DISCLAIMER: I ONLY OWN MY IDEAS, BLEACH AND FAIRY TAIL I DO NOT
It had only been a few days since she left Magnolia, travelling towards the northern border of Fiore. Lucy's head lay on the window pane of the train car, watching as the scenery blended into a mosaic of debris, flora and fauna. In her hands rested the broken half of Aquarius' key, her thumb gently gliding over the intricate pattern. In a matter of minutes Loke would return with additional information on the forge from the Spirit World library.
Her mind drifted off, pondering the activities of her Fairy Tail comrades. She felt guilty that she left so quickly after Makarov announced the disbanding of the Guild, but the ensuing chaos that remained was too much for her especially after the loss of Aquarius. Natsu, she was certain, would be off on a training journey with Happy especially since he realized the gaps that existed in his own power. Grey, she was uncertain, he had somehow acquired Devil Slayer Magic during the whole Tartarus ordeal and to he had options. Erza would be fine, she was sure of that. Wendy was another issue altogether, she was still young, inexperienced and innocent, but with Carla at her side there shouldn't be any trouble that should adversely affect her.
A gentle hand on her shoulder brought her back to the current reality. Her eyes met the warm golden glow of one of her most powerful allies.
"Loke," she said with a surprised voice as his hand caught an escaped tear that rested on the edge of her left eye.
He gestured to the book he had placed beside her, as he made a salute and returned to the spirit realm.
Lucy looked at the vacant space once occupied by the leader of the zodiac group, and sighed at the paper boy mannerisms displayed. She took up the book and placed it firmly in her lap, running her fingers across the smooth leather exterior. She took a deep breath, her body shivering with mute excitement as she prepared to open the blank covered book. Her eyes were immediately glued to the book in rapt attention as information on the hidden location poured directly into her mind.
She paused for a moment her eyes drawn to a snippet in a paragraph,
'Access to the forge is granted to all those who travel the path of the celestial mage, but the forge can only be used by one who can master the Omni-Key."
"The Omni-Key?" she thought to herself, her sense of elation slowly turning to that of dread. Was her journey in vain? She had spent the better part of the last few years collecting keys to contract powerful spirits, the golden keys she had acquired were extremely rare and most were acquired from dark mages she had defeated. Never had she in her entire life heard of this key, and the mere thought of having to find it before anything could be done to restore Aquarius' key was sending her back into dark spiral of depression.
"Lucy!"
The soft baritone of Loke, assisted with the warm vapors of a simmered chicken broth brought her out of her disgruntled mood. She saw Loke standing across form her carrying a tray with the broth and other nourishment. She put down the book to her side and took the tray from Loke, resting it comfortably on her lap. She gestured to the seat across from her in the empty compartment, if anyone could provide her with answers it would be him.
Before she could even speak, she was silenced as she received a pointed look and a somewhat warm request to eat before she spoke. It was somewhat of a blessing for her, she had not even realized the distant hunger pangs that had been running rampant through her system.
After completing her meal, she set the tray aside and returned the book to its former position, not knowing how to formulate her question she passed the book to her companion pointing out the section of worry. She watched curiously as he read through the section, not an ounce of worry or tension could be seen from his posture. He sighed looking shaking his head as though dismissing her worries as something punitive and unnecessary.
He looked at her, his eyes assisting in the spreading of warmth that originated from the broth that rested comfortably within her, and smiled, "You know for an avid reader you tend to be such a ditz at times."
She felt embarrassment welling up within her, a faint blush transforming her pale cheeks to a pinkish hue, at the coy remark that implied she had obviously missed something present on the page. As she attempted to break the eye contact by staring at her feet the book came sliding back into view, his enamored finger pointing to a section immediately below where she had ended.
"The Omni-key lies within the cavern that holds the Celestial Forge, though all who follow the path are permitted to enter, only those who can prove their worth by removing the stone from its resting place upon the stone dais may enter it. The key serves multiple purposes, primarily as the unlocking mechanism to the forge and its mechanisms; the true potential of the key is limited only by the limits of the user's imagination."
She sighed, a bit of her tension eased form her shoulders as one of her multiple worries faded away. The key was in a set position, and it was only limited by the wielder's imagination. She felt the train slowing to a stop, the next step on her journey, she quickly packaged the book and returned the empty tray to Loke as she prepared to disembark.
"Lucy, will you be fine by yourself from this point onwards?" he questioned worriedly, her emotional state had been quite volatile for the last few days, her near return to crippling depression.
She nodded peacefully, her hand never leaving the satchel that housed the important guide.
"I'll be fine," she responded encouragingly, she understood his concerns but with him constantly attending to her since the incident he needed to get some rest.
He smiled as he vanished in a flash of light.
Lucy took a deep breath as she exited the compartment, "It's time to go."
Four hours had passed since she left that accursed town that housed the station. The pink insignia that she wore proudly on her hand drew multiple looks of either awe or contempt attributed to the current destruction that lay throughout Fiore and their notorious history of causing damage wherever they went. Yet it was neither of these reasons that spurred her irritation, she had run into some pompous jackasses who deemed themselves mages from some prestigious guild.
When she had left the station her usual attire of a white blouse with a few cross patterns complemented with a blue miniskirt immediately drew attention from envious women who desired a similar figure and men clouded by their pitiable lust. She had decided to stop at a magic store to gather some information on routes to the mountain, when she noticed she was being followed by a mage with a small entourage. She sighed internally, her body language not betraying that she had found her stalkers.
As she entered the store she saw them standing in the open, eyes distant gazing haphazardly in random directions, an obvious failed attempt to avert suspicion. As she entered she felt herself being pulled through the door by a man who immediately identified himself as the owner.
"Look here missy," he said with a stern tone, his eyes continuously glancing between her and the group that began to slowly make their approach to the door.
"When you exit this store you're going to be surrounded by those idiots from Snail Wings, a guild that is trying to control the town, I can provide you with a magic hologram device to make an escape but I doubt that would help."
Lucy sighed as she held up her hand to show him the insignia that rested upon it, seeing the slightly startled expression on his face she made her request, " I just want some information on the routes through the mountains, I've been through a lot the last few days and a couple of idiots won't stop me."
She produced a map from her possession and presented to the owner as he marked out the different routes while giving a brief description of each.
At the end of 5 minutes, she had found her path to the forge which according to the shop owner would be around 4 hours away on foot. She returned the map to her bag and turned to exit the store after thanking the owner. As she exited she was surrounded by a small enclave of 8 mages, all of varying height and baring the insignia of Snail Wings on their forehead. Their apparent leader a short orange headed man, who looked to be in his early twenties was the first to speak.
"Pretty lady mage, want to join a real guild?" he asked his obnoxious tone displeasing to our blonde heroine.
She held her hand high showing the insignia of Fairy Tail, only to be greeted with laughter from the carrot headed imbecile. "They don't exist no more, so how about it come join a guild with a real man like me. Forget about those worthless bastards who couldn't even keep a guild together."
She could feel her irritation slowly bubbling off her shoulders, before they even knew what happened a whip had already wound its way around the neck of the orange headed bastard.
"The hell?" he screamed as the stinging sensation coupled with the constricting pull of the leather against his neck threatened to end his breathing. He gestured frantically to his guild mates, "get the bitch!"
An oppressive aura over shadowed the streets, it was already enough that she had to suffer an insult to her guild, but now they had crossed the line by calling her a bitch. Her hand went directly to the ring of keys that rested on her belt, and without a moment's hesitation summoned Taurus and Sagittarius. In the blink of an eye the mages were sent flying by the flat side of the bulls axe and were tacked into the walls of the surrounding buildings by the horseman's archery. All that remained was the orange haired man who shrank under the visible oppressive aura that encompassed her figure, held in place by his impromptu leash. An attempt to utter a false apology was only met with a hard hit to his face relieving him of consciousness. Without any further comment to the foolish mage she turned to her summons said a quick word of thanks and headed up the path.
That was four hours ago, and her destination was somewhere within her reach. She removed the book from the satchel while summoning Horologium to cover her. Retrieving her Gale-Force Reading Glasses, she quickly read through the entire book absorbing every quantum of information. Minutes later she returned the book to her bag and tried tapping into that power she had gained from the Spirit King after breaking Aquarius' Key, the form Loke later labelled as the Star Dress.
A quiet hum of energy surrounded her body as water from the surroundings began pulling towards her forming an opalescent blue orb of water around her. Moments later the orb vanished revealing Lucy in an Aquamarine bikini top with scale like patterns reminiscent of Aquarius accompanied by two detached sleeves with a bikini wrap covering her lower half. On her chest lay the mark of Aquarius.
She looked at her reflection in the Horologium's glass housing, for the first time since the battle she had successfully activated the magic. She took in her appearance, a gentle smile graced her face as she felt the familiar magic of Aquarius around her. Loke had already informed her that with sufficient training she would be able to mimic the ability with other members of the zodiac group. She released a small pulse of celestial spirit magic into the air, like a form of makeshift sonar detailed into the book, seeking to find the forge, the only place in this area that should resonate with it.
Then it returned, a section of the pulse returned from a north easterly direction. Using her magic as a beacon she followed the returning pulse with Horologium behind her till she came upon a small clearing. When the pulses returned instantaneously, she knew she had arrived at the outer entrance. For the moment she knew she was safe, as only those who follow the path of celestial magic can ever enter the barrier that surrounded the location. After assuring her wellbeing Horologium returned to the spirit world.
Lucy surveyed the clearing, according to the book the outer entrance to the forge is marked by a broad clearing surrounded by a barrier whose magic acts like beacon to celestial mages. For her to enter the forge she must place her hand into the magic circle that lays in the center of the clearing to reveal the door. The magic circle was quickly located and with brief haste activated by the anxious mage. Around her rose golden tendrils from the ground, glimmering in the evening sun, forming a somewhat extravagant makeshift cage elevator. Within a moment it flashed with bright golden light and the clearing once again remained bare.
Lucy opened her eyes to find herself in the midst of a cavern, whose ceiling resembled the true night sky, where hundreds of constellations shone, in addition to many different galaxies usually hidden by artificial human light. The location had matched the descriptions in the book perfectly. She quickly searched for the dais as she searched the cavern, her heart pounding in excitement. The fear of being unable to master it quickly vanishing.
She found it resting in a stone dais a short distance away on the cavern wall. The key was an amalgamation of metal and stone. The bow, was a pearl that contained a diamond cut into an infinity symbol that gave off a soft light that accented the cave's starlight ceiling. The shaft a beautiful platinum metal, that spiraled into the dais containing the remainder. In the shaft small intricate designs were engraved, as she approached the key she recognized them as the symbols of varied constellations in the night sky.
She stopped before the key, a feeling of warmth from Aquarius' magic providing her with the extra confidence she so desperately needed at the moment. She stretched her hand forward her palm housing the bow while her fingers wrapped carefully around the shaft. Before she could even attempt to pull the key from the housing the dais fell to the ground releasing the key from its housing. She looked at the fully revealed key, the remainder resembling that of many keys, yet strangely none in particular.
It was a small moment of triumph, with this she knew the key had recognized her potential. She released the star dress as she prepared to summon Loke and the spirit that rested within the Key.
"Open Gate of the Lion," Said Lucy calling forth the leader of the Zodiac into the forge. A golden circle appeared through which came her travelling companion.
Loke looked at his contracted master and the key she proudly displayed.
"It's time Lucy," He said, pride and anxiety mixed in with his serious tone.
She took a deep breath, and recited the chant she had read from the book;
"Before the gate stands a mage who follows the celestial light,
The power of the 88 stars that christen the darkest night,
Open gate of Celestial Forge "
A bright platinum coloured light filled the room from a large magic circle that began to descend upon the entire cavern. When the light had diminished the room had transformed, to her left raged a large furnace whose heat was somehow confined to a small area, and to her right lay a vast pool of water that resembled a large lake. Yet it was who stood before her that left her speechless.
Standing before her in a sleeveless black shihakusho with a blue padded sleeveless vest over the top that and large square sunglasses adorned his face. His dark skin complemented with his afro Mohawk gave him a cool and passive persona. She could tell that within the few first seconds of contact he had done a complete analysis of her and her potential. She turned to Loke who had a stunned expression on his face as though forgotten memories were quickly resurfacing. With no other plausible options she decided to introduce herself but was interrupted by a raised hand.
"My name is Oetsu Nimaya, I've been expecting you Lucy Heartfilia."
A/N: So I finally did chapter 2… I wanted to go a bit further with this but It just wasn't coming, I have some more ideas to flesh out for the next chapter and I've finalized some small details and surprises. If you follow High School DXD and know about EX-Durandal….. - I'll leave that as is for now. In terms of Bleach characters making an appearance It'll mainly be the zero squad for one reason only (Lucy's training of the star dress technique) …. Imagine that paired with the _ key I'm fleshing out for next chapter….
A/N: I'm sorry for the late update by the way, I my final set of exams and a ton of other school details to sort out, not to mention moving back home and a bit of job searching… I've been preoccupied… the last 7/8ths of this chapter was written within the last 5 days….
A/N: Read and Review as always! DM me if you have any serious issues, or spot any grammatical issues,