Disclaimer: Are Natsu and Lucy snogging each other every other scene?

I LOVE YOU ALL! I'M CURRENTLY FANGIRLING IN FRONT OF MY COMPUTER AT YOUR EPICNESS! In other words, I'm staring at both my follow, favorite, view, and review counts right now. THANK ALL OF YOU!

This story will have pairings. I repeat, this story will have pairings. Since I'm writing this story for reader feedback, I thought 'why not let said readers decide?' and there is now a poll on my profile for voting. I ask you to PM me if a choice you want is not in the poll before voting. This helps me a lot!

Before I spend forever ranting, I give you chapter 3!

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"LOKE!" Lucy practically screamed into Loke's ear as she toddled behind him, precariously balancing on the ridge of stones aside the river. He winced at the sound, almost sending himself into the water.

Lucy noticed Loke's reaction and quieted down. "Sorry. I wanted to know if something was wrong."

"Nothing."

Fuzz started to line the outer edges of his vision and Loke almost cursed. He crossed his eyes in hope that the motion would vanquish the uprising flashback. It only resulted in him losing his balance and plummeting into the river with a massive splash.

Something- possibly a brick- knocked against his head and threw Loke into the darkness where the memories roamed.

Loke stepped out of his gate as Harry summoned him. His childish anger had quickly evaporated during his time in the spirit realm.

Having his friends around did help with that, even though the perverted cow hadn't done too much towards the cause. He was more inclined to try and crossdress Loke. Needless to say, it hadn't gone off well.

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed at Loke. "Where did you go?"

Harry had summoned him by the water again. Loke found the slow splashing of waves and the slightly salty scent in the air was relaxing. The setting sun was casting long shadows on the ground; playing with the dimensions of the beach and making it seem that much larger.

Loke tilted his head at Harry, his ear-shaped hair flopping to the side. "The spirit realm. Where else?"

Harry looked at him in confusion. "You mentioned it before, but you didn't explain."

"I live there with my Nakama."

Aries, the youngest of the female spirits, was his favorite surrogate sibling. She was, for a lack of better terms, fluffy. And Taurus said that her fluff was sweet, but Loke didn't know what it meant.

When asked to clarify, Capricorn had blushed and said it was one of the things that he would learn when he was older. Loke had thought that the goat was amusing at the time, and fallen into fits of laughter. Capricorn? Blushing? That merited amusement, no matter who you were.

Capri, as he commonly referred to the elder spirit as, was a serious goat man with a style of dress that Loke had adapted. He was commonly found frowning at the developing relationship between Aquarius and Scorpio or attempting to persuade Libra to give him a chance at love.

Loke thought that the chances were slim.

Libra had voiced that she never wished to be tied down; that she was a gypsy of life. She had a flare for dramatics and was constantly off on some adventure or the other. Currently, she was seeking out her first owner, alongside her mentor Pisces.

Loke had grasped the concept of a love square early on and had made a mental note about the current one in the spirit realm. Capri was after Libra, who was vying for the affections of Sagittarius upon claims that she wanted a horse. Sagittarius was oblivious to Libra's attention and was solely focused on nabbing Virgo. Of course, to wrap it all up, Virgo was pinning after Capri.

It got confusing very quickly when you factored in all of the silver key spirits.

Gem and Mini, the two halves of the overarching "Gemini", were little tricksters who took it upon themselves to wreak havoc upon everyone's life. Cancer was their main target and was constantly finding himself with pranked hair or a mimicked spirit next to him in bed.

Loke and Aries though that the pranksters had a crush upon Cancer and tried hard to not let their secret observation reach anyone else's ears. They didn't want to anger their hairdresser!

Harry snapped Loke back to the real world with a small "Loke?"

Loke jerked his neck straight and met Harry's brilliant green eyes. "You summoned me. So you have a job."

Harry didn't say anything to Loke, even as a smile spread across his face. The older man immediately sped off.

"Wait up!" Loke yelped as he shot after his master. "You still need to tell me what to-"

Harry yanked Loke into the water. "Enjoy life! You don't have to work!"

"But-"

Loke was cut off by the large splash of his body impacting water, cool waves washing over his head. The water stung his hazel eyes and made the entire world blurry. Not like there was much to see, Loke quickly decided, but it still made him completely disoriented.

It didn't exactly help that he didn't like water.

He was the lion spirit, for crying out loud. Cats didn't like water! Loke didn't like water! His master must have known that correlation before yanking him-

The reason hit him like a freight train. Harry hadn't even meant to summon him.

Was this some sort of indirect punishment for his haughtiness in explaining what he was?

Loke pawed for the surface and let out a sigh of relief as his hands met air. Harry wasn't going to go so far as if to kill him- that was always good.

"Loke!" His master called from behind Loke. Loke cautiously turned around, still not sure how to judge Harry. Insane? Childish? Bipolar like Aquarius?

Yes, the water spirit was bipolar; you just had to watch one of her battles to confirm it.

"Yes?" Loke tentatively said as he struggled to keep afloat. The water wasn't the thing making him so nervous about the ocean- it was the monster referred to seaweed wrapping around his legs. Yes, he was the spirit embodiment of a cat, but that didn't mean that he was helpless in the ocean. Aquarius had long since beaten that tendency of 'dying in the water' out of him.

"You're my responsibility, right?" Harry kindly shot as Loke. He noticed that the spirit was struggling in the water and swan over to help him. Loke couldn't help but be slight bit envious of Harry's graceful strokes as Harry approached.

"Somewhat." Loke said as Harry reached him.

"So I'm going to be like your older brother, then." Harry said matter-of-factly.

A wave crashed overhead, sweeping Loke out of the seaweed trap with Harry clasping his shoulders. Loke felt a feeling of slight claustrophobia wash over him as they were flung towards shore.

Loke's face was pointed to the shore and was about to crash into it, until Harry preformed a practiced flip and took the brunt of the landing for Loke.

There was a moment of silence as Harry regained his breath, thoughts streaming through Loke's mind. Harry wanted to be his brother. Harry had protected him. Harry barely knew him. Harry was a bit too trusting. Harry was his king-dammed master.

Harry already seemed like a sort of person Loke wanted as a brother.

Loke started to shake from his position upon Harry, childish laughs- laughs, never giggles- starting to come out of his mouth. "Of course I'll be your brother," he made out. "As long as you're mine."

And that's how Loke began to think of his first master. Not a master, per say, but Nakama.