A/N: hiya! a month late on the update, sorry bout that! but I think y'all'll like this chapter! Be sure to read it carefully! I saw in reviews that some of y'all were confused as to how Natsu got the constellation branded on his forearm. All I gotta say is go back and read the previous chapter, I promise it's there!
I am LOVIN y'all's sweet reviews though! And your theories! Keep em comin'! Let me know what y'all think :)
Chapter Six: When There's a Will, There's a Way
Lucy followed Taurus down the narrow trail through the forest, the sounds of dirt crunching beneath their feet filling the silence between them. They took this same path every time they went to train, but Taurus was always wary. In this forest, the deeper you ventured the larger, and more exotic, everything became. Animals and plants included. The trees were thick, going from a mere ten feet around to over thirty. Colorful mushrooms that grew on the trunks serviced as lanterns with their eerie glow had started to become big enough for someone to sleep on.
Lucy had many times before.
The branches were full of leaves at least a hundred feet above them, making a vast canopy that covered the whole area, green light filtering through the cracks. The herd of deer that would occasionally prance by became even fewer in number, and in turn became larger the further they walked. The one slowly walking in front of them now was as large as a one story house, its antlers blooming little white daisies, vines curling around the rest of the bone. Its pelt was a dark brown, like moist soil, but lightening up around its underbelly and muzzle. It would be easy for something to attack them from any position, past events could testify to that, but even so, everyone was always overprotective with Lucy.
They continued for about an hour until one step they were in the dense brush and the next they were in an open, round clearing where the light nearly blinded her eyes with its intensity. Lucy and Taurus had cleared this part of the forest bare themselves to sparr, save a pile of tree stumps on the side.
"Alright Miss Luuucy," Taurus drawled, "how about we practice that one move we've been trying to wrangle down the past few months?"
"You mean the one with the axe? Really Taurus?" Lucy whined. "Can't we just work on the whip?"
"You've basically mastered that one already Lucy and you know it," Taurus teased her, "you need more of a challenge! Besides, with that new mark, I bet you'll have nooo problems now!"
Lucy let out a long sigh, but relented, and planted her feet in the ground and relaxed her hands.
"There ya go Lucy," Taurus encouraged her, his voice now echoing from the edge of the clearing he had sped over to, "now do what we've practiced. Reach deep within yourself for your magic, then grab onto that part that is specific to our bond."
Lucy's curse was a fickle thing. It generally stayed dormant, reacting only when her adrenaline spiked, or if she felt she was even the slightest bit in danger. Only rarely did it ever come out when she called it. While it was one whole entity, it had several parts that branched from it. These sub-branches of her magic ranged from ferocious brute strength to the controlling of certain elements, such as water and earth. When these sub-branches manifested themselves when she was younger, she had no control over them. Once, what was supposed to be a gentle handshake with one of her father's clients ended up becoming an emergency trip to the hospital where the man left with all the bones in his hand shattered. Jude had to bribe the man with a hefty sum of money to keep him quiet.
Her father no longer brought anyone to the mansion after that.
What was the final straw for Jude was when she flooded all three floors of the mansion while she was taking a bath upstairs in her parents master bathroom. Luckily, her mother hadn't been moved to the bottom floor yet, despite the doctor's recommendations. Jude had given Lucy the lecture of her life that day, and Lucy no longer came up to visit her mother every day like she used to. She felt too guilty for putting her life in more danger than it already was, and didn't want to risk doing it again. Her father was even more distant after that. He was either always in his room with Layla or he would leave for weeks at a time.
Unfortunately, Lucy's powers only became more spontaneous. Until one day, her father brought a group of people to the mansion for the first time in two years. Each of the ten individuals had a similar curse as Lucy, and her father hired them to work on the ranch while they helped Lucy control her powers. Even though she saw them every day, her father commanded that she was not to talk to them at all unless it was time for one of her lessons. But when Jude would leave, her mother had no qualms about Lucy talking with the workers, in fact she encouraged it. They were all very kind to her mother, treating her as if she were an old friend and showed her great respect.
And when Laylay died, they were there for Lucy, while her father had disappeared for three months, not even bothering to leave a note.
Through the years, Lucy's powers only grew, including the number of constellations that adorned her body. With nearly each new constellation Lucy would gain a new ability, as well as a new teacher. She never questioned where her father found these people, she was only grateful for the help.
But even though the mansion had never homed so many people, Lucy had never felt more alone.
Lucy shook her head to focus on finding her magic. This would require her full concentration, she could think about everything else later.
Reaching deep within herself, Lucy felt the warmth of her magic. It was calm, and pleasant, seeping through all of her limbs down to her fingertips and all the way up to the top of her head. She could understand how her father could call what she had curses with all the destruction they could cause, but right now, with the way she could feel it brushing under hands like a kitten and the excitement that was bubbling in her chest, she couldn't see it that way. It was as if her magic was happy that she had released it.
Now for the tricky part. While releasing her magic was still difficult, it was nothing compared to finding one of its specific sub-parts and holding onto it. Nevertheless, Lucy dug further within her magic until she found the brute strength that was specific to her and Taurus, and released it.
Lucy was breathing heavily by the time her magic had spread throughout her whole body. She opened her eyes and looked down to see the familiar pair of one-legged pants adorning her lower torso and the cow printed bikini top covering her breasts. Arm braces and fingerless gloves encased both of her arms and hands while her hair was set up into two buns, a couple thick strands framing her face.
Her whip was secured to her hip, but she wouldn't be using it today.
She would be using Amhras, her battle curve of the blade was nearly as long as she was tall. Beautiful carvings of leaves and flowers adorned the edge of the silver blade as if they were floating on a breeze. The steel rod that the blade was in embedded in shined a beautiful ebony. Etched above the leather grip at the base, the zodiac symbol of Taurus shined a bright blood red.
Taurus believed that if Lucy were to ever be in full control of her magic, she'd have to quit doubting herself, and become familiar with it, as if it were an old friend. So he recommended that she name the weapon. At first Lucy thought it was weird, since she never considered the weapon being alive, but one day, Taurus had decided to blindfold Lucy while they sparred to get her to trust her instincts. She was doing well in the beginning with just her whip against Taurus' fists, but once he brought up his own weapon, Lucy began to doubt herself. In that instant, her axe appeared in her hands, parrying against Taurus' low swipe to her feet.
She didn't think "doubts" would necessarily be a good name for a weapon, so she chose Amhras. The massive battle axe always appeared whenever Lucy thought her abilities weren't enough, and even when she was able to summon the weapon on her own, it never fully obeyed her commands because she didn't trust in her abilities to use it properly.
Taking up her stance, Lucy spread her feet far apart and then bent her knees, holding Amhras like a bat. With both hands she brought the axe behind her for the swing, but she released it with her right hand, putting most of her strength in that single appendage to send it spiraling forward.
With her hand still outstretched, Lucy beckoned the axe back to her. Sweat was pouring down her face now, her knees shaking so bad they were nearly knocking against each other. Her hand trembling with the strain on her energy, yet Amhras was still flying forward. She really hoped it wouldn't keep going and demolish nearly a third of this part of the forest like it did last time. It took her three hours to find it deep within a massive cave it had blown into the side of the mountain. Although now that cave was one of her favorite secret places.
Right before Amhras reached the tree line he froze mid air, hovering until he began to spin in place before shooting back towards Lucy.
"Hell yeah Miss Lucy!" praised Taurus, giving her his signature wide, white smile. From where she was panting in the center of the clearing, Lucy could see the pride nearly glowing in his eyes.
She set her gaze back towards her weapon that was rapidly approaching. A sliver of fear and self doubt seeped into Lucy's chest, overshadowing the joy she felt on finally succeeding. She'd never made it this far before.
Would she be able to catch Amhras with how fast he was moving?
What if she grabbed the blade instead of the rod and cut off her hands?
Was she even strong enough to grab him out of the air?
Time moved slowly, allowing all of these doubts to slither into her mind. Amhras was much closer now, maybe a hundred feet away. She thought she could hear Taurus yelling for her in the distance, but her heart was beating so loud in her ears it was drowning everything else out.
To her left she suddenly felt a large presence, and the next second she was pinned to the ground by a set of large white paws nearly the size of her head.
"Plue," she breathed, looking into the deep blue eyes of her faithful companion. He gave a small whine, dipping his massive head to nuzzle the side of her face. She reached her arms up to wrap around his neck, gripping his thick snow white fur to keep herself upright.
She nearly fell when Plue darted swiftly to the side, narrowly avoiding the axe as it had circled back around to them.
"Lucy you have to grab Amhras!" Taurus shouted to her.
"Are you crazy?! He'll split me like a banana!"
"He won't stop unless you stop him." His point was proven when not a moment later Plue pinned Lucy to the ground again to avoid Amhras cutting their heads off. "He's simply following your orders: you summoned him, and now he's just trying to return to you."
"Taurus," Lucy panted, her arms shaking where they were wrapped around Plue's neck, " I don't think I can. I'm not strong enough."
"Lucy," Taurus was using their mental link now to talk to her telepathically, his voice low and soothing as he tried to calm her nerves, " this is your magic. Amhras is your weapon. You are strong enough, you always have been. Your mother never doubted that you'd be able to control your magic, and neither do any of us. You just have to take what's been yours all along."
Lucy yelped as Plue, as gently as he could, quickly picked her up with his jaws and leaped out of the way of Amhras swooping down to where they were ducking on the ground. Taurus was right, she knew he was right, so why was she still doubting herself?
Because failure was all she'd ever known.
Just because you failed today, doesn't mean that you will tomorrow. Failure is only certain when you've already given up in your mind. You're only as strong as you want to be Lucy. If you think that you won't succeed before you even try, then failure is guaranteed. Believe in yourself, in your own abilities, and that will be the light that guides you.
With her newfound strength from her mother's words, Lucy let go of her hold on Plue and took a few wobbly, but still confident, steps forward to face Amhras as he was fast approaching. Her breaths were heavy and labored, her body sore and throbbing from it's extensive use of its hold on her magic. But she couldn't let go now, she wouldn't. She had to do this.
Lucy straightened her posture and squatted in a ready stance. She focused on her strength, and listened to the low hum of Amhras spinning in the air, flying straight towards her.
Her face hard with determination, Lucy summoned as much magic as she could into the soles of her feet to ground her and in the palm of her hands. Side stepping the downswing of the blade Lucy firmly grabbed the leather girth of her weapon with both hands. Her pulse was hammering in her ears, her magic surging throughout her whole body on a level she had never felt before. In this single moment, she felt powerful. She felt in control.
Letting the momentum and weight of the axe swing her around full circle, Lucy channeled all of her remaining strength into her hold on Amhras. With a mighty shout, she swung him as hard as she could, embedding the blade deep into the ground.
What she wasn't expecting however was the massive explosion that followed.
The magic Lucy had summoned to keep her hold on Amhras had flowed through her grip down to the very edge of the blade. And the second it had pierced through the earth, the magic released, sending a powerful shockwave that all at once caused a massive split in the ground and sent cracked rock flying.
Including Lucy and Plue.
"Lucy!" Taurus bellowed from where he had been blown back further into the forest by the sheer force of the blast. Scrambling up, he bolted back into the ruined clearing. A heavy layer of dust covered the area, scratching his lungs as he breathed and making his vision hazy. Large boulders of rock and chunks of earth and even trees were piled on top of each other where they had fallen from their blast into the air.
He tried not to panic as he surveyed the damage, his gaze darting back and forth for white and blonde as he dashed through the meadow.
Finally, he heard a small whine to his right. Hurrying over to the pile of rubble, Taurus carefully removed each piece of debris until he could see a mass of dirty white fur.
"C'mon, c'mon," he grumbled as he pushed the remaining boulder from the massive white dogs head. "Hey buddy, ya doin' okay?" Another quiet whine was his response, a big blue eye blearily blinking up at him. "I know bud. I'm gonna get you out, do you think you can pick up Lucy's scent? I can't pinpoint where she is since her magic traces are everywhere."
Plue snorted as he slowly raised himself onto his legs to reveal the girl in question lying on her side underneath him with Amhras held tightly in her hands.
"Sweet baby Jesus," Taurus sighed in relief, patting the dog spirit on the head. "Good boy Plue, good boy."
Lucy coughed as she tilted her head to look up at Taurus and gave him a pained, but joyful smile. "I did it," she said, her voice rough from inhaling the dust, "I actually did it."
"Told you ya could, didn't I?" Taurus chuckled. "C'mere peaches," he said as he reached for her from where Plue had her carefully lifted her up in his mouth, "I think that's enough for today."
The blonde gave a tired nod as she released her battle axe so that she could curl more comfortably into Taurus' chest, letting it decipitate into a puff of sparkles along with her outfit to reveal her tattered clothes underneath, but not before giving it her thanks.
"What was that last part Taurus?" Lucy asked quietly. Her eyes were heavy with exhaustion. Sleep was imminent she knew, but she had to ask first. "It felt different from the other times I've used my magic."
"That's because it was different," Taurus confirmed. He was walking now through the forest, Plue limping behind him right on his heels. His ears flicking flicking at the slightest noise, his eyes searching the forest on high alert. "You unconsciously transferred your magic into Amhras and he released it when you struck him into the ground. It's actually a very high level move. I definitely wasn't expecting you to do it."
"Me neither," the blonde mumbled. Her eyes were nearly completely close now, she could feel her body begging for her to let it rest, but she had one more question. "Where's Plue? Is he alright?"
A puff of breath above her head and then a wet nose rubbing against her cheek was her answer. "Hey Plue," Lucy greeted gently, reaching her arm around to gently rub his cheek. "I'm really sorry. How about you hop up here with me and take a nap."
Not a second later Plue shrunk with a 'poof!' and floated over into Lucy's arms to snuggle against her chest.
Together, they drifted off into a heavy slumber in the protection of Taurus' sturdy embrace. But as much as Taurus and the others wanted to, they could never protect Lucy from what endangers her the most.
Herself.