Sorry for the delay in posting the next chapter, life gets in the way sometimes! I got an email from a reader asking a few things about the story and I thought I would clear a few things up. Yes I have based my OC's on the stars of the constellation Carina and the mythology of them making up the Keel of the mythical ship Argo. Each star has a different power and will be introduced in different ways. I just wanted to clear up that she and the others are not the enemy, as is explained in this chapter. I won't say any more but there may be a traitor amongst the colstellations ;). Enjoy!
Stone of Omphalos – Chapter two
The impressive ship that sat at the peak atop Heaven's Altar in the constellation of Carinae was a most wondrous sight. Clouds of star dust particles from a long dead supernova a millennium ago swirled around a sea of endless stars, and gave momentum to the vessel made of starlight as it trailed the solar winds in search of adventure.
The Argo was a shining beacon of prismatic colour, transparent to a degree; but held together with light from the great Queen Carina's power. A ship from ancient legend, a tale told and retold by many a mortal until the tale was believed no more than a myth.
But this shining beacon in the starry skies was sinking, and so with it it's beloved Queen and her Eight Stars. Soon to be no more among the cosmos, should the waning of Eta's heavenly magic hold her sway.
The brave Queen and her knights, whom for millennia had kept the shadows at bay, battling against the dark forces that threatened to overtake the cosmos and consume the Universe into a new Dark Age.
All the realms were in Peril.
Earthland, Edolas and the Celestial Realm were in the gravest danger, the realm of Death had already fallen to darkness long ago.
Queen Carina, who had foreseen this coming battle; had been preparing for hundreds of years. She knew that Eta, the Star that gave her power was slowly dying. And with it, not only would it cause the death of herself and her beloved Stars; would cause a Black Hole to open that would allow the darkness through to seep into the Celestial Realm, dragging it into oblivion.
She had spent hundreds of years sailing the clouds in search of a solution to their incoming doom, to no avail until a random comment from a drunk Theta one evening as her lover, Taurus and she canoodled against the ships rigging had sparked an idea in her head.
'Why don't we become contracted Celestial Spirits! Taurus loves his master just as much as he loves me!"
Carina needed a new source of power, one so pure of light that it could keep the coming Darkness at bay and seal it away once again.
They now had their solution.
A long and thorough debate with the Celestial Spirit King had given merit to the idea, decades of research in the Library of Appolodorus had given rise to their need to search for a powerful Celestial Mage.
Canopus had eventually found that power, and not a moment too soon. Eta would die in precisely three Celestial days, or roughly ten or eleven Earthland months.
The fate of the universe was resting literally on Lucy Heartfilia's shoulders.
The Queen had tasked her most trusted Canopus with finding a Celestial Mage with a level of power strong enough to forge an entirely new set of Star Keys, in effect binding Carina and her Stars under contract with the chosen Mage, securing themselves a new pure source of Stellar power to allow them to remain atop Heaven's Altar to sail the solar winds atop the Argo, protecting the Celestial Realm from the creeping darkness.
It was a tall order to accomplish, the task of forging new keys had never once been attempted by a mere mortal; and while Carina understood if the young maiden was not up to the task, she still had faith in the young woman.
She was highly thought of by the Celestial Zodiacs, her power was pure and bright and unlike anything seen in a mortal before.
Lucy believed herself to be weak, but she was far from it.
"You sent for me, your grace?" The male bowed respectfully to his mistress.
"Canopus, how many times must I ask you to call me Carina?" The silver haired Queen raised a glowing delicate hand to press against her forehead.
"As always, my duty is to you foremost; as your servant."
"That you may be, but you Stars have been under my guiding light for a millennia. I have come to regard them as my children almost, my greatest creations." Carina smiled proudly from her throne atop the Argo.
"-Would you prefer I called you...mother?"
An elegant eyebrow raised in amusement at her friends words.
"...I shall not dignify that question with a response, Cano. You of all know I am not your Mother given how often we have shared a bed."
"- You never did understand my sense of humour."
"I trust our 'chosen one' has slept well?" Carina rose slowly to her feet, moving to stand aside her brightest star and rest her head on his shoulder.
"If you count sleeping next to a drooling and snoring bear as 'well rested', then certainly."
Canopus leaned over the ship to trail a hand through the star winds and they merged to form a vision of a blond sleeping peacefully, curled up in the arms of her lover.
"Will the dragon slayer pose a problem to our plans?" Carina asked warily, eyeing the attractive pink haired young man as he snored.
Canopus shrugged nonchalantly.
"He is very protective of this Lucy, it may be difficult to keep him out of the way; he is a stubborn one who may not take kindly to our need of her. From my visions I see he tends to react with violent force if he believes his mate is threatened."
"An admirable trait...a man protecting his love."
"It is my duty to protect you, my Carina."
Canopus waved away the vision and moved to kneel before his Queen, pressing his lips to her hand.
"I would expect no less, Cano." The Queen smiled. "Do you believe she has the will and determination required to forge these new Star keys?"
"Lucy has shown great resilience and drive to better herself and has an unbreakable bond with her spirits. She is patient and kind and I see no reason why she will refuse our request, given we have no other option."
"It is rather amusing, we are essentially kidnapping her."
"...I wouldn't call it kidnapping. We are merely borrowing her without asking."
"She has to be in the Celestial Realm to forge our Keys?"
"Yes, Taurus has stated her powers are greatly increased when she is here."
"Won't she be reluctant to leave Earthland for months? I hear the forging and training may take many Celestial days...months in the mortal realm."
"Perhaps if we provide her an...end reward, of sorts?"
"Reward?"
"If we provide Miss Lucy with something she wants more than anything, perhaps to reunite with an old friend?"
"Or perhaps we allow her to bring a friend?" Carina smiled warmly.
"I shall look into it."
"Very well, have Theta and Taurus ready to depart. I shall make ready to greet our new...master." Carina smiled warmly at the last word.
She had greatly enjoyed the freedom of commanding the Argo, her Eight Stars and sailing the solar winds for thousands of years; but if accepting a master would save them from disappearing into nothingness, Queen Carina would gladly accept a master.
"Yes, mother." Canopus smirked at his lover with a teasing grin.
"...Charming."
The sound of birds chirping and the sizzling smell of meat roasting were the first two things the Celestial Mage noted as she was slowly roused from her slumber the next morning.
From the hazy heat radiating pleasantly through the canvas and the brightness of the sun, she guessed it was early morning. With a hum, Lucy stretched and let a tired yawn escape her lips.
Then she froze.
The third thing she noted was that something warm and solid was curled up against her back and that the loud snoring of her pink haired best friend was quickly giving her a headache.
It was strange not to have a bundle of familiar blue fur snuggled between them, but Lucy blushed when she remembered what Happy had piped up over dinner the previous evening.
As Lucy had stated she would be retiring to bed, Natsu had conveniently let out a very obviously fake yawn and asked if Lucy was cold and needed his 'warmth' for the night.
At this, Lucy had blushed beetroot when Happy had grinned mischievously and said very loudly that if Natsu and Lucy wanted some time alone to play naked with each other; all they had to do was ask and he would stay with Erza.
The aforementioned red head and a grinning Ice Mage had taken one look at Natsu and burst out laughing.
Her best friends face had been a picture of bliss, so Lucy had called him a pervert and banned him from her tent. Stalking off to bed angrily.
She should have known Natsu wouldn't listen...not that she was complaining. His arms were warm and secure around her and the breath on the back of her neck made her shiver in delight.
Lucy made a mental note to ask him later what exactly had changed between them recently, the Celestial Mage had a pretty solid suspicion; but it wasn't the first time she had been wrong about Natsu's behaviour.
Ok it was pretty obvious that Natsu wanted her in some romantic capacity judging by the way he kissed her, but she wasn't sure if he wanted more from their amazing friendship; or if the Dragon Slayer had finally hit puberty and figured out how the whole sex thing worked.
What if his amorous behaviour was simply because of his raging hormones and Lucy was simply the closest female to him?
She didn't want to get her hopes up.
"Natsu..." Lucy groaned and arched her back with a sigh.
The blond heard a low groan, Natsu mumbling about breakfast and the sound of movement outside of their tent. Lucy tilted her head back to look at the sleepy Dragon Slayer and pressed a kiss to his cheek, reaching a hand behind her to run her fingertips through his hair.
"Hmn...definitely a good morning." Natsu grinned and opened an sleepy eye to greet his best friend.
"Morning, Natsu." Lucy giggled, a blush dusting her cheeks as Natsu's arms tightened around her waist as he nuzzled into her neck; peppering kisses against her cheek.
She could definitely get used to waking up in his arms like this.
Her giggling turned into a low groan as his kisses against her throat turned languid and heated, back arching against his chest as a heated hand slowly worked it's way up her stomach to tease the underside of her breast. Lucy felt his hand stall momentarily before reaching the rest of the way towards her ample chest over her tank top.
"Mmn...Natsu." Lucy gasped as liquid heat travelled through her body, making her toes curl and a throbbing to pulse at her core. The Dragon Slayer growled lowly in his throat behind her and his open mouth latched onto her throat, suckling and trailing his tongue to and fro enticingly; teasing his warm fingers back and forth across her breasts in sync with his tongue.
"Luce..." Natsu groaned and his fingers tightened at her hip and chest.
Lucy bit her lip in anticipation of what Natsu would do next, but when he suddenly stalled and sniffed the air around them; she unfortunately never found out as she heard the pinkettes stomach growl loudly.
She sighed and grinned behind at him.
"I think breakfast is ready, Natsu."
"...But what if I want dessert before breakfast?" Natsu whined heatedly, Lucy would have flushed in embarrassment at his words but the way he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her caused her to giggle uncontrollably.
"I'm pretty sure we can sneak off for a while after breakfast...I could really use a nice warm bath in the pond by those pillars we sat on last night." Lucy pressed a kiss to the lobe of his ear.
Natsu gulped audibly and his free hand dropped to tease fingertips against the waistband of her shorts, huffing out a hot breath of air against her cheek.
"What else?"
His words gave her a sliver of courage to whisper her next sentence directly into his ear.
"You could join me..." she purred seductively against his skin.
She felt Natsu hiss and she barely got a hand over her mouth to contain the surprised moan that left her throat when she felt his hips grind into her backside, the hard portion of flesh at his hips pressing enticingly against her lower spine.
"Breakfast better be ready..." Natsu hissed longingly into her neck.
With a whoop of delight, the pinkette detangled himself from the frustrated blond and all but abandoned her in favour of a far better offer than making out; grinning back at her as he swiftly exited the tent.
Lucy could honestly say she'd never been envious of breakfast before, but she knew better than to come between her best friend and his endless stomach.
With a small yawn and a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart, she too crawled out of the canvas door and saw an apron clad Erza crouched over the fire with a pan of eggs and bacon sizzling enticingly. Gray and Happy were setting out several plates while Natsu was drooling off to the side.
"Morning lovebirds." Gray teased, delighting in the blush that comment brought to his friends cheeks. "Were you up all night, Flame Breath?" he added.
"Gray!" Lucy turned beetroot at the obvious innuendo and reached over to smack his arm.
"Obviously not judging from Lucy's face!" Happy teased from behind a freshly caught salmon he was currently devouring.
"Shut it, stupid cat!"
"What are you two on -OH!" Natsu looked adorably confused for a moment before something clicked in his head and he blushed. "It's none of your business whether I was 'up' all night, Snow Cone!"
"Will you two stop discussing our sex life! For your information, we haven't done that yet!" Lucy shrieked indignantly. "What happens between Natsu and I is nobodies business but our own, thank you very much!"
"But aren't you two going out now?" Happy asked, his big round eyes were so hopeful it almost made Lucy want to tear up and pull him into a big hug. "But Natsu, you said you were going to tell Lucy how –"
Natsu hissed and leapt over to slap a hand to the Exceed's mouth in order to prevent him from blabbing everything.
"Huh?" Lucy blushed.
"I'll get round to...that...after the mission. Now isn't the right time." He looked down at his blue partner imploringly.
"So you don't have trouble getting it up, Natsu?" Erza, who had been quietly enjoying a slice of strawberry cake whilst cooking ;suddenly asked with a wry grin.
"Not you too Erza!" Lucy wailed.
"Geesh...why are we all so fascinated by Fire Boy's dick?" Gray grumbled.
"Yeah yeah, just cause you aren't getting any Popsicle." Natsu grumbled as Erza handed him a plate piled with eggs and bacon.
"Oh and you are?"
"Getting more than you-"
"Yeah right!"
"QUIET!" Erza yelled as she handed a plate to Lucy. "We will eat breakfast in peace, do I make myself clear?" She glared at the boys.
"Y-Yes Ma'am!"
Lucy couldn't deny she was incredibly nervous, what on Earthland had possessed her to offer to bathe naked with Natsu was completely lost on her.
Not that she wasn't enjoying the view of his sculpted torso, as he shrugged off his one armed vest and let it flop on the grass surrounding the pool the nearby stream emptied into.
She was enjoying that very much.
What was making her nervous was the way his heated eyes watched her every move as her shaking hands moved to pull off her blue top as he began to work on unfastening his belt.
He took one look at her embarrassed blush and moved towards her.
"We don't have to do this if you don't want –"
"It's not that...I do want to bathe with you...it's just we've seen each other naked on accident so many times and it's never made me feel like...this." Lucy whimpered huskily.
"Like what?"
"We've never seen each other naked based on the fact we wanted to." She looked away with a blush.
"Dunno 'bout you but I've wanted to see you naked for months." Natsu ran his hands up her gooseflesh arms with a bashful grin.
"I don't mean it like that..." Lucy blushed harder and stood on her tip toes to press her forehead against his. "I mean it doesn't embarrass me anymore, we've gotten so close to one another I often wonder what...else we could be, what does that mean?" Lucy admitted warily, afraid of what reaction her words would cause with him.
Natsu gazed thoughtfully at her for a moment before he leaned in to kiss her lips sweetly.
"It means you want the same thing as me, Luce."
His eyes were filled with an emotion she didn't recognise and she blinked up at him.
"Y-You do?" she was amazed she managed to form a coherent sentence, because right now Natsu was gazing at her with such awe and wonder it was making her legs turn to jelly. "I thought you said no distractions till after the mission?"
"I dunno if I can wait that long, Lucy." Natsu whispered. "But maybe we should slow things down a bit till you figure out how you feel?"
Lucy could feel her body protest as Natsu pulled away, her trembling hands reached out to stop him. She didn't want to slow down, she wanted everything he would give her.
"WAIT!" she hissed urgently, before she threw herself at him, arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his heatedly.
Natsu grunted in surprise at the force of the kiss and his eyes drifted closed after a minute and he pressed his own back against hers with equal fervour.
Lucy whimpered in delight as his bold hands pressed to both hips and began the slow inching up of her top, his tongue slid into her mouth as Lucy began to walk them backwards towards the pond; she pulled away from his scorching mouth and looked up at him through hooded eyelashes.
"Can we still grab that bath?" she asked huskily, fingers dancing across the waistband of his pants.
Natsu grinned heatedly down at her.
"I'll give you more than a bath, Luce."
The Dragon Slayer revelled in her yelp of surprise as he picked her up by the back of the legs and let them fall backwards into the water.
Still clothed.
"Is our plan in motion?"
"That naive Queen moves to seal us away, I don't believe she has figured out her source of power has slowly been poisoned from within over the last few centuries. But she shall do soon."
"But what of the girl?"
"We cannot reach her where she is, Lucy Heartfilia is to be allowed to pass into the Celestial Realm - there she will remain vunerable as she tries to attempt the impossible."
"And there we shall strike her down?"
"We shall."
Well things are getting interesting. Stay tuned for the next chapter, coming soon!