Holy shit, I apologize for the late update. And for the person who asked, I will be trying to update two times a week.

Also...alliterations, anyone?

Chapter Forty Seven - Bureaus, Birthdays, Blizzards and Babies

Ultear had helped Ur report the Bureau.

Within a few days, the entire place was cleared out and the kids returned to their families or to another guild.

I didn't recognize any of them, but I'm sure we'd see a few of them again, anyhow.

Though I couldn't help but wonder why Brain hadn't cleared out the place first; it was easy enough to guess what would happen when Ultear told Ur what had happened.

Then again, he was listed as missing, so maybe he just didn't make it back on time.

I knew we'd see him again.

"Who was he, anyway?" Laxus asked.

"Hmm?" I responded. "The guy we fought? His name is Brain, and he was the one in charge at the Bureau."

Laxus's face darkened. "So he was the one who was torturing Ultear?"

I nodded. "I'm just warning you, but this probably won't be the last time we have to deal with him either."

"They did say he wasn't caught," he muttered, slightly lost in thought. "And...he's the one who gave my dad the lacrima...?"

"Based on what he said, probably," I replied. "Most strong dark wizards communicate things with each other."

It was how Ivan heard about the Lumen Histoire the first time around - from Second Master Precht (aka Master Hades).

Laxus seemed a bit resigned after that - though whether it was because his father had been associating with dark guilds, or for torturers in particular, I have no idea.

Laxus spent just as much time training as I did, concentrating on his physical body and his magical strength. I would concentrate on learning Uranus, and he would do a bunch of push-ups and sit-ups and other-ups in the corner.

I was working on turning Water into Ice, and though it was a slow process, it was working. I was a bit more worried about learning Mercury – I didn't really have a liquid form for that. I was hoping that by learning to use Uranus, I'd be good enough at solids to pull off Mercury.

I could manipulate all of the elements well enough – if I was surrounded by them. If I was in a junkyard, I would be able to do Mercury just fine.

The fact that I was, quite literally, in a winter wonderland made Uranus a bit easier, but I was still having trouble.

So much trouble that Lucy's birthday passed by before I got anything.

When June 1st came, Laxus and I dropped by and spent the day at the guild, where Lucy was celebrating her birthday.

Instead of the eager, exuberant hug I was expecting, I got an armful of a sad Lucy.

"Lucy?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

She sniffled. "I…I'm still only at five, Ellie-nee!"

I didn't understand what she meant until it hit me. She could still only open five gates, which means she wouldn't get another Zodiac key or Phoenix's key, the next Platinum.

"That's fine," I said, soothing her. "You're still extremely strong, Lucy, and I know that you'll get it eventually. Can I speak to Corvus?"

She nodded, wiping away her tears, and pulled out Corvus's key. "Open, Gate of the Crow, Corvus!"

Corvus appeared. "Hello, my Princess," he said.

"Hey, I'd like to talk to you," I said.

He sighed and walked with me as we left the room.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Lucy said she can still only open five gates. Usually, she'd be able to open another by now. Is something wrong?"

He sighed. "No. And we were waiting for this, anyway…"

"What do you mean?" I asked, suspicious.

He hesitated. "What exactly…do you know about Stellar Magic?"

I gave him a look. "More than most, but apparently not enough. You gonna tell me what's up, or not?"

He sighed. "Those who use Stellar Magics…you included…are able to keep a secondary magical container on the Astral Plane. This is different from Second Origin, and Jellal, (though he didn't know what it was or how he activated it) managed to use it a bit his first time around, which is how he became a Wizard Saint at such a young age."

"Okay…" I said, not entirely getting it.

"Lucy is currently at her peak. You see, she picked this up so easily because her left over magic from the previous timeline left an echo – not enough for her to already have it, but enough for it to be gained back easily, which you've noticed. Jellal, who actually had magic stored on the other plane, will be able to adapt much easier; he probably already has magic."

So...Lucy picked up an echo of her previous magic? Maybe that was why she was so much more boisterous and excited than I would have expected. She's getting a second chance to have a fun childhood. Emotions, after all, are correlated with magic, and if she could feel her previous loneliness, from having a strict and firm childhood, it would make sense that she was so much freer this time around.

Especially if she felt loneliness from Aquarius's sacrifice.

"Alright," I said. "And what is that doing with Lucy, now?"

"Lucy is like you," Corvus said. "Except you currently have those bracelets on because you have too much magic for your body." He gestured to my magic inhibiting cuffs. "Lucy has filled her own core, as well as her core on the Astral Plane. With the exception of opening her Second Origin, it's impossible for her to get much stronger than she currently is, without growing. Her body won't be able to handle any more. She's at such a good level now because she was born with it – if you were born with Planetary Magic, it should have automatically gone off into your Astral Core. Because you weren't, it's not automatic – you can still unlock an Astral Core, but you'll have to do it manually."

I nodded, understanding. "I get it now." I looked at him speculatively. "Do you know how to unlock it?"

He nodded. "Yes, but I'm not telling. It's forbidden."

I sighed. "I figured, but I thought I'd give it a shot. I hate these stupid things." I shook the cuffs.

"I'm sure you'll find out eventually," he said, and made to leave.

"One more thing, Corvus," I said. "How is Phoenix doing?"

He paused, and sighed. "He's better, physically, but he still won't be able to open his gate on his own until around October or November of this year. And even still, he should not attempt to heal Queen Ame until he is summoned by Lucy."

I nodded. "I know that, I was just wondering."

We left the room and I explained what I could to Lucy, and though she was disappointed, she understood. "It sucks I'm going to have to wait so long for Phoenix and the next Zodiac, though," she said quietly.

"Not exactly," Jude said.

We looked at him. "What do you mean, Dad?" Lucy asked.

"Elle might not be able to give you a Zodiac…" he held out a box. "But I can."

Lucy ripped into the paper and opened it. "Aries," she breathed.

"I know you didn't have it," Jude said to me. "And decided I wanted to give it to her first."

"Thank you, Daddy!" Lucy shouted as she jumped into Jude's arms, him swinging her around. She was so happy she was literally glowing with magic, and it led credence with the theory of her remembering her emotions from the first time around.

I smiled at Lucy, who looked back, beaming, from her father's arms. "See? You still got a Zodiac, and you've got some Silver Keys, too."

I held out my present, which held Hercules, Perseus, and Andromeda – all Legend Keys I had.

Lucy squealed when she saw the three of them, and I got hit by the flying tackling hug I had been expecting. "Thank you, Ellie-nee! Thank you thank you thankyouthankyouthankyou-"

"You're welcome," I interrupted, gasping for breath.

There was more than a little giggling as she let me go. I eventually managed to explain to her that Aries would be included, and that she would now need to open all seven gates in order for the next Zodiac. She understood, and pointed out that she still had Phoenix to look forward to before that.

We spent the rest of the day together, doing a mixture of things and playing a lot of games. Lucy also summoned the Argo and we all played on it, but it wasn't even Peter Pan anymore – it was a crazy weird mixture of things.

She even got Laxus to put on a dragon costume.

Man, that was the best.

I still have pictures.

I also spent the day cracking Pikachu jokes and getting Laxus to say his name repeatedly.

No one else got it.

And Laxus eventually stopped saying his own name when he realized I was teasing him about it.

All in all , it was a great day.

But with Lucy getting Aries, it meant that there was only one more Gold Key we had to worry about:

Capricorn.

And Zoldeo.

After that we went back North, where it was freezing cold, all the time.

But I finally got the jump I was needing for Uranus.

SPLAT.

"What the hell, Laxus?" I asked, breaking out of my meditation. I wiped snow off of me.

Laxus tossed a snowball up and down before lobbying it at me. I teleported out of the way before it could hit.

"You need a break," he said, tossing a snowball up and down. "So let's fight!"

"Oh, for fucks-" I rolled my eyes. "Laxus, I'm serious."

Another ball hit me in the face.

"So am I," he grinned.

"That's it!" I yelled, scooping up snow and lobbying it at him.

The game was on.

We built our own forts and threw more and more snow at each other, some just flying everywhere.

But I was already losing. Laxus, cheating tsundere that he was, had already built a bunch of snow balls before he started, so he ended up with extra ammunition.

Instinctively, I called out, "Blizzard of Uranus!" A whirlwind of snow shot out from my palms, and hit Laxus instantly, burying him under a pile of snow.

Oops.

"Laxus!" I yelled, running over. I stood outside the pile, unsure. "You okay in there?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

With an explosion of power, the snow vaporized instantly, leaving the area around Laxus still crackling.

Blizzard of Uranus is listed as the easiest of Uranus's spells, which I now understood. It was a blizzard, so it wasn't really ice – just snow. It was the in-between step for learning solids.

This was the first time I actually, truly produced a Uranus spell on my own.

Laxus was smiling at me. "You finally got a spell down? Nice."

Still eyeing him oddly, I sat down to meditate, and he joined me.

As I focused on the snow and drifted off into a trance, I couldn't help wondering if he had planned it.

We spent the rest of June arguing. Specifically, on whether or not we would go see the Grand Magic Games.

I was for staying up North. Laxus was all for going to Crocus.

"Laxus…" I said.

"Look, I thought you said that you were waiting for a timeframe – wasn't that timeframe Ultear escaping? Now that you've fixed that, what's left?"

About three other things, I thought, but didn't say aloud.

Eventually, I managed to convince him that it was too unsafe (especially with certain things coming up) and we decided to stay behind, promising each other that we'd visit everyone later, during Levy's birthday.

Laxus continued to complain a lot about missing the Games, so I finally caved and said that we'd see the final day.

In return he had to listen to me for 5 specific times I demand it (not including emergency situations), or for a year.

He chose the 5 times.

Laxus was extremely nervous at that (but glad we were seeing the Games), and we left early the evening of July 6th, expecting it to be the day of rest.

It was not.

By the sound of it, they had actually added an extra day where the guild could form tag teams, and fight against other teams. One person on each team would not be fighting.

Fairy Tail Team A (who, though in the lead, seemed to be struggling a bit) was made of Erigor, Lucy, Cana, Juvia and Freed. Freed had decided to sit this one out and Cana and Lucy paired up and easily kicked the ass of their first opponents, two men from Quatro Cerberus. Erigor and Juvia had a more difficult time against Phantom Lord, but still beat them.

Both of Phantom Lord's teams had lost their battles. Even though they were strong mages, they weren't exactly the best at teamwork.

Team B had Macao and Wakaba pair up, as well as Enno and Maggie. Clarke, oddly enough, wasn't competing.

When I pointed this out to Laxus, he pointed out how Clarke was going to retire, and had only really stayed in the guild to tutor Levy.

Honestly, Clarke seemed so spiffy and fit for an old man that I'd forgotten that.

Lamia Scale seemed to be doing much better this year; in fact, they were directly tied against Phantom Lord for 2nd Place. Quatro Cerberus, however, wasn't far behind those two.

On the other hand, Blue Pegasus was last, and though they seemed to have more points than the previous year, I heard that they just barely got past the qualifying round, and nearly lost the 6th spot to Phantom Lord's second team.

"What do we do now?" Laxus asked.

I frowned. "There's something I've been meaning to do…you can come with, or stay in the sitting room, I don't care."

"All…right?" Laxus said warily.

I lead him toward Mercurius. When he finally seemed to realize that our destination was the castle, he started freaking out. "Elle, I know you like breaking into places, but we're not breaking into the Royal Palace."

"Don't worry, we're not breaking in," I said.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"I already did that," I continued.

His groan was hilarious.

"Don't worry, it's fine," I said, entering the castle. Laxus was right on my tail, looking around warily at everything.

The Royal Receptionist (yeah, that's totally what I'm calling it now) led me into a room, and Laxus (once again) followed warily.

"What are you scared of?" I asked, laughing as I sat on a sofa.

"Many things," he said. "You included."

I frowned. "I don't actually scare you though, right?"

He sighed, before chuckling. "I'm scared of your craziness and what I'm going to be dragged into next. But no, it's not actually you I'm afraid of."

I smiled. "Good."

"Ah, Ella, it's good to see you," Toma said, entering the room and carrying Hisui.

"Hello, Your Majesty," I said. "I'm sorry I haven't visited sooner, but you seemed to be doing pretty fine on your own."

Toma smiled down at the small child. "Yes, I am doing quite well. We both are."

"That's good to know," I said, smiling at the small baby. She had grown a lot since last time, but she was still pretty small. "I can't believe she's going to be one year old in less than a month."

Hisui woke up just then, and smiled at me, staring at me attentively.

"Hi, Hisui-hime!" I said. "I'm Elle!"

"You don't need to be so formal, Ella," Toma said, settling down on the couch opposite. "I've officially made you a Royal Friend."

I blinked at him, starting to choke up. "Thank you. Toma." I turned back to Hisui. "You hear that Hisui? I'm a Royal Friend, which means I can be your Nee-chan!"

Laxus choked behind me. I ignored him.

"Though, I suggest you don't really look up to me," I continued. "You'll make your father's hair turn even grayer."

"What?" Toma asked. "My hair's still green!"

I looked up at him, but could tell he was just playing the part – there was a bit of a twinkle in his eye.

I pulled Hisui onto my lap and turned to Laxus. "And this, Hisui, is my friend Laxus."

"Hello," Laxus said, more than a little nervous, though whether it's because Hisui was a baby or a princess (or both), I was unsure.

On the realization we had nowhere to stay, Toma offered to let us stay the night, and we spent the rest of the evening playing with Hisui, and looking forward to seeing the kids and the rest of the Games.

So...news.

I am going to college!

I want to be a director and a writer, and I got into Emerson, a very good film school, but I wasn't able to afford it so I deferred for a year (last year was supposed to be freshman year).

This year, though, I got the right financial aid, so I'm going! Yay! (Also why I was so occupied lately).

Also...for those of you trying to picture Elle. I kinda have a thing against bangs, even though they are done different in anime, so Elle has her hair like grown-up Cana.

Also, if you haven't already guessed; Ellaxus will be a bit possessive, on both ends.

And if you've noticed Elle has been cursing less, that's my job transferring to my writing. Though with what's coming up... Let's just say we're going to need some new fans. :3

Also, I put a poll on my profile about other characters in the story. Check it out! :)