LaLu Week 2016

Chapter One ; Aquarius

"Princess." His soft and quiet voice gently cut it's way through her dreamless sleep and calling her to the land of the awake. "Princess, it's time to wake up now." Lucy's sleeping form turned away from the noise as she groaned, her hands grasping tightly at her light pink blankets and pulling them closer to herself. "Lucy, it's time to wake up and go to the guild. It's noon, Princess, you need to get up now." He said a little more sternly, trying to keep the concern out of his voice so that Lucy wouldn't try to guilt him into letting her sleep longer again.

"Loke, go away." Lucy's demanded sharply, pulling the comforter tighter around her body and trying to will herself back to sleep. Loke though, dressed in his celestial attire, wouldn't let Lucy's harsh tone or angry demand faze him. Instead, the lion spirit took in a deep breath and lifted Lucy - comforter and all - out the bed and began walking to the bathroom.

"Put me down!" The upset mage shouted at her spirit, her tiny fists slamming into his chest. "I want to go back to bed, I want to sleep!" She yelled at him, however the fight left her when she looked up and saw the sad look in Loke's eyes. All was silent in the apartment for a few brief moments, neither Spirit nor Mage saying anything to each other.

" Don't pity me." She finally snapped at him in an anguished tone of voice, her eyes - so full of anger and pain - shifting to look anywhere but at her friend. She heard him sigh and felt his arms tightening a little more around her as he stepped into her bathroom and set her down on the toilet. Lucy continued to look away from him, instead focusing her attention of the cheery skies that she saw outside her bathroom window.

"Lucy." Loke said softly, kneeling down in front of her and resting a hand on her leg. "Lucy, look at me please." He moved his free hand up to her face and gently cupped it, pushing it so she would have to look at him. Her brown eyes, which had once been so full of happiness and life were now filled with heartache and listlessness, filled Loke with an anger the lion spirit hadn't felt since witnessing Karen abuse Aries. He silently cursed Tartaros, Jackal, and alegria for causing his master so much pain, for forcing her to sacrifice Aquarius to save herself and everyone else. He cursed Fairy Tail and every member of the guild for being caught in alegria, for not noticing how much Lucy had sacrificed for them, and most of all for moving on from the Tartaros attack and leaving an emotionally wounded Lucy behind.

Above all else though, Loke cursed himself for not being strong enough to save her when she needed him the most.

He had failed the most important person in his life currently. He failed the person he swore he would protect, the person who saved him, and he would never forgive himself for it.

"I would never pity you, Princess. None of us would." He assured her with a sad smile, watching her bow her head and look away from him again. "Now come on, we're going to the guild soon." He told her, leaving her no room to argue with him and his decision. "Why don't you shower while I make us some breakfast!" He suggested cheerily, already making his way out of the bathroom while Lucy continued to sit on the toilet and stare at the wall. Silently Loke sighed and waited for the familiar chime of Virgo opening her gate to take of their master. Sure enough, only second after leaving Lucy, Virgo appeared in front of the blonde in her black and white bikini.

"Hello Princess." Virgo greeted with her normal blank expression, already turning away from Lucy and starting the bath. "Today we'll be using the lavender scented wash, Libra made it in her spare time and gave it to me." The maiden spirit informed Lucy as she poured in some of the purplish soap and turned back to the celestial mage. "Shall I undress you princess or do you wish to undress yourself?" Virgo asked as Lucy stood and sighed, stripping out of the comfortable pink pajamas. She didn't bother arguing or fighting back against them, after all this had all become normal as of late.

Unfortunately, this routine had become such a common occurrence in the Heartfilia apartment, that her spirits had created a schedule of times when they would appear so that Lucy would never be alone and so that none of them were out on their own energy for too long.

The first week Lucy had first stopped taking care of herself, Loke was a bit ashamed to admit that he had went a little overboard. Not only had he stayed in the human realm the full week, he had also used his powers constantly in an attempt to cheer his distressed master up. However, constant use of his powers, staying out in the human world for a constant week, all with no rest had run Loke down faster than he thought.

At the end of the week, Loke's energy was falling fast but Lucy's health - both mental and physical - was falling faster. Loke couldn't just leave her alone and she had made it very clear that she was in no mood to deal with her guildmates; Loke theorized that there was a small part of Lucy that blamed them for the current state of Aquarius's key, however Loke wouldn't ever ask and he doubted that Lucy would ever admit it. So with little to no options, Loke called for Virgo to join him and to care of Lucy while he rested. Virgo had agreed, but she set one condition; she and Leo take turns taking care of their princess. When Loke had agreed, he hadn't expected Virgo to pull out a color coded schedule that split up the time between all of Lucy's Zodiac Spirits.

For the next few days, the Zodiacs with contracts to Lucy took care of their master and friend to the best of their abilities. Everyday Loke would wake Lucy up and bring her to her bathroom where Virgo would appear and take care of Lucy's grooming while Loke cooked a late breakfast at around noon. Together Loke and Virgo would get Lucy to eat just enough food to keep her alive and somewhat in her weight range. Once breakfast was done, Virgo would take Lucy up to her room where Capricorn was waiting for her.

Loke would go back to the spirit world for rest and to regain his energy while Virgo would clean up breakfast and tidy up the house. After a few house, at three pm, Sagittarius and Scorpio would take Capricorn's and Virgo's place. Sagittarius typically brought Celestial games with him that he and Scorpio would - somewhat - play with Lucy. Typically Lucy wouldn't actually play with them, however neither spirit minded much and pretended as if Lucy was indeed paying attention to the game and following along with their conversation. Four hours later, Loke would reappear and begin to make dinner for the four of them. Again, Loke and the others would force Lucy to eat some of her dinner. After dinner, Tartarus would appear with Plue and Scorpio and Sagittarius would take their leave back to the Spirit world. Tartarus would typically drop Plue off in Lucy's arms and then pick her up and together they would take a walk around the town once the streets were mostly empty. While Tartarus was out, Loke would take the time to clean up dinner and then go out and would go shop for the essentials.

At eight sharp, Tartarus would bring Lucy and Plue back home where Aries and Cancer were waiting for them. After transferring Lucy to Cancer, Tartarus would go back home and Cancer would take Lucy upstairs to the bathroom. Aries would start the bath, soothing scented bubbles included, and after undressed Lucy, the ram spirit would calmly wash Lucy as quickly as she could. After her bath, she and Cancer would dress Lucy and make the final preparations for bedtime. Aries would get the bed ready and make sure all the windows were locked while Cancer sat Lucy down in her desk chair and began to do her hair all while telling her about the latest celestial gossip. Typically by the time Cancer was done, Loke was back home and Aries was putting anything he bought away. Loke would then take over for Cancer and tuck Lucy into bed, wishing her goodnight and silently praying that tomorrow would be better. After that, the three spirits would go back to the spirit world and, along with the others, would silently watch Lucy.

Loke probably would've let this routine continue forever, had it not been for one spirit in particular.

Aquarius.

After hearing about the state Lucy was in, the mermaid spirit had tracked him down and gave him a piece of her mind. Loke would never forget that moment; he would never forget the way she grabbed him and slammed him against his own door, nor would he forget looking into her suspiciously watery eyes, or the words she hissed at him.

"What do you think you're doing, dumbass?! You can't just let the brat get away with this crap she's pulling. She's needs to pull herself together and get a boyfriend or something. She doesn't need you and the others enabling her, dammit Loke. She's killing herself and you're letting her! If you keep letting her do this, it'll be Karen and Layla all over again. Only instead of her magic killing her, it's me destroying her. Dammit Loke, don't let the memory of me destroy her."

In that instance, in his dumbfounded state, Loke had asked a question that surprised not only himself but also Aquarius as well.

"Why does she need to get a boyfriend?"

It was a stupid question, a really stupid question, but Loke just had to ask.

"So she isn't alone."

Loke sighed softly as he cooked breakfast for Lucy, Virgo, and himself. Pancakes with strawberries and orange juice. The lion spirit was about to call Virgo to ask if Lucy was dressed when the door was thrown open.

"LUSHE!" Loke abruptly turned and watched as a ball of blue fur flew past the living room and went straight for the bathroom. With an annoyed sigh, Loke began to clean up the uneaten breakfast with the knowledge that Lucy wouldn't bother even trying to eat with her team here. Maybe he put it in the refrigerator, he could heat it up and get her to eat it later. Hopefully.

"Oh." He heard Lucy say softly, surprise tinting her normally desolate tone. "Hey Happy, did you guys finish your mission already?" She asked as she plastered a fake smile on her face, gently taking the exceed into her arms and petting his head. Happy gave a purr of satisfaction as he began to tell Lucy all about the mission they went on and how he was the real star of the mission.

Loke wondered for a brief moment, in between Happy's tales of how he rescued Gray and Natsu, if they ever noticed those when she smiled like that. He wondered if they ever heard that her laughs were fake, if they ever questioned her tight smiles, or the way she seemed to be wrapped in a blanket of despair. He wondered what would happen if they noticed; would they try to pressure her into telling them what's wrong, would they care for her like he and her other spirits have, would they try - and probably fail - to cheer her up?

The sound of heavy footsteps caused Loke to abruptly turn around and meet the gaze of the Erza Scarlet. "Loke." She greeted him with her usually nod, eyeing him and the food he was putting away. Loke gave her a nod back, quickly turning away from her curious gaze so she wouldn't notice the sad look in his eyes. Lucy already made it clear that she didn't want to trouble the guild with her troubles nor her fall into depression. He heard more footsteps from the house followed by the sounds of Natsu and Gray arguing.

"Boys," Erza started, her tone menacing and a dark aura surrounding her. "you aren't fighting, are you?" She asked as the two fighting mages suddenly jumped together and hugged each other in what would normally be a friendly half embrace. "That's what I thought." She declared with narrowed eyes, watching them for a few more seconds before turning back to Loke.

"Will you be joining us at the guild, Loke?" The redhead asked him as Lucy came out of her room with Happy snuggled contently in her arms, the tiny blue cat was currently chewing on a raw fish that's origins were a mystery to Loke.

"I . . ." Loke paused as he thought more about the question. On one hand, if he went to the guild then he could possibly try to talk to the master about Lucy and Aquarius's sacrifice and about her downward spiral. Despite how much it would hurt Lucy, he knew that someone needed to know and someone - anyone - needed to help her. On the other hand though, Lucy had promised him that she would try to get better, she promised that one day - when ready - she'd talk with someone about her problems and about the pain she felt every time she looked at Aquarius. Loke wanted what was best for her, he wanted her to be safe and happy and be that person she once was. He wanted her to be that girl again, the Lucy who stood up no matter what the problem was.

He wanted the Lucy that never gave up.

He wanted his Lucy back.

". . . actually can't today, sorry." But, he also didn't want to push Lucy when she wasn't ready. "In fact, I should be heading back now." He said as Erza nodded and Lucy gave him a half somewhat genuine smile. He gave her a sad smile back, disappearing back into his own world in a glow of gold.

When Loke returned to the spirit world, a heavy weight crushing his heart and tears gathering in his eyes, he turned to the nearest wall and punched it as hard as he could. The wall cracked and little crumbles of stone fell to the ground, but it held up well under Loke's glowing fist.

Unknown to the leader of the Zodiacs, Aquarius stood across the street watching him breakdown. "Come on brat, can't you see what your doing to us?" She whispered to herself, her hands tightened into fists as she quickly made her way to her fountain. Unlike Loke, she wouldn't cry over Lucy again.

After all, she wasn't Lucy's spirit anymore.

And that thought was enough to break Aquarius's will enough for the tears to start falling.