Thank you everyone for favoring and following this story, it means a lot to me! ^-^ I'm actually having fun writing this story, so many ideas, so many arcs to keep this story going for a while, which is really good. I do apologize for taking me so long, I had started on nights at work and just went back to days. Plus, my daughter and I have been sick, so I've been focusing on getting us well. Also, the new Digimon game for the PSVita came out and well…I've been busy with that lol. Emergency rooms are full of chaos, so I've been exhausted after about all my shifts ^-^'. Alright, now let's get on with this story! I sadly do not own Fairy Tail, but they do a good job on the show anyway.
"Loke?"
Loke, who had been studying the job board for a while now, was deep in concentration, as he had ignored Lucy and Gray arguing, as being a part of Fairy Tail, you learn to grow accustom to the arguing, fights, destroying the guild hall, and even destroying the city. By the end of the day, everyone was fine with everyone. They were like a family, they fought like family, and if you messed with one of them, you messed with them all. When he heard a feminine voice call his name, he usually didn't give it a second thought and knew they could wait a moment or two, but when the voice reached his ears, the voice was soft, with a curious yet exciting tone to it. Eyes widening, his body practically froze, as he had a good idea of who's voice that was from.
"There's no way…"
A part of him didn't want to turn around and wanted to run straight out that door without looking back, yet the other part of him was determined to see if the stars were truly in him favor and he wasn't hearing things. Taking a deep breath, he turned around to see if his mysterious angel was actually there or not. The moment he caught glimpse of a woman with long pink hair, he knew it was her.
"For a moment I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Now I see that am very much alive, and heaven has been brought to me." His natural flirtatious side took over, as he casted those negative thoughts to the side for the time being.
"Ah, I would've been heartbroken if you hadn't greeted me with a pickup line." A genuine smile spread across her face. She wasn't mistaken at all, it was the very man she had met last night and it made her happy knowing that it was him.
It amazed him now she was able to just deflect his pickup lines like it was nothing, as if the wind just blew by her. Strolling up to her, his eyes roamed her body, it was easier to get a look of her figure now in the light, then it was last night. She was curvy all in the right places, she had the perfect hour glass figure. His eyes had landed on her breast, he watched as she breathed, noticing her chest slowly rising and falling. He plucked her hand from her side and brought it up to his lips, kissing it gently. "It appears the stars are on my side after all. Did you find out that I was a member here and came to seek me out, I knew you weren't going to be able to resist me."
"Actually no, I joined Fairy Tail yesterday, look!" He dropped her hand when heard that, as she twirled around and showed him her stamp on the back of her shoulder. He stiffened a little, his eyes roamed her shoulder and complete back side, as his breath was taken away by her beauty. Though, it struck him as odd, as he didn't see any stamp on her last night and she never mentioned it one bit.
"Wait…how come I didn't see it last night?" He became a little suspicious of his beautiful angel, as he also didn't recall anyone telling him when he had stopped by yesterday evening about anyone new joining.
"Well…it was dark out…plus I…well…" Scratching at her face with her finger, her cheeks slowly became pink in embarrassment. "I had forgot about everything when I met you."
Now his charm was officially working on her.
Grinning from ear to ear, he leaned his face down close to hers. "I have that effect on women, I knew you'd come around sooner or later."
"Huh? Oh, no, I was just so busy finding your pickup lines amusing and trying to remember how to get back to the apartment, that I forgot all about it. Plus, I thought you'd be one of those guys who would flip the hell out if I even mentioned the word "Fairy Tail", I met someone like that when I had first got here." It was official, this woman was immune to all of his charms. He fell to the ground in shame, banging his fist on the floor.
"Oh, what's that?!" Completely ignoring the pitiful playboy, she rushed to the job bored behind him, reading the job that he had just been reading previously.
"Catch the group of bandits, called The Fallen Stars, who stole a Dragon Lacrima from Madam Lucia in Cedar Town, reward is 500,000 jewels. What kind of name is "The Fallen Stars?" They sound like a band…either way, a Dragon Lacrima is very rare to begin with, I wonder how they managed to steal it."
"They are actually a fairly strong group, rumor has it that they all are from guilds who have kicked them out. If they got their hands on that Dragon Lacrima, then it's safe to say, everyone could be in trouble if they use it." Loke, who had mysteriously recovered from his fit, stood next to her as he eyed the flyer hanging. His flirtatious nature had disappeared, as his tone of voice was low and serious.
Just by the sound of his voice and his demeanor, Asteria knew this job was more serious than she had originally thought.
"Whatever the case may be, they need to be taken down at once." Yanking the flyer off the bored. Glancing over at the young woman next to him, a grin slowly appeared across his face. "Say, why don't you come with me? That way you can earn some jewels and it gives you a chance to see how we work.
"Are you serious?"
"Of course, I'm serious. We're going to travel to Cedar Town and take care of the them."
Her eyes sparkled in excitement, as she jumped up and down. Of course, Loke wasn't going to complain about her excitement rampage she's going on, he got a free show out of it. Between watching her breast jump up and down, he watched as her dress would hike up to her upper thigh, he probably could die of happiness right about now. There was one thing he was expecting, and that was her practically jumping on top of him. She had caused him to topple over with her on top. Laughing heartedly, her smile big and bright, which was also obvious in her tone of voice. "Thank you Loke!"
"Uh, yeah…no problem. Just give this flyer to Mira." He twitched in happiness, as it seemed in her fit of excitement, she didn't realize her breast were under his chin. He didn't move as she got off of him and took the flyer, heading over to the bar. It was official, he could really die in happiness.
"Asteria."
Loke snapped out of his near happy coma and sat up, turning his head to the side. "Huh?"
"Remember, I said if the stars were in your favor I would tell you my name? Well, it's Asteria."
"Asteria." His voice was only audible to those that were directly around him, luckily for him, that was no one. He loved the way her name rolled off his tongue, there was something about it that sent shivers down in his spine. His eyes focused on her, watching as she spoke with Mira about the job, it was obvious she was happy. He could see the happiness in her smile, the way she laughed, truthfully, the way she carried herself showed that she was happy. She was probably explaining to Mira that she was going with him, as the beautiful waitress had shot him a smile, but he was entirely unsure if that was a happy or evil smile.
"Whatever might happen, I'll do my best to protect her if we get in trouble…let's just hope it doesn't happen while she's around." Loke pushed his glasses up strolling on over where she was.
"Well, you be careful on the job, Asteria, you too Loke. We'll be here waiting when y'all get back." Mira waved.
"Don't worry Mira, we'll be fine." Asteria couldn't help but grin, as she started to head for the door.
"Yeah, thanks Mira, we'll be back hopefully in a day or two."
Smiling by the door, waiting for Loke, as she seriously excited about getting to tag along with him. Deciding that she needed to grab a few things before they left, she started to head off in a different direction. "Hey, I'm going to stop and grab a few things, did you just want to meet at the train station?"
"Yeah, I'm going to head off to my house and pack a bag. Say, we meet at the train station at noon?"
"Deal!"
When they had both gone their separate ways, but apparently no one in the guild, but Mira had noticed that the two that had left together. Gray and Lucy were so deep into their arguing that they didn't even see them even talk to one another, much else left together. Gray had managed to completely freeze Lucy's whip after she had hit him a few times with it, mostly on his bare stomach due to stripping out of his clothes once again.
"You didn't have to destroy my whip!" Whining over the fact her whip was just now shattered ice.
"Stop your whining, you have five more at home!"
Lucy was still pouting over the loss of her whip, picking up the scattered shards in hopes of being able to put it together. The door slammed open, as Erza came walking in with a flyer in her hand, not realizing that she had stepped on and completely crushed a couple shards of Lucy's frozen whip. The Celestial's Wizard eyes widen as she looked at what was left of her whip, tears falling from her face as she just laid face down on the floor. She gave up, there was no saving it.
"Gray, Lucy, where's Natsu and Happy at?"
The Ice Maker Wizard just shrugged his shoulders in response to her question, as Lucy cried on the floor. Erza crossed her arms across her chest, anger was slowly starting to show on her face. Mira knew if she didn't step in, Gray and Lucy would probably not live to see tomorrow.
"I believe they are both at home."
"Thank you, Mira. You're a lot more helpful than these two." Erza scanned the room, her face seemed troublesome as she turned her attention to Lucy, who was still in the floor in tears. "Say, Lucy, where is Asteria at?"
Jumping up into the air like nothing had just happened, she also scanned the room, feeling slightly worried about her now. "She was just here…we had arrived here together, but I guess she left after Gray and I started to argue with one another. I don't know where she could've went."
"Actually, I know where she went." Mira spoke up as she started to clean the beer mugs that were in front of her. "She had taken a job with Loke, they are on their way to Cedar Town now as we speak."
"WHAT?!" Lucy's eyes nearly popped out of her head. She hadn't had time to go over and introduce Asteria to everyone yet, but she was planning on it today…it had seemed Loke had got to her before she could tell her about him and warn her of his playboy lifestyle and his flirtatious personality.
"Uh-oh, this must be a way for Loke to put his moves on her." The only brunette at the bar stated, turning up a barrel of alcohol.
"I don't think that's the case, Cana."
"What do you mean?"
Mira gave them a cheerful smile, placing one of the glasses down onto the tabletop. "He could be trying too, but she was one who had brought the job over and explained what's going on. You missed how excited she was, I'm surprised none of you noticed jump up and down in excitement."
Hearing that she was the one who decided on the job made Erza smile. "She's already got the Fairy Tail Spirt; I was hoping to bring her along with the job I have today lined up."
"But…"
"It's good for her to go on jobs with other people, don't worry about her Lucy, she'll be fine. You did watch her fight Natsu yesterday, right? She'll be alright; I believe she could handle Loke with no problem at all. Now, get your stuff pack, we got a job to go out on today!"
Loke stood against the pillar at the train station, waiting on the ever so stubborn Asteria to show up so they could go out on their job. Staring at the clock, he knew that she would be there within the next five or so minutes. That didn't give much time to ease his nerves, but five minutes was better than thirty seconds.
"Why the hell am I so conflicted on her coming with me? I mean, I've done nearly all my jobs on my own, besides a couple of jobs that seemed to interacted with a job that Gray had, and we always worked together until it was finished. Hell, I'm the one who offered to bring her along with me. A part of me wanted to spend time with her, but…I can't help but feel this slight ping of guilt for doing to us…especially…"
"Loke!"
The sound of his name being yelled brought him out his thoughts, as he saw Asteria running up toward him with her arm waving up above her head. She had a small black suit case rolling behind her. Just seeing her smile at him, made him smile as well…what the hell was she doing to him?!
"Sorry, if I'm running late. I had left my suitcase yesterday on the train and thought it was gone, but someone had found it and noticed it belonged to me, so they had held it, hoping I was going to come back." Asteria explained in embarrassment.
The clock struck noon and the bells started ringing across town.
"You're right on time, shall we go?"
"Yeah, let's go."
Each showed the ticket lady their tickets and bored the train. It was obvious it was going to take a few hours to arrive to the town of Cedar. Sitting across from each other, he noticed that she was so focused on the scenery outside. He could see the lost gaze in her eyes, the look if she's trying to escape from everything happening. Glancing down at his hand, a sense of impending doom started to linger in his mind. It was faint, but he sure enough felt his hand starting to fade a little. They hadn't been on the train ten minutes and it was already starting to happen again. Making a tight fist had stopped the temporary fading, but he wasn't entirely sure when it would start back up.
"Damnit. Just give me a little more time…"
"Loke…are you okay?"
Loke looked at up at her face and saw a frown on her face, it bothered him when she frowned like that. He's seen her nothing but happy and smiling, a frown did not belong on her face. "Hey, don't frown. You never know who could be falling in love with your smile.
In an instant, her frown became a smile, along with a faint color of pink spreading across her face. "Well, if you can hit me with a pickup line, I guess I shouldn't be worry about you."
"No need to worry about me, beautiful. So, since we're going to be doing this job together, I'm curious, what type of magic do you use?"
"I use Air magic, I'm able to manipulate the air around me and use it as a weapon. What about you?"
Loke raised his hand, showing her the ring on his finger. "I use ring magic, which brings forth a twister. Though, I'm mostly a combat specialist, my strength and speed are so high that it allows me to take out foals without having to cast any magic."
"Hey! I have an idea!" Slamming her hand into her palm, there was sparkle of determination in her eyes. "I wonder if I can manipulate the air in your twister to expand it."
"How so?"
Asteria faced the window and blew hot air on it, causing the window to completely fog up. He had focused on her lips and blushed a little when she blew long periods of time on the window creating a large area of mist. He wasn't sure if he should blush or be impressed. While creating a visual of what she has said, she started to go into depth of what she had meant. "As I said before, I'm able to easily manipulate the air around me. One of my spells I'm able to use is called Aerial, I surround the person in a dome and lower the oxygen levels. So, "She drew what looked as a twister and some lines that was showed the air around it, "if I can lower oxygen levels, I should be able to change the pressure in the air. The most dangerous part of a twister is not the visible part, it's the winds created by the high pressure air being sucked in."
"I get it now, if you can raise the pressure in the air, my twister will become larger."
"Exactly. It needs energy to increase in strength and sustain itself. The source of this energy is the moist warm air that is drawn in."
"Fortunately the down draft of air has cooled so it starts to shut down the funnel it created by cutting off its supply of warm air. That's going to be the major down fall." Loke pointed out.
"True, but I'll just have to make sure cool air don't get into the funnel."
"Once we get there and settled, we'll find a place so we can try your plan out."
Asteria sat back in her seat, staring back out the window. "You know…I wish I had tried that out with my match with Natsu."
Loke only nodded to her statement, folding his arms across his chest. He closed his eyes, hoping to get some rest, though he probably could've listened to his beautiful angel talk about her match with Natsu. Dozing off for a good thirty minutes, he started to have a slight dream or was just thinking about what she had said. Natsu is a strong wizard, it must've been an amusing to watch the two of them go at it with one another.
Wait.
What the hell did she say?
Eyes flying open, his voice was loud enough to startle the pink haired wizard across from him who was staring out into the ocean, causing her to jump. "You fought against Natsu?!"
Not understanding about why he sounded so surprised, Asteria went on to talk about what had happened. "Oh yeah, he's pretty good. I was lucky enough that while he was gearing up his attack, I used Aerial against him to knock him out."
He couldn't believe his ears, there was no way she was able to beat him. Was she stronger than Natsu? Did her own abilities match up to Erza? There was no way in hell that was possible.
"You…actually beat Natsu in an actual battle?"
The only response he received was a small laugh, watching as she waved her delicate hand in front of her face. "Oh no, we were both holding back. If we had gone head to head, the guild hall would've been completely destroyed. Plus…" Her cheeks turned a little red as she her laughed turned into a nervous one. "He would've totally beat me in a match, I may be strong, but he's got me beat by a long shot."
"Well…I believe you could take him down one day, just make sure the next time you fight him. Let me know, so I can see him get his ass kicked by a beautiful angel."
Before she could even respond to his comment, the train started to slow down as the train conductor came across the train. "Attention ladies and gentleman, we have arrived Cedar Town. I repeat, we have arrived Cedar Town."
Loke stood up from his seat and stretched his arms and legs, granted it wasn't a long train ride, maybe a two hours if that, but his legs had been sore from sitting still from sitting that long. Stretching an arm out to Asteria, he couldn't help but wear a grin on his face.
"Shall we go and find us a hotel to stay in?"
Asteria placed her hand on his arm, helping her stand up. She proceeded to slip her arm through is, wearing a grin to match his. "Of course, but we sure the hell aren't sharing a room."
"Damn, I was hoping to get to snuggle under the covers with a beautiful woman."
Asteria laughed a little as they exited the train and headed out the door, taking in the town's view. Not far from the train station was a ledge that offered the perfect view. "Oh, wow!" Letting go his arm, she ran over to the railing, looking above the city and out at the sea. "It's truly beautiful!"
Pushing his glasses up with his finger, he joined her by leaning against the rails. "True, but it's not as beautiful as you, my angel."
She looked at up him, feeling the heat raise in her cheeks. She adverted her eyes, feeling a smile tugging on the corner of her mouth. "Oh, Loke…"
Hearing her say his name nearly brought him to his knees, he didn't understand why she did that to him. What kind of charm magic was she just using on him? Usually he was charming woman, but for once, he was the being charmed. He watched her smile, he could see the faint color of pink in her cheeks, he noticed a stand of her hair was out of place and had fallen onto her cheek, the color of her hair was identical to the color in her face, if he hadn't been staring at her face, he wouldn't have been able to notice the strand of hair. Reaching a hand out to tuck the stand back behind her ear, she stood up and leaned away from the railing, his face burning red as he froze with is hand out stretched.
"We probably should go visit Madam Lucia and get some intel on what had…Loke?" The Air mage turned her head to the side, in confused at why Loke face was red and his hand out stretched. "Why is your face so red? Also, why is your hand out stretched."
"Uh...it's nothing! You're right, we should go visit Madam Lucia!" It was obvious that Loke was embarrassed, but she did not understand why he was so embarrassed, did something happen while she was staring out over the town and sea? She watched as he started to head off toward the direction of where Madam Lucia was located. She couldn't help but giggle at his response as she chased after him.
"Hey! Wait up!"
"When will we leave for Magnolia Town?"
"It shouldn't be much longer, Erza and her team had just left for a job, plus Laxus and Mystogen are not there as well. Their guild is practically defenseless with their best wizards gone."
"Good."
"I say we'll head that way in a day or two."
"I can't wait to destroy that damn guild hall of theirs and take out every fairy tail idiot with it."
The man who had a huge desire to destroy Fairy Tail, took a huge bite out of a rather large piece of iron. An evil smirk sneaked along his face as he thought about what he was going to do those Fairy Tail losers.
They stopped at the hotel which sat down the street from the train station, which was convent for them. Loke had originally tried to get one single room, which Asteria had "accidently" stepped on his foot. After acquiring two rooms, across from one another, must to Loke's displeasing, they thought it would be best to visit Madam Lucia.
Venturing through the town, it was made aware that the of them that whatever happened for them to take the job, there were knights on every corner. Cedar was nothing like Magnolia, there is all but one single magic shop in the entire town, where back in Magnolia there was magic shops on every corner. It's no wonder why someone would target the Madam Lucia, when there's only one magic shop all in Cedar, that shop is bound to have a little bit of everything, including rare objects, which explains why it was targeting for having a Dragon Lacrima.
"Loke…what's with all the knights around here?"
"There's not that many mages in Cedar, they are actually protected by the local knights here. I assume that they are on extra patrol with the break in at the magic shop."
"That would make sense, but you'd think they would have some mages to help out." It confused Asteria a little. Why wouldn't they have mages to fight against mages? Those knights did not stand a chance the mages, especially if they were as strong as Loke said they were.
"You'd think, but they are too stubborn for that."
"True, I just hope we find this group and get that Lacrima back."
"Yeah, let's hope they aren't as strong as the stories I've heard are true."
"If they are, we'll take care…" She was interrupted by Loke suddenly stopping, she was about ask him why the sudden stop until she noticed the sign in front of her. It stated "Madam Lucia Magic Shop." Well… that's an original name for a shop."
They walked in to be greeted by an overly large lady with short black hair and wore a long black robe. Just the way she turned around caused the entire store to shake. It was almost as if there was a bull in a china shop, but she was the bull…and the store was the china shop.
"Oh, customers! How may I help you?! Would you like a communication lacrima? How about a magic ring?" No wonder there was only one magic shop in all of Cedar, it seemed that place doesn't have visitors very often, at least from the way she acted.
"Uh…no thank you. My name is Loke."
"I'm Asteria."
"We're from the Fairy Tail Guild. We saw your job posted and came as soon as we could."
Madam Lucia eyes widen, grabbing the two Fairy Tail members in a bear hug, squealing in their ears. "Oh my! Members from Fairy Tail, I am so lucky to have the both of you here."
"Uh…Yeah…"
Asteria squirmed in Madam Lucia's arms, her face turning slightly blue. "Can you put us down…I can't…b-breath!"
"Oh, sorry darlings!" Setting the two down, Asteria placed her hands up to her chest, she was trying to catch her breath. That was more like a punishment than anything.
"So, Madam Lucia, will you explain what happened?"
"Yes, of course. Please, follow me." Madam Lucia beckoned the pair to follow her to the back of the store. Holding her hand out to the pair of chairs for them to sit in, she sat across from them, sighing. "Three nights ago the store was broken into, but I didn't find out until the next morning when I had arrived to open the store. At first, I thought maybe some kids broke the window, but when I stepped inside, that's when I realized that I noticed some things had been moved around, but nothing taken. When I stepped into my office…" She pointed over to the safe behind her that was busted open. "I saw that they had came for the Dragon Lacrima from the water dragon. I'm sure you know how expensive and rare that they are."
"Yes, I'm well aware how rare they are. My question is, how do you know it was "The Fallen Stars" that had broken in?"
"Well…it started last month when they first settled into town and have been causing a ton of issue for the town folk. I'm sure you noticed all the knights roaming the city and stationed on every corner."
Asteria rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah...we noticed alright."
"Do you know where they are hiding out at?" Loke asked.
It was obvious in Madam Lucia's eyes that she was truly upset over the manner, as she laid her hands in her lap. "Unfortunately, no. Do you think you'll be able find them?"
"Of course, I'm sure they will show up while we're here."
"Once they do, we'll take them out with no problem and get that Dragon Lacrima back for you."
Madam Lucia couldn't help but smile as she started to show them the way out. "Thank you again, I know you two will succeeded on your job. You have no idea how precious that Dragon Lacrima is to me, I'll feel more at peace when it's back here with me. Just a forewarning if the knights are to give you any trouble, as they've been a little uneasy with new comers who are mages, just let them know you are here to take care of our problem."
"Thanks for the heads up." The two Fairy Tail members stepped out of the building, noticing two guards who stood just a couple of feet away from them were watching the two every move. Loke leaned down and whispered into Asteria's ear, as he started tugged her arm into the other direction. "Let's get back to the hotel and we'll start look for those trouble maker's tomorrow morning.
"Uh…yeah." She was slightly confused, as she being practically being dragged back to the hotel. Something about them two were off, as she swore she felt some magic, but wasn't entirely sure if it was because they were in front of the store or it was the two guards, which if it was, it wouldn't make much sense due since no one of the knights were wizards, at least as far they knew. "That was unusual…"
Loke glanced down at her, raising an eyebrow at her. "What was?"
"Oh…it's nothing. Don't worry about it." She laughed nervously, only receiving a shrug from her partner. Something seemed to have caught Asteria's eye as she was being dragged past a big building, it was her stomach that proceeded to make some noise. Laying a hand on her stomach, she sighed a little.
"Oh yeah…it's getting near dinner time and I hadn't eaten all day. I'm starving." Hanging her head in defeat, it was obvious to her that Loke was in an entirely different world. He hadn't hit on her any since they were at the hotel, which wasn't like at him at all. Usually he caught on when she was worried or miserable, but he hadn't looked at her but once since they left Madam Lucia. Walking into the hotel room, they both went to their rooms across the hall.
"First thing in the morning, we'll go looking for them, sound good?"
Asteria looked at him and smiled, she felt as if something her chest was hurting. "Yeah…" She laid her head against her door, whining. "What the hell did he do to me?"
Walking into her room, she collapsed onto her bed face first, her arms holding the tightly in her arms, tears filling her eyes.
"What in the living hell is wrong with me?! I just the met the man yesterday and I can't seem to shake him from my head. As much as I want to act with my heart, I still have to figure what "she" means by helping the guild and they help me? I just want to bring back my memories, that's all. I wish I could talk to someone about this…I guess I could talk to Loke? No, he'll probably thing I'm to weird and run off. Lucy? She'll probably find it hard to believe and go crazy. I don't really any of the others to tell them. Of course…after meeting all of them…I really don't want to regain my memories, I rather make news one and go on."
Gripping the pillow tighter, she rolled onto her side. "I know the stars were on his side, but are they really on mine?"
Closing her eyes for a few minutes, her mind started to drift to the pervious night, as she thought about that conversation with Loke.
"I see, well you would make me a happy man if you would allow me to take you on a date."
"A little soon, don't you think?"
"You're single. I'm single. Coincidence? I think not."
"What makes you think I don't have a boyfriend?"
"You would've pointed it out at the very beginning of me flirting with you, if that were the case."
"I need to know your name first, before I accept or decline."
"I was beginning to think you would never ask. The name is Loke, so what's my beautiful angel's name?"
"I'll make you a deal, if the stars on your side and we meet again, I'll tell you my name and go out on a date with you. Until then, I shall be that mystery girl who's name you do not know and does not fall for your pickup lines."
"I... wait…what?!"
"Good night, Loke."
"That idiot…" She mumbled as she continued to lay there. The stars just had to be on his side when she met him last night and saw him again today. A name and date, huh? She should've made the bet more…wait.
A name and a date?
Asteria shot up in bed, her eyes started widening. "I forgot I owe him a date! Thankfully we're in a different town, which means no one would bug us."
Jumping out of bed, she picked up her suit case and laid it on the bed. She knew she had all her outfits in here and she the perfect one. Figuring this would be the perfect opportunity to get back at the smooth talker across the hall and make good on her deal.
Pulling a dress out, a grin creeped across her face as she laid it down. "Perfect."
Fully undressing herself and placing it neatly in the bag, she went to slip her dress on. It was a black short dress with a white lining on the bottom that stopped at her mid thighs. It had a red ribbon go down the middle of her dress and one right underneath her breast, with a piece of ribbon tied on the left side of it. The dress also had two red ribbons on each side. She placed on a pair of high calf-boots. Taking the bow out of the top of her hair, she pulled her hair to each side, taking two pieces of red ribbon, she tied her hair into very loose pig tails that sit over shoulders.
Quietly closing the door to her room, taking a deep breath, she stepped across the hall to Loke's door. "Hopefully, this will bring him out of his funk." Knocking on the door, she waited for a split second, hoping he wasn't in bed yet or at least changed out of his clothes.
Loke poked his head out of the door, his facial expression was mixed with confusion, surprised, and amusement. He took in the view that in front of him, a grin slowly formed across of his face. Loke nearly struck Asteria with the door as he swung it wide open, leaning against it.
"Bingo." She knew that that would work.
"You're so beautiful that you made me forget my pickup line."
A blush started to creep across her face as she grabbed his hand, grinning as she dragged him down the hallway. "Good, let's get going!"
Blushing slightly, he tilted his head in confusion at the young woman in front of him who was dragging him out of the hotel to god knows where. He hadn't expected this what's so ever, as he had just laid on the bed as well and almost fell asleep from exhaustion. "Uh…where are we going?" Noticing she stopped dead in her tracks, keeping her back to him still. She didn't say a word as she stood there, all she did was grip his hand tighter, which made him think something was wrong. He moved to be closer to her to see what was wrong, poking his head around her head, he had expected to see a frown or tears. What he was greeted with was something completely different and unexpected.
Pink cheeks and a smile.
Casting a glance up at him, she couldn't help but smile at him, but at the same time, the pinkness of her cheeks spread.
"Well, Loke, if you must ask…we're going on a date."
"Oh? What brought this on?"
"Well…" Asteria picked her paced back up as she kept on dragging on Loke behind her. "Remember our conversation from last night?"
"Of course, how could I forget about last night? You, an angel falling straight down from the heavens above and I got to catch you in my arms and save you." Loke snickered.
"Well…remember how you asked me on a date and for my name, and I wouldn't give it to you, and that I'd would if we were to ever meet again."
"Of course, you ended up being my beautiful mystery."
"I promise to go on a date with you, and so…I figured while we were here…we could go out on our date, if that's okay with you?"
Feeling his hand slip from hers and the very arm slipping around her shoulder, bringing her closer to him. Feeling the heat rise in her face, she glanced up at him as a grin creeped across his face. "My beautiful angel, I would be more than happy to take you up on that date. Now," Sliding his arm from around her shoulders, he stepped away and held his arm out to her. "Now, would you do me the honors and let me escort you on this date, as the true gentleman I am?"
Her cheeks were as red as the bows on her dress as she slipped her arm though his. "I know the perfect place we can grab some dinner."
"Where's that?"
"On the way back to the hotel earlier, we passed a lovely looking restaurant and well…"
Growl.
A nervous laugh came from the empty air wizard whose stomach made it known that it was empty. Very empty.
"It's made me hungry ever since then. Oh! Here we are!" Pointing up to the building that was in front of them, it was a rather large two-story restaurant. Eyes widening in hunger and happiness, practically yanking her arm out of his, causing him to nearly fall over, as she proceeded to run inside. It was pretty obvious, she loved food, which caused him to chuckle. All of the women he had met and dated, they would barely eat around them, and if they did, it would be salads and everything healthy. To him, it was nice to see a woman with a healthy appetite, as long as they were not like Natsu, who would eat the entire town out of house and home if it were possible.
Who the hell was he kidding. It was.
Strolling inside of the door, he noticed that she was sitting in a booth next to a window, a menu in one hand and the other hand waving him over to where she was.
"I don't think I've ever seen someone, much less a woman, run to where food was as fast as you." Loke joked.
"Yeah…sorry about that." Giving him a playful laugh, she couldn't help but fill nervous about it. She was hungry, correction, she was starving. It had finally dawned on her that she had completely detached herself from him and had ran inside. That's what made her nervous.
"No need to apologize. I'm glad that I finally got to meet a woman who has an actual liking for food, and doesn't skimp on the menus because they are afraid of gaining weight."
"I love food to much to do that. I mean, you only live once, so why not enjoy yourself while you can. You never know when your time will come."
Then, it was like a ton of bricks had hit him all at once.
"I mean, you only live once, so why not enjoy yourself while you can. You never know when your time will come."
Eyes widening and lips thinning a little, lowering his eyes to focus on the menu that laid down in front of him. Her words were like bricks and hitting him nearly caused him to break. Especially with what had happened earlier on the train to him. She had a point, you really only did live once and he had been doing the best he could to enjoy life while he was able too. Up until the last several weeks he was doing just fine until just a few days ago, but he knew he didn't have much longer. Maybe a couple of weeks, a month or two at the latest.
"I don't know how much longer my body is going to keep up with this…I can feel the life from me draining away little by little each day." His focus returned back to Asteria, who was practically absorbed into the menu, he didn't know what she was saying, but he had a good idea what she was going on about. She probably didn't know what the hell to choose from on the menu, which made him secretly happy that she was paying attention to something else, he knew she would be worried about him.
"I use to be scared about facing death, but it's the only way to make it up to her. Plus…I got the chance of a lifetime to…"
"Loke?"
His thoughts were completely shattered by the sound of her voice, which once again sent shivers down his spine. She seriously needed to stop calling him by his name, she was putting him under a spell every time she said it.
"Uh…are you ready to order?" She pointed upwards, which caused his eyes to follow where her finger had directed him. It seemed the few minutes he spent lost in his head, the waitress had come over and had taken Asteria's order, which he didn't even hear what she had order. To be honest, he was more scared to see what she had ordered than what was going to happen to him.
"Oh…sorry about that, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to order." Glancing over at the menu, which he neglected to even look at as he was lost in his thoughts with his mind a hundred miles away from where he was physically located. He decided to go with the first thing that he had saw.
"I'll have the Beast Man Curry."
Loke could've sworn he had heard a snicker from the young waitress as she wrote down his order and left. Slightly confused by her reaction, he pointed toward the direction that she had disappeared off to.
"Did...did she just snicker at my order?"
It was obvious that Asteria was trying to contain herself from snickering as well.
"You totally just picked the first thing off the menu, didn't you?"
"What no!" Loke started to panic slightly.
"Oh god, Loke you did!"
"No!"
Snorting at his answer in laughter, she started to wipe a tear from her eye as she grinned. "You're such a terrible liar, Loke."
Folding his arms in frustration, he turned his head to the side, as if he was starting to pout. "I just can't win with you, can I?
Asteria eyed the waitress as she walked back and laid two drinks down for them at their table. It was obvious that the waitress was still snickering, which caused Loke to blush a little in embarrassment.
"Loke, you're blushing!"
"N-No!"
"Are you embarrassed?"
"What?! No! I'm not going to let you win again."
The air mage giggled slightly, leaning forward with her hands on her cheeks. Eyes sparkling with a mischievous look and her the grin on her face grew.
"You know, you're pretty attractive, but seeing you blush…well, it makes you even more attractive."
Loke chuckled slightly, turning his head to look at the beauty in front of him. Of course, when she leaned forward, it caused him to get a view of her chest. A grin appeared across his face as he pushed his glasses up. Casting a glance to some of the women who, two days ago he would've thought were seriously beautiful, but now their beauty does not rival to the young woman who sat across from him. It was obvious they were checking him out, which again, two days ago he would be doing the same and hooking up with them, but now he had no interest in doing any of that with them.
"You may be asked to leave soon; you're making all the other women look bad."
"Oh? Well, if that's the case, I surely hope you would join me in leaving. That way, they get to see what they can't have." It was time to fight fire with fire, Asteria thought it was about time for him to be on the receiving end of his pickup lines.
"I would be a fool if I didn't leave with you." He wasn't sure if he was winning her over with his charms or she was starting to jump into the play field of charming people, whatever the case, it made him happy.
The waitress walked over the table and laid down what looked to be a decent size plate of pasta and meat, with a delightful dark sauce. Of course, the bowl that belonged to Loke…well it was huge bowl, nearly half the size of the table, that was full of curry. His eyes were huge, where Asteria was nearly about to double over in laughter. It was obvious, he was not going to live this down…ever.
"So…I might've picked the first thing off the menu."
"Yeah…I figured you did. I mean…the bowl is gigantic and…really, the only person I could see eating the entire bowl is Natsu."
Snorting as he started to eat, which was a little difficult since the bowl was so high. "He could eat two of these without no problem."
Asteria watched as he ate, though he struggled to eat out of the giant bowl. A part of her wanted to get to know him more, but a part of her was afraid too. She couldn't remember what had happened after last year, so getting involved with someone would be bad. Something deep down in her wanted to tell him what had happened and for him to help her, but what if he ran? She would still have to see him at the guild hall. Yet…the voice in her head said that Fairy Tail will help her.
"Oh yeah…because saying, "Hey! I totally can't remember my life up until last year and a voice in my head said that Fairy Tail can help me out." Totally does not sound like I'm having a psychotic break what's so ever." Shaking her head, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to break through her eyes.
"So…Loke, tell me something about yourself?"
Loke froze at her question, glancing up at her. "What would you like to know?"
"I mean…all I know is that you use ring magic and that you make it a habit to use pickup lines on women you randomly rescue from falling into a river."
His mind raced for answers, as he was unsure what to tell her. He couldn't tell her the truth, that he was slowly dying and that he caused someone's death, and his true secret. Plus, it also wasn't the probably the best time to mention the five…or was it six? Anyway, mention them back at home. They were a little crazy…he knew they wouldn't enjoy him on a date with her. Plus, he didn't' want to screw this date up with her. Granted, she only went on a date with him because she thought she would never see him again and a made a bet, but regardless, it was still a date. Taking a deep breath, he started to answer her question.
"There isn't much to know about me, I joined Fairy Tail three years after leaving the Blue Pegasus Guild and I tend to be a loner on jobs, the rest is history. Also," He leaned across the table, pointing his fork at her. "I may go around using pickup lines, but you're the first woman I've saved from falling into the river and I believe you'll be the only one."
"Oh?"
"Yeah…because if I received a jewel for every time I saved someone as beautiful as you, I'd have one jewel."
Asteria cheeks flared pink as a smile started to tug on the corner of her lips.
"So, now it's your turn, tell me a little about yourself. What brought you to Magnolia?"
"Well…" Asteria wasn't sure what to say either, as she didn't realize that Loke had the same problem as well. Knowing she couldn't tell him the full truth, she knew she had to tell him something. "I'm actually from Crocus, I had travel to Magnolia to join Fairy Tail after…uh hearing they were such a great guild to join from a friend. You were the second person that I consider close too, as I'm still getting to know Natsu and everyone."
"I take it the first person is the one who you're sharing an apartment with until you get your own place?"
"Yeah…I had actually rescued Lucy from two creepers and we hit it off just fine."
Loke nearly jumped out of the booth when he heard Lucy's name, as the look on his face was a mixture of terrified and concerned. His hands were held up in front of his face, as if he wanted her to pause the story until he could recover. Asteria was seriously confused by his reaction to what she had said.
"Loke…?"
"Y-You're…sharing a place with Lucy?"
"That's what I just said."
"Lucy, from Fairy Tail?"
"The one and only."
"The celestial wizard?"
"Uh-huh…" Watching the reaction in his face, it was obvious that he looked like he could die at any second. Curious to why he was freaking out about Lucy, she tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Do you not like, Lucy?"
"Huh?!" He looked her as he thought over her question. It took him a second to actually process what she had just asked him. Shaking his head, he knew he had to clear the air about the Celestial Wizard before Asteria got the wrong idea.
"No…I like Lucy, she seems like a really sweet girl…it's just…" He trailed off as he tried to figure out how to say it. Truthfully there was no easy to say what he wanted to say. He couldn't figure out why her, of all people, made him wanted open up to her and tell everything that's bothering him. Before he could even attempt to form the words he was trying to grasp out of thin air, he felt a warm gentle hand on top of his hand and a voice that was about a gentle as her touch.
"It's okay, Loke. I take it that you had a bad experience with a woman, who probably was a celestial wizard before you came to Fairy Tail."
"Something like that…"
Asteria squeezed his hand, as a smile spread across her lips. "You can tell me about one when you're ready, in the meantime, how about we just enjoy the evening together."
"Yeah, you're right. Thank you." Loke waved the waitress over, who had their bill ready. She glanced down at the bowel that Loke was eating out of and snickered again, the poor guy couldn't eat a fourth of the food was given to him. He gave the jewels to the waitress, and stood up, stretching as Asteria started to protest at what he had just done.
"Hey! I could've paid for my own meal!" She protests, her cheeks puffed out a little in anger.
Loke snickered as he helped her out of booth and took her arm into this. "Hey now, it wouldn't be very gentleman like if I didn't pay for your meal. Plus, it's a date and the man is always supposed to pay."
Asteria blushed slightly as they walked out of the building and back up to where they were staying. Laying a hand over her chest, she could feel her heart beating fast. She was unsure why her heart was racing, she hadn't done anything to make feel like she had run marathon. The feeling was strange, it was new to her, but for some reason, it felt familiar…like she's had this feeling before, but to her it felt like that was a life time ago. Feeling the breeze against her skin, she caught a whiff of something salty.
"That smell…" Asteria unlinked her arm and started to run up toward the hill, once again, leaving Loke behind in her tracks.
"Hey, wait up!" Loke was confused as to where she was running off too. He was starting to realize that she has a problem with rushing off to places, leaving everyone behind without telling them where she was going. He picked up his pace, as he raced up toward the top of hill, scanning his surroundings.
"Where the hell did she go?" He muttered, the only thing was up here was the train station and the ledge that looked over the city, out into the sea. His eyes scanned right past the ledge, where he caught a glimpse of what to look like a figure standing over the railings. It had to be her, as there was nowhere else to go but to the train station, and that was closed. The closer he closed in on the figure, the more he knew it was Asteria, who, from what he could tell, was leaning over the railings, staring up to what he thought was the sky. It seemed that she didn't even notice his presence when he stopped right next to her, as he looked up into the same direction that she was staring off too, it was obvious that her mind was elsewhere.
"You know…you really have to stop running off like that." He chuckled as he stood next to her.
Asteria, who had been just staring up at the sky, her mind just drifting off in lala land. Twirling her hair around her finger, she had let out a slight giggle, as she tried to explain her actions.
"Well…I had caught whiff of the sea, but to be honest…I do have a bad habit running toward things, regardless if there's trouble or not ahead."
"Ah…so that's how you found Lucy in trouble…you ran toward her screaming."
"…Maybe."
Loke shook his head at her response, he knew it was a dangerous habit for her to be doing that, but he also knew that she could take care of herself perfectly fine. Shrugging his shoulders, he turned around to lean his back against the rail, propping his arms up onto them as he continued to look up at the sky. "So, what's so important that we started to run off?"
"Well…there was a specific reason I wanted to come back here."
"Oh?"
Blushing a little, she started to poke her fingers together, as if she was embarrassed to say. "Well…I'm a little embarrassed to say."
"You can tell me; I won't judge you."
"I love the stars, I'm a huge astrology person. For as long as I can remember…every night before bed, I would have to go outside and look the stars, but when you live in the city, it's a bit hard to see them at night. When I saw this place earlier, I thought it would be a fantastic place to look at the stars since this place is so small. I had forgot about coming back up here after we met Madam Lucia, I just now remembered when I caught a whiff of the ocean."
It was obvious that during the time she was explaining to him, that she didn't noticed the surprised look on his face. For some reason, he seemed surprised that she loved the stars and astrology so much, as he was huge on astrology, but he had his reasons for that…a reason that was also haunting him. Snickering a little, he pushed his glasses up with his finger as Asteria started to throw a fit at his reaction.
"Hey! You don't have to make fun of me for it! You said you wouldn't judge me!"
Bursting out in laughter at her reaction, it seemed to only anger the air mage more. Cheeks puffed out, she turned her body toward him, bawling her hands up into fist as she brought them up to her to her chest. "That's not nice to laugh at me."
Wiping a tear from his laugh, he couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "No, I wasn't laughing at you."
"Huh?"
"It's just I never met someone, who wasn't a celestial wizard, be into astrology and the stars so much." Loke explained.
"I can't explain it…just looking at them gives me a sense of relief, plus I find them simply beautiful, I can't help but get lost while staring at them."
Using his shoulders to push himself off the railing, he turned his body to face her, his eyes focusing on her. While she was lost in the stars, he started to become lost in her. Never has one single woman ever had this effect on him, it was like she sucked him of his charms and is using it against him. He watched the wind started to pick up and strands of her hair started to dance around. Her dress started to develop ripples in it from the wind. He couldn't help but watch her, it was just nice to be able to stand there in the quiet of the night, watching her stare off at something she had a passion for. It didn't last long, because the moment that happened, her whole body shivered from the wind. Without even thinking about it, he had slipped his coat off and placed it on her shoulders.
It had caught her off guard when he had done that, as she really didn't expect that. It wasn't cold out unless the wind picked up and the later it got, the more the wind started to pick up. Asteria's cheeks started to turn pink as her eyes stared into his as she started to chew on her bottom lip.
"Loke…" His name was the only thing she could muster out.
Averting his eyes from hers, it was obvious his cheeks were turning pink, but she didn't know if that was due to the wind picking up and causing him to be cold or not. His entire body had cringed when she said his name, it felt like she was starting to take a hold over him. His voice was quiet, but when he spoke, he spoke as if he was embarrassed about something. "Don't say my name like that. I won't be able to keep my eyes off of you."
"Oh…I'm sorry."
Loke shook his head. "Don't be, it's not your fault." Trying to stifle a yawn, he knew that they needed to head back soon and rest up for tomorrow. Holding out his arm to her, he offered her a reassuring smile. "I'd hate to end this night, but we probably should get back and get some rest for our job tomorrow."
"Yes, you're right. It's getting late. I'm terribly sorry I kept you out longer than I had planned." She had linked her arm into his, but hung her head as they walked back to the hotel. Asteria had felt bad, she was the one who had ran off and kept them out longer, even though they had planned on getting up early in the morning to gather information on The Fallen Stars.
"Hey now, I wanted to stay out late with you, I've enjoyed our date together tonight. There's no need to apologize for that." Loke patted her arm with a grin.
"But…"
"No, no buts, I'm not going to accept that at all. I hope I didn't bore you any."
Asteria just shook her head to his response, feeling a smile tug on her lips, as if it threated to expose itself. Looking up at the sky, she noticed how the stars started to disappear the father they got away from the ocean. She felt an unusual feeling that burned deep down inside of her. She wasn't sure what to do, as this feeling as been there for as long as she could remember. There wasn't much she could do, at least not until she regains all the lost memories. Though, at the time beginning, she wanted to push all of those thoughts into the back of her mind. Tightening her arm around his, she closed her eyes as they walked back to the hotel in silence. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't put her finger on it. He felt warm and comforting, he felt…safe.
"The stars are slowly fading away…" She murmured, her eyes remained closed.
"What are you talking about? I don't see any stars in the sky, but that's because the most heavenly body is walking right next to me." Loke whispered.
"How many times have you used that line?"
"Honestly? This is the first time I've said that, but it's true."
Asteria slowly pulled away from him as they walked into the hotel room and got to their rooms. Pulling his coat off her shoulders, she handed it back to him, her expression was mixed with happiness and sleepiness as she stared up at him.
"Thank you for letting me use your coat, and for putting up with me tonight."
"No thanks needed, it was because the stars were on my side. That being said, think I can get a second date?" Loke snickered.
Swaying on her toes, she smiled bashfully at his question, as if he should know what the answer was going to be. "Is there a reason why you want a second date?"
"Well…if you want the truth," Loke leaned down toward her face, causing the air mage to jump slightly, her cheeks started to burn red at how close he was. She could his hot breath on her cheek and his eyes staring into hers, causing her legs to become weak and starting to shake. "When I look into your eyes, it is like a gateway into the world of which I want to be a part of."
Feeling the heat from her cheeks spreading down her entire body, she felt a warm sensation in her chest. Something burned deep down inside of her, it was the same feeling she had while they were walking back to the hotel. Between the sudden closeness between them, what he had said, and being extremely tired, she didn't know what to say.
"You don't have to give me your answer tonight."
"I…"
"Good night, beautiful." Kissing her on the cheek, he quickly backed away and despaired behind his door.
"Yeah…good night." She muttered, standing there completely dumbfounded. Not exactly sure what the hell had just happened.
Walking into her room, she collapsed onto the bed, sighing. Her mind wanted to replay not only what happened, but that entire night. Though, as much as she wanted to, that was going to wait another day, her eyes were heavy and as soon as they would close, she would drift off into dream land. Before she succumbed to her dreams, she curled up with the pillow and a certain name spilled off her lips into the quietness of the night.
"Loke…"