Author's Note: I had the idea of this chapter as I am currently watching the anime of Fairy Tail. I couldn't resist the urge to start to mix both the main story plot and what I wanted to have happen. I don't really want to spoil by reading the manga (which as we all know is always better than the anime), but I think this will be an interesting way to go about this. As the story develops, so will I try to accommodate accordingly and respectfully. If you do not like it, by the end of this chapter, of how things are going to go, then I suggest you stop reading. This is something new for me and my first Fairy Tail fanfiction and I wouldn't mind, making more after this eventually ends. If you do like how this is going or want to give suggestions; feel free to review and let me know! I am open to constructive criticism and positive feedback. Anything other than those will not be tolerated as I see it as bullying. And personally, bullying has taken too many lives so I ask for respect of one another whether it be through messages or of the reviews.

Also, since I didn't get as many reviews as I had hoped for and no one gave an answer to the last chapter; it is been decided that on Sundays I will post a new chapter a week. However, for every 5 reviews I get within the Sunday to Sunday week, I'll upload a chapter. For example if I get 5 reviews before next Sunday, after each 5 reviews, I will upload a chapter immediately.

Now, after that little public announcement; the song for this chapter is "Losing My Mind" by F2F. So queue it up and enjoy! (also, sorry that this one won't be as long as the others but what I lack in quantity, I make up for quality.)

I Couldn't Make You Stay

~Chapter Eight~

Lucy waited up late into the night for Loke to return to her. Her stomach was in knots as she was too nervous to sleep much less summon him. Either way, both would have news to tell the other; news that would be life altering for both parties. She didn't want to risk summoning him to her in case he was in the middle of that meeting. After all, time in the spirit realm is much different than how time moved here. With a heavy heart she ate the food she had prepared and put away the leftovers. When it got late into the night, Lucy, with much reluctance, climbed into their bed alone. It was not the same as his presence was missed. She missed his warmth and the protection from his arms. Her only solace was that his scene was keeping her sane as horrible scenarios were running through her mind of why he hadn't come back home to het yet.

"Come home soon..." she whispered.

~Few Days Later/Morning~

Lucy was feeling a little under the weather as morning sickness was kicking in and she hadn't heard from Loke at all. She could still feel his presence from the key, but she didn't want to interrupt their meeting should it still be going on. Time in the celestial realm was vastly different than her realm with one day in the celestial realm was three months in hers. Lucy sat at her table sipping her ginger tea to aid with the nausea. Her mind was full of worries and uncertainties. Feeling as if she needed to get her mind off of her problems she forced herself to get dressed and go visit the guild. Maybe getting out of this room would put her mind at ease and hopefully when she returned Loke would be there waiting for her.

Upon entering the guild, which was unusually empty, she had spotted Mirajane working the bar. Natsu and Happy were talking to her as Lisanna was working on cleaning tables. Natsu saw Lucy and suddenly made a bee line for her with a flyer in his hand.

"Lucy I found us another job to go on!" he exclaimed as Happy sat on his shoulder.

"Huh?"

"They are looking for a celestial wizard to investigate weird weather patterns. They think that a celestial spirit is behind it."

"Weird weather?" she asked confused.

"You know how it has been raining lately here?" Natsu pointed out. Now that he did mention it, it had been raining more than it usually had been in the past.

"Well according to word from other guilds there has been weird weather patterns all around Fiore. Usually places like a desert would have hot temperatures of high degrees but as of late there is snow there! Isn't it bizarre Lucy?" Happy explained.

"That is so strange. So where is everyone anyway?" Lucy asked.

"All on missions. We just found out that Gray and Juvia teamed up to help with a village with a draught in the northern region. And all the jobs are being taken because of the weird weather. Anyway Mira said she had a job for us and I wanted to know if you wanted to go on it?" Natsu asked.

"It sounds great Natsu but I don't think I can handle things too stressful right now."

"I promise that it won't be. You are the only one who can do this Lucy. They need someone who knows about celestial spirits and you have most of the zodiac to help out. I am sure they just want to see if it is a spirit or not. Please Lucy?" he pleaded. Lucy felt herself losing this battle as Happy gave her a pouting look that matched with Natsu's.

"Okay." she gave in and took the flyer; with a pen she wrote her name down. Against her better judgment she decided to go ahead and do the job. It sounded easy enough and hopefully Loke would return to her soon before the end of the mission. She needed the money anyway for rent and to look into getting a bigger place. She resisted the urge to touch her abdomen. Her, no, their little one was growing healthy and strong. Natsu signed his name with Happy's. He took the flyer back up to Mirajane. After an hour or so of packing, they set out towards the island. Part of the trip was by boat which was a mistake for both Natsu and Lucy.

~Boat~

"Lucy, you are sick too?" Happy asked concern.

"Doctor said no stressful situations!" Lucy whined as she lost her lunch off the side of the boat.

"WHY DIDN'T WE BRING WENDY?!" Natsu cried all the way to the island. Lucy resisted the urge to slap Natsu as he brought on a worse headache. Leave it to Natsu to pick a mission that was this horrible when he promised it wouldn't be. She should cursed herself for not listening to her intuition in the first place. When the boat touched land; both have never felt this happy when they stumbled off that little boat. Lucy staggered weakly as she felt all her energy being drained. Her vision was still blurry and her stomach empty. Natsu easily have bounced back as he always did once the ride stopped. He peered over at Lucy as she was leaning bent over by a tree trying to catch her breath. He and Happy rushed over as she tried to stop the bile from coming up. Already she knew that this was a mistake; however, they were already there so she rationalized internally that the hard part was over.

Suddenly a large, dark shadow engulfed them. Happy let out a cry as a giant sea monster threatened to eat them whole. "NATSU!" the exceed cried. Lucy looked up and let out a shriek as Natsu sprinted towards it with his fists ablaze.

"I'm fired up! Come get some!" he laughed excited for the challenge. Lucy, for the first time, felt true fear. What if she didn't survive this? What if something happened? Would this cause her to miscarriage? The fear suddenly fueled her need for survival. She pulled out her key for Aquarius.

"Spirit I summon thee! Opening of the gate: Aquarius the Water Bearer!" The usual golden light that signaled the arrival of a spirit never came. Shock came over her face as she tried once more to summon the spirit. Meanwhile Natsu was using his fire to attack the beast.

"Try a different one!" Happy called to her as he was holding Natsu as Natsu was giving his all in the fight. Lucy pulled her other keys. She tried Virgo, Cancer, and even Taurus, but none came to her aid. "Something is wrong with Lucy's keys!" reported to Natsu.

"Keep trying!" Natsu roared

"Natsu, I don't know what is going on but they aren't coming!" Lucy shrieked as she was running out of options. A sinking feeling filled her that made her want to be sick again; but for a different reason than the moving waves of the water. In a last ditch effort she wrapped her hand around the key that nestled between her chest. "LOKE!" she cried. Panic filled her as she sunk to her knees. Something was wrong and she had sat around like an idiot when everything was happening. As Natsu fought, the sea creature did something odd. It had stopped attacking and left.

"Come back! We are not finished fighting!" Natsu stomped his feet in anguish. Happy tried to console a hysterical Lucy.

"Lucy?!" Natsu heard frantic calls for Loke. He turned and he ran over to her; he kneeled down as she frantically kept trying to summon Loke through her blubbering. Natsu placed a hand on hers and held her crying.

"W-why isn't he here?!" she screamed in his chest.

"I don't know Lucy but when I find him I will knock his teeth in for leaving you." he growled. If there was one thing Natsu could not stand was Lucy's tears. For some reason a sad face never suited her. Her smiles were the best and damn Loke for bringing her to this point.

"Lucy, Lucy calm down. Get yourself together. We will complete this mission and head back. There has to be a reason alright." he calmed her down.

"L-Leo..." she whimpered.

"He is probably in a bind but we will get him here okay? Can you stand up?" he gently helped her to her feet as she hiccupped a 'yes'. She struggled to wipe her tears and calm her heart. "Breathe. That is it, good, in and out Lucy." Natsu rubbed her back. Once she was stable, he helped her to her feet. "You sure you can walk?" Lucy gave a nod. Natsu didn't push her as they started to make their way to the village that had requested them. The whole while Lucy was gripping Loke's key as she thought of the unthinkable. What had the spirit king done to her Loke, her Leo?

"Natsu! What is that?!" Happy pointed up the road where there were eleven celestial spirits that were awaiting them on top of a higher mound. They were the spirits but there were vastly different in looks. What was soon discovered was that they were also different in personality. "Step no further or you will received punishment!" the voice of what Lucy realized was Virgo.

"Virgo! What is going on here?!" Lucy asked with her voice wavering from her crying. Lucy stepped forward but only to be yanked back by Natsu. Where she would have stood had exploded by the whip of Virgo. Lucy trembled in Natsu's arms. That was more than a close call. "Please! Tell me what happened?! Why are you doing this?!" she had begged them. Natsu held onto Lucy protectively as she looked to her celestial family. They laughed at her obvious pain.

"LUCY HEARTFILIA!" a familiar but angry voice rang out. The celestial spirits parted down the middle as a tall, ominous figure stepped forward. He hopped down from the higher mound. The other joined in behind him. Lucy adjusted her eyes and her jaw slacked from surprise. The one that was leading the new group of reformed zodiacs was none other than her lion. He wore obsidian and golden armor that covered him. His mane had grown out longer and he was stronger, bulkier in the strength of his muscles. What was most prominent about him was the cold stare of his gaze on her.

"Loke?!" Natsu growled out. He was dumbstruck at the new appearance of their fellow Fairy Tail mage. Loke ignored the dragon slayer as his eyes burned pure hatred at Lucy.

"Loke where..."

"Lucy Heartfilia!" he pointed at her with such distain. "We have brought you to his island under false pretenses to deliver you this message!" His voice was so cold and full of rage at the small mage. "We have come to tell you that we will longer be under your slavery! We will obtained true freedom!" he stepped forward. Lucy felt dumb. This was no longer her Loke. This was something much different. He may have the name and physical body but this man was not the one that kissed her just a few days ago and looked at her as if she was his world. Now, he was spewing some freedom theory and calling her a slave master. Each word insulted her and made her tremble. How could he, or any of them, ever think that? She loved them all equally and more than anything they were her family. She would die for them and she fought alongside them. What is happening?

"Loke I-" Lucy started to speak but another whip crack silenced her.

"You do not speak Lucy Heartfilia! You should be honored to be in the presence of our king. You listen and then you leave! That is your only purpose here!" Virgo spoke harshly. Natsu growled.

"Oi! What are you going on about! You are Lucy's spirits and her friends! I don't know what is going on, but you and Lucy have contracts! You can't just end them like this!" Natsu snapped.

"Had! We don't remember ever having contracts with her and even if we did; it is null and void now!" Aries spoke boldly.

"Yes, it is cowmon sense!" Taurus interjected. Lucy's bottom lip trembled. They wanted to ended their contracts and they didn't remember her. She loved them all deeply. How could they all forget? How could they treat her like this? She was beside herself in utter grief.

"You all can't mean this! We never saw the contracts like that! You all are my family! I love you all!" Lucy pleaded with reason but it fell on deaf ears as they all laughed at her. Lucy's gazed turned back to the only one who did not even smile once but rather held such distain towards her.

"You all were never slaves! You are Lucy's friends and you are making her cry from your declaration! Loke-" Natsu yelled.

"DO NOT USE MY NAME SO FORMALLY! It is King Leo the Lion to you Dragon Slayer!" Loke's voice resonated loudly with authority. Lucy pulled herself out of Natsu's arms and moved toward Loke.

"Loke, please listen to me! What happened?! What did the Spirit King say?" she asked him desperately.

"There is only one king and I am him!" he spoke coldly.

"Loke, it is me Lucy...don't you...how could you have forgotten everything?" Lucy couldn't hold back the tears once again.

"I don't know you. You are just a dirty slave driver who only wants to enslave us and keep us from absolute freedom." Loke waved her off. The sun glimmered off his bracelet that Lucy had given him and Lucy eyed the rubies that glistened. Through her tears, Lucy decided if she wanted to strengthen her resolved she needed to go to him. She started to move towards him. Virgo raised her whip to attack but Loke held up his hand to stop her. He was significantly taller and his regal armor gave him a menacing feeling. She had to tilt her head a little to look up into his hate filled gaze.

"Loke...you swore to me that you would make my dreams come true." she whispered up to him.

"I do not know you or that silly childish promise you think I made." he scoff.

"I wished for a family...your family...and it is very real to me Loke." Lucy spoke with as much conviction as she could muster. If there was any way she could bring him back it would be this. "I am pregnant Loke with your child." she forced herself to glare up at him as she spoke the words she had been wanting to tell him all along. Loke threw back his head and laughed.

"Stupid fool! As if I would even be tempted to sleep with the likes of you!"

"Lok-Leo the lion, you are doing me a dishonor and a disservice. How can you be so cruel? Are you too cold to deny our union and the gift you have given me?" she trembled as the laughter was humiliating her. Hot, angry tears fell fast.

"That thing existing is a dishonor to me! Forget ever having a contract with any of us; especially me. Do the world a favor and tear out that abomination. It is better off dead and forgotten than to live as a joke." Loke laughed darkly. Lucy's eyes were downcast and on her bracelet she had given him.

"I refuse to accept this. You have to remember something. Please...that was the gift I gave you when...when we.." the laughter increased by the others. Lucy's heart was breaking as Loke's cold gaze went from her towards the object she brought into conversation. In a swift motion he yanked it off and crushed it to dust in front of her. More tears fell just as the broken pieces. Lucy sank to her ankles. She felt like the ocean with a never ending well of water of emotion. Suddenly the king was thrown back as Natsu landed a punch sending the lion back a few paces. Dark flames engulfed the lion out of anger where as Natsu's bright ones protected the celestial wizard.

"I have had enough of this Loke! You are going to pay for hurting Lucy's feelings! She gave that to you and you destroyed it Then you go and deny your own kid! You are no better than a dead beat dad! I won't let you abandon them! I am going to knock some sense into you!" he roared. Virgo's whip hit him and electrocuted him.

"Natsu!" Lucy and Happy screamed out.

"Now you really pissed me off! How dare you speak my name so formally! Your disrespect has sealed your death wishes! You all will not leave here alive!" Loke roared. He was livid at the disrespect of the wizards and his fellow peers laughing at his expense. Lucy had rushed over and was helping Natsu up.

"Get Lucy out of here Happy!" Natsu growled as he was ready to take them all on.

"No Natsu! Don't! You cannot hurt them!" she begged but it was silenced by him sending her a dangerous look.

"It isn't him Luce. Loke loved you and this guy ain't him; I just can't. After what he did and what he said. I am going to knock some sense into him." he made a promise.

"Natsu plea-"

"You are pregnant Lucy! He is trying to kill us! Think of the baby! It is bad enough one parent isn't trying to protect it!" Natsu threw that in her face. He would worry later about the regret he felt at that moment. What was more important is that Lucy get to safety and he gets a few good blows into that pompous asshole before he escaped. Lucy felt Happy pick her up as she struggled.

"Please Natsu! No!" she begged but both men and the other spirits got in formation to attack the dragon slayer. "Loke! Loke please!" she cried out in her last attempt to bring some reason in settling this without bloodshed. She continued to cry as they flew out of sight and the last thing she saw was Natsu against her celestial spirits; both her families at war.