Author's Note: It's been awhile since my last update on this story and I'm sorry for those waiting for the next chapter. At the moment, I'm busy with college work so it's taken a lot of my time away, but I'll try to get another chapter as soon as possible. Sorry that this chapter's a little short this time around, but I wanted to give you guys something to read. The final stages and chapters are almost coming for this story, so I hope you're all ready for those to come. Rambling aside, let's get on with the chapter! Review and enjoy everyone!


Chapter 19

While Gray was going through a personal crisis as he walked back to the guild alongside Mira, a more presentent matter was at hand. While Earthland remained as it's usual self with life going about its business, the Celestial Spirit World was in a much more tense state. Nine of the twelve Zodiacs all sat at the main table within the Grand Hall, awaiting for the reason as to why they were all called together on short notice. These nine were none other than Lucy's keys and many of them had no idea what was going on aside from Loke initiating an emergency meeting at the Grand Hall. As if on cue, Loke had walked right through the doorway with a hard pressed look on his face which lowered all the chatter within the room once he sat down at his place at the head of the table.

"Alright everyone, I've gathered you all here because a major problem has come up regarding the entire situation with Gray and over a dozen people who are infatuated with him. Our very own Luce being one of them." He began as the other spirits listened attentively, many of which were well aware of the meeting that took place a few days ago.

"Well get on with it, that stripper's already already gotten on my bad side as it is." Aquarius spoke up angrily towards the lion spirit as she crossed her arms, only to calm down in seconds when her boyfriend grabbed her hand.

"The problem is that all this was the result of a failed attempt at getting Gray's affection with Juvia being the perpetrator behind it." A few murmurs escaped their lips after Loke took a brief pause and wasn't really surprised as no one seemed to be shocked by the news.

"If that was the situation, then why call all of us to explain it? Don't these kinds of things tend to resolve themselves at some point?" Aries asked in a meek voice as a number of her fellow spirits agreed with her.

"Is the self settling taking too long and you have asked us to give you a little guidance to speed up the process?" Capricorn asked, examining all the possible reasons to himself as he sat stoically in his seat.

"You're both really close of hitting it right on the Jewel with your guesses, but this problem won't be able to go away by itself this time. Not to mention the fact that once the truth is revealed I don't know how it will end for them and everyone else that has been affected." Loke replied as Capricorn scratched his chin in deep thought, while Aries began to twiddle with her fingers in a shy manner.

"If you make a bad cut when revealing the truth, then the whole style about their relationship would need a massive makeover, am I wrong baby?" Cancer said, voicing his thoughts on what could happen if this wasn't handled carefully.

"He's right, the truth is a hard target to hit and if you're not careful with how you line it up, then the person will miss what exactly you're trying to mean. In this case it's saying that Miss Lucy's true feelings for Gray were not conjured up."

"We could just transform into Lucy, so he knows that she really does like him and it wasn't thanks to whatever Juvia might have accidentally done that made her like him." The Gemini twins replied in unison as their speciality would be very useful for that situation.

Loke went into deep thought about what the twins had said and upon seeing the good that comes from it he replied to their suggestion. "That would work, but it still leaves us needing to tell them about the evident problem that's going around them."

Everyone went silent as they still were overlooking the important factor in all of this and no one had a real answer as to what they should do. Many of the spirits were stumped on what needed to be done, with the only sound in the room being the joyful coos coming from the three Nikora that were playing with each other. Plue being on of them naturally, since he was around Lucy most of the time out in Earth Land. Though the quietness of the room was grating on a certain mermaid's nerves and decided to say something since no one had an idea.

"I say you should only tell the Stripper Boy and leave the brat in the dark." Aquarius spoke up, breaking the silence as the other spirits tried to wrap their heads around the idea.

"Why wouldn't we tell Lucy?" Loke asked the obvious question that a few others shared with him.

"Isn't it obvious? Whatever failed attempt this was has helped the little sap gain her voice and stand up for herself." Aquarius retorted; however, she wouldn't deny the slight surge of pride that she felt when she saw Lucy stand up for herself.

"My babe's right, Lucy's been more into finding ways to outmatch Juvia and isn't afraid to talk back compared to how she was before." Scorpio added as Aquarius had pink hearts floating off the top of her head as she was praised by him.

"Princess has become more open with her love interest as well as taking charge of her situation no matter what in recent days. She even wishes to do this on her own without our help as well." Virgo chimed in as the other Zodiac have also noticed the lack of involvement they were doing, aside from Plue even though he's just around to give Lucy company.

"Her determination mooooves me, just like her body, but if she really wishes to have Gray at her side then this raging bull will calm down and accept it." Taurus said as the others remembered what happened after all that preparation she did with Natsu, only to have it be nothing but a misunderstanding on her part.

"But there is more to the problem at hand which includes how Gray will feel about this, right Loke?" Aries had taken into account that they needed to see the bigger picture, which was of Lucy and Gray together and how he would feel about this.

"You're right about that. If I know Gray, then it'll take much needed precaution when talking to him that this was the fault of an Emotion Potion. Before you ask, it causes person B to feel the same way person A feels to them, it was dubbed that and the explanation is kinda weird but trust me the results are what we see now."

"Well Loke, aside from your rather confusing explanation of how the Emotion Potion works, the young man seems capable of understanding what the problem is and will easily comply with trying to reverse the effects as need be." Capricorn said in his ever so stoic manner of speech.

"Cap's got a point, we've seen how level headed they guy can be in combat so this won't be so hard for him to get in comparison." Scorpio added seeing as he had seen the ice mage in action at one point when he was the last spirit Lucy could summon until she could regain a little more magic.

"I'm not saying he won't help, the issue is how he'll deal with it on an emotional level." Loke said in response to their claims; however, Aquarius wasn't so sure as to what he was alluding to.

"What do you mean? Stripper Boy's got enough self-esteem to do what he does in broad daylight and he's tough enough to go head-to-head with that little pyromaniac the brat calls a best friend. So what's a little bit of bad news going to do to him?"

"He's physically capable of doing just about anything and and he strips subconsciously, plus he's learned not to care about it. What that news will do to him is reseal his heart in ice again and won't let anybody back in again, this time for good." The other Zodiac spirits could see how serious Loke was as he explained to them what would happen, but they silently questioned if that could really be true.

"How come? How come?" The twins chanted and far be it from Loke not to tell them, since he very well knows they'll bother him to no end until he gives in. With a defeated sigh, he decided to tell all about his findings into the person that is Gray Fullbuster.

"I've learned over the years that he's constantly thinking that if someone got close to him, they would end up losing their life. I don't understand how he got that way, but there was a time he did open up once only to be left heartbroken. That was the second time he sealed himself off from getting too close to other people."

"Surely he trusts our Lucy's unspoken words when she asked him that question back at his home?" Aries was a hopeful spirit, given her past masters, and believed that the ice mage wasn't so dense to see Lucy's underlying confession.

"He does, but he has a lot to deal with since two of the closest people he's had since his childhood have already confessed to him. One of them was the girl who broke his heart the first time." Loke looked troubled and personally pitied his stripping friend and his dilemma, although this triggered a certain secretively protective spirit into a bout of anger.

"So that bastard is three-timing MY brat! He better hope he can live off at see for years to come once I get my hands on him." An angry Aquarius seethed, causing Loke to act fast and have Scorpio try and calm her down.

"No! This is the effect of that damn potion, not of his own doing. It's hard on him due to the fact he has no experience with this at all and he's looked after those two in his own way, just like they've done for him." Gray was a good friend of the lion spirit and Loke wouldn't accept any other person to look after Lucy besides the guild itself.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Aquarius questioned, irritated with how this conversation was going.

"We tell him the truth, but we've also got to tell him that what Lucy feels for him is genuine and had nothing to with that potion whatsoever."

"It's a well enough plan Loke, but how do you suggest we handle with the fact that a number of their guild mates are under its influence." Capricorn asked as a knowing smirk appeared on Loke's face.

"I've got two solutions to deal with it, but I've decided that one of them is to be kept as a backup plan." He replied with a new grin plastered on his face, but Cancer believed that there's still another thing that needs to be accounted for.

"I'd say that settles the aftermath, but what we need to decide is if it's a better time to do it now or later, baby. I vote to get it over with now, so come on everyone vote what you think should be done."

"I vote for now, plus if this guy's just as much of a man outside of combat then our Lucy's found her match." Scorpio said raising his hand in agreement as his metallic tail straightened a bit too.

"I'll stand with my man and vote for now, but the Stripper Boy's got to earn my acceptance." Aquarius said as she too raised her hand.

"We vote now! We vote now!" The twins chanted in unison as they raised their little stumps as well.

"I too vote for now and hope to receive punishment from Princess in the end when she finds out or even from her Prince." Virgo said as a chuckle escaped Loke's lips, seeing as how even Virgo is accepting Gray as Lucy's "Prince".

"I had a mild interest to see how this would play out, but I believe it's much more suitable to take care of the situation as soon as possible." Capricorn said in a bemused tone, one that was very out of character for him as he raised his hand, but he looked over the last two who have yet to say much in the discussion. "What about you two? What do you choose Taurus, Sagittarius?"

Those two were having their own conversation about the different pros and cons of allowing Gray be with Lucy, but two major pros played greater factors in their decision. That being his skill as a marksman, which Sagittarius had noticed on a number of occasions when he was called upon, and his proficiency with melee combat, undoubtedly recognized by Taurus as he too on occasion witnessed his prowess at wielding his own ice weapons and endurance in combat. Aside from those two pros, the rest were practical matters, interestingly enough about ways he could help benefit Lucy if this became a long term thing and saw the positive (as well as the negative) outcomes to their union. In the end, they decided to follow Aquarius' approach and see how well he fares, he's got their respect yet he still needs to thoroughly prove that he has what it takes to be someone worth Lucy.

"We choose now as well." Sagittarius answered for the both of them, making the vote unanimous since Aries would simply follow the majority of her friends' choice.

"Well, it seems that it's settled then, plus Plue's notified me that he and the other Nikora choose Gray and hope to see him again." Aries commented as she picked up Plue to sit on the table, followed by the other two Nikora he was playing with, all of which were shaking in either joy or something else.

"Huh, guess the little guys enjoy having the ice bastard around too." Loke thought to himself, before he began speaking to his fellow spirits again. "Alright it's been decided, so who's going to tell him?" A simple questioned was all that Loke asked, but he was met with confused stares pointed at him. "What?"

"You're the closest one to him out of all of us Lover Boy, so it's your job to tell him." Aquarius remarked as the others agreed, but they hadn't noticed the slight twitch of Loke's eye from behind his glasses as he straightened out his tie.

"Okay fine I'll go, but please Aries come with me so he doesn't punch my amazingly handsome face again." The strawberry blonde spirit sounded confident at first, but it turned into a whine with his chin resting on the table mid-way through his sentence and all the way to the end. Aries simply giggled at their leader and nodded her head.

"Sure thing, hopefully he'll be kind to us after we tell him." She said meekly as he raised his head from up off the table with a smile plastered on his face again.

"Don't worry, he may lose his cool, but he wouldn't hurt you. Me on the other hand, there is a sure bet that he'll slug me if I'm not paying attention." He joked as he believed that he's finally gathered enough support do get on with his plan to change everything back to way it once was. "Now with that set in motion, this meeting is now over. Thank you for coming together everyone and let's combine our power to make sure Lucy comes out on top!"

"Aye!" They all agreed happily as now they have all decided the future for the budding romances pitted towards Gray.

"Before you go Loke, I have a question to ask of you." Capricorn said as the curiosity was evident in his tone.

"I'm all ears, go ahead and ask." He replied while the others stayed a little while longer to listen on to the question and the lion spirit's answer.

"What are the plans you have to counter the effects of the potion exactly?"

"The main one is a counter solution that I had some complications obtaining, but is a fool-proof plan that will be able to undue the potion." Loke replied, but this time Aries spoke up before Capricorn could follow up.

"And what's the back up then?" The pink haired spirit could faintly see Loke's eyes change into another expression, whether it was a solemn stare or a disapproving one she couldn't really tell with his glasses in the way. He spoke again after giving a quiet sigh to himself; his friends, his family awaiting his answer with interested looks.

"We'll need to use Moon Drip..."