A/N: I thank all of my reviewers of Keys and those who favorited/followed. Reviewers: lovemagi101, YAY, Neon Wish, GirlFish, GodofGreed, shirayuki no scarlet, CyberBlueEyes, Shirooka Yuki, pie480, lovestotoro, Line464d, FairyTail123, missinsane, Nami-ru12, sexyblossom08, Marikalay, ZERO, Esprgirl, Las, 2Nerdzz, leo . alonso . 35, Fairy Flame Key, Guest, Crazy Red Fox, Syl The tWins, hopelessromantic, Shimmer712, and TheBlackSeaReaper
Favorites: 7thScythe, AlliceLiddel, ApocalypticAsterisk, Crow-DarkHeart, CyberBlueEyes, DeMentaHaHa, Demons archers, Franny96, GodofGreed, Haruka Lin, IamMyselfIamMe, KarenTheQuietOne, Kira Akuma, Koolkat1573, Lady Fon Slytherin, LadyYunalesca26, Line464d, Lover of Fanfiction and Anime, Lucina Lutia, Magic Detective, Mental Panda, Nami-ru12, Ririchiyo Alice Namikaze, Sanasuke, Shade Snow, Shinigamidemidragonsalyer99, ShiroNeko102, Shutara25, SoraMythos9276, Sparkly8Sparkles, Style1234, Survivor243, Sutoritera, TheTruthSeeker, VanitastTheFool . 1, WhollyUnwind, WingedLunarHybrid, Yang Yami of the Shadows, Yukinaru Suzumi, ZookeForever101, aevitarum, anime84guy, blazen91, chibi kawaii silver yoko, daethmarrow44, destiny921, dragoscilvio, gamma2015, iloveanimeandmanga2000, lovemagi101, lovestotoro, mandylou18, maru101, megan1805, moonlight8267, pinkfox2234, queenyuri, raverwolf, shadow217, and ystanev.
Followers: 2Nerdzz, 7thScythe, ARSLOTHES, ApocalypticAsterisk, ChaoticChaosController, Choumei, CyberBlueEyes, Debella, Early Bird . Night Owl, Eternal Dragon Trance, Fairy Flame Key, Franny96, HollowMugetsu, IamMyselfIamMe, KaeterinaRomanov, KarenTheQuietOne, Kira Akuma, Line464d, Lucina Lutia, Luigi 1893830, Luna2859, Marikayla, Midnight1234, Nami-ru12, Neon Wish, Rawring Ryu, Rental Brain, Ririchiyo Alice Namikaze, RookieDea, Shade Snow, Shinigamidemidragonslayer99, Shutara25, SoraMythos9276, Sparkly8Sparkles, ThatGirlWhoLooksLikePopura, The10thDoctor1964, VanitasTheFool . 1, WhiteWaggishFox, WhollyUnwind, WingedLunarHybrid, Xx8CrImSoN8xX, YamiLovesYaoi, Yukinaru Suzumi, Zepheric, aRandomPeople, blazen91, chibi kawaii silver yoko, final-zangetsu, fluteprincess95, icegoddess52, jkdarksid, leo . alonso . 35, lovemagi101, mandylou18, megan1805, moonlight8267, pie480, raverwolf, shadow217, shadowmane, sspkr fan forever, toshiro23, xSilentSecretsx, and ystanev.
I apologize if I spelled your username incorrectly.
Alright. I decided to rewrite Keys. If you're a new reader, DO NOT look at the original if you don't want spoilers. I'm actually kinda excited. I hope to write the story better this time, and without further ado, the warnings. [Please note that this version of the story will be DARKER.]
Warnings: Swearing, violence, OOC, heterosexuality, possible homosexuality, major OC, me being the author, me needing a beta, the works.
Pairings: major Natsu/Lucy, Hitsugaya/Hinamori, mild Gajeel/Levy, Ichigo/Rukia and others.
Timeline: Slight AU for FT. Post Tartarus Arc, but Fairy Tail doesn't disband. Post Thousand Year Blood War Arc; expect quite a few characters not to appear.
ALRIGHT PEOPLE.
~oOo~
"Alright, we should be discussing who should take the places in the holes in our ranks." The Captains' Meeting has just begun three minutes ago, and Hitsugaya already feels like he's about to fall asleep. Looking around for something, something, to keep him occupied so he doesn't pass out in the middle of the Captains' Meeting, he remembers just how few of the Captains are left.
Glancing around again, he sees that Zaraki, standing across from him, is sleeping standing up with his eyes open. How the hell does he do that?
"I think Kuchiki-fukutaicho should take over the Thirteenth Division," Hitsugaya hears Soifon speak up. "She has achieved Bankai, after all."
"I disagree." Heads swivel towards the older Kuchiki. "She may be powerful, but she does not have the necessary skill to perform the tasks that Captaincy demands. Being fukutaicho for now should be satisfactory. This applies to Abarai-fukutaicho as well."
Soifon snorts in annoyance. "Yes, and I suppose we should ask that Kurosaki kid for help?" she shoots back.
"No," Kuchiki replies. "He is a human, as you should know. And half Quincy."
"There is still the matter of Aizen to consider," Hitsugaya hears himself speak, and he's surprised by the lack of anger in his voice; hell, he doesn't think he hates him anymore. Just pure neutrality. "If we cast him back into hell even after the help he gave us, we would be considered ungrateful. However, we cannot allow him full reign over his powers either. Allowing him to regain his Captaincy is also out of the question."
Then everyone in the room—with the exception of the sleeping Zaraki, of course—turn to look at him. "You are quite correct, Hitsugaya-taichou, but—"
Hitsugaya never hears the ending to that sentence when he feels a tug and he disappears.
~oOo~
He ends up landing on his face.
Immediately, as soon as he gains his bearings and stands up, he feels a Hollow's reiatsu. Hitsugaya turns and a pure white mask looms right in front of his face.
"Holy mother of god what the fuck where the hell am I why the hell is there a Hollow in my face god what the fuck?" He jumps back as the Hollow lashes out at him and he draws Hyourinmaru, leaping back at it and cutting into its mask. With a screeching cry, it dies. (A second time.)
Once it disintegrates completely, he can see a pair of girls, one with blonde hair and one with dark blue hair. The shorter one—the one with blue hair—looks about twelve and is taller than him (goddammit!) and the blonde looks about seventeen.
They stare at him with wide eyes. "Um…where am I?" Hitsugaya asks, in a much calmer tone, now that he isn't being assaulted by a giant soul-eating creature.
The blonde blinks. "You're in Fiore. In a cave."
"I can see that we're in a cave. But where's Fiore?"
"It's the largest continent," the little girl says. "But I suppose that being a Shinigami Key summon, you might not know that…"
Hitsugaya quickly gathers that he's in a foreign continent called Fiore (that doesn't exist in "his world"), he's in a cave, he's been mistaken as a "summon", and he's shit confused. (Dang, he's been spending way too much time around Kurosaki. He's swearing too much.)
"I am Hitsugaya Toshiro. It's nice to meet you, I suppose."
"I'm Lucy Heartphilia, pleased to meet you," says the blonde. "This is Wendy Marvel." She gestures to the younger.
"I'm Carla." He just notices the white cat standing on the ground.
"…so, cats here can talk or something?"
Marvel shakes her head. "No, Carla is an Exceed from Edolas."
Hitsugaya just realizes he hasn't sheathed Hyourinmaru. He does so now, if only to make the conversation a little lighter. "…are those your friends?" he asks, pointing to the only opening of the cavern.
"Lucy! Wendy! Carla!" shouts a rather loud voice. "Are you alright?"
"Uh, yeah. We're fine, Natsu! Did you find anything?"
"Nope! But I smell somebody weird." A pink haired boy of around Heartphilia's age runs into the cavern, his nose twitching. Is this person freaking homosexual? (Not that there is anything wrong with homosexuality, but why pink? The only male he knows of that has pink hair is the Arrancar Szayel, and even so he isn't sure of the dead Arrancar's sexuality.)
Then Hitsugaya realizes the boy said he smelled weird. Is that supposed to be an insult? "Excuse me, did you say I smell weird?" Hinamori always says he smells nice. Like an especially cold morning, or after a rain or blizzard. Or mostly snow.
Marvel blinks. "Don't mind him. He's a dragon slayer, so his nose is sharper than most. I am too, so don't take it as an insult. You smell like fresh snow."
"Oh. Okay."
"Who is it, flame-brain?"
"Who're you calling a flame-brain, you icy prick?"
"Natsu, Gray, are you arguing?"
"No!"
Hitsugaya stares as a half-naked boy and a girl in armor along with a flying cat walk (or fly, in the cat's case) into the cavern. "Excuse me for asking, but where the hell are your clothes?"
"Agh! Shit!"
"Lucy, who is this?"
"Oh, this is the Shinigami Key's summon. I mean, I think he's only about ten, but honestly, he took out that monster…"
His eyebrow twitches. "You'll excuse me for saying so, but I am not ten years old. I'm ten times that, and then some. The name is Hitsugaya Toshiro. Yours?"
"How are you over a hundred years old? Gray Fullbuster," the stripper adds after a second thought.
"I'm dead. How do you expect a soul to age?"
"You're dead? Natsu Dragneel, and the cat is Happy."
"Yes I am. Do you know what Shinigami means? You summoned me with a Shinigami Key!"
"No, we don't. Erza Scarlet."
Hitsugaya buries his face in his hands. "I think we have a lot to talk about."
Scarlet nods. "Then I know the place to go."
~oOo~
"You spelled the 'tale' in Fairy Tale wrong. Did you do that purposefully?" Hitsugaya comments, pointing to the sign above the building.
Marvel blinks and gives him a strange look. "What are you talking about? Fairy Tail is Fairy Tail."
Hitsugaya lets the matter drop.
"Yo! You're back?" A woman, cradling a barrel of something—please, not sake!—waves at them as they enter. "Who's the midget?"
He forces himself not to draw his sword and Hyourinmaru her ass.
"Where I am from, it is polite to introduce yourself before asking the other's name," he replies. "This includes people you wish to make friends with, people you speak with, people you buy from, people you trade with, people you sell to, enemies, and people you are trying to kill. We do have a code of honor."
The woman stares for a moment before bursting out into laughter—oh god, it is sake, or at least a form of alcoholic fluid! "The kid's got spunk! The name's Cana Alberona."
"Hitsugaya Toshiro. And as I stated to these people—" he gestures to the people who brought him here "—I am a century of age, and then some. Before you ask, I am dead, a Shinigami, in a sense immortal, and confused. I wish to understand how this 'summoning' works, and I wish to go home before Hinamori and my higher-up go ballistic on me."
Actually, they'll go ballistic on me no matter how fast I get home at this point, he thinks glumly. My afterlife sucks. And there he goes again, using slang and swear words; he really needs to stop hanging around Kurosaki.
Are you blaming me for the ideas to meet him, though?
Yes, Hyourinmaru.
Before Alberona can say anything more, the team drags him over to the bar—why, he hates these things!—and sits him down. A white haired female, the color much like his own, smiles warmly and passes him a glass of water.
"I'm Mirajane Strauss. It's nice to meet you, Hitsugaya," she says kindly. And thank god he didn't introduce himself as "Toshiro Hitsugaya". It would be a disaster if he is to be referred as "Toshiro" or even worse, "Shiro-chan". Dammit, Hinamori!
"Same here. Now, do you know much about the 'summoning' thing?" Rrgh, he sounds way too much like Kurosaki!
"I'm the Celestial Spirit Mage," Heartphilia interjects. "I summoned you with this key, a Shinigami Key." She passes it to him, and he takes it, studying it carefully.
It's pitch black with a blue-white dragon bearing similarities to Hyourinmaru wrapped around where you would hold the key. The dragon's bright red eyes seem to glare at the holder of the key.
He hands it back to her. "…so, do you know how to send me back home?"
Heartphilia shakes her head sheepishly. "Normally, a Celestial Spirit would drain on my energy until they leave of their own will, or I can forcibly close a gate. But your key doesn't drain on me at all, and it there isn't a gate you came through; you came through a huge circular door."
Ah! The Senkaimon! Then this world is one of the many other passageways he had noticed while running through the Dangai…
Hitsugaya stands, pushing in his chair. "Thank you. I've figured out the basic way to go home now."
"Won't you stay a little longer?" Strauss asks imploringly. "We enjoy your company."
"I'm afraid I cannot," Hitsugaya replies, not unkindly. "The last time I came home late from a mission, Hinamori tried to strangle me."
"Mission? Who's Hinamori?" pipes up another white haired girl, this time with a pixie cut. He assumes she's another Strauss.
"You have my sincerest apologies, but I must be going now." Hitsugaya draws his Zanpakuto, startling many of the people in the guild, and opens the Senkaimon, hopping in and hearing it close behind him before heading back to Soul Society. He's going to get an earful.
~oOo~
He's actually rather surprised when he enters the First Division quarters to see that the Captains' Meeting is still going on, but there are tables and chairs dragged in, and the captains are eating calmly and talking.
"Ah, Hitsugaya-taichou. You're back. How was your trip to Fiore?" Kyoraku asks, not looking up from his food.
"…Interesting," he replies, taking a random seat next to Kuchiki.
"I should think so. Kurotsuchi-taichou investigated the trail you left behind and declared that you had gone to Fiore, a place that has not been explored in centuries."
Hitsugaya sets his elbows on the table and buries his face in them. "They ask too many questions."
~oOo~
"Never do that again, Hitsugaya-kun!"
Hinamori still hasn't let go of his neck despite his protests of "let go" and "you're choking me!"
"I can't choose when that lady summons me, Hinamori! Let go!"
"Then tell her when you aren't and are available!"
"Alright, fine, if I actually get a chance to if you aren't strangling me!"
"Hinamori-fukutaicho. I believe Hitsugaya-taichou's face is turning blue, and we need all of our captains as of now. Please let go."
Reluctantly, she lets go and Hitsugaya silently thanks Kyoraku.
"You can continue your lovers' spat somewhere else and at a later date, when we are not having a lack of captains. Feel free to strangle him all you like then."
Kyoraku you asshole. Hitsugaya glares daggers at Kyoraku, teal eyes showing clear irritation.
Hinamori smiles brightly at this.
"Alright, so now that you know what this Fiore is all about, you can go have some fun in the Tenth Division Barracks," Kyoraku says cheerfully, ushering the two of them out. "Don't forget to use protection."
"Oh good god, Kyoraku-sotaichou! I am not going to have sex with Hinamori! I'd like to stay a virgin for the next few centuries!"
~oOo~
A/N: …as you can see, quite different. My sense of humor has changed. I hope you enjoyed…I actually enjoyed writing this, haha.