A week for the Lion and the Mage

Missing you

He had the whole universe in front of him, but it didn't bring him the same joy it used to. It should be constantly awe inspiring, seeing all the small planets belonging to the different spirits floating by, never quite in the same place as the last time you spotted them. The endless starry sky with countless small lights brightening up his world. For the longest time the view from his house was the most stunning one he'd ever seen, but now, now that honour had to be given to something else. No, not something, someone.

Lucy Heartfilia, his new brightest star, the most beautiful being on both worlds and stunning in her own right. She was intelligent, witty, brave and kind. She'd snatched away a sinner like him from the jaws of death, showing him a mercy he hadn't deserved. Yet she'd asked for nothing in return except that he be there for her, an easy thing to do since now he couldn't leave her. His soul was drawn to hers irrevocably, it would be until the end of time and he knew it. For an eternity he would look up at the stars and be reminded of how much she shined, it cheered him up when he was at his loneliest, but also brought worry and fear along with it.

He knew that for him it was sometimes only an hour between summonings, if that. Not that he minded being summoned that often, if he had his way he'd live on Earthland with her. But for her it could be weeks, agonisingly long weeks in which anything could happen to her. While most of the time he was able to use the time in between to rest and recharge, the longer it went on, the worse it got.

One time there'd been a month before she'd summoned him again and he'd been near enough a wreck before his gate opened, coaxing him through. He'd quickly fixed himself up to go help her, but had to resist the urge to cry out in relief that she was ok, pull back the need to hug her and resort to just the normal, casual, flirting. It hadn't been enough to soothe him.

First it was nightmares, awful scenarios in which he failed her over and over again, images of her bleeding out, a multitude of different injuries littering her body kept him up through the night. The death of future Lucy made this worse. He could never tell her but that event had sped up the time it took for him to start panicking, start imagining ways in which she was being hurt or worse. He'd get shakes, start getting skittish and jumpy, hanging on her call. According to Aquarius he was near enough unbearable in this state but he couldn't care less about what she thought. The longing to be near her would just expand inside him, taking up more and more until he hit a breaking point. Either she summoned him, or he summoned himself, especially if he sensed she was in trouble, then there was no convincing him otherwise.

He was positive she wasn't too impressed with his random summonings. There was a place for them in a fight that she could begrudgingly admit, but when she was at home, safe and sound? How could he explain to her this awful dread that she was going to die? He couldn't, so instead it was just a silly one liner that no doubt lowered her opinion of him further. One day she was just going to give up his key, he knew it. He didn't want to think about how broken he would become when that happened, unable to know what was going on with her would kill him. Yet he continued to bug her so perhaps he was just a fool. A fool in love, a love that made him soar yet also terrified him.

It was a love that made him miss her, even when he'd just returned. It was an ache that thrummed down to his very core, pushing him to return to her. Because in the end that was the biggest problem, every second they were apart he missed her terribly. He wanted to see her badass moments where she sent bad guys flying away with a crack of her whip. He wanted all her small moments, kind smiles, pouty annoyance, her cute tired yawning. The way she could start a fight at Fairytail yet end it with a glare. The way she teased those around her good naturedly and her victorious grin when her victim couldn't think of a comeback. Her quiet moments reading, writing or just letting the world pass by her. Her peaceful expression was a rare favourite of his. He wanted to see everything that was Lucy, understand her completely and he couldn't do that in the stars.