Lucy - POV
I helped him to his feet, putting his arm over my shoulders for support. He was heavier than he looked, or perhaps I was weaker than I wanted to admit. Either way, we managed to stand, even if Leo was leaning on me more than he probably wanted to admit.
"Can you walk?" I asked.
"I think so—"
"You won't have to go far."
The voice came from the shadows between the trees, and I almost dropped Leo in fright. My heart raced, and my hand instinctively went to the keys on my hip.
Azra'il emerged from the darkness as if she were a part of it. The moonlight partially illuminated her face, her blue eyes glowing in a way that seemed almost… inhuman. She stood there with her usual calm, as if appearing out of nowhere in a forest in the middle of the night was perfectly normal.
For her, it probably was.
"Azra'il?!" My heart was still trying to return to its normal rhythm. "You… how long have you been there?"
"Long enough."
"That's not an answer!"
"It's the only one you're getting."
I should be used to this by now. I should be. But still.
Leo tensed beside me, but not from surprise at seeing her. He knew Azra'il; everyone in the guild knew her. They were even sociable, when she wasn't giving that death glare that made adults reconsider their life choices. I'd heard rumours that Leo had been a victim of that glare once, when he tried to flirt with her. He never made that mistake again.
But there was something different now. Something in the way he looked at her.
"Azra'il…" he began, his voice strange. He frowned, as if trying to process something that didn't make sense. "I never… why did I never notice before?"
"Notice what?" I asked, looking between the two of them.
"Her." Leo straightened slightly, his eyes fixed on Azra'il with an intensity I hadn't expected. "I've been in the guild for three years. Three years seeing her almost every day. And I never felt…" He swallowed hard. "What are you? Because now, I can feel… something. Something that shouldn't exist."
Azra'il didn't answer immediately. She just walked towards us, her steps silent on the wet grass, and stopped a few metres away. The sound of the waterfall filled the silence between us.
"Perhaps you were too busy flirting with everyone else to pay attention," she said, her tone neutral. "Or perhaps you're only noticing now because you're weaker. The senses on the verge of death tend to become sharper."
Leo grimaced. "That was cruel."
"It was honest. There's a difference."
Despite everything, I almost laughed. It was so… Azra'il.
"Did you follow us?" I asked, still trying to understand how she had appeared there.
"I said you could find me if you needed help." Azra'il shrugged slightly. "I decided to save you some time."
"That still doesn't explain how you knew that—"
"Lucy." Her voice was patient, but firm. "Do you really want to spend time discussing this now?"
I looked at Leo, who was becoming more translucent with every passing minute. She was right. As always.
"No," I admitted. "I want to know how we contest the Celestial Spirit King."
"Contest isn't quite the word I would use." Azra'il tilted her head slightly, studying Leo with that characteristic intensity. "But I know how to get his attention. And sometimes, that's all you need."
Leo let out a bitter laugh, the sound harsh in his throat.
"Get the King's attention? You talk as if it's simple. He is the most powerful entity in the celestial world. He doesn't just show up because someone asks nicely."
"No." Azra'il agreed. "He doesn't show up because someone asks nicely."
There was something in her tone that made me shiver. It wasn't a threat, exactly. It was… confidence. The kind of absolute confidence that came from knowing something others didn't.
"So how?" I insisted.
Azra'il looked at me, then at Leo, then back at me.
"How many golden keys do you have, Lucy?"
"Five. Aquarius, Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, and Sagittarius."
"Summoning multiple golden spirits at the same time creates a disturbance in the veil between the worlds. A disturbance large enough to attract attention." She paused. "How many can you summon simultaneously?"
I thought about my magic reserve. About how I felt after summoning just one golden spirit for a prolonged period. About how my legs trembled and my vision grew dark at the edges.
"Two, maybe three. For a short time." I swallowed hard. "More than that and I'd probably faint."
"Or worse," Leo added, his voice tense. "Lucy, this is dangerous. Summoning multiple golden spirits can kill a mage if they push themselves too hard. I've seen it happen."
"I know." I looked at my keys, shining softly in the moonlight. "But if it's what needs to be done—"
"It won't be necessary to push yourself that far," Azra'il interrupted calmly. "You summon as many as you safely can. That will create the initial disturbance, it will get the King's attention."
"And if it's not enough?" I asked. "What if he just ignores it?"
Azra'il looked at me, and for a second, something in her eyes changed. It was quick, a flash of something vast, something ancient, something that didn't belong to a girl who looked my age. As if a curtain had been lifted for a split second, revealing an ocean behind a puddle.
"It will be enough," she said simply. "I guarantee it."
Leo moved slightly away from me, his eyes fixed on Azra'il with an expression that mixed caution and something akin to reverence.
"Who are you?" he asked again, his voice more serious this time. "Really. Because I am a celestial spirit. I have existed for hundreds of years. I know power when I feel it." He swallowed hard. "And what I'm feeling from you shouldn't exist in this world."
Azra'il held his gaze for a long moment. The sound of the waterfall seemed louder now, filling the silence that stretched between them.
"I am someone who does not like to see injustice," she said finally. "Someone who has seen too many punishments applied to people who did not deserve them." Something in her voice softened almost imperceptibly. "And someone who believes that three years of suffering is more than enough punishment for trying to protect an innocent."
Leo swallowed hard, clearly affected by her words. His eyes shone with something that could have been tears.
"You… you really think I didn't deserve…?"
"I think you made an impossible choice and have been paying for it ever since." Azra'il shrugged slightly. "What I think doesn't matter much. What matters is what the King will decide when he hears the arguments."
"And if he doesn't change his mind?" I asked, anxiety beginning to grip my chest. "Leo said no one has ever contested one of his decisions. What if he just… refuses?"
Azra'il looked at me, and this time the ghost of a smile passed over her face. It was small, almost invisible, but it was there.
"Then I will have to be… persuasive."
I don't know why, but the way she said that made me feel that the Celestial Spirit King wouldn't have much of a choice in the matter.
"Right." I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. "What do I need to do?"
"Summon your spirits. As many as you can without hurting yourself." Azra'il indicated the clearing around us with a gesture. "This is a good place. The veil between the worlds is already thinner near places with strong emotional significance." Her eyes went briefly to Karen's grave. "And this place has significance to spare."
Leo flinched beside me, but said nothing.
"And after?" I asked.
"After, you make your argument. You defend Leo. You tell the King exactly what you said just now, that punishing someone for protecting an innocent is not justice. It is cruelty."
"And you?"
Azra'il tilted her head slightly.
"I will be here. Watching." Her smile widened almost imperceptibly. "And if necessary… ensuring that the King pays attention."
Something in her tone told me there was much more to that sentence than the words suggested. But I had already learned that pressing Azra'il for answers was like trying to squeeze water from a stone.
"Alright." I gently let go of Leo, making sure he could stand on his own. "Let's do this."
"Lucy…" Leo began, his voice hesitant. "You don't have to—"
"I know I don't have to." I took out my keys, the familiar and comforting metal in my hand. "I want to. There's a difference."
He looked at me for a long moment, those tired eyes filled with something I couldn't name.
"Thank you," he whispered.
"Save your thanks for when we succeed."
I positioned myself in the centre of the clearing, taking a deep breath. The moon shone directly above me, the waterfall sang its eternal melody, and somewhere between the worlds, the Celestial Spirit King was about to receive a very annoyed visitor.
I raised my keys.
"Open, Gates of the Bull! Of the Crab! Of the Maiden!"
Three magic circles appeared simultaneously in the air, shining with golden light. The drain on my magic was immediate and brutal, as if someone had turned on a tap inside me and let everything flow out at once.
Taurus appeared first, his huge axe already in hand. "Lucy-san! Your body is as beautiful as ever!"
"Not the time, Taurus!"
Cancer came next, his scissors spinning. "What do you need, ebi?"
And then Virgo, emerging from the ground with her eternally neutral expression. "Princess. Is it time for punishment?"
"No! I mean, maybe? Look, it's complicated!"
The three spirits looked around, noticing Leo leaning against a tree, Azra'il standing in the shadows, and the strange energy that permeated the clearing.
"Leo-sama?" Virgo tilted her head. "You look… different."
"It's a long story," Leo said weakly.
"Everyone, focus!" I could feel my magic draining rapidly. "I need to get the Celestial Spirit King's attention. Now."
The three spirits exchanged worried glances.
"Lucy-san," Taurus said, his voice losing its playful tone, "summoning the King is not something to be done lightly…"
"I know. But Leo is dying and the King is the only one who can save him and I'm not going to stand by and watch a friend disappear!"
My voice echoed through the clearing, louder than I intended. More desperate too.
Cancer and Virgo exchanged another look. Then, slowly, Cancer nodded.
"If that is what you want, ebi… we support you."
"Always, Princess," Virgo agreed.
"Lucy-san's body deserves to be protected!" Taurus added, raising his axe. "And Leo too, I suppose!"
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
"Thank you, everyone. Now… how do we do this?"
"Focus your will," came Azra'il's voice from the shadows. "You are a celestial mage. You have a connection to their world. Use that connection. Call the King not as a subject, but as someone who demands to be heard."
"Demands?" Cancer looked nervous. "Ebi, no one demands anything of the King…"
"This one does," Virgo said, nodding at me. "It's one of the things I like most about the Princess."
I took another deep breath, ignoring the dizziness that was already starting to creep in at the edges of my vision. I focused all my will, all my determination, all the anger I felt at the injustice Leo had suffered.
And I called.
"KING OF THE CELESTIAL SPIRITS!"
My voice came out not as sound, but as power. As a wave that spread through the clearing, passed through the veil between the worlds, and kept going.
"I, LUCY HEARTFILIA, CELESTIAL MAGE OF FAIRY TAIL, DEMAND AN AUDIENCE!"
The air began to vibrate.
The water of the waterfall seemed to hesitate for a second.
And then the world exploded in golden light.
When the light dimmed enough for me to see again, my first thought was: he's huge.
No, huge wasn't the right word. Huge was Taurus. Huge was Elfman when he used a full Take Over. The Celestial Spirit King was… was…
It was like looking at the sky and realising it was looking back.
He materialised above the waterfall, a titanic figure in golden armour with a beard that looked made of stars. His eyes, if they could be called eyes, shone with a light that made the moon look like a candle. Reality itself seemed to bend around him, as if the world wasn't big enough to contain him.
My spirits bowed immediately. Taurus dropped his axe. Cancer lowered his scissors. Virgo knelt so fast I heard her knees hit the grass.
"Princess," she whispered, "perhaps this wasn't a good idea…"
Too late for regrets.
"WHO DARES TO SUMMON ME?"
The King's voice wasn't sound; it was thunder. It was an earthquake. It was the kind of thing you felt in your bones, in your teeth, in your soul. My legs trembled, and for a second I genuinely thought I was going to faint right there.
But then I looked at Leo.
He was even more translucent now, barely able to hold himself up against the tree. His eyes were fixed on the King with an expression of absolute defeat, like a condemned man looking at the executioner.
And the anger returned.
"It was me!" My voice came out higher than I would have liked, but at least it came out. "Lucy Heartfilia! Celestial mage of Fairy Tail!"
The King lowered his gaze to me, and for a second I understood how an ant felt when someone decided to pay attention to it.
"LUCY HEARTFILIA." The name echoed through the clearing like a judgement. "THE MAGE WHO HAS MADE A CONTRACT WITH FIVE OF MY GOLDEN SPIRITS."
"Six," I corrected without thinking. "It will be six. When you give Leo back to me."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Taurus made a strangled sound. Cancer muttered something that sounded like "ebi, she didn't just say that." Virgo just sighed, as if she had expected me to do something like this.
Leo looked at me with wide eyes, his mouth open in mute shock.
I myself couldn't believe I had said that. But now that the words were out, I wasn't going to take them back.
The King leaned forward slightly, his attention now completely focused on me. I could feel the weight of that gaze like a physical pressure, trying to crush me into the ground.
"YOU DARE TO DEMAND A BANISHED SPIRIT AS YOUR OWN?"
"I'm not demanding." I lifted my chin, forcing my voice not to tremble. "I'm warning you. Leo will be my spirit. I just need to convince you to let him come back first."
The King was silent for a moment that felt like an eternity. Then, something that could have been curiosity passed through his stellar eyes.
"LEO IS BANISHED FROM THE CELESTIAL WORLD." His voice was as cold as the void between the stars. "HE CAUSED THE DEATH OF HIS MASTER. THE SENTENCE WAS JUST."
"It wasn't."
The words came out before I could think. My spirits collectively held their breath.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
"I said it wasn't just." I took a step forward, ignoring every instinct that screamed at me to bow, to apologise, to run. "Leo didn't kill Karen. Karen killed herself."
"HE REFUSED TO PROTECT HER—"
"He refused to be an accomplice to torture!" My voice cracked, but I continued. "Karen mistreated Aries! She kept her in the human world for days, weeks, as punishment! And when Leo tried to stop it, when he did the only thing he could to protect an innocent spirit, YOU punished him for it!"
The King was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was lower, but no less dangerous.
"THE LAW IS CLEAR. A SPIRIT WHO CAUSES THE DEATH OF THEIR MASTER—"
"The law is wrong!"
Another silence. Longer this time.
"YOU DARE—"
"Yes! I dare!" The tears were streaming down my face now, but I didn't care. "I dare because Leo has spent three years dying alone! Three years blaming himself for something that wasn't his fault! Three years visiting the grave of the woman he tried to stop from hurting others!"
I pointed at Leo, who was looking at me with an expression of absolute shock.
"Look at him! LOOK! Is this justice? A spirit who has dedicated his existence to protecting others, fading away because he tried to do the right thing?" My voice was failing, but I forced the words out. "If this is the law of the celestial world, then the law needs to change!"
The King stared at me for a long moment. His eyes were impossible to read, too old, too vast, too distant for a human mind to comprehend.
"YOU ARE BRAVE, LITTLE MAGE." His voice was almost… thoughtful. "BUT BRAVERY DOES NOT CHANGE THE LAW. LEO WAS JUDGED. THE SENTENCE WAS GIVEN. THERE IS NO APPEAL."
"Then create one!"
"THE LAW IS ABSOLUTE."
"You ARE the law!" I was shouting now, my throat raw. "You are the King! If anyone can change the rules, it's you! Or are you going to tell me you're so weak you can't admit when you've made a mistake?!"
The King's eyes shone dangerously.
"BE CAREFUL, CHILD. MY PATIENCE HAS LIMITS."
"And mine ran out three years ago, when you left an innocent spirit to die!"
The tension in the clearing was almost physical. I could feel my spirits trembling behind me, could feel the weight of the King's attention pressing on my shoulders like a mountain.
But I wasn't going to back down.
"Please." My voice came out broken this time. No longer anger, just desperation. "Please. Leo doesn't deserve this. No one deserves this. He just… he just wanted to protect someone. Isn't that what celestial spirits are supposed to do? Protect?"
The King didn't answer.
The silence stretched on, heavy and suffocating.
And then—
"She has a point, you know."
Azra'il's voice cut through the air like a blade.
I had almost forgotten she was there. She had been so quiet, so still in the shadows, that my mind had dismissed her as part of the scenery.
But now she was moving. Taking a step forward. Stepping out of the shadows into the moonlight.
The King turned to her, and I saw something I hadn't expected to see on the face of an all-powerful cosmic entity.
Curiosity.
"AND WHO ARE YOU, WHO DARES TO INTERRUPT—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
He simply… stopped.
I didn't understand what had happened. One second, Azra'il was just someone standing in the clearing. The next…
The air changed.
It wasn't something visible. It wasn't an attack, it wasn't magic, it was nothing I could name or describe. It was as if the very fabric of reality had tilted slightly. As if something that had been sleeping had opened one eye.
Just one eye.
For a split second.
And the Celestial Spirit King, the most powerful entity in the celestial world, the one who ruled over all the stars, the one before whom even the golden spirits bowed, faltered.
It wasn't much. An almost imperceptible tremor. A step back that could have been my imagination.
But I saw it.
And from the wide eyes of Taurus, Cancer, and Virgo, they saw it too.
"WHAT…" the King's voice came out different. Smaller. Hesitant. "THIS PRESENCE…"
Azra'il didn't answer. She just held his gaze, her expression perfectly neutral, as if she hadn't just made the Celestial Spirit King take a step back.
"You were saying something about the law being absolute," she said calmly. "About there being no appeal."
The King stared at her. His eyes, those eyes that contained galaxies, were fixed on her with an intensity I had never seen before. It wasn't anger. It wasn't arrogance.
It was caution.
"YOU…" the word came out almost as a whisper. "WHAT ARE YOU?"
"Someone who is listening to her argument." Azra'il indicated me with a minimal gesture. "And agreeing that three years of suffering is more than enough punishment for someone who tried to protect an innocent."
The silence that followed was different from the others. It wasn't the silence of judgement, or of anger, or of power.
It was the silence of someone reconsidering their certainties.
"The law exists for a reason," Azra'il continued, her voice almost gentle. "I understand that. Order is necessary. Consequences are necessary." She paused, and something changed in her expression, something distant, as if she were remembering words that were not originally hers. "But justice that does not consider the circumstances is not justice. It is just tyranny dressed in righteousness."
The King was silent.
"I knew someone once," Azra'il continued, her voice growing softer, "who taught me that true justice is not in punishing without mercy, but in recognising that even the fallen deserve a chance to rise again. That redemption is not something to be denied to those who genuinely seek to be better."
She took another step forward, and I swear I saw the King flinch slightly.
"You look at Leo and you see a spirit who caused the death of his master. But what did he really do? He refused to be an accomplice to cruelty. He protected someone who could not protect herself." Her voice hardened. "If your law punishes that, then your law is flawed. And a ruler who cannot recognise the flaws in their own rules is not a wise ruler; they are just a tyrant."
"YOU DARE—"
"I dare because someone has to." Azra'il cut him off, and there was something almost fierce in her voice now. "Punishment without purpose is cruelty. Justice without mercy is oppression. And three years of suffering for an act of compassion?" She shook her head slowly. "That isn't maintaining order. It is destroying the hope that doing the right thing is worthwhile."
The King was silent for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice had lost that thunderous quality. It was almost… thoughtful.
"YOU SPEAK AS SOMEONE WHO IS INTIMATELY ACQUAINTED WITH THE NATURE OF JUSTICE."
"I speak as someone who has learned that justice has many faces." Azra'il held his gaze. "It can be a sword or a shield. It can protect the innocent or crush those who have already fallen. It can be a guiding light or a consuming fire." She sighed. "The difference between justice and vengeance is the capacity to forgive. Between order and tyranny is the capacity to recognise when the law fails."
The King didn't answer, but I saw something change in his eyes.
"Leo erred? Perhaps. Were the consequences tragic? Yes. But he acted out of compassion, not malice. And if you cannot see the difference between the two, then you have chosen the wrong side of justice, the side that destroys instead of protects."
The silence that followed seemed to last an eternity.
"I SENSE AN ANCIENT SOUL IN YOU." The King's voice was almost reverent now. "SOMEONE WHO HAS SEEN TOO MUCH. LIVED TOO MUCH. LOST TOO MUCH."
Something passed over Azra'il's face, too quick for me to identify. Longing? Sadness? Recognition?
"Perhaps." She neither confirmed nor denied. "But what I know, I did not learn alone. Someone taught me, someone who chose to fall to stand beside the condemned. Who bore chains for the sins of others because she believed that even the most lost deserved a chance." Her voice grew softer, almost distant. "She showed me that the purest justice does not come from golden thrones or laws written in stone. It comes from those who have the courage to extend a hand to those everyone else has abandoned."
The Celestial Spirit King was silent, seeming to reflect on Azra'il's words.
Then the King turned to Leo.
"APPROACH."
Leo hesitated, looking at me with uncertainty. I nodded encouragingly, even though my heart was beating so hard I could barely breathe.
Slowly, leaning on the trees and stones, Leo walked until he stood before the King. He was a shadow of the spirit he should be, translucent, weak, almost invisible.
"THREE YEARS." The King said. "YOU HAVE SURVIVED FOR THREE YEARS IN THE HUMAN WORLD."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"MOST WOULD HAVE FADED IN MONTHS."
Leo didn't answer. There was nothing to say.
The King studied him for a long moment. Then, slowly, his eyes went to Karen's grave. To the flowers growing around it. To the obvious care with which the place was maintained.
"YOU STILL VISIT."
"Every day that I am able." Leo's voice was hoarse. "She was my master. Even with everything she did… she was still my master."
"DO YOU REGRET IT?"
"That I couldn't save her?" Leo closed his eyes. "Every day."
"AND PROTECTING ARIES?"
The question hung in the air.
Leo opened his eyes. And for the first time since I had found him in that clearing, I saw something besides guilt and exhaustion on his face.
I saw determination.
"No." The word came out firm. "If I could go back, I would do the same thing. Aries did not deserve to suffer. No one deserves to suffer like that."
The King was silent for a long moment.
And then, impossibly but truly, he smiled.
"LUCY HEARTFILIA."
I jumped at hearing my name. "Y-yes?"
"YOU HAVE LOYAL SPIRITS. BRAVE ONES." The King's eyes went to my spirits, who were still tense behind me. "AND YOU YOURSELF ARE… INTERESTING."
"Thank you?" It came out more as a question than a statement.
"I WILL RECONSIDER LEO'S SENTENCE."
My heart stopped.
"Reconsider?" My voice came out high. "Does that mean—"
"IT MEANS THAT THE LAW MAY NEED… TO BEND." The King looked at Azra'il as he said this, and there was something in his expression I couldn't identify. Respect? Caution? Both? "AS WAS WISELY SUGGESTED."
Azra'il just tilted her head slightly, accepting the words without comment.
"LEO." The King turned to the kneeling spirit. "YOU HAVE SPENT THREE YEARS PAYING FOR A CRIME THAT, PERHAPS, WAS NOT ENTIRELY YOURS. YOU HAVE SUFFERED. YOU HAVE REGRETTED. YOU HAVE NEVER STOPPED HONOURING YOUR MASTER, EVEN AFTER EVERYTHING."
Leo was trembling now. His whole body was shaking with something that could be hope, or fear, or both.
"THE SENTENCE OF BANISHMENT IS…" the King paused, "…SUSPENDED. YOU MAY RETURN TO THE CELESTIAL WORLD. YOU MAY HEAL."
"Your Majesty…" Leo's voice failed him.
"BUT." The King raised a hand. "YOU WILL NEED A NEW MASTER. A NEW CONTRACT. ARE YOU WILLING TO SERVE AGAIN?"
Leo looked at me.
I looked at him.
And before anyone could say anything, I took a step forward.
"I accept."
The King looked at me. Leo looked at me. My spirits looked at me.
"I DID NOT ASK THE QUESTION OF YOU, LITTLE MAGE."
"I know. But I already gave my answer before." I held the King's gaze, even though my legs were trembling. "I said there would be six spirits. And I don't usually lie."
For a moment, no one said anything.
Then Leo started to laugh. It was a wet, broken laugh, full of relief and gratitude and something I could only describe as hope being reborn.
"You're mad," he said, for the second time that night. "Completely, absolutely mad."
"So they say. Well?" I held out my hand to him. "Do you accept?"
Leo looked at me for a long moment. His eyes, which had been so dull, so tired, were shining now. With tears, yes. But also with something more.
"Yes." His voice was firm for the first time. "I accept. And I promise I will protect you. With everything I have. Until the end."
The King watched the exchange in silence. Then, slowly, he extended a hand.
"LET IT BE DONE."
Golden light exploded from his hand, completely enveloping Leo. I saw his body solidify, the translucence disappearing, the colour returning to his face. He was healing. Right before my eyes.
And in the air, shining like a newborn star, a golden key materialised.
Leo's key.
It floated gently into my hand, the metal warm against my palm. It was heavier than I expected, not physically, but in some other way. As if it carried the weight of three years of suffering, and the promise of something new.
"THE CONTRACT IS MADE." The King's voice echoed through the clearing. "LEO THE LION NOW SERVES LUCY HEARTFILIA."
I held the key against my chest, smiling through my tears.
"Welcome to the family, Leo."
The King began to fade, his titanic form dissolving into golden light. But before he vanished completely, he looked one last time at Azra'il.
"WE WILL MEET AGAIN." It wasn't a threat. It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact, the kind of certainty only ancient entities could have.
Azra'il held his gaze with that unshakeable calm I was beginning to recognise.
"Perhaps," she said simply.
And then the King was gone.
The golden light slowly dissipated, leaving only the silver light of the moon to illuminate the clearing. The sound of the waterfall returned to fill the silence, constant, eternal, indifferent to the dramas of mortals and immortals.
My spirits slowly stood up, clearly still processing what had just happened.
"Lucy-san…" Taurus began, his voice strangely serious for him. "That was…"
"Insane," Cancer completed. "Completely insane, ebi."
"The Princess was very brave," Virgo said, and there was something that could be admiration in her normally monotonous voice. "May I receive a punishment for not being as brave?"
"No, Virgo. No one is going to be punished."
"A shame."
I laughed, a half-hysterical, half-relieved sound, and turned to Leo.
He was standing now. Truly standing, without needing to lean on anything. The colour had completely returned to his face, and his eyes… his eyes were shining with that light I had seen so many times in the guild. That charming, confident, full-of-life glint.
"So," I said, holding up his key, "I think this is yours. I mean, mine. I mean… ours?"
Leo laughed, and this time it was a real laugh, clear, light, free.
"Yours," he said. "The key is yours, Lucy. I am your spirit now." He gave an elaborate bow, his natural charm returning in full force. "Leo the Lion, leader of the twelve zodiac spirits, at your service."
"You don't have to be so formal…"
"Ah, but I want to be." He straightened up, and there was something more serious behind the smile. "You saved me, Lucy. You faced the Celestial Spirit King for me. You…" his voice wavered slightly. "You gave me a second chance when I thought I didn't deserve one."
"Everyone deserves a second chance, Leo."
"Not everyone has someone willing to fight for it." He looked at me with an intensity that made me blush. "I won't forget this. Never."
The moment was interrupted by Taurus clearing his throat loudly.
"This is all very nice and all, but Lucy-san looks like she's about to faint at any second."
He was right. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, I could feel the weight of magical exhaustion hitting me like a wave. Summoning three golden spirits at once, keeping them here while shouting at the Celestial Spirit King, all the emotional tension…
My legs gave way.
"Whoa!" Leo caught me before I hit the ground, holding me easily. "Hey, hey, easy. I've got you."
"Sorry," I murmured, my vision blurring at the edges. "I think I overdid it a bit."
"A bit?" Cancer shook his head. "You summoned three of us, faced the King, and made a new contract. That's not 'a bit', ebi."
"The Princess needs to rest," Virgo declared. "We should return now."
"Yes, go." I forced a smile. "Thank you, everyone. For everything."
One by one, my spirits disappeared in flashes of golden light. Taurus was the last, giving an awkward wave before he vanished.
And then it was just me, Leo, and Azra'il.
"Can you walk?" Azra'il asked, approaching.
"With help," Leo answered for me, adjusting me in his arms. "I'll carry her back."
"I can walk," I protested weakly.
"You can barely keep your eyes open."
"…Alright, you have a point."
The walk back to Magnolia was silent, but not uncomfortable.
Leo insisted on carrying me on his back, which was simultaneously embarrassing and comforting. He was solid again, completely solid, with no trace of the transparency that had frightened me so much. The warmth of his body was real, the strength in the arms that held me was real.
He was alive.
"You don't have to carry me the whole way," I murmured against his shoulder. "I can try to walk a little."
"Lucy, you summoned three golden spirits, shouted at the King of the celestial world, and made a new contract. All in less than an hour." Leo adjusted his grip on my legs. "You will be carried and you will like it."
"That sounded strangely authoritarian for someone who just became MY spirit."
"Consider it preventive protection. It's part of the contract."
"No, it's not."
"It is now."
Azra'il walked beside us in silence, her steps so quiet that sometimes I forgot she was there. The moonlight lit the path between the trees, turning the forest into something almost magical.
"Azra'il," I said, my voice half-slurred with sleep. "Thank you. For… you know. Everything."
She didn't answer immediately. When she spoke, her voice was softer than I was used to.
"You did most of the work. I just… helped to tip the scales."
"Tip the scales?" Leo let out an incredulous laugh. "You made the Celestial Spirit King take a step back. I've never seen anyone do that. In millennia."
"He was just being cautious."
"He was AFRAID."
Azra'il didn't answer, which was basically a confirmation.
"What are you?" Leo asked, curiosity evident in his voice. "Really. Because I am a celestial spirit. I know power. And what I felt from you…"
"Someone with too many problems for a therapy session to solve."
Leo blinked, clearly not expecting that answer.
"That… doesn't answer my question."
"I know."
"Are you going to give me a real answer?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because the only time I told my full story to someone, it took a tentacled goddess forcing me to open my mouth." Azra'il shrugged. "You don't have a tentacled goddess, do you?"
"I… don't?"
"Then no."
I laughed quietly against Leo's shoulder. It was so… Azra'il.
"A tentacled goddess," Leo repeated slowly. "Are you being serious or is this some kind of joke I don't get?"
"Yes."
"Yes what?"
"Yes."
Leo looked at me with a helpless expression. I just shrugged. Welcome to the club of people who will never completely understand Azra'il.
"One thing I can say," she continued after a moment. "What I did today, I did because it was right. Not because I wanted something in return."
"I know," I said softly. "That's how you are. Behind all that 'I don't care about anything' thing, you do care. A lot."
Azra'il was silent for a long moment.
"Perhaps," she said finally. "But if you tell anyone, I'll deny it."
"Your secret is safe with me."
We reached Magnolia as the sky was beginning to lighten on the horizon.
The city was still asleep, the streets empty except for a few early-rising merchants setting up their stalls. Leo gently put me down when we got near my flat, keeping a hand on my elbow to make sure I wouldn't fall.
"Can you get up on your own?"
"I think so." My legs were still wobbly, but at least they were working. "You… are you going to be alright?"
Leo smiled, that bright, charming smile I knew from the guild, but with something more now. Something softer. More real.
"I'm going to be great. For the first time in three years, I'm going to be great." He held my hand, the one still holding his key. "Thank you, Lucy. For not giving up on me."
"Never."
He leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead, a gesture that should have been romantic, but felt more like… gratitude. Family.
"I need to return to the celestial world for a while. To really recover. But when you need me…" he squeezed my hand. "…just call. I will always answer."
"I know."
He shone golden for a moment, and then he was gone.
I stood there for a second, Leo's key warm in my hand, processing everything that had happened.
"You should sleep."
Azra'il's voice made me jump. I had forgotten she was still there.
"Gods, you need to stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Appearing out of nowhere and scaring me!"
"I was here the whole time."
"…That doesn't help."
Azra'il almost smiled. Almost.
"Go to sleep, Lucy. You've earned a rest."
"And you?"
She shrugged. "I don't need as much sleep as normal humans."
"That's unfair."
"Life is unfair." She started to walk away, then stopped and looked back. "Lucy."
"Yes?"
"What you did today… it was brave. Stupid, too, but mostly brave." There was something almost warm in her voice. "You're a good celestial mage. Your spirits are lucky to have you."
Before I could answer, she disappeared into the pre-dawn shadows.
I climbed the stairs to my flat with the last of my remaining energy.
The door had barely closed behind me when my legs finally gave out for good. I managed to drag myself to the bed, didn't bother to change clothes or take off my shoes, and collapsed onto the mattress.
Leo's key was in my hand, the metal still warm.
Six golden keys now. Aquarius, Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Sagittarius… and Leo.
A family.
I smiled at the dark ceiling of my room, the exhaustion finally pulling me into sleep.
The last thing I thought before I passed out was that I had done the right thing. That sometimes, doing the right thing meant shouting at cosmic entities and refusing to accept unjust laws.
And that I would do it all again, without hesitation.
For any of them.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE 💬
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I was trying to be a responsible author.
Focused. Organized. Mentally stable.
Clearly, that experiment has failed.
So instead of pretending I have control over this story, I've decided to weaponize the chaos.
I'm thinking about doing a new Bonus Q&A Chapter, which is basically me handing the steering wheel to you and hoping we don't crash into devastation.
You can ask anything.
About the fanfic.
About Azra'il and her collection of lifetime traumas.
About Erza and the structural integrity of her patience.
About Mirajane's suspiciously sweet smile.
About Lucy suffering (again).
About future arcs.
About cursed theories you came up with at 3AM.
Or even about me, the author, yes, I am voluntarily walking into danger.
Drop your questions in the comments or send them privately.
Later, I'll pick the most interesting, chaotic, unhinged, or emotionally dangerous ones and turn them into a bonus chapter.
However.
If your question is too dangerous…
I might let Azra'il answer it instead.
And none of us are prepared for that level of cosmic sarcasm and morally ambiguous honesty.
The box is open.
Do your worst.