Chapter 29

I apologize for any grammar errors that I have made! R&R!

Disclaimer: Slowpoke still owns just about everything with 'Fairy Tail' written on it.

At the Field, Dragon Realm~

Lucy's P.O.V

I was in the middle of training close combat techniques with Metallicana and Loke, as usual they would grab any chance they could get to get close to me.

Earlier today with Alodiculis, I discovered my other Dragon magic, Ice, it went surprisingly simply actually.

A few hours back~

Lucy's P.O.V

I looked at Alodiculis with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously? You want me to put my hand in the water?" I asked him incredulously. What good would that do?

Alodiculis had just told me that I would discover my magic quicker if I put my hand in the river-water. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

The silver Dragon nodded. "Ae (Yes) I want you to put your hand in the water." He looked down at me and sighed. "Just do it, Lucy, trust me." He told me.

I looked skeptically at him once more before letting my Peace magic surround me. For a short period of time, all I could see was silver, then I felt it through my body as I changed form in a split second, and the silver disappeared again, leaving me standing on two legs.

I went to the river-bank and dipped my hand into the cold water. I felt a shiver run down my spine as I submerged my hand in the water.

Lately it had been getting pretty cold around here, it was soon winter. Usually when I took the morning bath with the other ladies, we would let Amelane blend her own, warmer water with the cold river-water till it had a comfortable temperature.

I looked up at the silver Dragon with a questioning expression. His Amber eyes met my brown ones. "As I'm sure you know, we're looking for your Ice magic." He told me and looked around. "The conditions are just right." He added with a nod.

It was several weeks ago I had met my Dragon and unlocked my full Peace magic. I had been practicing the attacks with my Peace magic, using some of the things I had been learning with Loke and Metallicana. I had been begging for Alodiculis to help me find the new magic I would be training with, but he always refused, saying 'The time isn't right'. But today was the day!

I nodded. It wasn't difficult to figure out what magic I would be finding was. It was either Water or Ice magic, but considering I had my fingers in ice cold water, I figured it would be Ice magic. "Yeah. What am I supposed to do?" I asked him, eager to get the training with my Ice magic started.

He tilted his head ever so slightly. "You're supposed to freeze the water." He told me plainly.

I looked surprised up at him. "What?! How am I going to do that? I don't have any Ice magic!" I told him frustrated.

He nodded. "Ae (Yes), you do, you just haven't found it yet." He told me. Before I could reply, he continued talking. Looking at the river. "Well, this is supposed to awaken your Ice magic." He looked down at me again. "You see, this water is very cold today, which is why I picked today. If your Ice magic haven't awakened in an hour, the blood-flow to your hand will freeze completely, and you will lose your hand." He told me with a straight face.

It took me a few moments before the reality of his words hit me. I looked at him with wider eyes than I had ever had before. "WHAAAAAT?! How can you say that with a straight face?!" I yelled at him.

Present time~

Lucy's P.O.V

Well, luckily it hadn't come that far. It took me an half an hour with my hand in the water, for the Ice magic to course through my veins. I remember it quite clearly. My hand was completely numb and the burning feeling you get when you touch something cold had disappeared a while ago.

That was when I felt a cool rush going through me. When I looked down, the water around my hand had frozen completely and was a transparent shade of blue, a little lighter than Gray's.

Afterwards, Alodiculis had to me that I wouldn't have lost my hand, even if it took over an hour. It was simply to speed things up. Apparently it would awaken sooner if I was under some kind of pressure.

I had been pretty pissed, to say it mildly, but in the end, we just laughed it off.

Besides that, I had also opened Taurus' and Cancer's Gates in that starry world of mine. Taurus hadn't changed much, he had just gotten stronger than he was before - not that he needed it. Cancer had learned several new hairstyles and his agility had upped.

Just yesterday, I kinda finished my training with Plue. If you could call it that. He could make an illusion of a Dragon the size of Metallicana and Deamunas, without me being affected by it all that much, and it could be touched and deal real damage. I was so looking forward to actually using that in a real battle sometime. The rest of that day, much to my and Aquarius' dismay, I had practiced calling Aquarius without sticking her key in the water. It was harder than you would think, actually.

If I had to be all honest, I had no idea how my training with Metallicana and Loke was going, I thought I had become good, but both of them had said I still needed a lot.

Acnologia had also come really far with his Fire magic, he had already mastered the three basic moves and was working with the special attack.

I don't know if he was lucky that Igneel was teaching him, no days were the same and that Dragon was hilarious sometimes, or if he was in his own personal Hell, because that very same Dragon could get so annoying too, because he was so stupid.

That was when I was whacked at the back of my head and I crashed back in reality. I looked at the big guy who had hit the back of my head with a pissed glare. "And what the heck was that for?!" I asked the Iron Dragon who was looking down at me with a raised eyebrow.

His lips tilted up ever so slightly. "You were spacing out for a whole minute, Squirt, I just wanted to get you back here." He said, a smirk evident in his voice.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah, well, I was just thinking." I looked back up at him with a grin. "Something you obviously have a hard time doing." I mocked him.

I saw his eye twitch once, before he looked at me with his usual smirk. "I don't need to think, Squirt, I only need my instincts!" He said triumphantly. Obviously he thought that he had won. Keyword: thought.

I shook my head as if he was stupid. "That's obvious by the way you smell." I told him.

Actually, that was a lie. I did kinda like his scent, in a non-romantic or sexual way I might add. It reminded me of Gajeel's, except more metallic, if that was even possible.

I would never tell him that though. His ego was big enough as it was.

While Metallicana was scowling at me, Loke threw his arms around me and hugged me from behind, making a show of pressing his chest to my back. He rested his chin on my shoulder and looked at me. He had let his glasses stay in the Spirit World today, and his hazel eyes met mine. "Were you thinking about me, Princess?" He asked with a grin.

I rolled my eyes at him, sighed and pried his arms away. "Káo (no), I would rather be thinking about Acnologia." I told him plainly and turned around, so I was facing him. "Besides, you're too close." I said.

Loke fell to his knees and clutched his clothes over his heart as if I had brought him real pain. He looked up at me with a pained expression. "You're so mean, Princess!" He said and extended his hand towards me, trying to... Well... I don't know what he was trying to do actually. Nevertheless, I just stared down at him with a deadpan expression, not making any hint of grabbing his hand whatsoever. Loke quickly adopted a grin and got up to his feet in a matter of seconds. Before I knew what was going on, he had grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. "Playing hard to get, are we? Well, I'm not one to give up!" He reassured me.

I pulled my hand away from my Spirit exasperatedly and felt the weight of someone's arm on my head. I hardly had to look to be able to figure out who that was. It could really only be one person. "Well you seem to be awfully friendly with the cat there. Don't tell me you're two-timing!" He said mockingly with fake surprise in his voice.

When would those two morons stop this? It couldn't continue being fun! I sure was getting enough of it.

I grabbed Metallicana's hand in a flash and twisted it behind his back and kept him in a bend over position. I grabbed his other arm and held it in a tight grip. He'd taught me that a while ago, it was useful whenever someone stronger than me needed to be kept in check, he told me.

I grinned at him, even if he couldn't see it. "Now I would prefer if you two boys would keep your distance." I told them proudly.

I heard a 'Gihi' from the Iron Dragon. He turned his head and looked at me at the edge of peripheral, a smirk adorning his features. "Squirt, this doesn't really work if you're against a Dragon!" He told me and suddenly, whirls of iron swirled around the man, forcing me to let go of him.

I stepped a pair of steps back and watched with a pout as Metallicana turned back to his Dragon form and towered up above me.

I pouted at him with crossed arms. "That's no fair Metallicana! Don't just change into your Dragon form!" I yelled at him. That cheater.

He just laughed at me. "Oh come on now, Squirt. You also have a Dragon form, or have you forgotten?" He asked me mockingly.

I fixed the Dragon a glare. "Káo (no), I haven't, but I haven't learnt to do anything but fly and do magic in my Dragon form." I turned my voice to a lighter tone and I looked at Metallicana with a begging expression. "When will you teach me to fight in my Dragon form, Metallicana~?" I begged him.

He grunted and looked at me with a half evil smirk. "You know, that still doesn't work on me." He told me, to which I pouted. "I'll teach you to fight in your Dragon form once you've learnt to fight in your Human form." He said plainly.

My jaw dropped. "What?! But that will never happen! Why aren't we just doing a bit of both?" I suggested.

Loke made his presence known as he cleared his throat. "Well, Princess. It is entirely up to you when we'll teach you to fight in your Dragon form, how fast you learn to fight in your Human form is based on how engaged you are in training." He told me. I wasn't quite sure I got all that in the start, but it seeped in slowly. "As to why we can't do both, we expect that you will be using your Human form more than your Dragon form, so we're making sure that's what you're best at." He explained.

"What he said." Metallicana quickly added. Unnecessarily.

I nodded slowly as I processed what he had said. Couldn't he have put it more simply instead of those long words? "Alright..." I said slowly.

The Iron Dragon looked in the sky. "Time's up. See ya tomorrow, Squirt." He said and flew away before I could reply.

I turned to look at Loke, holding his key in my hand. "Well, Loke, I'll see you tomorrow then." I said and lifted the key to close his Gate.

He looked at the key and a second later, a sly smirk appeared on his face. "Goodbye Princess!" He said as he threw himself at me, locking his arms around me and then disappeared in a burst of golden light.

"LOKE!"

In the Clearing~

Acnologia's P.O.V

"Oh come on now, Acnologia. Is that all you've got?" Igneel asked me. I glared at him, panting a little. We'd been at it since this morning. Ever since he started being my new teacher instead of Deamunas, who had gone who knows where, we'd been doing this constantly.

'It' was fighting, in case you were wondering. Igneel thought that was the ideal way to learn new things, to test and try them and get stronger as you fought. That was also the way he had taught Summer, he told me. Not that I cared in the least. Actually it made me resent his way of training people even more.

I was surprised by how bulky that old man was, he was a really good fighter, when he got down to it, and I sure couldn't beat him. Yet.

He motioned with his hands for me to come at him. "Give it your all, boy!" He said eagerly and smirked.

Ae (Yes), he had gone all business-mode.

I was screwed.

Although he had taught me to use the basic moves effectively and creatively in battle. And facing an opponent stronger than yourself. But that was also about it. Other than that he had had fun beating a younger man up.

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if he just did this for his own entertainment.

In the Field~

Lucy's P.O.V

"Hime-sama, is it time for my punishment?" Virgo, my lovely Maiden Spirit asked me plainly, as usual.

I had just summoned her in my starry world in my mind. She wasn't hard to call out at all, not with all the memories we had already shared.

I shook my head at her with a wide smile. "Káo (no), Virgo, not today. Take a look around you." I told her and she did.

She looked away from me and first now seemed to realize she was not in either the Dragon Realm or at Earthland. She turned her expressionless gaze to me. "I see, Hime-sama, you've summoned me here." She said monotonously as always. I nodded again, without saying anything else. "I can change to another size and form whenever you want me, so the punishments get as painful as possible." She said as if everything was normal.

I sweat dropped. I couldn't help but wonder if the last Zodiac Spirits and rest of the Dragon keys, as the keys from the Dragon Realm were called, had as exaggerated personalities as my Zodiac Spirits had. If they did, I wouldn't have a moment of peace. Required I got any more. Although Twilight had reassured me I would get more keys, at least of the Dragon keys.

I focused on my Spirit again as she continued. "I'll be able to dig more holes quicker as well, Hime-sama." She told me.

I nodded for the third time. "Okay, thank you Virgo, I'm looking forward to trying it out." I smiled at her as she disappeared in a shower of golden light.

Next time it would be Loke. I smiled by myself. He would probably be the easiest to summon of them all. It wasn't like I didn't love the other Spirits as much as I loved the Lion, it was simply because he and I shared a special bond. I was somehow… Closer to Loke than the other Spirits.

Apart from him, I only needed to summon Aries, Gemini, Scorpio, Capricorn and Fenix and then I'd summoned all the keys I had.

I blinked once and found myself back at the field. The Spirit King wasn't here anymore, no one was actually. Well, if you didn't count the familiar strokes of wings, which didn't seem to be far away. Actually… There were two sets.

The first was obviously Alodiculis, but the other one… Who could it be? Alodiculis never mentioned anything about any guest or anything so, who was accompanying him?

That was when the light bulb turned on above my head, oh right, it was-

The two Dragons landed almost simultaneously at the field, one in a much more graceful way than the other. "Te áheitanga katoa (Hello) Alodiculis, Glanasile." I greeted the two of them I looked at the white Ice Dragon. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" I smiled and asked him.

He looked down at me with a little curve of his lips. "Te áheitanga katoa (Hello), Lucy, it's been a while." He greeted back. "I am going to be your new teacher, to teach you the art of Ice magic. Alodiculis is going to assist me during our time together, if there was something I would miss." He explained.

I looked alternately at the two Dragons in front of me and nodded. "Okay." I slowly said and looked back at Glanasile. "So where do we start?" I asked, already quite eager to begin the training with my new magic.

He shook his head lightly at my eagerness. "As I'm sure you figured out, we're working with control for starters." Yeah. I had pretty much figured that would be where we started. It wouldn't be right to start somewhere else, actually. So I nodded. Alodiculis sat down, I took that as an indication that Glanasile was heading towards a longer explanation. "Ice magic isn't anything like Peace or Celestial magic. It is more material than the two you've learned so far." He told me. "You can't hold it in a hovering ball above your hand like you can with Peace magic, it isn't manipulated that way." He explained.

I nodded. It would be amazing if you could hold a ball of ice above your palm, but it was too heavy for that. The magic itself was heavy, I experienced that earlier by the river, it was hard to move around and work with, because it felt so heavy. I wondered briefly how Gray and Lyon especially could make so much ice with their Ice magic and use it as much as they did. "Okay, I understand, so what am I supposed to be doing, then?" I asked the big Ice Dragon.

He sat down next to Alodiculis and looked at me. "You are going to create ice figures." He told me plainly. Great, so I was going to be an ice sculpture creator? Well, okay then.

Well, here we are. I know it's short and everything, but I told you earlier that they would be… GOMENASAI! But I just can't have that it all happens in the same chapter, with crazy time skips that skips months, it's too much in the middle of a chapter… Well, that's what I think anyway.

Thank you clairedamoon, Maiannaise, BecauseIamSoBored, mjb379, Guest, OtakuLover43, Nicole (Guest), Guest, digi-assassin, Alaina Kuski, Guest, KatieKat666, Tatsuyoshi Tsubasa, 00halfblood, Chicacrazy838, Darkverger1, ICEsher, Jennosaur, maskedgirl16, MoonStar1312, cellum95 (Guest), Stormymyth, Guest, hitsuuo, aristofthemind, Princesslostsoul, BloodCrescent1373, shiki ryuusaki, Neonkill, The19thRenegade, Guest, xsnowhopex, QueenFandom, DarkGlintingEmerald, gabiey, Guest, kim969696, Portaalipentu, slender mane, bunnygirl425, DesolationDeath, Kitsune179, Guest and everyone else for following, favoriting, reviewing and of course, reading!

Surprisingly many reviews, I think there were eleven in a row – meaning without followers or favoriters in between – that's just crazy! Maybe it's because of the rising number of Guests… Or just in general the rising number… Just look at that box above! It's gigantic! .-. To think when I first began it was at the size of this one…

~Line464d