Chapter 7: Lucy's week
Natsu's snoring was the proof of his beating heart, he was fully alive. A strange feeling had started to grow in Lucy, she was now officially their protector and hunter. This thought made her realize that on this island great danger laid. Instinctively she reached for her keys.
For once it was nice that Natsu was sleeping that deeply that it wouldn't have mattered if he was unconscious. In this state he wouldn't have been of any help anyway and Lucy found it practical that he was too tired to even notice that he was transported by Horoclux. Horoclux was a spirit who looked like a grandpa clock, of the finest sort of tree you could find. Lucy had summoned him and he had now joined the group, which was going towards the wood.
It was a dazzling sight that met them in the wood. Everything was glowing, the ground, the trees and every plant. Lucy could feel the magic move around under her feet. A warm feeling, but still it made her unsure; almost as stepping on something fully alive, something that just was sleeping under her feet. To avoid this feeling she kept searching and sent Happy to watch out from the air.
"They are here."
A familiar female voice was saying. She removed Lucy's cover with her sword, and asked her to come forth. Happy had heard them, and was flying towards them. They were both shocked when they saw all of their friends from fairy tail standing there in front of them, Wendy, Gajeel, Jet, Droy, Erza, Gray and Juvia.
"What? Did you steal the rubies? Please explain yourself!"
Lucy was really frustrated, why was her friends here? The blue haired girl, Wendy, turned to look at them and started talking.
"Lucy, we need you to help us! Carle had a sight, she saw others like herself and Happy. She saw that their planet was dying. They have to escape!"
It was hard to understand Wendy's hasty explanation. Why did she sound panicked, what was going on? Then the little white cat touched Wendy's hand, and looked at her. Wendy nodded and Carle started explaining instead.
"I had a sight of a planet full of panicked cats, they were screaming, and all over the place it was destruction caused by nature disasters. I've known for a while that I can see into the future, and now I saw the doom of my own race, I want to protect them! They're capable of surviving on this planet, but they have to be transferred somehow. I researched the theme, but found that none who had tried had been successful! But I think you can do it Lucy, with the help of the rubies!"
Lucy sat down. She had forced open a gate before, so she knew that it was a possibility. However this was something else. She would need a lot of magical power, and she would also have to hold the gate open for hours. They had to be joking, they had to. But in her heart she knew that it was real. She trusted her friends more than anyone else, and she saw Carle's determination. It was real.
"This place is the most magical place that is found. The real ruby is gifted with power gathering, which will give us some help when it comes to magical powers. Next week it's also full moon, which is the most magical day in the month."
Levi was telling Lucy, she had probably used a long time searching for this. If anything should go wrong, Levi would want to know how to rescue Lucy. They were best friends after all.
"One week… Only one week…"
Lucy mumbled for herself as she took Natsu out of Horoclux, and laid him down on the ground. She thanked Horoclux and watched as he went back to his own world. She turned around to confront them again, she looked at Happy's shocked face. He had a faint look of hope mixed up in te shock. She had decided! She knew what she wanted to do.
"I'll do it! Even if it will cost my life, my life in exchange for a whole population would be pretty good deal. I will use this week to prepare everything, give me all the information you've got. Based on that information I will ask Crux for more. He can search for information through the databases in the spirit world!"
So they started telling Lucy what they knew. She had to force open a gate, by using the ruby to gather magical power. She had to do it without a key, and they had to find a really magical place. They didn't know much about it. The gate would also have to have several openings; they could not risk getting a whole population coming on this little island.
As they had started to explain they also explained to Lucy and Happy that the shield around this island was far more advanced. No one could get enter without magic at a certain advanced level. You had to be at the same level as a saint, or you if you were a dragon slayer you could also enter. One mystery was still to be solved though, why had the dragons showed the dragons slayers how to get to the island before they left?
The following day Lucy spent talking with the cross like creature crux. The only information she got from him was that few bloodlines had the ability, but even those with the ability also had the ability to fail it. More or less she just had to try herself, it would eventually come to her mind when the ceremony started.
"Where's the thief! I'm gonna kill him!"
Natsu had just awaked, and was a bit disoriented, suddenly he realized he was in the middle of a crowd. Levi and Gajeel were standing beside him, they held hands and talked about something, which made Natsu jump back. Lucy saw Gajeel smirk towards Natsu. Of course Natsu believed it was a weird dream, and that he had gotten the magicloss flu. He decided to just lay down on the ground and sleep. The whole scenery made Lucy laugh, and she kept giggling as she tried to tell Natsu what he had missed.
"You're going to be the one that saves them! Cool!"
Natsu were pretending to be Lucy saying cool lines such as: "I will let you pass into my world". It didn't seem like he had caught reality just yet. But after a killer look from Lucy he looked down and started some strange ritual, which involved setting some plants on fire, and Happy jumping round it screaming and laughing. Since Natsu and Happy made no sense Lucy went and looked for the perfect place for the real ritual.
She searched every corner of the island. Until she found it, the perfect place for the ritual. It was magical. The river fell down from the mountain, and disappeared into the ocean of threes never to be seen by any tourist. It was hidden in a little canyon in the mountain. But you couldn't see the mountain walls. The plants had made the walls disappear by growing up the walls. In the middle of the canyon you found a little was a little cult with water. The magical power which kept circling and gathering heated up the water, it was so hot. She stepped into the water, she could feel the heat and magic surround her. She felt warm, and powerful. She had found the place. This was where she was going to have the ritual.
