Hey!

So I'm finally back from my break

And as promised I updated on April 1st.

Hopefully you didn't mind the wait too much

And are happy that I finally got a new chapter up.

The next update will come soon.

Enjoy!

Chapter 17: The Forbidden Key

~QOoOQ~

"Yukino, y-you were..?"

~QOoOQ~

"You are all idiots." The blonde shook her head at the demons seated across from her. She paused a moment when they looked at her and re-thought her statement, "well, except for the girls and Jellal." A beat of silence passed as the women in the room smiled at her words while the men belatedly began to argue against her, stating that they were of the highest power within the dimension for a reason.

"You know Lucy-sama," Erza smiled secretively toward her and nodded her head in approval. "I agree with you, the men in this room just cannot think clearly."

"Well, only Jellal isn't included in that category." Juvia spoke up, earning a shocked and betrayed look from Gray.

"Juvia! How could you betray me like this!?"

"Hey Juvia-chan didn't betray you, Gray!" Levy chimed in with a huff, "You imps are exactly as Lu-Cahn said, idiots."

"Shrimp!"

"Ah~ The love~!"

"Demon, there is not love going on. Its fighting."

"Laxus~ Would you like to say that again?"

"…No."

"Lucy-sama?" The blonde turned her head to the sound of Yukino's voice; the girl looked slightly troubled and a bit nervous. Lucy's body stiffened slightly, on high alert after seeing the way her friend was acting, it wasn't that she didn't trust Yukino, because if she was being honest with herself, she wanted to trust her friends for once in her life.

"Yes, Yukino?" She kept her voice unsuspicious as she asked, "Is something the matter?" The light haired demon paused a moment before shaking her head and gently taking her hand in her own.

"Could I speak to you, just for a moment?" Lucy stared at their conjoined hands for a moment before looking back at her friend in the eyes and nodding mutely before slowly being lead out of the dining room where their family sat laughing. Yukino led her out into the hall outside of the dining room and dismissed the guards standing in the area before she turned to her.

"I'm sorry Lucy-sama!" She bowed her head low and clenched her eyes and hands shut. Lucy scrunched her face up in confusion as she looked down at her friend,

"Wait, Yukino?" She stepped back slightly, "why are you apologizing? You haven't done anything to apologize for." She didn't say anything only pulled out a neatly folded handkerchief out of her pocket and placing it gingerly into the blonde's hand. "What is this?"

"Something I should have given you quite awhile ago." She responded quietly, urging her to open it with her eyes. Lucy stared at questioningly before carefully unfolding the piece of cloth to reveal two gold keys and one black key. She traced the designs of the keys with her fingers, immediately recognizing the intricate designs of the gold keys as two zodiac gate keys while the black one was foreign to her. "I'm sorry I didn't give these to you sooner Lucy-sama, I was hesitant."

"Why?" She asked.

Yukino tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she explained. "I wasn't always a demon, you know. I was an Angel, one of the most admired in heaven, and I was one of the only people with the ability to wield gate keys a few hundred years ago."

"There were others?"

"Yes, the book isn't always accurate in that sense, there are a lot more gate key holders then everyone thinks there is, but they only focus on those who hold the most." She shook her head, getting back to her original topic. "I was looking to collect all twelve gate keys for His Majesty Sting, I wanted to help him rule over the two dimensions. I was foolishly in love and blindly followed every word that man said." Yukino's face changed to a gentler one as she moved on from her past love. "And then as I was travelling to find another gate key, I met Rogue."

"He had helped me when I was in trouble, fighting some rogue demons and despite being one himself, he helped someone of the opposite position as him." She smiled gently, "He helped nurse me back to health from my injuries and, somehow, during that time I had transferred my feelings form Sting to Rogue, I fell in love with him."

"Then..? What happened to make you a fallen angel?"

"Rogue has the power to control shadows-everything dark and it was the opposite of what I used, my power was everything pure and since Rogues was not, mine began to dwindle." Her face turned to one of slight regret, "I could no longer use my keys, I couldn't be an angel anymore and so I eloped with Rogue to Hell's castle."

"And they just let you?"

"Well they were not so welcoming at first." She admitted hesitantly. "But after awhile they began to trust me more, I hadn't done anything to Rogue nor had I shown them any reason to not trust me. But anyway, Lucy-sama, I didn't give you these keys right away because I was unsure of whether or not I could trust you and, I was worried about Natsu-sama…"

"Natsu?" She blinked. "Why?"

"Natsu's father Igneel had disappeared long ago, I imagine he has said something about this." When she nodded, Yukino continued. "Well it was not a good time for Natsu-sama and the only support he had was us and Lissanna-san." She breathed for a moment, "None of us really enjoyed her presence. Didn't think she was god for our king and we were right; found her kissing another man in the castle. She was banished to serve the castle until she was to be reborn but I was afraid that something similar with you may happen. Not exactly but, Natsu-sama became attacked and I was worried you would try to leave even after find out about what you are."

"And you trust me now?"

"You have given me no reason not to so, yes; you have my complete trust Lucy-sama." She nodded and carefully re-folded the cloth before placing it in her own pocket. "Lucy-sama?"

"Yes?"

"I have to warn you about the black key." She paused. 'I was not the one to find that key, it was given to me by a woman I met, she gave me one rule with wielding that key and that was to never summon it unless it was a last resort. She told me that this gate key was that of the serpent Orpheus, she said it was a forbidden key and that once it was summoned; the key would never be able to be used again." Lucy swallowed thickly but nodded questions that were left unanswered swimming in her head as she turned to open the door.

"Lucy-sama? One last thing." She paused but didn't turn toward her friend, just staring at her family laughing joyously in the dining room. "You will make a great Queen for this dimension."

Chapter 18

~QOoOQ~

"Who would have thought, you were here this whole time."

ALaViola: Okay so some quick updates, I have once again changed my Pen name most likely for the last time, I am editing-every chapter for every story I have made because boy are there a lot of mistakes. No this will not interfere with my updates. Although my updates will be slower because of school and some extracurricular activities I am starting. I've had Lorde on repeat with this story because apparently I can only write while listening to her for this one. And finally, I AM BACK!
Thanks for reading!

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