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I Leave You, My Pride	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 5780 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I make no money, I just do this for my own pleasure.

Chapter List
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Chapter 2

The Accidental Contract
Sparkling brilliance enveloped Lucy. She felt lightness, like floating. For a few seconds, she could see the land in which she was about to arrive, the same ravine with a thin waterfall. The sky looked different, though, more cloudy. It was definitely a different day. Time seemed to be stopped as she felt solid ground under her feet. Then the water kept falling, she heard birds singing, and she felt the mist on her cheeks. She could also sense the lack of energy in this world. She could truly feel her own energy being leeched away.
"It's as if Earthland is hungry for a taste of the heavens and wants to devour me," she whispered.
"Indeed, it's like that."
"Kyaa!" In a jolt, Lucy looked behind her and saw the pink-haired maid. "Virgo, what are you doing here?"
"I came to help Leo as my punishment."
"Help him?"
"Her."
"Huh?"
"You."
Lucy felt a vein throbbing in her forehead before she realized what Virgo meant. "Oh, right. I'm … I'm Leo the Lion now."
She looked down at the Lion's Key … her key. The pain of losing her dear friend came back to her, but now she felt a bit of determination, too. Loke told her to live and not forget him. She would honor his memory and his sacrifice by serving in his place.
"Still," Lucy decided, "don't call me Leo here. People will question that, and I don't want my friends to know yet."
"I can call you Lion."
"No, that's practically the same thing," she sighed.
"Queen?"
"Hell no! Why not Princess like you normally do?"
"Lucy Heartfilia was my owner, my Princess. You are not my owner. You are Leo the Lion, Queen of Beasts, Leader of the Ecliptic Zodiacs."
Lucy cringed under all those incredibly lofty titles. "No wonder Loke could get a bit conceded. Then call me your leader."
"As you wish, Leader."
"Right. So then, let's walk back to Magnolia." Lucy automatically began to reach for her keys when she froze. "Oh, that's right. I guess I can't call out Plue to walk with me like I usually do."
"True, Leader," Virgo confirmed. "You have no contracts now, nor can you make any new ones. I can put on a dog collar and leash, if it will make Leader happier."
Lucy cringed at the eagerness in Virgo's voice. "N-No, it's okay, really."
Lucy walked back to Magnolia and quickly realized that a few days must have past during that short time she was in the Spirit World. When she got to her home, she was greeted by Natsu running right at her almost as soon as she unlocked the front door.
"Lucy! Where have you been?" the pink-haired Dragon Slayer cried out, strangling her in a powerful hug. "We looked everywhere. I followed your scent into the forest, but it vanished. Are you okay?" He suddenly let her go and drew back quickly. "Why do you smell so different?"
"Different shampoo," she lied swiftly. Crap, can he really smell that I've changed? "Natsu, what day is it?"
He still stared hesitantly at her, and she saw his nose working as he tried to sort out what type of change had happened to her. "It's Thursday. The funeral is in two days. Everyone's been wanting to talk to you, find out what exactly happened, but you vanished."
"Maybe that's a good thing," she muttered. The last thing she wanted to do was relive what happened to Loke.
"Some said you might have left town. Others said you might have … done something drastic." He gulped at the fear of losing her, and Lucy saw the worry that must have nagged him for days. "You're not gonna leave, are you?"
She knew her face flinched at the question. For a moment, she debated about telling him. Natsu was her best friend, the man who brought her into Fairy Tail. He deserved to know. However, she also knew that if she said anything, he would fight against the decision. Right now, she still needed to grieve, not argue. Besides, she had no idea how to tell him, or anyone. She was not all that sure if she wanted Fairy Tail to oppose the change. She strongly felt that she should take on Loke's duties as penitence for not being able to save his life. So she did the next best thing: she avoided the question.
"Natsu, I'm going to be really busy today. I'll go to the guild tomorrow and talk to everyone then, okay? I just need some time alone."
He still looked worried, but he nodded and left out her window. Lucy then strode into the middle of her living room and looked around. Rarely did she really look at her home, at the placement of the furniture, the color of the floor rugs, the way the light slanted through the window, and the scratch marks that were still on the wall from when Happy sharpened his claws.
"I'll have to leave all this behind, won't I?" she whispered.
"Not at all," Virgo informed her. "The Lion's mansion is quite large. Brother was known to bring back items from the Human World all the time. If Leader wishes, I can begin packing your things and move them into the mansion."
Lucy looked around again. "No, only some things. I want to take my stories, at least, and the letters to my mother. Maybe my clothes … no, I guess I'll have celestial clothes when living in the Spirit World. I don't need my furniture, and I'll probably leave my books to Levy. I'll sell what I can and use the money to pay for regular up-keeping of my parents' graves." She sighed again as the truth began to sink into her. "It's like planning for my death. Maybe I should write a will. At the least, I need to write a letter to explain everything to everyone. I really don't think I can tell them the truth. They'll try to convince me not to go, and if anyone does that … I'm not so sure I'll be able to leave," she confessed with a sigh.
Virgo tipped her head to the side. "Does Leader regret being made the Lion?"
"I'm not sure yet. It hasn't sunk in," she admitted. "I just know that I'm not ready to say a proper goodbye. It's cowardly, but I think it's better to leave behind a letter. Then I can slip away after the funeral and not have to see anyone cry over me, or hear them shouting not to go. A cowardly Lion," she laughed sadly. "I also need to find a good owner. I don't even know how to begin. Yukino maybe, but she already has the other two gold keys. For one wizard to have all twelve zodiac keys is too much power, even for someone as good as Yukino. Maybe I should split up the keys, give them to different people. However, there aren't many Celestial Spirit wizards in Fiore anymore, and none I trust enough to hand over my keys … especially my own."
She shivered to think of her key landing in the hands of someone like Duke Everlue or Karen Lilica. She could give her own key to Yukino, but then who should have all the other keys? Burdening the sweet Sabertooth girl with so much responsibility was unfair, yet Lucy did not trust anyone else.
"That should be my main focus, but … but right now I really want to sort out my own life," she decided with a heavy sigh as she looked around again. "Then tomorrow I want to spend the day with everyone. The day after that is Loke's funeral. After that, though … yes, after that, then I can find the right owners."
That was what she told herself, yet as Virgo packed her things, Lucy could not keep focus. She ended up sitting by the window, staring out at the river and watching the boatmen drift up and down the canal. She gazed at the puffy white clouds in the sky, watching birds flying by in flocks, as if she might never see such sights again. She saw a family walk past her building, a mother and father with a small child holding onto both parents' hands. A tear slipped down her cheek. She used to dream of finding love, marrying, and raising a family. That was no longer an option.
That also made Lucy think of a certain man.
"Virgo, I'm heading out," she called as she automatically grabbed her keyring and hooked it onto her belt. She paused and looked down at them. It was such a habit to simply grab them before going anywhere. Now she realized it was useless. She could not call on any of them anyway. "Still, I need to guard them for now," she decided, then headed out of her apartment.
She walked briskly through the streets. All the time, she wondered silently if she would be able to walk down this street again. She looked at a bakery she had always wanted to try and wondered if she would ever get the chance. She saw a book in a shop window, part of a romance series she had been meaning to read yet never found the time. She also walked by a shoe store with some leather boots she had lamented to Levy about just a week ago, wishing she could afford the shoes yet lacking the money. There were so many things she had always dreamed of doing yet never had the time. Now her time was severely limited. Just what she was about to give up began to weigh on her more and more.
She finally reached an apartment in a cheap area of town. It was probably the only area in Magnolia where seeing a half-naked man standing on the roof did not cause the neighbors any alarm.
"Hey Gray," Lucy called up, shielding her eyes against the sun as she looked up at the ice wizard in the midst of some strange sort of training. "Can I talk with you?"
"Lucy!" he cried out in shock. "Where have you been? I'll be right down. Let yourself in."
By the time she climbed up the stairs and reached his apartment room, Gray had just swung the door open. She stepped in and gave a cursory look around. The place was never really clean, yet never totally cluttered, not like Natsu's house. It was rather bare, only a minimum of furniture, enough for a bachelor, rarely any dust or litter, some scattered weights, a few books, but an explosion of clothing. It was also almost always freezing cold in here, and Lucy automatically walked to a thermostat to turn down the air conditioner.
"I'll make tea," Gray offered, grabbing up clothes and tugging them on as he went.
"No, I won't be long," she said.
"Natsu was going apeshit over you disappearing."
She looked down at the rings on her fingers. "Yeah, sorry about that. Something came up. Look, Gray … I need to apologize."
"I wasn't the one destroying the guild because I couldn't smell you anywhere."
"No," she laughed, totally able to imagine Natsu doing something that drastic. It pained her to wonder what Natsu might do when he found out that she was going to be leaving all of them to live in the Spirit World. "I mean when I blamed you for Loke's death. It wasn't your fault. I was totally out of line, and I shouldn't have said such a cruel thing."
Gray drew closer, and she was suddenly concerned when he walked right up in front of her body. "Lucy," he said gently.
She gulped hard as he leaned over, closer and closer to her face … and planted a kiss on her forehead. Not exactly what she had thought he was about to do, but still a bit surprising. It made her cheeks blush hotly.
"I know you were hurting. You needed to lash out. I'm not stupid enough to take something like that as offensive. You were sad and in pain. I want to help you through any hardships you have, even if that means being your punching bag."
"It was still childish," she pouted, looking away from the intensity in his blue eyes. "It's also something Loke wouldn't have liked. He trusted you a lot, Gray. I … trust you." She looked down, and her eyes landed on the gold and silver keys. "If I do something wrong, I have to deal with it on my own. I have to take responsibility, not shove it over onto someone else. That's the … the noble thing to do." Her fists tightened, and she felt the coldness of the rings on her fingers. "I have to live with the consequences of my actions."
"You're not at fault," Gray assured her, squeezing her shoulders.
"Who's to blame doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done."
Although that sort of acceptance was emotionally healthy, Gray heard something else in her voice, a fatalistic tone that troubled him. He watched as Lucy drifted over to the window. He could see the troubles playing over her face, making her jaw clench, furrowing her brow, bringing a pink lining to her eyelids as she fought against tears. He watched her from the center of the room, giving her space to sort out her emotions.
"Hey Gray," she said with a distant gaze as she looked out at the blue sky peeking through his window. "If something were to happen to me and I had to put my life into someone else's hands, who would be the best choice?"
"Me," he answered instantly.
Lucy rolled her eyes a little. "I'm serious."
"So am I," he said sternly.
She glared as if daring him. "If I had to put my life into your hands for the rest of your life…"
"Even better," he smiled. When he saw that his fast answers were frustrating her, Gray sighed softly. "Lucy, I'm not an idiot. I can see something is going on with you, and I can see by your face, you don't want to talk about it yet. Whatever it is, whatever trouble you might be in for Loke's death, I'll protect you."
She lashed out, "Even if it's for the rest of your life?"
Gray walked up to her, stood right in front of the blonde, and gazed down solidly into her brown eyes. "I swear I'll protect you, Lucy … for as long as I live."
Lucy suddenly felt searing heat coming from her side. She inhaled sharply and looked down at her keys. One was glowing, and she instinctively knew which. She placed her hand over the keyring to hide the glow from him. Lucy swallowed hard as she realized she must have just entered into a contract with—of all people—Gray Fullbuster.
"Lucy."
The depth of his airy voice startled her. She took a step back, suddenly terrified of him.
"Don't run away," he ordered.
She was stunned that his command forced her feet from moving. This only confirmed Lucy's fears. Somehow, without Gray even realizing it, they had come into a contract. His orders now had to be obeyed. She sensed that truth as if it was an undeniable fact of her existence. He was her owner, and she had to obey his wishes.
Gray wrapped his arms around her, and Lucy stood stiffly in his embrace. "I know you're still emotionally torn up over this. There were … rumors about you and Loke."
"They weren't true," she snapped, but her voice faded as her breathing quickened.
"That's good," he laughed nervously. "I was worried that maybe you two … no, never mind," he muttered, letting the subject go in case it caused her pain or regret. "I know it's a bad time…"
"Please don't say it," she hissed through clenched teeth. Her whole body was shivering, wishing she could run away, but his command stayed her feet.
Gray looked down at her tensed body. However, his determination did not falter. "Sorry, but I have to."
"Gray…" She felt panic rising fast.
"I like you, Lucy."
The tension in her muscles snapped, and she almost felt like falling to the ground.
"I like you a lot," he smiled, caressing her stunned face. "So if you're ever in any trouble, come to me. We'll face it together."
He smiled at the shock in her huge eyes. He knew it was sudden, it was terrible timing, but he had been bottling those feelings for far too long. Now at least she knew, and she could either avoid him or—hopefully—come to him for comfort.
Lucy's head dropped. "You're not making this easy on me," she whispered so softly, she was unsure if he could even hear her. Still, hearing his confession made her smile. She would have to tell Mirajane. She knew the woman had a betting pool going on about who would confess first, Natsu or Gray. Lucy took in an unsteady breath and raised her eyes. "I'll take you up on your offer," she said, knowing she had no choice now. She and Gray were contracted already. "I'll talk to you after the funeral. I should be okay until then."
"Let me know if anything happens," he insisted. Then Gray leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
Lucy swallowed hard and nodded, allowing a hesitant smile that refused to be buried under all of her worries. Then she drifted away, went out his door, and wandered back into the street traffic. As she slowly followed the crowd, her hand drifted up to her cheek, feeling the burning of those cold lips still lingering on her skin. Gray liked her! She had suspected as much for some time, or maybe hoped he felt that way, but to actually hear him say it made her stomach flutter and twist.
She eventually arrived at her home and saw Virgo had almost everything packed away. "My clothes too? I had planned on just giving those away."
"Brother liked having Human clothes around," the Maiden told her. "I thought Leader might find solace in clothes, too."
"I guess you packed my underwear," Lucy mumbled.
Virgo bowed stiffly. "I left two changes of underwear for Leader, and I brought two more suits. The celestial clothes will help you during your stay in the Human World. I'll accept punishment if I brought clothes Leader does not like."
Lucy looked at the two outfits. One was similar to the suit dress she was currently wearing, the other was pure black, very conservative, and included a hat with a black veil. Funeral clothes.
"It'll do," she decided. "Now I need to sort out who gets my things."
"Including the gate keys?"
Lucy looked down at the collection of gold and silver keys. "No, I already have a new owner. He's not a celestial wizard, but Gray will take care of all of us."
"The naked one?" Virgo asked, then tipped her head to the side in query. "Is this punishment?"
Lucy had to laugh at that. "Maybe so, Virgo. Maybe so."

End of Chapter 2
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I Leave You, My Pride