~LoLu~~

Chapter 13

~~LoLu~~

"So... nice place you've got here," Loke began conversationally as he transitioned into sight and slowly approached his mistress. He crouched down near her and waited a little cautiously for her to respond to his words or his presence – or anything, actually.

While he waited, he glanced around one more time. Wow. He wasn't lying – Lucy'd just created herself a very beautiful waterfront home. Apparently with barely a thought, though now she appeared to be thinking, all right – perhaps a little too much. Then again, she tended to do that with a lot of things.

"Princess?" he finally prompted after a few minutes when she still hadn't responded. "Are... you okay?"

Now it was her turn to ponder those words, and she laughed a bit harshly. Okay? Umm... no? This is going to take a long time to get used to, to get my life back to any semblance of normal. I don't think that really fits my definition of okay. "It's gonna be a while before I can say that, Loke," she finally replied. "I might know who I am as a celestial spirit now, but it doesn't mean I'm comfortable with it all yet. Right now, one side of me is Eridanae, and the other is Lucy. Melding the two together is not going to be easy – or quick."

Leo nodded after a moment, though he couldn't really understand when it came down to it. He'd never had to face such a division inside himself, since he had only and ever been the celestial lion, born into the stellar world in the same manner most of the other spirits had been.

Although... this whole thing, and Seirei-o's earlier insinuation about he and Lucy and Leo Minor, had gotten him wondering. If a celestial spirit was born on its own by its own power, then what would he and Lucy having a child have to do with anything? If a self-sparked birth was indeed the way things worked, then why would a spirit even need to have the capability of procreation?

Hm. Interesting question. He glanced at Lucy and made a mental note to ask the king about that the next time he caught him.

In the meantime... "Umm, hey," he began as he cautiously took a seat next to her, "I know you've been through a lot since waking up, but I'm afraid to say there's more that needs to be dealt with like... now. It can't be put off. Oh, and everyone sends their hello's - by way of Levy."

That tore another laugh from her, though this one was a little less harsh. She nodded and finally looked over at him. She just studied him for a moment, her expression even and giving nothing away, then said, "Well, you want to explain what these other things are that can't wait?"

"Your stuff that's still back at your old apartment, and the money from the sale of your estate," he replied after a pause as he returned her regard. That brought back to mind that odd look and blush from her earlier, and his eyes narrowed just slightly as he watched her, wondering about it again. However, he didn't mention anything, not yet. There would be a far more appropriate time for that at some other point.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, damn, I forgot," she breathed, panicking just a little. "Not my stuff at my apartment, but the estate. Is Nilson still holding onto the money?"

Loke snorted. "Not hardly," he huffed. "Bastard dumped it off with the guildmaster, then dropped you as a client. Makarov's holding it for you in the guild vaults. He said he didn't mind doing so for as long as you needed him to, but that your landlady wouldn't be so understanding."

The young woman cringed at the thought of her crotchety... about-to-be former landlady. Well, at least I won't have to worry about rent and things like that ever again. Silver linings... "That's an understatement," she agreed with a pout. "Wonderful. I suppose I need to figure out how to force my gate open so I can go back and pack everything and move it all somehow." She made a sour face. "I really hate moving."

"Well, you'll certainly have a beautiful place to put it all," he pointed out, looking around yet again. "I'd... be honored if you'd show it to me - once moving's all taken care of, of course. But you know you still have me and your other spirits, right?" he went on without pause, giving her no real chance to react or respond to his request. "We can all help you relocate your stuff back here. It won't be so bad, you'll see - it'll probably be the easiest move you'll ever make, actually."

"Wait... I can still keep your keys? How does that work? How can a spirit keep the keys for other spirits?" she asked, more focused on that than his last statement.

"Huh. Guess you didn't get that far in your discussion with Seirei-o." The lion shrugged – he didn't mind explaining what he could. "He said that since you hadn't died, and hadn't done anything to break our contracts, there was nothing in the laws against you keeping our keys, so... none of us have to worry about an unkind master ever again." Loke glanced at her again and then down as he remembered Karen and how she'd treated his poor little lamb friend. "I'm happy about that for all our sakes, but to be honest, I'm more relieved for Aries than any of the rest of us."

Lucy nodded as she thought about that, then frowned as some very new instinct prodded her. "Not that I actually need the keys, anymore."

He considered her words. "I suppose not," he finally agreed. "Really, I guess they're nothing more than a symbol, now. But that's okay, I'm good with that." He paused, then asked, "Do you need me to show you how to force your gate?"

"No," the blonde returned slowly after a few seconds searching her mind, "I don't, now that I think about it. It's not really any different than what I've been doing all my life by being a spirit mage."

"Okay. Then we should probably get going – it's already been another week or so for the guild." Loke pulled a face. "That time difference... always before I simply took it for granted, you know? It was just the way things were, and that never mattered. But now, since my exile and then you, it's beyond irritating." He looked out at the skies above the river – which Lucy had decided to create her home on an island in the middle of – and sighed. "And... saddening. I'd never really made friends with humans before, but now I've got a few, and watching them all fade away is not something I'm looking forward to."

Some might have thought him a little insensitive to be bringing such a thing up to a young woman still barely able to even accept everything that was coming at her, but really, he was just trying to re-emphasize that she wasn't alone. He could understand and empathize with at least a part of what she was going through now and would later, even if he could never have claimed a shred of humanity himself – because her coming losses were his, as well. It gave them a common ground she could never have with any of the other spirits, because none of them had ever been human, or exiled from the spirit world and forced to live as one for as long as their body held out.

It was just another link in the ties that now lay between them, which Loke welcomed with open arms. The more he could entwine himself irrevocably in her life, the better his chances of one day gaining his heart's desire.

Lucy exhaled slowly, her eyes flickering darkly as she acknowledged those coming losses. "Yeah," she replied, subdued. "I'm glad that at least I have you with me, though. I don't think I'd survive this if I had to go it alone."

"As long as I exist, Princess, you won't ever have to 'go it alone'," he assured her once more. He reached over and ran a finger down her jawline in a feather light caress with a smile. Then, deciding that it was time to attempt a distraction, he nudged her and leaped lightly to his feet, holding out a hand for her. "But hey, we need to get a move on. Last time I took a couple of hours getting back and nearly got Natsu-fist in the face practically before I could finish coming through my gate."

The blonde took his hand and allowed him to pull her up. "Now why am I not surprised?" she asked rhetorically as she gained her feet, allowing him to divert her attention from the depression she could feel hovering just over her shoulder – and the way his little, offhand caress had sent her body, mind, and heart into a frenzy of longing. She wanted him so much, but would forever be silent about it, because her feelings would in the end only drive him away, she was sure of it. She sighed inwardly. "He can be so impulsive sometimes."

Leo snickered underneath his breath. "Sometimes? Don't you mean all the time?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she acknowledged wryly. "And he'll never change, either. It's a good thing Erza's still there to keep him in check, otherwise Fiore might be in more danger than it already is with him running around."

The lion could do nothing but agree with that, because it was quite strictly true. If Natsu were left to his own devices, whole countries would catch fire and burn to the ground. "Give me a minute," was all he said though, as he glowed golden for a few seconds and then reappeared in casual clothes. It had already been a hell of a long day, and he needed the break from the suit.

On the upside, he was no longer feeling tired. All that power Lucy had fed him earlier during the Joining had completely erased any signs of fatigue, and he still felt like he could take on the world, even if it had been a long day already.

Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly over yet.

The newest celestial spirit eyed the lion sideways with a slight blush, and bit her lip. She always loved the way he looked, him in a suit with that copper fringe of his framing his gorgeous face and eyes enough to make her weak in the knees. But there was just something about him when he went casual. Maybe it was because he'd rarely worn anything but suits since returning to the spirit world, or maybe it was just because she knew that the few times he'd worn such simple clothes since were some of the only times she'd seen him really at his ease.

Either way though, he looked damn good in that olive green jacket of his, a fitted black t-shirt, and... oh, stars, were those... black jeans? Lucy had actually never seen him wear denim before, and boy did he look good in it. Yeah, it's definitely the man that makes the clothes, not the other way around – at least in Loke's case. It has to be a sin to covet that man's perfect body.

… And once again, I need to remind myself of leagues, and what's not in mine. She sighed, irritated at herself and her stubborn feelings for the lion. They just wouldn't die.

It still hadn't occurred to her that even if Loke had cared whether she was human or not, she no longer was.

Her (former) mortality was a hindrance no longer... not that it ever really had been anywhere except inside her own mind.

She blinked as the man in question waved a mystified but amused hand in her face, and her flush deepened as she realized that she'd been staring at him – and quite blatantly, too.

Loke chuckled at his mistress. She had gotten so flustered right then, and he wasn't entirely certain why – though he had his suspicions. So, maybe it was a little bit of ego on his part, but he knew he looked good in jeans, and that Lucy hadn't seen him in them before. And since he was determined to win her over, he wasn't above using almost any tactic to entice her – including those particular ones.

"Maybe you'd like to change, too?"

"Eh?"

He laughed. He couldn't help it. "Lucy, where'd your mind run off to?" he teased as he peered at her. "You are getting awfully red in the face. You wouldn't be thinking naughty things by any chance, now would you?"

"What? No!" she shrieked, folding her arms across her chest and glowering at him before glowing a gentle blue herself and changing her outfit in the same manner he had. "No way!" Damn, I'm such a liar...

Another burst of laughter met her denial. "Mmhmm. Suuure, I believe that."

"Ugh, let's just go," she growled after giving him one last quelling glare, which didn't appear to faze the lion in the slightest.

Of course.

"Anything you say, beautiful!"

Dammit, don't tempt me with open-ended statements like that, you stupid, sexy man. You might just get more than you bargained for!

Lucy face-palmed, suddenly very angry with her traitorous brain. Ugh, just stop! Stop thinking about that... that... him!

Loke grinned at her, and with his eyes twinkling brightly and that sexy smile of his, she was doomed.

Utterly doomed.

This wasn't going to end well, she could already tell.

~~LoLu~~

After a quick lesson from the zodiac leader on how to find her way to the guild through her own gate, Lucy made her first trip to Earthland as a celestial spirit.

She could immediately feel her energy being battered by the mortal plane, although it wasn't anything more than mildly annoying, like a barely-there itch you couldn't quite reach. It was easily ignored, however – especially when her ears were inundated by shouts of her name and she was pounced before she could even finish the transition. She'd known she was in for it when she got back to the guild, but she hadn't quite expected... this.

Although, she had to smile when she saw who was leading the charge.

She barely had time to brace herself before a tiny, blue-haired piece of dynamite tackled her with a glad shout of, "Lu-chan!" that was loud enough to alert Makarov all the way in his office that their only celestial spirit mage – and new spirit, herself – had finally returned.

"Levy-chan," she gasped, trying to keep her balance. She shot Loke, who had just appeared through his own gate next to her, a grateful glance when he reached out and steadied her. "Thank-you," she mouthed at him as she patted a crying blunette on the back, her expression a little overwhelmed as more friends moved in on her.

"Anytime, babe. That's what I'm here for," he murmured in deliberately husky tones into her ear with a mischievous grin she couldn't see.

She twitched as a frisson of pleasure shot down her spine in response, growling inwardly at the provocation. He probably did that on purpose, the jerk! But she couldn't be certain, and with all their friends surrounding her she really didn't have the opportunity to turn and look at him and find out for sure, so she was forced to let the matter slide. One of these days, though...

Her mind was forced back to her friends when the blunette started speaking.

"Loke told us about what happened to you, and we want you to know we still love you, Lu-chan. You will always be a Fairy Tail mage, just like he is, even if you're a spirit now," Levy said fiercely, and a rousing cheer went up at her words.

Lucy was just so touched she couldn't even speak. It meant the world to her that her friends had missed her so much, but it also saddened her. Like the lion, she dreaded losing all those she cared for here, and even worse, because of the vast difference in time between the two realms she would be watching them all age and die within a year. All she would have with them now would be snippets of time, like a series of photographs, before they would be gone. Snapshots, stills, whatever you called them, they were in no way satisfying to the blonde – although they were better than nothing.

"Thanks, Levy-chan," Lucy finally managed with a somewhat damp smile as she passed out hugs and happy words to all the guildmembers surrounding her, Loke a now-quietly supportive presence at her back.

"Lucy!" someone else shouted... and suddenly everyone that had been pretty much right on top of her couldn't get away fast enough. With a wild shudder, she looked around for the owner of that voice, and cringed when she saw him.

This was going to hurt.

"Natsu!" she greeted with a slightly terrified smile as she pressed back into Loke, hoping he could manage to keep them all on their feet, because here came the fire mage, pelting towards the blonde at full speed. Just before impact, however, a wall of ice thrust upward from the floor, and the galloping slayer hit that, instead.

To both Lucy and Loke's eternal relief.

"Thanks, Gray," the lion breathed as the pink-haired teen crashed into it instead of the two of them. He could have withstood the slayer's charge, but it probably would have hurt his beautiful princess, and he couldn't have that.

The ice mage nodded with a glare at Natsu, who was groaning and holding his head while laying flat on the floor. "He has no damn sense of restraint," he complained, making everyone who'd heard him laugh, because it was so patently true. "I'm glad to see you, Lucy. We were all really worried."

"I'm sorry, guys," she said contritely, feeling guilty for hiding the fact that she'd been ill from her friends. She'd been trying to keep from worrying them, but in the end she'd only ended up precipitating that very emotion.

"It's okay – just don't do something like that again," Erza spoke up for the first time, smiling gently at her blonde friend as she approached. Seeing the young woman swarmed by everyone else, she'd chosen to wait to greet her until most of them had moved away. "I know you were trying to keep from upsetting us, but we would rather be upset than forced to bury you."

It was so close to what Loke had said to her, and Lucy could do little but nod at the same sentiment from her other friends. "I promise," she replied solemnly. Before she could say anything else, however, the guildmaster approached.

Makarov glanced between she and Loke with something indefinable in his eyes, a look the blonde found off-putting. When the master looked like that, something serious was going on, and right now she didn't really feel up to any more nasty surprises.

Of course, when had her feelings on any subject ever mattered? Life was such a bitch!

Despite the look in his eyes, he smiled gently at Lucy and moved to give her a hug of his own – watched a little closely by Loke, who knew just how the man's perverted mind sometimes worked. After all, his worked mostly the same way around beautiful women, and Lucy was a beautiful woman... with an amazing body.

But the little man didn't make any comments or even give a lecherous smirk, his expression remaining somber as he embraced the celestial mage. When he pulled away, he said, "Welcome back. We've missed you," softly. "It's good to see you looking so healthy again."

"Thank you, Master," she returned tearily as he moved back.

He nodded, then spoke again. "As joyous an occasion as this is, I'm afraid I need to speak to you, and you as well, Loke. There is serious business to discuss. If you would join me in my office?"

Lucy groaned inwardly but obeyed, following Makarov up the stairs and into the room he'd made into Fairy Tail's Command Central, so to speak. Darn it!

Loke's thoughts were echoing the blonde's with impressive accuracy as he trailed along behind her, but noting the uptick in her tension, he scowled, not at all happy that there appeared to be something going on. Something that was about to affect his already-stressed out mistress, and make her anxiety and tension worse. Will this crap never end? He also couldn't help but wonder why the rest of Team Natsu hadn't followed. What the hell could be going on that involved he and Lucy, but not the others?

Warning bells rang in his mind as they entered Makarov's private sanctum and took proffered seats. He wasn't sure what was up, but his instincts were screaming that whatever it was, he wasn't going to like it in the slightest.

Sometimes he really hated it when he was right.

Fairy Tail's master got right to the point.

"When it was confirmed that someone had been found using Marionette, I informed the authorities. After a two-month investigation, the mage that was teaching the others this forbidden magic was found. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone, and none of the agents sent to find out who he was could get close to him because of Marionette."

The guildmaster paused, looking grim, and neither of the two others in the room were very happy to hear the direction the conversation was going. Not that it would be hard to go in and get the man... at least, not if the other mages didn't decide to use some other form of magic against them to stop them. It looked as though this was a job that only the celestial spirits could do, though, no matter how you looked at it.

Of course, there was also Erza and her Nakagami armor, but she was only one person, and that crazy armor drained her magic fast. It limited the amount of help she would be able to give.

"You want us to go in and get him."

Makarov grinned tightly at Loke as he spoke, and nodded when he finished. "Yes. Since celestial spirits are immune to Marionette, you and the other spirits our only hope," he said candidly. "Humans can't get near him because of what that blasted magic does to us, so it's up to you. Since you are both still-active members of the guild in good standing, I decided to come to you with this."

The two glanced at each other, reluctant as hell, but knowing they were going to comply anyway. That mage couldn't be allowed to use such foul magic on anyone else – people could die from the darkness left behind and the attempts to purge it. Like Lucy almost had.

They couldn't in all good conscience turn the guildmaster's request down.

"We'll do it," Lucy spoke for both of them, the lion's consent to the mission already given in the look they'd exchanged.

Makarov's grin got positively evil. "I thought you would, but I'm glad to see I was right. This is the mission, then," and he went on to explain the details, such as location and number of enemies. "Orders are to do anything it takes to stop this man... up to and including killing him if you aren't able to restrain and deliver him to the authorities." His face was now solemn, and he leveled them with a stern look, weighing them both. Then he focused on Lucy. "I know you probably don't like that, but if there is no other choice, then you must stand firm and take him down for the good of the many. We don't need another Zeref."

The blonde shuddered and paled. No, they certainly didn't need such a disaster, the master was right about that. Zeref's machinations had ruined and destroyed many lives over a span of four hundred years, and she was pretty sure whoever it was that was using Marionette had as malevolent a heart – they had to.

"I understand, Master," she said softly, indeed not liking what she might be called upon to do, but comprehending it.

"Good. Then if there are no questions-" he glanced between them, and finished when they shook their heads, "-the sooner you head out, the sooner this will be over."

It can't be soon enough, Loke thought to himself, angry at what some fool with delusions of power and a sick mind was causing everyone, but especially his mistress. And that on top of everything else.

Once again, someone was going to pay for Lucy's now-disordered and stress-filled life. After all, if it weren't for the man running around teaching that thrice-damned magic to others, she wouldn't be a spirit in the first place. And while he couldn't lie so baldly to himself, and he was happy he'd never have to lose her, he was still angry that her entire life and future had been uprooted in such a drastic manner.

He had no problem taking that frustration out in blood if it came down to it... and maybe even if it didn't. He'd already done it once before for her sake, so it really made no difference to him if he had to do it again.

~~LoLu~~

A/N: So FF's notification glitches are still ongoing, which is frustrating. For any and all reviews on this story, I want to thank the ones who took the time to review. Hopefully, FF will fix this mess, and sooner rather than later.