A/N
Warning: Even more Canon divergence ahead.
If you have not read the Time Skip chapters in Fairy Drabbles, you will likely end up a little lost.
Going home was understandably awkward after that discussion.
Kagura had laid out her reasons, and there was no way to maneuver around them.
I wanted her to participate in the Grand Magic Games because she had always wanted to get in on the action. She would not do that unless I was there as well, and was heading in without a reserve member. So she was betting a lot on my being able to put my head on straight and get over my not entirely healthy mindset of continually hiding.
She is right.
Not the point!
My mind needed to be changed. That much was apparent. It was not my only hang up on stepping into the Games. It felt like admitting defeat. I was stubborn and proud and didn't want to give my enemies the satisfaction of descending to their level. Of joining in a competition that was pointless and had no bearing on my satisfaction. The prize they were offering did not matter to me!
Because it really doesn't matter, or because I think we're better? How arrogant is that?
I would continue to argue with myself that it wasn't arrogance, it was a sure confidence in my friends and their abilities.
The same confidence that Kagura had and always would have, in me.
How would I feel if one of them didn't do something when I knew they wanted to?
In all honesty, I would feel somewhat let down.
Hypocrisy is a bitter medicine. But better to get it down and get it over with.
But there was one thing I was good at, and it was avoiding personal problems by burying myself in work.
I slipped away from the apartment early, before my roommates were awake. The still, quiet pre-dawn light did give me some peace as I traveled to the guild hall to start on my considerable backlog of work.
I finished my first draft for the next play portraying the Nirvit tribe's history. I replied to a few other rune mages who had written to me requesting consultation on their personal projects. I drafted and sent a missive to Lord Thain, inviting him to the next debut production of another play, this one a rehauled version of Phantom of the Opera. Extensive rewriting had been needed to transition the setting from France on Earth to somewhere equivocal in Earthland. Breaking into music was a new thing for me, but the idea had gotten good positive feedback so I was going to shoot to add musicals to my repertoire. My letter to Lord Thain also contained a thank you for his recommendation of a musical producer to help polish the distant memories of the story and songs into something presentable and understandable to my current audience.
I was staring at a letter from said producer and one from my chosen director.
They both wanted to know what date we would debut the play. The general consensus was that presenting it as a precursor to the crowds that would come into Crocus for the Grand Magic Games was the most marketable strategy.
I pushed the letters aside with a soft groan.
My productive morning went up in smoke, landing me right back on the topic I had been trying to avoid thinking about.
The guild hall outside had been bustling with activity. I couldn't hear it, but I was still aware of it. People were starting to get their work together. Not from the job board, but to prepare for the Games. Everyone was splitting off for their various training plans, and Gildarts had wandered off again, with a handful of ten year quests in his pocket. Part of me was sad that he wouldn't get in on the games, but another part of me knew that this was not his scene.
Gildart's magic was functionally controlled entropy. There are not many non-lethal ways to use that. Even his strategies of splitting Natsu into a few hundred tiny Natsu's wouldn't work on most other targets because they wouldn't have the magically enhanced fortitude for it. Or the will power to direct them all. A forced Shadow Clone energy split. Bluntly, if Natsu was any less hardy, and had any less energy, or any less of a good recovery rate: That spell, however visually fun, could literally result in someone missing significant pieces when they were reassembled because the minis would have scattered.
The whole of the matter was, Gildarts picked his battles very, very carefully. Coming out to participate in a game with enemies much more fragile, and much less understanding than his guild, was very much not in character for him. He would watch what he could though. Cana had made him promise that much and he was nothing if not doting on his daughter. He had already posted a letter for her with plans to send another six over the next month.
I had sensed Elfman and Evergreen go off to train. Freed, like myself, was currently locked away and studying. Gajeel was off being a lone wolf. The reunited Team Shadowgear... were actually jumping into some normal work, not game prep. But that was about what I expected of Levy, and Jet and Droy certainly had not grown a spine when it came to her over the years. My quick cast of thought in their direction let me know that Kinana and Eric were still in town, running some errands, but there were plans to up their training and get their near symbiotic relationship back to where it had been before. Laxus had...actually gone somewhere with Makarov for his training. I saw flashes of a waterfall when I turned my mind towards their destination.
If Makarov makes Laxus sit under a waterfall, I want pictures.
Understood.
I wanted the images for blackmail and I would die before I ever said otherwise.
But Natsu, Gray and Erza were all off training. Lucy was likewise working with Capricorn to increase her summoning capacity. I knew that that Zodiac Spirit was not one she had before Tenrou, but there were strange glimpses of a tiny, cute baby Lucy that were visible in his story. And a lovely, mature version of her who I deduced, when looking back through the other flickers and flashes of memory, was her mother Layla.
My stomach rumbled, reminding myself that I had skipped breakfast to avoid talking to Wendy and Kagura before I could think through what I wanted to do about the Grand Magic Games. Which I had also avoided doing all morning.
I am so good at life.
I hauled myself to my feet and went downstairs to the guildhall kitchen for a quick lunch and to try and get enough energy to tackle the mental exercises needed to work out what I was going to do.
Get over my issues or tell Kagura I wasn't going to be in the Games.
While I was eating, I sensed a brush of Celestial Energy. Loke had passed through his own gate and was approaching the guildhall. Or was making plans to do so. It was a very firm decision so it may have been drifting a little into predicting the future.
I quietly got him some food as well, he could eat all day and night to no detriment and he enjoyed doing it. For its own sake and for the social factor of being with someone as he did this.
Loke placed his gate exactly at the doorway of the guildhall. Stepping through with a controlled flicker of light. Laki, who was fixing the tables after the previous night's festivities, greeted him warmly. I heard him respond, but his course was unwavering. He came up and settled beside me on the bench, scooping me into a quick one armed hug.
"Hey Princess."
I hummed in answer, leaning into his greeting gently, pushing over the snack I had gotten him. And in doing so I caught wind of a Plan. It went a bit further out than when I detected his coming to the hall.
And it felt much, much more significant.
"What are you plotting?" I asked curiously.
I had never felt what he was manifesting right now. It was like Celestial Energy, but...turned up to eleven.
Loke grinned.
"You like flouting tradition and setting new precedent, right?"
I couldn't have concealed my interest if I had tried. He grinned at me, blue eyes glinting with mischief.
"I'm listening."
Loke leaned in and whispered his plan to me.
-vVv-
I had some stipulations to lay out before I would jump on the bandwagon Loke was offering. And that meant, firstly, that I needed to talk to Ultear.
"Heeeeey Simon!"
The man was sharp.. So he probably could tell just by my tone alone that I was here to cause trouble in some way. He straightened where he was standing in his office and turned slowly, and warily towards me.
"Fae."
He knew my tones all too well by now.
"Now that I'm in the loop about you and your girlfriend, there is something that I need to clear up with you."
I shut the door behind me with a simple gesture, the rings on my hand guiding the door without my touching it. I kept a bright, cheerful smile on my face, which was also another sign of trouble.
Simon sighed, leaning against his desk and gestured for me to continue.
"Oh it won't take long. I want to use your communications lacrima to talk to Ultear. I need a favor."
Because someone as loving, and attentive as Simon would have bent over backwards and turned himself inside out to be able to speak to someone he loved regularly and directly. And he and Ultear were both too smart and emotionally damaged to invest enough of themselves to call it a relationship if they were only writing letters to each other. Everything I knew about both of them said that they had a way to talk to each other with no lag time.
And the jerk had let me run around playing cloak and dagger to connect with Ultear while I could literally have just called her.
I understood the need for caution, but I was still feeling petty.
Simon's expression didn't waver. Save for a tiny micro-expression of tenseness which, coupled with Morgana, told me that I was right on the money about my hunch.
The secrecy made sense. Ultear was still, very technically speaking, wanted in Fiore for her association with Grimoire Heart. Having a lacrima that could connect with her directly was a liability.
"You have your own means of talking with Ultear that we've made sure are secure."
"I'm running on a short timetable." I said blithely. "And I need her particular specialty."
"Fae, you know we can't contact her casually." And there was that protective nature that we all knew and loved so much. Simon was going to try and keep everyone safe and happy. But I was on a mission and had an ace up my sleeve.
"You already planned to call her today to tell her about us going into the Games. I won't stay for the whole time, you can have your private conversation without me. But if you want a number of our best to not, you know, miss the Grand Magic Games entirely, then I need her help."
His eyes narrowed and he took off his glasses, to give me a more attentive look.
"Why would they miss it?"
"Someone very powerful wants to bend some of the immoveable laws of reality for a very Fairy Tail reason."
He gave me a look that told me to stop playing around and just tell him.
"The Celestial Spirit King wants to host some of the guild in a welcome back celebration after their unintended power nap. And the time dilation between our realms could lead to his guests missing the Grand Magic games. About one day of their time equates to three months of ours. Not a fixed rate, but close enough."
Simon took this news rather well I thought. He had dealt well enough with all of the missives from Iceberg, stamped with their Royal Seal. The first one had almost given him a heart attack. But he was getting better with every one that arrived after that fact.
"...Wasn't it you who told me that humans literally cannot survive in the Celestial Spirit Realm?"
"If we're wearing local clothing, and come by invitation of the king, we can survive pretty much indefinitely."
That was one of the first things that Loke had assured me was taken care of. Virgo was already happily preparing all the clothing our party would need. She and Cancer had made it a bit of a competition.
"An ageless, literally immortal monarch, who has never granted a human access to his realm...wants to invite some Fairy Tail wizards to a party?"
I nodded, thrilled at the subtle twitch that was visible in Simon's eye. I might love him, but some teasing was mandatory in my relationships.
"Why?"
"He likes us. We met before you got here. We had an audience with him, got some laws changed, saved Loke's life. He was a pretty understanding guy once the situation was explained to him."
Comedically understating the situation right now was one thing, but I knew that I would need to give him a more detailed explanation later.
Simon digested this revelation quietly...
"So you're telling me that Iceberg was the downscaled version of what you started with."
It...could be viewed as such, though I never had before. A king had been challenged, a life saved and laws changed. Just, the one had been an immortal deity rather than cursed mortal royalty. And it had been five people vs the immortal in a debate of right and wrong instead of one girl vs a castle full of ghosts and frightened noncombatants in a death match. But explaining this to Simon right now would be getting bogged down in the details and I had a mission.
"Sort of? Bottom line is, the invitation is coming one way or another. And I'd really rather be able to jump back to the proper place in our timestream. Which I will need Ultear's and Meredy's help for. The best I could do on my own is get us back at some point within the same year."
Simon unlocked and opened his desk drawer
Ultear was surprised to see me on the call, but I didn't focus on my newfound awareness of her and Simon's existing romance. But she did grasp what I needed.
-vVv-
Bluntly, I wanted an empathic connection between myself and Ultear. Emotion and feeling was something that could withstand the ravages of time. So I would be able to reach back through the different streams and latch onto Ultear's presence to land us back when we were supposed to be coupled with the power of whatever Celestial Gate we would be using.
I already had a bit of Meredy's magic stored in my book and Ultear's. I just needed a bit of guidance to connect them in such a way that I could accomplish what I wanted. Guidance that Ultear was more than willing to give. Time was one of those laws that carried some very severe penalties if it was broken.
Who will give Ultear her first gray hair, me and Meredy?...or Gray and Lyon?
There is no contest. Its you and Meredy.
This way I could run off to the Celestial Spirit Realm with everyone else, and not have all of my precious fretting time snatched away while Kagura plotted and planned to unleash six years of pent up unsatisfied battlelust on the rest of Fiore's wizarding population.
Anchoring the spell down to a pocket watch, I left Simon to speak with his significant other and a jaunty call:
"Don't wait up!"
-vVv-
Virgo brought our clothes for the party. And it became a whole thing dressing up for the event. Lucy even summoned Cancer to help us girls with our hair. And Mavis was there too. Pouting that she couldn't come along.
"But it would be so cool to visit the Celestial Spirit Realm. This is history in the making here!"
The astral projection flopped onto Lucy's bed and groaned into the duvet.
"I'll give Reedus plenty of memories for pictures and tell you all about it." I assured her as Wendy added some product to my hair, working it through with practiced hands.
"Not the same." Her voice was muffled as if she actually was faceplanted into cloth.
She seems to be able to hold herself as tangible whenever she wants to.
"Well with as many changes as the King's made in the last little bit, other visitors could become a thing too." Cancer remarked, tutting over Kagura's split ends which were swiftly spritzed with a potion before he made the necessary trim. Virgo was doing Lucy's makeup as Erza contemplated some armor that could be used to accessorize her chosen dress. She wouldn't take weapons, not openly at least as that could be rude, but she needed some metal to ground her enough to feel comfortable in most settings.
"But there won't be a cool once in a lifetime party!"
Mavis was playing up her discontent to be involved somehow in events. And even if she hadn't been the First Master, she was deliberately making it comedic enough that no one minded the theatrics. Wendy blithely asked her opinion on leaving my hair down and curly. Or pinning it half up and giving me two spacebun roses made by wrapping loosened braids and pinning them into place. Mavis bounced us, eyes shining to get involved.
Should I cut my hair? It seems like it would be a lot simpler.
Morgana replied by bringing up a slew of memories surrounding the now long hair. From bonding memories similar to this party preparation, to looking in the mirror in passing on a day I happened to be wearing a red coat and noticing my resemblance to Freed.
Something throbbed in the back of my mind and Morgana reluctantly passed on the message.
Laxus prefers long hair.
I was better about turning brick red when those intrusive thoughts came along. Instead it was just a light pink.
The hints I had seen from Loke suggested an extravagant array of food, music and dancing and a number of Silver Spirits having been invited. Not just the ones that Lucy was contracted with, but also many others from the same clans and beyond. It was going to be a big, lively affair. If more formal than what we usually had in the guild. And the Celestial Spirit King himself would be our host, making this a huge deal to his subjects.
My understanding of the organization was more or less, the King was...the king. The eldest of all the spirits. One of the founders responsible for the creation of gates and keys that could be used by humans to summon his people to the human world. He ruled all Celestial Spirits as their immortal monarch. The Zodiac were his personal household, trusted and with extremely high status in their hierarchy. Silver Spirits were otherwise organized by clan and age within their clan. Each Silver Constellation Clan had an Elder who spoke on their behalf and when new spirits were born, would be in charge of presenting their child as a candidate for a new Silver Key being made and placed among humans for use.
I wanted to poke and see how the Silver Clans actually made their keys. And how the spirits were bonded with the keys. The details of how these were made was obscured back beyond living memory. Or human memory. And it would have been weird and invasive to go looking for it at a casual event.
Make a note to talk to Loke about this later. Preferably without him turning it into a Birds and Bees talk.
I shall do what I can.
"Done!"
At Wendy and Mavis's final pronouncement, I happily bounced out of my chair to see what else needed to happen. But it looked like everyone's hair was already done. There was a faint aura of Celestial Magic around my head holding the styling in place. Probably something Cancer had brought with him.
"So are we ready?" It was mid afternoon. The whole ordeal had not taken nearly as long as I had feared.
Virgo's eyes gleamed fanatically.
"Oh no, Miss Fae. Now we have to decide on your dress."
-vVv-
After surviving the rest of the preparations, we all met at our safe house location. I had written quick warming charms for everyone so we would not freeze as we waited. For everyone except Gray of course, who was in his element.
Though...
I brought my pen out again, approaching the Ice Make Wizard briskly.
"Hey Gray. Hold still for a second."
He obliged right away before asking.
"What are you doing?"
"Making sure that your stripping habit doesn't kill you." I replied, writing out a string of connected runes. "We'll only be able to breathe in the Celestial Realm because of these clothes so we can't risk you losing them."
Like a conductor, I guided the strings of runes to rest at the places where he would typically touch to remove his own clothing. They settled into the already enchanted weave willingly. They were made for us to keep us safe, so the aligned intent of letting Gray continue to breathe let the two differing enchantments synchronize perfectly.
"Ok, that's done. Now try to take your shirt off."
Gray looked shell-shocked, face tinting with pink as he jerked in alarm.
"Fae?!"
"Please don't make me repeat myself."
I ignored the way Juvia was staring at me, Gray looked uncomfortable as he reached for the hem of his crop top shirt. Virgo had clearly made the look to be as breathable as possible to accommodate the naturally cool Gray. His fingers simply gilded right through the material.
"Oh that feels weird."
He muttered, trying again with the same result.
"The cape too please."
He tried to take off the short shoulder cape with the same outcome. Gray could not physically strip himself if he wanted to.
"Alright, now- you know." I gestured at his pants and he obliged with a test and it was proof positive: Gray could not touch that either. I reached out and tugged his collar so it sat crooked.
"Thank you. You should be able to adjust your own clothes. You just can't take them off at the moment."
Gray straightened his cape, and demonstrated he was able to roll up his sleeves and the cuffs of his pants. But the spell rejected his touch whenever he tried to do anything to take off any garments. The protection of the celestial garb was only fully active when all pieces of it were in place, so he couldn't afford to lose any of it. He looked like he was thinking hard about something that wasn't entirely comfortable.
A bit of unease snuck in then. I wanted him to just...you know, survive this trip. But if he didn't like it...
"Gray, if you're confident you can not strip, I can take the enchantment off and just give you a personal climate control so you don't ever get too hot." That seemed to be one of the major triggers for his habit.
He shook his head.
"Nah, this is fine too. It's a good thing to consider. It's iust..." He swallowed, not meeting my eyes. "-what kind of story did you think up that lets you keep someone from taking their clothes off?"
The faint coo sounded around me. I had heard it unfiltered for years but now I was hearing it deliberately. It was a placeholder for raunchy or perverted implications. Sometimes other people could hear it too. Judging by how Gray's ears were turning red, he had caught it as well.
Ah. Yeah that does sound bad.
And now I was blushing too.
"It's not...that!" I protested vehemently. "It's a modified diving spell and Siren Call protection to render actions that would make survival less likely ineffective! This is even multi-purpose! If you were charmed and someone tried to make you walk off a cliff, you'd be stopped within two steps of the edge!"
Ah, I ramble when I'm flustered in general, not just depending on the person. Good to know.
So we were a pair of red faced fools and Juvia, and by extension Gruvia, was getting insecure. She had been eager to hear about Sting but it seemed that my affirmations that we were not a couple had opened the door to other uncertainties.
"Oh, that." Gray cleared his throat and straightened, finger tapping on his thigh. "That...makes more sense."
Juvia's usual protective feelings of Gray were now colliding with her guild and friend loyalty.
Let's try and avert that. By running like hell.
"Well, now that you're all set, I'm gonna go...finish my anchor."
The anchor you completed before you ever started dressing?
Don't take this away from me!
My book was out and I was holding my pen as if to continue writing. But in reality, it was done and I was just skimming to try and look busy. I returned to the center of the space we were going to be using as our gateway. And Gray followed me. And Juvia in turn trailed after him.
Nooooo!
I was not as flustered by Gray as Laxus. But being newly aware of a full scope of emotions, had forced me to confront that most of my friends were, in fact, attractive.
I can do this, just don't look at him for too long. But don't avoid looking at him either because that's weird.
"What is this thing going to do anyway?"
"Time works differently between our world and the Celestial Spirit Realm. If we go to a party for an evening in that realm without any modifications, we'll lose at least a month of time here. This setup should let us go for an evening and not lose more than a day."
Facts. Magic. These were normal things to talk about. Gray had pretty much always asked questions about my work.
"A day?"
I amended my statement.
"The ideal outcome is it adjusts the ratio of the time that passes here to match the time that passes there. But I'm not sure if it will be that perfect. So, hopefully it will not be more than a day or so."
Using just pure mental energy as a target to enter a timestream was hellishly hard. Artemis Fowl, in the story named for his antagonist/anti hero exploits, managed to get within three years of the time he was aiming for when time travel was involved. And that was considered prodigious. A one in a million shot depending on the will and focus on the person aiming the spell. The character who spoke like he knew remarked that landing within a century of the desired time would be a happy blessing.
And while I was working with a significant advantage of having someone capable of affecting time just as I wanted to, Ultear, I wasn't sure it would be the perfect result.
Juvia was trailing after Gray like a lost puppy and the sky was starting to get a little overcast.
So I slowed and looped my arm around hers, smiling through the pain.
Believe me, I wish I could turn off my awareness of Gray being attractive. It feels wrong on many fundamental levels.
Juvia gave me a curious look for a moment but then she smiled and squeezed my arm, leaning into my shoulder briefly. She was in the same look she had worn when she first joined Fairy Tail, very curly and not even reaching her shoulders.
"This looks like it will be very exciting." She confided. "I've never been to a party that wasn't hosted by the guild."
"Speaking as someone who has needed to attend some truly tragic parties, I am very certain that it will be fantastic."
"What was the worst party you have ever been to?"
I then regaled Juvia with the story about one event I had attended just after the Iceberg debacle. I had just made it home, and apparently Victor's request for official magic tutors from Fairy Tail had arrived at the capital. And through the grapevine of the civil servants I had been given what I thought was a request for a job. The job description was, cut down to understandable language, simply to attend a party. Jude had reviewed it, gotten a grim look on his face and then explained that it was going to be an evening of people trying to sweet talk me into endorsing their business to our distant neighbors. A royal endorsement would make anyone's business an overnight success.
They had not been expecting the requested Royal Tutor to be the probationary 13 year old wizard. I got through the party but sticking close to Jude, refraining from speaking and committing to anything as much as possible, and leaving as early as I could get away with.
"It was so awkward. I think everyone assumed me to be older. And they were ready to talk to an adult, not a kid."
"That's changed now, hasn't it?"
I hemmed and hawed a little.
"Well, first impressions are everything. And they've formed the idea of me being a kid as when they first met me. So it'll probably take a good long time before that gets any better." I looked around furtively... "Between us, it's one of the reasons I'm so busy..."
"To avoid parties?"
"To avoid settings where all I do is talk about work instead of actually doing the work."
The casual conversation halted when Virgo's gate spread out on the ground before the small country retreat that we treated as a secondary guild hall, and vacation spot. The Maiden Zodiac Spirit had her hands clasped before her, her usual deadpan expression surveying us all with the smallest hint of excitement and anticipation in her eyes.
"We are ready for you."
"Hold on!"
Loke's hand fell on my shoulder and somehow did not make me jump. Something was dropped into my hand, small and white against my guild mark.
"You're gonna need that."
"What?"
It's a version of an X-ball made in case the transition causes you to have a Magic Deficiency seizure. Made of a blend of human and Celestial Spirit ingredients.
"The Chameleon Silver Spirits worked on that. They're good at what they do."
I popped the pill into my mouth and swallowed it without a doubt of its safety or effectiveness. It had a sweet aftertaste rather than a bitter one as I expected from most experience with medicine..
"Thanks Loke."
I wondered as Loke gave Virgo the thumbs up to activate the transport to the other realm if there was a way to enable Celestial Plants and seeds to grow in the material world.
-vVv-
I had a vivid imagination
With words and a little willpower I could seem to create anything and everything that I would ever wish for.
But the Celestial Spirit Realm took my breath away.
We were no longer on a planet. The gravity, the air, everything here was ordered and organized for our benefit by the inhabitants of this world.
The pale path looked like it was floating in an endless void of space, supported and surrounded by a galaxy's worth of stars. The path meandered through vague walls that blurred with distance, but everything was very open, very freeing. There were no walls or restrictions except when I looked behind us.
I felt my head throb as I saw thousands upon thousands of gates. It lasted no more than a second before Morgana jumped when something effectively covered her eyes.
"Careful, Fae. Some things aren't that easy for mortals to wrap their heads around without hurting themselves. Give it a bit of being here and breathing it all in before you look at our gates direction." Loke's warning was kindly given.
"If I can't learn about those, I will need to learn something." I warned him. This was, as had been emphasized, a singular event. It had never happened before. I could probably earn a freaking doctorate writing about this.
I don't know if I ever will though.
This was someone else's country after all. And we were here as celebrated friends and guests, not ambassadors who needed to play and make nice. Besides, if anyone deserved to write about this, it was Lucy. She was the one who had gotten the King's attention after all and earned the title of being called his friend.
"Oh I think we'll find something to keep you pretty little head busy." He patted my head instead of ruffling my hair as he would have normally. I felt like Cancer would throw a hissy fit if he ruined the half up curled hair style.
I leaned against him, letting his arm fall around my shoulder normally and naturally and gave him a side hug. His familiar light burned steady and strong right next to me. Whole, hale and very much alive, making the memory of his depressed, dark and dying soul more a distant bad dream.
His neat dark suit contrasted the warm yellow and teal green of my outfit. A high-low teal green dress, with thin strappy sleeves, and dashes of lighter green on the hem that matched my hair. And over that, a long pale yellow, sleeveless shirt that felt like wearing sunshine. A wash of color next to Loke's dapper formality.
"One other thing, all personal possessions should be secured when traveling." He teased, waggling my spellbook in his other hand before giving it back to me. "Just as a heads up for next time, everything you don't have a hold of is probably not gonna come along when you cross over."
I sighed, activating the passive hovering charm to make my book follow me without needing to carry it. It drifted around to my other side, just at my elbow.
"Noted." I then gave him a look. "And what do you mean, next time? This is supposed to be a one time exception, isn't it?"
Loke shrugged, looking at the Celestial Spirit King who was earnestly engaged in a conversation with Lucy.
"He's made unheard of exceptions thus far. Don't think much more could surprise me."
There came a loud bark from the crowd of silver spirits. I turned to see a familiar, lean scarred hound loping over to us.
"Orion!"
The immortal being scampered around me, tail wagging and tongue lolling in obvious excitement. And then he promptly insisted on having his ears scratched. The Hunting Hound Silver Spirit that had tracked me down when I was kidnapped by the Oracion Seis. Under the light of the thousands of stars, his fur gleamed in a myriad of different colors, silver with hints of prismatic hues in it.
"It's wonderful to see you again!" I knelt to hug the wriggling, happy dog and got my face licked for my trouble. "How have you been?"
-vVv-
Loke had self appointed himself as my guide, or so was what Morgana read that he was doing. He showed myself and Levy to 'what he knew we really wanted' which turned out to be the library. And he casually mentioned that copy right was not a thing for Celestial Spirits. They were immortal anyway, and as a nation they had few secrets from one another. And practically none from the King.
"Loke, are you telling me to pirate the contents of the largest Celestial Library in the world?"
"If you want to interpret it like that...it's your right to do so." He said grinning and winking at me. Levy and I exchanged looks, her eyes blazing and bright with regret.
"I should have brought my Windreader glasses." She lamented. "There's books here that no human has ever gotten the chance to read! We'll barely be able to scratch the surface."
"Ah, Levy. Never you fear." I flipped open my spellbook. "I have a way."
I pulled out a length of pale, polished wood with a handle just the right size for my hand. A celtic knot pattern crowned the end and connected it to the rest of the wand.
"You finally made yourself a wand!" levy said with delight. "From all those stories!"
"Yep! It's really helped fine tune my control." I tapped the end of the wand on my palm, feeling the unspoken hum of approval and connection between myself and the possible semi-sentient magical tool. "12 and 1/4 inches, dogwood and thunderbird feather core, very flexible."
I then looked over the immense shelves of free knowledge, letting magic fill my eyes. Threads of brightness spider webbing here and there with cross-references between various tomes.
Hey, Gana, what books will lead to really interesting stories?
With Morgana's help, Levy and I copied a lot of books. The Gemino spell was absurd and useful for a reason. And these books did not have a spell on them that made copying them by hand a necessity.
"These copies won't last more than a week or so, but that should be enough time to get them to my contacts with the printers and have permanent copies made." I said happily, sealing our newfound spoils into an empty section of my spellbook made for transporting luggage. Loke poked his head back in from where he definitely was not watching us pirate untold ages worth of knowledge.
"Ladies, the dancing is about to start."
"Lead the way, good sir." I sang, beaming at him as I took one offered arm and Levy took the other.
As described in the Hobbit, if there were good things going on...there wasn't a lot of point in describing them.
There was dancing and light refreshments. Natsu tackled the dance floor with a tsunami's worth of enthusiasm and no practice whatsoever. I think Lucy was trying to curb him from stepping on too many feet. Erza was approached by a number of spirits, per Morgana. Mostly the predator ones from the silver spirit clans. For dancing or conversation. And there was a tall male spirit with slate gray eyes and long white hair who was fixated on her...
"Who is the spirit staring at Erza?"
I didn't feel threatened, but there was something about the intensity of his gaze that was a bit peculiar.
"That's Artem. Chief of the Hunter's Constellations. " Loke said lightly. "He's got a pretty loose interpretation of what it means to hunt something."
The Hunters Constellations have a rival-esque relationship with the spirits that resemble beasts in one way or another. During the Supernova Wars, they tried and failed repeatedly to subdue Leo. He is the one who brought them under the King's peace.
Leo as in Loke. This guy. Right next to me.
That is right.
And this piece of information was older than Earthland itself. At least the Earthland I knew. And with the little bit of help in the form of the X-ball Loke had given me, I could adapt and process this information effortlessly.
What else could I ask and learn here?
Stars were pretty near eternal after all. They had watched us from the beginning. Though not everything always was of a great interest to them. But I did happen to know a name that I wanted to inquire about...and that they had paid attention to as she was one of their summoners.
Anna Heartfilia.
Her name had appeared in the same time period as the mentions of Dragon Seed.
"When you say 'hunt'..."
"You are not allowed to be alone with him."
Loke said bluntly. The small, suggestive sigh sounded in my ear again which made me shift my weight uncomfortably.
"That bad?"
Artem was being polite while speaking to Natsu, who was surrounded by a plethora of baby dragon constellations from the Draco clan. By his behavior, Natsu didn't track anything untoward about the spirit, otherwise he would have demonstrated dislike or protectiveness.
"Are they all like that?"
"If it can be hunted, tracked, chased down, and found: They want it. He's a womanizer, but has never crossed the line into predator." He handed me a glass of something that smelt like moonlight. I don't know how that worked, but it was the only way to describe it. Watered down, but still beautiful and enriching. Subtle and changeable.
The nugget of Celestial Spirit energy is expanding our available senses.
Morgana reported curiously. I sipped the drink, feeling the silvery liquid glide through my whole body leaving a refreshing hint of new energy within me.
Oh that's good stuff...
Only the clothes and Loke's precautionary X-ball allows us to gain anything from it.
"He's going to get a rude wake up call if he tries anything with Erza."
"To be honest, he would probably enjoy that. They're not all like that. Some of them work off the need to hunt in other ways. actually know a couple of their clan that are the meanest, most ruthless forensic accountants you can ever meet."
Another Spirit from the Hunter Clan entered the conversation between Erza and Artem. I couldn't hear what was said, but Erza's focus abruptly switched to the newcomer with her usual intensity. And Artem was not amused. Though I certainly was.
"Oh he's mad now."
Loke grinned and winked.
"That's Adonai, his brother. The outlier of the Hunter Clan because he enjoys gardening. Most especially, berries."
Adonai was carrying a plate of bite sized fruit tarts.
I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Because of course Erza wasn't reacting to the presence of a man, but that of a new iteration of her favorite dessert. Even now she was excusing herself to hunt down the food that Adonai had shown her was available.
Artem is very annoyed.
Adonai was unmoved and shoved a tartlet into his brother's mouth
Artem looked like he was trying to give off the same vibe that Loke was. Sharply dressed, dangerous, overflowing with confidence. His sulking made that image more realistic. Just a guy being down that he got dropped by a girl for food.
How can anyone think of Celestial Spirits as lesser beings? As pets or tools?
But I supposed most people would never get the chance to see so many spirits interacting so normally with each other. They would only get to see the one or two spirits they could handle summoning.
I surreptitiously cast Esuna to be able to continue to enjoy the party and take everything in. Even if I could technically drink here, I didn't want to miss anything about this night.
Loke continued to identify the various presences we had here. Lucy's Golden Zodiac spirits orbited both her and the King in equal measure, and this kept a number of Silver Spirits from approaching her. Some of which looked like they wanted to talk to her very much. Aquarius and Juvia seemed to be striking up a strange kind of friendship at one table, with Aquarius somehow swimming through the air.
To her it is water, not air, and she can move in it freely.
Definitely working out how that works later.
Noted for future analysis.
Levy was speaking with Lucy's contracted Spirit, grandpa Crux the Compass, Lyra, and some of the representatives from the Telescopium and Microscopium clans. Wendy looked a little punch drunk just from breathing the air alone, her skin glowing with the power she was happily taking in just by drawing breath. I could imagine that few places were as pure and unspoiled as where we were right now. The huddle of baby Draco spirits around her mirrored Natsu's moving circle of admirers, but she was happily engaging with them. Various other couples were dancing on the floor or just hovering in midair as their section of floor moved gracefully to keep under their feet no matter where they stepped.
Carla and Happy were overrun by Nicola Silver Spirits that all resembled Plue, but had different colors, patterns or manifested different personalities. Happy was teaching a few of them to mimic him.
"May I have this dance, Princess?"
"Only because I like you."
I accepted his hand and let Loke lead me to the dance floor, making a section of it rise up underneath us as we fell in step with the music. Capricorn took his place and gave me a few pointers on how to improve my decent but still basic dancing skills. Cancer was surprisingly a fantastic dancer with amazing footwork and a knack for making things fun.
Gray cut in for a bit, which was also fun. The last time I had danced with him, I had been a little girl and it was dramatically different doing so now. He would have stayed longer but I told him to go get Juvia to not be a wallflower. Scorpio was a fun partner, but the fact that Aquarius was glaring daggers into my back was a bit of a buzzkill. I saw Lucy with Natsu, pulling Wendy into a dance, or accompanied by one of her spirits.
But now I wanted to go chat with the King and see if I couldn't get an answer.
"Hey Loke?" I addressed my current dance partner again. "Would it be rude or presumptuous to ask if the King knows about a specific Celestial Spirit mage? I know there's a lot of personal feelings tied up in your contracts..."
He gave me a small smile.
"What name, princess?"
I met his gaze steadily.
"Anna Heartfilia."
Loke's key hadn't been in Fiore at that time. So he wouldn't know anything about it. But his gaze drifted... To Aquarius.
"He might. Heartfilia's are...a special family to us."
"Greetings my young friend." The King's voice didn't rattle my bones, but it was very penetrating. He went to one knee to gently shake my hand. And the contact made me feel...absolutely nothing.
He is the one shielding your senses from being overwhelmed by the magnitude of their history.
"It's good to see you again, your majesty." I responded, curtseying slightly. "Though just as unexpected."
He let out a booming chuckle, settling back into his seat, a cushion rather than a chair with a low table with some snacks nearby for him.
"I find I enjoy a little spontaneity. It's a human trait that never ceases to amaze me. By your leave, Faerun."
He gestured to a cushion that was floating just below his shoulder in height. There was a table there as well, clearly prepared for him to be able to speak with smaller people without needing to loom over them.
"Certainly."
I stepped into his hand and he carefully transferred me to the private seat. The table spontaneously created some delicious looking finger foods, but I was hungry for something else.
"One as curious as yourself surely has questions." My companion said, lifting a goblet big enough for me to swim in to his lips. "What I can answer without granting you more knowledge than your mastery of the Laws allows, I will gladly do."
"There is a lot I would love to pick your brain about." I admitted, picking up an unknown fruit and reading that it needed to be peeled and then seeded before it was eaten. There was a small sort of cheese knife for the task. Morgana took in the needed skills and movements readily. "But this one might run across that same issue about the Laws."
The Celestial Spirit King's eyes rested on me.
"You know the cost of meddling with such powers."
"I need to know why someone would." I explained simply. "If I'm right, a very good person has been suffering for centuries for nothing more than loving someone."
The King set his goblet down, folding his arms and letting out a slow breath.
"Which Law?"
I swallowed any shred of nerves and embarrassment.
"Death. The penalty imposed for their deed was the Curse of Contradictions."
The king's inhaled sharply.
"I sense you would not ask this on a whim." He said very carefully. I could feel the various laws he upheld as a practical deity to us and a king of his own people. "On this subject, I am sworn to not impart knowledge of such things to mortals. It is not their place to discard the boundaries of Time or Death. They become something far worse than what forces we combatted to earn our place in this sphere."
"I don't want to know how it was accomplished. I don't need to know." I was trying to not plead, but I felt I was failing. "But thousands of innocents have paid the price for one life. Literal centuries of punishment were inflicted for this act that could not have been possible if it were not rooted in a love strong enough to defy the Laws. One life has indirectly caused hundreds of years of suffering."
Because I felt that Zeref did not want to hurt anyone, and couldn't even let himself think or feel that way without spouting off more negative energy that stole the life from those around him. The King would keep the confidentiality of forces that humans were not supposed to know about. But I could see as he bowed his head, thinking hard...
"A direct question necessitates a direct answer, my friend. You will gain more of what you seek with a more cunning approach."
I mulled that over for a second...then changed courses.
"Can you tell me about Anna Heartfilia?"
The king's shoulders loosened and he grinned.
"Lucy's distant ancestor. She would be quite proud of what her family has accomplished."
"Do you know why I find her story connected with that of a Dragon Seed?"
I was leaning in, just vaguely off balance on my perch, intent on feeling out the boundaries of what I could know and what the King could tell me.
The quiet, peaceful atmosphere shattered.
I felt fear, an all encompassing terror that sent me years back into the past. In a sack, blind and helpless, carried away from home, from family. Morgana echoed that with the desolation of being torn from her sisters arms as an infant, or crying and crying and no one coming-
The air shuddered and a streak of amber light darted up from beneath our feet to hover before me. The King himself started in surprise as the light shifted into a familiar shape.
A homely, humble little stuffed bear.
He blinked up at me with bright, ageless eyes.
"I did my best, Pagemaster. I've kept her safe. But she is still very afraid. It is hard to be brave when one is so small."
"Pooh...?"
The figure then melted away into nothing before it could say anything else. Or give me any kind of explanation. The fear was now just a distant feeling echoing in my head, discordant and painful. And Morgana started a timer. It had over a day's worth of time on it. But it counted down in sporadic fits and bursts. Then it would cycle back up to it's starting time.
Gana, what just happened?
Kellye's Pooh Bear has used up all of its power for some purpose. The enchantment is gone.
Enchantment...I made that for her so she wouldn't be alone. What other reason could there be?
I knew the Celestial Spirit King was leaning in, his voice dropping to the barest whisper as he asked what was wrong. Loke was standing below, having noticed the unfamiliar light, however briefly it had been there.
There was an additional directive. A protective one you did not consciously write.
Morgana drew my mind back to the day when I had met the small 4 year old girl. The big green eyes, reddened with tears. Her awe at Kinana, and my using the Shadow Clone Jutsu to play with her and comfort her. Her adorable freckles and boundless enthusiasm. The Winnie the Pooh doll I had made for her with the love of her favorite caretaker infused into it. And the last words I had thought before the spell was finished...
'May this girl keep her childhood longer than I could.'
The sentient toy had used up the energy of years of life and love to accomplish the purpose allowing a little girl to keep her innocence. Whereas I had lost that confidence of safety by being torn away from home and family.
No...Kellye. Someone tried to kidnap Kellye!