Tada! Next chapter, nearly two months later! Amazing what the combination of ADD, Finals, normal schoolwork, and video games do to slow down your progress, isn't it?
I don't have much to say in this AN, just want to once again thank you guys for your reviews and the amazing response to this story! There is one review I'd like to address, from RayvnAshes2, which contained the following:
"Lucy's pretty well-spoken for a three year old, but Layla did say she was smart. Oh well."
Um, all I have to say in response to that is *hangs head* I'm so sorry! I have no younger siblings, and I'm the youngest cousin in my family. All I have for comparison is my second cousin, who just recently graduated from the first grade, and her little brother, who I think starts school this year (2014). I only see them on Christmas and Thanksgiving, so I don't have much experience with children to go off of! I'm well aware that Lucy is a bit too articulate for her age, but I don't know how to dumb it down. If it comforts you, you'll only have to deal with her above average speech for this chapter and the next!
~Star Child~
Rating: K+ to T
Warnings: Violence, Snakes
Summary: When Lucy goes to play in the garden, Capricorn is always watching over her. And it's good thing he does.
Word Count: 2380
~Star Child~
Layla rarely gets out of bed anymore; she's too sick.
However, this does not change the fact that she has an active four year old, who loves playing in the garden and gets easily bored sitting at her mother's bedside. When she is well enough, Layla takes her daughter outside herself, but if she cannot get out of bed that day then one of the servants takes her out. Were this any other family, a servant would be sufficient, but they are the Heartphilias, and they have made many enemies while making their fortune; enemies that would love to take out the sole heir of the Heartphilia fortune. A mere servant couldn't protect Lucy if someone hired a Mercenary or Assassin Guild to kill her.
It is Capricorn who suggests a solution.
A little known fact about Celestial Spirit Keys is that as long as the Key is touching skin, the Key's Spirit can hear the holder's voice, regardless of whether the holder is their Summoner or not. Although this fact seems insignificant, it is actually vitally important to the way the Keys work. If a Spirit cannot hear the Summoner calling for them, they cannot answer the summons, and if they could only hear their Summoner, then they could not make new Contracts. If they give Lucy his Key, Capricorn proposes, he could detect any danger to Lucy and save her. He's strong enough to come through the Gate on his own, after all.
Layla thought it was a good idea, and Jude agreed. Capricorn's Key was put on a string, and whenever Lucy went outside it was slipped around her neck. The Gold Key glinted in the sunlight while she played in the sandbox, bouncing against her collarbone as she skipped through the gardens.
In the Spirit World, Capricorn sits straight up in surprise, before sinking back down into the pillows of the couch. He hasn't quite gotten used to hearing Lucy's voice at random times yet. Leo looks at him curiously, and Scorpio sniggers at him. Many of his fellow Spirits do not understand his devotion to Layla and Lucy. He knows some of the Silver Keys actively mock him for it behind his back. He doesn't really care; they don't know Layla and Lucy the way he does. If they did, the would feel the exact same way. Those two are impossible not to love.
Capricorn leans back into the cushions and focuses on Lucy's voice. Apparently she's playing Mage Princess. Mage Princess is, of course, better than regular Princess, because Lucy gets to use 'magic' to rescue herself and the Prince.
"I Summon you!"
And of course the Mage Princess is a Celestial Spirit Mage.
"Kill the evil monster! Minny! You're not scary! Be more eviler!"
Apparently Minny, one of the maids, is watching Lucy today. The little girl probably has a good reason for the complaint; Minny is 5'1" and timid, not really monster material. He listens to the one-sided debate about what makes a monster scary. Clawed fingers and deep, growling voices are a must, he discovers, as is stomping heavily. At some point during the game Lucy finds a stick and uses it as a sword. Capricorn hopes that the servant can keep her from poking her own eye out. Lucy narrates the entire game for herself and Minny, which Capricorn appreciates because it can be confusing listening to one side of a conversation. Lucy's games are fraught with imaginary dangers such as giant evil ladybugs and obstacles such as the Mountain of Doom. Minny seems to cycle through being an evil monster, a heroic sidekick, and a damsel in distress, depending on what Lucy tells her to do. Lucy's imagination is incredible, and Capricorn thinks she could be a wonderful author one day.
Capricorn is distracted when Cancer sits down beside him. Cancer sees the distant look on his face and asks, "Is Lucy out, ebi?" Capricorn nods, so Cancer asks, "What's she doing, ebi?"
"At the moment? Trying to convince the Queen of the Star Bats to help her slay the Great Lava Dragon. No, wait, now she and the Star Bat Queen are climbing the Holy Mountain to pull the Celestial Sword out of the stone. Oh, ouch, she just slipped in the mud."
"Is she alright, ebi?"
"I think she's fine. She's very upset though."
"Little girls aren't fond of dirt, ebi."
Capricorn laughs, because it's so true. As much as Lucy loves playing outside, she hates getting dirty. Unlike little boys, who generally target mud puddles, Lucy stays away from mud and dirt, preferring to play among the trees and the flowers. He can hear her crying loudly and complaining about her mud-stained skirt.
"The maid just picked her up. They're going inside. I can't sense Lucy anymore, just the maid. Now I can't sense her either, I think she put the Key down," Capricorn reports.
Soon the conversation moves away from Lucy and onto other things. The twelve Zodiacs chat about inconsequential things; mainly their Summoners. Believe it or not, it was boring in the Spirit World. It's not like there aren't things to do, it's just that when you're relatively immortal those things get old fast. Sometimes the only new things to talk about were humans. Taurus complained over and over about how nobody had found his Key since his last Summoner died. Aquarius leaned against Scorpio's side and went into raptures over him every couple of minutes. Cancer and Scorpio got into an age old argument about whether crabs or scorpions had better pincers. The Mother Pisces cooed over the Son Pisces. Sagittarius and Libra started up a lively debate about something nobody else could follow. The Gemini twins were conspiring to play a prank on their rather uptight Summoner. Aries was timidly telling Leo about her new Summoner, Karen. Virgo went from group to group asking for punishment, all of whom denied her, Capricorn watches them quietly, amused. In the human world, they might be enemies, but here they are all friends.
Suddenly, he's aware of Lucy's voice again. His attention fades from the Spirit World, and he focuses on the child's voice. He wonders how much time has passed in the human world. He thinks it's the same day, because Lucy's talking to Minny, and the servants usually switch off. Lucy eagerly jumps back into playtime.
"Minny! Let's play hide and seek!" the little girl shrieks. There is a pause, and then in reply to something Minny said, Lucy exclaims, "I wanna seek! You hide, Minny, and I'll find you, like, super fast!" Another pause, and Lucy screams in outrage, "I would never peek! Go hide, Minny!" Capricorn chuckles at the little girl. Then she begins 'counting' and he has to smother his laughter.
"One, two, three, four, um... A? No, that's an alphabet... Six, seven? Twelve, nine, eleven! READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!"
With that, Lucy sets off to find her maid. She looks high and low, chattering all the while. She looks in the gardener's shed, behind bushes, even up a tree at one point. She finally finds Minny hiding behind a bench. The little girl shrieks in delight.
"I found you, I found you! Yay! Now it's your turn to find me! Go count by the tree!" A few moments pass by, during which Capricorn assumes they return to the starting point, and then he hears Lucy giggling madly. She 'whispers' about potential hiding spots as she races past them. Then she exclaims, "That's a perfect spot! She'll never find me there!"
Lucy settles into her perfect hiding spot. He can hear her giggling 'quietly' as she waits for Minny to find her. Then–
"Oh! A snakey. Hello snakey. You're a little snakey," Lucy says, her tone one of mild surprise and curiosity.
Capricorn tenses. A snake could be dangerous. But Lucy said it was a little snake, so it's probably just a grass snake – harmless.
Lucy seems delighted with her discovery. "Minny! Come see what I found!" She keeps calling until Minny finds her. "See Minny? It's a pretty little snakey – red and black with those pretty yellow rings between them!"
Capricorn's blood runs cold.
Red on black, friend to Jack.
Red on yellow, kill a fellow.
"Minny, what are you doing? Minny – Minny! Aaahhhh!"
Before she even finishes screaming, Capricorn is materializing in front of her. He is greeted with the sight of tiny, timid Minny standing protectively in front of Lucy, her arm held defensively in front of her body. Dangling from her forearm is a small snake patterned with red, yellow, and black rings. It's exactly what he feared.
A coral snake.
Coral snakes are tiny, pretty snakes. They are difficult to identify as venomous, and have an alarming tendency to cross paths with humans. Their pretty patterning and small size has enticed many a child to pick up the snake – children just like Lucy. Their venom is a highly potent neurotoxin, and they don't even need to puncture skin to envenomate their victim; just a scratch from one of their small fangs can kill a grown man in a few hours. You don't even know you've been bitten – you go to bed and don't wake up in the morning.
Lucy is sprawled on the ground, looking up at Minny with wide eyes. Capricorn suspects that Lucy went to pick up the snake, and Minny knocked her out of the way, taking the strike that was meant for the little girl. Capricorn is thankful – the dose of venom would have been almost instantly fatal for Lucy. Minny is an adult, and therefore has a few hours to get to the hospital and receive anti-venom. He moves forward, intending to remove the snake from her arm.
The snake sees him coming and detaches its fangs from Minny's arm, dropping back to the ground. It coils up and hisses at him. Capricorn narrows his eyes and his tail flicks with aggression. He could kill the snake, but Lucy and Minny need to get out of here, and killing the snake would take precious time. With that in mind, he decides that his priority is to get Lucy and Minny out of here. He reaches out and grasps Minny's good arm. Her face is white with fear as they slowly back away from the snake. A foot, 2 feet, 3 feet – it's not enough distance. The snake could still strike. Capricorn chances a glance at Lucy and finds her staring wide eyed at the snake, seemingly in shock.
"Lucy," Capricorn whispers, returning his gaze to the snake, "Grab my hand, Lucy." She doesn't stir. "Lucy!" He's spoken too harshly. He startles her, and she jumps, letting out a loud wail. It disturbs the already tense snake.
It lunges for Lucy, mouth gaping wide open to show fangs glinting in the light.
It never reaches the little girl.
With a snarl, Capricorn lets go of Minny and steps smoothly in front of Lucy. In the blink of an eye, he has caught the snake by the throat. It hisses and writhes in his gasp. Coldly he grasps the snake's head and twists. It comes straight off with a spray of blood. The body still writhes in his grip. Disgusted, he throws the corpse off into the bushes, shortly followed by the still snapping head. He turns to the humans he protected, and finds Minny staring at him in horror. He realizes that there is blood coating the front and sleeves of his tailcoat. He turns away from Minny and crouches down in front of Lucy.
"Come on Lucy-chan," he murmurs, holding his arms out, "Let's go home. Let's go back to Mama."
"No!" Lucy shrieks, recoiling away from him, her eyes fixated on the red stains covering his tailcoat.
Capricorn is at a loss. Normally Lucy adores him. A complete refusal to go near him has never happened before. He looks at Minny, wondering what to do, only to find her taking deep breaths to calm herself. She'll be of no help. He glances back at Lucy, sobbing and screaming, and knows there's no time to calm her down – they have to get Minny to a hospital now. With that in mind, he shrugs off his tailcoat, which he figures is setting Lucy off, and picks up the little girl. She screams and struggles, and he has to hold on tight to avoid dropping her.
"Shh, Lucy. We're going back to Mama. Back to Mama and Papa," He murmurs in an effort to calm her. He mutters to Minny to follow him, and they set off for home at a trot. Their pace is dictated by Minny, who is slowed by the venom, but perhaps this is a good thing, for Lucy calms down on the way there. Her screams are reduced to hiccuping sobs, and her struggles are reduced to resting her cheek against the lapel of Capricorn's white dress shirt. When they reach the mansion, all it takes is a single shout from Capricorn, and they are surrounded by servants trying to take Lucy and calling an ambulance for Minny (powered by Mages who are trained in both driving it and administering emergency medical care).
Capricorn refuses to let go of the little girl though, and he personally delivers her to her mother. She falls asleep in Layla's arms, exhausted by the events of the day. Minny receives anti-venom in time, and lives to care for Lucy another day. Lucy herself recovers with an amazing vitality, playing outside again in just a day. She has developed a rather justified fear of snakes, though.
As an adult, that fear has mellowed into mere dislike, along with a healthy respect of what they can do. Lucy figures it's because of an encounter with a snake she had when she was little. She doesn't remember much of it – she was too young when it happened – just reaching for a red and black blur, and then being knocked to the round. They told her she was saved by one of her mother's Spirits, but she can't remember his face. Sometimes though, if she tries really hard, she can remember a tall figure standing before her, ready to protect and defend.
~Star Child~
Everything I wrote about coral snakes is true. These snakes are native to North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. They're small snakes, characterized by their patterning; a thick red band, followed by a thin yellow one, then a thick black band, then a second thin yellow, then another thick red band. They have small fangs that can't penetrate a leather glove, but their venom is a neurotoxin that paralyzes the muscles surrounding the lungs. When first bitten, it doesn't hurt, which causes the unaware to choose not to seek treatment. In a few hours they suffocate to death.
I did take some artistic license. Coral snakes avoid humans 99 percent of the time, and when it dropped off Minny it would have fled rather than bite again. They are unusual though, in that rather than bite and release, they bite and hold on (which is why it was dangling from Minny), pumping you full of venom. Children do like to pick them up, since they're not aggressive at first glance and they do look pretty, but if you try to pick them up they'll bite immediately. Little boys are especially vulnerable.
The most dangerous thing about them though is that they bite so rarely. Since it's so unusual to get a bite, they companies that produce anti-venoms no longer produce anti-venom for coral snakes, since it's no longer 'profitable'. Jerks. What this means is that if you get bit, you gonna die. If you're in an area where there are coral snakes, watch out! Keep an eye out for them, and keep an eye on young children and pets! Stay safe!
Don't forget to review!
Vamp
