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Worth The Wait	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 4055 -:- 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
- 3
- 4
- 5
Chapter 4
Summer, X784
"What?" Gray screamed. "He left?"
Everyone in the guild was muttering about it. Mirajane looked upset, but what could she do? A mage was free to come and go as they pleased. Still, rarely did a person leave Fairy Tail so suddenly, no warning, no massive case of destruction that they felt they needed to flee from in order to avoid being arrested. That was the usual reason for someone sneaking in, asking in a whisper for her to give their regards to Master and the guild. Loke was one of the least destructive people in Fairy Tail. Unless it was women problems. After all, he had dumped all of his girlfriends the previous night.
"He can't leave!" Gray shouted. Memories clouded his reason.
Hey Loke...the S-Class trial, do you think I could make it? If I'm picked, do you think, maybe...would you be my partner?
Gray shook his head. It made no sense. Granted, they had only been on a few missions together since that night in the mountains, but whenever he hinted at wanting to be an S-Class mage, Loke always assured him that they still had a promise to be partners. Of course, lately he said it with that sad smile of his...that smile that hid growing weariness and pain.
"Loke, you lying bastard." Gray hated to be deceived, especially by someone who was supposed to be his nakama.
Natsu leaped up and ran to the guild hall doors.
"Where are you going?" Erza demanded.
The dragon slayer turned around with flames in his eyes. "To find Loke and drag his ass back here."
Cana stepped forward. "I can't find him with my cards. I never was good at getting a reading on that guy."
Macao stood next to her. "Who was the last person to talk with Loke?"
Wakaba laughed and puffed on his pipe. "That guy rarely talks to anyone but pretty ladies."
"Well," Mirajane thought with a finger to her mouth, "half an hour ago he told me to inform Master about leaving, but he left out the back door. Elfman said he saw Loke and Lucy talking by the public bath earlier tonight. I also heard he rescued Lucy yesterday."
Gray's brow tightened. When had Lucy been in trouble? They were on that mission and stayed in the ryokan last night. Granted, she disappeared during the "pillow battle," but she had not mentioned anything about meeting Loke. Then Gray realized she had all those Spirits. Maybe one of them was a bloodhound that could track Loke.
Despite his pillow battle injuries, Gray raced to Lucy's house and slammed open her door. He was shocked to see Happy there with her and some new Spirit he had never seen before. Just how many did the girl have?
He leaped into the room, scaring her. "Lucy, big trouble! Loke left Fairy Tail."
She looked stunned. "But why?"
Why? Gray only wished he knew. "Nobody knows. Everyone's looking for him."
His eyes dropped in consternation. Loke's weakening vitality, his growing paleness, his rampant increase in girlfriends, suddenly trying to be friends with Lucy while still acting terrified of her, and then the rumors that he dumped all of his girlfriends. It didn't make sense!
"That guy, he's been acting strange lately." In the three years Gray had known him, Loke had never once seemed disappointed with Fairy Tail or its members, besides his fear of Lucy. So why quit? Why now?
Lucy looked like she knew something. "Could it be..." She took off in a race.
"Hey, Lucy! Where do you plan to go looking for him?" he asked, eager to help. She did not say, only ran in desperation. Gray would have followed, but his injuries still pained him. "Lucy! Dammit, woman, what did you do to Loke this time?"
Gray limped out. His race to her house hurt badly, but his worries for his friend outweighed his own pain. He heard Levy's and Erza's voices in the distance. He saw Natsu leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Nearby, Mira and Elfman were out shouting and searching. Gray ran out into the streets to join them.
"Please, Loke, be safe. And come back home to me...to us!"

The next day, Gray listened to the story about Loke being a Celestial Spirit.
"I never noticed at all," he muttered. Not once. Not in three years.
As he stared at his friend, he saw the changes. Loke had been slowly deteriorating. Everyone who knew him saw it, but honestly—no offense to him—the whole guild thought that with his tendency to sleep around, perhaps he had contracted some disease. The guild simply did not ask what was wrong and silently worried. Gray had been guilty of keeping quiet, too. If they had only asked, maybe Lucy could have done something sooner.
At least he was safe now.
The tiredness, the growing paleness, and the small changes that Gray had noticed since winter now made sense. So, he had secretly been dying? And he was really the Celestial Spirit Leo?
Gray realized...he hardly knew this man.
"Is it okay for you to carry on as you've been doing up until now?"
'Please say yes,' Gray thought desperately. 'Please say nothing will change. Please say you'll still be a Fairy Tail mage, you'll still go on jobs, you'll still hang out at the guild. Please!'
"I'm afraid those days are long over, now that Lucy is my owner," Loke answered. "When Lucy's in trouble, I'll gallantly show up. After all, I'm her knight in shining armor."
Gray's stomach twisted at that. When Loke playfully lifted Lucy and walked away carrying her bridal-style, Gray felt a stab in his chest. Why did Loke hide all of this information? Why had he not trusted anyone, even his supposed partner?
Not even Loke's gift of tickets to a resort hotel completely pacified Gray. Although excited at first, he realized Loke was giving them this gift because he could no longer go, and he was not coming with them. Life would never be the same. Loke would no longer walk into the guild with a harem of ladies, flashing smiles and charming anyone with breasts. Although Gray hated to see his friend self-destruct, he disliked the thought of Loke disappearing from the guild even worse.
He followed Loke and Lucy, stalking them maybe, but he could not help it. At her house, Lucy managed to chase her new and persistent Spirit out of the building. Loke ran into the street being swatted by a broom. Then Lucy slammed the door shut.
"Aww, come on, Princess," Loke mewled. "Do you leave your knight to pine away out here?"
"Go back to the Spirit World!" she yelled through the door. "I need to pack."
"I'll help you pick out a bikini."
"Go away, you playboy!"
Gray stepped out of the shadows just then. "You hid it well."
Loke jolted, and his thoughts of teasing Lucy some more were frozen by the icy glare of the raven-haired Ice-Make mage. Gray had gone through another growth spurt that summer. He was probably as tall as he was going to get, which was about the same height as Loke. That was good, Loke thought. Gray's height appealed to him. The boy's lips were still bright but translucent due to the cold that followed him even in the summer. His face had turned lean, although there was no sign of facial stubble yet. The small scar he got on Galuna Island made his face look ruggedly handsome.
"Really, I never noticed, never would've guessed." Gray sounded blasé and bitter. "Even when we did missions together, I thought you were just a normal guy. A total insomniac, but otherwise normal. When were you going to tell me?"
Loke sighed as he realized there were only a few people who knew him this well. He had avoided most of the guild purely for the reason of leaving them. He had not thought it would be like this, returning to his home in the Spirit World. At least this way, he could come back, but in its own way that was even worse. Instead of simply slinking off like a cat ready to die, letting the guild think he merely quit and left them, now he had to deal with the few people he knew well. Lucy could call him out any time she felt lonely, but Gray...this new situation would be worst for him.
"Honestly," Loke said with a serious tone, "I would have taken the secret of my identity to my grave. I'm a proud person, Gray. I didn't want to admit I was some sad, decrepit shell of the Lion Spirit I used to be."
"So you lied to us?"
"I never lied. I just never said if I was Human or not."
"Some partner," Gray muttered. He turned and ran away in anger.
Loke ran after him, easily caught up, and pulled Gray aside to a dingy alley so they were not overheard by the people walking around Magnolia. The space was terribly narrow, the drain at the bottom often flooded, and someone had written graffiti on the brick wall. Loke thrust Gray up against the wall and caged him in with his arms. Gray felt Loke's chest press up against his. Their faces were so close together, it made him uncomfortable.
"What do you want of me, Gray?"
The teen looked at him in confusion. Want? He had no idea what he wanted. He just felt like he was being gypped, but he was unsure how.
"I want..."
He tried to think of something, but an image flashed into his mind. He shook it out. Why was he thinking of forming a team with Loke? He liked being with Erza, Lucy, Happy, and he was learning to tolerate Natsu. What was it he really wanted?
"...you to..."
A new image entered his mind: Loke in his kitchen, cooking dinner together, laughing late into the night, drinking contests in the living room, getting angry when he came home from a hard day on a mission only to find Loke's clothes scattered all over the apartment, an argument when he discovered women's clothes mixed in the wash, making up, being buddies again over drinks and impromptu karaoke.
Having Loke as his roommate: he had thought about offering it before, but he never had the nerve to ask. Especially as Loke began looking more and more ill, he decided to hold back. He did not want his offer to be misconstrued as charity for the sick. He just liked the guy. He wanted to know him better. He wanted their friendship to be closer. Gray did not really have a good close friend. Natsu didn't count! He was a rival, and although he did not really mind going out for drinks with the flame-brain, he was not ready to acknowledge him as a "good friend."
"...be my partner."
Gray's head dropped. Partner? He meant that in many ways, so he decided to let Loke interpret it however he pleased.
"Oh," Loke whispered, loosening his grip on Gray's arm. "Do you mean the S-Class trial this winter?"
That too. "Uh...yeah." That did not sound even a tiny bit convincing, but he did not care. "You promised..."
"I'll be there," he swore.
Gray looked up in surprise and was stunned by the lively gleam in the Lion Spirit's eyes. That was new! "But you said you belong to Lucy now."
"True. Lucy is my owner. She and I have a promise to one another, a bond that can't easily be broken."
That stung Gray. Why did he feel sick? He almost—just almost—hated Lucy for taking Loke away. Why? She had saved Loke! He would have died if not for her!
"But," Loke added, "I had a bond with you first."
Gray swallowed hard. The sickness changed. Gray's cheeks felt feverish. Loke's face suddenly seemed far too close.
"One way or another, Gray, I'll keep my promise to help you. If not this year, then the next. Or the next after that. I'm an eternal Celestial Spirit, after all. I can wait as long as it takes. But," he chuckled, and clasped the teen on the shoulder, "I have a feeling you'll be picked this year."
That made Gray grin. The pride that was the main feature of Leo the Lion flowed into him. He wanted to make Loke proud of him. "I'll do my best. Even if I have to keep working with that flame-brained brat, I'll get stronger."
"I'll do my best too," Loke promised. "I'll rest up and regain my original strength. It might be a little unfair that you have a Celestial Spirit as your partner," he chuckled slyly, "but there's nothing in the rules that a member of Fairy Tail has to be Human."
Then Loke suddenly pulled Gray into a hug. He tried to keep it as a "bro hug" but Gray was wearing a potent cologne. It overwhelmed Loke's instincts. He pulled Gray in just a little closer, and his nose went near his hair. There was a whiff of coconut, something exotic that made him think of hot beaches and Gray lying out in the sun.
Gray was stunned by Loke's move. No one had ever hugged him like this, not since Ur. The memory of that love and gentle touch stirred him. He felt tears in his eyes, until a stream of air from Loke's nostrils blew across his neck and lower earlobe. It made his skin crawl and the pit of his stomach twist.
Then Loke whispered into Gray's ear. "Stay close to Lucy. Protect her. If she loses her Keys, she loses me, which means I'd lose you. So please, Gray, protect her!"
Gray no longer felt any jealousy. He returned the embrace and patted Loke's back, right over where he knew the guild mark was located. "I'll keep an eye on her and make sure she stays on the team. I hope to see you soon, Loke."
Loke pulled back and smiled at him. "I'll definitely see you again...partner." Then Loke faded in golden sparkles.
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Worth The Wait