#celestialwarlock

I just can’t bear to separate Ophiuchus from Yukino, man. Her summoning that snake at the GMG was too iconic for me to get her out of Yukino’s contract. Natsu definitely gets Taurus, Loke, and Aries, although I’m not sure if Libra or Virgo is his style, AU or not. 

If I were the one writing this, I’d go on a much slower route with collecting or even introducing the gold keys at all. They are supposed to be the only ones of their kind in the entire damn world (and in canon, all 13 of them just happen to be floating around Fiore, one country???). I’d leave Natsu with silver keys and slowly collecting more as he traveled, getting gold ones so rarely that you can’t imagine him having all 12 at any point. That is, after all, what’d make it worthy of being a life goal, as opposed to them just falling into canon Lucy’s lap.

Also no offense to Zeref but [ axes Zeref ]. Axe-ing the dragon parents plot too, because as tired of dragons as I am, I’m taking any chance I can to avoid having to deal with them any more. You know what, fuck Acnologia too. The only long-term goal I’d keep from the original is the drama behind Natsu being a demon without knowing it.

Gray and Lucy, Natsu’s best friends, both use holy magic. Imagine if, after finding out the secret, they have a crisis because they’ve been friends with a demon the whole time, and they test it out while he’s asleep and their holy magic burns him the way demons do? Natsu ends up with a small scar he doesn’t remember getting the next morning. Is their friendship with Natsu wrong, or is their desire to kill demons wrong?

In canon, the way Lucy and Taurus met seems to have been in some field. No big “finding the key” thing, Lucy just walked up on a horny bull man as far as I can tell. So I’m capitalizing on Celestial Spirits manifesting in the human world by themselves, which allows for spirits like Aquarius, Pisces, and Cetus to be actual hostile entities. And while we’re at it, that’s probably how Natsu and Taurus met--Natsu beating Taurus in a fight and becoming partners with him.

Really? Oh wow. I have definitely forgotten all about this. Thanks for letting me know!

But why was she missing the Aquarius key? I thought she’d always had it?

I think the best answer to that is...sort of? Most of my writing is relationship rather than plot-centric so I haven’t written a “quake superhero/vigilante story” per se but I do have quite a few where she is in that role as part of the story. I’ve linked several of them below, I hope you find something you like!

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this one is an (multichap) AU, but she has a significant role and it’s fairly vigilante-ish. Fitz and Simmons are also prominent characters. unfortunately I haven’t written for it for a while because the lack of feedback was killing the mood but if people are actually interested in it I’m keen to pick it back up

she’s working with Fitz and Simmons (who are also quite prominent characters) in this one, which is sort of an alternate ending to the Aida storyline, & one of my more action-centric stories. a completed 5-part multichap

this oneshot is very Daisy-centric, and relatively dark compared to most of my work. Set in S3/4 hiatus, Daisy struggles with substance abuse and harmful thoughts as she tries to shake Hive’s addiction/withdrawal

in this oneshot she is out vigilante-ing (S3 hiatus), and attacked by a new weapon, she calls on her friends for help

in this oneshot she is in contact with Fitz while she’s vigilante-ing, & she uses the Quake persona to reach out.

this one and this one are onehots set while she’s out vigilante-ing in S3/S4, with Daisy contemplating vigilante life vs her relationship with the team

this one is a canon-compat oneshot basically, a slightly alternate version of when she comes to visit Simmons in early S4

this oneshot is set in the future. Daisy is taking over directorship of Shield.

there’s probably also some daisy-as-a-superhero/agent in here

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Mmn, I wouldn’t say they intentionally complement each others’ skills. The Pisces-Libra combo could work with any other offensive spirit in place of Libra, or with just Libra by herself, it’s just a very dynamic magic.

And I wouldn’t involve other Zodiacs because that swiftly increases their number to much bigger heights. Chinese Zodiac has 12 spirits of its own, the Celtic one has 13, the Hindu zodiac is the same as the Western one, etc.

Oh and in the AU, Natsu isn't a demon, his a Heartfilia. Natsu Heartfila, Rogue is the demon, ERD, Etherious Ryos Dragneel. Lucy is from the past.

Star Dresses are something I’ve gone into before, and I’ll reiterate that while I like the concept of a power that allows her to fight alongside her spirits more directly, it still fails to correct the main issue with Lucy’s power (that being that, as holder magic, she is deprived of all of them, dresses included, if her keys are taken). Outside that, the Star Dresses are also sort of bland themselves, since we already know what sorts of powers Lucy will be able to use in them before we even see them. 

On Lucy’s magical development:

Regarding her strength, I actually think it’s pretty good. Uranometria is introduced in the Nirvana arc, and from then on Lucy can use it by summoning Gemini. By the GMG, she can multiple summon and combine powers. By Tartaros, she can cast Uranometria by herself, unaided, and can summon three spirits at once and summon the Celestial Spirit King. Her growth has actually superceded a lot of other characters, the only problem is that we never notice because she’s usually never given time to shine. It also helps that Uranometria is absurdly powerful and literally killed Jackal in one hit. 

On the flip side, did I mention that Uranometria is the only non-spirit-summon spell Lucy ever learns? Aside from the Star Dresses, which as mentioned above are a bit bland. I made an entire list of potential ideas for spells based on astronomy for Jellal, and Lucy is even more bare-bones. I agree with what @ac-fairytail said: if Mashima really wanted Lucy to fight alongside her spirits, then instead of giving her Star Dresses, he should’ve just given her more straightforward spells. 

S-Class Trials

I actually have a version of this in my head where the S-Class trials are held by latest guildmaster Laxus, and quite a bit differently. Although quite a few competent wizards were shown to enter the trials, I have no doubt in my mind that Mashima would’ve handed the trophy to Natsu had the trials finished to their end. Here is my revised version, as hosted by Laxus: