Awaken the Stars Song

Chapter 12

A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail. I make no money from this story. "Aquarius' death" is not what it seems. What is happening will get revealed, so please have patience because the characters don't know yet. I promise to squeeze out some more time if possible for writing this story. Consider it a mystery for the moment and enjoy the angsty hijinks if possible. I'm posting chapters as fast as I can get them typed out.

CHAPTER 12

Never before had Lucy felt so overwhelmed and useless. Her emotions seesawed between embarrassment, mortification, annoyance, determination, sorrow, worry, love, gratitude, appreciation, determination, anger, fear, defencelessness, depression, lust, and horror. So many sentiments overwhelmed Lucy's mind without rhyme or reason. Unable to figure out what was happening made it impossible to calm down. Exhaustion was eating away at what little mental clarity Lucy still retained. Disquieted by her horrible situation, and being manhandled by Laxus and Natsu, plus nude, did not make things easier. Not for the first time, Lucy desperately wished she was dressed, and alone.
Images of all their pasts continued to flow around them much to Lucy's mortification. Seeing how different her life was from both of theirs only made Lucy feel worse. Laxus had a much rougher and abusive childhood, while Natsu had many sweet memories of childhood that were cut off without warning. All Lucy had to complain about was how her father ignored her, and the obnoxious hours of constant etiquette training drummed into her head. Her world had consisted of non stop education on how to behave and become an asset for some rich man her father chose to pick for her. Tutor after tutor, and dance class after dance class, mathematics and business comprehension was the sum of everything thrust down Lucy's young throat after her mother died. Only bath time, when Lucy summoned Aquarius for a chance to talk about something other than expectations for her future, had given Lucy any relief from the dreary hours of study. Compared to what Laxus survived, Lucy felt she had little reason to grumble.
The Lightning Slayer was adamant that she was not allowed to leave his lap despite how it increased Lucy's discomfort since Laxus was also naked. The things she had seen so far about his life had Lucy biting her tongue to not throw a fit. Laxus said that staying in his lap was necessary so he would not zap her while sharing his energy. However, Lucy was hearing things that implied other things were on the man's mind, which made no sense. Not sure why she was imagining that Laxus was attracted to her, Lucy wanted to curl into a ball because she was being delusional due to exhaustion. Her fertile imagination was running away with her Lucy reminded herself like a mantra. However, the odd part was how genuine the voice in her head sounded. Several times Lucy thought she heard Laxus speak aloud.
Then there was Natsu, who was leaning against her other shoulder, sulking. As Lucy's best friend, it was hard to see how upset Natsu was over being unable to pry Aquarius off her back. The pair of men were both far too bristly towards each other which only added to Lucy's unease. Gone was the normal, happy go lucky Natsu that Lucy knew. It felt as if Natsu was replaced by a very different man this round. The fact that Natsu kept making borderline savage comments to Laxus about how the older man viewed her only made Lucy's confusion worse. It was strange that she was beginning to think she was hearing both men speaking despite her eyes clear denial of any such thing happening. When lips don't move, it means people were not speaking to each other.
At the moment, the three of them were holding an uneasy truce as Lucy tried to focus on everything Laxus promised to explain. "Laxus?"
"Yeah, Blondie?" The bigger man's chest rumbled as he spoke.
"What makes you think that Zeref might still be alive? I mean, he was dead at the end of the fight with Tartarus Guild. But you mentioned thinking it was possible that he was behind the attack." Lucy asked him to clarify his thoughts.
"If not Zeref getting resurrected through forbidden magic, then the spell used to attack you was masterminded by one of his former lackeys is what my gut tells me. Can't say who cast that spell for certain, but it was a long range spell, and it was powerful enough that it would have taken several S class mages to cast it. The only mage I know who was strong enough to draw the number of needed S class dark mages would have to be Zeref."
Lucy considered that for a moment longer. "I'm sorry that I always seem to bring trouble to everyone in the guild. Sometimes I wonder if I even deserve . . ."
Natsu snapped, "Knock it off, Luce. Nobody feels that way except you. If anything, we get to show you how much you mean to us whenever you get into trouble. Bad people always want to hurt the best people because they're stupid. Dark Guilds are the worst and you're the best so it's something that's going to happen."
"He's right, Blondie. You know everyone thinks of you as Fairy Tail's light. Everyone's pissed off because you got attacked again. Your spirits even showed up on their own and they got their hands on these damned chains none of us can touch. We had quite the tug of war going as everyone did everything in their power to keep you from being sucked into that damned void spell. When backup arrived and broke the spell, Natsu and I volunteered to keep you stable long enough for the guild to find a way to heal you. You're very important to everyone in Fairy Tail, so don't forget it, Blondie."
Lucy sighed. She adored everyone in the guild. They were her family. Yet Lucy's love for everyone made it harder to handle all the attacks which hurt her heart's family. When push came to shove, Lucy was feeling horrible about always getting targeted by Dark Guilds. "Thanks, guys. I just feel so horrible that you're getting drawn into another mess because of me. I sometimes wonder if I'm jinxed. Can't believe I have the nickname of Lucky Lucy since all I ever bring is trouble to everyone in my family."
"Look, Blondie, the Dark Guilds are adamant that you're dangerous to their existence which isn't your fault. To their thinking, you're the most dangerous light magic mage around, and that is a compliment. They target you all the time because they obviously fear you more than they do me, Metal Head, or Fire Breath. Using your very rare magic power is always a huge part of all their plans too. When you put the puzzle pieces together, it means your magic is very unique, and highly sought after by the wrong people."
"If I'm so powerful, why do I always need rescuing like this, Sparky?" Lucy snipped in return due to being sick of getting called Blondie.
Laxus snickered before speaking. "Probably because your magic is too rare. It seems to me that you haven't been taught much about physical combat either. From what Loke said, your spirits are some kind of literal chains that keep this Abyss Lord trapped. Someone in ancient times attached Star Singers' bloodline powers to the same prison as the Spirits to make it stronger. The new comers all called you a Star Singer and pegged you as being part of the Orion bloodline. I've already told you that part, Blondie."
"If we can figure out how to get Luce free from these damned chains coming out of her chest, then she'll probably be a lot safer from the Dark Guilds. Right?"
"The biggest problem we have to solve right now is dealing with this Spirit carcass while keeping Blondie here alive. Everyone in Fairy Tail is searching for a solution to the chains, Idiot. Like I said before, this is a complicated situation and you don't comprehend the half of it yet." Laxus lectured as he reached forward and tried to touch the chains.
Keeping her arms crossed over her exposed breasts, Lucy frowned as she watched Laxus hands pass through the chains yet again. Following the path of the taut chains, her eyes moved toward the edge of the illusionary garden. At a glance the chains looked very real, but trying to touch them made them appear to be an empty illusion. However, the painful aching tug Lucy experienced near her heart proved they existed. Out of all of them, only she could touch the excruciating and cold chains.
"Then figure out how to get Aquarius off of Luce already, Laxus! You said not to use my fire, and brute strength doesn't work!"
"I've been trying to think of something, Dumb Ass! Everything about this situation is complicated! One wrong move and we could kill Blondie! So just stay put and don't lose control of your power while sharing it with her. If I had Freed around this would be a hell of a lot easier since he knows the basics of just about every kind of magic that exists. What he doesn't know, he gets answers fast with a bit of research. Two years ago he found a way to stop a demonic possession with his runes. If anyone knows how to get that corpse out of Blondie, it's probably Freed."
"Levi's like that too. Wish I could talk to her right now." Lucy added.
"So we can't help Luce without talking to them? If that's the case then one of us needs to go back and tell them what's happening to Luce. Don't you think?"
"You already tried and failed to get out of here, Dummy. We've already figured out that we
re trapped. You both need to keep in mind is the Star Singer description we got from Gajeel's dragon and Loke's argument with those Fairies, Moron. Unlike other Mages, the description they gave totally fits Blondie's power. Dark Guilds don't have a habit of targeting Sabertooth's Celestial Spirit Mage because she isn't like Lucy. They target Blondie because the Dark Guilds know she's not a normal Celestial Spirit Mage. According to Loke, Zeref systematically exterminated the decedents of mages involved with imprisoning the Abyss Lord demon because they were all Star Singer class Celestial Spirit Mages. Getting these untouchable chains off of her won't stop the attacks at all, Ash Brains. We have to protect Blondie until we can get rid of the Abyss Lord, or every single Dark Guild permanently."
Lucy felt prickled of pain gathering behind her vision. Her eyes were so swollen from all the tears she had cried already that it physically hurt to have the emotional pricking begin yet again. "Maybe if I die, all of this will stop happening to everyone in the Guild though."
Laxus thumped Lucy on the forehead which hurt even worse than her sore, burning eyes. "Wrong thing to say, Blondie! Your death unlocks the demon's cage as I understand from the things I overheard during Loke's conversation with those Fairies right before you were attacked. Whichever Dark Guild is behind this, they sure as shit won't stop trying to kill you considering what I heard. I need more information on the ancestral binding seal stones that were mentioned by those newcomers. They made it sound like the ancestral binding stones are physical place holders for the prison. Likewise, the stones are probably keys to a second way of breaking the prison. If Zeref, or his followers have gathered those specific stones, your blood would automatically free a very powerful demon that some Dark Guild is desperate to control even if the chains are removed from you."
"How could my blood, or my death change anything, Laxus? I really don't see why anyone would make me into some elaborate prison key because I'm so weak compared to the rest of you." Lucy replied.
"Luce, you shouldn't talk that way. To be honest, even I get that part of what Laxus is saying. It's like you're the only person that demon can't handle being near or something like that. If you die, then there isn't anyone who can stop the damned thing from hurting everyone is what I think Laxus is trying to say."
"I'm surprised you figured that much out, Natsu. The newcomers and Loke agreed that the prison feeds off of Blondie's specific magical strength and life force because it repairs the prison damage and is probably very painful for it to touch. Lacrimas can't be substituted to feed power into the prison because these untouchable astral chains can't accept the energy from any non living sources. The implications are pretty obvious. Something about Blondie's power must repel or outright weaken this particular demon."
Fed up, Lucy smacked Laxus in the chest and snapped. "I'm sitting in your lap, so at least include me in your conversation, Jerk!"
"Okay. Calm down already."
"Why should I when you won't even use my name. I'm not the only blond here either, Sparky!"
Laxus rolled his eyes as he pushed his face into Lucy's with an eyebrow quirking upward. "Get used to your nickname, Blondie. I don't give those to just anyone, and neither does Bickslow."
"You call Natsu a lot of things, and Bickslow really hates me." Lucy pointed out as she stared Laxus down.
"Bickslow doesn't hate you at all. He just likes to see you get mad because you get feisty. Same goes for me. We like to see that you do have a backbone when you need it. Let's get back to the main problem. Shall we?"
"Ohhhhh kay." Lucy drew out the one word as she tried to figure out where Laxus weird revelation came from.
"I overheard them talking about how you're suffering from a rare kind of magical vitality depletion because there aren't enough people feeding the prison right now. Seems a lack of people that can do the job is why you have so many of these damned chains on you. The mangled dragon said something about spares being capable of easing the magical drain on you but I'm not sure what was meant. It may be possible to find other people willing to accept the role of being batteries which could solve most of this problem you're having right now. Aside from my suspicion the fact that people can volunteer to become additional energy feeders, only the damned Ancient Fairies have any idea how to set up the links to the prison so we can get these chains off of you."
Natsu butted in at that moment. "Maybe Luce's Spirits know how to get the chains off of her? You know Loke really hated those guys so how can we trust them with Luce's life?"
"I'm sure Loke won't let them do anything to Blondie, Natsu. He's too protective and obnoxious whenever she gets hurt. We've all seen him pull his crazy stunts when she's knocked out." Laxus grumbled.
Lucy was not sure how to respond to both men's conversation. Loke did force his gate open fairly often, and it got on her nerves when he pulled his playboy antics on her. Taking Loke's flirting seriously was out of the question because it was far too cliche for her taste. Still, hearing Laxus say that Loke would protect her was a nice change. Now if only the blond headed man would start using her name, maybe they could get along. Lucy felt her more stubborn side rearing it's head. So long as Laxus insisted on calling her Blondie, she'd have to continue looking for a really irritating nickname for him also.
"Something sounds off about the one part you said, Twinkle Toes. Magical depravation sickness makes people physically ill and they sleep a lot. I haven't really felt all that drained. The real problem is that I couldn't breathe very well for a couple of weeks. How could magical deprivation sickness affect my breathing?"
Natsu began laughing. Lucy was relieved to hear genuine humor from her pink haired teammate. It always worried her when Natsu was acting out of sorts. Laxus looked ready to strangle her Lucy realized a split second later. Still, Lucy did not like being treated so cavalierly, and considering the crazy thoughts popping into her head, she was fed up with everything. Lucy was not going to back down when it came to forcing the stubborn Lightning Dragon Slayer to use her actual name at this point if only because it distracted her from the weird monologues that kept rising in her brain with Laxus and Natsu's voices attached..
"The fuck? Twinkle Toes? Are you serious, Blondie?"
"Keep calling me Blondie and I'll call you even more annoying next time! You don't deserve to be called Sparky since that implies a lot of good qualities that you have yet to earn each time you disrespect me by treating me like I'm a brainless bimbo!" Lucy responded, butting heads with the irritated Lightning Slayer.
"Damn it, I'm not disrespectful when I call you Blondie. Look, we're here until things get sorted out on the outside so quit getting pissed about my family nickname for you. Hell, even Natsu knows it's a compliment when I give anyone a nickname."
"Actually, Laxus is telling the truth about the whole nickname thing, Luce. He's just being a Jackass because he knows Blondie pisses you off." Natsu surprised Lucy by backing what Laxus said.
"We're both blond so it sounds ridiculous for Laxus to call me Blondie, Natsu." Lucy grumbled.
"Can we get back to what's important here?" Laxus growled as he leveled a glare at her. Gnawing on her lower lip, Lucy thought about how silly she was being for several seconds before nodded consent.
"The thing that gets me is that the newcomers said you have a rare type of magic deprivation so it could be that your life force is being drained at an alarming rate because your main magic reserves collapsed under the pressure of being crippled by feeding the prison for several years, Lucy. I also heard Loke say something about how all your Spirits are trying to find a cure because this is the same illness that killed your mother."
"Thank you for the explanation, and for saying my name. Now was saying it so unbearably horrible, Laxus?" Lucy was not certain why she felt she had to continue digging at Laxus but it popped out of her mouth before she had time to consider her answer.
"I've never thought your name was horrible and I've already told you why I tease you. Geeze woman, will you let it go already?" Laxus frowned.
"Sorry. Guess I'm getting really cranky so I don't have much of a sense of humor left. All I really want is to go to sleep to be honest." Lucy admitted as her lips thinned while she looked around the area.
"No can do until we're sure you won't die. If I was certain you'd be okay, I'd let you sleep all you want to, but we can't risk it since as far as I know, we're stuck in your mind right now, Blo. . . erm, Lucy". The fact Laxus caught himself before he called her Blondie again cheered Lucy a little. If not for Natsu and Laxus trying their hardest to take care of her, Lucy might have thrown another tantrum. However, the two men were worried about her or they would not have gone to such lengths to help her.
"Fuck!" Laxus jerked as he snarled the single word, grabbing his head in his hand which almost caused Lucy to fall out of his lap. By reflex Lucy grabbed onto his heavily muscled side to stabilize herself. A look at the obvious pain contorting Laxus features set off alarm bells in Lucy's head.
"Laxus, are you okay?" Lucy asked as she twisted to try and get a better look at his face. All Lucy could see clearly was gritted teeth and fast elongating canines. A moment later, Laxus began to relax although his visage still spoke of being in pain. "Where are you, Warren? And why the fuck is your telepathic contact hurting so much?"
Lucy felt her eyes widen. Laxus was hearing from Warren? Hope flared in Lucy's heart. Maybe the Guild had good news. Hopefully everything was on the way to being fixed and they could all escape this strange place.
"Wait a second. Slow down, Warren. I need you to get Freed for me."
Several moments passed as Laxus listened to whatever Warren was saying to him. Lucy wished she could hear their guild mate. Without warning Laxus posture went rigid.
"Damn it! Nothing like that is happening so tell everyone to shut the fuck up! Tell Freed that somehow Lucy's got Aquarius's corpse in here with her, and it's half merged into her back. It's dragging a shit load of energy out of her and we're having one hell of a hard time getting her stabilized! I need to know what we have to do to get rid of the corpse and Freed has done a couple exorcisms using his runes!"
Lucy looked over at Natsu who was staring intently at Laxus also. The fact Natsu was looking so tired made it harder for Lucy to breathe. If only she knew how to fix things and stop the drain none of them would have to suffer Lucy chided herself as she waited.
"Stop picking on yourself, Luce. None of us know how to stop the drain, and that isn't your fault. Maybe Warren can give us the answers we need to help you."
Laxus voice interrupted before Lucy thought of a reply. "Shit! They did what?"
Watching as Laxus listened again, Lucy was not all that surprised to see obvious rage settle onto the older Mage's features. His Lightning scar began to twitch as Lucy waited for an explanation.
"At least I know about what to expect. Get answers about this damned Spirit Corpse as fast as you can, Warren. I'll be waiting to hear from you. I won't fail to pass on the message and get everyone anchored now that I know what's going to happen."
The pain seemed to start ebbing from Laxus features after several seconds. Feeling bad for having given Laxus a hard time, Lucy pushed his large hands aside to massage his temples in a circular pattern. "That looked really painful. Are you okay, Laxus?"
"I will be in a minute. Seems that I'm the only one they can still reach. It took Warren getting a serious power boost from one of the more powerful Ancients to make it work. They're worried that we're all getting too drained for safety. Warren said they think you've gone overboard, Natsu. They said you need to pull back for a little while if at all possible."
"I'm not going to abandon Luce when she needs me! I don't care if I am tired. Luce needs my energy so I'm going to keep giving it to her!"
"That isn't what Warren meant, Moron. Seems there's a side effect we weren't told about when we volunteered to shore up Blondie."
Lucy could not help but cringe when Laxus called her that yet again. Biting her tongue, Lucy waited for the man to continue speaking while she tried to relieve his throbbing skull with her fingers.
"What kind of side effect?" Natsu asked, sounding curious.
"Seems those Fairies used something they call Soul Binding on us. They actually punched chunks of our souls out of us and replaced them with chunks of her soul. In short, they swapped out parts of us with each other. We have to be careful that we don't lose ourselves and become a weird three body single person right now."
Lucy felt like she was hit in the gut as Laxus words sank into her mind. A very bad feeling suddenly began to well inside as Lucy glanced at the scenes that had not stopped whirling around the room. The mild concern she had about the voices in her head suddenly shot to the forefront of Lucy's thoughts. "What kinds of symptoms are we talking about, Laxus?"
Laxus grimaced as he looked to the side. "Seems that one of the side effects is a lack of mental privacy. It explains why we keep seeing our life stories playing out around us. Also, we aren't in your head, Lucy. When the swap was made, it somehow destabilized the chains more than was expected. Your soul is trying to shatter and so the Ancients want permission to try and yank a couple chains off of you. They say it's not all that great a chance of success at this point, but if they wait too long, your survival rate will plummet as will mind and Natsu's now that we've been bound to you for good."
"Wait. What do you mean bound to me? I'm not sure I understand what you're saying, Laxus." Part of Lucy's mind whirled with all sorts of possibilities as to what Laxus meant by bound for good. Yet the rest of Lucy was frightened by the implications of most of those ideas. Far as Lucy had ever been able to tell, Laxus was going to be very angry if being bound together meant what it sounded like to her.
"I'm not mad at you, Blondie, so calm down. We'll figure this out after we get you on the road to recovery. It means exactly like it sounds. Seems that Fairies don't have any damned consideration for humans which explains why Loke hates them so much. For now we all need to stay focused on trying to keep your energy from getting drained too fast while shoring up our personalities by trying to protect our own thoughts. I'm sure Freed can come up with a plan that will reverse a lot of this once we get this spirit dealt with so the drain lessens." Laxus spoke in a firm voice as he stared into her eyes.
Flickers of orange flashed through stormy grey orbs as Laxus stared her down for several moments. A sudden sense of glee that Lucy knew was not her own seemed to rise yet again. Yet it was Natsu's voice that yanked Lucy's attention back to the room.
"Does this mean I get to sleep at your place all the time from now on, Luce?"
Speechless over the question due to the inability to process everything, Lucy could not decide whether she wanted to laugh or cry. Leave it to Natsu to say something so off beat and inappropriate at the worst possible time. The sudden feral growl that erupted from Laxus throat startled Lucy enough to whip her head back toward the larger man. "As out of control as your instincts are, I've already figured out why you hang onto Blondie like you do, and I can't say it's a bad strategy since she calms you down. However, once we're all awake, you and I are going to train you on how to control your instincts, Flame Thrower."
Natsu's eyes widened considerably before he began snapping. "I've tried a lot of things, but they don't work, Lightning Rod! I hate having to put all my focus on keeping them under control! If you noticed the problem, then you know there isn't much of a solution!"
"I'm not going to let you screw up Blondie's or my life because of being unable to get a firm handle on your instincts. Trying to shove them into a locked box is only making the problem worse. Getting stuck with you is not something I'm happy about, but I'm not gpoing to see Lucy get hurt because of this mess. I am going to beat the unholy shit out of those fucking Fairies when we wake up, but for now, I'm going to do what I can to figure out how to make this work long term since none of us have any choice."
With every word coming from Laxus mouth as he focused on Natsu, Lucy's mind replayed all the strange thoughts that had been spinning through her skull, mostly in Laxus' voice. The more the soul bound situation sank in, the harder it was to escape what was actually happening. With a sense of overwhelming shock, Lucy finally understood she had been hearing Laxus and Natsu's thoughts all along. If she heard their thoughts, then they heard all of hers also. If what Laxus said was true, then none of them had any secrets left from each other no matter what they might wish. The full brunt of everything implied crashed in on Lucy's awareness like a tsunami of emotions she could not hold back. Unable to accept everything, Lucy felt her conscience collapse as darkness exploded over her, dragging her under a blanket of tormented emotions followed by blissful silence.
~~oo0oo~~