Aquarius floated out of her house irritably. She hadn't had a happy moment in the last two weeks. First she was told off by Leo (she refused to call him that ridiculous name), then she was restricted to her house for a week and no Scorpio. And then she snuck out to see him, and that stupid lion spirit gave her another week of punishment. It just wasn't fair. She had done nothing wrong. He had no right to punish her.
She still sulked about it even now. She was tired of being alone, so she headed for her boyfriend's. Her darling Scorpio. She scowled. He had chosen not to defend her and didn't even want her in his house during her punishment. He practically betrayed her. And now that she remembered, she had to find out why.
Besides, it'd been two weeks! She needed her boyfriend. She didn't bother knocking on the door; there was no need for that in their relationship. She went straight in and looked for her wayward boyfriend. A talk was way over due and she needed to complain about the unfairness of the situation. He would see it her way. After all, he always did.
From the bedroom, Scorpio groaned when he saw his girlfriend approaching. He was not looking forward to the confrontation. Between training with Lucy or in the spirit world, he did a lot of thinking. He didn't like who Aquarius had become, and he didn't like who he'd become because of that either. When did he become the person who always said yes to her instead of actually discussing things? When did he become scared of talking to her? He acted like a spirit with a two track mind. Aquarius and fighting when Lucy needed him to. That had to stop. He took a deep breath and walked out of his room to meet Aquarius and get it over with.
"Hello, Aquarius," he greeted her, sighing at how she jumped. She'd really grown complacent, there was a time where he could never sneak up on her like that.
"Scorpio!" she squealed and hugged him, but then remembered her purpose here and pulled away, glowering at him. "Why didn't you defend me? Leo was being so mean and I didn't deserve that punishment..." She pouted. He sighed again before taking a deep breath and taking the plunge.
"You did deserve that punishment," Scorpio stated as he braced himself. She gaped at him for a brief moment before her face turned red and she seemed to grow. She glared at him and started screaming.
"You're supposed to be on my side! You're my boyfriend! How dare you say I deserved that punishment! It was completely unfair!" She seemed about ready to attack him. He just sighed and stared at her. He had thankfully taken the precaution of making magic unusable in his house after talking to the more knowledgeable spirits.
"I'm only on your side if you're in the right. And you are not in any way," Scorpio corrected her, trying to remain calm. This could very well spell the end of the relationship, but he was tired of who she became.
"What? So you're a Lucy lover too now?" she responded in disgust. Scorpio glared at her.
"There's nothing wrong with that. She's a great owner, she helped me come up with new attacks and defensive techniques, and it's been at least a decade since I last did that before. Training with her and her friends is brilliant."
"She hasn't called me to train yet," Aquarius retorted haughtily, tossing her hair. "She's not all that great if she can't train the best of her spirits." Scorpio snorted.
"All you do these days is throw water at everyone, a rather powerful attack admittedly, but it doesn't always work, and puts Lucy out of commission for fighting as well. Have you considered that she doesn't want to deal with your mule-headed stubbornness?" Scorpio pointed out. She stared at him.
"I do not just throw water at everyone! I destroy the opponent!" She screamed. Scorpio just shook his head.
"And you wonder why Lucy won't train with you when she's trained with every combat spirit here in the last two weeks."
"That's not fair! I'm the strongest!" Aquarius yelled. If she had feet, she would've been stomping them in frustration. Scorpio crossed his arms. It was time to get serious, he needed to get through to her.
"You were once. When Leo was exiled, and you were the leader, but things have changed just as you have. You only use one attack, and it can harm your allies just as much as your enemy, it's not a reliable attack. You've grown complacent, once upon a time, there was no way I'd be able to sneak up on you, yet when you arrived, I did. That's not a strong spirit or person. You're no longer the strongest around. And you've changed. You let it all go to your head. You're not the spirit I fell in love with," he finished firmly. She stared at him.
"I haven't changed," she shrieked. "You have! And I am too the strongest, I'll show you!" She launched herself at him, not realizing she couldn't use magic within his house. Even so, she was confident in her non magic abilities. Scorpio sighed. He easily blocked her. He used his tail to knock her down, and then he pinned her.
"Yes. You have. You're throwing a temper tantrum and acting like a child," he told her in exasperation. She stared at him.
"I am not!" she screeched, struggling against his hold. "You're not being fair and you're not listening to me! You're supposed to be my boyfriend." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply before opening them and responding.
"Then maybe it is time we went our separate ways." She gaped at him wordlessly as he continued speaking. He glared at her sternly. "But first you will listen to me. You are no longer the strongest spirit, that belongs to Loke. Right now, I think you might actually be the weakest of the zodiacs. You are no longer leader, that also belongs to Loke. You were a good leader, but sometime between Lucy acquiring Sagittarius and Loke, you changed. You became a dictator, no spirit was allowed out of our section except for you at first to visit me. You enforced a strict training schedule which didn't allow any spirit to improve. You made everyone have a curfew. And when Loke finally had enough, you didn't want to give up your power." She looked away.
"I thought I was helping everyone," she muttered.
"By being a dictator when they didn't ask for it? You weren't. And that's not it. You belittled Lucy every chance you got. I've learned that everything you hate about her is wrong. Even the cutting. More scorn and hate and abandonment does not solve a problem born of abandonment and loneliness. It just makes it worse. If Layla was going to hate anyone for that situation, it was Jude or yourself. Even Cancer, but not Lucy. Lucy hates herself for cutting. But that was how she coped. She's a great owner, a great mage, and she could've been even greater than she already is by now if you and Cancer had just offered to train her instead of leaving her to figure things out, thrown headfirst into things from the moment she joined Fairy Tail. She is definitely quickly making her way to the top by way of celestial magic. She's a dragon slayer now. She can use any of our magics without calling us. She has our keys linked to her eye so that she can still call us if her keys get stolen or tossed aside like they have in the past, through no fault of her own. You never gave Lucy a chance. You just hated the change from Layla to Lucy, and hated Lucy for living where her mother did not, right?" Scorpio paused to see if she would respond. She stubbornly kept her head turned away so he couldn't see her expression.
"Well, that resentment stops. You can't change the past. You're not the spirit I fell in love with and started dating. We used to have fun. We used to play games with our magics. We used to cuddle and talk. Lately all you've done is whine and force me to listen to it. I'm done with that. I'm done with this version of you. If I were leader, I would've punished you worse than one week and then an additional week for breaking the rules. That was rather lenient, and I see the punishment didn't do you any good." Scorpio stood up and moved away. He didn't look at her. "Leave now. We're through."
"Fine. I see how it is." She flew out the door, trying not to show how close she was to actually crying. He had hit a nerve, and she didn't want him to know. It's not like he would care anyways.
Once she was gone, Scorpio collapsed onto a chair with a groan. He rubbed his face, disbelieving that he actually did that. Before Loke's punishment of Aquarius, he would've never dreamed of lecturing her like that, let alone attempting to break up, a testament to how what was once a good relationship, turned bad. He never wanted to break up with her; the real her was still in there somewhere, buried beneath layers of resentment, hate, and power corruption. He just wished they could've done without the break up... but it was clear she needed a shock like that. He only hoped it worked.
Aquarius huffed as she stalked over to her house, as best a floating mermaid could do. It just wasn't fair, first Leo and the rest of the spirits, then her boyfriend? And Lucy refused to train her? The indignation! She slammed the door behind her, getting immense satisfaction from the thud that echoed.
"Who do they think they are telling me what to do?" She yelled and picked up a vase and threw it at the wall. It shattered.
"Why am I being punished for doing things right around here!" She turned and launched a plate at the wall.
"This isn't fair! Lucy stole my boyfriend!" She hurled another plate after the first.
"I am strong!" A glass. "I was a good leader!" A third plate. "I'm not acting like a child!" She smashed three glasses in succession against the wall and then paused. She looked around at the mess of glass around her. She snorted.
"Looks like a child did this... oh... I am the child..." Aquarius collapsed onto the couch, trying not to remember times she cuddled with Scorpio there. "Scorpio was right..." she whispered before falling silent, considering what Scorpio said, seriously this time.
She really was acting like a child over the situation, even if she was in the right. Throwing temper tantrums? It felt so natural, when did that become her? She sighed heavily. Scorpio was right... it did start with Layla's death. She had reacted the same way Lucy did. With anger, pushing everyone away. Except she still had Scorpio, that had been about when they started dating. He helped her through it, but her anger never really faded unlike Lucy's. She was angry that she was forced to go to Lucy, she didn't have a choice in her next owner. And she took it out on the young girl no often than not... who kept enduring the abuse, trying to make friends with one of her few connections to her mother remaining.
She had harmed her owner, why hadn't Lucy ever released her? Just because she was Layla's spirit? That... that wasn't a good enough reason, not for all the things she did to Lucy. She deserved to be exiled. She had to make it up somehow... But first she needed to consider the other things she'd been told.
With a sigh, she acknowledged that maybe she had gotten a bit too much because of letting the power go to her head, and she thought she was helping them because she knew best, but she'd also always known that every spirit was different in how they trained, and very few spirits would benefit from her idea of training... Which she hadn't actually done herself.
Aquarius considered the attacks she'd used since Lucy joined Fairy Tail, and realized they were all the same attacks. All of which could have wiped Lucy out of the battle, and some of them were life or death. All for what? Resentment? Anger? ...revenge? It wasn't worth it, the mermaid spirit decided. Not worth it one bit. What had she become? No wonder Scorpio broke up with her... she deserved that.
All the thoughts circled through her head, driving her to break down in tears, begging herself for forgiveness, but knowing she wouldn't get it from herself until she got it from everyone else and worked towards making it better.
She took a few hours to calm herself, and to think through how she had to handle this. It was unlikely Scorpio would let her back into his house. So she would have to do a public apology. That was fine, she could do the other apologies while she was at it. She took a deep breath. She just had to overcome her pride. And stubbornness. But this was something she had to do, there was no getting around it this time. She needed to get over it. And fast. The sooner she apologized, the sooner she could start making amends.
So Aquarius marched straight to the gathering area. Well, marched being a relative term seeing as she floated along. A large amount of spirits were gathered there. She ignored the whispering and staring as she searched for Scorpio. She found him, talking to Draco and Sagittarius. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. All three glanced up. She gathered up her courage.
"Scorpio... I'm sorry. You were right. I was acting like a child." Dead silence greeted her words. Aquarius turned around so she was addressing most of the other spirits. "I'm sorry for how I was acting. I was acting spoiled, selfish, and mean. Leo... Loke, you were right. You should be leader, and I shouldn't have treated Lucy the way I have." Loke nodded to her.
"I accept your apology, as I think many of the spirits do. But don't forget, you will need to apologize to Lucy as well." He held out his hand. Aquarius hesitated, and then shook it.
"I will. I... just need to figure out how."
After that, there was silence. Until it was broken by Kiara turning to Lupus gleefully.
"Ha. Told you Scorpio would be able to get her to see sense quickly. I won the bet!" she cheered. "Now for that piggy back!" Lupus groaned.
"Must I?" he complained, backing away slowly. Loke watched in amusement.
"Kiara always wins the bets. It's best to get it over with quickly or she will find a way to torture you until you do."
Even Aquarius had to laugh at the sight of the big wolf carrying Kiara around the gathering space, heeding her every order with grumbles, whines, and occasionally growls. Scorpio approached her silently. She noticed him and hesitated, not sure what to do since they no longer were a couple.
"Aquarius," Scorpio started, "do you want to talk?" She hesitated, then nodded, feeling like she was 15 again.
"Yeah... that'd be... that'd be good."
They walked away for some privacy. Neither were certain how they should act. Finally, Aquarius couldn't take it any more.
"I don't want to stop dating..." She refused to look at him, afraid of what she would see. "I want to be my old self again, but it's been so long... I don't know how. I... I need help so... I... I understand if you don't want to date me because of what I've done." Scorpio didn't need any time. He wrapped his arms around her.
"I'll help you any time. We are a couple as long as we're both in love with the other's true selves, and that's still true... we just need to work through this. It'll get better," he promised. She looked up at him hopefully.
"Really?"
"Really, as long as you want to make the change, we can do it. It may take a lot of time, but YOU can do it. I believe in you."
"Thanks," she mumbled as she cuddle against him. Things were right again, just not in the way she had thought.
A/n This was much harder to write than I thought it would be, I struggled with it for weeks because Aquarius and Scorpio didn't want to be written. Plus, it's not like we know Scorpio's personality well, so I had to make his up as I went. I'm just glad have Aquarius on the way to being a good spirit finally. Sure her parts were funny, but she is/was my least favorite of the spirits I've seen so far. And that makes me upset. Because my sign is Aquarius, barely (my birthday is January 20th), but she is my sign. I don't like seeing an immature brat 'representing' me.