Prelude to The END (III)

Gajeel scowled. He'd been in the middle of a mess of Alvarez soldiers until a minute ago. The pair of swords he'd taken off the last moron to charge at him was the only evidence they'd ever been there. He nibbled at one of the metal blades and swept his eyes across the abandoned town that had become a battlefield.

"Oi, Shrimp," Gajeel said, turning to the short blue-haired woman. "What happened? Did we win or somethin'?"

"I don't know," Levy said, closing the distance between them. "I wouldn't mind if we did, but it doesn't feel like it."

Gajeel grunted his agreement. He trusted Levy's brain almost as much as he did his own instincts. If they both thought something was off, it was a damn near certainty they were right. He took another chomp out of the sword in his left hand, smelling Levy's self-appointed posse of two approaching. He ignored them, instead looking up.

"Lily," he muttered, his Exceed partner landing on his shoulder. "Go with Juvia and check out the outskirts of town."

Gajeel rested an elbow on Levy's head.

"Shrimp and me will look around the northern part of town."

Jet and Droy started whining.

"Now hold on!"

"Why do you get to go with Levy-chan?"

Gajeel snapped the blade off the hilt of the first sword with his teeth and glowered.

"You two will take the southern half," he said. "Unless there's a problem with that?"

The other two men clammed up and barked cooperative denials.

"If ya find something, signal. If ya don't," Gajeel said, pointing toward an overhanging cliff outside of town. "Meet up there in a few hours."

Juvia and Lily were the first to leave. Jet and Droy fussed over Levy until Gajeel yelled at them again. The iron dragon slayer crushed the hilt of the blade he'd eaten and tossed the pieces after them, huffing.

"I'm impressed."

Gajeel caught Levy looking up at him.

"Huh?"

Impressed? What did he do?

"I just mean you don't usually take charge like that."

Gajeel scratched his head and raised a pierced eyebrow. He'd been in charge of a whole regiment of the Magic Council's enforcers for the past year. What was she talking about? The black-haired mage thought Levy's face turned a little bit pink.

"You handled it very maturely," she said, flicking her eyes down. "I'm proud of you."

Gajeel wouldn't have heard the last bit except for his heightened sense of hearing. He stiffened, uncertain how to respond. Even Metalicana used to be reserved with expressing pride in him.

"Well, the demon woman ain't here," he said, crossing his arms. "And we're too far from the guild to talk to anybody about what's going on." He tapped his elbow with the flat of the sword he had left. "Can't just sit and do nothin', might as well try figuring things out, right?"

The more he rambled, the more Gajeel realized how right Levy was, as usual. The dragon slayer never took crap from anyone, but he'd always been fine with taking orders so long as he got to bust heads on the way. He'd never considered being the one to give orders. Gajeel forced himself to look back at Levy.

"Thanks," he grumbled, earning a small smile from the script mage. The smile vanished sooner than he would've liked once they started investigating the town, though. He knew just from sniffing the air that Zeref's soldiers had been almost everywhere, but their scents were weakening and they didn't lead anywhere. Levy seemed tense and quieter than usual. Gajeel smirked, twirling the sword in his hand.

"Gihi, maybe they did give up," he said, leering down at his partner. "Guess that means I'll get to lock you up in the guild prison sooner."

Levy just looked at him and hummed, sounding as unconvinced as he felt. He growled and took a bite out of the sword. At least Alvarez made tasty iron.

Loke sighed as he walked toward Crux' library. He'd been careful to avoid worrying Lucy, but even his brief exchange with Zeref had worn him out. He loosened his tie with his free hand, still holding the book of E.N.D. in the other.

"Leo-sama."

Loke recognized the voice before he paused to turn around. He found more than one of his fellow spirits behind him.

"Capricorn," Loke said, smiling and waving. "How lovely to receive such a greeting upon my return. You all waited for little old me?"

Scorpio let out a jolly laugh while Virgo's blank face remained impassive. Aries squirmed a bit; Capricorn kept stiff in his impeccable posture. The rest bombarded Loke with questions.

"Piri piri, we were worried," began one of the twins. "About Lucy!" the other finished.

"Moshi moshi! We did not expect you back so soon!"

"Tell us what went down-ebi!"

"Moo! You didn't let anyone hurt Lucy's perfect body, did you," Taurus yelled, grabbing Loke's shoulders. The Lion spirit sighed again.

"Gemini," he said. "If you don't mind?"

The twin spirits glanced at one another before a cloud surrounded one of them. When it cleared, a copy of Lucy stood in nothing but a towel and a sultry look on her face.

"Taurus~"

Actual steam shot out of the Bull spirit's nostrils before he began chasing the clone. Loke conjured a table and pulled up a chair. He threw his coat over the back of it. He set the tome on the table and sat down. He was about to roll up his sleeves when a familiar voice and threatening shadow loomed behind him.

"Quit stalling and start talking, kitty," Aquarius said. "Or I'll soak you to the bone."

Loke knew better than to look her in the eye or talk back, so instead he straightened in his seat.

"Yes ma'am."

Even Taurus was listening with a sober expression before Loke was finished.

"Illusionary magic?"

To the surprise of most, Aquarius seemed to be giving her undivided attention. She asked questions more than any of the others. Loke nodded.

"Lucy was researching more than just the whereabouts of the members of Fairy Tail for the past year," he said, his fingers never leaving the cover of E.N.D.'s book. "She also had some of us looking into ancient magic and Zeref's sort specifically."

Aquarius hummed, pressing her back further into Scorpio's chest.

"Not bad," she whispered.

"How did you recognize it-ebi?"

Loke leaned back in his chair.

"The magic differs from typical illusions in both effect and power," he said, fiddling with his tie. "Rather than an illusion of what the user wants the target to see, it shows either one of two things depending on the target's emotional state; their greatest desire, or their immediate worst fear."

Scorpio chuckled.

"Don't try telling me you were the only one who wasn't fooled."

Loke smiled, unabashed.

"No, but I figured it out based on the reactions of my teammates," he said. "Erza saw Jellal." Loke's eyes flickered over to Aquarius and Scorpio. The water spirit's scowl lacked its usual edge with her blushing. "And Wendy saw Chelia, her sky sister. The sweet girl probably wanted to see her friend get her magic back."

The Gemini twins cooed. Aries took timid steps forward, stammering.

"Um, wh-what did you see, Leo?"

Loke felt a giant grin grow onto his face and he stood to sidle up to the shy spirit.

"I saw my love Aries," he whispered, leaning in to breathe against her ear. "Dressed in only my shirt and tie, and wearing a tiny little"

Aries, face burning red, squeaked and scurried behind Capricorn.

"I-I-I'm sorry~!"

Loke gave a happy sigh. Scorpio roared with laughter; Aquarius chided Aries on her shyness. Others suggested various ways to comfort the embarrassed Ram.

"Leo-sama."

Capricorn brought back the tense atmosphere and broke the chatter.

"You still haven't told us about this book you came back with."

Everyone's eyes turned to the Lion spirit. He ran a hand through his hair and sat back down.

"Zeref's most powerful demon was created through this book," he said, voice low. Several of his fellow spirits gasped. He kept his eyes trained on the tome's cover.

"And that demon just happens to be one of Fairy Tail's members, Natsu Dragneel."

Loke struggled to keep his expression even as a shocked silence fell.

"Pinky?"

Aquarius was the first to break it. Loke murmured affirmation; apprehensive of what he knew was coming. Yet he pushed on.

"Lucy and the others entrusted the book- and, I guess, Natsu's life- to me."

Loke looked up to find Capricorn staring down at him. The Goat spirit set his palms on the table and leaned toward the Zodiac leader.

"You brought it here even knowing the laws we have about demons and related cursed artifacts?"

The Lion spirit nodded.

"I've been known to break rules before."

Capricorn curled his digits to crack his knuckles on the table. Danger crept into his calm tone.

"You'd carelessly toss aside consideration of celestial law at Lucy-sama's request?"

Loke rose to his full height so his face was level with Capricorns.

"Yes, if the situation came up and she asked me, I would," he said, taking off his tie and unbuttoning his shirt.

"What about her safe"

"But," Loke interrupted. "It isn't just her asking. Gray, Erza, Wendy and the rest of Natsu's guild mates are too. And even if she didn't ask me, if I thought it necessary, I would have done it anyway."

Loke turned around and let his shirt slide off his shoulders, revealing the green guild mark on his back.

"Because, in case you've forgotten, Natsu is my guild mate too."

Loke spun around and buttoned his shirt back up, never breaking eye contact with Capricorn. Aries spoke up.

"Um, you're not planning to open it are you? I'm sorry."

Virgo muttered something about justification for punishment before Loke answered.

"Of course not. But I am going to do some research on it."

"Moshi moshi, another request from Lucy?"

Loke shook his head.

"No. Like I said, she didn't need to. I'm just looking out for a friend."

The Lion spirit replaced his tie.

"I'll need to ask Crux' permission to use his library, but I understand if he doesn't want to be implicated," he said, slipping on his coat. "All I ask from you is that you wait until the King asks about it before saying anything. Don't lie for me, though. I'll take on the consequences myself."

Loke reached to take the book, only to find another hand spread over it.

"Don't be such a dramatic loser," Aquarius scolded. "Obviously we're going to help you."

Lucy spurred her horse to ride faster, anxiety eating at her gut. Happy had set off flying back to the guild with Natsu. Erza had designated Wendy and Charla as the fire mage's escort. Gray and Erza would investigate the sudden disappearance of Zeref's army. Lucy had volunteered to remain with them, but Erza had turned her down.

"Go to the nearest town with a train line still functioning and ride back to the guild."

Gray quashed any half-hearted protests she may have made.

"The idiot needs you, Lucy."

The celestial spirit mage sucked in her bottom lip. Natsu was hurt in ways even Wendy couldn't heal. Lucy's mind tried grabbing onto one thing to worry about. She jumped from Natsu's condition; his demonic origins; whatever Zeref had done; where the black mage had gone; how the rest of the guild was responding.

A glow from the ring of keys on her waist broke the rampant strain of concerns. Somehow, even though none of them were with her, Lucy heard the reassuring voices of her spirits. One in particular managed to make her smile a little.

Thank you Loke.

Zeref watched the colors change in the sky as the sun came slanting down toward the horizon. The forms of his army, in varying individual stages of life or the lack thereof, surrounded him.

"Unfortunate. I can't remember what his curse power was," the immortal wizard said, closing his eyes. "Forty eight hours, Fairy Tail."

A/N: Was this part a bit fluffy? I don't know if I've ever done fluff before, but maybe I'm getting feels moments mixed up with fluff. More dialogue in this one. I never would have guessed that some of these characters are tricky to write dialogue for, at least when I'd expect to be able to!

Not a ton happened here, but it brings the prelude to a close, and sets up the main story all right.

Also, no, Lucy does not still have Aquarius' key nor did she find it in the days between Natsu coming back to the guild and going out again. My head canon just puts Aquarius still in the Celestial Spirit realm.

Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed it! Leave a review if you did! If you didn't, go for it anyway!