Hello, everyone! To my followers, I know, it has been absolutely forever since I last posted anything on here, and I sincerely apologize for that.
I don't want to bore you all with a long author's note and distract from the story, so go check out my blog at writerjoyce . blogspot . com (no spaces) to find the author's notes for each chapter! On my blog, in addition to A/N's for the chapter, there will be useful notes regarding the chapter, replies to reviews, my personal opinions, updates on my personal life, and other things you may find interesting, such as fun random polls, readers' discussion, and author Q&A.
This chapter is more of an introduction; it does not get into the plot mentioned into the summary. Fear not, I will get to it within the next few chapters.
Without further ado, I present you my new story, Of Monsters and Mages.
Chapter One
It was barely dawn when Lucy jolted awake, her body rigid and eyes wide open before her mind even registered her consciousness. Panting, she clutched at her chest, feeling her heart beat rapidly and wildly. The ringing in her ears was deafening. Vertigo racked her head; it felt like everything was spinning. She groggily looked around her room, and shadows seemed to contort ominously around her. Lucy slumped back down into her bed- she had been sitting up without even realizing it- and exhaled slowly.
What was that? Images of blood and gore were still fresh in her head, and they were so vivid that Lucy almost wasn't sure if they weren't actually real. Scenes of feral monsters chasing down her and her nakama and gruesomely tearing into them replayed menacingly in her mind- and, Kami, did Natsu die in her hellish nightmare? Lucy squeezed her eyes shut so hard it hurt. She felt tears leak out, but she didn't care and let them wet her pillow. The rest of her bed was already damp enough from her sweat.
Whimpering, Lucy curled into a ball, as if the position would protect her from the horrifying mental remnants of her nightmare. It did little to help. A creak from the window jerked her from her thoughts and she screamed, irrationally expecting a monster not unlike those still living in her mind. Lucy grabbed her keys off her bedside table and was about to utter a panicky summon when she heard a familiar voice. "Oi, Luce, what the hell are you doing?"
Natsu. Lucy nearly cried tears of relief, not an ounce of her usual anger present for when Natsu broke into her apartment. She turned to see her salmon-haired companion perching on her window sill, and, before she could stop herself, she launched herself at him, burying him in her embrace.
"Woahwoahwoahwoah-" Natsu yelped and latched both of his hands on either side of the window, barely preventing himself and Lucy from falling two stories down onto the stone pavement. Huffing, he pushed themselves into the safety of Lucy's room and they landed on her soft bed with a plop. Natsu let out an audible sigh, wary from the disastrous fate they had just barely escaped. Realizing he was still lying on top of Lucy, he quickly rolled off of her and situated himself at her side instead. He was quite surprised to find Lucy still clinging onto him; normally, he was greeted with a solid Lucy Kick as soon as he entered her apartment uninvited. The smell of sweat and tears hit him, now that he wasn't distracted with saving his own life, and he cast Lucy a worried look. "What's the matter, Luce?" Concern laced his amiable voice.
"It was terrifying, Natsu," Lucy whispered. "Fairy Tail was gone, Magnolia was gone, our family was gone... you were gone. All gone because of these horrible, malicious monsters. They were worse, so much worse, than the ones that we fought a year ago here in Magnolia. Blood was everywhere, everyone was screaming, and I swear can still smell smoke from all those burning buildings. In front of my very own eyes they killed-"
Natsu silenced her with a press of his finger against her chapped lips. "Shh… it's okay, Lucy. It was all a bad dream. I'm right here, and so are everything and everyone else, and we are all completely fine. There's nothing to be afraid of." His signature grin crawled onto his face and he gave Lucy's shoulder a comforting squeeze.
Hearing Natsu's words, Lucy began to relax and her shuddering gasps steadily evened into calmer breathing. Once she regained her senses, she returned Natsu's grin with a small smile of her own. "Thanks, Natsu. I… I'm glad you're my best friend," she said. Now that her fear-filled adrenaline was gone, sleep began to overtake her once again. Yawning, Lucy mumbled, "I guess I'll let you off the hook for breaking into my apartment this time…" Natsu chuckled at that, and he watched with satisfaction as her breathing slowed and she fell into a peaceful slumber.
The early morning's soft pink light gave Lucy's face a glow that made her look like an angel, and Natsu gazed at her with affection one could only feel for their very closest friend.
Lucy awoke to the sound of sizzling oil and the smell of… smoke. A loud "shit!" came from another room. Frazzled, she squirmed out of her sheets and tumbled off her bed. The events just a few hours prior came flooding into Lucy's memory, and she realized that Natsu was now probably wreaking destruction upon her apartment. "Natsu!" she shrieked. "What on Earthland are you doing?!" She climbed to her feet and bolted into the kitchen, anxious to discover the sight that awaited her.
As soon as she stepped through the turquoise curtains to her kitchen, Lucy was bombarded with an avalanche of pink confetti. "Happy birthday, Luce!" Natsu greeted excitedly, holding a now empty basket. Lucy was shocked- she had completely forgotten about her birthday. With everything that had occurred after the Tartaros incident, it had simply slipped her mind. "See," the dragon slayer continued, "this time I had a good excuse for sneaking into your apartment. I wanted to surprise you! Although the surprise was sort of ruined because I didn't expect you to be awake in the middle of the night. Minor details, though. Anyway, I decorated your place with your favorite color." He said the last part with a hint of pride.
Lucy, very touched by her partner's actions, gave him a tight hug and opened her mouth to express her gratitude when the smell of smoke intensified. So instead, what came out was, "Natsu, whatisburning?" Natsu immediately leapt out of her hold and raced back to the stove, which was billowing clouds of smoke. He shut off the stove, knowing that Lucy would not be happy if he used up her gas supply by eating the burner flames, and lifted off the pan. After fanning away the smoke, charred black remnants of whatever Natsu had been "cooking" were revealed. The dragon slayer grinned sheepishly at Lucy.
The blonde sighed, but she couldn't help but return the grin. "Thank you, Natsu, for all you've done for me. I really appreciate it. Why don't I make breakfast today? You can go rest in my bed, as my thanks to you," she said, noticing bags under his eyes. Had he been up this whole time getting ready for her birthday?
Natsu slung an arm over Lucy's shoulder, saying, "I'll be waiting for my uber high stack of pancakes then. Thanks, Luce!" Lucy chuckled as he departed, and she set to work on the very large breakfast.
Lucy entered the main room, skillfully balancing two plates of steaming pancakes in her hands, one stacked thrice as high as the other. She offhandedly compared it to when she had to balance numerous books on her head while mastering ballroom dancing, several (many, actually, if the seven years skipped while on Tenrou Island were to be counted) years back when she was still just an heiress for the Heartfilia Konzern. Setting the plates on the small dining table, she turned her attention to the rest of the room. Just as Natsu had said, the room's walls were covered in messily hung pink streamers and pink balloons floated happily along the ceiling. She admired Natsu's ability to do all this while she was asleep.
Her gaze fell on the mentioned man, and her expression softened as she watched him doze in her bed. Lucy couldn't believe that it had only been three years, not including the seven skipped on Tenrou, since she first met Natsu; it felt like they had known each other their whole lives. Lucy couldn't imagine life without him now.
Natsu roused, seemingly sensing the celestial mage's stare, and he blearily blinked at her. "Already done?" he asked. The delicious aroma of the food drifting to his keen nose answered his question, and he jumped out of the bed, wide awake. He quickly settled himself at the table, eager to dig into his meal. He stopped though, comically showing his effort to restrain himself, and waited for Lucy to sit down as well. Once she was seated, he reached into his pocket and handed Lucy a small pink box topped bound closed with fuchsia ribbon.
"I better give you your present before I forget," Natsu said. "You know, the shopkeeper of the place where I bought all this decorating stuff kept teasing me about how everything I got was pink. Kept asking me who my special someone was. Hell, he actually asked if I was proposing!" At that, the two mages burst out laughing.
"Maybe you are, with this fancy little box here," Lucy mused teasingly, waggling her eyebrows at her companion.
"Well, there actually is a-" Natsu cut himself short. "Why don't you open it to find out?"
Lucy complied and gave the ribbon a gentle tug at the end. It slid off smoothly, and she lifted the lid off the box, eager to find out what was inside. The only thing she saw was a platinum-banded wedding ring, and the azure diamond on top sparkled radiantly like a star. Lucy gave her partner a suspicious look. Natsu just chortled, motioning for her to take it out. She did so, and slipping out from underneath a piece of white satin- Lucy had originally thought it was just the bottom of the box- were two keys, hung together on the ring.
Lucy gasped sharply. Platinum keys! They were regarded as only an extravagant myth in celestial magic. According to the (now supposed) myth, there was only one key for each of the platinum key spirits in the whole world, like the golden zodiac keys, and they were incredibly powerful. How on Earthland had Natsu managed to get a hold of not one, but two of them? Natsu answered her question before she even asked it.
"Surprise! I went on a solo mission over by Crocus two weeks ago, when you went on a girls' trip with Levy and Erza, and helped this super rich guy get rid of some thieves who kept sneaking around his estate. When I went to collect my reward after I was done, I saw those keys hanging on a wall- apparently he thought they were just a unique decoration- but I could sense the celestial magic. Actually, it was more like I could sense you." Natsu said that part a little embarrassingly. "Anyway, I figured you'd want them, so I asked if I could have them instead of the reward, and he happily agreed. I guess he'd rather let go a supposed wall decoration than four million jewels. Oh, and don't worry- I told him what I believed they were, and he said he had no use for them anyway, so it's not like I 'cheated' him out of rare celestial keys."
Lucy nodded approvingly at Natsu's good ethics. Then the words "four million" sunk in. Her jaw dropped. "Four million jewels?" Lucy practically shrieked. "You gave up a fortune for me!" With that kind of money, her rent could be set for nearly five years!
Natsu grinned widely. "Lucy, you're worth more than all the jewels in Fiore to me. Of course I'd make that exchange for you," he said. "Anyway, you have no idea how hard it was for me to wait to give them to you. But I really wanted to give you the best birthday gift ever, so I held on to them for two weeks. Now, tell me what they are! And why are they connected with that ring?"
Blushing slightly at Natsu's first proclamation, the blonde inspected the keys more closely. The tops of both of them had indigo symbols that looked like tidal waves and were framed by glimmering cerulean gemstones- the structure of one looked more feminine than the other. Trailing her eyes down the shining metal body of the key, she saw that the bottom of one was shaped like a wide fish tail, and the other, the more feminine looking one, held the appearance of many long heads coiling around each other. Lucy's eyes shimmered with recognition and awe.
"These are Cetus and Hydra. They're both water spirits; Cetus is the sea monster and Hydra is the water serpent," she said, her voice sounding breathy. "My mother used to tell me stories about how they've been married since the beginning of time, which explains the wedding ring connecting them. It would definitely be heartbreaking if they were to be separated and pitted against each other.
"I'll most likely have to summon them in water, like Aquarius had to be." Lucy's breath caught. It still stung, thinking about Aquarius. Lucy would never forget that day two years ago when the spirit sacrificed herself to save Fairy Tail. Quickly composing herself, Lucy continued, forcing her voice to stay steady. "I should head down to one of the big lakes outside Magnolia to make contracts with them. I suspect they will be very large."
Lucy suddenly stood up and bestowed Natsu with another surprise hug (at least this time they were not on the verge of seriously injuring themselves). "Thank you so, so much, Natsu," she murmured. "You have no idea how much you mean to me as a friend."
Returning the squeeze, the salmon-haired man replied with just as much sentiment, "Same goes for you, Luce." He released her and stood up, and he pumped his fist in the air. Lucy saw a big grin spread across his face. "Now come on, what are we waiting for? I want to see those big fish!"
Laughing, Lucy joined Natsu in his beaming enthusiasm. "Yosh!"
Author's note on writerjoyce . blogspot . com (no spaces).