Author's Note:
It's Sunday! You know what that means. ;D
An important note: This chapter is a little all over the place timeline-wise during their training, so pay attention to when times and dates are mentioned – it'll make it a little less confusing.
As always, big sparkly happy thanks to all my wonderful reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: WisdomDragon27, stranger1999, aliciacevbra, moeruhoshi, TheJSmooth, thetrywriter, valerioux SunnieDayys, quidditchChick6, Lucinda, Lady La-sara, Firefly9917, and Leomae2.10. Equally big hugs and kisses to my newest reviewer: xXCharmKingXx.
Now on with the show! You know the drill, check out the sneak peek at the end. ;D
The next few weeks were filled with tough training.
As for Lucy, she largely focused on training with Natsu, but tried to at least get a little training in with each of her other spirits as well. During the first week, she worked a lot with Capricorn on increasing her magic through meditation, which also tied in nicely to her Second Origin training with Erza. However…Natsu turned out to be a little possessive of her time, and after the first couple of days that she spent meditating with Capricorn, he threw a little bit of a hissy fit.
Midway through the first week, he pulled her off with him, saying, "If you're determined to do this meditation crap, then you're gonna do it with me today!"
She followed, rolling her eyes at his eagerness, and he led her into the middle of the island, where a tropical forest grew thickly. "Hey Natsu, where are we going?" she asked after a while of being dragged behind him.
"Dunno! Somewhere that you'd like to train I guess." he said with a big grin over his shoulder, and she sweat-dropped.
"Then shouldn't I be leading?" she muttered, but he didn't seem to hear her, or else just decided to ignore her.
They kept walking for a while, and then suddenly something caught Lucy's attention. The forest opened up to the right of them to show a pool of clear water and a waterfall…so similar to the one she had trained at in the mountains with Natsu that she was pulled to a stop.
"What's up?" Natsu asked as she dragged him to a halt as well, and she just pointed at the waterfall.
"Doesn't that remind you of the pool at the mountain resort? You know, where we trained for the S-Class Trials?"
"Yeah!"
Of course the plants were completely different and the waterfall itself was much bigger, but she was romanced by the idea of training next to it. If possible, it was even more beautiful than the mountain resort, with lush tropical flowers everywhere and crystal clear blue water filled with sparkling fish of every color.
"Alright, you wanna train here then?"
"Yeah, come on." She pulled him behind her this time as she went to investigate the pool. Soon they were perched on a mossy rock facing each other and holding hands.
"So what are we going to do exactly? Transfer your power to me again and practice summoning spirits?"
"Sure, if that's what you wanna do." he shrugged, looking antsy. It was obvious he wanted something a little more active.
"Tell you what, if you train with me like this for a while, we can go swimming. Okay?"
His eyes lit up. "Alright! I've got a fire in my belly now!"
And so they started. Natsu sent his magic to her, and then she summoned her spirits and held them out as long as she could. However, after a while of sweating and feeling feverish, Lucy was panting and more than uncomfortable. She had gotten used to him just topping off her magic origin when she was running low, but right now they were trying to stretch the capacity of her reserves so she could take more at once, and it was like his fire was cooking her from the inside out.
During the fifth time of being filled and emptying herself by summoning spirits, she flopped back and shivered as the cool stone pressed into her sweaty shoulders. "There has to be a way to do this without baking me alive." she groaned.
Capricorn was there, since he was the last spirit she had summoned, and he cleared his throat. "If I may make a suggestion Lady Lucy?"
She looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah sure. What is it?"
"Why don't you try to meld your magic with his, the way we have been practicing melding your magic with nature. You may be surprised at the results."
She blinked up at him and smiled. "Thanks Capricorn! I'll try that."
Sitting up, she focused on Natsu's magic still thrumming strongly within her and – using the techniques she had learned the past few days – she tried to mesh her magic with his. It took a little work, and Capricorn urged her to focus entirely on Natsu … on his breathing, on the sensation of his hands in hers, on the fire in her blood that pounded his name across her being. It was like when she had focused on her surroundings and drew the magic out of the air and earth, but this time it was Natsu she was entirely focused on.
Her magic followed suite and rose up in her, twining around his and accepting it in a completely different sort of way. Before, he had just shoved his magic in her and she had used it like a completely different part of her, keeping it separate. Now though, it was mixing with her own magic, almost like when they'd done the mating ceremony and their souls and magic had aligned. It was a similar sort of bond that suddenly sprung to life between them, a rope of twining magic – his and hers – that linked them.
As with her meditation training, she didn't just absorb his magic…she also gave some of hers back, which tied her to him even more strongly. It was a give and take, like breathing almost – or sharing breath.
As with the mating ceremony, it was intoxicating to feel Natsu so close as their magic tied them together. It got to the point where she couldn't tell the difference between them, and suddenly it felt like Natsu's magic was her own. The fire didn't make her feel feverish anymore, as if it was supposed to be there.
The connection between them wound ever tighter until it suddenly seemed to peak, and a fresh wave of warmth washed over her body, making her skin prickle. Tingles erupted everywhere, and she felt her clothing start to shift weirdly. When she glanced down, her eyes widened to see light glowing brightly around her and her clothes getting switched out for a completely new set. When the light faded, she was left with a vest like Natsu's, but hers ended around her rib cage. It gaped open in the front, but shiny red scales coated her like armor over her breasts and down her ribs a little ways, leaving a pale gap down the center of her chest. The scales were firm and acted almost like a bra, keeping her boobs in place and pressing them down just a little. More red scales coated her forearms all the way down to her hands, which looked like they were wearing gauntlets with the ridged scales on her fingers and knuckles. She also sported short, very sharp claws.
Her midriff was bare, and around her hips was a black skirt that went to midthigh and looked very similar to the kilt-like thing that Natsu often wore over his pants. It had a slit up one thigh and was belted with a golden sash that matched the gold trim on both articles of clothing. Sandals appeared on her feet that laced up her calves.
"What's this?"
"That is the Star Dress of the Celestial Fire Dragon." Capricorn answered, and both Natsu and Lucy turned to look at him for answers. "When you mesh your power so closely to one of your spirits, you can absorb some of their magic and this is what happens. Their magic forms a celestial dress, and you gain some of their power. I suspect you have increased strength right now, and probably fire magic."
"Woah! This is awesome! Hey Luce, try making some fire!"
She blinked and then looked down at her hand. It took a moment, but she quickly figured out that she could summon the fiery magic that flowed through her veins to her fist, and suddenly flames licked at her palm as she managed to conjure a weak flame.
She gasped excitedly. "Look Natsu!"
He beamed and leaned in to look at it closely. "That's so cool!"
"So I can do this with my other spirits? Can I do it with you too?"
Capricorn nodded at her question. "Yes, Lady Lucy, with enough practice you can cloak yourself in all of our magics and gain our powers temporarily. But it will take intensive training with each spirit. I suspected that you would be able to do it with Natsu since you have worked together so much."
After that, naturally she added, 'mastering more Star Dresses,' to her list of goals. She spent her days switching back and forth between training with Erza, training with her spirits – starting with Aquarius, and training with Natsu on flight and fighting alongside him when he was in his other forms.
The second week was the first time they tried training while he was in dragon form. To do that, they waited till the tide was out and they had a long stretch of beach to work with, since it would not be good to set the forest on fire. The others also stayed safely away and trained on other parts of the island for the day, not wanting to be anywhere near Natsu when he was full-on dragon.
"Um…should I step away from you while you transform?" she asked, a little worried at the prospect of being close to him while he was transforming.
"It should be fine as long as I can see you."
"Okay…"
When the expected blast of heat came from him, she still cringed a little, and nearly got bowled over by the overwhelming typhoon of power that was released during his transformation. Natsu kept his eye on her the whole time and angled his body away from her as he grew. In the end, she ended up almost sitting on his hind foot, which he had shifted back so his talons wouldn't stab her as they grew in, and his forepaws came down behind her, placing her squarely under his belly. When she spun around to face his head, she noted with relief that he was still looking at her, upside down and from in between his front legs.
As for Lucy, she felt a little shaky after being so up close and personal with such an intense force. It kind of felt like she had just survived a tornado.
With a weak grin she wobbled and stumbled back to sit on his foot, and – with a huge rumble and shake that felt like an earthquake – he sat too, leaving his foot still as he did so. He sat up like a person then, with his forelegs suddenly acting like arms again, and she eyeballed him from what felt like a mouse's perspective. She'd seen him stand before when he was fighting that robot dragon, so she knew his anatomy was still somewhat person-like, which gave him the ability to stand and sit like human while also going to all fours and acting like a four-legged creature.
She got a better look at him when he reached down and held out his huge hand/paw for her to climb onto, which she did after blinking at it a little in surprise. He then lifted her up to his eye level and she got to see him from this perspective. She couldn't help but be interested – after all he was her boyfriend…even if he was currently a huge lizard – and besides that, she had always thought dragons were pretty amazing creatures. Getting to see one up close and personal like this was really spectacular.
His arms/forelegs actually still looked kind of like human arms, with very similar musculature. In fact, his shoulders, chest, and stomach all looked really similar too … aside from the fact that he seemed to have way more muscles. He had what she was pretty sure counted up to a twelve-pack instead of a six-pack leading down to where his junk should have been, but was conspicuously absent. His hind legs were different though, thicker and shorter to accommodate being on all fours when he wanted, and they definitely looked more animal than human. His neck and head had also completely changed of course, his throat growing super long and sporting a very reptilian head and face. But his black horns were the same, just sized up, and his glowing golden eyes were also familiar.
All in all, she thought he made a gorgeous dragon. Of course she had been thoroughly awed the last two times she saw this version of him, but she'd never really had the chance to admire him in a peaceful setting before.
Her scrutiny obviously didn't go unnoticed either, because after a long silence, he rumbled, "Well? What do you think?"
"It's amazing Natsu…I tend to forget you're actually a dragon."
He laughed, some fire spitting from his huge schnozz. "Kinda hard to forget when I'm like this, huh?"
"Yeah, pretty much…"
"So…are ya scared?" his voice was teasing, but she could hear a tiny hint of anxiety in his tone that said he was honestly worried about how she'd react. It wasn't like they had ever exactly talked about this particular form of his before, or what she thought about it, so she supposed it was only to be expected.
"No, not really. It's a little unnerving, but that's probably just because you're so dang big. I feel a little like a mouse. But other than that…I'm not scared at all. Actually, I think you're gorgeous to be honest."
He grinned, wide and toothy. "You really like the way I look?! That's awesome Luce!"
She couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm, and any tension left in her completely eased. He might look like some sort of majestic beast of legend…but he was still her dorky boyfriend/mate.
"Yeah, yeah. Now get your head down here so I can touch you." She reached up, eager to do a more hands-on investigation of her own personal dragon. There was no way she was going to pass up such a great opportunity.
He snorted another laugh, nearly knocking her over with the puff of air, and she scowled. "Watch where you snort, Mister! You'll sneeze me right off your hand if you're not careful."
"Whoops, sorry Luce. I guess that's why we need to train like this, huh?"
"Yep." she agreed, but was much more interested in petting his nose now that he had brought her up to his face. He was positively massive, even with her arms completely outstretched she couldn't reach halfway around his snout. In fact, she could probably sit on his nose if she wanted to.
His scales were so much bigger too…even the tiniest ones were plate sized, and the biggest ones were like car doors…or even bigger.
After patting down his nose, she sighed and he pulled back some, taking the sound to mean that she was satisfied.
"So…aside from letting me get a good look at you, what else does this training encompass?" she finally asked, wondering what he had in mind.
"First, I need to know where your pressure limit is, so I don't accidentally squeeze you to death. It'll be easy though. Just tell me when it starts to hurt, kay?"
She nodded and he closed his hand around her body in a fist, leaving her head and shoulders poking out the top of course. Gradually he increased the pressure around her, and pretty soon she told him to stop. He seemed to make a mental note, then they repeated with his tail and his other hand, so he could get a really good idea of how hard he could hold her.
Then after that, he had her basically climb all over him. Since the tide had come back in and was now up to his stomach, she thankfully had a pretty good cushion of water to fall into if she slipped off, so she wasn't too worried about it as she turned him into her personal jungle gym. The goal there was to find the best places for her to be and hold on, which was a must-know for any battle situation. If she was going to be riding him, they both needed to know where she could safely be.
She asked questions from time to time whenever she came across something interesting as she crawled all over him.
"Can you feel me through your scales? I mean, if you closed your eyes, would you know I was standing on your shoulder?" she asked curiously, and he closed his eyes for a moment to think about it.
"Yeah…I know you're there, but I can barely feel your weight. Mostly I just sense your presence."
"So can you feel things through your scales? Like…" she scratched her nails across a big one on his neck.
"Yeah, I can feel that. It kinda tickles."
"Huh…no kidding. I would have thought you couldn't feel anything through these things…"
He shrugged and she fell off his shoulder, sliding down his front. He quickly caught her in his open palm and lowered her to his lap.
Her next question came when she was attempting to climb up his front, which was a lot harder than his back. He didn't have many handholds in the front, but she could sort of shimmy up if he leaned back. She started from his lap, after climbing his leg, and before she attempted his belly, she stared at the muscles that smoothly led down between his legs.
"Um…I've just gotta ask. Do you still have a penis?"
When he busted out laughing she nearly got tossed off his leg, but she managed to stay on by flattening herself out and hugging onto a ridge of scales on his thigh.
"Yes, I'm still a guy…and I still have a dick. Thanks for asking." he eventually chuckled.
"Hey! It's a legitimate question! I mean…there's nothing there!" she waved wildly in the direction where it should be.
"It's there, just inside. See?"
A previously unnoticed slit in his lower belly parted and out came a massive dick. It was easily twelve feet worth of pink skin. Lucy recoiled, not expecting it, and very nearly fell off his leg again. She stared in shock, unable to do anything else after being confronting with something so unexpected. Thankfully it still looked relatively normal…a little differently shaped, but not so much that she was disgusted or anything.
But still…that was a little too much for her, and after a moment she somewhat weakly said, "Okay uh…thanks. You can put it away now."
He laughed again and it slid back into his stomach.
Once she had recomposed herself, she continued her climb, eventually making it up to his arms and shoulders. They found that she could sit in the crook of his arm pretty easily, or he could just carry her in his hand, but otherwise she would probably have to stay on his shoulders/back/neck/head area. His tail was also a viable option, and he could easily move her from one location on his body to another – or catch her if she fell off – with the long appendage.
Naturally, the next step was to fly and have her figure out her balance and where to ride him while airborne. He held her in his hand until they were thousands of feet above the ground and he had plenty of room to catch her if she fell off. And fall she did, plenty in fact, as she walked and slid all over him, getting used to being up here with him in this form. He caught her with his tail and hands equally, and squeezed a little too hard the first few times, but it still wasn't too bad. She might have a couple of bruises, but it was fine. Soon though, he quickly adapted and always caught her without hurting her.
In the end, she found that being on his back was probably the best place to be, because of the row of spikes that she could easily grab onto. They were at least a couple of feet tall now and provided for excellent hand holds. She could even use them to scale down his tail if she needed to for any reason, and up his neck as well. His forehead was probably her other favorite perch, since she could curl up in the crook of his horn or even sit on his horn and hold onto it. The only problem with being on his head, was that if he turned to look at something it was a bit of a jolt.
After a full day of dragon training, they headed back to the cabana for food so Lucy could refuel and rest a bit before an evening training session with Aquarius.
She tried to incorporate Star Dress training into her schedule almost every day. Naturally, since Aquarius had been with Lucy the longest, she figured the temperamental mermaid was the best spirit to start with. She had been second guessing that choice ever since.
The first time she summoned her, near the end of the first week of training, things hadn't exactly gone smoothly.
Predictably, Aquarius had greeted her with a catty remark. "Huh…what sort of outfit is that? Are you so desperate to get a boyfriend that you dress like a skank?"
Lucy blinked and then glanced down at her bikini top and short jean shorts. Then she looked back up and grimaced. "First of all, I have a boyfriend. Natsu. Remember?"
Aquarius's eyebrows raised. "Seriously? You two are actually together? I thought that was just a rumor."
"Nope. It's real. We're officially a couple."
Aquarius actually gave her a small smile. "Well congratulations. It only took you, what…20 years to finally get your first boyfriend?"
Lucy pouted. "I've had other boyfriends…they just didn't last long."
"Haha! Oh yes that's right! You scared them all off within the first few weeks."
"Yeah, yeah…can we move on to something else now?"
After wiping the tears of mirth from her eyes, Aquarius sobered. "Of course. For instance, why did you call me here? There better be a good explanation."
"Right. About that…" Lucy proceeded to explain how she was now training to try and master the Star Dresses of all her spirits. "I thought it was only right for me to start with you, since we've been together for so long."
The mermaid hmphed, but she could see a little glimmer of what looked like appreciation and pride in her eyes. "Well of course I'm first in line."
After that, Lucy worked with her to try and mesh their magic, which was an exercise in patience and pain tolerance. The mermaid spirit was not exactly patient, and more than once Lucy found herself drenched in cold sea water as Aquarius threw a fit at her slow pace of learning. She very nearly got dragged out into the sea at one point when a giant wave crashed over her. And of course, none of that helped her to get into the meditative state required to acquire a Star Dress.
It took more than one training session to master Aquarius's magic, that was for sure. In fact, it took almost the rest of the month for her to get it.
The last week of training, Lucy was working with Aquarius, and being drowned as usual by a tidal wave. She clung to the shifting beach to the best of her abilities to avoid being dragged out to sea, sure that her celestial spirit would just leave her there. As soon as the salty flood passed, she gasped in fresh air, gulping it down like she was dying – which it sort of felt like after being submerged and pounded for at least a minute straight.
As she sputtered for breath, she managed to weakly wheeze, "Can we not do that anymore? It's not really helping my concentration."
Normally, she never would have thought about talking back at Aquarius – because she was terrifying – but after working with her for two weeks straight, she was at her wit's end.
Predictably the mermaid spirit whipped around and fixed her with a really nasty look, her lip curled and eyes wrinkled with an ugly frown. One eye squinched while the other peeled open wide to give her the hairy eyeball, and Lucy winced, taking a deep breath and ducking her head. She expected another wave to wash over her, but all she got was an exasperated sigh.
After a moment, she risked glancing up, to see Aquarius frowning down at her with her arms crossed, but her expression had softened a little. "Fine. Get up. I don't have all day."
Relieved that she wasn't going to be waterboarded again, Lucy scrambled to her feet and approached the water bearer again somewhat hesitantly. As soon as she was in reach, the mermaid grabbed her hands and squeezed them before fixing her with a stern look.
"Now this time, FOCUS."
"…I'd probably focus better if there wasn't the threat of dying…" Lucy muttered under her breath very quietly.
"What was that?!"
"Nothing!" she squeaked and hurried to close her eyes and focus on the task at hand.
She'd been getting closer and closer lately, and if she didn't die within the next few days she had a real chance of getting there. Taking a deep breath and shoving all worries to the back of her mind, she focused entirely on Aquarius…her cool hands clutching Lucy's fingers almost aggressively, the smell of fresh sea that she always emitted, her long blue hair that brushed Lucy's wrists as the wind blew behind her. As she went deeper, she started to pick up Aquarius's breathing, and eventually even her heartbeat started to lightly pulse in Lucy's ears as if she had her head to the other woman's chest. Soon she began to feel Aquarius's magic.
It was familiar. Every time she summoned a spirit, she could feel their magic as they passed through the gate, and even though she hadn't noticed before, the magic lingered as long as they were here. Almost like a very faint scent that she had simply never paid attention to before. As soon as she did though, she had realized that Aquarius's magic reminded her of home, of all the times she had summoned the mermaid as a child just for company. It was cool, refreshing, and salty – like the sea of course – and it was comforting.
This was where she often had trouble. After sensing Aquarius's magic, she wasn't entirely sure what to do. With Natsu, he had been shoving his magic into her, so it was already inside her and easy enough to mix with her own magic. But with a Zodiac spirit it was different. Aquarius couldn't share her magic by choice necessarily. It was mostly up to Lucy to mesh their magic together in something like a unison raid, and only then could her spirits share their magic with her.
So, all she could do was feel Aquarius's magic and then try to connect to the spirit. Before, she had gotten very close, but never could quite master it. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get her magic to match up with Aquarius's.
A soft exasperated snort sounded, almost knocking her out of her zone. And then Aquarius muttered, "Stop trying so hard. You can't force it. You're just going to mess it up again if you do that."
Her voice was soft enough that it didn't distract Lucy too badly, but she did take the comment into consideration and stopped trying to shove her magic around. Aquarius was right, it wasn't working. So instead, she just tried to focus on Aquarius's magic and let her mind go blank, hoping it would do something. For a long moment she just stood there with nothing happening, but then she slowly began to feel their connection widening as she relaxed and let her magic do what it wanted while meditating on Aquarius's magic.
She could feel the water bearer's magic rising up alongside her own, as if it was coming to meet her halfway, and her hands began to tingle where they were touching. Cool blue magic and golden magic met in their palms, bumping up against each other and then shying back a little, as if the two magics weren't sure at first. Lucy sunk deeper into her meditation, forcing herself to not get excited and just remain completely calm and focused.
The magic in their hands finally started to mesh together, and Lucy finally got a sense of how it was supposed to feel. It really was like a unison raid, but of course she had only done that a few times before, so it wasn't like she was an expert on it. Still though, as soon as she got an understanding of the sensation, she welcomed it and poured more magic into the connection they had formed. She didn't try to force it to match Aquarius's – it did that automatically – instead, she just opened the gates on her magic and let it flood through her body. Instantly, Aquarius's magic rose up to meet hers, the way it had done before, but so much stronger now.
She heard the sound of water all around, crashing waves, and the sensation of it flooding around her feet. This time though, she wasn't afraid of the water, even as it swirled around her ankles and then whisked the beach out from under her. All she felt under the soles of her feet was the sea, but she barely even noticed. All her attention was focused on the magic surging through her and Aquarius.
Her eyes opened, and she looked into her friend's face, amazed as she felt cool oceanic magic mixing with hers and filling her body. Aquarius's eyes were open too, and for once they weren't filled with distain or irritation. Her gaze was perfectly calm and peaceful, but there was a glitter in her eyes that suspiciously looked like happiness and maybe pride. The spirit was coated in the golden light of Lucy's magic as the celestial mage shared it freely with her spirit, holding nothing back, as the mermaid did the same with her.
She felt a prickly sensation similar to the one with Natsu, only this one was cool and refreshing, like being dunked in water as it traveled from the crown of her head down to her toes. Glancing down, she saw that she had indeed donned a Star Dress, this one mimicking Aquarius's.
Up top she wore a blue bikini top with gold zigzag lines. On her arms she wore sheer blue sleeves that ended in a point attaching to her middle finger and were held up by golden armlets around her biceps. For bottoms, she wore a short white ruffly skirt that tied on one hip and was held up by a thick golden belt, very similar to the belt and ruffles around Aquarius's hips. On the exposed thigh, she had a golden cuff made of three golden bands connected by chains, and on the side of each band a thick golden loop dangled, like the golden loops on the side of Aquarius's tail. Under the band was a dark blue thigh-high sock made of silky material that shimmered with an iridescent pattern reminiscent of scales. On her feet, she wore pale blue strappy sandals.
Over all, it was beautiful, and she looked back up at Aquarius with a grin and tears in her eyes. "It's beautiful…"
"Of course it is. It's my Star Dress." the mermaid said haughtily, but a small smile softened the words. Her eyes glanced down, and she lightly released one of Lucy's hands so she could trace a zigzag pattern over Lucy's collarbone.
"What?" she asked, glancing down to try and see what Aquarius was touching.
"My symbol. It's on your chest." she answered.
Instantly Lucy knew that she meant the black zigzag line that the mermaid sported over her collarbone, exactly where she was touching Lucy.
"Oh really? That's amazing. I wish I could see it."
"You can. Look." Aquarius waved her hand over the water, which Lucy just now realized they were standing on.
The water underneath them suddenly smoothed out, perfectly flat and reflective. Gingerly, Lucy leaned over to peer at her appearance in the water, and immediately saw the dark tattoo on her chest. She smiled and traced it with a finger. She also noted that her hair had been affected and was now similar to Aquarius's, long and straight, with a golden circlet around her brow.
Looking back up, she smiled at Aquarius again, delighted that she had actually done it. "I can't believe it! We did it!"
Blue eyes rolled dramatically. "It took you long enough. Now, try to use my powers."
"Oh. Right." She glanced around at the water, and then held out a hand, trying to make a little wave.
Cool magic flowed through her and she could feel the water, as if she was touching it, and urged it upwards. It followed her command, but all she managed to create was a tiny little wave that lapped at their ankles.
Aquarius snorted with amusement. "Pathetic. Try again."
And so started a whole different sort of training as Lucy practiced using the magic she had been given.
...
In between working with Aquarius, she continued to work on her Second Origin with Erza – which was just as painful as working with the mermaid spirit. In fact, none of them were doing really great on that front.
The whole first bit of that training involved meditation to try and increase their reserves, but since Lucy was already doing that, Erza let her skip ahead of the others.
The second part of the training regimen that Erza had concocted was to completely exhaust their magic, which Lucy did by summoning as many spirits as she could handle and then holding them out as long as possible. After exhausting the reserves of her Origin, she was then pushed to try and use more magic, which would ideally force her to access her backup reserves. The Second Origin was usually only accessed when a mage was in a life or death situation and they had run out of magic. But if they trained hard enough, there was the possibility of learning how to use it at will.
They took turns. Sometimes they all trained together, other days only one would train with her, just depending on who was recovered at what times. When they trained all together, they would all exhaust their magic, and then take turns trying to spar with Erza. She didn't go easy on them either, she pushed them hard enough that it felt like she might kill them – which she explained was necessary for releasing their Second Origin...at least for the first few times.
Of course Natsu was exempt from this training, since he was a dragon, so he spent his time with Happy fishing and swimming while they were doing this. It was quickly decided that he should be in a different place when Lucy was fighting Erza, because he had tried to interrupt more than once, and had a hard time keeping his magic to himself.
Unsurprisingly, Gray was the first one to open his Second Origin for the first time, near the end of the second week of training. Erza had been going especially hard on him and smacking him around with a long thin piece of wood. He was bruised and bloody by the time he finally managed to put up a shield of ice to block her blows.
Gasping, he stared at his hands, and then grinned, yelling, "I think I just did it!"
Erza smiled. "Keep it up. Let's see if you really have opened it. Fight me."
Sure enough, he hadn't just gotten a second wind or something, he really had accessed his backup reserves of magic, and managed to produce as much ice as he normally would.
And then he proceeded to pass out.
Juvia rushed to him and hurried to tend to his wounds as Lucy took his place. She didn't reach her Second Origin that day though, or the days to follow. All she got was a bunch of bruises and welts for her trouble.
It wasn't until the third week that she finally made a breakthrough. By that point, Gray had opened his Second Origin enough to be able to do it if he tried hard enough, so his training had become solo as he worked on mastering it. Juvia had managed to open hers once, but not since then. So Lucy was the only one who hadn't opened hers at all.
She was determined to reach her Second Origin too, and so she made sure to completely exhaust herself by summoning Aries, Taurus, and Scorpio all at once. She held them there while Juvia worked with Erza to try and access her Second Origin again, and by the time the blue haired mage had called it quits Lucy had been forced to release all the gates.
She was sitting down and panting, feeling unpleasantly empty and exhausted after expending so much magic, and groaned when Juvia finally said, "Alright! I'm done!"
That meant it was Lucy's turn, and she whined as she forced herself to her feet, swaying a little when the world spun around her for a moment. Erza blinked at her then started forwards, looking worried when Lucy stumbled and ended up landing on one knee.
"Lucy…are you sure you can train further?"
"The whole point is to exhaust your magic completely right? Well, I'm exhausted." Lucy responded, grinning tiredly up at Erza as the other woman helped her to her feet.
"True. I'm impressed by your dedication."
"Alright. Let's do this."
Getting her footing again, she managed to steady herself enough to face Erza as she reequipped. Lucy nearly fell over again though when the redheaded warrior donned what looked like a black armored military/police outfit that was skintight. The huge bullwhip at her hip didn't make Lucy feel very good at all about what was going to happen.
"I will honor your dedication by using this armor."
"Um…are you sure that's armor and not something else?"
"What else would it be? I bought it at a store with many different kinds of armor and bodysuits such as this. I believe this one was called 'disciplinarian.'"
"…right." Lucy sweat-dropped, thinking that Erza had probably been in a BDSM store. Either way though, it didn't look good for her. "…and the whip?"
She had used whips before in their training, particularly with Lucy since that was one of Lucy's specialties, but none quite so formidable.
"It's lovely right? Goes perfectly with this armor."
All she could do was shake her head and internally cringe. "Okay…well, let's do this I guess."
She drew her own weapon, an updated flueve d'etoiles, and summoned the celestial glowing whip from its handle, readying for a very unpleasant battle. The updated version had been a gift from her spirits when she had returned from her yearlong coma, and she had happily accepted it. Just like the original, it was her most prized possession and she carried it on her at all times.
It took miniscule amounts of magic to summon the celestial whip, but in her currently exhausted state she could barely even do that, and the long blue length sputtered and flickered in protest as her magic started giving out entirely.
Without further ado, Erza proceeded to whip the ever-living daylights out of her, and Lucy could only block a handful of the strikes as her whip sputtered in and out of existence. It was far from fun as she quickly accumulated a series of welts and bloody streaks. She pushed through the pain though, determined to open her Second Origin no matter what.
She kept trying to summon more magic to her whip and wished she could summon her spirits. With a pop, Amy came into being with a flash of light, mist, and the scent of sun-kissed pines. She parked her furry behind nearby and watched, growling softly. The first time Lucy had done this, Amy had intervened and grabbed the weapon right out of Erza's hand, but after Lucy had explained what was going on, her loyal lupine companion had reluctantly backed off. Still, she insisted on showing up and watching, just in case she felt like Lucy was pushing herself too hard and needed to stop things.
The white wolf was obviously not happy about this particular sparring session, as she kept up a constant growl from the sidelines, and Lucy worried she would cut in at any moment. She did her best to ignore the unhappy celestial wolf though, because she had to use all her concentration on the sparring match. The pain was not getting any better as she continued to accumulate injuries, and she could see how Erza was beginning to scowl deeply herself. The redhead wasn't particularly pleased about this either, but she must have been able to see the determination in Lucy's eyes, because she didn't lighten up the barrage. Juvia stood nearby, looking tearful and upset too.
At one point, Erza managed to pop her hard on her hand and the flueve d'etoiles flew across the sand. All that was left was to try and summon a spirit, which she knew wasn't going to happen. Gritting her teeth, she took the continued lashes, bracing her forearms in front of her face and thinking fast and hard. She had to access her magic, that was all there was to it, and so she dug deep. All she felt was emptiness, lack of magic, and fatigue, but as she stretched deeper, she started to feel a tingle of light. Pushing through the pain and exhaustion, she reached for that light, and suddenly felt something give. A wave of magic flooded her.
Feeling her strength return, she let the power flood through her and stood from her half-crouched position. Grabbing three keys at once, she felt who she had grabbed and grinned.
"Open! Gate of the Ram! Aries!"
With a pink puff and the normal greeting of, "I'm sorry!" Aries puffed into being and put up a wool wall to stop the lashes without Lucy even having to ask. "I'm so sorry! Was this what you wanted Miss Lucy?"
"You did perfect Aries! Now, Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"
"Yes Princess? Is it punishment time?"
"For Erza it is. Now go dunk her in a deep hole!"
"Right away Princess!"
Instantly she spun down into the ground, and a second later Erza disappeared into the sand. Lucy motioned for Aries to drop her wall, which she did, so Lucy could see what was going on. Then she raised her next key. "Open! Gate of the Crab! Cancer!"
"Hey Baby." Cancer puffed in with a red flash.
"Get ready, when she comes out, cut the connections to her armored wings."
"Sure thing, Baby."
Sure enough, Erza popped out a moment later, flying in her demon armor. Leaping into the fray, Cancer went after her with his shears, going for the straps holding her armored demon wings on. He was like a surgeon almost in his precision.
"Aries! Put a wool ball right under her so she falls into it!"
"Right away!"
Erza had been taken by surprise and hadn't been able to ward off Cancer fast enough. As soon as her wings fell off, she let out a yell as she fell. That yell cut off though when she landed in a pink puff, and she immediately sighed in complete happiness and comfort, going limp and helpless as Lucy knew she would.
Lucy had never used Aries's wool ball against Erza before of course, though her redheaded friend had seen her use it on enemies before.
"This…this really is a formidable magic Lucy…" she sputtered, shooting the blond an impressed look. "I can't do anything at all. It's as if my whole body went completely limp."
"It's Aries's magic not mine." She smiled at the timid fluffy spirit, who fidgeted under the complement.
"I-I don't know what to say Miss Lucy…"
After that, within the next few training sessions with Erza, Lucy was able to summon her Second Origin several more times, until she got a feel for it and how to access it on her own. Then it was just Juvia and Erza training, and Lucy left them to it happily.
Sneak Peek
When they finally arrived in Crocus several hours later, they all spilled out of the car in one large mass and probably scared the next group of passengers silly as they basically plowed them all over.
Their first stop after disembarking was the Grand Magic Games arena – the Domus Flau… a huge circular stadium located in the mountains west of Crocus.