A/N: Hey there guys! DRAMA ALERT COMING UP! This is definitely a long chapter, and probably one of the best too so far. ;) Please enjoy and let me know what you think, it always helps! :) xx
Lucy's POV
As soon as we appeared in the spirit realm, Loke dragged me down a long corridor, and I rushed to keep up with him.
'Hey their blondie.' I heard a familiar voice say from behind me. I ignored Loke's growl as I smiled and looked back.
'Hello Phoenicis. I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch what you called me then?' I smiled sweetly at him, and heard his step stutter slightly, before he coughed slightly.
'Hi Lucy.' He mumbled, and I opened my eyes to see him sending a death glare towards a chuckling Loke.
'Who knew my beautiful Princess would tame the unruly Phoenix?' He laughed quietly, shaking his head slightly, before turning serious.
'Listen Lucy, this is going to be hard for you; you need to power Nick in a major healing. We all know you're strong enough, or you wouldn't be here and Nick wouldn't be able to heal him, so don't worry, it'll be fine-'
'Loke, you sound more worried than me. You calm down, sit back, and watch me and Nick sort this out.' I smiled at him as we stopped outside a huge pair of silver doors, huge engravings etched into the precious metal.
Loke smiled down at me, pulling me into a hug before he released me and threw open the doors, bowing.
'I've brought Lucy to you your highness.' I grinned as I saw Nick bowing, before I skipped up to the massive bed to see a much smaller spirit king than I'd met before.
He was probably only just taller than me, and was incredibly skinny, his wrinkled skin hanging off of him, but that hug moustache was still overwhelming his face as he grinned up at me, all teeth.
'Hey moustache man! What do you think you've been doing huh? Causing us all this worry.' I scolded, crossing my arms and pouting as I sat beside him. Nick's mouth had dropped open at my behaviour and he looked to Loke and all of my other spirits who were present. They just shrugged, yet Libra and Pisces both stared on, just as astonished at my actions.
'Hello, old friend.' He mumbled, his voice still booming and echoing in the room with the power he had left.
'Hey, less of the old moustache man! I'm still young ya know!' I scolded again, poking him in the arm gently, before smiling and hugging him.
'We'll fix you up now moustache man.' I whispered, pulling away and calling Nick, who didn't hear me and just stood staring in shock.
'Hey! Nick! NICK! PHOENICIS!' I ended up shouting his full name to snap him from his daze.
'Uh, yeah? Oh, right...' He muttered, coming forward to kneel beside the bed. I frowned, and pat the bed beside me. 'The closer we are the easier the energy transfer will be. Gemi, Mini, do you have enough energy to turn into me? We can both fuel Nick at the same time, will that work?' I asked, turning to look at Loke, who nodded slowly.
'Maybe...'
'That's a yes as far as I'm concerned.' I heard Gemi and Mini laugh before they transformed into me, and sat on the other side of Nick.
'Okay, I don't know how you do this Nick, so tell me what you want me to do.' I looked at him, and watched as he seemed to blink in surprise, before frowning slightly.
'Umm... okay. Uh, If you just put your hand on my shoulder, you pump energy directly into me and I'll transfer it into healing magic. I'll direct it to his highness, and hopefully it will work.' I nodded, grabbing his left shoulder and Gemini's copy of me grabbing my right.
'Really, how did you get into this state?' I asked moustache man, who chuckled slightly.
'Went wandering in a realm I should have avoided... but I needed to talk to a certain Phoenix...' I saw Nick flinch slightly, his face exuding his feelings of guilt, and he looked at me with trepidation. I laughed down at the wrinkled spirit king.
'You should be more careful moustache man! You could have just let Loke know you were looking for him and I could have found his key; we would have avoided all of this hullabaloo if you'd just asked myself or even Yukino for help!' He chuckled and nodded slightly.
'You may be right old friend!' I pouted at him, ignoring the looks of surprises from the spirits who'd gathered to watch and who didn't know me. All of my spirits just sat and watched smugly, folding their arms and smiling proudly at them.
'Okay Nick, are you ready?' He nodded, holding his hands out in front of him and taking a deep breath.
'Tell me when you need a break, okay?' I told him, smiling as he looked at me in shock.
'Why would you care?' He snapped, causing Loke to growl and some of my other sprits to step forwards, while other spirits gasped in shock with how he spoke to me.
I laughed at his words, before smiling warmly at him.
'You're now part of my family. Why wouldn't I care?' I asked him, before squeezing his shoulder lightly.
'Let's get this over with; and if you over-do it without telling me, I'm going to kick your butt.' I said, smiling to soften the threat.
'Tch. You can try Lucy.' He muttered as he nodded at me and Gemini to signal he was ready.
I shut my eyes and quickly entered the meditative state Capricorn had taught me to do, gathering my internal reserves of magic, and focusing on pumping it all into Nick. I heard him gasp, and jerk at the amount I was pouring into him, and apologised quickly, before slowing the flow till he grunted his approval.
I opened my eyes, still keeping my mind detached, as I watched a golden glow emerge from Nicks hands and settle over the spirit king. Slowly, it spread across his body like treacle, covering him in a golden, glowing shield of light which had blue streaks that flickered within the sparkling gold.
We sat like that for what seemed like an age, and Gemini had to pull out after around five minutes. Their magical energy was struggling to keep up, as they'd used all their own reserves holding onto the spirit king for this long.
I gasped slightly as moustache mans body began to expand and grow, slowly returning to his original size.
I shut my eyes to try and remain in my meditative state, before growling out at him.
'Moustache man, you knock me and Nick off this bed, I'm going to Lucy Kick you!' I heard his deep chuckle, and felt his large body shuffle slightly away from us, and I grinned, my eyes still shut as I pumped more magic into Nick.
'We're nearly there Lucy, just hold on for a little while longer.' He muttered through gritted teeth. I nodded, noticing that my breathing had become ragged at the magic I was expending, yet I could feel more of it, swirling beneath another container.
'Nick, do we need more?'
'We can rest for a minute Lucy-'
'I asked, do you need more energy?' I snapped, my eyes shut tightly. I heard him grunt his agreement as he continued pumping the magic into the spirit king.
'Thought so. Keep going.' I told him, shutting off everything as I reached deep within myself, clawing and scratching away at the sealed lid of the second container filled with my magic.
My eyes shot open and I smiled as I whispered.
'Second Origin: Release!' I heard Nick swear as the amount of magic I was trickling into him quadrupled in size, and I saw the gold light that emanated from his hands was shining a pure white as it flew towards the spirit king as though it was magnetically attracted to his ailing, yet quickly healing, body.
'Just... a bit... more.' I looked at Nick to see a bead of sweat rolling down his face, and rubbed it away with my handkerchief, smiling at his glance of appreciation, before he focused on the task at hand.
I saw moustache man was now sitting up, at his usual size and height, and grinning down at me and Nick.
I smiled, squeezing Nicks shoulder as he slowly stopped the healing process.
'Thank you old friend.' Moustache man said, grinning down at me. I hopped off the bed, not feeling too tired since releasing my second origin.
'No problem Moustache man. Next time, don't go wandering where you shouldn't be! You have no idea how worried you've made me and all my friends started worrying because I couldn't say anything.' I pouted, crossing my arms as he laughed, lying back down on his bed.
'Of course old friend. Take care, and apologise to your friends for me.' I smiled, and nodded, walking over to Nick who was sitting on the floor panting. I rested a hand on his shoulder, and he lifted his head to look at me, blinking in surprise at how concerned I looked.
'Hey, you okay?' I asked, frowning and glaring.
'I told you to tell me if you needed a rest!' He laughed slightly, his eyes sparking with humour.
'Hey, I couldn't get showed up by a baby girl!' I frowned as I rested my hand on his shoulder, pumping some magic into him to power him up again.
'Shut up old man.' I muttered as he laughed, pulling me into a sudden hug.
'Thank you Lucy- for caring.' I returned his hug, before pulling away and yawning slightly.
'Well, time for me to go home. God knows how much time's passed back at home!' I said, grinning at my other spirits.
'Since Hime-sama healed His Highness in six hours, you have been gone from the human world for just over a month and a half.' I thanked Virgo, who bowed at me before smiling brightly as I grinned my thanks.
'Wow, better hurry back. I don't want them to get up to too much while I'm away! God, Natsu had better not have destroyed my apartment while I've been here.' I muttered, suddenly worried as I rushed towards the door.
'Oh, see ya soon moustache man! You should visit one of these days.' He grinned and chuckled at me, before winking and raising a thumb up at me. I laughed, before grabbing Loke.
'Come on Loke, I need to get home.' I said, giddy with happiness. It hadn't taken me as long as I'd thought, and I already missed my friends.
I felt so guilty, just upping and leaving. For me, it was only a few hours, but for them it was over a month; I hope they were all okay, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Happy. Then the Raijinshuu, Freed, Bix, Laxus and Ever. They'd become very close family members, along with Master, Mira, Cana, Levy, even Gajeel.
'Wow, I must be homesick if I'm even missing metal head.' I mumbled, earning a slight chuckle from Loke.
'Lucy Heartfilia?' A voice questioned from behind us. And I turned around smiling to see a man with white hair and a white cloak with golden gilded edging standing with two other men, who wore golden helmets and a similar white uniform.
Loke growled at them, and I frowned slightly.
'Yes?' I asked, stepping forward and placing a hand on Loke's shoulder. By this time, all of my other spirits had filtered out of the spirit kings room to see what was wrong with Loke, and had just as violent reactions, sending death glares at the men before me.
'I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me.' The man said, staring emotionlessly at me.
'Why?' I asked, suddenly nervous as I felt Loke's muscles tighten beneath my hand, and watched as Nick shoved past the men to stand beside me, folding his arms as he and Loke shoved me behind them.
'I have a warrant here for the arrest of one Lucy Heartfilia, by order of the Celestial Council.' My spirits shouted in outrage, and Loke growled, his fists lighting up, and Nick's body started to catch fire in various places, his hair flaming bright orange and white with the heat.
'On what charges?' Loke spat out, glaring at the man before us.
'One Lucy Heartfilia is to be arrested on the charge of revealing specific information which had been identified as top secret in regards to the health of the Spirit King to mages not connected to the spirit realm, and who had not been approved to have knowledge of this information.'
'WHAT!?' I shouted out, shoving past Loke and Nick to glare at the man, my arms folded across my chest.
'I have NEVER revealed to anyone about the situation here! I sure as hell wanted to, but I respected the laws in place, and did not inform anyone of the circumstances surrounding his majesty.'The man raised an eyebrow at me, before consulting his piece of paper.
'We have evidence here that sensitive information was revealed to one Bickslow, last name unknown, a Seith Mage, and one Laxus Dreyar, a Second Generation Lightning Dragon Slayer approximately six hours 37 minutes ago.' My mouth dropped open.
Oh God! The alley way! But Loke put up a soundproof spell... unless... Bickslow's babies! I felt my face pale as understanding dawned on my face, and I watched as he emotionlessly stared at me.
'No! You're wrong!' Loke growled out. I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder, shaking my head at him.
'No Lucy! Don't! You didn't do anything wrong!' I looked sadly into his eyes before turning to smile at Nick and my other spirits, who stood in shock and anger.
'I'm sorry Nick, I was looking forwards to being good friends with you.' He blinked and reached out to grab me as I walked over to the man. The guards behind me stepped forwards to escort me, and the man lead us down the hallway.
'YOU'VE MADE A MISTAKE ARAMUS!' Loke roared out and I glanced up to see the man leading me away falter slightly, before continuing away. I smiled sadly at all my spirits as I walked past them, waving at them weakly.
'Hime-sama!'
'Lucy-sama!'
'Princess!'
I felt tears trickle down my cheeks as they all shouted out for me, even Aquarius, before the guards grabbed both of my arms and I was teleported away to somewhere else in the spirit realm to await trial before the Celestial Spirit Council.
No-one's POV
The guild was bustling away, celebrating the new couple that had finally come together.
Gray smiled down at Juvia, who blushed bright red and turned away sheepishly.
It had taken quite a while for Gray to get Juvia to stop worshiping him as a God, and to see him as nothing more than a man; her man, but a man all the same.
Just as the party was beginning to get into full swing, the guild doors slammed open loudly. Everyone turned to look, and saw Loke and a red headed man standing there, breathing heavily and his eyes sparking in anger.
For a moment, everyone thought Lucy had returned, but when Loke stormed into the guild, searching the room, they realised they were wrong.
Loke and Nick stormed into the guild.
'Where are they?' The red head growled out, his fists flaming as he asked Loke the question.
Loke's eyes locked onto the Raijinshuu's table, and his gaze narrowed as it settled on the two men he was looking for, a vein pulsing visibly in his forehead.
'Over there.' He growled out between clenched teeth, before they both stalked towards the table. Loke grabbed Bickslow by his collar and pulled him upright before slamming a lit up fist into his unmasked face, sending him flying into the wall as Nick slammed a fire engulfed fist into Laxus's face, knocking him off his chair, before he was kicked in the ribs with a flaming foot that sent him into the wall next to Bickslow.
Everyone stared on in astonishment, and before the Raijinshuu could ask what Loke was doing, he screamed in anguish.
'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?' Tears poured down the lion spirits face as breathes chocked from his body, and Nick gritted his teeth tightly, his eyes stormy as he stared at the two men who had stood from their blows and now looked at them in confusion.
'YOU DON'T EVEN REALISE WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO HER!' Their faces paled as they realised they were talking about Lucy.
'Loke! What happened? Where's Lucy?' Natsu shouted out, running over to grab the Lion and shake him, before his arms were thrown off by Loke, who stormed forwards and grabbed Bickslow and Laxus by the collars before throwing them forwards.
'THEY COULDN'T KEEP AWAY! COULDN'T KEEP OUT OF HER BUSINESS! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE!' Loke suddenly broke down, falling to his knees and screaming, slamming his lit up fists into the floor, his pain, sorrow and rage being vented on the ground.
The guild stared on in horror as the destruction continued.
Nick walked up to Loke and rested a hand on his shoulder.
'Calm down Loke. I'll settle this.' Loke let out one last heart breaking cry, before quieting off into soul racking sobs.
Nick walked across to the two men who had stood, and were now standing ready for battle.
'What's happened to Lucy? Where is she?' Bickslow asked, his eyes tightly shut to rein in his control over his figure eyes.
'Tch. As if you care. It's because of you listening in on her and Loke's conversation she's in deep shit. Then to make it worse, you go and tell blondie over there what was said. You want to know where she is? The one master I'd accepted in my entire existence as one who earned my total respect and love?' Nick glared at the two men before him. He stood at an equal height Laxus, and glared straight into their eyes with a fiery hatred.
The entire guild was silent, and everyone waited with bated breathes and nervousness, along with worry for their celestial mage.
'She's been arrested, by the celestial council, for supposedly revealing our secrets she was decreed not to speak of. Thanks to you listening in, she's now facing trial, and could be stripped of her magic, along with being condemned to prison in the spirit world. You want to know the sentence given to those mages who are found guilty? A minimum of twenty years. You want to work out how many of you will be alive before she finally returns here, huh? She'd be alone, with no magic. All because you two wouldn't listen when she said she couldn't tell you anything.' He sneered at them as Bickslow fell to his knees, his eyes wide open in shock, his hands covering his face. Laxus just stood there, his eyes wide open as tears slid unnoticed down his cheeks.
'YOU KNEW! YOU KNEW SHE COULDN'T SAY ANYTHING! COULDN'T YOU TAKE THE HINT WHEN I PUT UP THE SPELL TO PREVENT LISTENERS?' Loke screamed once again, still kneeling on the floor and staring up at the mages with confusion and pain. Nick walked across to Loke, pulling him upright before starting to walk away.
'Now if you don't mind, Fairy Tail, we have a trial to get to, where we will fight to save the woman we love with our everything.' Nick sent a final glare to Bickslow and Laxus, who were frozen in shock. The only sounds coming from Bickslow moaning as he cried into his hands, muttering her name between his body-wrenching sobs.
'Wait! What can we do to help? Please!' Bickslow called out, standing giddily, stepping forwards.
'I think you've done enough.' Nick muttered, glaring over his shoulder, before he and Loke disappeared.
'No... Lucy...' Bickslow whispered, before dropping to the ground and staring up at the ceiling, as Fairy Tail began to shout out their own pain at thought of losing Lucy forever.
'Why didn't you listen to me?' Freed said under the cacophony of noise. Laxus and Bickslow turned to look at their friend, who passed a sobbing Evergreen over to Elfman.
'I told you, countless times, of how she couldn't say any more. HOW THERE WOULD BE CONSEQUENCES!' Everyone quieted down when they noticed Freed shouting at Laxus and Bickslow.
'I'm disappointed in you Laxus. Bickslow, I thought you cared about her more than that, and I believed that both of you trusted her more than that.' Freed shook his head, before calling over to Levy.
'Levy. We should go and see if we can find out anything to help Lucy. A book on celestial law or something, anything. We must be quick; the time difference isn't in our favour.' He and Levy quickly made their way to the library, Levy drying her eyes desperately as she followed after Freed.
'Lucy... I'm sorry...' Bickslow whispered, resting his head against the cold tiled floor as his tears fell uncontrollably.
'Forgive me...'