Now I'm just chasing time
With a thousand dreams I'm holding heavy
And as we cross the line these fading beats have all been severed
Don't tell me our youth is running out
It's only just begun

-Youth, Foxes


Chapter 3: Slither of Retrocognition

Lucy observed the golden key in her palm, turning it over carefully as she examined it. The first thought that came into her mind when she woke up was her keys; the only thing that still kept her sane. She knew what it could do: magic. Problem was she had no idea how to use it, and didn't know if she was ever capable of using it. Heck, she didn't even know what it did. She only knew it was some sort of weapon because of the note that was in the box, left by her mother.

Lucy stood up, determination flowed through her blood as she held it out, as if she was about to open a door.

"Open Sesame!"

She waited.

She gripped the key so hard that her hand started to tremble.

"Unlock?"

Still nothing.

"Release!"

"…"

Lucy dropped her hand in defeat, letting the key fall down onto the mattress. If she was ever planning to face him again, she'd have to be at least a little bit stronger than just wanting to hide. She felt practically useless during the fight. Lucy hadn't really thought thoroughly about her choice when he asked her if she wanted to join them… it was on the spur of the moment.

What if she couldn't use magic? Then will she always be relying on them? She frowned at the thought and pushed herself up.

"Lucy? You awake?"

She jumped up and threw the key into the box, quickly shoving it under the blankets of her new bed. The door peeked open- a white haired girl with bright blue eyes entered her vision. She was pretty, and pulled off the short hair well since her face was the right shape. "Sorry to suddenly intrude on you! We haven't met yet, but I'm Lisanna." Lisanna stood by the doorway still, fidgeting there.

"Oh, nice to meet you. You can come in if you want to." Lucy ushered her with a smile. Lisanna slipped in and flashed her a smile of her own.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay, you know since everything was thrown at your face in like four days." Lisanna laughed nervously, her fingers intertwining with her white hair. "You were asleep for like the whole day yesterday, I was impatient with meeting you!"

Lucy gasped. She had been asleep for almost a day?! No wonder why her stomach was constantly growling. "Anyway, we should get you something to eat after I give you a tour! By the way, don't let Natsu's behavior from before make you think badly of him. He was just taking precautions… and we were running short on money so his choices were pretty narrow."

"Understandable…" Lucy murmured, and then she glanced back at Lisanna. "Why did he suddenly decide to… take me in?" The question has been itching in her throat ever since she woke up. Everything blacked out when the whole attack was over, and she had woken up in the queen sized bed. She was clean now, her feet no longer coated with dirt and blood. Her wounds were bandaged up properly, which felt a bit odd for some reason.

"It's Natsu- he'd take anyone in." Lisanna laughed now; her eyes lit up when she heard his name, as if he was a jewel. Lucy softened at her words and a smile replaced her skeptical look. "Ah, before we start the tour, it's better if you meet everyone now, since you're part of us too." Lisanna stuck out her hand, and Lucy gratefully took it as she led her down the corridor.

Her arm brushed the wall as they neared the HQ, and Lucy abruptly stopped. Her eyes trailed down her left arm, realizing her arm sleeve was still as dirty as before. "Wait-" Lucy jerked her arm back as she pushed her arm to her chest. "One more question- who cleaned me? Did they take off this?" Lucy gestured at her arm sleeve. If anyone had taken it off, well, she'd have to run away again.

"Even though you were barely conscious you begged us not to take it off, so we just left it on for you." Lisanna shrugged, raising her eyebrows. "Why?"

"Just making sure. It's important to me. I'll wash it myself later." Lucy replied back with a sigh of relief, rubbing her arm in reassurance.

"Eh? Seems like she's up 'n fine now!"

"Finally have another pretty girl in our gang!"

Lucy flashed them a brief smile, waving. She was embarrassed, having so many eyes trained on her; she wasn't used to the attention. "Make sure to make her feel welcome!" Lisanna shouted over the roar of her comrades, and they responded back by even being louder than before.

"Won't someone outside hear us?" Lucy wondered, darting her eyes over to Lisanna for an answer.

"Don't worry; sound doesn't travel well up there." Lisanna winked at her as she dragged her for a tour around the building. "We have about five bathrooms, the women and men dorms, and two kitchens. People are assigned missions by the four leaders." Lucy nodded, remembering what Wendy had said to her the day before, well two days ago. "You can bring up to three people, unless it's a dangerous one, you have to ask the leaders for permission. We can't have too many of us running around since the government is on high alert. Better for them to not catch us in such a large group."

"What does the government want with you?"

Lisanna chuckled at her question, but answered it with patience. "Well, mafias aren't particularly, let's say, 'legal'. Our reputation is a bit on the negative side. The government doesn't like us, but we've been pretty good at staying in the shadows so they aren't much of a threat. Anyway, I'll get more into detail on that later. We usually get our jobs from our clients, who call us and tell us, or they call us and meet up with them and then negotiate from then on. We're quite famous among the citizens, but we don't have to worry about them leaking any information out of us." Lisanna chuckled darkly, making Lucy shudder a bit. Lisanna and Lucy had sat down at a table now in the kitchen as she continued to talk more while Lucy ate.

"Lisanna! Natsu wants Luigi!" A flying blue cat landed on top of Lucy's head, who screeched in response. She threw the cat off of her head, and her eyes grew large at the sight in front of her.

He wasn't only blue, but he had wings. Pretty, white angel wings.

"C-c-cat. Flying blue cat." She squeaked out through her clenched teeth. Things were just getting more out of the ordinary for her; she wasn't sure if she liked it or hated it.

"Happy, don't scare her like that! You always scare newcomers if you just suddenly fly into their faces!" Lisanna scolded him. Happy giggled and plopped on top of Lisanna's head.

"And my name isn't Luigi! It's Lucy!" Lucy exclaimed angrily, crossing her arms over her chest. She could taste the fur in his mouth and it made her want to puke.

"Natsu said he wants Luigi at his office NOW!" Happy emphasized the letters, tugging Lucy by her sleeve.

"Have fun!" Lisanna smiled brightly as she waved at her. Lucy begged Lisanna with her eyes to come with her, but the girl was already on her way back to the HQ.


As Lucy entered the room, she was taken aback by the dark aura that loomed over it the vast room like a tunnel. Lucy shivered, surprised by the atmosphere change.

Lisanna and Natsu had different personalities for sure…

"Lucy." His voice came out raspy and croaky, as if he had a terrible sour throat. Lucy glanced up in alarm, she had kept her head down when she walked in… but now she knew why the room seemed like it was being attacked by demons.

He looked sick- terribly sick.

"What happened to you?!" Lucy exclaimed as she jogged over to him. He was leaning back against his chair, and shook his head at her, telling her to stay put.

"Seems like the ones who fought two days ago contracted some kind of virus, fever type thing. From that weird ass black liquid." Natsu grumbled as he stood up from his chair. He wavered for a second be regained his balance. "And you-" he muttered out tiredly, briefly glancing at her, "since you're the cause of it, you gotta take responsibility, so you'll be coming with us. Besides, it'll be a good lesson to learn." Natsu reached into a glass case and opened it. He tossed her a long rope and she caught it frantically.

"The ones who are infected aren't trained enough to go on this job, so I'll be taking you, Erza, and Gray. That'll be your weapon." Natsu nodded his head at the rope he gave her.

"It's a rop-" Lucy untangled it, and saw the handle, realizing it was a whip. He was going to make her use a whip? For Christ's sake she didn't even know how to swing her arm correctly!

"Yeah, I got that as a reward from another client, but never used it. Thought you could make some use of it." He shrugged, "Give it back for a sec'" She did as told, tossing back the whip to him.

He snapped it open, causing Lucy to flinch and let out a small 'eep'. He lunged out at wooden stick leaning against the wall; the whip grasped the wooden stick. He snapped it back, and the wooden stick broke in half. Lucy gawked at the sight; how strong was he?!

"Well, you probably won't break their arm or whatever, make them fall forward and sprain it maybe?" He mumbled, more to himself than to her. "Here, you try it." He tossed it to her, and she fumbled with catching it again.

"O-okay." She muttered, clearly shaken already. She didn't know what the heck she was supposed to do, just snap it?

"Just raise your arm, extend it in front of you, and while you lower it, flick your wrist- aim it at the thing you want to grab hold of." Natsu ordered, raising his head towards another wooden stick. Lucy nodded, gulping the bitterness down her throat.

She raised her arm and flicked her wrist, her eyes trained at the wooden stick. For a brief second, it was going in the right direction. Lucy felt her heart flutter with expectation, and saw Natsu's own eyes lit up with surprise.

It slapped against a glass vase that fell to the ground. Lucy cringed as it shattered, and flitted her eyes to Natsu briefly before she shuffled her feet. He had closed his eyes, sighing as he glanced down bitterly at the vase. "Again." He sighed out, crossing his arms.

She tried again and again, but each time she hit something other than the stupid wooden stick. Was her aim that terrible?

Lucy glanced at Natsu after every flick, scared but curious to what his reaction would be. Of course she knew it wouldn't be pleasant, she failed at least twenty times. Natsu tapped his foot and kept glancing at her after the first few tries. It looked like he wanted to do something, but was debating against it. After her twenty fourth failures, he walked over to her quickly and stood in front of her. They both held their breaths; his hands hovered in the air for a while before he reluctantly dropped them.

"Damn, I can't touch you 'cause you'll just get sick." Natsu sighed again in defeat and walked back to his desk, leaning against it. "It's gonna be harder to teach if I can't show you the moves…" He muttered under his breath and rubbed his eyes. "Try again."

Lucy noticed he seemed to sigh a lot around her.

Huh. She felt kind of bad, especially since he was trying to help her have some type of self-defense. "I wouldn't make you do this so early after you've joined, but I gotta go by the policy." Natsu remarked after she started again.

"And what is that?" flick. The whip struck the wall close to the wooden stick; she tried to refrain from smiling in front of him.

"Person who causes the trouble has to follow along to fix it."

"Seems fair enough." Lucy retorted, striking again. This time it was closer. She could feel her heart jumping in joy, but it felt like her arm was about to fall off.

This time, she final struck the wooden stick. The satisfying crack of the whip made her grin in achievement, and she gazed at the fallen stick on the ground to observe her damage. "Didn't break all the way, but it'll be able to stun the person and probably sprain, if you hit the right spot." Natsu shrugged and put a black backpack onto his shoulders.

Lucy had just noticed his clothes now- all black. Except his scarf of course, if he was going to try to look like a ninja he shouldn't have even worn the scarf. His bright pink hair was now covered with a black bandana, but pieces of it stuck out at the end. "Ask Erza for some clothes, we're gonna have to go into stealth mode for this job."


The clothes on Lucy were a little baggy, but nevertheless it fit her well enough. Her hair was tied up into a high side pony tail, and her turtle neck shirt went up to her chin. She wasn't used to wearing so much black, but she had to admit, she looked pretty cool. Her shirt was sleeveless, and her black arm sleeve made her look even more badass than she thought she could ever look like. The whip was clipped to her belt; it felt reassuring to have it, even if she wasn't terribly good at using it yet. The cold metal key pressed against the cloth of her pants; her heart beat slowed down from the comfort it gave.

Erza, on the other hand, looked downright terrifying. If looks could kill, she would definitely do it without effort.

And Gray… well, he had trouble keeping his clothes on throughout the whole ride.

They were planning to break into Leyris's Hospital to get the materials to create an antidote for the fever that plagued the mafia. More than half the gang had been inflicted with it. Luckily, Wendy knew how to calm it down, but she didn't know how to get rid of it completely; the body would have to do that after she created medicine for it. The medicine would lessen it significantly, so it wouldn't become fatal.

They needed to get a backpack full of Exo Liquid from the Hospital, and to get the Poppy flowers from the hospital's garden.

Happy, the blue cat, and Charles, the white cat, also escorted them on the mission. They flew Erza and Gray to the destination to scout out the area before Natsu and Lucy could do their part of the plan.

Keeping up with Natsu's actions and thoughts were already tiring, but keeping up with him physically?

Worse than hell, no doubt about it.

Although Lucy didn't show it, all of her muscles were aching and screaming at her to rest for two seconds, but Natsu kept going, despite him being sick. He probably would've gone faster if he was healthy. He stopped every once in a while to let out a terrible cough, making Lucy stand back from him as he did. With every cough he wheezed out, the guiltier she felt. Maybe if she had just stayed put in her tower-

"Don't give me that look, it isn't your fault." She thought she saw him smile a little, but she wasn't sure since it was so dark out.

"R-right." She replied back, unsure of what to say. Was she thought obvious in the dark? Maybe he realized she was struggling to keep up, so he stopped as well; he probably would've just kept going without a single rest if she weren't here.

"You're basically transparent, too easy to read." His mocking tone came back, and she felt a vein pop on her forehead. She could hear him roll his eyes as he spoke.

"I am definitely not."

"Well, you're mad right now aren't ya?"

"I'm not mad!"

"See your voice is raising, you're mad." Natsu laughed, the obnoxiousness returning.

"I'm not mad! I'm irritated! Those are two different things!" Lucy growled back at him. Well, wasn't he a perfect mood ruiner? And she had started feeling sorry for him too…

"Plan B Natsu! The guards are currently on patrol." Happy zoomed over to them, almost slamming right into Natsu's chest, but stopped mere centimeters away.

"Gotcha. Take us to where they are!"

Charles grabbed Lucy by her collar without any notice, making Lucy yelp in surprise. Natsu darted her a look that said to 'be quiet', and she glared right back at him. She was happy that she was more relaxed around him, the tension gone, but if he was going to be this snarky she didn't know which one she preferred.

They were dropped right next to Gray and Erza; Natsu landing flawlessly while Lucy almost lost her footing, catching her self before she fell splat in the open where the guards would've caught her immediately. "She should've just stayed back…" Natsu groaned, looking at her in dismay. Lucy's face grew flushed from anger. She wanted to kick him but she refrained herself. She didn't want to get infected from whatever they had.

"Rules are rules, Natsu." Erza reminded him with a mocking tone.

"Dumbass created it himself too." Gray scoffed, smirking at Natsu.

"What ya say punk? You asking to fight ice prick?" Natsu flared up, suddenly gaining up on Gray.

"Bring it o-"

"Shut up before I send you two out for bait." Erza hissed at them. Natsu inched away from Gray reluctantly; he wouldn't dare anger the red head. Lucy stifled a laugh, not wanting them to notice her giggling at them, but Natsu shot her a glare either way.

"Alright, Gray and I will knock up some gu-" she coughed roughly, but tried to keep it quiet, "-guards and infiltrate the building to get the Exo Liquid. Natsu, you gather the Poppies, and Lucy, create a diversion, but if it gets too crazy you come straight back here."

"Alright, I'm all fired up!" Natsu grinned, but it was interrupted with a choking sound as he tried to stop himself from coughing too loudly. Lucy had to hold her breath to keep from laughing at him.

By the time Lucy looked up at them, Gray and Erza had already headed inside. They had brought a flare, so she could probably use that to cause a diversion. Lucy could feel Natsu's eyes on her as she fumbled with the flare, having trouble even holding it still. Her fingers kept shaking from the excitement of doing something exhilarating and the fear of getting caught. She peered nervously up at him and gave him a weak smile of reassurance.

Before Natsu could say anything, Lucy had run out of her hiding place and to the front of the gate. Her fingers fumbled with the match, but she managed to light it up. She lit the flare up, tossing it into the sky.

It exploded as it reached its peak, and the sparks poured down on her. Lucy yelped in surprise, she didn't know flares would explode at all; considering that it was made from someone in the mafia, it was to be expected. She brushed off the thought and snapped her whip out, hearing the freshening whiplash. She decided to cause more of a ruckus by lashing at the gate, which gave out a satisfying noise. Seconds later the pounding noise of metal and boots resonated in her ears- terrifyingly. Lucy ran away from the gate, the sound of her heart pounding in her ears was deafening.

"Diversion for five minutes they said… run when it gets too crazy…" Lucy grumbled as she caught her breath behind a rock. "How do I do this for five minutes! It's only been thirty seconds and I've almost died already!" Lucy sighed at how out of shape she was. This was her first time running around so much, and she could hardly see in the dark.

Lucy peered behind the rock and saw them walking back towards the gated building. She bit her lip, chewing on it. She still had three minutes left, and if they went back inside Erza and Gray would definitely get caught. "Hey I'm over here!" Lucy shouted, waving her hand frantically in the air until they started to gather to her again.

Lucy saw something bright shimmer from one of the spears, and it shot at the ground right in front of her. She was blasted back by the explosion force, hitting the gate behind her. Dust sprayed around her, making her throat scratchy and her eyes sting. She coughed out the dust bitterly, spitting it onto the ground in wads. Her hands shook as she sat up, trying to see through the dusty haze, but failing. Her fingers brushed her hips; her heart sped up.

Where was the key she brought? Lucy's eyes roamed the ground desperately, trying to spot the ornate golden key with the purple symbol. Why had she been so stupid? Bringing the key for good luck… she should've known it was going to get lost. Her fingers skimmed the ground, and then latched onto something metallic and cold. She grasped it and brought it to her eyes, the relief overwhelming her.

The air trembled, then another blast exploded in front of her, and she was slammed back to the gate. Her grip on the key tightened as she brought it to her chest. It had been more than five minutes, hadn't it? Maybe they were safe now…

"Don't just sit there like a rock, move!" Lucy's head snapped up, seeing the pink haired boy in front of her.

"Natsu!"

"C'mon or else you'll get blown to bits!" Natsu shouted at her angrily, beckoning her to follow him. She had grasped the end of his scarf so she wouldn't lose him in the thick dust in the air. As they got into a clearing, they were surrounded by even more guards than before.

"Halt or we shall take action and kill you!" One of them shouted, poking the spear at Natsu chest. Natsu's backpack was bulky and larger than before, which meant that his part of the plan was successful. Lucy could feel the surge of relief- all they needed to do was get away, and they'd be safe.

"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!" Natsu shouted, swinging his hands across the half-moon circle. The guards took multiple steps back and Lucy waited to see the brilliant flames from before. "Eh?" Natsu murmured as nothing came out. Not even a single flame flared up from his arms. "Shit…" Natsu tightened his fist, throwing a punch at the closest guard to him.

"Oh no… the sickness must've…" Lucy murmured, her worry rose in her chest again. The virus must've taken a toll on his magic, rendering them useless. The key burned in her hand as she gripped it harder. What could she do? At this point, if they continued like this they'll both get caught!

Summon me, Lucy.

Open the gates…

A familiar surge flowed through her body, her eyes were trained on the key as she felt her arm raise, pointing the key right at the guards.

Lucy knew what she was doing, but she didn't know whatwas happening. Her body moved on her own, and the words tumbled out of her lips, "Open the Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" She glanced at Natsu, who was jumping out of the way from the laser. He had caught her eyes for a brief second, widening before the ground shook beneath her, and another hot blast of dirt shot up in the sky. Lucy covered her face with her arms as the dirt and rocks poured down the sky like rain, gripping the key until her knuckles turned white.

"Princess, it has been a while. You've grown!" Lucy peeked through her arms, who was talking to her?

The young woman wore a short maid outfit, with light pink cropped hair. Chains decorated her wrist as she bowed in front of Lucy. "W-Who are you?" Lucy exclaimed in a whisper. She stood back up, glancing down at the key and then back to the woman. Her name resonated in Lucy's ears as she recalled what she had said before the pink haired girl showed up.

Virgo.

"No time to talk, Princess. We must get you and your boyfriend out of here; he seems to be at his limit!" Virgo announced; suddenly, she twirled, spiraling down into the ground as she created a large hole.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Lucy shouted, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. She snapped out of it though- now wasn't the time to be flustered over something like that! The guards had momentarily stopped, surprised and shaken up by what had happened. Natsu though, continued to attack them.

"What the hell was that?!" She heard him slur, and she gazed up with concern. His eyes were hazy, almost misty, and his moves were sluggish and slow.

The virus was getting to him fast.

"Jump into the hole, Princess!" She heard Virgo's voice accelerate as she shot back up, the blast of dirt and air that Virgo produced pushed back any of the guards that were coming towards Lucy.

"O-okay!" Lucy exclaimed. Natsu was on the other side of the hole; by the time she tried to reach him the guards would engulf them. She stuffed Virgo's key back into her pocket and took out her whip. Maybe if she could get the whip around Natsu's hand or wrist and make him fall into the hole…

Snapping it out, she concentrated on Natsu's wrist as it continued to dart around endlessly. Luckily, his movements were slower than usual so it wouldn't be as hard as to track it. She couldn't afford to play out the scenarios if it would work or not, they had a short amount of time.

"Just raise your arm, extend it in front of you, and while you lower it, flick your wrist." Natsu words rang in her ears as she followed the steps, concentrating on her target.

She snapped it once, but caught the leg of a nearby guard. He collapsed to the ground, groaning on the ground. She bit her lip; she'd have to try with less power so she wouldn't accidently sprain his wrist or something. She tried again and tugged the whip towards her; Natsu gasped out in surprise as he was suddenly tugged back, expecting to land painfully on the ground. The air grew hotter, and then darkness was closing up on them. His voice hitched in his throat. His eyes flitted over to his left hand, using the brief light from above to see the tightly wounded whip around his hand before the darkness swallowed them whole.


"He should be fine in a few hours or so." Wendy sighed out in relief eyeing her surroundings wearily. Almost half of the members were bedridden. "You guys made it just in time; the rash from the virus was starting to spread, if it had been an hour after… who knows what would've happened." Wendy tossed her gloves out and washed her hands. "Luckily, Natsu grabbed a year supply of Poppies and Gray and Erza grabbed more than enough Exo liquid, so we should be fine if anything like this happens again."

"Idiot almost killed himself…" Gray muttered as he shook his head. "How come I'm not like them either?" Gray motioned his head towards the sickly with a raised eyebrow.

"It seems to affect people differently, depending on your immune system or what type of magic you possess I believe… and you being an ice mage…" Wendy trailed of as she dipped another towel into the water basin, placing it on one of the patient's forehead, "You can actually slow down the process."

"Awesome, another thing I'm better at than Natsu." Gray grinned in triumph; he would definitely brag it to Natsu when he woke up.

"Lucy, you can come in you know." Lucy jumped at her voice and sheepishly peered into the room. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but she felt awkward to walk in without a reason. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm fine." Lucy waved her off, smiling. "How's everyone else?" She eyed Erza and Natsu with a pang of guilt.

"They'll be fine, they're strong." Wendy reassured her with a comforting smile.

Gray seemed to sit up straighter as he twirled around on his chair, facing Lucy now. "Hey, I was wondering 'bout something ever since we got back. Was did Natsu mean when he sai-"

"Why the hell didn't I know you could use magic?!"

Lucy, Gray, and Wendy jumped up at the piercing voice. Natsu sat up now, looking slightly better than before. The haze in his eyes was gone, and his breathing was much clearer. "You can't just keep secrets as important as that from me, from everyone!"

"Natsu! Lower your voice, you can't strain it and you'll wake up everyone else!" Wendy scolded him bitterly. Natsu slouched back into his position, but his eyes remained trained on her.

"I-I didn't know!" Lucy waved her hands in front of her face, flustered by his sudden outburst.

"Whaddya mean you didn' know 'bout it?!" Natsu's voice began to slur again.

"Shut your trap, you can't even talk straight." Gray commented with a smirk. Natsu glared at him with daggers in his eyes, but didn't reply back. He was too tired to argue with him anyways.

"I really didn't know… what it was. Honestly." Lucy whispered now as she recalled the pink haired maiden. Who was Virgo exactly? She knew that 'Virgo' was an astrological sign but…

"How-!"

Wendy placed her fingers on each side of Natsu's head. His eye lids fluttered down and he plopped back onto the bed, a quiet snore filled up the room again. "My goodness, this boy!" Wendy shook her head with a sigh. "He doesn't know when to stop."

"So you can use magic, huh?" Gray looked at Lucy expectantly. She squirmed, uncomfortable under his gaze, but she nodded briefly. "How'd you do it?"

Lucy fumbled with her pockets. She still wore the same outfit from the infiltration. She handed Gray the key over carefully. He examined it, eyeing it as if it were some alien object. "How did you even use this? It's just a key?" Gray questioned, eyebrows raised. Wendy peered over Gray's shoulder, and her eyes lit up with recognition.

"Oh! If you need this to use magic, you must wield 'Holder' Magic." Wendy gazed up at Lucy in curiosity now. "I've only met a couple, but never one with Celestial Spirit Magic."

"Celestial Spirit Magic?" Lucy asked in confusion.

"Yep! You use keys to summon spirits from the Celestial World by using some kind of phrase. If you use the right phrase with the right key you'll summon a spirit from there. But you have to sign a contract with them before they can fight for you though…" Wendy lit up as she remembered something else. "Oh, and they drain your magic power up so you shouldn't summon them out for too long, or you could potentially die."

"Well, well don't you know a lot about this?" Gray commented back.

"I do spend my free time reading." Wendy responded back with a hum. "How odd, how could you not know you were a magic user?"

"Long story…" Lucy sighed out, darting her eyes to the stone walls. The place was drafty, but warmer than it could've been. She had forgotten their HQ was underground, so she was expecting windows or a shaft of light at least.

"Well," Gray cleared his throat and flashed a smile at Lucy. "There's always room to learn more about yourself, isn't there?"


HEYO. Thanks for reading! This chapter was a bit longer than usual haha.

There weren't too much of Natsu/Lucy interaction, sorry! Hopefully there'll be more next chapter :^D. (No idea if there will be, have to plan it out first hehe). Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Don't forget to review! Xoxo

If you have any questions, visit my tumblr or PM me here (^: