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Lion's Pride	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 10067 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. I make no money writing this. I do it for my own pleasure. Any lyrics are my own or I received permission from the artist.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
"When it is darkest, men see the stars." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chapter 14

A Star Amidst the Darkness

Here, he was not Loke. Here, he was Leo the Lion. Here, he was not merely a member of the Fairy Tail magic guild. Here, he was leader of the Ecliptic Zodiac Spirits.

What a pathetic situation for someone like him to be in!

He knew he did not want to wake up. Even after regaining consciousness, he remained still on his cot in the spirit prison, fighting to keep in his tiny sphere of peace for a little while longer. He listened around him to the sound of wind out the slit of a window above his cot, dripping water echoing somewhere far down a stone corridor, Columba the Dove chirping happily to the moon, sounds that were peaceful in the right environment, but from where he laid in the musty prison, they were lonesome reminders of how utterly separated he was from the world.

"I know you're awake, old friend," spoke a basso voice.

"Old friend, huh?" mumbled Leo. Resisting fate was no longer possible. He opened his eyes and stared up at the prison ceiling. "We were friends once, close ones. You were like an uncle, maybe even a brother. Is this the punishing hand you show to your family?" He rolled over and glared at the massive creature on the other side of his transparent, shimmering barrier. "Spirit King!"

The maroon-eyed Celestial Spirit with a monstrous mustache gazed down at him unemotionally. "Libra tells me you're well enough to hear your sentence."

Leo shot a quick glare at the Scales, standing behind the Spirit King. All the other Zodiacs had all come to witness, although most looked like it must have been a forced appearance. Aries in particular looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but in that corridor.

"For disobeying the laws of the Spirit World and potentially endangering not only your master, Lucy Heartfilia, but both the Human and Spirit Worlds, you are hereby to be held in detention until we determine if your actions warrant further punishment."

"You needed me healed just to hear you say that?" Leo asked in a sassy tone. "Where's the trial? Where's the jury? Don't I get to testify? And here I've been practicing how to shout 'Objection' in a really dramatic fashion," he said sarcastically.

"Your testimony is unneeded. Crux has given us a detailed—too detailed, in fact—account of your actions."

"Damn snoring gramps," grumbled Leo. "Why not toss me out into the Human World and be done with it?"

The Spirit King cocked his head to the side. "That would be cruel."

"Less cruel than this! Less cruel than separating us, just like you did in the past with Naomi."

"I don't wish to see you suffer, old friend."

"Suffer?" Leo shouted and leaped into a sitting position. "I'm willing to suffer. I was willing to stay out there another three years if I had to." He pointed to his tiny cell window. "The woman I love is out there, and the enemy after her is formidable. Piscis Austrinus is back, and he has the full power of Fomalhaut at his beck and call."

The Spirit King leaned back a little, and the other Zodiacs muttered amongst themselves.

Taurus in particular looked stunned. "Fishy?"

"Father? Grandfather?" the mother and son Pisces asked simultaneously, looking troubled but equally hopeful.

"Who?" asked Scorpio. He had no knowledge of that time since he repressed his memories.

Aquarius sadly patted Scorpio's shoulder. Piscis Austrinus: a name the Water-Bearer had hoped she would never hear again...her former lover!

"You all know how dangerous he is even weakened," Leo pressed on. Time alone to think had assured him that this was the only way to win his freedom, and he had to hurry. If one day in the Spirit World was three months in the Human World, he had mere minutes. He had already wasted half an hour lying there, which meant two Human days. "Now that he's at full strength, he's nigh unstoppable. I witnessed it, and he truly did regain Fomalhaut's power." Leo gave a cunning grin. "If you're going to hunt him, you'll need the Lion."

"We don't need you," the Spirit King answered immediately.

Leo sneered that he made such a decision so rashly, and he shouted, "Who else can stand up to him? Now that Piscis Austrinus has the power of Fomalhaut, even you can't defeat him, oh King!" He added the last part in sarcasm, but regretted it a moment later.

"Leo," Aries warned, but she trembled before the Spirit King. "I'm sorry."

The Spirit King laughed, and the ground trembled at the sound. "Can't defeat him, you say? Then how do you expect to do it?"

Leo stared silently and kept his face perfectly neutral. He knew the only way was to stoop as low as the Southern Fish himself had gone.

The Spirit King leaned in close, and Leo was pushed back by the sheer force of his presence. "Do you think we can allow you to regain the full power of Regulus? The Royal Stars are gone. We don't need that sort of destructive power again."

Taurus looked down to his cowbell, reached up with one finger, tapped it lightly, and listened to the low ring it made.

"If Piscis Austrinus uses Fomalhaut in an act of war, we will consider a reprieve by which you may be released to join us in fighting him, like what happened last time with Zeref. Indeed, old friend, even as you are, you're powerful. I respect your fighting skills. You would be a welcome asset if war ever came. If he makes no use of Fomalhaut, we will leave him be for now."

"How?" Leo roared furiously. He jumped off his cot and pounced right up to the barrier. It sparkled as his fists pounded it furiously. "How can you keep me imprisoned just because I love a human, while a traitor like him, a Celestial Spirit who has broken a far more ancient and potentially destructive law, goes free?" His eyes turned to the Celestial Spirit standing behind the King. "Tell me, Libra," he addressed with a smidgen of respect, "how is this justice?"

The Spirit King loomed taller and boomed, "Do not address the others! Libra has already consulted the law books and examined the evidence."

"Brown-noser," Leo grumbled.

"You will stay until we determine if the baby is a threat," the Spirit King pronounced. "If not, you will be released and allowed to return; however, if it is dangerous, you will be the one to terminate it."

Leo's mouth dropped. A painful shiver rippled through him from his scalp to his toes, only to rebound back up his spine. "You can't mean..." He could hardly breathe, and his stomach jolted. Kill his own child? Just thinking about such an order, he wanted to vomit. "I could never..."

"Then you will die. This is a lesson you should have learned the first time."

"It wasn't against the rules back then," Leo shouted, feeling truly furious now. "You randomly decided you didn't like the idea of us starting families with humans and held me against my will, without even a mock trial like this. If I had been there, if I could've raised Zeref, guided him, helped him to gain control of his powers, things would've been different. His fall into evil wasn't because of me, but because of you," he accused in outrage. "You're the one who abandoned him, just as you're abandoning Lucy. You're the one who had the ability to stop those events, knowing what Zeref was, knowing people would be after him because of his power, yet you did nothing. You prevented me from even knowing what was going on until it was too late. There is no way his fall into evil was my fault, because thanks to you I wasn't even there," he bellowed, punching the spirit barrier in fury. "It was your heartless attitude toward humans, your own insecurities, your fear of me, your self-consciousness that you," he screamed, "are not the rightful king of the Spirit World!"

A glint of that ancient nobility flared through his glaring emerald eyes as a low growl rumbled deep in the Lion's throat. The Zodiacs cringed that he had finally dared to say it after all these centuries. Aries covered her mouth and shook her head quickly, wishing those words could disappear from history. On the other hand, Aquarius could not help but smirk that he finally had the balls to say it.

The Spirit King pointed a single finger. Light shot up from the ground, engulfed Leo, and hurled him up to the prison's ceiling, smashing him against the stones. He howled in agony as the energy threatened to crush his very essence. Aries turned away and hid her face into Cancer's chest. A few of his crab legs held her comfortingly. The Gemini twins hid behind the massive Pisces fish. Virgo shivered at his screams. Taurus patted her shoulder and watched with conflicting anger and fear. Capricorn looked aside sadly. When the attack ended, Leo fell back to the ground so hard, even Aquarius flinched.

The other Zodiacs watched with troubled faces. Some sympathized with Leo, some felt he was wrong for breaking the rules, and some were unsure one way or another, yet one thing was certain: none of them liked seeing their noble leader reduced to this.

The Spirit King looked down dispassionately. "As you sit here, consider curbing your pride and amending your rebellious ways." Then he turned aside. "Be grateful to the Stars' guidance."

"No, wait...please, wait!" Leo tried to say, yet his voice was too scratchy and weak. One day equaled three Human months. If he was kept locked up in here for even a week, two years would pass for Lucy. "I need to get back to her...please," he begged.

"I truly pity Lucy," the Spirit King sighed. "She is a good friend. She does not deserve this. I wish, Leo," he muttered, "that you had never loved her." Then he walked out of the dungeon.

Leo's head fell back in defeat. The other Celestial Spirits wavered, but in the end many followed their king. Only Aries, Virgo, Taurus, Scorpio, and Aquarius lingered.

"Leo," Aries sobbed. "Why...why did you do it, Leo?"

Despite panting heavily through what felt like crushed ribs, his eyes rolled over to her in a peevish glare. "Are you only upset because it wasn't you I fell in love with?"

The Ram gasped and stepped back. She was shocked he would say such a thing and terrified by the angry gleam in his eyes.

"She's concerned for you, idiot," Aquarius scolded. "Be patient, Leo. We'll try to talk some sense into him." Then she also left. Scorpio watched Leo sadly, but he left with his girlfriend, hoping they could reason with the powerful Spirit King.

Virgo knelt at the edge of the barrier. "Do you need anything, Brother?"

He turned his face away. He did not want them to see him like this, sprawled on the floor, beaten and defeated. It pierced his pride. "What I need, Virgo, you can't give me."

"I can give Princess a message."

He laughed wryly. "Yeah? Like what? 'Dear Lucy, I just got my ass handed to me by the Spirit King. How was your day?' Yeah, great way to exchange letters."

"Don't worry," Taurus insisted loyally. "We'll protect Lucy's nice body."

"That's right," Aries nodded, hoping to redeem herself. "We'll work extra hard to keep her safe. I've been keeping her updated, too. She looks much better."

"Thanks," he muttered flatly. "Please, let me sleep for a while. I'm still rather weak."

"Of course, Brother," Virgo said, and she pulled Aries away. The others followed.

Once they were gone, Leo's chest jolted. It hurt the crushed ribs, but he could not suppress it any longer. A shaky breath inhaled between his teeth and shuddered out. Tears betrayed his eyes and dripped to the cold stone floor under his cheek. He pressed his lips firmly together, trying to command those sobs to retreat. His body obviously sensed he was not in the position to command anything anymore, not even his own emotions. Another jolting sob escaped his defenses and echoed through the bare room, followed by another that hiccuped out of his throat with a cry of pain.

He thought it might have been better if he had stayed in the Human World buried under that debris and died. Then Lucy could have gotten over him and moved on, free to live a happy life. As much as the thought disgusted him, he would rather have her marry Gray or Natsu, raise a happy family, and live her life fully. That was better than being burdened by a short lifetime of pining over him and miserable until the end of her days. Being a prisoner like this would torture her as much as him.

He roared in fury. "Fuck you, Spirit King!"

The sobs finally won their battle. He was a prisoner to their dominion over his erratic breathing and leaking eyes. He wanted to crawl away like a wounded animal, hide in a cave, and disappear from the world. He briefly thought it was ironic that, in a way, he really was in a cave, a pit of solitude, forbidden from interacting with either of the worlds he had come to love.

"Piscis...no, Haftorang...you were right," he sighed in defeat and anger. "He's only been to the Human World a handful of times. He doesn't know how they are. He doesn't comprehend mortality, or how fast time flies in the Human World. A day to us is three months to them. Four days here is an entire year there. In one of our years, a human can be born, grow up, and die of old age. He doesn't understand! He doesn't even try to comprehend. He really is...just a dictator." Leo looked out the tiny window. "It was never like this back when I was king. I never locked up any of them. I kept a human master, despite being King of the Heavens. I never separated myself from the rest, not like he does. Damn you, Haftorang, but you were right!"

As he looked out the window, he saw the orbs of the stars connected by glowing bridges that formed the constellations. He dragged himself off the ground and painfully clambered closer to his little slit view of freedom. So rarely did he bother to look at the stars here. They were huge, and they shined in full glory, although they lacked the twinkling of Earthland. Only one star actually pulsated in this Spirit World sky, a red star in a series of orbs and bridges Leo knew well, his home, the seat of his power, and largest of those orbs was the Heart of the Lion: Regulus. It beat a steady pulse through the stillness.

Leo's hand clutched at his heart, then dropped and brushed against the indent in his finger where, for centuries, he had worn his ring. It felt odd not having that power anymore, but he knew it was in good hands.

"Lucy," he whispered. "Do you still wish upon Regulus? He's powerful. His star still shines after his spirit has transcended. You now own all that's left of him...all that's left of my Heart. You can probably feel his strength, Lucy. If you wish to him, maybe he'll hear you. Maybe if we both wish, he'll grant even an impossible dream." Leo closed his eyes. "O Regulus, grant me your strength. Give me the patience not to act foolishly, and give me the chance to see my beloved Lucy again. Please, Regulus," he begged, and another sob betrayed his inner pain. "Let me be able to see our son!"

#

Back on Earthland, Lucy sat at her window and looked at the stars. "Please, Regulus, let him be able to see our son."

She hoped Loke could see the stars wherever he was. She looked down at the ring she now kept on a silver necklace. The chain rested between her breasts and dangled just above the massive bulge of her stomach. In the argent moonlight, the blue stone glowed as if it sensed the life within her and responded to it. She vaguely felt the power in that ring, a wavering energy she knew as distinctly belonging to Loke. It felt like a part of him was there with her, watching over her and the baby.

She smiled as she felt the ring calm her mind and lighten her heart. It gave her hope of seeing Loke again.

End of Chapter 14

Rhov's Corner:

I went back and had to adjust a few things in this chapter, like how the Spirit World looks, the time distortion mentioned in Chapter 262, and the mother-and-son Pisces. I hope this works better.

Yep, I think the Spirit King is a turd. It took Lucy practically threatening him with all of her Spirits for him to overturn Loke's death sentence for Karen's own suicidal stupidity. Plus he punished Loke in a horrible way, making him suffer for three years. In my opinion, that's called "Douchebag!"

"Be grateful to the Stars' guidance" were the parting words the Spirit King left Loke and Lucy after granting Loke a second chance. I thought it was an interesting and formal farewell, like how my Irish grandmother used to say, "May the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight." Of course, she also said, "When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So let's all get drunk and go to heaven!" Granny used to start pub brawls purely so she could grab free drinks from everyone's glasses between punches and run away without paying before the cops arrived. I'll shut up now before she decides to haunt me. Thanks again for reading!

=^..^= "And vote on baby names! I voted..."

"NO FISH NAMES!"

"For Makarov."

"Eh? That's a new one."

=^._.^= "He gives me fish...and it sort of sounds like 'mackerel.'"

"Grrrr!"
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Lion's Pride