Surprise! I'm, er, just going to leave this here. Lengthier AN down the bottom if you're really that interested.

Last time...

"OH MY GOD!"

"YOU STOLE MY BODY!"

"Everybody just calm down!" Happy, or rather, Erza in Happy's body commanded.

"C-calm down?" cried Lucy in Gray's body, "I-I c-can't when I know th-there's a s-s-strip-per in m-my b-body!"

Gray, in Lucy's body, at that point had been ready to pull his/her shirt off, but seeing the deadly glare on his own face thought better of it.

"You're so hot Lucy!" he yelled, but immediately regretted his choice of words.

"Why you..." muttered Gray's body before it pounced on him. Hands pulled and tugged on hair and Lucy's body found itself pinned under Gray's in a very compromising position.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Gray cried, trying to wiggle his way out, but finding it harder in the different body. It was a surreal experience, having his own face glare at him like that... "I meant you're almost as warm as Natsu! Like you eat hot coals for breakfast or something."

"No excuse!"

"Er, Gr- I mean Lucy? You do realize that's your own body you're beating up, right?" Happy in Erza's body called, giggling in such a way that no one watching would ever be able to look at Erza the same again.

Lucy ignored him, freezing Gray's hands in place when he once again reached for his/her shirt. The two then proceeded to roll around on the ground, trying to best the other, the whole time Gray was complaining about the unfairness of Lucy being able to use his magic, yet he wasn't able to figure out her own.

Erza turned to look at Natsu, to see what he thought of all of this. She had on many occasions seen how protective the Dragon Slayer was over his childhood friend, and had at one point been glad she hadn't been trapped under his fiery glare. Anyone who dared to mess with Lucy while Natsu was around always left the vicinity with more burns and scorch marks than considered healthy.

Yet, when Erza's (read, Happy's) eyes found Loki's body, she was shocked to see that he wasn't even paying attention.

The mage was slouched in one of the nearby stools with his head in his hands. By his side, Natsu's body was giving him a worried look, occasionally muttering things too low for Erza to hear. It may have been a trick of the light, but Erza could have sworn that for a second, the shades-wearing wizard had become slightly transparent.

"Natsu, are you ok?" asked Erza, concern for her friend heavy in Happy's voice.

Gray and Lucy paused in their wrestling match to look up at their friend. They too noticed how sickly the ginger suddenly looked. Happy frowned, attempting to fly over to nestle in Loki's body's hair, but that plan was quickly nixed when Erza's body fell like a stone to the floor. Lucy would have laughed if she weren't so concerned for her friend.

Loki's body shook, unable to find the strength to sit up properly to face its friends. Inside, Natsu was feeling terrible. It was the worst he had ever felt, and that included when he had contracted Dragon-pox when he was seven. He felt like throwing up, but it seemed there was nothing in his stomach to begin with. He also felt light-headed and dizzy- so much so, that Natsu could barely form a coherent thought. Beside him, Natsu's body muttered curses, apologizing over and over again.

"You- You're sick, aren't you?" muttered Natsu, his eyes blearily focussing on his own body. Seeing his body standing there was so surreal, but he couldn't appreciate the thought. Not feeling the way he was.

Loki gulped, nodding. "Yeah, came down with a cold a couple of days ago. Sorry, bud."

Natsu frowned.

"This isn't a cold. You've been like this for ages, I can tell. You wouldn't have been able to hide it from us if you weren't used to it," said the fire mage.

"What are you saying?" asked Lucy, Gray's body running over to stand beside the slouched-over form. She glared at Loki accusingly.

"D-don't Luce. It's not his fault. I'm actually sort of getting used to it now," said Natsu. He sat up a little straighter, doing his best to try and grin at his best friend, which was hard, considering said best friend currently resided in his enemy's body.

While Lucy fussed over her best friend, Loki was having an internal meltdown. He was immortal, damn it! After millennia of practicing magic and gaining knowledge about its intricacies, he should have been able to recognize the spell the idiot was casting and put a stop to it before it had the chance to do any real damage. Now, because of his lack of observation skills, Natsu looked as if he were about to fade from existence, and it was all Loki's fault. He hadn't realized that the effects of his...exile would remain with his body.

Which, in retrospect, made absolute sense. Loki's body wasn't born from the conventional sense, nor was it corporeal when in its natural state. The form he inhabited whilst on the mortal plane was created from pure magic and sustained only through willpower and constant effort. His tie to his celestial body, the constellation Leo, was really all that kept him going nowadays. Even that was getting dimmer each night.

Should he tell the others of his situation, though? It wasn't like they could remedy this particular 'ailment'. Lucy could probably get him closer to the spirit world than any other, but he knew she lacked the power to summon the King. It wasn't like he had anything to lose, certainly if he wasn't able to hold out for much longer. Besides, it wasn't only his life at stake now: it was Natsu's as well. One of the first true friends he had made at this amazing guild.

"You're right, Natsu," relented Loki, acting as if a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "I've been like this for a while. A long time, actually. Not many would have lived as long as I have."

It seemed to shock those gathered that he had freely admitted this. Perhaps they thought he would put up more of a fight?

"Why didn't you tell anyone? Maybe if you told Master, he could have taken you to Porlyusica and found a cure by now!" squeaked Erza.

Loki huffed a defeated sigh. It was strange for Lucy, Gray, Happy and Erza to see the salamander's body and face seem so despondent. Natsu always exuded an aura of confidence and bravery that walked the very thin line between courage and extreme stupidity. It was obvious to everyone that he was uncomfortable revealing his weakness so openly. Loki was a known womanizer, and easily one of the most charismatic members of the guild. Any who worked with him on a job would quickly claim he was a natural leader, as well as a good listener. He had the potential to be as destructive as any other member of the guild, but when it came down to the money (and the debt he owed Cana thanks to their constant gambling), he limited his collateral damage to a minimum.

All-in-all, it was almost unheard of to see this side of the mage (especially while wearing Natsu's face).

"Trust me," said Loki, "there's no cure for this."

"But-" started Happy, his perpetual optimism shining through on Erza's face before he was interrupted.

"Leave it alone, Happy," said Loki.

SLAP!

Loki felt Natsu's head whip suddenly to the side, propelled by the force of the slap. Gray's hand had felt colder than normal upon touching his face, which could have been explained by who's body he was inhabiting. He didn't think too hard about it, however, as he was reeling from the shock of being slapped. Lucy had slapped him.

Sure, the celestial mage could hold her own in the violent guild, but she rarely raised her hand with such force towards another guild member without good reason. Raising his eyes and cricking his neck, Loki realized he wasn't the only one shocked by this act of agression. Erza's face looked nervous, while the woman herself managed to contort Happy's face into an appropriately surprised expression. Gray had stopped fiddling with Lucy's clothes, while Loki's own face looked at him with a mixed expression of pity and annoyance (the latter, Loki supposed, was due to the fact that it was Natsu's body Lucy had harmed).

"You idiot," growled Lucy. Her tone was even more threatening conveyed through Gray's vocal chords.

"I- uh, what?"

"You should say something, no matter what! You might've given up hope, but it doesn't mean the people around you would. Even if at the end of it all, you don't find a cure, your loved ones would still appreciate your time was ending, rather than just finding a dead body the next morning! It's selfish, irresponsible, and don't get me started on what it does to the people who find you like that-"

Lucy's tirade was cut off by a sob pushing itself past her throat. Natsu recognised the look of despair reflected in Gray's eyes as one Lucy had expressed previously, but before he could even begin to reach out to her, comfort her, Lucy was pushing past spectators and running through the guild doors.

"Wait, Lucy!" cried Happy, but was ignored.

"I- I don't-" began Loki.

"No, you don't get to talk," interrupted Natsu, "The only reason you're not charcoal at the moment is because that would just make Lucy more upset. That, and you're inhabiting my body."

"That's two reasons, Natsu," muttered Happy, but again he was ignored.

Loki looked at Natsu with a strange mixture of confusion, apprehension, and sorrow. Which, to Natsu, was an extremely strange experience. It definitely redefined the term 'out of body' experience for him. Reaching out with a pale hand, Natsu silenced Happy's next response by physically halting Erza's mouth from moving. Beside him (her, this was getting confusing), Gray began fiddling with the hem of Lucy's shirt. It seemed to Natsu that he was struggling to connect the dots on a picture he had only half seen.

Not being a fan of mind games or the like, Natsu practically ordered Gray spit out whatever he was thinking. After a couple of brief vocal protests at being ordered around by a 'stupid, hot-headed lizard', the ice mage complied.

"Lucy's outburst just then… it was about her mum, wasn't it?" Gray asked.

Natsu was surprised at Grays perception.

"How did you figure that out?" he asked.

Gray hesitated.

"She mentioned something about her mum when we were on Galuna Island. It was just a brief, passing statement, but it seemed to me that while she loved her mum, her mother had done something to betray her," Erza said in lieu of Gray's silence. She too had been present for that conversation, though it had taken her until that moment to see things from their emotional aspect.

Natsu noticed that this did help with Loki's guilt.

"Look, its not my story to tell, but you all are sort of owed an explanation, especially you, Loki, considering she chose you to project her experience onto," said Natsu. "What you need to know is that Lucy idolised her mother. She was a celestial mage, and Lucy wanted to be just like her when she grew up. Anyway, when Luce was eleven, her mum died really suddenly. The doctors said she had been sick for a long time, but Luce hadn't known a thing."

Erza had lifted a paw to her mouth, picking up just why Lucy had lost it to the extent that she had.

"That's… the reason why she snapped at Loki, its because she…" Erza didn't want to finish that thought.

Natsu nodded sadly.

"From what I understand of what Luce told me of that day, she was the one to find her mum like that. I don't know exactly how it happened, but that would be hard on any kid."

Natsu felt someone grip his bicep tightly, and he turned to see himself- Loki- looking extremely apologetic. "I am really, really sorry, Natsu."

The salamander's voice did the impossible. It turned to ice.

"Sure, it would've been nice to know what was going on with you, but the one you need to say sorry to is Lucy."

"Why don't you go find Lucy and bring her back here? I'm going to get Levy to see what she can do about reversing this magic, and we're going to need Lucy here when we do it," said Erza, overcoming emotional drama the only way she knew how: with a mission to distract her.

Loki scoffed. It was a self-depreciating sound that should never again be uttered by Natsu's vocal chords.

"I really don't think she'd want to see me. Natsu's her m- best friend, after all. I'd just upset her more," said Loki.

"Well, you are wearing Natsu's skin, so it's basically the same thing," mumbled Gray.

Natsu would have been offended, but at that moment he was too busy trying not to outwardly show the bout of weakness that had just overcome him. When Gray's attempt to start a fight and lighten the atmosphere failed, silence fell on the quintet. Frustrated, Erza walked to Happy's side to pull a sword out of her scabbard.

There was something indescribably terrifying about a sword-wielding, blue, cattish Erza, so Natsu didn't blame Loki when he ran off to do Erza's bidding.

Loki didn't know Lucy well. Of course, he knew the bare basics, what everyone at Fairy Tail knew about Lucy Heartfilia, curtesy of Natsu. He knew she specialised in Celestial magic. He knew she spent time with Natsu and his dragon father in her childhood. Loki supposed he also knew other, lesser known things because of his previous... occupation. The news of Lyra's salvation at Lucy's hands had not escaped his ears, nor had he ignored that she was the progeny of Layla Heartfilia, the previous owner of three of his celestial brethren. But those were all just facts he had learned without the emotional entanglement that came with experiencing those things first hand. He was grateful to Lucy, sure, for what she did for Lyra (and the others), but he couldn't help but be a little jealous. There was no benevolent wizard around to save himself and Aries, and Loki was paying the price of that.

That was initially why he had avoided Lucy upon her arrival at Fairy Tail. She reminded him of everything that had gone wrong, of everything that could have been. He didn't have the same fear of Lucy like he had of all other Celestial mages. By now, he knew that she treated he Spirits extremely well, and he respected her greatly for that. But he was ancient, and tired, a kind of bone-deep weariness that came from the emotional upheaval that he had gone through in the past five-ish years.

Loki kicked at a stone along the pathway, accidentally sending it flying into the bay. He didn't know where Lucy lived, nor where she normally hung out, and so the only way he had any hope of finding her was to use an unfamiliar magic. He had hoped to use the magic that came to any spirit naturally, one that linked mages to the celestial bodies. Any spirit could determine the location of a Celestial mage, contracted or not. It often came in useful when he felt like opening independent gates. It was a lot easier in his earlier years to linger in the human world if there was a Celestial mage nearby. However, things were different in this body. He didn't have the same magic, he was relying on Natsu's instincts. It seemed that he and Lucy had a much deeper tie than they let on- probably even more than the two were aware of. It was like Lucy's magic had once touched Natsu's, creating a link between the two. The echoes of that link lingered, like they had done it more than once The pull was muted now, but it was enough for him to garner the general direction in which Lucy had fled.

In retrospect, Loki realised what he had inadvertently stirred up in Lucy could have- should have -been avoided. He remembered the day that Aquarius, Capricorn, and Cancer had congregated at the edge of space that created the gap between the spirit and human dimensions to farewell the soul of their owner. It had been a sad time for all the Zodiac, it was rare they fell into the hands of a wielder who treat them as beings, rather than tools.

It just... hadn't translated at all to Loki. Layla Heartfilia had been more than a friend to the spirits.

She had been mother to Lucy.

Loki knew this, but again, there was the problem with the consolidation of human emotion and interaction. Spirits had emotions, sure, but rarely was death or hunger or sickness seen by the many spirits that inhabited their world. Only the spirits with strong enough ties to the human world, enough to be called through by a Celestial Wizard, had any idea of the troubles that normally plagued the human race. Even then, some of the concepts were difficult to understand. (Though unfortunately, he was quite familiar with the darker aspects of human nature)

"I don't want to talk to you."

Lucy's voice was like a physical shock to Loki, enough that it dragged him out of his thoughts for long enough for him to realise he had walked right up to her without realising.

She was sitting on the pier, overlooking the waves below, crashing into the beach. The towering structure of the guild hall provided a minuscule measure of protection from the mid-morning sun. Gray's shoulders were stiff, and from what Loki could see, she had been crying.

Loki wasn't very good at handling negative emotions.

"Did you know that if the bond between Mage and Spirit is strong enough, the Spirit begins to take on some of the stronger qualities of their contractor?" asked Loki.

He knew that going down this path would drag up memories better left forgotten, answer questions that should be left alone, but he owed this much to Lucy. She had saved Lyra, Scorpio, and Canis Major. Her mother was a great friend to Capricorn, Cancer, and Aquarius.

Lucy didn't seem to react to Loki's statement, but Loki knew she heard. He pushed on.

"I've seen my companions change many, many times when their keys changed hands. But none of those times compare to the day that you were born."

Lucy went stiff, though she didn't turn to face Loki. He sighed, knowing that this was going to be painful, but cathartic.

For both of them.

"Cancer completely lost his cool, rushing to practice styles that little girls would love on Virgo and Aries. Capricorn actually smiled. I mean, he wasn't always a stiff robot-goat-man per se, but this smile reached his eyes. It was a massive thing. But the biggest change was in Aquarius. You know how she is: stubborn and foul-tempered, but it took all of my strength to keep her in the spirit world when you were born, because she didn't want to miss a moment. She cried. I have spent millennia by her side, and I can count the number of times that has happened on one hand.

"Do you know why she cried?" Loki asked. By then, Lucy had turned around to face him, completely enraptured. It was more than a little disconcerting to reveal such private things to someone with Gray's face, but if Loki knew anything, it was the person's spirit that counted.

"I don't..." Lucy answered softly, despite the rhetorical nature of the question.

"She cried because your mother cried. You had become the most important thing in both worlds to Layla Heartfilia, and that translated strongly to the three Zodiac she had under her care. Your mother loved you so, so much."

Lucy was sobbing now- a rather messy look on Gray's face. She apparently didn't care how Loki knew all this, but the words resonated enough in her, held enough of the truth that she knew, for her to believe it strongly.

"B-but why didn't sh-she tell me?" she cried, ice forming around her hands. It was curious Natsu's magic lead him straight to Lucy, even though her own magic still inhabited her body. Perhaps Loki's theory was wrong?

Loki knelt down next to her, a comforting hand going to her hair. This was hard for him to talk about, though not nearly as hard as it was for Lucy to hear it. He missed the Zodiac, their ties stronger than those of best friends. Siblings might have been a closer comparison, though even that paled to the real thing.

"My best guess? She didn't want to hurt you."

This was apparently the wrong thing to say.

"Hurt me? Hurt me? Not telling me hurt me more!" Lucy's voice was steadily rising in pitch, hurting Loki's (Natsu's) sensitive ears. "Yeah, I would've been hurt knowing mama was dying, but do you know what hurt more? Waking up, right next to her cold, dead body. Do you know what that does to an eleven year old?"

Suddenly, Loki was being hugged. He realised that Gray was right to some extent- his physical form was a source of comfort to Lucy. So he let her sob into his vest, not minding the mess it was making. He was sure that Natsu would get over the fact that it was technically Gray's bodily fluids making his clothes unwearable, considering it was all for Lucy's sake.

"I'm sorry, Lucy," said Loki quietly, "I know that you don't know me that well, but I owe you a lot for saving my companions. You made- are making their lives better. I'm so, so sorry."

After a while, Lucy began to calm down. Her body occasionally was overcome with sobs, but it had calmed her enough for her to relinquish her tight grip on him. Loki didn't envy Natsu for the bruises he'd get for this. This thought reminded Loki of the second part of the dual reason he was sent on this particular task.

"Not to seem insensitive, or anything, but we need to get back to the guild ASAP," Loki said, pausing long enough to gain Lucy's acquiescence.

Loki stood quickly, becoming envious of the strength beneath Natsu's skin. What he wouldn't give to be able to move like he used to.

A firm, cold grip on his wrist stopped him from turning to go back, however. Loki didn't meet Lucy's eyes.

"This isn't over, Loki. I might be more than slightly upset at how much this situation resembles my mother's, but that hasn't distracted me from the obvious. I don't know what your relationship is to the other Zodiac, but its obvious you're a spirit, which is why Natsu is having problems in your body," a quick, harsh squeeze reminded Loki that it hadn't escaped Lucy's attention that he wasn't Natsu, despite her earlier reliance on him, "I don't know why you're in this world, or how, but I know its why-" Lucy stopped her tirade. Her eyes widened.

"You're fading, aren't you?" she asked, and Loki wasn't quick enough to hide his shock, "Somehow, you've been locked out of the Spirit World, and you can't return, and its causing this world's magic to slowly kill you."

Lucy's expression quickly turned to one of a mixture of horror and pity. Loki hated that look. Especially when it was directed at him. A reminder of their more pressing circumstances were in order.

"Look, I'll explain later, but I don't think you want Gray to be in your body for very long. When I left, he was quite consistently playing with the hem of your shirt."

It turned out that Loki and Lucy made it back to the guild just in time for the spell to be reversed. Levy had explained that the spell was an ancient blessing, and Loki vaguely remembered watching it being performed at wedding ceremonies. It would combine the two magics of the wizards in a safe environment so that they could form a link like the one that functioned between Natsu and Lucy in the present day. That was why, Loki supposed, the spell had worked in the first place. Others had read the entire flyer out loud before Natsu, but no one had encountered problems anywhere near the scope of theirs. The presence of Loki himself must have messed with the magic enough for it to become confused: it was a form of spirit magic, after all, and his current state would have been like a beacon to it.

Despite his musing, however, it wasn't enough to distract Loki from running from the guild upon the return of his natural body.

So um. Sorry? It's been, what? Two years? Two and a half?

I never intended on abandoning this story-still don't. I won't bore you with the details (mainly a strange combination of life and procrastination).

My writing style has changed drastically, and now that I'm no longer a weeaboo fourteen year old, I can go back and edit this story so it makes more sense. The next chapter, if its not a continuation of this one, will be an interlude of sorts, that sort of explains some of the events between Layla's death, Lucy's arrival at the guild, and the events of Lullaby/Galuna. They're not gonna be full story arcs, but just enough so that future chapters make sense.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck by this story, reviewed it, spammed me with PM's. You guys are actually the ones who really make me want to write this thing. I'm a sucker for making people happy, so I'll endeavour to do just that! Its meant so much that some of you actually like this sorta cliche retelling. Hopefully it continues to live up to expectations.

I even received some fanart while I was on hiatus- which, if you haven't noticed, I'm actually using as a cover for the story. Check out the full size thing at www . deviantart art / Fairy-Tail-Charcoal-Heart-fanart-363299662 Thank you so much to Ritsukachoo for making it! I love it!

I'll try not to wait until I'm stuck in bed with tonsillitis when I'm supposed to be sitting a chemistry exam again to update. I'm actually at uni now (doing all sorts of adult things (not really)), which, funnily enough, means I have more time than when I was in high school to write.

No but seriously, I love you guys. You're all great.