Chapter Twenty One - Galuna Island

"You said this was an island?" Laxus asked.

I nodded, letting go of his hand.

"This doesn't seem like an island. I mean, it looks tropical, but…"

"That's because it's not near the shore, dummy," I said. "We're a lot more inland. When we're done, we'll explore the temple, and then go relax on the beach, alright?"

He nodded, smiling. "Cool."

I opened my requip and pulled out Sagittarius's thumbtack. Letting it balance in my hand, it spun around until it slowed down and pointed in one specific direction.

"That's where it is?" Laxus asked curiously.

I nodded. "Mmmhmm. We just follow the direction it's pointing in, and we'll find the site." I started going in the direction it pointed, with Laxus following along behind me.

"How do you know about these sites anyway?" he asked.

"There are four major celestial sites," I told him. "I already found one, and that's how I knew about the others. I've been locating the keys I know specifically so I can find the sites. In addition to having keys and tomes, these sites also have treasure, something more people will likely go for if they discover them."

"So this is the second site, and there are two more?" he asked.

I nodded. "I'll probably take you or Freed for the other sites, for protection."

"Why Freed?" Laxus asked.

"Runes can be extremely handy. I might take Cana too, though, she's becoming pretty skilled."

Laxus nodded, before saying. "I want to come."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. You can come with me. One site we'll take Freed, and the other we'll take Cana."

"Why do they have to come at all?" he grumbled.

"Because I want them to get experience," I told him. I stopped moving. "Alright, it should be here…"

Pulling away at some of the forest leaves, we came upon a set of ruins that were covered in treasure.

"Bingo," I said.

"Woah…this is awesome!" Laxus said.

I smirked. "Tell me about it. Now, since it's your birthday, you'll get your choice of five different things here. You aren't allowed any keys, if you wanted one for whatever reason, and I need to approve books if you want one of them."

"I'll probably just go for the treasure," he said.

"Awesome," I responded. "For now, just help me gather everything. If you see one thing you want to keep while we do that, show it to me, alright? I want to keep track of everything we find at these sites, it might be important in the future."

"What if I find six things I like?" Laxus asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Show them to me, and I'll see. But I want to catalogue everything that I find, alright?"

He nodded, and we started moving the treasure into larger piles, with me requipping as we went. Laxus ended up setting two pieces aside; a snake chain with an empty pendant (one that, by the looks of it, could store magic), and a nicely cut ruby the size of my eye.

"Nice," I said. "You want me to put it aside, or do you want to hold them for now?"

"If you could hold them…" he asked.

I nodded and requipped them into a new drawer I had made for Laxus's luggage, that was labeled as Laxus's shit.

We had finally gotten everything on the surface taken care of. That being done, I requipped a shovel. "Alright, so you've got two choices – dig or stand guard. Which one do you want to do?"

"You aren't going to make me do a certain one?" he asked.

"It's your birthday," I said, rolling my eyes. "What do you think I'm going to make you do? Come on, Laxus!"

"I'd prefer to stand guard," he said, looking away.

"Fucking tsundere," I muttered under my breath as I took my shovel and started to dig.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"I already got ahold of Sagittarius's key, along with a silver key, but there are some buried keys here as well. I can sense them because of my connection to the Earth. My magic not only registers the magic from the keys, but also that there's a foreign entity, which is good because…."

I stopped digging and pulled out three things – a key, a ruby, and an odd looking snake pendant. "…not everything here gives off a magical signature. I can also find buried treasure this way." While both the key and the snake pendant had given off a magical signature, the ruby was just a gem. While it was true that a lacrima was technically a gem, and that some gems could give off magical signatures, most don't.

He nodded in understanding. "Oh, I get it now."

"Cool," I said, grabbing the shovel again. This time I found two keys in that spot. I pointed a few ways away. "Could you lightly dig there? There's some gems just underneath the surface."

Laxus nodded and began gently brushing in the spot I pointed, pulling out several piles of gems.

The next spot I went to had no keys, just magical artifacts and some gems. In fact, there was only one key left, but it was very deep and I'd probably have to use magic to get it, so I'd wait until tomorrow.

Pulling out the last things, some odd looking artifacts and a bag full of books, I requipped everything away.

"Alright, so I got everything for tonight," I said, looking at the sky. "Though there will be one more key I need to get tomorrow."

"Tonight?" Laxus looked up too, noticing how dark it was. "Oh. We probably should have eaten lunch."

"Hey, at least we ate before we left," I said. "Let's hike back to the beach; I'll get us dinner and we can camp out under the stars."

"What about the tide?" Laxus asked. "Isn't that something we need to worry about?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but only if we're too close. We should be able to find a good spot." Making sure I had all our stuff, I started walking back to the beach. We settled on the ground as I brought out a series of snacks and Laxus made a fire. Though he really only grabbed some sticks on the way to the beach and then used his magic to start it up.

"This is nice," he said, as we laid out on blankets on the sand. I had found a place close to the ocean, but far away enough that the tide would only bother us if there was a tsunami.

"I know," I said. "The stars are so bright, because there's no light pollution."

Laxus made a noise of agreement. The fire behind us crackled.

"Goodnight, Elle," he said softly.

"Goodnight, you damn tsundere," I said.

"Elle!"

I laughed. "Happy Birthday, Laxus. Goodnight."

"Yeah, yeah. Goodnight."

I awoke the next morning fully rested, which was kinda surprising considering that I slept on the cold, hard ground.

I got up and stretched, hearing some of my joints pop.

"Go on, make a ruckus why don't you?" Laxus asked.

I winced. "Sorry. Dragon hearing?"

He nodded. "I mean, I was up awhile before you, but still. Sometimes it's just…a shock to your system."

"All the enhanced senses?" I asked.

"Yeah. I can get the most unbelievable headache, and for the oddest things, too. Sometimes just because I can see so well, it hurts."

"You're probably not done assimilating with the lacrima yet," I said. "Eventually, it should merge with your body completely, but right now it hasn't. In fact, I don't think it started until you started eating lightning."

"How long do you think it could take? Do you know?"

I shook my head. "I would venture a guess of a few years, but no, I have no idea."

"Damn," he muttered. "Well, I guess I'll just have to adjust." He turned to me. "You said you had one more key to get?"

I nodded. "It's a lot deeper than the rest, so I'll need to use my powers."

It was a lot more powerful, too, which made me hope it was a Platinum Key.

"Let's get started, then," Laxus said. "Do we have food?"

I requipped two sandwiches. "Yep, I made these before we left. Don't want to make the same mistake as yesterday, huh?"

We trekked towards the site, closer to the mountain.

As I got down on my knees to start my magic, I heard Laxus say, "At least it's inactive."

"Hmm?" I asked.

He gestured to the mountain. "The volcano. It's inactive, which is why I'm not that worried about you digging so deep. I don't think we have to worry about magma or anything."

I blinked at him. "How do you know it's a volcano? I thought it was a mountain."

"Well, usually mountains on islands are actually volcanoes because of how islands are made," Laxus started.

I knew that much from when I was still in school. Can't believe I'm getting schooled by a twelve year old…

"Also, the rock down here is igneous. Can we take some back?" he asked.

I nodded. "Sure, grab what you want, I'll requip it. How do you know so much about volcanoes?"

He blushed and mumbled something.

"What?" I asked.

"When I was younger I wanted to eat lava."

"Why?" I shouted.

"Well, I didn't know what it could do! I just thought…wow, that looks cool, and I guess I thought it was some sort of desert topping like chocolate fudge or something so…"

I shook my head. "Unbelievable." I snorted. "Just…keep guard until I'm done getting the key."

I was a lot more nervous knowing that this was an inactive volcano, but I should be fine.

Though we probably weren't going to explore the ruins.

He nodded and turned to guard me, as I channeled my magic and used Arms of the Earth to reach down for the key. I had almost gotten it when I felt a burst of magic from behind me.

"Elle, watch out!" Laxus shouted, running towards me, but it was too late.

A giant forest Vulcan was running straight for me, and slammed his giant hand into me. "Give back treasure!" he yelled.

I, however, went flying in the other direction, before my back slammed one of the walls of the ruins.

Pain, like I had never felt before, exploded across my back, and I wondered if I broke it.

I couldn't help but be grateful that I've been practicing magic straight for six months, because running magic through your body makes it more durable.

I'm sure that if I had been as I was before (in my previous life) I would have died from the hit.

A giant shadow loomed over me. "Where treasure?" the giant thing grunted.

"Get away from her!" Laxus shouted, giving the Vulcan a large shock that sent him flying.

"Elle, are you okay?" he asked.

"I've had worse," I said.

I mean, kinda. Does being hit by that flying car count? I mean it killed me.

But it was instantly, so it didn't hurt.

He helped me up, and pulled me off the wall. I couldn't help but wince as I stretched my limbs.

But at least it meant my back wasn't broken.

"You get the key," Laxus said, turning to the Vulcan. "I'm gonna beat the shit out of this thing! NO ONE GETS AWAY WITH HURTING MY NAKAMA!"

Distantly, I remembered when I first met Laxus, and how I was his first friend.

Tears started welling up in my eyes.

Damn, I really loved this guild.

I made my way back to the mountain (volcano, I reminded myself) as Laxus ran around, continually kicking the Vulcan.

"Use your dragon slayer magic!" I told him as I reached the base.

"No way, this stupid thing doesn't deserve dragon slayer magic! I'm trying to push myself, Elle! I'm gonna take it down with regular lightning magic."

I shrugged (which hurt). "Fine. Have fun. I'll be done in a few minutes."

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the key again. The vines reached down farther and farther, until it grabbed hold.

Even though I wasn't touching it, I could feel a flare of magic from the key, and it started to burn away at the vines holding it, which dragged it up faster in order to keep hold of it.

The vines threw it out of the soil and dangled it in the air for me, with other vines underneath to catch it if it fell.

The key was burning hot, and was a dark red color because of the heat.

Despite that though, I could still make out the sign, something I had guessed it was from the moment Laxus told me this was a volcano.

Phoenix, the firebird.

And also the fourth platinum key. One step above Monoceros.

I looked back at Laxus, who was still having fun beating up the forest Vulcan, muttering to himself and yelling nonsense as he went. Shrugging, I requipped out Spirit's Compendium and flipped through to Phoenix's section.

"Phoenix," I read aloud. "The firebird, known for its amazing healing abilities that can bring someone back from the point of death if caught quickly enough. Also known for its superb control over fire."

I shut the book. "Listen Phoenix, you either hid your key because you don't want an abusive master or because you don't want someone to die while trying to summon you. I'm going to be giving you to Lucy Heartfilia. If you've listened to any of the buzz in the spirit world, then you should know that you don't need to worry about her being abusive."

The key glowed brighter.

"And if you're worried about her dying in attempt," I continued. "Don't be, because I won't even give it to her until she can keep," I glanced down at the book "six golden gates open at once."

The key stopped burning.

"Thank you," I said.

"It's not that simple," a voice said.

I turned behind me. Standing there was a young man about the age of fifteen, who looked reminiscent of Loke. His hair was a redder color, and the tips were orange, and it was ruffled up the middle, reminding me of David Tennant's hair as Tenth Doctor (on Doctor Who). He didn't wear glasses, and his eyes were a beautiful orange color.

"Phoenix, I assume?" I asked. "How are you out here?"

"Once our gate has been opened once, we can come out on our own. Seriously, you knew that Leo could do that, right?"

I nodded. Honestly, I should have figured they could open their own gates.

"So that means Corvus can come out, too?" I asked.

He snorted. "Yeah, if he ever decides to get off his lazy ass."

We waited a moment.

He sighed. "Yeah, he's been extremely antisocial as of late."

"You said you could come out because your gate was opened once. But the book says that the top five strongest haven't been summoned, and you're ranked as fourth."

"I know that I'm ranked as fourth."

"So you have been summoned?" I asked.

"Obviously. That book doesn't know everything."

"Then when have you been summoned?" I asked.

He looked away. "It was once. The Celestial Mage's child was dying, and she wanted me to save her. After going through childbirth, summoning a gate she couldn't open, and then supplying me with the extra power needed to heal, she died from the strain."

My mouth dropped open, and I felt my eyes fill with tears.

"Do you understand why I don't want anyone to get my key?" he asked. Phoenix paused. "Do you promise you won't give me to her until she's ready?"

I nodded. "The book says five gates to summon you, and six to use your full power. She'll probably want to hold your key and try to talk to you, because she did that with Monoceros, but she knows that she's not allowed to summon until I say she's ready."

"You have Monoceros?" he asked, curious.

"You could tell I had Corvus, couldn't you?" I asked.

"Corvus is my older brother," he said. "I could immediately sense that you had him somewhere with you, though not entirely."

I nodded, and requipped his key. "I keep them in my requip space so they're safe." I handed him the key, and he sent a burst of power through it before his brother appeared.

Corvus's hair was calm and slightly neat in comparison to his younger brothers. It was a dark color (one could even called him raven-haired, hehehe), and it matched his midnight blue eyes. "Brother," he said softly.

Phoenix threw himself at his older brother, sobbing his heart out. "I've missed you so much!"

I don't know how things work in the spirit world; sometimes it seems like everyone is connected, and other times it seems like they've never even met the other spirit until they shared the same master.

"I'm surprised you've let someone take your key, little brother," Corvus said quietly, hugging his brother back.

Corvus reminded me a bit of Rogue, except you could see both eyes, they were a blacker color, and he was taller and lankier. His face was a lot longer as well.

"She's going to give us to the Heartfilia Princess," Phoenix said happily. "And she promises that she won't give her our keys until the girl is ready."

Geez, it was like he'd done a complete 180.

Unless this was his actual personality, and that was him just being serious.

The elder spirit looked at me. "Really?"

I nodded. "I have rules for her. She won't get another Zodiac key until she can open all the ones she's currently contracted too. As she can't open three yet, I haven't given her your key, either. I know it says that it only takes two to open your gate, and three to utilize your powers, but I want to be certain, so I'm waiting until she can open three at once."

"Smart," Corvus admitted. "I would like to meet her, next time you visit."

"I as well!" Phoenix said happily.

I nodded. "Sure. Also, do you know if any of the other information in this book is wrong?"

Phoenix shrugged. "I'm not sure. Honestly, we should probably go over it, to make sure that the information you have on Celestial Magic isn't out of date."

"Does that mean that you'll come out often on your own?" I asked excitedly.

He paused. "Maybe…"

"I'd love that!" I said happily. I turned to Corvus. "You, too?"

He sighed and nodded.

"Wonderful!" I squealed. "I won't be visiting Lucy until Christmas. Until then, I'll be going through several things, and when we get back to my house, you guys can go over my books, and I'll make dinner. How does that sound?"

"Cool," Phoenix said.

"I haven't had human food in a while," Corvus said. "Why not?"

"Awesome!" I said. "Also, let me introduce myself properly. My name is Elle."

"Nice to meet you, Elle," Phoenix said. "Do you mind if I do something real quick?"

"No…..?"

He came around behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. A nice, tingly cool feeling started trickling from the base of my neck downwards, and the pain in my back started to fade.

"There," he said. "All better."

"Thank you!" I said happily, spinning around and jumping up and down. "That was amazing!"

My body felt good as new again.

"Ahhh!" came a yell from the side.

We turned and saw Laxus, who was getting up to face the Vulcan again.

"You need any help?" I asked.

"No, Elle! I already told you, I'm gonna kick his ass without my dragon slayer magic! I'm just going to use regular lightning magic!" He attacked the thing again with a new fury.

"Idiot," I muttered under my breath.

"I heard that!" he shouted.

"Well, hear this!" I yelled. "Tsundere!"

"Ahhh, dammit Elle, I'm not a tsundere! Stop calling me that!"

"'I am going to fight the Vulcan all on my own!'" I mimicked. "Yeah, you're definitely not a tsundere."

"Ahhhhhh! You know what, since it's my birthday you're not allowed to call me that!"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I won't call you a tsundere. For now."

Laxus sent one more powerful charge at the Vulcan, who toppled over, unconscious. "Alright!" he shouted, before turning. He froze at the sight of the two spirits. "Who the hell are they?"

"These are two of the seven strongest Celestial Spirits to exist," I told him.

"Cool, can I fight them?"

I sweatdropped.

Phoenix was looking at Laxus curiously. "Could you come here?"

Laxus looked at him warily, but obeyed nonetheless.

"You said you were a dragon slayer, yes?" Phoenix asked. "Where you raised by an actual dragon?"

"No," I answered for him. "Laxus is something called a 'Second Generation' Dragon Slayer. He got the powers of a dragon from someone putting a lacrima inside of him."

"I see," Phoenix said, before putting two hands on Laxus's shoulders.

"What are you-" Laxus was cut off by a brilliant light.

As it faded, it was easy to tell that all of Laxus's scrapes from fighting have been healed, but something else had obviously changed as well.

Phoenix nearly collapsed.

"Idiot brother," Corvus muttered, catching him. "He'll be fine, he's just exhausted because he did so much healing on his own power." Corvus turned to Laxus. "We'll be going now, but what he mainly did was assimilate your lacrima with your body. It should no longer exist now; it's a part of you."

With a flurry of feathers and shining Celestial Light, they disappeared.

Thank you for all of your lovely reviews. I have also posted this story on Wattpad, for those who would rather read it on there, or comment on lines specifically. I've also added pictures. :)

You'll meet the next kid next chapter. :)