Alcina could hear sand shifting towards her as she tried to open them. Pain raked through her body as she tried to blink, her eyes aching from the sand. As her eyes adjusted to the light she saw it was Loke who was walking towards her. Embarrassment washed over her, having to be saved was a blow to her pride, she was still not strong enough to even protect herself.
As Loke came up next to her he crouched down by her. Still laying in the sand she refused to meet his eyes. "Alcina."
"No."
"Alcina are you OK?" He asked leaning over her.
"Yes I'm fine. Thank you bye." She insisted still un-moving.
"Alcina look at me." Loke demanded.
Looking at him her breath hitched. Deep concern was rooted in his hazel eyes, she could see that even with his blue shades in the way. " I wasn't strong enough." She whispered through clenching teeth.
"You were strong enough, you saved both Lucy and Taurus. He was hurt so badly he was about to close his gate and Lucy wasn't even hurt because you were able to get her out of harms way completely. Just because you needed help does not mean you're not strong enough." He assured her.
Even though her face and body hurt, her ego was bruised, she knew he was wrong, she needed to be stronger to take on Leo. She put in a good fight even if the fight put it right back to her. Huffing she managed to pull an arm underneath her, barely managing to prop herself up on it. She was still flush from the fight and didn't want to ask for help getting up even if she knew she needed it.
"Ha yeah you're right, I did kick those scorpions asses." Alcina claimed with laughter.
"You were amazing at it." Loke praised.
The evening sun was beginning to set on the horizon behind them, a brilliant light was shining on Loke, it seemed like the tips of his hair were on fire and his gaze was smoldering, Alcina thought she would go blind. Loke tilted his head every so slightly and smiled at her, it seemed like it intensified all of him with just that smile. Her heart was thundering inside and she couldn't tell if she was still breathing.
The feeling of being unguarded and exposed pulled in the pit of her stomach. She yearned to reach out and touch him, craved to pull him to her. Her hand was already reaching out by the time she realized what she was during. Panic caused havoc to wreck her breathing and made her feel heavy and helpless. Just an itch away from contact with his skin and it crashed into her what she was doing and how intoxicating it made her feel. Too late to pull away, she shoved him backwards.
Twisting away Alcina forced herself to stand up and though limping she began to make her way towards Lucy, leaving Loke confused sitting in the sand.
"OK time to go home!" Alcina demanded in her gimpy walk.
Once they had returned the boy and got on the train to ride home, Loke stayed with them since Alcina was still hurt even if she wouldn't admit it. He could see it in her eyes, she was playing it off well enough that you wouldn't be able to tell. But she was favoring her right arm and held it close in her lap, she was making up for it with more hand gestures from the left when she talked.
Telling jokes and stories to each other Loke would have assumed that Lucy and Alcina were sisters if he didn't know them. Both were blondes even though they were different tones, Lucy was more of a light blonde while Alcina's was almost golden. Lucy's eyes were a chestnut brown and Alcina's were a forest green, both of them had similar builds. Like two pees in a pod they seemed to have formed a strong bond with each other already.
As the train slowed down they all began to stand and pick up their bags, Alcina still holding her arm in close to herself as they began to make their way off the train. Loke walked in front of the girls at a leisurely pace, thinking of the date that he had planned for later. Wondering if he had time to go change out of the sandy clothes.
"Ooof! Hey watch where you're going!" Alcina shouted as a man bolted past, bumping into her as he ran past.
"Are you OK?" Lucy questioned.
"Ugh yeah. He just bumped me a bit. Hey, he dropped something." Alcina claimed, leaning down and pick up a piece of rolled paper.
Loke walked back to them as they opened up the paper, dried flower petals fell to the ground. "Hmm his long gone, I don't even see him anymore." Loke states.
"I wonder what it says. Maybe it has his information on it?" Lucy inquired.
Alcina began reading it aloud "Una dea amoris, quaeso benedicere corpoum omnium voluntate? What does that means?"
The air around Loke and Alcina began to crackly with energy. Backing away quickly Lucy stared at Alcina and Loke, golden sparks began shooting between them till a gravitational pull started to bring them closer. " Whats happening!?' Alcina cried.
With a scowl Loke answered " It must have been a spell!"
But their voices were drowned out as the sparks engulfed them both in a wild blaze of light and smoke. Lucy covered her eyes as her hair was thrashed around. The wind died down and the light faded. When Lucy looked up she saw Loke and Alcina sitting in a pile, Loke sitting on top of Alcina. Both seemed disoriented and a little woozy, Lucy helped them both stand back up.
"I can't see anything." Alcina said,
Holding his head Loke stumbled a little questioning "My arm doesn't hurt any more?"
"Mine does, badly." Alcina stated.
"Huh!? What is this!?" Loke shouted as he grabbed Alcina.
Looking at each other their eyes got huge. "Whats going on!?" They both shouted grabbing each other.
"How-" "Wha-" "Why!?" They stammered.
"You're me!" They both exclaimed.
"The spell! Read it again, maybe it will switch us back." Alcina said as she pushed the blue glasses back up her nose.
Trying to brush the long blonde hair out of his face Loke held it the paper open again. "Una dea amoris, quaeso benedicere corpoum omnium voluntate!" He read aloud.
They all held their breath waiting. "Do it again!" Alcina demanded.
"I did! Una dea amoris, quaeso benedicere corpoum omnium voluntate! Come on! Work!" Loke shouted shaking the paper.
"Arg! I knew your arm was hurt Alcina!" Loke accused her.
"Well you wouldn't stop trying to help me, I didn't want your help!" Alcina shouted at him
"Guys! Guys stop it!" Lucy demanded, pushing both of them back away from each other.
"Yelling and screaming isn't going to fix this. Now give me the paper, we've had to deal with something like this before so maybe Levy can help us again. For now lets go to the guild and we can see if Levy is there." Lucy offered.
Both Alcina and Loke walked as far away from each other as they could, silent death glares from across the street. Lucy sweat dropped walking in the middle of the street 'like little kids' she thought as they approached the guild. Walking inside both Loke and Alcina stopped. "Ladies first." Loke reputed.
"Yeah ladies first." Alcina smirked at him. Bowing forward, her wild orange hair flipped forward.
Huffing Loke punched her on top of head. "Owww, stop being so mean!" Alcina cried as she followed him in.
"Where's Levy? We need her?" Lucy asked.
Mirajane answered "I think she may have left for a mission."
"Mirajane! Can I get some beer please?" Alcina asked as she approached the bar.
"Huh? But you don't drink beer Loke?" Mirajane questioned.
"What? No its me Alcina." She said grinning as she sit down.
"I think that hit Alcina gave you has got you confused Loke." Mirajane stated.
Loke sat down at the bar as well a few seats away. "Whisky please Mirajane."
"What? Alcina you don't drink whisky, whats going on?" Mirajane asked confused.
"Well someone had to read a spell out loud and now we've switched bodies." Loke accused.
"Well excuse me for not knowing it was a spell Mister Perfect!" Alcina reputed back at him.
"So Loke is in Alcina and Alcina is in Loke?" Mirajane jested with a grin.
"Mirajane! So perverted." Alcina accused.
Loke started running his hands threw his long blonde hair, throwing it over his shoulder and puckering up his lips "The fun I could have with your body."
"Loke! Stop it!" Alcina grabbed his arms and forced them down.
"Hey let go of me! I'll do what I want with this lewd body, its mine for now isn't it?" Loke revealed as he started to pull the strings loose on the bikini top.
"Stop! We're leaving before you ruin my reputation as a good women!" Alcina grabbed Loke and picked him up, throwing him over her shoulder.
"Alcina let me down!" Loke demanded.
"No, I'm stronger then you now and I refuse to let you expose me like that!" Alcina stated as she kept her hold on Loke even as he thrashed about.
Sitting inside of Alcina's house neither of them said anything to each other. Loke sat on the bed looking out the window with his legs crossed and facing away from Alcina, while she sat of the floor in front of the table with a beer opened. White froth gathered at the top of it when she sat it back down.
"Will you stop drinking that? You're going to make my breath stink and I still have a date tonight." Loke asked.
"Huh? You're not going on a date tonight." Alcina stated.
"Yes I am, or you are rather. You'll have to pretend to be me because I don't want to be made a fool in front of people who know me." Loke explained.
"You mean like you did at the guild?" Alcina questioned him.
Loke stayed quite for a moment, he didn't turn to look at her "Yeah, like I did at the guild..."
"I was mad that you wouldn't let me help Alcina. We're family in our guild. We're supposed to help each other when we need help." Loke stated.
Alcina looked at her beer, the froth spilling a little over the sides, the deep hoppy smell was so pleasant to her nose. She took a sip and sat it back down with a sigh. " I don't like to ask for help, its just a sign of weakness."
"But that's what family is there for Alcina! Didn't you ever have to help someone in your family? Aren't you trying to help the people on your island that are part of your family?" Loke petitioned to her.
Silence settled for a few minutes. Alcina kept her gaze on the open beer while Loke was locked on her sitting there not moving. He waited for her to realize that he wasn't trying to prove she was weak, just for her to realize that if she ever needs help that her guild family will always be there for her.
"I'll go on your date for you Loke." Alcina stated quietly.
"But can you help me with something first?" She added.
"Of course! What is it?" Loke questioned.
"Well.. I cant really. Or I guess... Well I don't want to see it." Alcina stammered.
"See what exactly?" Loke asked.
"Umm... Its a part of you. I don't want to see it." Alcina mumbled again.
"What are you... Oh! Oh. Oh wow I didn't think about that. Do you have to go pee?" Loke inquired.
Shifting away from his look Alcina answered " Sort of..."
"We can.. Or I.. I can try to help I guess hold it. I don't know how to handle this." Loke admitted.
" Well I know I have to stand up right?" Alcina asked.
"Oh boy, this is not going to be fun. Lets go to the bathroom then and we can get this out of the way." Loke stated.
Following her into the bathroom Loke shut the door. "Why are you doing that?" Alcina asked.
"Well it may get a bit messy in here if we don't do this right." Loke explained.
"Now just stand in front of the toilet like this." Loke explained, his feet were spread apart.
As Alcina started to spread her feet she slipped and grabbed the towel holder next to the toilet. "These damn shoes that you all were. I swear they are going to kill me."
"Just be careful, I don't want to go out with a black eye." Loke requested.
Steadying herself Alcina stood in front of the toilet with her feet spread and holding onto the towel bar still keeping her eyes on it. "Well?" Alcina asked.
"Well what?" Loke questioned.
"Aren't you gonna do it?" Alcina asked back.
"Yeah yeah just give me a second." Loke stated as he bent over, the whole thing seemed so surreal to him. Grabbing hold of the zipper Alcina jumped.
"You have to stand still for me to do this Alcina." Loke explained.
"Well you're touching sensitive parts down there so its kind of hard." Alcina complained.
Loke stared at her with a dumbfound look "Yes I know that already. It is mine to start with."
" I can't help it, it feels weird." Alcina stated.
"Just stop, stop moving." Loke said.
"Stop touching it like that!" she shouted as she jerked away.
"Wow! Hey stop!" He said quickly reaching back towards her.
"Loke quit that tickles!" She howled with laughter.
"Alcina quit-" CRACK went the wall as the towel handle snapped out of it, dry wall rained down on them both. Slipping backwards Alcina grabbed Loke to try and balance herself. Pulling Loke sideways he misstep and fell into her. Grappling for footing Alcina grabbed the shower curtain and yanked it down.
Crashing into the bath tub Alcina landed on top on Loke, blinding grabbing for the shower curtain it hooked the nozzle and hot water began spraying down. " Ow! Hot hot hot!" Alcina shouted as she scrambled to escape the curtain.
Loke tangled underneath her grabbed a handful of her hair "Alcina stop trashing around!"
"Its so hot!" She shouted.
"I look good." Loke stated looking at himself. He had cleaned up his suit and fixed the style on his hair. Alcina stood there as he checked himself out, barefoot now.
"I really wish you would just wear my shoes, people will think its weird." Loke told her.
"I don't think you want me to fall again though, it would look rather foolish of you... Or me. Something. I'm not sure." She grumbled.
"Just act like me and it will be easy." Loke admitted.
Sighing Alcina straightened up and looked at herself in the mirror. This was the first time she really looked at Loke closely. He was a handsome man even if she felt like a fool for staring at his reflection. Just over her shoulder Loke was looking at himself to with a look of concern on his face.
Turning to face him Alcina pulled him into a hug. "Wha- Hey what are you doing?" Loke stammered as a blush pulled over his checks.
"If we can never return to our own bodies, I just want you to know I appreciate you being my family and all of the guild as well." Alcina admitted.
Loke relaxed at this and hugged Alcina back " You're welcome. Thank you for being my family and helping me when I needed it."
Still embraced in the hug, gold sparks began to dance over their skin. "Huh? Whats happening?" Alcina asked.
The air around them began to swirl as the gold sparks began to engulf them "Its the spell!" Loke claimed.
Crackling filled the air as the gold glow swallowed them whole. Spinning rapidly Alcina and Loke clung to each other as they were picked up off the ground and both became blinded by the light. As the whirling air finally calmed down and the golden lights began to disappear Alcina and Loke were softly sat back on the ground. This time in their own bodies. "Alcina! I'm back, we're back!" Loke cheered as he pulled Alcina up and spun her around.
"Loke stop you're making me dizzy!" Alcina cried out.
Loke sat her back down and jump out of joy "Thank you Alcina, I can go on my date! Thank you Thank you!" He cheered.
Crouching down he gave her a kiss on her check and another hug before running out of her apartment door.
Blushing Alcina watched him till he disappeared down the hallway. With a deep blush on her face "Idiot." She whispered. Looking away her gaze fall on the beer, even though it was probably flat by now she picked it up anyways and began drinking.