Awaken the Stars Song

Chapter 4

A/N: As always, I do not own Fairy Tail which belongs to Hiro Mashima and respective companies who produce the show and manga. I make no money off of sharing this story with everyone.

CHAPTER 4

    “Well isn’t this an unexpected pleasure. It’s been how many millennia since we last spoke, Reagaltiel? Or must I call you Leo now that you’re a Star Guardian Spirit?” Loke whirled to stare at whomever had spoken. His jaw dropped as an impossible vision hit his retinas. Near the center of the small clearing, a person he had seen in his nightmares for thousands of years stood with a crooked grin on her face. Loke rubbed his eyes thinking he was either being tricked by malicious magic, or was hallucinating because of exhaustion. Keeping Lucy stable by feeding her extra power was enough to exhaust the strongest Celestial Spirit.
    Looking again, Loke recalled the female’s name was Nadhasti. The nightmare reminded Loke that the Fey woman was supposed to be Vraylinish’s right hand commander. Small and busty, the reddish gold, borderline matted hair contrasted with her fur pelt clothing. The feral looking female still stood in the same exact spot, flanked by two very familiar and detested Fairies. Loke continued to study her and noticed that her eyes were oddly shaped, not quite round, nor almond, with a hint of droopiness to her lids. Her eyes were very distinctive colors. One eye was an electric blue that leapt out to grab attention. The other was a fierce, glowing copper. Very high cheekbones were balanced by elongated ears that had no discernable lobes with rippled ridges which ended in sharp points. 
    Shaking his head to clear it of the image, Loke grumbled, “Am I fucking hallucinating?”
    Nadhasti laughed. “We’re very much alive and well, Reagaltiel. We survived thanks to your insane decision to kill yourself summoning the Star Phoenix. It destroyed your body, as well as fifteen other highest ranked Constellation priests that liked your idea. Then again, using that forbidden spell also saved a couple hundred lives and the last piece of the Tenru continent. The Sacred Saint always described you as being insanely smart like a half starved fox determined to eat. Even the Sheemastra Royal Clan survivors agree that you lived up to her evaluation quite spectacularly.”
    Looking at the rainbow prism hued white hide of Sertatsie made Loke’s heart pound. He saw that portion of his nightmare as if it was still happening. Walking toward the ancient Queen’s tortured body, Loke heard the buzz of conversations getting louder as he moved mechanically toward his goal. “How did you survive to be here, High Queen Sertatsie? I know you crashed into the ground during that outright slaughter. Watching you crash convinced Reagaltiel that there was no other option than to summon the Star Phoenix to gain the slimmest chance at sealing that demon away to save everyone.”
    “Vraylinish figured as much. She’s still furious at you for acting so recklessly, Reagaltiel. None of us are looking forward to releasing her from time suspension because she does not calm down once she gets truly livid. Breaking a promise, even by accident is a dangerous activity for anyone, including yourself.”
    “Reagaltiel died at Tenru. Call me Loki or Leo since the Star Phoenix took what was left of the human mind you knew to create me, the Celestial Spirit locked into all the constellation’s power. I’m actually one of the true chains imprisoning the Abyss Lord. The reason I remember parts of the battle from Reagaltiel’s last hour of life is due to the fact that his was the driving emotional and thought force that created Leo’s chain’s strength. In fact I recall various human and non human lives from that specific day since their souls and powers merged together as they died fighting to save Earthland. Many dying thoughts and desires combined to create each of us Celestial Spirits. Even a few Fairies wound up contributing to the creation of us Celestial Spirits in the end. You could say we are the ultimate fusion of many diverse races determination to protect others. Each of the Celestial Spirits have distinctive traits that reflect whichever race was most closely aligned to them when the Constellation Priests succeeded in summoning the Star Phoenix.  Although I might look like the Constellation Priest Reagaltiel since he ultimately became the Leo constellation’s foundation sentience.”
    Twin voices spoke as one. “Most unfortunate news. Vraylinish will be most displeased that you have forgotten your pair bonding vows.”
    “Shut up, Fairies! I wasn’t talking to you. Just because Nadhasti is your slave doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you get away with any of your kind’s sadistic crap now that you’re back!” Loke snarled as he whirled to face the small immortals.
    Like Nadhasti, the pair had the same sharply rippled and pointed, lobe less ears, and odd shaped eyes. Their foreheads were even larger than their half human slave’s alien features. Both wore large wolf pelts with the legs intact as ties. An androgynous pair of roughly thirteen year old bodies with almost transparent bat like wings with prominent sail claws clasped at their throats completed their eerie appearance.
    “Seems you recall a fair amount of things if you’re already threatening my Soul Bonds, Loke.” Nadhasti said as she stepped between him and her Fairy masters.
    “A lot of history about the period when I was created are recorded in the Celestial Library. I made it a point to relearn all the ancient magical races major traits, including all the shit that the Fairies caused when they last existed. In fact the amount of horrific trouble they caused in this world before the Abyss Lord’s power insured their extinction fills several large tomes and takes up an impressive section of the Celestial Library.”
    Nadhasti laughed. “I can believe it. Still, my bond mates don’t keep me unaware nor as a slave. All Fairies happen to be very polarized beings by nature. For each pair of twins born, one is light and the other dark. It isn’t as if they choose to be that way, Reagaltiel. It is their nature by birth to embody the two extremes. It is the reason they must always be in contact with their polar opposite. It is their way of maintaining balance. Their access to the One Power comes from such complete fusions of the extreme opposites as I’m sure you know.”
    “Even so, their polarity problem allows the evil half of each pair to cause a lot of pain and sorrow since the light half lets their vicious partner get by with way too much nastiness. Looks like I’m going to have my hands full making them behave because they’re not going to throw everyone into chaos. And my name is Loke. I’ve already told you that Reagaltiel died on Tenru.” The Lion snarled.
    Sertatsie intervened. “Loke is correct, Nadhasti. Reagaltiel’s body was consumed in star fire and re-formed as one of the binding stone seals. The stone tied Reagaltiel’s relatives and descendants’ life force and powers to maintaining Leo’s Seal. Same applies with the other fifteen High Priests and Priestesses that helped summon the Star Phoenix. Do not be deceived by shallow appearances.”
    Loke frowned as he raked a hand through his mane. “Wait! Reagaltiel had children? Shit, it’s times like this when I really hate not knowing very much about the human’s life before the final battle with the Abyss Lord. Now I’ll go crazy with curiosity until His Majesty gives me access to the Royal Archive to get details about that priest!”
    As the group of ancients stared at each other, Loke sighed in vexation. All Loke knew about having been created from a human was due to the recurring nightmares that haunted him. The Fey woman and her demonic masters were only familiar to Loke because the subtly shifting nightmares had shown these specific beings to him so often. Vraylinish was always with them in Loke’s nightmares. She was the one thing that still felt truly nostalgic to Loke. The lion spirit knew Reagaltiel had loved Vraylinish with all that he was due to the image of her amputated arm hitting the ground in front of the Star Singer in every single version of his dreadful dream. Reagaltiel’s anguished thoughts from that moment were set in the hardest of stone. The memory of an all consuming love was so tenacious and entrenched that Loke had never rid himself of that bone deep conviction.
    Although he would never admit it aloud, Loke did know plenty about the Sacred Saint, although everything else was hazy at best. Loke also knew every Star Singer spell to the point it was instinct thanks to the human who he most resembled of the many that died helping the Leo priest succeed.
    Makarov’s voice demanded his attention. “So you’re saying that these strangers are telling the truth, Loke?”
    Facing the wizened little Guild Master, Loke nodded. “Yeah. Although I’m not sure what’s happening at this point. Then again, all of the zodiac key spirits are tearing apart the Celestial Library trying to find a cure for Lucy at the moment. Ophiuchus is making some medicines that should help Lucy cope with whatever this illness is. We already know the same illness killed her mother, but not much else. We have ruled out poisons and many other possibilities for why she’s so ill.”
    Gajeel spoke. “According to these dragons, Bunny Girl’s got a magical drain illness. These guys all seem to think it has something to do with the Abyss Lord trying to kill her.”
    Loke furrowed his brows as he considered the information. “We already know that Lucy’s magic is being drained at an alarming rate, Gajeel. All of the Zodiac that Lucy holds the keys of are sharing as much power with Lucy as we dare to keep her core stable.”
    “If Abyss is attacking this Singer directly, her Blood Seal, and corresponding Celestial Spirit chains will become visible five minutes before she dies, Loke. Do you have any idea which Celestial Spirit she is related to by bloodline?”
      “The Abyss Lord trying to corrode Lucy’s Astral chain is probably the missing link I’ve been seeking. I’ll have to speak to His Majesty and see if he can help Lucy break any spells that might be contributing to her being so sick. He always calls anyone attached to him ‘old friend’ so I know Lucy’s directly linked to our Spirit King’s seal.”
    “Which constellation would your Spirit King happen to represent, Loke?” Twin voices asked with a nerve grating undertone that shot a wave of dread through Loke’s system
    Turning to glare at the Fairies, Loke responded, “Orion is His Majesty’s constellation. Why are you even interested in knowing which Star Temple he represented in summoning the Phoenix?”
    The group’s horrified expressions felt like a physical blow upside Loke’s head. His guts twisted in a knot as the ancient warriors froze into rigid statues. Hearing that Lucy was sealed to the Orion Seal was obviously frightening news to them. Unsettled by their reaction, Loke snapped, “Why are you looking at me like I doomed all of Earthland?”
    Sertatsie was the first to recover. “As a last resort and fail safe, all the most powerful survivors of all races placed a secondary spell on Orion’s Blood Seal because the temple High Priest had so many relatives and descendants with strong Star Singer ability.”
     Dread fisted Loke’s heart and strangled his lungs. “What did you morons do?”
    Twin subdued voices answered so softly that Loke almost missed their words. “In the event a bloodline was destroyed, Orion’s descendants would automatically take on the power feed burden of the lost bloodline to maintain the Blood Seals.”
    Loke’s existence tilted on it’s axis as the words hit home and he realized the truth. Fury kindled like a wild fire in his veins, pulsed down the length of his astral chain, feeding excess constellation energy back into his body. “If one of the Zodiac bloodlines has become extinct, then Lucy got stuck with the burden of powering an additional Blood Seal?! Is that what you’re saying has happened?”
    Instead of words, all four of them meekly nodded. Loke’s temper exploded as full throated roars of anger. “Do any of you realize what you’re stupid safeguard really means? Didn’t you realize that doing something so stupid could destroy a second bloodline and insure the Abyss Lord’s freedom? Zeref and his followers have been systematically killing off every member of the Star Singer lineages they could find for the last four hundred years!”
    Pacing back and forth in front of the small group of ancient mages, Loke continued to scream as his mind plotted the most likely outcome for what the magical races had unwittingly set in motion. “If Lucy’s stuck personally empowering two of the Blood Seals simultaneously, there’s very little possibility of saving her life! We’re looking at a dangerous potential recoil situation if the few remaining members of her bloodline gets hit and overwhelmed with trying to compensate by synchronously feeding multiple Blood Seals if she dies!”
    Loke felt more than heard additional people closing on his position. A glance revealed a very angry looking Gajeel, Makarov, Grey, Mirajane, and Erza stomping up to support him. Their power rising to create visible glows, death glares announcing their determination to protect Lucy. Loke knew he probably looked the same.
    Nadhasti explained. “We thought with the large number of family members attached to Orion’s Seal it would be the only one that could handle splitting the burden of powering a lost lineage seal. She shouldn’t be alone in feeding a second Blood Seal since there were a large number of descendants to be born. Orion’s Temple had a large number of Star Singer priests from Kainon and his brother Setheon. They both had many powerful offspring, and grand children by the time Tenru happened. It made sense to protect the seals by creating a failsafe binding at the time.”
    Loke felt his power flaring around his hands and saw the golden power spiraling around his fists to flow almost to his elbows. He fought the urge toward physical violence rising within. “None of the Star Singer lineages are plentiful since Zeref began exterminating them! You fools may have fucking killed Lucy’s mother when she was a little girl because of your safeguard spell! Is there anything else that you Dumb Asses tampered with that we Celestial Spirits really need to know about? How about starting with the spell to free Lucy from the extreme drain so we can keep her alive without killing anyone else in her family?”
    “Only a spare from the original Blood Seal family can take the burden.” Sertatsie answered.
    Erza stepped in front of Loke with her hands on her hips and a blue black aura seeping out of her armor to surround her in a fearsome aura. “Is there a way to attach the seals to lacrimas as their main power source? The magic contained in lacramas could be infused by almost anyone which would take the strain off of Lucy and anyone else cursed by you.”
    Loke felt hope flaring as Erza’s idea held a lot of merit. Fueling the seals from a multitude of magical sources would insure the Blood Seals could never falter due to a lack of magic. Lacrimas could be fine tuned to shift the energies into the right frequency no matter what kind of magic was used as the power source. It was a beautiful idea, and he was busy thinking about how to tune the stones so that all of Fairy Tail’s resident mages could contribute power to saving Lucy.
    His ears tuned into the twin voices that grated on his nerves and incited creepy shivers down his spine. “. . . were so simple. Astral Star Chains won’t function long without blood backed power. All Star Singers are blood powered. We aren’t the ones who created that little problem you know. The sixteen Constellation priests who became the Blood Seals are responsible for that glitch. We survivors did what was needed to insure the Abyss Lord can’t escape the pocket dimension where it is chained down by the Star Guardians whom you call Celestial Spirits. The Abyss Lord’s influence made it possible to silence all non blood powered magic users called Celestial Mages recently with some kind of major spell. It was this change that triggered loosening the time suspension aspect of our sleep cocoons so we would awaken in time to fight the Abyss Lord again.”
    Hope deflating, Loke realized the Fairies were right. Star Singers had always been bloodline oriented. Celestial mages had come later, taught what they could learn from the Star Singers. If anything, the majority of Celestial Mages were small sized portal creators. None of them were able to feel the stars power as it shone onto their bodies, nor could they naturally absorb the star energy surrounding them.
    “You mean that fucking Infinity Clock that Bunny Girl got shoved into a while back was tampered with somehow by this Abyss Lord we’ve got to stop . . .” Gajeel’s gravelly voice was flat with certainty.
    A crackling boom filled the air before anyone could respond. The sound of sizzling energy spread as Loke turned to see Laxus and Natsu clinging to Lucy’s energy shrouded form as no less than five large and one thin black ropes of power tried to encase her body. The black lightning like energy ropes were tugging Lucy upward and into the vacuum like hole that was pulsing in the clear sky above their group.
    Determined to protect Lucy, Loke lunged toward his master only to have one of the black chains suddenly split and recoil from Lucy’s suspension sphere to strike his midriff. Black energy slammed into his body, slithering toward Loke’s core. The force of the black powers contact flung Loke onto the ground. Hard impact tore the air from Loke’s lungs. His hands encased with Regulus power wrapped around the black pulsing cord as Loke fought to pull it out of his chakra center. It did not escape his notice that the black power had traveled down the astral link he tied to Lucy to shore up her life force.
    Loke knew that if the black power gained control of his Astral Star Chain, it would stop the flow of Regulus and other stars power which Loke depended upon to maintain the prison, and protect Lucy. Failure was not an option with so much at stake. Cutting all energy supplies to Lucy was necessary, but difficult. With the burrowing parasitic power trying to overwhelm Loke, remaining in full control of his own magic was becoming a strain.
    In the back of his mind Loke cursed the Fairies and all the other magical races for having tampered with the Star Phoenix’s original prison parameters. If not for their meddling, it was unlikely that he and Lucy would be in a life and death struggle.  Tugging up with all his might as Loke focused on drawing a burst of new star fire into his body to counter the invader, Loke rolled onto his side.  Agony blinded his eyes with tears as he writhed from the sensation reminiscent of thousands of millipede legs moving through his nervous system.
    Searing electricity rippled through Loke’s body a moment later. The power came from another origin it seemed. Someone was chanting next to his ear in the ancient tongue as the painful bolt of magic encased the black magic and stopped the alarming crawling sensation from getting any stronger. Moments later, Loke felt the invasive spell getting torn from his body as if it were no more troublesome than a large splinter squeezed until it popped free of infected skin. It was almost as painful as the initial attack, but Loke was grateful for this pain.
    Gasping for air, Loke tried to focus his watering eyes on his savior’s face. Before his eyes were clear enough to focus his vision, hands were jerking him upright as twin voices collided as one. “We have to help the Star Singer now. We broke the link so you will be safe. Do not make another one or you might be destroyed next time.”
    The sudden buzz of wings slapped Loke’s ears as the hands vanished from his arm.  Owing a pedigree Fairy pair for his life did not sit well with Loke, but he did owe them his thanks because of their intervention. Granted their sadistic side had shown itself in how the ripped the spell out of him, but Loke knew they were incapable of true compassion. With a deep, cleansing breath, Loke wiped residual tears from his eyes and decided to overlook that aspect of their help.
    Jumping to his feet, Loke focused on finding Lucy’s position. Everyone was converging upon her and Laxus, doing all they could to keep her from being snatched from Laxus’s grasp. Natsu was bellowing and attacking the black cords with his dragon’s roar to no avail. Gajeel’s hands passed through them as if they did not exist as he sought to grab hold and pull against the force dragging Laxus and Natsu beneath the void opening.
    The Fairies present did something that Loke did not quite see, yet Natsu seemed unable to open his mouth to unleash a second such roar upon the blackness attacking Lucy’s frail body. The petite pair, one hand linked as was ever the case with the dratted race, shot up closer to the opening from where the cords emanated. The pair linked their second hands as they hovered above the black lines threatening Lucy. Overlapping power began to rise, spiraling upward as their inhuman true voices blended into an ancient One Power song that sent shockwaves through the atmosphere.
    Loke stumbled closer to his mistress, digging deeper into his resources of star fire to alert the other Zodiac spirits that they had an emergency on their hands. The spell was wordless, but his Astral Star Chain blazed brilliant Gold which would resonate within the Celestial Realm as he called upon all of Regulus and it’s companions’ power for his own use. Grabbing the thickest of the offensive astral cables that were trying to drag Lucy into the void above, Loke dug in his heels and began to pull down with all his star fire backed ability. Taking some of the strain off of Laxus who was miraculously still standing on the ground was the wisest thing Loke could do at the moment. The amount of tug that Loke encountered would have yanked a smaller man like Natsu into the air almost immediately. He unleashed some of his star fire into the astral link and watched as it began to twist and writhe within the black magic it was countering. If he could sever the largest of the strands, they would be better able to repeat the same action and free Lucy.
    “What the fuck are these bindings? Blondie’s in major trouble. Doesn’t anyone in the guild know a way to break these damned things before they kill her?” Laxus roared.
A glance back to see why Laxus was wasting energy on screaming showed Loke the worst case scenario. Gajeel, Natsu and Laxus were all trying to maintain hand holds on Lucy’s body. It was not that which stopped Loke’s heart beat. The vision of Lucy’s soul being pulled from her body, multiple silvery white chains locked into her soul core and vibrating at an insane rate was to blame for Loke’s panic. Darkened cracks were forming as the core of Lucy’s spirit was strained by the blackness of the magic attacking her. The black cords were actually astral chains embedded in Lucy’s soul. Far too many chains were attached to her life force. How she had managed to survive with so much power drain was beyond Loke to process. It was now imperative that they fight to get enough slack in the black cables to get Lucy’s soul seated inside her body again.
    As if his Celestial Spirit companions had heard his desperation driven thoughts, Perseus, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Taurus, and the Celestial King all flashed into the clearing and began grabbing the other black cables that  to enter into the tug of war for Lucy’s body. How the Celestial Spirit King managed to show up without more Zodiac Keys and deaths was beyond Loke, but he was relieved that he was not following Aquarius’s sad fate all the same. Their team work and star power combined had to make it possible to gain the slack needed before Lucy’s core was shattered. If her soul literally shattered, there would be no after life for their beloved Master, and that was one thing Loke flat refused to allow. How they would heal Lucy’s soul was not yet known, but Loke silently vowed he was going to find the way just as soon as they won this tug of war, and removed every drop of black magic from the obscene number of astral chains tied to Lucy’s soul seat.
~~oo0oo~~