Chapter Three:
The first day turned into four, which became a week, which became a month.
Lucy still hadn't figured out how the dragon was getting in and out of the cave. She had searched for the exit a number of times when he had told her that he would be out hunting for the day, but had never managed to find it. Virgo and the other spirits were expressly bound from interfering. They couldn't help her escape, but they could be there for her. The blonde had taken to summoning them while she studied, asking them questions and in general getting to know them. Aquarius's loss was a constant ache.
Virgo had packed her apartment, and slowly Lucy had asked the maid to bring things into the cave. Not much, since there wasn't much space in the cave for Lucy to use, but she had brought some of her clothing, the heaviest she owned, and some of her own novels. Occasionally in the evening, Lucy would sit in front of the hearth after her evening meal and work on her novel, bouncing ideas off her spirits. Surprisingly enough, Aries usually had fantastic suggestions, leading Lucy to believe that her shy spirit was an avid reader.
Capricorn led her through as much training as they could manage in the cave, but Lucy knew that her progress was limited by being forced to do little more than meditate. With all of the lore books read that Acnologia had assigned to her, she needed to negotiate with the dragon to spend some time outdoors.
Her moment came on the day when he returned from bringing back winter supplies. Lucy pounced as he was moving barrels and crates into the storeroom. "I need to go outside," she stated, blocking the exit to the storeroom. "If you want me to actually learn the spells that I'm supposed to be learning, I can't do it from inside the cave."
"No," he said, equally firm. "You will not. You are not yet ready."
"I've read all the books," she cried in frustration. "What's left are ones with spells in them, and unless you want me to chance blowing up the cave, I can't work on the spells without going outside."
Brushing by her, he lifted another stack of crates, shifting them into the storeroom. As one of the corners forced her to move aside, Lucy persisted: "Ask any of my spirits. They'll tell you that I've read everything you assigned."
"Do you know what your bloodline is?" he asked coolly. "Do you know the significance of the contact between mage and spirit? Can you explain to me why anyone who can wield the Twelve in unison is dangerous, and what the Thirteenth key truly unlocks?"
Struck dumb by the number of questions he asked her, Lucy shook her head. "I'm Andromeda, you and Loke both said so. And a contract is to protect the spirits from bad owners. The thirteenth key is Ophiuchus, and it you can wield all twelve keys, you're an incredibly powerful mage."
"All wrong," Acnologia shook his head dismissively. "You may have read the books, but you do not truly understand them. If you did, you will not be standing here in front of me as you are now."
"Why do I need to read more about things like the Eclipse Gate?" Lucy complained. "I've already matched up against one, and I doubt anyone will be stupid enough to build a gate after what happened last time."
"You think that was the only Eclipse Gate ever built?" Acnologia called as he moved another barrel into the storeroom. "That was the third. Two out of the three were built in your lifetime. Believe me Heartfilia, the Eclipse Gate is part of your history."
What the hell? Lucy wanted to scream, but the dragon was still talking. "If you cannot explain to me why the Eclipse Gate reacted badly on the night of the seventh of July in x791, you are not fit to begin practicing with the spells contained in the volumes."
Throwing up her hands in frustration, Lucy stormed out of the storeroom and back to the athenaeum where a pile of books was on the desk. Loke stood next to the table, presumably talking with Plue until she burst in.
"I can't believe him," she hissed, fighting the urge to overturn the table. "He tells me to read, and I read. But apparently that's not good enough. I have to know every detail of every branch of Celestial magic! And be able to theorize why the Eclipse Gate went haywire! Does he want to get rid of me or not?"
Closing his eyes for a moment, as if he was thinking, Loke moved to place a hand on her shoulder. "Princess, I may not agree with everything he's doing, but look at it from his perspective. If something happens to him, all of this lore is lost. There's only one other person in Earthland who I would expect to be able to manage this level of knowledge. Nobody would think to go looking for him if they wanted to know. We spirits cannot teach what you don't know to ask. He is grooming you to be the next Loremaster of Celestial Magic. It's a heavy responsibility, but one that all of us, and His Majesty, feel you are capable of fulfilling."
"Loremaster?" Lucy whispered, eyes wide. "He wants me to take over as Loremaster? There's only two of us left, and as far as I know, Yukino isn't at the same level of power as me. There won't be a need for anyone but me to know this anytime soon."
"But you will both likely have children," Loke pointed out. "And the odds are that at least one of your children will inherit your keys. The other you may be able to teach the non-key related spells to."
"Why such a focus on Eclipse?" she asked, returning to her original statement. "Why is it so damn important that I know everything about the stupid gate? The Council confiscated everything related to the Gate during the cleanup, and I'm pretty sure it was either destroyed right away, or it got blown up when Jackal attacked the council."
The lion spirit looked decidedly uncomfortable. "Lucy…I'm not at liberty to explain everything to you. But I can tell you that whenever one is built, there's usually a Heartfilia around. And what happens with the Gate changes the world."
"All either of you do is talk in riddles," Lucy spat, running her hand through her hair in frustration. "Every other time you open your mouth you tell me that you can't explain. He just insinuates everything, and that's even worse! Why I'm supposed to become the Loremaster when he's perfectly capable of fulfilling that role himself…"
"He may have lived a very long time, but it is doubtful that he is immortal," Loke cautioned. "You should take this as an opportunity Princess…"
"I don't care about learning all of this stuff," Lucy said, her anger expressing itself in the tears welling up in her eyes. "When has learning more about my magic brought me anything but heartbreak? Eclipse still happened. Summoning 'Stache face took away Aquarius and ended up killing everyone's parents. Maybe I just should have stopped with Urano Metria and my keys."
The tears were falling now, hard and fast. "I just want to go back to the way things were. When nobody talked about things like curses that wiped entire academies out, or when I could see the sunlight whenever I wanted. Loke, I want to go home, to Fairy Tail."
Saying nothing, the lion spirit pulled her into his arms, feeling her reach up to grab his jacket and bury her face in his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, Loke let her sob, knowing that she had been holding in her grief for the entire month she had been with Acnologia. He understood her longing for the home that had been ripped away from her, the home that no longer existed for her to return to, when this was all over. In a way, he thought Acnologia had done her a kindness. While taking Lucy away in the predawn moments hadn't allowed her any chance to say her goodbyes, her time here would allow her to figure out what she was going to do now that Fairy Tail was gone.
Eventually, she had cried herself to sleep, and he carried her to the bed, noticing that the dark circles under her eyes were only getting worse as time progressed. She still wasn't sleeping more than five hours per night, and she stayed up late in a vain attempt to tire herself out. All of her spirits were worried about her. Aries had offered to make her a bed with her wool bomb, in the hopes that it would keep her nightmares away, but Lucy had refused, saying that she had to work through them. The blonde also wasn't eating as much, choosing to share whatever food Acnologia had prepared with her spirits and somehow eating less each day.
She can't go on like this, he thought, removing her shoes and placing them by the bed where she would find them when she woke. He left her keys and whip attached to her belt; Lucy hadn't felt comfortable sleeping without them since she had arrived.
As he returned to the main room, Loke found the dragon banking the already low flames on the hearth. "She might break if you keep pushing her," he said softly, knowing that Acnologia would be able to hear him, but his voice would not disturb Lucy.
"If she were to break, that would hardly be my problem," Acnologia said, moving to sit on the benches around the hearth. "What do you want Leo?"
Isn't that the million jewel question, Loke thought bitterly. He wanted Lucy to be happy. He wanted her to have all of the knowledge that was being offered to her. He wanted her to be at home, in Fairy Tail. He wanted for a good number of things to have never happened, so that none of this was necessary.
"The problem with living forever," he began slowly, not quite sure where he was going with this, "is that you see a lot of shit happen. And you remember most of it."
"You're just realizing this now?" Acnologia drawled. "I have walked among humans for four hundred years. Why do you think I limit my interactions with them?"
"I know you see the patterns," Loke bulled on, knowing that as Draconis, and as Draco's pupil, Acnologia could make a lot of trouble for him, but he wanted to say this. "The paintings in the athenaeum show it. You know exactly why things have been happening. And you're making sure she knows too, even if it would be simpler just to cram her head full of the knowledge and get her out of your life."
Cold grey eyes bored into Loke's. "You know that it would be irresponsible for me to believe that I will live forever. Making sure that Heartfilia knows everything that there is to know will ensure that Celestial Mages will at least have the information they need to reclaim their former glory. Hopefully she will learn enough to deal with the little problem herself so I don't have to interfere again."
"That alone might break her," Loke said softly. "You do not know it, but she cares for him."
"She does not wear feathers," Acnologia stated, but it came out sounding more like a question. "And her hair is unbound."
Loke grinned slightly. "That tradition fell out of use a decade or so after the Gate was first opened," he reported. "And modern women wear their hair however they feel is stylish. Lucy just hasn't wanted to pull her hair back recently."
"So the dragon slayers have abandoned their heritage," Acnologia murmured scornfully. "Gone are the days of the Æthelflæda and the Gúþfloga."
"I wouldn't necessarily say that," Loke demurred. "Wendy Marvell, the sky slayer, is quite fearsome when angered. And the males are not weaklings either."
"They have neglected the very things that make them dragon slayers," the dragon insisted softly. "But you say that Igneel's pupil is close to Heartfilia?"
"Very close," the lion agreed. "I do not envy you when she puts all of the pieces together. But she will need support if she is to come through the flames unscathed."
"She has you." A dismissive hand was waved, and Loke sighed. "Heartfilia…"
"Is it because she looks like Anna, or do you just resent her for intruding upon your life?" Loke snapped, reaching the end of his patience. "You know that we spirits are bound to provide only what information we are asked for. She would be out of your life faster if you spent more time teaching her than just telling her what shelves she should have finished before the end of her time here."
"Do not speak that name." At the dragon's growl, Loke froze. Had he overstepped the line?
Acnologia rose from his seat, entire form tense with anger. Stalking over to where the leader of the zodiac stood, he approached until he was almost nose to nose with Loke.
"That woman," the dragon snarled, "is not to be mentioned, unless absolutely necessary. I do not speak of oathbreakers, for it gives them too much recognition to be remembered after all this time. Heartfilia is here because I have no other choice. If through studying with me she is able to remove that monster, than I will welcome the opportunity, however distasteful."
"They're nothing alike," Loke whispered. "You have not spent much time with Lucy, but you'll find her completely different."
"They're both Heartfilias," Acnologia sneered. "How different can they be?"
"Lucy told a hostile Celestial mage that she would let herself be killed if it meant that Aries and I would go free." Loke remembered that day, remembered the broken words coming from his master as she sat defeated in the stream, pleading not for her own life, but for the freedom of two spirits. "She fought Aquarius over the reverse summoning, and to this day she regrets destroying the key. Not because she lost a spirit, but because Aquarius took the place of her mother after Layla died." The mermaid was almost constantly watching over Lucy from the spirit world, even if she tried to deny it. "A rival guild attacked Fairy Tail in order to retrieve Lucy so that her father could marry her off to the highest bidder. Even though the entire guild was ready to protect her, Lucy would have given herself up so that they weren't hurt. During the Grand Magic Games, she would have let herself be publically humiliated to save a little girl from her guild. The Iron Dragon slayer tried his best to beat her into submission, but Lucy laughed at him."
He didn't know why he was telling these snapshots of Lucy's life to this man who obviously wasn't interested, who could care less for Lucy as a person, who only saw the ghost of a dead woman…but he felt as if he needed to fight for Lucy, to show her to this man and make him admit that maybe he had been wrong.
"She laughed at Metallicana's brat after he beat her into submission?" Acnologia asked, drawing away and returning to the hearth.
"Gajeel claims that Lucy never broke, no matter what he did. He was about to kill her, despite his orders, when Natsu stopped him." Sensing that the dragon might be willing to listen, Loke pressed on. "She's always willing to go beyond what seems to be her limit if she can protect the people she cares about. The other keyholder, Yukino Aguria, once offered Lucy her keys, completing the zodiac, but Lucy turned them down because she didn't want to break the bonds between them. With the right motivation, she could learn everything you have to teach her and more, but right now, she's exhausted and terrified, and she feels as if she's being kept prisoner."
"I am not a kind master," Acnologia warned darkly. "She will not find me forgiving or coddling."
"Respect her," Loke suggested desperately. "Challenge her. Treat her as a true student, not an inconvenience. Try teaching her the old ways, the histories, not just magic. Without context, some of what she's learning won't make sense. Things have changed too much in the outside world. Let her outside to breathe the fresh air and see the sky. Teach her to hunt, and to track, so that you don't have to worry about her running away. Just teach her. Like Draco taught you."
Loke waited for a response, but the dragon simply sat looking into the glowing embers of the hearth, as if he was trying to see something in them. Eventually the spirit closed his gate, knowing that he or another of Lucy's spirits would be needed when she invariably woke screaming from her nightmare.
"Get up." At Acnologia's command, Lucy looked up, startled. She hadn't heard him entering the athenaeum, so deeply immersed in her book. Sagittarius was with her today, since she tried to rotate who she summoned to accommodate their schedules and make sure they didn't feel neglected. The spirit exchanged looks with her, and Lucy slowly got up, wondering what was going on.
"Today you will have a practical lesson. I will have to blindfold you. Stand before me."
Looking at Sagittarius, Lucy nervously did as Acnologia asked, her palms sweating as the dragon wrapped a long strip of cloth around her eyes. Loke won't let anything bad happen to me. Neither will Sagittarius. It will be fine.
A rough hand seized each elbow, and Lucy found herself propelled out of the athenaeum and into the main cave. She tried to follow where they were going, but Acnologia was moving her too quickly. They seemed to pass into another space, where Lucy could hear the wind more strongly than she could before, and then she felt the sun on her face, and almost cried. He had taken her outside. For the first time in a month, she was outside.
He undid the blindfold, and Lucy found herself standing in the entrance to a cave, looking out over a range of jagged mountains. The early September sun still shone as bright as the summer sun, but the cool breeze replaced the stifling humidity. Tipping her face up to take in the sun, Lucy breathed deeply.
"Today you will learn to trap," Acnologia said behind her. "There is not much in these mountains, so we will be going to a nearby forest. To do so, I will have to fly. You will be carried in my claw."
And with that, he changed, and Lucy found herself clutched in a scaly claw, and the scream died in her throat as they launched into the air.
Everything looked different from up here. Acnologia flew relatively low, likely to not attract much attention, weaving around the mountain peaks like they were familiar streets. In a few short minutes, they had arrived at a forest, and Lucy found herself being dropped when she was still a meter above the ground. Instinctively, she tucked herself into a ball and rolled, coming up on her feet. It was a hard learned skill, one that she had had to push down her pride and ask Vijeeter, of all people, to teach her. He had been exceedingly patient and kind about it, and it was nice to be around someone who remembered that a human body was a lot more fragile than everyone else remembered.
Acnologia had shifted back as she rolled, watching her with an inscrutable look on his face. "Come. And try to be quiet."
Moving even more gracefully than the dragon slayers Lucy knew, he slipped into the forest, leaving her to hurry behind. She couldn't keep up with his long strides, but she tried to call forth the way she had learned to walk when she was still the Heartfilia heiress, making no sound as she floated down hallways and across dance floors in thin slippers that would be thrown out after she had gone to bed. Slippers, however impractical, had been better than heels in her opinion, because they didn't leave her feet aching at the end of the night.
Even though he should have stood out, with his blue markings and grey hair, Acnologia blended in surprisingly well, slipping silently between the trees in a way that made Lucy constantly worry she would lose him. In comparison, she felt like a bumbling fool, almost tripping over roots, even in her sensible boots, her hair snagging on overhanging branches, since she hadn't felt like putting it up while trapped in the cave. I'll have to get Cancer to cut it, she thought distractedly, eyes fixed on the man in front of her.
He stopped, and she halted behind him, waiting for his next order. It was cool and dark under the canopy, and Lucy could hear birdsong, and what were probably small animals rummaging around in the underbrush.
"We do not need much more meat for the winter," he said softly, his voice hard to hear, even in the quiet of the forest. "But the pelts will be valuable when I trade for supplies. Rabbit pelts are especially prized. Today you will learn how to trap rabbits."
And he walked her through how to construct a simple snare, using a length of rope he had brought with him, tucked in a pocket of his pants. He made her set up and disassemble the snare several times, until he was satisfied with her method, and then they moved, and he showed her how to spot a rabbit trail, and how to position the snare for maximum chance of success. Once they had set the snare, he led the way back out of the forest, Lucy trailing behind him.
They flew back to the cave, and despite her best efforts, Lucy still had no idea where they were. Standing in the entrance, she looked out over the peaks and valleys, wondering if she would get to see the sky tomorrow, or if she would have to wait another month.
"Meditate," the dragon snapped, drawing her out of her thoughts. "I want to see where you're at."
Confused about why he had suddenly decided to start acting like at teacher, Lucy dropped down on the stone floor and assumed her meditation pose, closing her eyes and letting her thoughts drift away as her magic power swelled around her. Lost in the haze of meditation, she obeyed the faint commands barked by the dragon, stretching and compressing her magic as he ordered.
When she was allowed to come out of her meditative state, the dragon was scowling. "Summon Capricorn, I want to see you spar."
Now even more confused, Lucy summoned the goat spirit and relayed the orders. Facing off across the large empty space of the cave, Lucy reached for her keys, intending to summon Loke, but Acnologia snapped: "No summoning. Just your fists and whatever weapons you have."
Well, this will be over quickly, Lucy thought grimly as Capricorn advanced. Ducking under his fist with a practice born of spending any time in the guild hall, she reached for her whip. It didn't do her any good. Capricorn had helped her train for the Grand Magic Games, and she was certain that he knew far more tricks against her whip than even she did. Noting the supremely unimpressed look on Acnologia's face, Lucy decided to pull out her trump card, knowing that it couldn't hurt.
It's going to be rough without Gemini to help, but I'm pretty fresh, so I should be able to pull this off alone. "Survey the heavens, open the heavens…"
"Stop!" Acnologia called, and he stalked over to Lucy. "Were you being deliberately ignorant when I asked what your bloodline was yesterday?"
Unnerved by the venom in his voice, Lucy found herself taking a step backwards. "N-no," she stuttered, tightening her grip on her whip. "I still don't understand."
"Why were you going to take a risk in using that spell?" he hissed, advancing on her again. "Did I not tell you that you were not ready to attempt them? I recognize Urano Metria."
"I've always been able to use that spell," Lucy whispered, her back now against the wall, no other retreat left to her. "Ever since it was given to me."
"Given to you?" he asked, his voice going cold. "Tell me, how were you given this spell?"
Lucy found herself stuttering through an explanation of the fight with Angel, describing how Hibiki had imported the knowledge into her head, and then she had to learn it all over again on her own…
"You are very lucky," Acnologia said, backing off. "By all rights, you should have blown yourself up, messing with matters beyond your knowledge. If I ever see this…Hibiki, I will have to show him how I feel about carelessly handing out Celestial spells." There was an undercurrent of menace in his voice that made Lucy shiver, and pity the poor Archival mage.
"Why should I have blown myself up?" Lucy couldn't help but ask. "What's different about Celestial spells than other spells?"
"Each Celestial Mage is born with an…affinity, I believe is the current translation. We used to refer to it as bloodline. You will have seen mention of that in your books."
"Oh, affinity and bloodline are the same things?" Lucy clarified. "I still don't know what mine is, but I know what you're talking about now."
"Moving on." It appeared that the dragon didn't appreciate her interruption. "All Celestial spells are classed by bloodline. Only those with the proper bloodline are capable of wielding certain spells. A Leo bloodline cannot use an Aries-bloodline spell. They are two completely different natures. Occasionally, Celestial Mages are born with a secondary bloodline, but it is rare, and usually similar to the dominant bloodline."
"So, if I hadn't been of the bloodline that Urano Metria is from, I wouldn't be able to use it?" Lucy murmured. "And if I had tried, I might have died?"
"Correct," the dragon drawled. "But at least now we know that you're a Leo bloodline. Urano Metria's a battle spell, and that's his forte. We'll still have to test on whether that's your only bloodline, or if it's the dominant bloodline, but that's a fair bit of groundwork done."
"What's your bloodline?" Lucy asked before she could stop herself.
He gazed coolly at her, but surprisingly enough, he answered. "I am a Leo as well. That is my only bloodline. Most of the line of Draco were Leo."
"How do you find out what bloodline you are?" she blurted out. "And what are the signs of someone who has a second bloodline.
"You tell me," he said with a shrug. "It's in your readings, you should be able to infer it. But you will not be learning spells. Not until you are better prepared."
"What do you mean?" she asked, frustrated. "All you do is tell me I'm not ready, or I don't know anything."
"Both are true." Acnologia shrugged. "However, it has recently been suggested that I treat you as a true student. So I shall. Lucy Heartfilia, you will be the first person in four centuries to be trained as a child of the Draco line would have been trained. You may back out at any time, but know that choosing to do so will mean that we return to our original relationship."
So…he'll be hands on with me and teach me as he was taught, Lucy reasoned slowly. Or we'll go back to me having to blindly work through the invisible hoops he sets for me. She considered her options, trying to assess exactly how much hell she was going to submit herself to if she allowed Acnologia to truly teach her.
"I'll do it," she said firmly, meeting his eyes. "I'll take the training. If it means I'll be able to protect my friends when I'm done, so that I never have to summon 'Stache Face again, I'll do it."
"Five laps around the cave."
"What?" That's not the response I thought I would get.
"The proper form of address for Orion, King of the Celestial World, is His Majesty. Not 'Stache Face. Run five laps around the cave interior, close enough that you will hit the wall if you drift too much."
Seeing that he wasn't going to compromise on this, Lucy obligingly began running. Apparently he didn't get the memo that the old man was okay with me calling him that. It does feel good to stretch my legs like this though.
A rock hit her ankle. Not one large enough to cause damage, but it stung. "Move faster. A child could outrun you."
Is it too late to back out?
***Well, things are changing. Part of me thinks this won't be too many chapters long, since there's not much happening in the middle of nowhere. But I'll hit the highlights.
Expect to see Raise Your Glass updated soon, since the last two chapters are drafted and just need a little revision before they get posted.
Hope everyone enjoys!***