AN: Sorry it's a little late again! I'm still not feeling too well and kept falling asleep when I should have been working on it. As an apology I have already started Chapter 15 and will TRY to release that by Wednesday or Thursday!
Hope you enjoy it.
*Sorry for any errors that missed*
I sadly don't own Fairy Tail, but wish I did.
Lucy POV
After listening to the cries of the animals being eaten alive for twenty minutes I had, had enough. I was about to get up when I felt a restraining hand on my shoulder. Turning around I saw Virgo behind me, holding what looked to be a lacrima pods, similar to the ones Laxus always had on or around his neck. Looking at her quizzically I stood still as she put them on my head and over my ears. "Lyra made a few recordings for you. She was going to give them to you for your birthday but decided that now would be the best time for them." Pressing a button on the side I could hear the soft strums of the harp filter through the pods. Smiling at the thoughtful gift and the fact that I could no longer hear the screams of the animals I grabbed Lyra's key and mentally sent her a 'thank you'. I'll have to call her out soon to thank her properly.
Seeing Virgo's lips move but not hearing her I turned off the pods. "What was that Virgo?"
"I said, punishment, Princess?"
"No, no punishment." Taking off the pods I looked them over. "Although these block out the sounds I won't be able to hear if anyone is sneaking up on me." I said sadly, because I desperately wanted to block out the sounds and listen to Lyra."
"Forgive me Hime, I did not finish explaining." She said with a small bow. "If you would look at the left pod you will see a knob that turns to change the setting. The first one is regular, what you were just listening too. The second allows you to listen to the music, but also alerts you to any malicious intent directed towards you within fifty feet of your location. The last setting allows you to call anyone who has a lacrima. I have already taken the liberty of adding Fairy Tail, Erza, Mira, and that Sabertooth Dragon Slayer to your contacts. If you wish to add more do so with this screen." She said as she extracted it from the left pod. "This will let you see the person if you wish and add more contacts or music. As for adjusting the volume and the power those buttons are on the other side." Slipping the screen back into the pod Virgo bowed again and vanished.
Laxus is going to be so jealous over these. I thought gleefully.
Sitting back down against the tree I changed the setting and slipped them back on after I pulled out the screen. Selecting 'Fairy Tail' I waited as it rang. Seeing the top of Mira's head I smiled and waited for her to look at her screen.
"Do you have any news on Lucy's whereabouts?" She asked still fiddling with something under the bar.
"I know exactly where I am Mira." I said with a giggle.
Startled by my voice she bumped her head on the counter but quickly shook it off. "Lucy! Where are you? I'll contact one of the groups and have them meet up with you. How have you been? Are you alright? Why haven't you come home yet?" Unable to get a word in I let her bombard me with question after question. "Nevermind, I'll come get you myself. Where are you? Do you have any idea how worried we were?"
As she was drawing in another breath I interjected. "Mira, I'm fine. I sent Virgo to you guys three weeks ago to tell you I was fine. I didn't come home right away because I had to figure some things out, I didn't want to put you guys in any danger. I'm not going to tell you where I am. Let everyone know that I will be back by the end of the week, I can't wait to see you all!" Hearing a huge roar I turned away from the screen to look at the cave's entrance and watched as a single wyvern flew out.
"Lucy! What was that? I thought you were safe somewhere! Lucy answer me! Luc-"
"Gotta go now Mira, I'll call again when I am on my way home!" Quickly shutting off the screen and putting it away I followed the wyvern with my eyes waiting to see where it was going. Watching as it flew in the direction of the clearing that was three miles away I sighed in relief. Thank Mavis it wasn't looking for me. I'll have to remember to tone down my voice when I'm speaking on this thing.
Once again I changed the settings and listened to the music Lyra had recorded as I got comfortable again. She had recorded all of my favorites, including the lullaby mom used to play for me. Putting the lullaby on repeat I felt myself drift off and fall asleep.
"WARNING. WARNING." Blared into my ears at top volume, opening my eyes and looking around I saw Corvus standing above me.
"Watch out Corvus something is coming." I shouted louder than necessary considering the alarm was still yelling in my ears. Looking for the threat I became confused when the warning stopped and nothing appeared. Realizing that Corvus could be what had triggered the alarm I turned towards him, seeing him scowl at the pods. "Is everything alright Corvus?" I asked not wanting to believe that he could be capable of hurting me.
"Nothing besides you've been sleeping for the past hour and a half and the sun is now setting. Now would be the perfect time to use my stealth to sneak in."
"Uh… Thanks Corvus. I'll have to remember to ask Holorgium to set an alarm for me next time." Giving me a curt nod he backed up a step to go back to key. Scrambling to get up I hurried towards him to stall his departure. "How come I didn't feel a pull on my magic when you opened your own gate to wake me up?"
"…tch didn't I say that I'm stronger than your other keys? I am perfectly capable of opening the damn gate myself. But if I were to use an attack you would feel the decrease in your powers. How do you think we've been able to wander around the area we were banished too? I assure you, when you enter the cave Draco's key won't be passively sitting there waiting for you to snatch it up; he'll be in his fiercest form." He said in warning with a strange look on his face before he vanished.
Thanks for the warning. I thought sarcastically as I started walking towards the cliff. The sun was setting on the other side of the so there wasn't any lack of shadows as I moved from tree to tree, trying to be cautious of where I stepped so I wouldn't alert the monsters. Would it really kill him to be a little nicer? Argh I've known him for only a couple of hours and he already hates me… Could he really have been the threat when I woke up? No! There must have been something else nearby. Shaking my head of those kinds of thoughts I stopped when I heard a different roar than the wyverns had made. Automatically my hands reached for my keys. When the roaring continued and didn't sound like it was getting any closer I activated Corvus' stealth and proceeded to the base of the cliff. Still holding my keys I mentally asked Horologium to set a timer for 115 minutes, five minutes before Corvus began feeling pain from my using it. Once I received a conformation that the timer was set up I looked up at the entrance and pulled out my whip, flicking it so it would grab ahold of one of the many branches that were protruding out above the entrance. Giving it a few experimental tugs and putting all of my weight into each tug without it giving or cracking the branch I deemed it sturdy enough.
Scaling the cliff side was more difficult than descending from the second story window of Sabertooth. The first couple of feet were the hardest as I tried to figure out where the best spots were to put my feet as I climbed the cliff. At times there were no grooves for me to step into, so I had to rely solely on my arms to shimmy up the whip. Although it's only happened twice so far it was the worst thing about the accent; each shimmy had my arms crying out to be done with the torture. Note to self, work on upper body strength. I thought with my forehead pressed against the dirt of the cliff for a moment. Even though I hated each minute of it I knew I couldn't give up and find another way to the cave, not after so much time had passed. By now they should have already arrived and had plenty of time to figure out that I had agreed to do the mission. So if I wanted to complete the mission before Sting and Rogue found me I had to keep going, no matter how tired I was.
When I was more than half-way up, about 30 feet, I had to hug the side and rest; I was out of breath and sweating, enough so that I had started to feel my hands slide down my whip as I grabbed onto each new section, making it twice as difficult to climb. Looking up I groaned when I saw how much I had left to go, so close yet so far away. Taking a deep breath I decided to power through the remaining fifteen feet. Wiping the sweat off of my hands and onto my blue shorts, I readjusted my grip and began climbing with a renewed vigor. Five feet into my power climb my foot slipped and I fell.
Acting on instinct I tightened my hands around the whip to stop my decent but wasn't able to stop myself. "AHHH!" I yelled as I continued to slide down. "CORVUS!" I called out to the first spirit that came to mind as I closed my eyes. I heard wings flapping above me before I suddenly jerked to a stop. Afraid to open my eyes I peeked and saw Corvus' murder of crows with my shirt in their claws.
"Tch you're an idiot you know that? You were able to control the length of the whip to reach the fifty foot branch. So if you can make it longer why didn't you think to make it shorter and hold onto it as it brought you up to the entrance?" The crows said at once, in unison.
With Corvus still holding my shirt I did just that and had the whip retract. The speed at which I ascended the cliff had me sweat dropping as I thought of what I had just been through. Once I reached the entrance I collapsed onto the floor and stared at the bottom of the cliff, shuddering at the thought of what would have happened if Corvus hadn't appeared. Near tears and panting between each word, I looked towards him. "Why … didn't … you … say … that … earlier?" At his shrug I released a silent cry and felt some of the tears escape. "Thank you Corvus." I said as I closed my eyes. Running my finger over my keys Horologium told me it had taken me twenty minutes to reach the entrance.
Wiping the sweat off of my face I slowly got up and faced the darkened cave. "HA! Good luck navigating through the dark in a cave full of wyverns who are just dying for another meal." Corvus said as he disappeared.
Gemini! "Piri piri. Hello Lucy-sama."
"Can you turn into Rogue please and help me navigate through the dark? Draco should be here somewhere." In a second Gemini transformed and Rogue was standing in front of me.
"Follow me Lucy-sama!" Gemini-Rogue said as they grabbed my hand and led me down one of the paths. Looking at our hands I thought of all of the times the real Rogue and I had held hands and felt myself blush. Gemini must have guessed my train of thought because they turned to look at me as we walked. "Would you like to know what he thinks of you?" Without giving me time to respond they started telling me. "Lucy as seen by Rogue: A mystery. Finds her intelligence refreshing. Enjoys her company immensely. Considers her a friend but would li-"
Rushing up to them I placed my free hand over their mouth to stop them. "Did you hear that?" I asked them. Feeling them shake their head I listened for the noise again, but this time it was louder and the floor shook along with it. Gemini-Rogue nodded their head and pushed me into an alcove before they disappeared.
"Lucy-sama stay, the wyverns are approaching."
Squeezing myself tighter against the wall I held my breath as I saw, rather felt, the seven wyverns stomp through the cave. For a second they stopped where I had just been standing with Gemini and took a big sniff. Releasing a cry they followed Gemini's scent down the path we had taken. But one remained though. Unlike the others this one took several more sniffs of the area, smelling every inch of it. It must have noticed that Gemini had briefly been at the entrance of the niche I was currently residing in because it stuck its muzzle in and sniffed some more. If the niche had been and shallower it would have been able to reach me. I was only a feet away from its muzzle as it kept sniffing, searching for Gemini.
It continued its search for several more minutes, even flicking out its tongue to feel the parts it couldn't reach. It was hard to avoid but I managed until the other wyverns released a roar calling for their missing member. Snapping its head towards the entrance of the cave it gave one last wary look towards me and headed off to its brethren.
Releasing the breath that I had held I waited until I caught my breath before I re-summoned Gemini and we continued our search for Draco. Weaving in and out of various paths and grooves for nearly an hour had both of us exhausted. During that time I had told Gemini that I didn't want to know what Rogue thought of me unless he was the one who told me. It felt like it be an invasion of his privacy if they told me. Giving me a strange look and releasing a suspicious laugh they dropped the subject and just talked about random things. Reaching my limit I slid down a wall and sat with my knees drawn up so I could lay my head on them. "It's no use Gemini; we'll never find Draco in this maze."
"We aren't lost Lucy-sama! Draco is leading us somewhere specific. We've been using Rogue's keen senses to track him. He is right ahead." Gemini-Rogue pointed to a room that had flickering lights within it.
"…! Why didn't I think of that?" I muttered. Stumbled
Recalling Gemini and thanking them, I stumbled as I made it the rest of the way to the torch lit room. Expecting to see a ginormous dragon, as Corvus had warned me about I was surprised when I saw nothing in the room. Looking around the cavern, I noticed that it was big enough to house the seven wyverns times five. In the far corner of the room there was a mound of gold and jewels, they were scattered over an area that was twice the size of one of the wyverns and it looked like something had been sleeping on it, consider the outline that was made from the jewels.
Taking a single step forward towards the jewels I heard a gravelly voice. "Show yourself human. I know you're there. Just because I can't smell you or see you doesn't mean I can't recognize the taste and smell of my brother's powers." Opposite of the gold I saw a shadow of Draco. As he stepped closer to the light his shadow got bigger and bigger until it completely covered a portion of the wall. Even though the shadow he was casting was huge he was nowhere to be seen.
Sliding deeper into the shadows I responded "Why don't you show yourself Draco?" Warily watching the shadow I was surprised when instead of a massive dragon, I saw one that was barely bigger than Happy step into the middle of the room. "...Draco?"
Before I could get out another word Corvus appeared and stormed to the tiny dragon. "Is this what you're regulated to? Gah! You were supposed to be in your other form, intimidating, fierce, and dangerous not cute and cuddly." Too busy ranting and raving at Draco without really seeing him Corvus missed his annoyed expression. Like all of my spirits Draco instantaneously transformed into his other form and the giant dragon I had been expecting appeared.
Before he had most definitely been of the cute and cuddly variety, but now if I had had a choice I wouldn't want to be anywhere near him. He was as a little smaller than Acnologia had been, but just as terrifying. It hadn't occurred to me that I'd have to face another dragon so soon after the last. I didn't even know if I could defeat him, not when our four dragon slayers hadn't been able to defeat one together.
In the poor light I hadn't been able to see the details on his scales, but now I could see the intricate swirls of gold that wove around his pitch black scales. He was the second dragon I had encountered and he seemed just as frightening as the last had, especially when he opened his mouth to release a loud roar before his tail moved to send Corvus into the wall with a loud thud. The roar, reminding me of Acnologia, sent shivers down my spine and glued me to my spot, that is, until I heard Corvus groan across from me. Watching him struggle to get up from his crumpled position on the ground I knew he hadn't seen Draco move in for another attack, this time with his teeth. Ignoring the rows of razor sharp teeth that were heading directly towards my target, I rushed to Corvus and shoved him out of the way before Draco could reach him. Shielding my spirit from the debris of the wall he had occupied I winced as I got cut by the flying rocks.
Picking myself up off of Corvus I gave him a quick once over making sure he hadn't sustained anymore injuries. Standing between him and Draco, I prepared to defend him. "Open, Gate of the Lion! Loke!"
Obviously not aware of the situation Loke appeared with his usual fanfare and had his 'I love you Lucy' light display above his head. "Your knight as arrived!" Smacking my head with the palm of my hand I pointed behind him and waited for him to turn around. "Oh it's just you Draco. Long time no see, kill any humans lately?" He said, lighting up his hands.
"You're protecting him?" Draco said as he brought his head down to my height, completely ignoring Loke's presence.
"Oh course I am! All of my spirits are precious to me, even if he can be trying at times. I consider each one of them my friend. And as such I will protect them until my last breath." I said fiercely as I grabbed my whip and unfurled it.
"Interesting; put your whip away, it's not like it would do any harm to me anyways." He grumbled as he placed his head on his hands and laid down. "Tell me human, why have you come here?"
Disregarding his order to put away my whip, I kept it out, cautious of his sudden change in demeanor.
"I have two reasons for being here. The first is that I've been hired to stop you and the wyverns you're controlling from terrorizing the town any more than you already have."
"That's not the real reason you came her little girl."
"Polaris. Her followers are close to releasing her from her prison. I need you to help me stop her."
At the mention of Polaris Draco scowled and released a puff of air, nearly knocking Loke and I off our feet. "Polaris, hmmm. I haven't thought of her in a long time. What makes you think I'd be willing to help you take her down?" He growled.
"Nothing, but I know that the influence of your previous master must have worn off by now, and that there has to be some part of you that remembers not all humans are bad. You remember what it was like to live under her rule. Did you enjoy hurting your family and friends in the Spirit World? Did you enjoy seeing innocent mages get slaughtered on a whim?" I knew I hit a nerve with one of my questions when I saw him wince. I hadn't even realized I had threw caution to the wind and approached him while on my tangent, until I felt a tug on my shirt as Loke pulled me behind him.
Loke and I watched silently as Draco faced Corvus mentally communicated with him. Unable to barge into their conversation, and not wanting too I waited patiently for him to make a decision. Hopefully Corvus wouldn't ruin this for me. I didn't want to have to escape this cave running for my life and flinging attacks over my shoulder. If that happened I'd fail both of my missions.
An: Thanks to everyone that reads, reviews, follows and favorites my fic! It is most appreciated!
ChatterMazkie: Thanks, but since I didn't know that when I started I'm gonna keep Frosch a girl. Thanks! I'm glad you like it. =]
GemNika: Sorry for the wait! I'm glad you like my fic. :)
Amy: Thanks!
artisofthemind: Sorry it's late, but at least I posted another chapter right? Next chapter is when Lucy and Rogue reunite! Yay!