Chapter Seventeen
Celestial Conflict
By the time Lucy had caught up to the Dragon, she'd found him rousting Like by the collar of his jacket, a crowd of women following their trails.
As she got closer she could hear their various cries of indignation, demanding answers to why Loke had left them high and dry.
He had that many girlfriends? Lucy thought to herself, realizing that Natsu's crude imagining of Loke hadn't been that far off the mark.
"Let go of him!" One of the women shouted, getting too close to the quarrelling pair.
Natsu suddenly stopped as though he'd only just become aware of their presence. He spared one sharp glance at them, "Leave." He told them, his voice cold and slow. All of the women were immediately silenced, glued to the spot from his gaze.
One by one, Lucy saw each of their cheeks become rosy, all of them staring at the Dragon Slayer in a mixture of emotions written oh so clearly across their rosy features.
"Now." He added. They all snapped to their heels like a trance had been broken, each running away from a different direction, one of them almost taking the approaching Lucy clean off her feet.
"Ah, perfect, Celestial Spirit mage Latisha," Natsu waved Lucy over, ignoring the oncoming ire from Lucy. He deftly moved out of the way from an incoming jab, not altogether bothered by the physical harm she could or could not inflict upon him.
Without any word of explanation, he took her hand in his, looking her in the eyes. The two began to adopt a vibrant crimson glow around them.
"See through my eyes, allow your senses to be imbued with my own. Now tell me what you see." He insisted, nodding at Loke.
Slowly, bit by bit, she could see the faint traces of gold flecks that littered the air, circling the womanizing Fairy Tail mage that she'd known as nothing else.
"He says he's stuck here, he can't endure much longer, it's complicated, yada yada. Tell me, what do you see?" Natsu asked.
"You… Loke, you're a Celestial Spirit, cut off and alone." She said, tears welling in her eyes.
"My time is almost up." Loke nodded solemnly, "I thought I'd make the most of my time in this world, disappear for good on some epic quest on behalf of the guild and have no questions asked, but then…" he sighed, glaring at Natsu.
"The be-all end-all decided to appear and uproot my plans." Loke sounded venomous.
"Yeah, and remember how painful it was when you and the other horological asshats tried to cage me in your world." Natsu glowered, matching the malice in tone.
"It's not horology when it's your entire existence, Salamander," Loke argued.
"It hardly matters, your master is gone, and your gate is shut. I can force it open, but you'll die, extremely painfully. Or…" he said. After a second, he squeezed Lucy's hand. She felt a bellow of air rush around her, almost overwhelming her. Everything felt sharper, she could smell a dozen different scents, and identify their source and direction. She could hear the most minute sounds and distinguish them from the others surrounding them, but the most astonishing thing that was happening was the feeling of extreme power and strength coursing through her. She could see a faded facade of Loke's gate behind him, looming like a ticking clock counting down to death.
"Loke… No, Leo, of the Lion Palace. You're one of the twelve. Loke, I think…" she stopped short, unsure of herself at the last minute, "I think I can open your gate and force you back through." She added. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. This feeling of sensory stimulation was beginning to overwhelm her.
"Better make it quick, I can't let you stay like this for long, humans aren't meant to feel what Dragons feel," Natsu warned her, trying to urge her on.
"Why would you even want this?" Loke asked him suspiciously.
"I don't care what happens to you, she does though. Plus, I've got business elsewhere and this bullshit is preventing that from commencing." Natsu explained with a casual wave.
Lucy silently held her hand out towards the Celestial Spirit, waiting for him to come to her.
"No, it's too dangerous, she'll get seriously hurt," Loke argued, stepping away from them.
"Trust me, Loke, I won't let any harm come to you," Lucy assured him, stepping forward to embrace the Celestial Spirit.
"It's not that simple, that's what I told him, and it's true. I can't go back." Loke said, the saddest tinge filtering through the cracks in his voice.
"I can't go back because I killed my master, through negligence and my actions, Karen Lilica died because I refused to listen to her, I refused to return to the spirit world. I nullified her ability to summon other Spirits and she was killed in action." Loke told them, surprising even Natsu.
"Cold." The Dragon King nodded neutrally.
"I can't go back because I was banished from my home. I've been here for a little over three years, and today the last of my magic is going to fade away." He sighed heavily.
"Karen Lilica, ah, I wondered whose keys she supposedly held." Natsu nodded thoughtfully.
"I doubt this will make you feel any better but I'm more to blame for her death than you ever will be." He told Loke, giving him the dignity of looking him in the eyes.
"You… Did… Salamander, did you kill her?" Loke stuttered, tears starting to grow at the peaks of his cheeks.
"The less you know the better you'll feel. Now quit your bitching." Natsu ordered, causing Loke to break down even further.
"Death by your hands no less. She deserved a lot, but not you. My death is warranted, and I welcome it." Loke said, stepping back even further.
"I refuse," Lucy said, surprising them both. She slapped her hands down on his shoulders, keeping the weakened Loke perfectly in place.
"Open, gate of the Lion Palace!" She shouted. Celestial energy sparked and cracked around them.
"Well well." Natsu hummed, watching Lucy's power grow. It was doing something, to say the least.
"Open, gate of the Lion Palace, take Loke home!" Lucy tried desperately.
"Maybe just a tiny bit more," Natsu whispered before willing another portion of his power to be within her reach.
He didn't mean to do it in such large reserves, he only wanted to give her an amount that she could handle which he initially thought was quite small. He hadn't expected her to have such a huge raw potential, even as a Celestial mage. He should have known better, what with her being the spitting image of Anna.
That 'small portion' of power that he'd allowed Lucy to take was enormous compared to what her regular strength was.
With her third attempt at commanding Leo's gate, she summoned something far larger, and by Natsu's perception, far worse.
The tear shocked them all, spiralling to reveal an endlessly starry skyscape.
It lasted all of a few seconds before an enormous figure appeared before them.
"You summoned the Celestial Spirit King!" Loke was shocked and full of fear.
"You!" The Celestial Spirit King boomed, glaring down at them with immense ferocity.
"It wasn't Loke's fault, he's not the one to blame here and you shouldn't be angry with him over something like that, all he was doing was standing up for his friends, that should never be considered a crime!" Lucy shouted, standing firm against the Spirit King.
"Young girl," the Spirit King began, turning to look at her. She realized then that he hadn't quite been looking at where she and Loke were stood. "I was not addressing my old friend, I was addressing that old fiend!" He yelled, pointing disgustedly at where Natsu stood with a smirk.
"Seriously!?" She demanded, burning holes through him with her eyes.
"He started it!" Natsu tried to defend.
"That was four hundred years ago, you have harassed my realm endlessly ever since. The punishment does not fit the crime!" The Celestial Spirit King glowered.
"Wasn't me." Natsu denied, crossing his arms and whistling nonchalantly, refusing to look at the Spirit King.
"Who else could leave interdimensional burn marks but you!?" The King demanded gruffly.
"You say that the punishment doesn't fit the crime, well neither does Loke's banishment, you can't sentence someone to death for defending another person. Karen Lilica's death was a product of her own hands, it had nothing to do with us!" Lucy bellowed.
Natsu gave a quiet cough behind her.
"Nothing to do with Loke!" She corrected.
"Mmhmm." Natsu nodded quickly.
"I won't let him die like this! Lucy stood fast, covered in an unbelievable amount of celestial energy. Bright flashes assaulted Natsu's eyes, revealing more and more of Lucy's Celestial Spirits.
"Multiple Spirits? How much power did she take?" He stared in astonishment. "I should cut her off before explodes." He withdrew the connection between them that had swelled beyond what he'd expected.
"What the fuck is that thing?" He stared down at the tiny snowball of a Spirit by Lucy's feet right before they all vanished and she collapsed.
"Very well," the Spirit King's deep voice rumbled through the ground at their feet.
"In light of the actions taken for and against all parties, I will consider that the holder of his key brought death upon herself as no reflection of Leo's actions." the King grumbled somewhat, "On the conditions that Leo be brought into your care and protection in exchange for his service,"
"Done and done!" Lucy beamed, smiling up at the King.
"And that HE ceases his biennial attacks on our domain, I will lift the banishment."
"Well now, hold on a second." Natsu narrows his eyes, thoughtfully stroking the side of his chin.
"Natsu!" If looks could kill, he'd be dead.
"Yeah, fine. Whatever." The Dragon muttered unhappily.
"Then it is done. Welcome home, my old friend." The Spirit King gave a warm smile before it all vanished and the sky returned to normal.
"Thank you, Lucy, thank you so much." Loke sobbed before he too had faded, leaving a key where his hand had been clasping hers.
She looked down at it, her eyes full of joy and endearment.
"Natsu?" She asked, never looking away from the key.
"Hmm?"
"You didn't really kill Karen, did you?" She asked, looking up to see his neutral expression. He held it for a few moments before it broke into the slightest hint of a smile.
"No, but I think he needed to hear it. The last time Loke and I met, it wasn't a good exchange. I felt like I owed him a freebie." Natsu shrugged before turning to leave.
"Are you… will you come back to Fairy Tail with me?" Lucy asked, hoping that the experience they'd shared would be strong enough to convince him that there was a good reason to have a guild as a family.
"No," he answered after a pause. "I have something important to deal with, there will probably be a lot of bodies left behind." He said with a slight smile. She could already tell that he was hiding the truth behind his sarcastic lie.
Something was holding him back, something that he wasn't ready to share with her, but she wouldn't give up that easily.
"Even after this, what we did today. We saved his life, someone that you knew independently from the guild. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" She asked, tilting her head somewhat.
"Listen, I know that we would definitely have world-shattering sex, but life in a guild with a label hovering over me is going to constantly put you all in danger," Natsu told her, for once ignoring the chance to jibe and dig at the ferocious blush that rampaged across her face.
"Goodbye, Lucy." He waved, leaving her staring at his back as he disappeared.
A few minutes later, Lucy had met Gray, Erza, and Happy halfway back to the guild.
"What happened, where are they?" Gray asked, looking past her to no avail.
"Loke, as it turns out," she began, holding up the gleaning key with the lion façade on it, "is a Celestial Spirit a powerful Zodiac one at that." She beamed, unrelenting happiness flowing from saving Loke.
"And the walking disaster?" Gray muttered, wondering whether or not this next one would be a good thing or a bad thing.
"Oh," she said, the happiness gone entirely, "he… he walked. He's gone." She shook her head slightly.
Natsu had made quite the impact on them in the short time that he'd been somewhat involved with them, both positive and negative.
"Oh," Gray mirrored, almost looking down about it himself. Erza's face was that of stone, she didn't want them to know how she really felt about that.
She could still feel like lingering sensation of burning on the pact that Natsu had placed on her collarbone.
Ever since he'd wrecked Phantom Lord and been comatose in their infirmary, she'd begun to like the sensation, it reminded her that he was still there somewhere.
"I've got a fresh contract right here, I think you should both come with me, it would be good for us to get a breather from being around the guild," Erza told them, leading the way back to Magnolia. They could get supplies and rest up before heading out for their new job.
They all knew that Makarov wasn't likely to give up that easily, and for what it was worth to each of them, neither were they.
For the guild, Natsu was a tremendous powerhouse.
For a select few, he was becoming more than that, something important that they still have to figure out and understand.
Erza couldn't shake the feeling that something was odd about the request for the job. Try as she might, her thoughts on it were consistently pulled back to wonder where Natsu would go.
A/N: Review, anyone?