AN: As always, thank you quiet-a-riot.
Things continued like this: Crux taught Lucy purification magic.
It was a development that unnerved her somewhat. Even at his most helpful this particular spirit of hers was rarely so proactive about anything. He must've thought the situation truly concerning.
Lucy learned quickly in any case. Crux provided the initial lesson and Capricorn swiftly took over drilling in into her head.
Focus magic just so, with a twist of will to clean the spiritual filth before her.
Use Crux's key as a focus until the spell came easier.
The spell should manifest as glittering light, the brighter the better.
Their chosen practice ground was located just beyond the edge of town, where Magnolia gave way to the surrounding fields and forests. The curse was light but present, making it an ideal place to practice.
Lucy settled into a meditation pose as Capricorn reviewed the lesson once more.
"Remember Miss Lucy: positive feelings make this magic stronger. They don't necessarily need to be happy feelings- happy is hardly the only positive- but they need to have strength in them; they need to have force of will. Life and will are the greatest opposition to curses, the opposite of the intended result. Your determination to do anything at all, grim as it might be, is your strongest asset in the task before you. You must channel that determination, your will to live, your will to help, into the spell."
Lucy nodded along in acknowledgement and rose to her feet.
Her mind had cleared somewhat. She could better tell what the curse zone was doing to her, where she ended and the cloud of negativity began (even with less than a day of observation), and focusing on Capricorn's words gave her a further sense of clarity about what she needed to do.
She cast the spell.
It failed.
The first time. And the second. The third attempt yielded a single spark of gold which faded out before it touched the ground. She watched the spot her first spark had winked out, and kept at it.
You had to start somewhere.
It took two days to reach an acceptable level of proficiency.
Lucy drilled herself hard, casting the spell over and over. Until she produced many sparks. Until they were sustained enough to matter. Until the area was clear and they could be certain the spell was doing as intended.
Until Lucy was sure she could make a difference.
They made a plan.
Or rather, Loke approached Lucy after training was over and Capricorn had gone home and the two of them made a plan.
Okay, Loke made a plan as Lucy sat recovering in the grass.
It was a quite simple plan: Lucy would walk about Magnolia and cast purification until everything was better.
No one ever said Loke was good at making plans.
"Is- I mean, is that really it?" It was by far the simplest plan she had ever been part of, and that included all the times anyone (AKA Natsu) decided the 'plan' was plan T, or some variation of it, which always amounted to 'charge over and start punching/slicing/burning things'. At least combat involved some actual skill and ability. All she was doing was throwing glowing confetti around until people felt better.
"Things needn't be overly complicated Princess! With no opponents and no real obstacles besides the curse itself it's not as if we need to plan maneuvers or be especially cautious." Loke replied cheerfully.
He turned more serious.
"That said, there is one thing to worry about. You." Loke made sure his master met his eyes.
"Don't overdo it. We- all of us spirits who contract with you and a certain mermaid- understand how important this task is to you, but we worry. We worried when you spent everyday working construction and training to the exclusion of everything else and we worry now that this will end up a continuation of that. We – I – understood that you needed to work out some things and the extreme pace helped you, but we are past that now. We won't sit back and allow you to work yourself to death just because you think – wrongly, I might add – that a lack of outright danger in any way makes your contributions worth less than those of our absent comrades."
Loke took a calming breath after his speech. He'd said more than intended, but he stood by every word.
He held Lucy's surprised gaze for several moments, attempting to drive home how serious he was about this. She finally looked away first in acceptance and slight shame and guilt.
"…I've really caused you a lot stress recently, haven't I? I'm sorry." She apologized with her head held low in consternation.
Lucy had been at least somewhat aware of the fact that her spirits were worried (the constant pep talks from Loke had been a tip off), but she'd ignored their concerns in her need to bury herself in work and wallow in self-pity.
Well no more of that.
She heaved a bracing sigh and stood to her full height, back straight and posture perfect as the day her old etiquette tutor had declared her 'good enough'. She looked Loke in the eye and responded to him earnestly.
"I will try to be better. I can't promise it will be immediate, or consistent; I need to give everything I have to the purification, at least at first. But I promise not to disregard any of your feelings again. I desperately want to give my all to the task ahead, but if you truly think I'm overdoing it then say the word and I will stop and rest."
Loke watched her in relief and pride. None of them would tell her but they all loved it when she was like this. Like a powerful and dignified princess who gave the full weight of consideration to those she held in her care, and who would face down the King of Celestial Spirits himself to see her responsibilities through. It wasn't something they got to see often.
"I accept your apology and promise." Even if it wasn't strictly necessary. It wasn't as if they had been up front about their worries. The lion spirit shuddered. If Aquarius had been displeased to hear how unhappy Lucy was after losing their contract, her reaction to her fellow spirits inaction would best be described as 'enraged'. The dry cleaning bills had been murder. And speaking of jewel…
Loke continued."I will give you the first week of this project to run wild and do as you please. After that I'll start to rein you in if you still have trouble doing it for yourself."
Lucy nodded in acquiescence.
"Plus, remember you still have all those jobs to do. Save some energy for those."
"Jobs? I don't have time for jobs at the moment…"
"Have you already forgotten that you're the last mage in the Magnolia area? Everyone else with any magic sensitivity got out right along with everyone from the guild."
"Ehhhh?!"
She hadn't exactly forgotten, but she also hadn't given it much thought. Was that why the supposedly temporary jobs board outside Fairy Hills never seemed to run dry? It certainly explained why she could always find jobs, among other things. Oh gods. Did that mean she was responsible for all mage work in the area?!
Loke interjected before she could work herself up too much.
"Worry not Princess, it's not so bad as it sounds. Incidentally, I can handle most of the jobs in town. But. Only the jobs in town. I can't leave Magnolia so long as you remain-" more like he wouldn't leave "so let's be sure to take some breaks and take care of other business as needed, hmmm?" he ended his statement with an amused hum.
Lucy once again nodded in agreement, dazed from the revelation and still wearing an expression of mild terror.
Lucy was up bright and early the next morning despite the insidious tiredness that still plagued her. Capricorn walked along with her as they searched for a place to begin.
"Start light. I'm certain your proficiency with purification will grow with practice so there is no good reason to handle the worst of it right away. Take time and build up to it." Lucy nodded her understanding.
"In that case, maybe the gate closest to where we trained? The curse was pretty light there."
They wound their way through town toward the chosen starting point together, Capricorn determined to be present the first day. As her primary trainer he felt a responsibility to stay and observe at the beginning. Lucy agreed even if it meant her magic drained away faster.
Capricorn considered what else was important as they paused to let a group of civilians trudge by. He decided to finish the lecture from the other day.
"Curses, at their core, are about…mmm. This is a bit hard to explain. Curses are about stagnation, but primarily for the purpose of domination or destruction. By killing, or leaving paralyzed with fear, or rage, or by leaving one unable to recover from a wound, physical or mental, that they might have otherwise overcome. The ultimate purpose of a curse is to leave the target hurt and unable to save themselves, helpless and ineffective. Zeref's demons in particular, were made to cause ruin wherever they emerge, to assert their power, their dominance, over the world through death and destruction. Things which all feed into and are fed by their curse magic."
He'd gone on a bit of a tangent there but Ms. Lucy appeared to be listening intently and with renewed rage at the demons that had destroyed so much.
The situation was more complicated than it first appeared. Capricorn honestly couldn't say if a cursed zone left by fallout from a much larger use of curse magic would act the same as a deliberate curse. It wasn't something that anyone besides black magic or curse magic users knew much about. On the other hand…what were the odds that Tartaros hadn't known this would happen? Or even that they hadn't deliberately engineered their weapons to spread subtler, longer lasting curses, like poisoned shrapnel from the initial blast?
He supposed it didn't really matter at this point.
They made it to the gate. Capricorn decided to give one last bit of encouragement before letting Lucy have space to concentrate.
"Curses have a hard time sticking to something as full of life as a town, especially one as vibrant as this one. I do believe that will help you. The more of Magnolia you clear, the less of a hold the remainder should have. Now, go forth, and remember that every step you take, every emotion you can put behind the purification spell, every bit of will to improve your situation that you can bring to bear, will be a direct defiance against the curse and those who laid it. Your determination to do anything at all is your greatest asset."
Having made his point, Capricorn retreated a few steps and waited for his master to begin.
The plan, if it could be called that, was for Lucy to start out purifying where the curse was weakest and work inwards toward more serious places as her strength, stamina, and skill with purification magic grew. Capricorn might have made a few improvements to the original.
It was all rather slow and anticlimactic compared to what she was used to. She thought idly that if her (former) nakama were here they would've cleared the place of any curse the day they discovered it. Erza, at least, wouldn't have settled for less.
Lucy was…not pleased, exactly, but something slightly similar and bittersweet, to note her reaction to the thought of her friends. Her heart still hurt to remember but she wasn't paralyzed like she was even a week ago. Her work on the curse energy around herself was already helping so much, and the thought reinforced her desire to help the rest of Magnolia.
Holding on to that feeling she cast her spell, hands held before her. They shook slightly with anticipation as they filled with brilliant golden sparks; tiny, glittering motes of starlight she threw about herself to land on streets and buildings and lethargic pedestrians to disperse the curse energy clinging to everything like grime. There were several exclamations (mostly of wonder, but also a few of annoyance) as the sparkles hit their marks and stuck, but Lucy was already focused elsewhere.
She took a step.
Then another.
She would stop every few steps to look around and make sure everything in reach had some of her glitter, gradually fading as it was used up.
Lucy would crisscross Magnolia doing this exact thing until the curse zone was eradicated. At her current level it would take months, but she was prepared to do whatever was necessary.
"Miss Lucy." Capricorn caught her attention from behind as she dodged a slow moving pack of civilians and threw magic glitter at them.
"Hmm?" Lucy did her best to split her concentration between her work and her friend. She spotted an alleyway that looked like it needed extra effort and would spare her the need to walk in addition to talk and cast.
"As you know, I have been making my own inquiries about curses and how to break them, or at least resist some of the effects. Among other things."
(Quite successfully at that if the frequency and detail of his lectures was anything to go by.)
"The current plan is to purify in this manner all over until the town is cleared, correct? That is fine for the moment due to your level of proficiency, but once you become a bit more sure of yourself with this magic I believe there is a more efficient way."
Lucy perked up a bit at that and made a 'go on' gesture as she wandered further into the alley, purification spell lighting the way.
"I believe you should eventually try this in the Aquarius star dress. It seems water, and water magic, are especially suited to this kind of work. It can amplify and help spread purification magic, making your task somewhat easier. In addition, star dresses, especially that one, are excellent for boosting your magic, and would likely help you even if you did not learn to combine the two magics."
Capricorn was momentarily silent as he thought.
"Of course, I cannot be fully certain of my last point until I've had a chance to observe the level of drain you experience when in a star dress for extended periods." He admitted.
Now finished with both the alley and the conversation, woman and stellar spirit turned back toward the original road as they each digested their information.
Truly, water magic was good for all kinds of things. It had a habit of picking up certain other magic types and spreading them around, pushing them farther than could be managed alone. That quality made it ideal for purification. And curses. Curse infected water could spread a curse like nothing else, just like a disease. It was why Capricorn was desperately grateful none of the bad cursed places of Magnolia overlapped the canal.
Just before reaching the street Lucy turned to Capricorn with her answer.
"Thank you for telling me. In a few days, when I feel like I've made some headway, we can take a break and practice that."
And truthfully, she missed the Aquarius star dress.
With a deep breath she cast the spell again. Increasingly familiar gold sparks fell from her hands. A...child (boy? girl? Whatever, they were still cute as a button.), still possessing energy despite the curse zone, ran up and stared with wonder, giggling as Lucy dropped the whole handful on their head.
She smiled and kept on. She had a few good hours left in her. The curse dragged, so very noticeable now she knew what to look for she wondered how she had ever missed it.
It was fighting her purification.
Not hard, not here in the mildest part, but the curse was resisting her effort.
Lucy contemplated the monumental (to her) task ahead. Knowing she was going to be working herself ragged despite her words to Loke and begrudgingly grateful that she had a week to do so before her promise kicked in.
Loke…
He wasn't wrong about her considering her own efforts worth less than those of their friends, but he wasn't completely right about that being her motivation to push herself. The truth was she felt a responsibility. She could help, so she would help.
Even if the curse grated against mind and magic like dirty sandpaper.
Even if the tiredness still dragged at her and everyone else in Magnolia like a weight on their souls.
Even if the sheer negativity made everyone sad and selfish and irritable and blind to each other's pain.
Even if no one cared at all.
Lucy would keep on, feeling the push and pull of curse and purification and the drain of her summoned friend watching out for her as she set out on this new type of adventure.
Oddly enough, she felt more alive than she had in a very long time.
The days took on a pattern after that, at least at first. Lucy purchased a map of Magnolia and used it to break up the town into manageable areas for cleaning each day. She formed grids and made signs to stay organized and prevent repeats. With the cursed zone so prominent it wasn't always easy to tell she had been over a given spot until enough surrounding blocks had been cleared for it to be noticeable, though she did sometimes need to go back over a few. Some places could even get re-cursed, albeit not as badly, but thankfully not many. She had signs for that too. And color coding.
All for the sake of facilitating her real work.
Every waking minute she spent away from her maps was spent determinedly casting purification.
She wandered about whichever section of town had been selected that day, flinging purifying sparks that clung and faded out as they burned away magical filth. She cast with ever increasing speed and confidence, calling up feelings and focus on a whim. She cast until she barely needed the spell to shape her magic the way she needed to.
She walked through streets and alleys and parks, cleaning away cursed residue with every step, until she had no more magic to use. Until she had nothing left for work, or training, or anything that wasn't her self-appointed mission. She cast until the streets regained some of their old charm and the people just a bit of their old spirit. Helping her beloved town.
Every day.
Her spirits were a little concerned, but she looked almost satisfied for the first time since the Grand Magic Games, and they had the promise given to Leo on all their behalf, in case they felt truly worried.
Loke checked the time; the first week was almost up.
As it turned out it ended up not quite being a whole week before, as promised, Loke asked Lucy to take a break.
"Oh Prinnnnceeeesss!" He strode over to where she was finishing up with a lamp post.
"Guess what time it is!"
"Huh? Umm… Lunch time?"
Loke blinked and then pouted. "You actually got it right. Anyways! I'm letting it be known that I'm concerned by the amount of time you spend working and it's time to take a break. Let's go." He started leading Lucy down a side street and she followed, resigned.
She couldn't even work on the way; it had already been cleared.
"Also, call Capricorn once you've recovered some magic, ok? He says it's time to start combining purification magic with star dresses.
Lucy perked up at that. About time. Her mastery of purification magic increased every day. The original gold sparks, the color of her magic, had been joined by intense silver as of yesterday. With the weakening of the curse and the tangible effect of her work she was feeling quite optimistic about things even if she still had trouble seeing beyond her immediate task. She was ready to learn something new.
Capricorn was with them by the time they reached the café.
Mage and spirits sat down and ordered coffee from the unusually enthusiastic waitress.
Maybe not that unusual. Lucy decided as she eyed Loke. At least this one didn't seem jealous of Lucy's presence. Could, in fact, maintain the starry eyed look she gave the lion spirit as she took Lucy's lunch order.
Her attention was pulled back to her lunch companions.
"It has been a few days since you began. How have you been? And what kind of progress have you made"
"I'm great! The spell is brighter than ever and I now throw gold AND silver sparks." Lucy beamed with pride. "It's getting easier too. And I can go longer without needing a rest." They might not have been the biggest accomplishments, but they were hers.
"As for progress on the town, I've cleared several blocks around the gate where we started, one park with two more in progress, and I'm starting to focus on the places that were damaged and rebuilt"
"That is wonderful. You're making a lot of progress."
Lucy preened a little at the praise.
"Why don't you take the rest of the day off from purification and train? I know you don't want to stop-" Lucy's mouth was already open to protest "but a day, or even a few days, will make little difference. Especially when you might be able to cut the time it takes to purify the whole town in half as a result."
That made her pause.
"Will using the Aquarius star dress really make that much of a difference?"
"Indeed. Every star dress boosts your magic to some degree, but especially that one. And I have already informed you of the potential benefits of the water magic it gives you access to. The Aquarius dress is quite suited to purification. I promise, this isn't a ploy to get you to rest, though you do need it," Capricorn teased gently. "No, we trust Loke to take care of that, as he is doing right now."
Lunch arrived at that moment, as if for emphasis, and Lucy conceded the point with a self-deprecating smile. She had promised.
"That reminds me…Miss Lucy, Virgo has requested that I pass along her request to be summoned."
Lucy blinked in confusion.
"She hasn't seen you since Tartaros and wishes to see you for herself." He clarified.
"Oh." Now she felt bad again. It seemed like she couldn't stop disregarding her friend's feelings no matter what she said.
She really was a bad master.
"Stop it."
She looked up, startled, and met the stern gazes of both companions.
"You have done nothing wrong. These are trying times. And remember, time passes differently in the celestial realm. Six-ish weeks here is but a blink for us. Virgo merely wants to see you. She saw you briefly when you were running your experiments and otherwise has only had reports from us to go on. She hasn't had a chance to see your improvement and she wishes to."
Capricorn sipped his coffee, allowing Loke to pick up the thread.
"I know all this purification magic on top of all this curse magic is making your emotions volatile-"
She…hadn't known that, actually.
"-but you shouldn't doubt yourself so much when it comes to us. We like seeing you. We like helping you. Everyone is clamoring to share their magic with you-"
Well. That was nice to hear.
"-although Scorpio is happy for the uninterrupted time with Aquarius. She's sulking even if she won't admit it."
Lucy's hand automatically went to the broken key hanging from her neck and Loke seemed to notice what he'd said. He disliked her being exposed to painful memories. He pushed on anyway.
"Anyway, the point is, Virgo would like to see you in person and we all thought this was a good time to do it. You are a good master and a good friend and I know I sound like a broken record and that a big chunk of this shit is from the curse and how stressed you must be, but it's important you know your value."
Loke stopped there and hid his mild discomfort at such a public display of sincerity behind his now lukewarm coffee. The waitress and the cook were both watching.
Lucy contemplated their words, finally picking up her sandwich and munching distractedly.
Then put it down half eaten and reached for Virgo's key. She was pleased with her stamina today. Even after a morning of purification and then summoning Capricorn she still had magic left.
Moments later the blank faced maid was taking a seat with them.
"Princess." Virgo nodded her thanks to Capricorn as she greeted their master.
"Virgo. I'm sorry I haven't summoned you more recently. I've been so busy but I should've made time to talk to everyone more.
"We would all appreciate it if you spoke to us more, but we understand. So long as you do better in the future all is well. I must say, I've been looking forward to seeing this purification spell the others speak of. Sparkles suit Princess very well."
Lucy couldn't tell due to her typical blank expression but it seemed as if Virgo was…anticipating?
Well, whatever. Lucy was happy to show off her newest magic, and if it made Virgo happy, all the better.
She stood and absently laid a handful of jewel notes on the table before heading back to where Loke had stopped her for lunch, Virgo in tow.
Behind them, forgotten, Loke and Capricorn shared a look of amused relief. Things were getting back to normal.