#celestial spirit

[sun-archeron]

the way that lucy is loved by the celestial spirits makes me go crazy

like, it would be so easy for them to not give a damn, but instead they always go out of their way to ask her to be their owner and to take care of her even when she doesn't ask

[beargyufairy]

Just My Thoughts Pt. 2

Yukino & Star Dresses

Disclaimer: This is not a Yukino hate post. This is solely my opinion

I don’t think Yukino should have Star Dresses in 100 YQ

Lucy earned hers with a lot of hard work and sacrifice. I’m not saying Yukino didn’t work hard or anything but it is nothing compared to Lucy

Lucy sacrificed Aquarius to save literally everything and everyone. She was granted the first Star Dress (Aquarius) for her dedication and sacrifice from the Celestial Spirit King (who calls her his “old friend” and clearly has some admiration for her relationship with her spirits).

Aquarius was one of Lucy original golden keys. She was there during the hardships she faced with Jude after Layla’s death. She made Lucy feel less alone and loved!! Despite everything Aquarius says, she loves her like a child and gave her the opportunity to summon the King to save her guildmates. She knows that Lucy will be more alone and suffer if she didn’t make that choice. Ifeel like that deep connection demonstrates what Lucy is capable of.

I feel like Yukino having Star Dress severely down plays Lucy and her strength as a mage. Lucy deserved her powers beyond what she is shown for. Yukino has a good reputation and relationship as a celestial mage however Lucy considers her spirits as friends and worked hard so she doesn’t have to be put in a position where she needs to sacrifice them again.

I’m glad to see the two remaining Star Dresses but I feel like Yukino should’ve had some kind of test or situation where she needed to tap into that power like Lucy

What are your opinions on this topic?

[lisannastraussisanangel]

Loke Headcanons:

-Loke summons himself all the time. On Lucy's days off, he's often seen hanging around the guild too. Fairy Tail is his family too after all

-Cana refers to him as a Cat Boy and often groups him with the exeeds when talking. She does it just to piss him off

-Loke does in fact purr. It's very rare but one time Gray scratched his head as a joke and Loke subconsciously started purring.

-Him and Hibiki have drinks every couple months. It started off as Loke wanting to apologize for Karen's death, but the two hit it off and have become good friends.

-No one is safe from his flirting. Everyone in the guild is fair game, including the men

-The first time he entered the spirit world after Lucy saved him, he just stood there and sobbed. The other spirits ran to greet him, making him cry even more.

[gruviaa]

[pinchepeachyxo]

🌟Open Gate of the Lion! Leo!🌟

I have 5 more Star Dresses left to finish to end this series. It’s taking me longer to finish this series, but I’m always happy with what I put out. Thank you so much to those who have been following these posts! 💕💕😚

[momoreeclipse]

Recent drawing of Lucy from Fairy Tail

[darklingarts]

Inktober Day 26. Im catching up slowly but surely. Prompt was Creature Feature 24: Bull + Stars. I drew Taurus and Lucy from fairy tail.

[fairy-heart-magic]

Celestial Spirit Headcannons

So the dragon slayer headcannons are pretty popular so here have some Celestial Spirit Headcannons.

They’re born from the belief humans have in them, which is in part why they’re so co-dependant upon humans as it’s because humans created and named the constellations that they came to be. The Celestial Spirit King was the very first Celestial Spirit born from the Celestial Energy of the universe itself.

A celestial spirit is “born” when a constellation is given a name, this naming also then leads to the creation of a key, or in the case of certain spirits multiple key’s.

Though this isn’t always the case, some Celestial Spirits where humans turned into constellations by the Celestial Spirit King who took pity on them and turned them into constellations so that they could live on as Celestial Spirits like the constellations of Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Perseus and other such constellations.

Due to their connection with humans and the fact they stem from human beliefs, they change along with human society both physically and in terms of personality, changing from century to century with each new contract, this occurs as partly a way to keep them sane and so they don’t have to bare the burden of hundreds of years of memories with this coming at the cost of they don’t remember events that transpired hundreds of years previous they may hold a faint knowledge of those events but not much. Though this is also dependent upon the spirit because they change with human beliefs which shift whenever they spend time in the human world. Therefore the less a spirit is in the human world the less they change from their original incarnation and the more memories they hold onto.

As their born from human belief, they over the years have adopted human traits and characteristics but their original incarnations tend to both look and act far less human like simply because they had not been exposed to humans by that point. It was extremely easy to tell a celestial spirit from a human being due to their unnatural and unsettling presence to the point that hundreds of years ago, Celestial Spirit Magic was a magic most where terrified of rather than the way it’s viewed in the modern time.

Generally the older the celestial spirit is the more powerful it is. The reason Leo is the leader of the Zodiac is because he was the first one given a name and thus the one who came to exist first.

Celestial Energy itself is toxic to humans and extremely so, so most Celestial Spirit Mage’s have to be extremely careful when summoning spirits as they can end up seriously harming themselves and anyone around them.

I think that’s all for now, I’ll update with a second part if I can think of anymore interesting ideas for the celestial spirits but I hope you liked these and feel free to reblog or use them if you want.

[selestialcatharsis]

Lucy Heartfilia?

[you-tolkien-to-me]

One Piece Imagine:

Imagine being a Runaway Celestial Dragon and having the Celestial Celestial Fruit.

Devil Fruit: Celestial Celestial Fruit

(Idk if it should be a  Logia or Paramecia type of devil fruit, But lets just go along with it.)

The power to manipulate the universe with heavenly influence.

You can create, shape and manipulate the skies and cosmos with heavenly influence, including all the aspects of the astrological, divine, elemental, mythical and cosmic powers.

Celestial Spirits:

You can summon Celestial Spirits by opening their gates through the use of Celestial Spirit Gate Keys.[1] These Keys are separated into two classes: the more common Silver Keys and the rarer Gold Keys.[2] The Keys for Celestial Spirits are counted in Units (collectively without regard of Gold or Silver).[2] 

When you receive a Key and opens its Celestial Gate for the first time, you have to set up a contract with the respective Spirit. This contract consists of asking the Spirit which days it can be summoned by its contractor.[4] This simple agreement leads to a dedicated and serious bond between the Spirit and summoner.

Celestial Spirits also have different categories of sorts that fall under the basic summoning conditions from their owner. For example, Leo, Gate of the Lion, summons himself most of the time without your help.

Additionally, a Celestial Spirit may grow stronger when you grow stronger.

Examples of ability ---> (Click me!) (Click me!) (Click me!)

Star Dress:

You can incorporate the power of a Celestial Spirit into your body by placing the key of the Spirit in question on your chest. The power manifests itself in the form of a wardrobe change (similar to Requip), in this case in the form of a dress centered around the Spirit in question's own wardrobe.[1] Also, you, by adopting the powers and appearance of the Spirit they choose, also adopts a portion of their powers, being able to make use of their Magic.

You can also combine their star dresses into one, this is known as Star Dress Mix (星霊衣合成スタードレスミックス Sutā Doresu Mikkusu) which manifests itself in the form of a dress and a crossed keys tattoo at the back of your hand with each key representing the Celestial Spirit Gate Keys of the Star Dress Forms that are being merged together.

Examples of Ability ---> (Click me!)

Urano Metria:

When you recite the incantation, the 88 constellations of the sky come down as spheres and bestow their power upon you. You, then, aims at your intended target and releases the energy gathered into a tremendous attack.

Examples of Ability ---> (Click me!) (Click me!) (Click me!)

Glitter:

A radiance of merciless light that denies the existence of nearby foes.[3] It is also an exceedingly complex and unfathomably intricate energy that collects and concentrates the light of the sun, the moon and the stars.

Examples of ability ---> (Click me!) (Click me!)

~~~~~~

Meteor:

Your body is surrounded by a cloak of energy, allowing you to move through the air at incredible speeds. Even if someone could detect your trajectory, it is nearly impossible to catch you. With your speed, assaults on opponents with quick, but powerful, melee attacks.

Grand Chariot:

While in the air, you place both arms on top of each other, with the top hand having only the index and middle fingers spread out. Seven Magic Seals are then summoned in front of you and connect, creating a constellation of sorts. Each Magic Seal then releases a powerful light blast down on the opponent, forming the same pattern on the ground before exploding.

Jiu Leixing:

You transfigure nine lightning-made swords and directs them to simultaneously strike your target of choice.

Sema:

An attack in which you bow down and points your hands downwards, with all the fingers closed except the index and middle fingers. You, then, begins to slowly move your right hand until it points upwards, causing the clouds above you to begin circling, creating what appears to be a cyclone.[203] From the center of the swirling formation, a glowing orb begins to form, growing in size until a humongous meteor emerges, falling quickly to earth towards the intended target. When the meteor hits, the force is strong enough to create a large explosion, which engulfs a wide area and releases a strong hurricane of air, also leaving a large crater in its wake.

Examples of Abilities ---> (Click me!) (Click me!) (Click me!)

~~~~

You were the Daughter/Son of the one of the highest-ranking Celestial Dragons.

When you were little, you began getting curious of the outside world and decided to runaway.

Along your journey, You find a big egg and decide to keep it. It hatches and out pops a a kitty with wings, an exceed!

You name him Happy and he becomes like your adopted son! xD

~~~~~~

I don't own anything but the imagine part! :P

[lilly-doodles]

My own AU where Lucy uses all of her magic to summon the king.

The concept is my own. The characters are not.

[cactijoon]

cancer being a hairstylist is a gag i somehow only got just now 💀

[lisannastraussisanangel]

I’ve been reading a lot of Fairy Tail headcanons so I thought I’d throw some of my own out!

-Gray has permanently black finger tips. A side effect of his magic. Every doctor thinks it's frost bite, but he has no actual symptoms besides appearance so they leave it be

- Bickslow sends his babies to spy on other guild members. He knows all of the tea

-Wendy's senses are more amplified than the rest of the dragon slayers. It's a side effect of her ability to boost others powers. She absolutely hates it. She's heard way too much and is traumatized

-Loke still has his guildmark and he wears it with pride. Some of the other spirits want one too because of his and Lucy's love for Fairy Tail

-Every time Gildarts finishes a job in a new town, he buys Cana a shot glass. She claims she doesn't want them, but has a special shelf to display them

-The dragon slayers are always given dragon themed gifts. Wendy has so many white dragon plushies, she's drowning in them. Gajeel has a million metal dragon figurines (the guild assumes he eats them but he actually really loves and cherishes them). Natsu has the biggest collection and keeps a little note next to every item he gets reminding him of who gave it to him and when he got it

[gruviaa]

[pinchepeachyxo]

🌟Open the Gate of the Twins!🌟

[justminawrites]

Where The Stars Collide - Chapter 1: Loke

AO3

Summary: Loke has a dream. tw: mentions of abuse.

prologue | 1 | 2 | TBC

The first thing Loke the Celestial Spirit noticed was that his pants were missing.

Now, this on its own wasn’t too alarming. In fact, he’d go so far as to say that it was a common occurrence early in his playboy-days, where he habitually drowned his guilt in women and liquor– but rarely did he stir from such a night with a hospital gown in its place. 

He woke exactly like he’d collapsed; violently and without warning, his eyes flying open the same time as his lungs heaved for air. 

“AQUA– HAH–– HAH–– AQUARIUS–“ he gasped out, bolting upright in the infirmary bed much to his nurse’s horror; cat-like pupils dilating under the fluorescent lighting.

“Shh, it’s okay, Loke. Loke, look at me.”

The second thing he noticed was that his nurse looked a lot like the love of his life: renowned celestial mage and once-heir to a multimillion-jewel corporation, Lucy Heartfilia. 

“Lucy?” He wheezed.

“Mhm,” the nurse’s blurry face swam across his vision but he’d recognise that sunshine-blonde hair anywhere. 

“Don’t over-exert yourself okay? Master Makarov said it would take you a few minutes to adjust to Porlyusica’s healing elixir since you’re part celestial spirit and all.” 

As Lucy gently took his his face in her hands Loke felt his breathing regulate and panic recede, gasps giving way to steady respiration as she eased him back against the wooden bed-frame. 

By the time she’d replaced the cold towel on his forehead, Loke had recovered most of his eyesight and found himself clearly staring into two large, worried brown eyes.

He bit the inside of his cheek to not let something embarrassing (like I love you) slip out; Lucy didn’t really respond well to advances, his or others, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable. Especially on top of everything else he had to tell her.

“You look.. Wow..”

Real smooth.  

Lucy to her credit, looked more sheepish than anything at the mention of her appearance. She was still in her travelling gear, face and hair streaked with grime and dirt; it had only been a few hours since they’d returned from Edolas for her, after all. 

“Oh, I know. I’m a real mess,” She huffed, “Didn’t have time to change out of anything but at least Natsu’s cloak keeps me from catching anything serious– Loke!“

Loke had opened his mouth to disagree, she looked beautiful to him either way, but choked at the mention of the pink-haired dragon-slayer. The tiny hiccup of jealousy turned into a full blown cough and suddenly he was keeled over hacking into his gown as she rushed to pour him some water.

“Natsu’s.. cloak..?” He tried to croak out once he’d set down the glass, but Lucy waved it away.

“It doesn’t matter. Now, what’s wrong with Aquarius?”

“It’s a long story,” he sighed, “but the crux of it is that she’s missing.”

“Missing?” Lucy looked horrified, “You mean, I left her key behind in Edolas?”

“No,” Loke shook his head, “Even if that were the case she’d simply reappear back in the Spirit Realm– but she never did.

“My working theory is that the anima must have interfered with her travel between worlds somehow. I wanted to see if you could summon her from your side, but it seems like whatever blocked her return, destroyed her celestial contract as a result.”

“What are you saying?” Lucy’s voice became very small and her eyes began to well up. 

“You can’t mean.. you don’t think..”

Watching the colour rapidly drain from her face Loke grabbed her arm quickly to keep her from assuming the worst possible outcome.

His time as a spirit had not only desensitised him to the whiplash of emotions that came with being a human, but also how hasty they were in considering their own death. Celestial Spirits almost never died before their time (though they were by no means eternal), but she had no way of knowing that.

“Don’t worry, Lucy,” He shook his head again, “Celestial Spirits aren’t bound by the same rules humans are. If their key is broken it just means that the spirit has accidentally ended up in a closed-pocket realm and involuntarily broken their contract.”

This momentarily put a stop to the tears.  

“A closed what?”

“It’s like an Edolas, but for spirits,” Loke frowned aloud, absentmindedly still holding her arm, “Essentially a realm that nullifies their magic.”

“In the rare occasion that this happens, it’s usually the Celestial Spirit King’s responsibility to find them and bring them back, but since there are an endless number of pocket dimensions they could’ve fallen into, it takes a while to locate them.”

“But aren’t Celestial Spirits made of magic?” Lucy asked, squeezing his hand back in concern.

“Not anymore than you or anyone else from Fairy Tail. Our magic can be shut down under the right circumstances.”

“So Aquarius is––“

“Out of commission, yes. But only briefly,” Loke added reassuringly, “Once I return, I’ll make sure we find her and reinstate her contract right away.”

“I see,” Lucy nodded, brows furrowing. She then dropped his hand in favour of standing up to pace the length of the room.

Watching her walk back and forth and back forth, pondering the temporary absence of her oldest spirit companion, Loke tried not to wince in pain as a dull throbbing began at the base of his skull; the cause of which could’ve been his depletion of magic energy, or just plain guilt. 

He hadn’t lied to Lucy exactly– he’d just omitted to tell her certain crucial details that might alarm her; like, for example, that the search for Aquarius was already underway, or how he hadn’t slept in over a month (in celestial days) and used up the final dregs of his power to transport himself here in the hopes that she could summon her friend herself. 

The truth was that no matter how lost Aquarius might’ve gotten in the Spirit Realm, her key wasn’t supposed to go missing. The contract with her Celestial Wizard should’ve remained unaffected regardless of the location of the spirit, since the key was made with the sole intention of being an anchor, in both their worlds.

Loke wasn’t sure he could tell her the whole truth until he got some answers himself; as the Leader of the Twelve Zodiac Houses, Aquarius’ disappearance weighed hard on him more-so than normal. He’d only just been back in the Spirit Realm for a few months now but the backlog of centuries’ worth of responsibilities had nearly run him into the ground, so much so that he’d underperformed each time Lucy had needed him in the past month. 

As if the humiliation at the hands of the Oración Seis wasn’t enough (he hadn’t expected to see Aries on the battlefield so soon), Loke cringed to think how he’d been so overworked he’d blatantly flirted with and subsequently gotten rejected by Lucy’s Edolas counterpart, mere hours ago.

“Loke? Hello? Earth to Leo?” He snapped back to reality.

Lucy had stopped pacing and had returned to hover over him, hands on her waist, shrewdly giving him a once-over. Loke held his breath, wondering if she could tell that he was hiding something; Lucy was smarter than people gave her credit for.

“Sorry milady,” he faked an easy grin, leaning in closer to distract her, “I got lost in your beautiful eyes for a second there.” 

Lucy blinked once, twice then rolled those same eyes in disbelief, breaking the spell.

“Someone’s confident today,” she huffed, resuming her seat, “How’d your little date go, by the way? Virgo told me all about it.”

Loke made a mental note to never joke with Virgo about dating his workload ever again.

“Terribly,” he pretended to pout, wondering if Lucy would take the bait.

“And why’s that?” She did.

“Well, to start with, she wasn’t you,” He said, reaching over to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, sure the classic Loke move would leave her in pieces. It was a little cheesy but it worked in a pinch. 

Lucy only smacked his hand away, her exasperation bleeding into irritation.

“Loke, you can’t keep doing this,” She said, crossing her arms, “What’s going on with you?”

“You were exhausted even before the Edolas fight.. when was the last time you slept?”

Loke blinked in surprise. Much smarter than people gave her credit for.

“Not for a while,” He admitted, shoulders slumping and leaning back into the pillows, “Not since the run in with Aries.”

“Loke!” Lucy’s worried gasp had him ducking his head with something like shame, “That was weeks ago!”

Between the overwhelming amount of paperwork on his table, attending every Spirit World event he’d been absent for, and now Aquarius’ disappearance, Loke counted himself lucky that he didn’t have silly human needs to tend to anymore like eating or sleeping, but his body seemed to think otherwise. The Celestial Spirit King had warned him that readjusting would take some time, of course, but Loke hadn’t listened; he couldn’t just throw away the second (and last) chance he’d been given at the expense of Lucy’s dignity–  he’d break his own key before letting her suffer for him again.

“Celestial spirits don’t need all that y’know–“ He said, trying his best to sound nonchalant about it, but she quickly cut him off.

“But you haven’t been a spirit for that long!” Lucy scolded, “Remember what the Spirit King said about–“

“I know, Lucy,” He sighed, unable to meet her eyes, “I just.. didn’t want to let yo- uh everybody down.”

“Oh..”

“You know,” He added, only half joking, “-can’t have people saying I wasn’t worth all the trouble, after all you did for me.”

At this, Lucy reached out and grabbed his hand, forcing him to look up at her.

“Loke, you’re my friend,” She said sternly, “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Loke wondered how she could look at him like that, like she would defend him to the ends of the Earthland, and expect him not to fall in love with her.

“Ah,” He put his other hand on his heart in mock despair, lightening the mood instantly, “You shouldn’t get my hopes up like that, Lucy.”

“W-What?”

“Just friends?” He pulled her hand to his chest then, “I thought we had something special, milady.”

“Yeah right,” Lucy smiled, relaxing a little, “Me and every girl within a five-mile radius." 

“Don’t you think for a minute that I’ve forgotten what happened with my Edolas doppelgänger, you flirt!” 

“I see, does that mean you only want me to flirt with you, Lucy?” He teased, leaning in to see the sudden influx of colour that rushed to Lucy’s face.

“I- I never-“ He tried not to enjoy it too much as she floundered around for a comeback and settled for pulling her hands away in protest.

Although Loke did his best to keep his foot out of his mouth, he constantly found himself toeing the line between cheeky and tongue-in-cheek with his flirting, mostly because he had no idea how to talk to Lucy otherwise. 

Addressing her formally (like he’d been accustomed to with Karen), felt foreign and ill-fitting and it definitely didn’t help that Lucy herself often blurred the line between spirit and friend herself– insisting everyone call her by her first name, and being determined to fight on equal footing as though they were partners. But even he knew better than to delude himself into hoping that anything might come of it.

Before Lucy could reply, however, they were interrupted by a sharp, sarcastic rap on the door. 

“Break it up ya lovebirds, the Master wants to see ‘er.”

“Gajeel!”

Loke tensed up. 

Though it had been well over four months since the iron dragon-slayer had joined the guild, along with Juvia Lockser, his popularity (unlike Juvia’s) hadn’t skyrocketed in the least. While this had, in some part, to do with Gajeel’s prickly personality, the greater blame lay in his mistreatment of the Fairy Tail members during the guild war with Phantom Lord, and, among the casualties, a certain celestial mage with sunshine blonde hair.

Loke glowered at the red-eyed wizard, still bedridden but now imperceptibly shifting his torso to shield Lucy from whatever would come next.

Gajeel only snorted, no doubt considering the implications of starting a fight with a guy in a hospital gown, and pointed over Loke’s shoulder instead.

“Just ya, Blondie,” He crossed his arms, “Somethin’ about losin' his keys or whatever.”

“Oh,” Lucy got up to leave but Loke involuntarily grabbed her hand and shook his head. Gajeel threw them another withering look.

“Look, I don’t wanna be here either, alright? Got better things to do than run around playing errand boy to that old man. I’ve got an exceed to feed y’know.”

It was only then that they noticed the animal on his shoulder. Bearing a striking resemblance to Happy and Carla, this one was covered in black fur, with stark white wings and a scar running across one eye. 

Both Lucy and Loke jumped a little when the exceed opened it’s mouth to say “Hello, I’m Panther Lily,” with the voice of a fifty-year-old war veteran.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hello,” Lucy replied bravely, not to be deterred, “I’m Lucy Heartf- uh just Lucy! Welcome to Fairy Tail!”

Loke tried not to look up at her then; he knew how self conscious Lucy had become after her run in with her father, especially about her name. The other guild members had teased her about her ‘princessy’ demeanour for months on end, and though she’d laughed it off in good faith, Loke had heard from Virgo that she’d marched down to the Magic Council to have Heartfilia removed from all her legal documents.

“Loke,” he grunted reluctantly when the exceed turned to him. He didn’t want to tell Gajeel’s pet anything but his rudeness wouldn’t reflect well on Lucy.

“You’re a Celestial spirit,” The Exceed noted, fixing him with a strange look. 

“Is that a problem?” Loke raised an eyebrow.

“But not a full one. Interesting..”

Loke’s hackles raised, and he opened his mouth to ask just what exactly the little bear-cat-like creature meant before he felt the squeeze on his arm and realised Lucy was looking at him.

“I’ll be right back,” She’d already dropped his hand before he could voice his objection, so instead he watched her leave, deliberately narrowing his eyes as Gajeel made to close the door.

“If you touch one hair on her head..” He gritted his teeth.

“Yeah, yeah,” Gajeel said carelessly, scratching at his jaw, “Word of advice? Get it together before ya go off makin’ threats loverboy.”

The door slammed shut with a THUD!

Loke released a breath into the air and pressed his hand to his temples. What was he doing? 

Gajeel was right, he wasn’t in any place to sit around and growl at people like Lucy’s lapdog. Karen had loved seeing him do it, almost as much as she’d loved to torment Aries to get a rise out of him.

“Aren’t I lucky,” The green-haired, green-eyed (in more ways than one) Karen Lilica had crowed, brandishing her chain-whip, “I have both the strongest and the weakest spirits of all the Zodiac.”

Before he could realise what was happening, Loke had already slipped into the dream. 

The familiar periwinkle and gold interior of the Blue Pegasus guild hall rose up to swallow him and suddenly Loke wasn’t Loke anymore. Now he was Leo, confident and glowing as he reached out to shake the hand of the sweet, green-haired girl who’d summoned him.

“Oh wow!” She gasped, shaking his hand with both of her own, “I’m so honoured to meet a member of the Zodiac! I’m Karen by the way!”

The ground fell away under him and suddenly Loke was crouched at the foot of a plush red sofa as an older Karen lovingly stroked his head; teary mascara streaking down her face. Gone was the youthful girlishness, now replaced by a garish lipsticked smile.

“You know I didn’t mean it right, Leo? I just got so angry– I don’t know what came over me.”

He looked on dumbly as Karen cooed and fussed over the large gash above his right eyelid.

If only he had known sooner. If only he had seen it coming. If only, if only, if only.

The roar of a waterfall cascaded from somewhere inside him and Loke looked around, confused, before the ceiling opened up and released a flood of water down on him, drowning, drowning, drowning and then.. not.

Now Loke was kneeling on a rocky outcropping overlooking a great waterfall, in front of Karen’s grave, but the grave was empty and Karen was standing next to him, all pretense of love leaving her eyes as she dug the sharp tip of her heel into his shoulder.

“Why won’t you just leave me alone? Go. Back. Go back, go back, go back!” She shrieked, shoving him backward. Loke caught his balance before he tumbled into the hole and finally found the words to defend himself.

“What.. happened to you?” He choked out as Karen proceeded to loop her chain-whip around his neck and pull.

She laughed as he fought for air, grasping at the rusted metal in vain.

“What’re you on about?” She taunted, leaning in to press a kiss right above his eye, “You turned me into this, Leo.”

Her kisses felt like acid.

“It’s all your fault,” She whispered as his face began to burn and his vision began to darken, “And now you’ve gone and dragged that poor girl into it too.”

Loke turned around in horror to see Lucy now lying inside Karen’s empty grave, eyes closed, clutching his key to her chest like a lifeline. 

“Gate.. of the lion.. close.. gate..”

“Lucy! LUCY!”

Loke reached out to grab her, but it was too late. The ground closed over the hole, as he started to disappear, grass and flowers sprouting beneath the gravestone and sealing Lucy away forever - his name the last words on her lips.

“Leo.”

Another fainter voice overlapped with hers, originating from somewhere at the back of his skull; a voice that sounded suspiciously like Aquarius’. 

“Leo,” Lucy-Aquarius repeated, quiet and urgent, like she didn’t have much time, “You need to be careful.”

“The Eclipse is coming.”

Loke woke for the second time that day to a pair of worried brown eyes.

This time, however, they belonged to his long-time friend and confidante, Aries. As though dreaming about their former master had summoned her to his side, the pink-haired, Ram Spirit hovered over him anxiously, mumbling something to herself.

“Leo!” She repeated, relieved as he sat up a little straighter.

“Aries..” He replied, not fully able to process what was happening, “Did Lucy summon you? What’re you doing here?”

“Mhm,” She shook her head, “I came on my own. I learned how to after.. well..”

Loke winced as he recalled the phantom abuse in his dream, involuntarily feeling his throat to check for burn marks.

“The Celestial Spirit King wanted to know if Lucy-san still had the Aquarius key?” Aries asked hopefully.

The disappearance had left everyone in the Spirit World on edge, their monarch included. Loke had a feeling it was because it had been millennia since they were forced to confront their potential demise. That and because Scorpio kept giving everyone hell for losing Aquarius; Loke had to physically restrain his friend to keep him from ambushing Lucy on his own. 

“No,” Aries’ face fell as he continued, “For some reason, the key’s gone too. We don’t have any hint for where we should begin searching, and the closed-pocket realms are endless.”

“We can only hope she hasn’t fallen into any of the Disgraced dimensions.”

Aries’ eyes got wide at the mention of the Red-Key Spirits, former inhabitants of the Celestial Spirit Realm, exiled for breaking the code of conduct that all spirits were required to abide under. No decent spirit would be caught whispering about The Disgraced Ones within the earshot of Loke– after all, if Karen had been any less of a villain, he would’ve shared their fate. 

It was another thing he’d carefully kept from Lucy. His banishment to the human world was an act of mercy, only granted to him for his eons of unwavering loyalty to the Celestial Spirit King, and when it came down to it, Loke would pick dying in the human world over the twisted solitude of the Disgraced dimensions. At least he would die as himself.

“Do you suppose it was taken?” Aries said finally, her usual jumpiness replaced by uncharacteristic conviction, “Maybe someone stole it off Lucy-san when she wasn’t looking?”

“Maybe,” Loke shrugged, unconvinced, “But it’s unlikely. From what Lucy told me, they just returned from Edolas a few hours ago.”

“If anyone wanted to steal the key, it’d have to be from within Fairy Tail.”

“But–“

“No, Aries,” She looked hurt when he cut her off, “The people here aren’t like that. You should just go home– I’ll handle it.”

Loke tried to feign indifference as her big doll eyes began to well up with tears. He hated doing it but drawing boundaries between himself and the rest of the Zodiac had become a necessity when he returned. Aries, who’d arguably been the happiest of them all, quickly came to the realisation that her friend had become a completely different person in all their time apart.

Time worked differently in the Celestial Spirit Realm; sometimes it would go faster, sometimes slower, and there were even periods where it simply wouldn’t move at all. For the three years Loke had been in Earthland, time had spun like a roulette table and separated him from his friends by a whopping three hundred years, suddenly making him the youngest of his former team-mates. 

He lost the respect and acclaim that came with being the Leader of the Zodiac, the title going to Aquarius in his absence; no longer the notorious lion spirit, now just a cub with claws too big and too sharp for his feet. 

“I wish you would let me help,” Aries’ lip wobbled, still she rubbed at her eyes defiantly, “We used to do everything together, Leo.”

Loke clutched his hospital gown tightly, his mouth set in a thin, hard line.

After a few seconds of strained silence, where he pretended he didn’t see her shoulders quietly shaking, Aries said,

“I know you blame me for Karen’s death.”

He glanced up, surprised.

“I thought about it for years,” She frowned, not meeting his eyes, “‘Leo must hate me’. After all, you were only trying to protect me.”

“If I had just been better at standing up for myself, you wouldn’t have been punished so severely!”

“I don’t blame you,” He said gently, her tears had gotten to him, “But this is my job Aries, I can’t drag you into it.”

“But Karen–“ 

“Karen was a monster,” Loke bared his teeth, not an ounce of regret in his voice, “–and she got what she deserved.”

“She was so kind when we first met her,” Aries insisted weakly, “I can’t help but wonder if we had helped her more maybe–“

“Maybe she would’ve turned on us faster,” He snapped, “Maybe she would’ve done worse! You didn’t see her those last few weeks, Aries, I did.”

“She was unhinged– the girl I made a contract with died a long time ago.”

Loke refrained himself from adding ‘And it was all my fault.’ to the end of that sentence, because he knew Aries would never understand. She would want to share the blame for their former master’s descent into madness, but the cruel truth was that despite what Aries said, she simply couldn’t handle the pain that came with that realisation. Karen knew it too, its why she saved all the especially harrowing punishments for him. It was much more fun for her to watch him slowly begin to resent the friend he’d tried so desperately to save. 

“I don’t blame you,” Loke repeated, almost as though he was trying to convince himself, “And besides, getting banished was the best thing that ever happened to me. I wouldn’t have met Lucy, otherwise.”

“Then let me help you,” Aries refuted stubbornly, “Aquarius is my friend too!”

“And my responsibility,” He countered, “–as the Leader of the Zodiac–“

“If what happens to Aquarius starts spreading, there won’t be a Zodiac left to lead, Leo!”

Loke started at her tone. He didn’t think he’d ever heard Aries’ voice rise higher than 40 decibels.

“You’re not the only one suffering here! Remember how bad it was when we lost Capricorn– you wouldn’t even let us help you then! You had to ‘do it yourself’, well a whole lot of good that did you!”

“So just stop being so– so– pig-headed!” Even Aries looked surprised by her sudden burst of rebelliousness, and clamped both her hands over her mouth in horror.

The sight was so odd and unexpected that, try as he might, Loke couldn’t hold back the snort that spilled out from somewhere deep inside him. 

He was in tears within seconds, clutching the sides of his stomach as he keeled over with laughter, and, after a few seconds, Aries joined him; the two of them snickering like middle-schoolers over a dumb joke.

“Pig-headed?” He wheezed.

Stars, it had been a while since they’d laughed together. Truth be told, Loke wasn’t sure they’d even be able to talk normally again without the ghost of Karen hovering between them, but here they were. Stranger things had happened.

“I’m glad,” Aries said finally, as she paused to catch their breath, “I haven’t seen you smile once since you came home.”

Loke opened his mouth to protest but she held up a finger to stop him, “No, talking about Lucy-san doesn’t count.”

“Killjoy.” He huffed. Aries giggled.

“How is she taking the news, by the way?”

“Better than I expected,” He admitted, “She’s tougher than she looks, m–“

Loke caught himself just in time. 

He didn’t know what would be worse, actually slipping up and saying the words “my Lucy”, or watching his friend’s face scrunch up with pity as she hears it. Even Aries (the most optimistic of all the spirits) would click her tongue in disbelief if she found out just how deep his loyalties lay. 

Celestial Spirits don’t fall in love with humans. Capricorn had drilled it into his head since he was a boy. Especially not their bright-eyed, lavender-shampooed, beautiful, beautiful masters. 

“That’s good,” Aries affirmed, blissfully oblivious to his mental gymnastics as she rose from her seat, “I’d better head off then.”

“Is there anything you wanted me to look into while you’re.. taking your mandatory rest?”

Loke was about to shake his head and send her on her way, but a tiny voice in the back of his head made him pause, the lightness in his chest temporarily soaking in an inexplicable sense of dread.

“Actually,” he began, “There is one thing.”

She blinked expectantly.

“What can you tell me about the Eclipse?”

Next Chapter ->