Story takes a big twist. Heh... hope you like. ^_^/

Chapter 10.

"Y-you killed Ares?" Loki asked disbelieving; he was standing with his hands on Lucy's shoulders and stared into her miserable eyes, "how? When?" he shook her a little to make her speak and she had to cling to his arms to keep standing.

"H-he gave me his powers…" she began and her eyes flickered.

"All of them? Is he an idiot?" Loki said and narrowed his eyes.

"No. No. He only gave me a little, but I – I took it all," she shook out, "I didn't mean to, but the power was so… tempting." Tears formed in her eyes, and she hid her face in her palms. Loki sighed and pulled her into his arms. His hands stroke her hair gently. Her hands still covered her eyes, but she let her head rest on his shoulder and sobbed quietly.

"I still have time," she whispered into his shoulder.

"No way," he said quietly, not harsh, but certain, "I'm not sending you back – see how well that ended last time."

"Loki, I have to give him his powers back… how long do I have?" she pulled away from his protecting hands and her eyes were suddenly determined and strong again.

"If you think-!"

"How long?" she said a little gentler.

"Lucy," Loki said frustrated and ran a hand through his hair, "you have 1 hour, but…"

"Thank you," she said and gave him a small smile.

"That wasn't a ticket to go!" he exclaimed and grabbed her wrist like he was afraid she would run away. She laughed and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. He gasped surprised and stood stunned for a second, but then he narrowed his eyes, "you play dirty."

"I'll be back," she told him, "please close the gate."

"If you come back with the smallest scratch…" he mumbled.

"You'll never forgive me?" she questioned teasing.

"I'll have to kill somebody," he corrected her simply. She sighed deeply, but didn't comment it further; she didn't have time to argue with him. Ares was dying (if not already) and needed her help. Loki gave her a last begging glare, but then he rolled his eyes in defeat and Lucy almost smirked.

"Gate of the spirits, I close thee," he said like he was being tortured to. Lucy kept her smile on while disappearing, but Loki didn't even try to look amused.

Ares sat up with a gasp and hugged his body tightly. He was suddenly surprised that it was so easy to breathe, and all the pain was gone too. He lifted his head and scanned his surroundings; he was sitting on a long field of green grass. He could hear the wind blow quietly around him, while it playfully pulled in his dark hair.

His hand flew to his head.

"What the hell?" he cried out in shock. His horn was gone. He jumped to his feet and tried to measure his back, which only resulted in him spinning around on the spot. His wings were gone too.

"What the-" he said stunned and looked down his body. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt a pair of jeans.

"WHAT THE HELL!" he yelled and pulled his own foot all the way up to eyelevel to measure the brand-new snickers on his foot. He lost balance and fell like a rock to the ground.

"I'M A FRIKIN' HUMAN!" he yelled out loud in panic and sat up with a horrified expression. Then his face turned wondering, "why am I a frikin' human?"

Lucy appeared in the spirit world once again. She smelled the familiar scent of food and house. She stood in the middle of Baldurs living room again, but she didn't even have time to measure her surrounding's before a rush of metal flew through the air heading straight for her. She yelled out in shock when a knife dug deeply into the wall behind her only inches from her cheek.

"What are you doing?" she yelled and stared at the attacker. Baldur was kneeling on the floor, his hand was still raised from the murderous attempt to hit her. His eyes were twisted in an unusual angry expression and he looked like he either wanted to cry or kill somebody – maybe both.

"You did this!" he yelled angrily and pointed an accusing finger at her, "You killed my owner and my best friend." His own words seemed to trigger him off, because he rose to his feet.

"Baldur, please," she said and waved her hands wildly to make him relax.

"You're going to pay!" he said angrily and headed straight for her. First now she realized that he had been kneeling beside his couch were Ares lay. Ares face was a scary pale color and his mouth was a little open, but his eyes were peacefully closed. One of his arms hang lifeless down the side of the couch and Lucy didn't think she had ever seen him lie that still. He had somehow always been in movement.

"Baldur!" she yelled an lifted her hands to protect herself from the armored man, "please listen! I deserve being hurt and twice what you'll do, but let me save Ares first… please!"

He hesitated.

"What are you talking about?" he said harshly. Lucy didn't like him talk this way, he had always been kind and brotherly around her, it was odd to hear him speak this way.

"He gave me all his powers," she said and hesitatingly moved past Baldur, "I will try to give them back… although I don't know how to." She admitted.

Baldur didn't say anything; he just watched her walk toward Ares like a hawk watches its pray. Lucy was almost scared to turn her back to him, but she ignored it, and kneeled by Ares lifeless body.

"Please be there," she whispered so quiet that Baldur didn't hear. She remembered he had had his hand on her forehead and then the burning feeling had filled her whole being. Just the thought made her shiver. She brushed his hair away from his forehead and tried to mimic what he had done. His skin was smoother than she had expected. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

Nothing.

She tried to think of the burning feeling she had felt and bring it through her fingertips.

Nothing.

"I don't understand," she whispered.

"You can't wake the death," Baldur said gloomy, "you know what the worst thing is?" he said and seemed determined to hurt her, "He had a saying, that he invented when he was just a kid," Baldur told her, Lucy turned to look at him and almost felt bad for smiling, but the thought of a mini-Ares made the corners of her lips lift a little, "he always said ´Love is only a stupid temporary feeling, and I'm not going to suffer under it´."

"What do you mean? What does that have to do with-" Lucy started, but he cut her off with a lifted finger.

"I mean that he have never sacrificed himself for anybody… not once," Baldur tried to put as much venom into his words as possible.

"I never meant to…"

"Just go," he said and his eyes turned colder, "and don't bother taking my key, I won't sign any contract or serve you in any way."

The words hurt terribly, but she deserved them. It was all her fault.

"I-I won't bother you again then," she whispered and wrapped her fingers together, "I'll be going now."

"Yeah…" Baldur mumbled and narrowed his eyes.

Lucy took a last look at Ares before she hurried out of the door. She wished she could go back to the human-world, but Loki hadn't summoned her yet, and she wasn't a golden key, she couldn't go to the human world when she wanted to.

Ares ran across the field and finally spotted civilization. The top of a few houses appeared and he hurried down to the city. ´If I had had my wings I could have flown there in seconds, humans have such an useless design ´ he thought annoyed. He had never used his legs for long distances before.

He saw two young boys run just outside the town. Maybe he could ask them.

"Hey small people!" he yelled after them and they turned with surprised expressions.

"Who are you calling small?" one of them asked, but when he saw Ares he turned silent. He had a bandage on his cheek and seemed to be the oldest. The other one had a blue cap on and seemed even shyer toward the approaching teenager.

Even without horns and wings Ares appearance screamed, ´Dangerous´ and ´Don't mess with me´.

"Do you know a person called Loki?" he asked and ignored their huge scared eyes.

"N-no," the one with the bandage answered.

"Then do you know a Guild called… um … Fairy-something, I think," he said and tried to remember what Lucy's Guild was called. Loki had mentioned it a few times, but Ares hadn't really paid attention.

"Fairy tail?" the boy with the cap asked.

"That's it, kid!" Ares said and pointed triumphing at him, but he just flickered back.

"T-the Guild is over there," he stuttered and lifted a hesitating hand toward the place, almost afraid that Ares would rip his hand off.

"Thanks humans," Ares said and patted them on the head before he hurried past them. He jumped up in the air, but halfway he realized he didn't have wings and with a surprised groan he fell flat on his face.

"M-mister?" the two boys echoed and hurried toward him. Ares chuckled and lifted his body from the ground.

"This human-thing is not that easy," he told them.

"You are weird, mister," the blue-cap boy said. Ares looked at him and he jumped a step back.

"Oh yeah, you should try to lose your wings and see how coordinated you would be," Ares told him and the boy pulled his brows together in an invisible question mark. "What are your names?" Ares asked.

"I-I'm H-Hiro," the boy with the bandage answered and straightened his back like he was in the military.

"My name is Isao, M-mister," the boy with the blue cap answered and straightened his back too.

"Hmm…" Ares said and smirked by their expression, he had never thought he would depend on two humans, but whatever, this day was crazy enough already. He straightened up and pointed a tomb toward his chest, "well, I'm Ares – not mister."

"Yes sir!" Both boys said at the same time. Ares sighed by the ´sir´, but ignored it.

"Could you show me to that Guild?" he asked and both boys nodded.

"Yes sir!"

What did you think? Ares is now a human, and everybody thinks he's dead. xD

Review please. ^_^/