestial mage smiled. "Good! Then I'll be back in a bit. I'm going to run to the guild to find you a change of clothes and then I'll be back. I'm pretty sure we have some spare clothes in the lost and found bin that have never been claimed, and I know it's been years since that thing has been touched."

Loke raised a brow as his eyes narrowed at her. "Why would you need to find yourself clothes from your guild? Let alone a lost and found bin…" His words trailed off as he finished his sentence.

Lucy leaned forward slightly and brought a finger up in front of her body, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone. "The clothes are going to be for you! If you're going to be staying with me, you're going to need to have a change of clothes! You can't just live in that tattered suit of yours forever! Now get on up there and get inside! Try to relax for a change!"

Before the orange-haired man could protest, the blonde-haired mage was off and out the door. He groaned as he rolled his eyes. "I really don't need them. It's just a waste of time for that dumb girl…" Olive-green eyes shifted down as his thoughts trailed through his mind. 'Am I even happy that I'm still alive? Going from a celestial spirit to a human… with no magic, and no way to get back home… how am I going to make it in this world? I refuse to let this human girl care for me like I am a helpless injured animal!' Loke clenched his fists tightly as he shot his head up the stairs. 'I don't have anywhere else to go at this moment, so I'm just going to have to make due with living here until I can find something better or a way to get back to the celestial world!'

The tall man took a step forward, his expression wincing slightly as he mustered all of his own strength to make it up the flight of stairs. He chuckled at himself and his weakened state. "You damn, pathetic excuse for a spirit… no… a man now. Barely able to make it up a flight of stairs himself because of a slight inconvenience like this? Get over yourself and take another step!" A shaky leg raised up and moved to the next step. Loke smiled and continued to give himself a pep talk to make it the rest of the way to Lucy's apartment.

Lucy raced inside the guild hall and went straight towards the bar on the right side of the building. She ignored her unaware guildmates and made her way around the bar counter, her brown eyes searching the lower shelves with haste. Mira caught a glimpse of the celestial wizard from the corner of her eye and casually made her way over to Lucy, lowering herself slightly as she spoke.

"Hey there, Lucy. What are you looking for?" Mira said with a smile.

Brown eyes widened and quickly looked up to the smiling bartender beside her. "Mira! Hey! You might actually be the one to help me with this! I'm looking for the lost and found bin. I thought it was here behind the bar counter, but it's not here anymore. Do you happen to know where it is?!"

The snow-white haired mage giggled as she nodded. "Sure do! We had to move it to make room for inventory for the bar. Come on, I'll take you to the bin."

As they both stood, Lucy smiled back and thanked Mira for the help. She followed Mira across the hall, past all the rowdy guildmates sitting or standing around the guildhall tables in the middle of the building, and found herself in front of the storage room they had put in once the guild had been rebuilt some years ago. Lucy knocked herself on the side of her head with her fist lightly. "Geez, why didn't I think about this before checking the bar? Sorry for inconveniencing you Mira."

The white-haired wizard giggled and waved a dismissing hand. "No worries Lucy! It's pretty slow today so it wasn't like I was really doing much of anything. Anyway, I hope you find what you're looking for in there!"

"Thanks again Mira!" Lucy entered the large storage room and looked around at its shelves. Brown eyes quickly caught sight of a dark green bin with a worn label on the side marked as Lost and Found. She quickly knelt down to the bottom shelf that was close to the entrance way, pulling it out and began her search for any men's clothing she could find as a temporary change of clothes for Loke. She mumbled to herself as she pulled out multiple shirts, pants, hoodies, and other random objects that had made their way into the bin.

After a few minutes into her search, Lucy could hear Gray and Juvia making their way towards the room she was in. The pair had stopped as they caught sight of the blonde-haired mage kneeling down beside a green bin. Gray raised a brow as he spoke, while Juvia peeked from around the other side of Grays body. "Hey Lucy, whatcha doing in there?"

Lucy looked up from the pile of clothes she had made on the floor, looking to the two fellow guildmates. "Hey guys, I'm just looking for some spare clothes for a friend that is staying at my place. I don't have a lot of time, so I'm just trying to find anything that I think will fit him for now."

Gray raised a questioning brow. "Him?"

Solid blue eyes rounded wide as a hand came over Juvias' mouth as she gasped. "Does this mean she finally has a man to concentrate on other than my darling Gray?!"

Gray leaned his head back and groaned in frustration at the water mages words. Lucy looked back to the clothes she had piled on the floor and quickly scooped them up into her arm, replacing the bin to its original spot on the bottom shelf before standing. "For the hundredth time Juvia, I'm not into Gray."

Rage building behind her, the water mages' expression turned into a look of animosity as she quickly snapped back. "YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MY RIVAL!"

Lucy stood and made her way out of the storage room, heading straight for the guildhall doors. A familiar voice stopped her in her tracks as she was mere steps away from exiting the building. Natsu and Happy walked gleefully from the other side of where Lucy stood. "Yo! Lucy! Lookie what we got!" He said excitedly as he waved a piece of paper in the air.

Happy jumped up and spread his wings as he added on to the fire dragon slayers sentence. "We've got a new job we can do so we can make some money and buy lots of yummy fishies!"

Natsu brought his hand down quickly and glared up towards Happy. "Hey! I thought we agreed that we weren't going to spend the jewels on fish!"

Happy lowered himself to Natsu' level, his hands coming out to either side of his body as his eyes closed softly. "Nope. That's what you said, but I never agreed to it, Natsu."

Lucy looked at the two with an apologetic expression. "Sorry guys, if you want me to go with you on that job, it's going to have to wait until tomorrow. I don't really have the time right now to go out on a job. Besides, I'm already pretty tired from taking care of something earlier today and just want to take the rest of the day to relax." She smiled at the two who looked at her questionably as to what she had done earlier in the day. 'I can't tell them that I found Loke, had a run in with the celestial king, and had my magic energy drained just a little bit ago! I just want to get back to my apartment and get back to Loke.'

A short solid script mage was next to come up from the left side of Lucy. "Hey LuLu! How's it going?!"

Lucy turned her head and smiled at her friend. "Levy, hey! Not to bad, how about you?"

Levy couldn't stop a wide smile from forming over her lips as she pulled out a thick stack of papers bound together on the side, her hands holding the stack out in front of her. "Well I just couldn't wait to show you this! I've finished writing that short romance story I've been working on and was wondering if you'd like to take a look at it! I'd really love to get your opinion on it!"

Lucy laughed nervously for a minute. "Levy, you know I'd absolutely love to read it! But right now, I'm actually kinda of busy." The blonde-haired mage started for the door quickly, calling back over her shoulder to her friend as she exited the guild. "I'll read over it tomorrow, I promise!"

Levy watched as her friend left without another word. "What's with her?" She asked as she looked to Natsu and Happy just a few feet away from here on the other side. They stared back at her and shrugged their shoulders, knowing just as much as the short girl.

A taller figure came up from behind Levy and snatched her work right out of her hands. The blue haired script mage turned quickly to see Gajeel smirking down at her as he held up her story in the air. "If ya want someone to read this, I'd be more than happy to, Shrimp. I'd love to see what ya have written in here!"

Levys' cheeks turned bright red as she began to jump and reach up for her story, desperate to get it back from the iron dragon slayer. "Gajeel! You big brute, give that back to me!"

Gajeel tilted his head slightly as his crimson eyes watched Levy struggle with all her might to get her work back from his hand in the air. "Aw, come on Short Stuff! You're going to have to try harder than that if you want this story back! Hell, I could probably read it from here!"

"Gaaajeeell!" Levy cried out as she continued to jump and reach up with desperation. She was far too embarrassed to have him read over her short story.

Natsu made closed fists and brought them both around to the front of his body as he grinned mischievously. "Oooo! Gajeel, lemme read after you! Better yet, why don't you just read it out loud for all of us to hear!"

Happy chimed in with his usual catch phrase. "Aye Sir!"

Levy could feel tears forming in her eyes as she continued her failed attempts at reaching the taller man's hand stuck up in the air. "You guuuys! Come on! Don't do this to me! You're so mean!"

Gajeel looked over to Natsu and his blue cat and raised a studded brow while he held Levy back with his free hand. "Oi, aren't you two concerned about Blondie havin' a guy in her apartment?"

The pink haired wizard's expression went back to normal as he looked back at Gajeel. "Huh? Whatcha mean by that?"

Gajeel sighed in annoyance. "You idiot! Lucys' got herself a date and she rushed out of here to go be with the guy! That's why she didn't want to go with ya two on that dumb job in your hand!"

Natsu frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah right… there's no way Lucy would have turned down an opportunity for jewels for a guy! Besides, what makes you think that's why she left?! She said she was just busy and a lil' tired is all."

Gajeel smirked at the other dragon slayer. "It's caz I heard her talkin' to that ice mage and rain woman before she skipped out of here. And you know as well as I do, our ears don't lie on what we pick up with em!"

Natsu stuck out his bottom lip in a pout as his mind began to ponder. 'Is he tellin' the truth or is he just pullin' my leg to get on my nerves? I can't really get a good reading on him right now… he seems to be having too much fun teasing Levy….'

Happy came up to Natsus' shoulder and suggested an idea. "Why don't we just go do this job and then go see Lucy later on? We can ask her about it then and see if what Gajeel is saying is true or not!"

Natsu grinned as he looked to his exceed on his shoulder. "Good idea, little buddy! I knew I could always count on you for some good ideas! Let's go! This job ain't gonna get done itself!"

"Aye Sir!" Happy exclaimed as he raised a paw into the air.

Loke had made his way up the stairs and into Lucy's apartment. His olive-green eyes scanned the neat and tidy space while he waited for Lucy to return. He made note of the small entryway that turned into a living room and what appeared to be a dining room as well. With just a long wooden storage unit under the window to the left, a small vanity just a few feet away, a small square dining table set in the middle of the room with just three chairs around it, a single chair with an even smaller end table in front of it, and a desk in the right hand corner of the room, is what made up the tiny living space. He noticed three arched doorways with curtains that closed off the rooms at the opposite end of the apartment. Curiosity came over him.

'If I'm going to be staying here, might as well check them out.' Loke thought as he slowly made his way across the room and entered the first doorway, pushing aside the light blue curtain that blocked his view. He saw the small kitchen and pondered how anyone could move in such a tiny and confined space. 'I guess for one person, it wouldn't be that bad.' He stood back and released the light blue curtain from his hand. Moving over to the middle entryway, he shifted the green curtain away, revealing the room to be the bathroom. Olive-green eyes shifted over to the last doorway. He could feel something inside there calling out to him, like a heartbeat in a sense. 'Why does this feel so familiar? What could possibly be in here that is calling to me?'

Loke made his way to the last doorway, opening the curtain slowly. He stepped inside of Lucy's bedroom and looked around. His eyes first caught a glimpse of the large board with newspaper clippings, notes, pictures, and strings all over it in a controlled and yet somewhat chaotic manner. He walked over to it and scanned over the cut-out articles. Olive-green eyes widened as he soon realized what this board was for. Lucy had been investigating the different disappearances of celestial wizards around the world. Her notes were over everything she had cut out. Theories, crossed out ideas, and question marks covered articles and notes. Circles with confirmed missing wizards were the newest thing she had added to the board based on the numerous amounts of papers stacked underneath it.

'What… is all of this? Celestial wizards… disappearing?' Loke thought as he reached out to one of the many strings connecting different articles and notes together. His finger traced along a long blue string, only stopping once he reached the other side of the board that he was staring at. The orange haired man withdrew his hand quickly as he realized Lucy had also been tracking his celestial key for years. He looked over all her notes and possible leads that ended up to be dead ends. 'She's been… searching for my key?' Loke leaned in closer to get a better look at the scribbled notes Lucy had jotted down on an article of the last known place of certain golden celestial keys. His key, along with a few others were on there, dating back eight years. Olive-green eyes shifted down to see a hand-written note from Lucy. It read:

"If you ever feel lonely, just look to the stars. You remember what my constellation looks like, right? When you are feeling down or lonely, just look out to my constellation and you won't feel so sad. For I will always be watching over you."-Loke

Guilt started to fill his heart as his finger traced over the words on the note. "I… remember saying that to her, when she was younger. Yet, after we were given away, I must have forgotten all about this. I filled my heart with hate, closing it off to anyone but my fellow celestial spirits. Yet she hung onto these words… all these years, since she was young." Olive-green eyes rounded as he felt a pulse coming from the nearby nightstand where a glass case was placed, preserving one bright star that was once apart of him. "Regulus!" Loke shouted out as he rushed over to his beloved star. He reached his hands out to it and hesitated in opening it. He couldn't believe Lucy held onto it for all these years. It pulsed as he drew closer, recognizing its own master. "Maybe with you… I can at least regain my magic and get out of this hellhole."

Loke moved his hands to the glass case, one to the side, the other to the very top of the glass. He opened it slowly, admiring it's shine and dazzling beauty it had retained all these years. "Finally, I will have you back." The tall man reached in and lightly touched the star, awaiting its magic to become one with him once more. Olive-green eyes stared hard at the star, waiting for long minutes for it to enter his body after touching it. Frustration was quickly growing within the man who growled and picked up the case and brought it over to the bed. Loke sat down and quickly turned the glass case over into his hand. He lifted the case up and set it down beside him as he held up Regulus with his other hand. "Maybe I needed it to be out of the case to take it back. Ok, Regulus. As your master, I command you to join with me once more. Become one with me and grant me the powers I seek."

Once again, silent minutes had passed and still nothing. The star simple pulsed in his hand yet did not do as commanded. Frustration was growing within Loke as he shouted at the star to do as it was told yet was still met with the same result. The orange-haired man clenched his fist around the star and raised it into the air above his head, read to throw it down to the floor when he heard the front door open and Lucy announcing she had returned. Loke gasped as he quickly looked to the doorway. A low growl left his gritted teeth as he quickly stood and placed Regulus back into its glass case, quickly placing it back on the nightstand before exiting the room with haste. He made his way into the closest chair he could find, which just so happened to be Lucy's' desk where a small stack of papers were neatly placed with a feathered pen beside them. Before he could see what was written down, Lucy popped her head from around the corner of the entryway. A relieved smile came across her face as she saw Loke sitting at her desk looking back at her.

"I see you made it inside by yourself. That's good! I tried to get back here quickly just in case you were stuck on the stairs still!" She teased as she took off her shoes and made her way to the small square dining table in the middle of the room.

Loke scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Like I'd let a flight of stairs stop me from getting to where I needed to go." Olive-green eyes betrayed him as they slowly shifted back to the blonde-haired girl scattering different clothes across the table, sorting them into three categories. He cleared his throat as he looked forward to the small window just above the desk where he sat. "So… what's that big board all about in your room? I wasn't about to go snooping in your bedroom, but I wanted to know what was behind these curtains so I at least looked inside." He shifted his body to face her as he put his arm on the back of the chair, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.

He noticed Lucy gasp slightly at his mentioning of her board before she lowered her gaze and turned her head away slightly. "You saw that, huh?"

Loke shrugged. "Kinda hard to miss something that big."

Lucy sighed as she thought about how to answer him. "Well… it originally started off as… a way to track your keys location. Since I never got you back when I started to practice celestial magic, I wanted to at least track you and your key down to know that you were ok, that you were being well cared for, and that… you were happy with your current master. I started looking for your location years ago, but as I was searching, it ended up turning into a board of bigger mysteries. Lately, any mage practicing celestial magic, or anyone possessing keys, have been disappearing without a trace. I was trying to track down different instances, all while trying to gather information about your key. But everything I ended up finding while on my search, came up with nothing that could help me. My faith was starting to waiver when just the other day, your key just happened to show up here." Lucy reached up and clenched at her shirt tightly, her heart pounding. "I was so overjoyed to have your key back finally, after all this time. My search for you was finally over! And well…" Chocolate brown eyes shifted up to meet with olive-green. "You can guess what happened next."

Loke quickly looked away from her soft gaze. "Hmph."

Lucy smiled as she brought her hand down to the clothes on the table. "Say, if you are hungry, I can make us something to eat really quick. While I'm doing that, you can go shower and change into some clean clothes and I can get you a spare bed set up in here!" Brown eyes scanned the room in thought. "I'm pretty sure I can fit the spare bed I have in here… it's smaller than my current one so it shouldn't be a problem really."

Loke turned his head up as he closed his eyes and spoke in a snooty tone. "I don't have any need for any of those things." In an instant, as if his body was rebelling against him, a loud and quite long growl left the man's stomach. Lokes' cheeks turned pink in embarrassment. He could hear Lucy giggle at him as his stomach betrayed his own words.

She picked up a shirt and a pair of pants and made her way over to where Loke sat at her desk. "Look, trust the one who helped get you into her apartment, you are in need of a good shower. And from the sounds coming from your stomach, you also need a nice meal. So, no more protesting and get into that shower while I cook us something to eat!" Lucy pushed Loke right out of the chair and ushered him into the bathroom, closing the curtain behind him. Olive-green eyes narrowed as he stared blankly at the clean bathroom, he stood in. He stuck out his bottom lip and let out a puff of air, causing his orange bangs to lift up slightly and fall back down quickly.

"What have I gotten myself into?" He questioned himself after a minute of silence.

AN:

I hope you all have enjoyed this chapter, I am sorry it is so short, but I will try to make another update before the end of the year!