14| Project Zodiac
"How's the brat doing?" Aquarius looked at Loke expectantly, wanting an update on the child she promised to care for. The very child she had to leave in order for said child to live. Day by day she worried about Lucy and those brothers, she worried that Lucy wasn't Lucy anymore. Not completely.
"She's doing okay." Loke admitted. "Fairy Tail is back, and she's doing a bit better."
"You're still worried."
Loke gave her a look, "Aren't you?"
Aquarius gave a small smile, as if she knew something he didn't. Which Loke wouldn't put past her, after all the blue haired siren had been with Lucy since she was a child. She was the mother figure she wouldn't admit she had taken the role of. She loved Lucy more than anyone could imagine.
"I worry everyday." Aquarius admitted. "Ever since you first told me about the situation, all I can do is worry. You can't kill them now, she cares about them more than she admits and more than we like. Yukino and the Twin Dragon slayers backed off since Fairy Tail came back, and that worries me more."
"More than the sociopaths she lives with?"
"They were there for her in a time she needed them, Loke." Aquarius says, looking away. "I've seen people who wanted to hurt her, and if these men really had bad intentions with Lucy, they wouldn't have let her live."
"They bit her!"
"With her permission." Aquarius added. "She made a choice you didn't like, a choice she had her reasonings for and we just had to trust her on. That was her choice Loke. She's a grown woman, and we are her friends who need to support her now more than ever."
"I'm her protector!" Loke argued. "They-"
"You weren't with us yet after she lost Layla." Aquarius says, looking back at him. "When Lucy lost her mother, it was like she lost a part of herself. She stopped eating, stopped responding and for a moment I thought I was going to lose the little girl I promised Layla I'd watch over. That day when I told her to break my key, I worried from the moment I opened my mouth."
She took a breath, "I'd let her break my key before I broke my promise to her mother, and now I wish more than ever I could be there for her. She was bad after the war, and when you told me Natsu left and the guild was gone... I feared we'd lose her too. Lucy has a hard time with her own emotions, she had to play a part as a child and even in adulthood she plays that part perfect and can fool everyone with her smiles and have them ease their worries."
"You know this by experience?"
"I know she struggles putting herself first Loke, I know she lets herself wallow in pain before she crashes altogether. I was upset when you first told me about the Sakamaki's, but you mentioned Edgar- Yuma." She gave a smile now. "I have no reason to not believe Lucy is safe, in capable hands because she has people who are there, and even if Layla didn't want this for her, Lucy will find happiness. If that means that even if she forgives someone you don't like, or agree with, respect that choice. Lucy isn't dumb, but she has a good heart and sees things in people others can't even begin to comprehend."
That was the first time Loke ever saw Aquarius shed a single tear, seeing how much she truly loved Lucy. He wished more than anything in that moment it had been his key instead of hers.
...
When they all came together as a group again after being separated throughout the kingdom of Stella, they instantly noticed that Lucy was once again nowhere to be found. This caused Shuu to tense, putting him at an unease with the mages he was now surrounded by. He knew this was a bad idea, so why the hell did he agree with Lucy?
Then Yuma and Kou made their daily debut, who notified the others that Virgo came for them after trouble hit to help them locate Lucy. Apparently after that, Virgo suddenly disappeared in gold dust,
"My cousin comes with you, and you lost her?" Yuma raised an eyebrow, joining the fray with Kou by his side.
It was be the only time Shuu would admit he was grateful to see a Mukami come to save the day, or at least put him more at ease. In this world, it was easy to be reminded how easy to way for others to wipe the floor with him. Here, vampires were not a big threat, they could be handled with complete ease, and that threw Shuu and the others out of their element.
"She was taken." Shuu muttered, obviously not happy with being reminded on how he lost his fiancee.
Yuma stood there with Kou, looking at Shuu as if he was the biggest idiot in the room and wondering how the hell a vampires loses a human girl. There was a thing called scents, where Shuu could follow the scent, but Yuma wasn't surprised Shuu wasn't smart enough to think of that.
Kou nearly yelped when he felt the cold metal of a sword at his neck, caught off guard by the sudden hostility of Lucy's comrades who claimed to be her family. He couldn't help glaring down at the red head, who's own eyes narrowed at him as she moved the sword to dig into his skin sharply, but not hard enough to break skin.
"What the hell are you people, being able to teleport where you please and leaving scars on Lucy's neck." It wasn't a question that Erza was asking for, it was answers she was demanding to know, and to know now.
Natsu knew these people weren't human, their scent gave that away alone. He knew these people were dangerous, and that they hurt Lucy. As much as he wanted to set them on fire and punch their faces in with Gajeel and Gray, he knew it would upset Lucy. Lucy was already upset with them, he understood that and so did the others. They knew Lucy was upset, hurt, and that she seeked comfort in these men, so hurting them might just cause a big wedge between them.
"They aren't from this world." Juvia was the one who spoke up, causing eyes to widen at the revelation.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Gajeel questioned, his interest peeking at what the hell deep shit Bunny Girl had gotten herself into this time.
Juvia looked at Erza, "When Gray-sama left Juvia for Alvarez, she was found by Jellal-sama. He was given a secret mission by Princess Hisui to look into an anima breach, one where Jellal-sama believed the Sakamaki's came through."
Erza's eyes held different emotions, the most strong one being hurt. Hurt that Jellal hadn't come to her, to ask for her help or to let her know what was going on when it concerned Lucy. Then Erza realized Juvia knew this information the whole time, she knew and said nothing.
"Why let us wonder, Juvia? If you knew why didn't you say anything?" Erza's sword was dropped, forgetting her moment of anger at losing Lucy again. "Did you know where Lucy was when we were looking for her?"
"Not exactly." Juvia answered carefully. "Juvia saw love rival one week before Erza had the guild searching for love rival. Jellal-sama was observing, watching Lucy's strange behavior with the men. Well, Shuu. They were on a mission."
"She said she was reminded the rain was you." Shuu muttered, causing Juvia's eyes to widen and a blush to appear on her cheeks for Lucy to be reminded of her.
Hearing Shuu say that, Juvia's heart broke a little bit because she knew Lucy was missing everyone at the guild then. Lucy had been all alone, hadn't seen anyone and she had been there. She saw how Lucy looked to be in distraught, how Shuu wrapped his arms around her in an effort.
"Well, if they aren't from this world then why the hell are they here and what does Lucy have to do with any of it?" Gajeel crossed his arms, eyes narrowing on the the three men who didn't belong here.
Yuma shrugged, "Well I was actually born in this world, how I got to the other world is beyond me but I won't let you hurt my brothers or take Lucy."
"Then you're really her only blood relative?" Levy questioned, earning a firm nod from the giant of a man.
"That doesn't change the fact you're not human." Natsu stood straightener, eyes narrowed on Yuma. "It doesn't change the fact that when Lucy is around you, she isn't Lucy. Nor does it change the fact that you've hurt her and are constantly putting her in harm's way."
Yuma let a small dark chuckle out, "You're one to talk, Natsu Dragneel. I recall you were the one who left her. You weren't there for her when she needed someone, so if her light went just a bit dimmer, then deal with it. Deal with the fact that Lucy is different for the better."
"Darker? That's better?" Natsu growled, fists igniting. "You don't know Lucy!"
Yuma was now in Natsu's face, "I would know my cousin better than you. I was the one who grew up with her until her mother died. I know she puts everyone else first, that she pushes her own feelings down. Do you honestly think she would have told you about Aquarius?"
"Of course she would have."
"I think not." Yuma shook his head. "If she did, then she would have told you right away. Instead she was left to burden the fact the guild left with everything. You took her heart when you left Natsu, and you're too damn dense to see that being around you hurts her."
Natsu was ready to strike, already pulling his arm back to send Yuma flying with a fiery punch, but Gray had grabbed his arm. Giving the ice mage a look, the fire mage merely got a shake of his head as a no.
"This isn't helping us find Lucy, and it won't help us if we fight." Gray says, looking at Erza. "We'll let Lucy explain the situation once we find her."
"You're father is going to kill us if we don't find her." Kou added, looking at Shuu, and the comment doesn't go unheard.
"His father?" Erza repeated.
Kou nodded, looking at the red head. "It's a long story that we thought we could kept secret. That Lucy hoped that we could keep secret, but it's inevitable that the truth would come out sooner or later. Plus you want to hear it from Lucy, so we need to find her first."
Erza nodded, wanting her friend to explain herself. Lucy at least owed them the explanation and they would get that. Yet at the same time, Lucy was going through her own thing.
"Is it true that you two are engaged?" Levy now asked her question, looking at Shuu.
This caused the other two Mukami's to look over at him with looks of disbelief. Yuma couldn't believe that Shuu had asked her, and he wasn't sure how he felt. Sure no one needed his consent to marry Lucy, no Yuma was not that important to her life yet. Yet this was Shuu, the lazy ass eldest brother of the Sakamaki's who couldn't be bothered with much.
Of course Yuma knew that the Sakamaki's cared about both Lucy and Yui in their own ways. They all could be cruel, including the Mukami's to Yui, but they would never let either woman get hurt. In fact, Yuma was sure both families would kill anyone who brought either woman harm. The two had changed the vampire families for the better, and that was a fact for all of them.
Kou on the other hand genuinely cared for Lucy, and even if at first he did want to marry Lucy he would respect her choice of which brother she would marry. Besides, they were still family and she was his kin now.
"Yes?" Shuu answered slowly, unsure if Yuma was going to throw a fist of fury at his face.
"She's made her choice then." Yuma says softly, but eyes stern looking Shuu in the eye. "Between us, I was hoping it would be Kou. You're better than the other shits you call brothers, so I guess Lucy has common sense left."
Shuu rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything seeing Gajeel step into the conversation. "Lucy was choosing who to marry?"
"Like we said, Lucy will explain." Yuma looked at the Fairy Tail mages. "Speaking of which, let's go find my cousin now. I'd like to know she's in one piece still."
Natsu was in front of the group, listening to the conversation as he tried to catch Lucy's scent. Luckily for him, her scent was only a little bit faded. That didn't matter, because Lucy's scent would forever be embedded into his deepest memories. Her scent of strawberries that used to be a mix of Team Natsu's, but was now mixed with Shuu's metalic scent. Tainted.
"I got her scent!" Natsu called, starting the way toward where Lucy was or Zash.
When she opened her eyes, the first she noticed was that she was cold and she was laying on something hard. A soft groan escaped her chapped lips, slowly sitting up with stiff joints yelling in protest as she took in her surroundings.
The first thing she focused on were the steel bars that trapped her in the cell made of stone on all three sides. The second thing she noticed was that it was dark, only being dully lit by flames that were burning by torch. The third thing she noticed were the woman in other cells like hers and the ones in her own cell.
They were shaking, and by the wounds on their necks Lucy had a good guess it was due to blood loss. Yet she wasn't sure who the hell would be the one to do this. Had one of the brothers gone a-wall and decided to rebel? Lucy couldn't help the likelihood of placing her bets on Ayato or Laito.
Then she realized the fourth thing, feeling the heavy weights on her wrists as she moved them. Or tried to move them to grab for her keys instinctually. On her wrists she now wore magic cancelling cuffs that rendered her useless to the situation she found herself in. This alone caused Lucy to groan, unsure how the hell she'd get out of this one.
"He won't hurt you." A voice cracked, causing Lucy's head to snap up to look over at who ever had spoken with a frown deeping on her face.
"Who's he?" Lucy asked, voice soft so she wouldn't bring attention to whoever it was keeping her here with the other women, where a few laid motionless. Obviously dead.
"You're his favorite." The girl muttered, almost darkly. "Leaves you alone, makes sure you're alive."
Lucy frowned, wondering how long she had been out. Her attention was diverted towards the other end of the poorly lit cavern they were in hearing a noise of something opening, her eyes falling on a man who could be a splitting image of Reiji. With his hair being ebony, curled, tall and slender. His eyes were almost ruby, but they burned with anger and something else Lucy wasn't sure of, but was sure enough that it caused her to want to be far away as possible from the place she currently sat.
"Try not to sound so jealous, sweetheart." He chuckled, his smile as sharp as Laito's, dark and twisted with promises of nothing. "Jealousy is such an ugly shade of green."
His ruby eyes never left Lucy's to look at the other female, not even when he went to kneel down in front of Lucy, taking her face into his hands and admiring her point blank. Literally looking at her as if he wanted to eat her, and that didn't settle well with Lucy at all.
"Who the hell are you?" Lucy spat, jerking her head out of his cold hands and narrowing her brown eyes to glare at the man in front of her.
"Kino." He says, moving to cup her cheek again and bringing her face closer to his forcefully through the cell bars, causing her to cry out. "Kino Sakamaki."
Lucy's brown eyes widen, ignoring the lingering sting of the bars on her right cheek, "Another brother? Karl Heinz only has six sons."
Kino frowned, hummed and nodded, "Six sons, plus four adopted sons, and one illegitimate son that he didn't even care about to name. Not even enough to include in the race for your hand in marriage."
Lucy wasn't sure what she could even do without access to her magic. She was relieved to feel the weight of her keys in her pouch, but she was out of ideas. This man, Kino- if what he said was true then he was a vampire. She was helpless right now, because if he wanted too he could kill her easily.
"What do you want with me then?" Lucy muttered, pushing down the urge to glare and move away.
Kino merely smirked, "I want to destroy my father and brothers."
"What?" Lucy muttered, brown eyes widening when Kino opened her cell and pulled her out.
"Stupid girl, did you not listen to me?" Kino growled, gripping her arms tightly and shaking her.
Lucy hissed, now openly glaring at Kino. "Why the hell would I ever help you?"
Kino chuckled, one hand slithering up to her hair and gripping her long blonde locks. "You are going to help me end the vampire race, then maybe I'll let you live or kill you."
Lucy was surprised, not even aware how one would end a whole species, or how she could even have a role in such a situations. "Why me?"
"Because you're the Eve."
He said it so simply, as if she was supposed to know what the hell that meant. "What?"
"You're very stupid." Kino tells her, yet tilts his head to the side and realizing she truly didn't know his father's intentions. "You're not the Eve to the Adam and Eve project, but the Zodiac Project."
Lucy's nerve snapped then, and in that moment she went and hit her head against Kino's, hearing a satisfying nose bone breaking and a grunt of pain from Kino. "No one is touching my spirits. Not you, not your father, not even your brothers." Lucy spat, watching Kino raise to glare at her with burning raging in eyes while blood trailed down his already healed nose.
"You can't fight without your magic Lucy." Kino snarled, moving to advance on her as she backed up. Her hands were still bound after all, so he had a point.
"Tell me what the Zodiac Project is." Lucy demanded, deciding not to let fear take her over. He needed her alive, so she had the reassurance she wouldn't die at least.
"Father has a very genius mind, it's why he rules and is feared." Kino slowly says, the crazy showing in his eyes. "When he met your father and mother, a plan was already forming. He knew of this world's magic, and how the purest form of light and good was magic from the stars."
"Celestial Magic." Lucy muttered, flinching when Kino caressed her cheek, entrapping her in a corner.
"He wanted obtain the power of this world, create a victorious species that balanced light and dark. To create a race of a child of the stars and a child of the night." Kino purred, running his thumb over Lucy's chapped lips.
"A celestial mage and a vampire." Lucy whispered, realizing.
"Maybe you aren't so stupid like I thought." Kino fondly says. "His original plan was to impregnate your mother, but then he learned of you and your mother's illness. He waited for the perfect moment, and it came. Your mother died and your father was in need of money."
"So your father approached mine, made the deal and waited." Lucy finished.
"Yes, waited until you were of age and perfect health to bare a child." Kino cupped her cheek. "Though I wouldn't be surprised if father wanted you for himself, like how I want you."
"To destroy the vampire race?" Lucy repeated.
Kino nodded, "We can destroy them together and you can be my queen. My beautiful queen." Then smashed his lips against hers, tasting metallic of blood that repulsed Lucy so strongly she felt her stomach churn.
He was manic in her eyes, crazy to a new level. When she first met Kanato, Lucy was convinced that he was the devil reincarnated, but she was wrong. Even Jackal and the other eight demons were not crazy like the man in front of her. Kino Sakamaki was a whole new level of evil and sociopathic.
"I would never help you nor be your queen." Lucy spat in his face, her loyalties already strong. "They'll find me, then they'll kill you."
Just like a switch the lights in his eyes switched back to anger, like a child throwing a tantrum for not getting what they wanted. Lucy knew she pissed him off, knew how stupid it was but she had no choice. She just wanted to go home.
Home. Where was that exactly? Was her home still with her guild or with the men and Yui who filled her life in ways she never expected. Sure the Sakamaki's were horrible at first, but they never knew love. How could she expect them to be kind if they never experienced it themselves? Everyone deserves a second chance, one to redeem themselves.
Lucy believed that with them, and over time they adapted and sure they still bit, but they needed to feed. There was a difference between asking for consent and taking blood by force. Of course there was Yui, the girl Lucy had grown fond of over the year and knew deep down the brothers wouldn't kill her. She knew Yuma wouldn't allow it, and that was because Lucy liked her.
Then there was the fact she was engaged, and her biological cousin with his adoptive brothers. She couldn't just leave. It wasn't easy because a piece of her heart was with them. Yet Fairy Tail, they were her drive at one point and her family still. She loved them, she forgave them, and she wished so desperately to move forward with them.
Lucy forgave Levy for following her heart with Gajeel and Lily, to pursue something more than mourning. She forgave Wendy leaving with Carla to find a suitable place to live with people to support her. She forgave Gray and Juvia, who were dealing with the loss of Gray's father and trying to figure it out.
Most of all, she forgave Natsu and Happy. She could no longer be selfish, because the choice was Aquarius, and as much as it hurt, she couldn't blame anyone for what happened. She had to understand everyone was mourning their own ways, Natsu was no different than any other human.
Home, she wasn't sure where that was at yet but Lucy knew everything would fall into place the way it was supposed too.
"You'll change your mind soon enough." Kino growled his vow, yanking Lucy's head to the side roughly by her hair, making her cry out in pain when he mercilessly sunk his fang deep into her neck.
Her blood flowed into Kino's mouth effortlessly, filling his senses with the addictive sweetness of her inner essence. He could drink her dry, and he wanted too. Gripping her tightly, Kino sunk his fangs deeper, Lucy's struggles slowly growing weaker as her body began to feel heavy.
It was right when her brown eyes began to flutter shut that the stone walls cave in and heat flared over the room. Even then she knew who it was, knew that he would have came.
Home.
Kino snarled, ripping his fangs out of Lucy's neck with annoyance. "Until next time, Eve." Unceremoniously dropping Lucy onto the stone floor, not even caring when her head hit hard as he disappeared like her was never there in the first place.
"Lucy!" Natsu yelled, moving fast to her side and halting seeing how pale Lucy was. "Lucy? Hey, open your eyes Lucy."
Natsu was shaking, now hearing her slow heartbeat. She nearly looked like she was sleeping. Dropping to his knees, he went to cradle her in his arms but her head rolled to the side and he was hit with the scent of her blood. His onyx eyes narrowed in on the bite wound the was oozing blood.
"Natsu, I thought I told you to wait for us-"
"Wendy!" Natsu called out, cutting Erza off as he looked up at the group who just appeared where he had beaten them moments before. "Lucy needs healing!"
Wendy was quick to react, dropping down on the other side of Lucy across from Natsu and using her magic to get to work. Yuma was already hot on Wendy's heels, smelling Lucy's blood and stopping short seeing her condition. He could feel his undead heart drop and unease settling in, not liking seeing his only family member alive on death's door nearly drain.
Kou was frowning as well, wondering who the hell even did this to Lucy. No one from their family or the Sakamaki's, so who the hell followed them into this world and tried to kill Lucy? Who was their enemy now?
"Her wound." Wendy whispered, shaking at the sight as she watched Lucy's skin stitch back together. "It's not normal Natsu."
Shuu watched the man hold Lucy tightly, seeing how much the man loved his fiance. It made Shuu unhappy, but he knew trying to take Lucy would result in Lucy being shaken around, which was the last thing she needed.
"Lucy needs to go back home, get a blood transfusion." Shuu says, locking eyes with Natsu who looked at him with hatred. Shuu couldn't blame him, because this was the world they dragged Lucy in. "Reiji should be notified, Kou."
Kou only nodded, teleporting away to inform the second eldest Sakamaki of the situation.
"Why would you know that?" Natsu demanded, holding Lucy closer. "Were you apart of this?!"
"Her heartbeat isn't getting stronger." Wendy's breath hitched, on the verge of a panic attack.
Instead of arguing or entertaining Natsu, Shuu placed a hand on Wendy's shoulder and offered a small reassuring smile. Something rare for the blonde. "Lucy mentioned you have healing magic, so you probably healed the deep wound and stopped the bleeding." Shuu then looked at Natsu, who had been staring holes into Shuu. "But healing magic probably doesn't replenish the blood Lucy lost, and while we can walk her back to the house, she would die."
"You don't know that!" Natsu argued.
"I do." Shuu says. "Her heartbeat grows weaker each second because the blood in her body is not enough to keep the heart going. She needs a transfusion now, and I can take her there in seconds, but I need you to hand me Lucy and Yuma will lead you back."
"Like hell I will." Natsu growled, distrust evident.
Yuma looked at Erza, nodded at Natsu. A silent communication that Erza knew this was what needed to be done to make sure Lucy lived. "Natsu, please hand her over. We can see her in a few hours when she's better and not worrying that she's dead."
"Erza, they're the enemies." Natsu stated.
Yuma snorted, "I can guarantee we are the opposite of that, Dragneel."
"Natsu." Gajeel spoke this time, beating Gray to the punch. "My instincts are telling me this is how it's supposed to be, for her to live. Don't let the reason of Lucy dying be your pride, she'll be safe with her fiancé."
A reminder that Lucy was not Natsu's, but another man's and that Natsu would have to deal with that.
"If she's even more hurt, I promise you won't like me." Natsu tells Shuu, handing Lucy over to the blonde, who cradled her carefully.
"I already don't like you." Shuu says, teleporting away with Lucy and out of sight of the others.
"Man I hate him." Natsu muttered.
Gajeel grinned, "I don't think he's too bad."
"He cares about Lucy too." Levy added.
Natsu clenched his fist, ignoring his nakama and looked at Yuma, "Lead the way back to Lucy."
Yuma shrugged, pivoted and walked out with the Fairy Tail mages following in his wake with a pool of different emotions and questions in mind.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know your thoughts about this chapter in a review! Thank you for the support! I appreciate it everyday!
Also, I've recently started a Fairy Tail fanfic, I'd appreciate it if you checked it out. I will share the title and bio directly below to save time of clicking to see what it's about :)
New Story: Dynasty
Bio:With her seal now broken, Lucy Heartfilia has limited time to find a way to break a bloodline curse, get factions in order, and navigate in the world her mother set her away from. Add in the fact her brother claimed his birth right as alpha wolf, she must now claim her own birth right. All while making sure the worlds of mages and supernatural don't cross, which is hard when your pervious guild starts to search for you when they get back together when they figured out you faked your own death.