Chapter Text
“Open Gate of the Lion – LEO!”
A flash of yellow gold and a sunburst of glitter sparkles sparked into existence as Lucy threw herself into a duck and roll maneuver to avoid the dark magic bolt that was streaking toward her with increasing speed. Out of the sparkles a gorgeous man with untamed ginger hair, a perfectly tailored suit, and blue glasses that did nothing to hide his piercing black eyes, sauntered casually out of the portal from the Celestial Realm. “Lucy, my love! How can your lion assist- OW!”
Loke grabbed his arm as a bolt of energy sliced through his jacket. He quickly flung himself to the side and assessed the situation. He expected to see Erza, Natsu, and Wendy battling a group of enemies, with their Exceeds ducking in and out of the fight; he did not expect to see Gray trapped in a dark magic binding, unable to use his ice-make magic and his darling Lucy backed into a corner, the rubble of a destroyed house the only thing shielding her from the mage’s blasts.
“Lion Brilliance!” Loke shouted and used the momentary blinding distraction to run to Lucy’s side. “What’s happening, Lu? Where are the others?”
“Erza is on some super-secret mission for the Council. Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel, Laxus and the dragonslayers from Sabretooth, all decided that they needed to get together and test their magic, so they disappeared somewhere up in the mountains. Gray and I got bored just hanging around the Guild and decided to take a few jobs together. We have been working really well together until this guy. He got the drop on us. Gray got caught in the trap meant for me.” Lucy spoke quickly as she filled Loke in on the situation.
“Come out, come out, little celestial mage,” a nasally voice taunted from the other side of the wall, “I have your friend. He’s definitely pretty enough for my clients. Can take a beating too, from the looks of it.” Lucy and Loke watched as Gray struggled and yelled against the magic wrapped around him. The bindings writhed in a way that left no doubt of the lascivious intent behind the mage’s words.
“Gray,” Lucy whimpered and Loke felt a sharp pain in his chest. “We have to get him out there. I was supposed to be the bait,” she continued, “turns out his clients don't have a preference genderwise. They just want "attractive". The priestess who posted the job was female, so we went into this all wrong.”
“We’ve got this, Lucy,” Loke pushed his voice past the weird pain in his chest. “Now that you have me, there’s no one we can’t take down. Besides you are so much sexier than Gray.”
Lucy smiled wanly and took a deep breath, her smile strengthening, “Is there any moment when you aren’t flirting?” Before Loke could answer, she spoke again, “Star Dress: Sagittarius Form!” Golden light surrounded her and her clothing shifted into a twin tailed coat and thigh high boots, the arrow of Sagittarius on her left shoulder.
“You are costuming the way Erza requips now?” Loke asked with confusion in his voice.
“Ya, I discovered that depending on whose Star Form dress I wear, I can borrow some of their skill,” Lucy responded distractedly as she peeked around the corner and pulled back as another bolt of dark energy fired past. “We’ve been practicing it on these jobs to make me a stronger teammate. Sagittarius is perfect for marksmanship.”
“What do you get from my Star Dress?”
Lucy dodged another bolt as it crashed into the wall behind her. “Look. Can we discuss this later? Gray is in trouble!”
“Right. On the count of three. One. Two. Thr-“
“Star Shot: Energy Arrows!” Lucy jumped out before Loke had finished the word.
“Regulus Impact!”
The mage jumped and twisted as both light and a volley of energy arrows screamed toward him. Rubble rained down on him as he got up for another attack. “Dark Energy: Whiplash!” A ribbon of dark energy, similar to the one wrapped around Gray, lashed out at Loke and Lucy. The mage cackled as his foes were once again forced to jump out of the way. Pushing his advantage, he continued to fire volley after volley of bolts their way.
“This isn’t working,” Lucy grunted as they were forced to retreat back behind the rubble wall.
“Let me try again,” Loke made ready to jump back out.
“Wait,” Lucy caught his arm, “What about a Unison Raid?”
“I thought that only worked with another Mage?”
“Technically, if you go to human form you are a Mage, right?”
“I guess, I never thought about it quite like that. But Lucy, You know how dangerous a Unison raid can be. If the two mages aren’t completely willing to unite, it can backfire on both.”
“I’m willing if you are,” Lucy grinned. “Besides, it could be fun! Don’t tell me you are a cowardly lion.” She winked at him, “Star Dress: Leo Form!”
Is… is Lucy… flirting… with me? Loke shook his head and coughed a few times, trying to dislodge whatever stubborn thing had seemingly taken up residence in his chest. “Oh, princess, there isn’t anything I am not willing to try with you.” Loke cringed internally at how cheesy the phrase sounded. To cover he added, “Transformation!” and his spirit form morphed.
Lucy nodded at the now human Loke. “Let’s do this!”
Hand in hand, they stepped out from behind the wall. “Unison Raid: Regulus Metria!”
A blinding light surrounded them, rippling out in waves, as Loke felt himself turn toward Lucy and the single interconnected hand became two, pointing and directing the energy towards their enemy. As the spell continued to build, Loke felt himself drawing Lucy completely into his arms, his body pressing as tightly as it could against hers, still wanting more, craving an even closer connection - the power of Regulus building to a level that he didn’t know was possible. With an almost audible “whoosh”, the energy left their bodies and rushed at their opponent.
The dark mage screamed as the light impacted his body, lifted him, and threw him backwards to crash into another building. The dark energy that he had been manipulating fading as he slid down the wall to crumple into a heap at the bottom.
The light around them fading, it took Loke a moment to get his bearings, his body still singing from the energy exchange that had so recently filled it. Far too soon for his liking, Lucy pulled away from him and rushed to Gray.
“Gray! Are you ok?” Lucy cried as she approached.
“Fi-fine,” Gray coughed as tried to stand up. Wobbling and completely unsteady on his feet, Lucy caught him and wrapped her arm around his waist to steady him. “I guess that didn’t go to plan.”
“You could say that,” Lucy put a hand to his cheek and said sternly, “next time, we need to plan for something like this,” then she smirked, “after all – You’re the pretty one.”
“Don’t remind me,” Gray rubbed his head with his free hand. “I don’t know how you do it, Lu. It’s not a cool feeling when someone wants you like that.”
Lucy’s smile hardened and she sighed, “I wish I could say that you get used to it, but you really don’t. You just have to keep reminding yourself that your true friends see your value beyond your physical appearance.”
Gray smiled down at her, feeling the connection in the steadying arm she provided, “You are something else, Lucy. But yeah, next time, we plan better.” He tucked a loose strand of hair that had been tickling his shoulder behind her ear. “Or we make sure that Erza and the numbskull are with us.”
Lucy laughed. “Ready to take this guy in and collect our reward?”
“Yeah.”
Across from them but still too far away to hear their conversation, Loke saw Lucy touch Gray’s cheek and smile at him. A small cough bubbled up in his chest. When Gray then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with a smile as well, that bubble turned into a fit. Turning away, he started coughing in earnest. I can feel something there. Come out, you bastard. Giving one last hard cough, Loke pulled his hands away to see a single sakura blossom, tinged with blood, resting on his palm.