Chapter Eight - Lucy, Part One

I waited outside of the Heartfilia Konzern impatiently, waiting for Layla to come let me in.

It was time for me to finally meet little Lucy, and see how much she'd been able to practice.

Jude's business trip got extended, so I made plans with Layla to drop by on Lucy's birthday, July 1st.

It's odd, to think that I've been in this world for two months.

Especially since it feels like longer.

After I had read through all the celestial spells (and calmed down), I read the book I found on Planetary magic.

Part of it said what I already had guess; in order to utilize the magic, you had to surround yourself in the environment for the element, otherwise you'd never be able to produce it on your own.

That being said, it was easy for me to plan certain things. I knew when I would train with Ice (Uranus), and I was planning on taking a vacation on Tenrou at some point for the powers of Light (Venus), Fire (Mars), and Water (Neptune).

That being said, the only one I was worried about was Lightning and Wind, or Jupiter and Saturn. I was able to do Earth and Darkness (Pluto) in my own home/backyard/the forest/Magnolia, but I wasn't quite sure where I would be able to train my Lightning or Wind Magic. I was hoping that I might be able to practice lightning with Laxus, but I wasn't sure if that would work.

Once I had figured that out, I decided to start with Earth. After all, it was my own personal planet, and it was closer to home, in more than a few ways. One being that I lived in a forest.

By the end of the week, I could utilize the element. It was easy to take control or make vines and roots, and use that to hold things (or in the future, monsters) down. That spell, called Arms of the Earth, was the first one of the Planetary spells I was able to cast. Honestly, once I started learning it almost became effortless; as if the spell was an extension of myself. The only problem was the strength of the spell – because of my current magical level, it was still pretty weak.

After I got the first spell down, they all came to me easily…except for the last two.

Especially the last one.

I started practicing farther away from my cottage so I wouldn't break it. After that spell, I started practicing Earth's Green Fist, which basically nails someone with a giant fist made of earth, and Earth Rock Shield, which raises the ground to form a shield. There was also Melting Earth which turns the ground into quicksand. That one was the hardest, because the others were just manipulating Earth. This one, I need to liquidize the earth, and changing its form is the hardest part of it. Another was Army of Earth which raises a bunch of golem soldiers.

I was only able to make one.

And it was about the same size as me.

The book says they're supposed to be over seven feet tall.

But again, because of my magical level, I was mostly just happy I was able to pull the spell off at all. Over time, they would all become more powerful.

And then there was that one.

The hardest.

The book actually acknowledged that it was the hardest, and there was also a sticky note inside it (which was odd) that read The hardest spells for each of these are probably comparable to a Dragon Slayer Secret Art. Good luck!

Well, at least I had a warning.

The last spell was called Crack of the Earth.

If you haven't guessed, it makes a fucking earthquake.

Man, my magic is awesome.

But it was hard. It was really hard, and I was only able to get the ground to shake a little. No cracks or anything. I wasn't even able to make a tree fall.

"Elle? You can come in now," Layla said, opening the door.

I snapped out of my thoughts and smiled at her. "Thank you."

I pushed my Earth magic to the back of my mind. To be honest, despite my difficulties, I was still really proud of myself. If I kept practicing and training, I'd get better, and I was starting to realize that if I did this right, I could easily become an S Class Mage.

"Lucy, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. This is Elle," Layla said to Lucy, who was turning five.

"Hello Lucy," I said, smiling at her.

"She's a kid!" Lucy said in surprise.

I laughed. "Mmmhmmm. I'm nine years old. And how old are you?"

Lucy beamed. "I'm turning five today!"

"Congratulations!" I told her, smiling. "I heard you're going to become a mage!"

"I already am!" she said. "I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage!"

"Cool!" I said. "Who can you summon?"

Her eyes lit up. "Here, I'll show you!" She held up a key I recognized. "Open, Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"

The familiar chime sounded, and Virgo appeared, bowing. "Punishment, Hime-sama?"

Lucy giggled. "Virgo is silly! But she calls me Princess!" She hugged Virgo. "Stay with us Virgo! It's my birthday! And I want you to spend it with me. So I'm going to keep you here for the party for as long as I can!"

Virgo bowed. "As you wish, Hime-sama. However, if you'll excuse me, I believe I must have a word with your new friend."

She looked at me and I nodded and smiled. "I'm cool with it. My name is Elle."

"Okay!" Lucy said.

I followed Virgo over into another room, so we could have a private conversation.

She looked at me before she spoke. "You're the one. You were not supposed to be here, originally."

I nodded. "Yes. How did you know?"

"The Celestial Spirit Realm guards time, as I'm sure you might have guessed. That is why things like the Eclipse Gate require Celestial Power."

I wasn't surprised. The time difference between the Spirit World and Earthland, the Eclipse Gate, hell, even when Lucy was trapped in the clock! She had to speed up time for the sleeping mages.

"We felt a disturbance, and with it, we saw the future."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yes. All of us spirits saw it. So we thank you. Thank you for giving us another chance…and for giving us more time with our princess." Her voice was the same as ever, but she was crying.

"I found some keys, and celestial books," I told her. "I'm going to teach Lucy the spells when she's older. I wanted to know if there was any other…sites…full of celestial information."

She nodded. "There are several. Sagittarius, Pisces, and Gemini are all at their own sites. In the other timeline their sites were found and the keys were dismissed while everyone else went for the other treasure."

"Do you happen to have a time frame?" I asked her.

She nodded. "None of those sites will be disturbed any time in the next five years, so don't worry too much about it. However, I suggest you bring a companion with you, especially when you go to Galuna Island."

I nodded. "What about the Platinum Keys?"

Virgo shook her head. "No one knows where they are, and their spirits remain dormant in the spirit world. I'm afraid I cannot help you there."

I smiled at her and requipped the keys. "I found these buried at the same site I found you at. I was hoping that later we could go back and you could dig, to see if there's anything I missed."

She looked at the keys. "Vulpecula, Aquila, Asterion and Chara, and…" Her eyes widened as she eyed the last key. "Is this…"

I nodded. "As far as I can tell, yeah. This is Monoceros's key. One of the Platinum Keys. I was hoping that the fact that he's a unicorn will help motivate Lucy to get stronger, so she can summon him and play with him."

"He would like that," Virgo said. "I imagine he's lonely. These keys (and even some of the others), go into a dormant type state when they don't have a contract. They can still observe the world, and with the ruckus caused by your appearance, I highly doubt they slept through it."

"Have you ever met them?" I asked her.

"I met them all once, and I met Pegasus a handful of times. I saw Corvus a bit more than that, but he's a bit of a loner."

I nodded, and we turned at a knock at the door. "Are you done?" Lucy's tiny voice asked. "I wanna play!"

I opened the door. "We're just about done, sweetie, but I would like to borrow Virgo. Do you think you can keep her gate open, even though we'll be going a bit far away?"

"Maybe…" Lucy said.

I smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'm sure you can do it. And besides, think of it as a game. You win if you can keep her gate open until we get back."

"What do I win?" Lucy asked. "And how long will you be?"

Awww, she's a smart cookie.

"It's a surprise! We should be no longer than half an hour. Do you think you can do that?" I asked.

"Mmmmhmm," she said.

"Alright," I said, standing up and smiling. "We'll see you in half an hour."

Then I grabbed Virgo and teleported to the site.

I didn't realize how strong my connection to Earth was until we appeared on the site. Not only could I feel several keys emanating energy from underground, but I could also feel what the ground considered a foreign entity.

"There are definitely more keys around here, but I'm afraid that I can't pinpoint the exact location."

"That's fine," I said. "Since I've started with Earth, I've got enough of a connection. I can tell you where they are. Can you dig?"

She nodded.

"Do you want to start with the deepest first, or the ones closer to the surface?" I asked.

"Deepest, in case Princess's energy runs out," Virgo said.

I nodded and closed my eyes, sending a wave of magical energy as deep as I could, so I wouldn't miss anything.

It was a good thing I did, because I would have missed one if I didn't.

I walked over to a spot and marked an X with my feet. "About thirty feet down."

"Thirty feet?" Virgo asked, surprised.

"Yeah," I nodded. "It's a lot deeper than the others. After this one, the next one is about twelve feet down."

"Anything lower than this one?" she asked.

I shook my head. "I just barely reached it, but I managed to get my magic to the mantle. There's nothing else here."

She nodded and moved onto the spot, before spinning and disappearing underground.

About a minute later, she jumped out of the hole, handing me the key.

I walked her over to the next spot. "As I said before, this one is about twelve feet down."

She nodded and started spinning, and I was confused by the direction of the dirt until I realized that she was using it to fill the other hole she made.

Well, at least I didn't need to worry about falling down a thirty foot hole. Just, you know, an eighteen foot.

I glanced at the key in my hand, and recognized the symbol, even if it was a bird.

Corvus, the crow.

I wonder why his key was so low.

More than that, I wonder why two Platinum keys were so close to one another. For some reason, I thought that they would be far apart.

Virgo popped out of the ground and handed me another key.

I led her over to another spot, marking it. "About five feet."

She started spinning, and I looked at the key. A snake.

Serpens, the Serpent.

I requipped that away, deciding to give it to Lucy when she was older. Right now, I didn't want to hurt her or the spirit's feelings, and I don't think she'd appreciate a snake.

Well, I could always try to subtly find out.

Do you like snakes?

Eh, that was subtle enough. I could throw in a few more animals to throw her off track.

Virgo popped up and handed me the key.

"That was the last one," I said, taking the key. Scutum, the shield. That should come in handy.

"Now, let's go back to the party," I said, taking Virgo and teleporting back to the Konzern.