Smeared in Colors of Always

Chapter Two

There wasn't any food in the house, meaning I would have to first find the money that Zeref had given me before heading into town. Though a part of me really wanted to read about the three unknown celestial keys that I had been given.

Mainly since none were familiar nor something I remembered being talked about in the manga or anime. Then again, I had just made it to the part where they had taken on Zeref's demons.

So, that meant they could have been mentioned later in the series.

"Hmm," I hummed lightly while plopping down onto the couch at the corner with the book on celestial magic in hand. "So, the red keys are for the Keys of the Damned. That doesn't sound very enticing or even remotely safe."

There seemed to be an unknown number of the Damned, those who had sided against the Celestial King, and represented different things not shown in the constellation.

Each were either the same strength as the gold keys or even stronger depending on the celestial spirit themselves. That didn't even cover the fact that the bronze keys were actually for the Fallen, which again, none of that sounded safe.

Leaving the black keys to represent the darker side of the golden zodiac as their other halves.

Though they weren't the same as the ones I had seen in the anime, so again, there wasn't anything I knew about them.

Not that anyone was aware of that considering it seems that the Celestial King had tried to strike that knowledge from humans so they would never seek out those keys.

Too bad that Zeref was aware and didn't seem to care what others would think, not that it was illegal to use the said keys since only the knowledge of them were removed.

But it did make me wonder why Zeref believed I would be a good fit for them as a partner.

I had never seen the Celestial Spirits as tools to be used, no, they were a true family to those who could contract them and gain their trust and loyalty.

It was why I adored Lucy so much.

She had allowed herself to be hurt on more than one occasion for them. That showed just how amazing she was as a person let alone a celestial mage.

"Let's get started then," I whispered while gathering my courage, because this could end badly since these Celestial Spirits hadn't been seen in centuries. "I call upon thee, Leo of Night, come forth!"

That was totally made up considering I had forgotten to look at how to properly call them out nor did I remember how Lucy did it. In truth, I was more than a bit nervous which had caused my mind to blank out and blurt out the first thing that came to mind and felt right.

There was the sound of a gong, instead of the usual chime, as a dark gold magic circle appeared before someone appeared in its place.

But by then it was a close call of me just running for the hills considering who had stepped up before me. Here's a hint, it was Uchiha fucking Madara.

"Interesting," mused the Madara clone as he cocked his head to the side while taking in my gaping form. "It has been a very long time since someone had called me forward to the human realm, I had thought that the idiotic Celestial King had all of our keys destroyed."

Why did the darker half of Loke have to look like Uchiha Madara?!

How did that make sense in any way?!

"Look," I began while trying to clear out the white noise filling my ears at this weird turn of events that just about topped being shoved into an anime world. "I don't want you to call me master or treat me like I'm above you. I would like to make a contract with you, with the promise to fight beside you, if you would allow it."