Chapter ELEVEN

Jellal lay down on the floor, shuffling around, trying to get comfortable. "Do you think Darque can actually convince the Council to accept us into a guild?" He asked absentmindedly.

Lucy shrug, then realized Jellal probably couldn't see her. "Well, she said she would, and I trust my spirits."

"Yeah, I heard." Jellal said.

Lucy sighed. "This is so confusing!" She exclaimed. "At first, I didn't want to leave the guild at all! But when I met you guys today, it just seemed right and now I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

There was an awkward silence and when Jellal felt like he was going to suffocate on it, Lucy giggled.

"But I'm personally more worried about how Erza will act if she find out you're crashing at my place." She said.

Jellal paused, then felt his face slowly grow red. "Well, she doesn't have to know." He said nervously.

Lucy leaned over her bed and smiled at him. "Well, let's hope she doesn't find out, then. I still have a lot of things I wanna do in life."

Jellal nodded. "Yeah." He paused. "You know, I'm wondering if being picked by Darque to be a candidate is lucky or not."

Lucy frowned. "I don't know. If you think about it, in one way, I guess it is lucky if you look at Darque's strength in battle. Plus, I'm sure a lot of people would love the grand prize. Not lucky if you don't like getting meddled in complicated stuff." She sighed again. "If we did win this thing, what would you wish for?"

Jellal was taken aback by the question. "Well, I never actually thought about that." He said. "I'm not sure. What about you?"

"I'm not really sure either. Maybe something to do with my friends being able to live a happy life or something."

Jellal was slightly surprised, then remembered that it was the Lucy Heartfillia he was talking to. It would have been way more surprising if she said something like eternal life, or a lifetime supply of money.

Jellal inwardly chuckled. "Well, let's go on a missions with team Natsu tomorrow, and we'll see what happens next."

Lucy hesitated. "Yeah, about that. I'm not sure if I'm a part of that team anymore." She added the last part in a whisper.

Jellal looked at her, surprised. "Huh?"

"Ever since Lisanna came back, team Natsu been going on missions without telling me and, I just..." She trailed off, looking away.

Jellal managed a stupid "Oh.", then quickly shook his head. "Well, I'll go on a mission with you." He said.

Lucy looked surprised. "What? You're supposed to go on one with Erza."

Jellal grinned. "Well, we're going to be fight together more often, so wouldn't it be better if we can learn to collaborate our magic?"

Lucy nodded over the edge of her bed. "I'll talk with master tomorrow." She looked at Jellal in the eye. "You'll come with me, right?"

Jellal nodded. "Yeah." He yawned. "Of course."

Cobra and Midnight were still grumbling about having to stay back at Lucy's apartment when she slammed the door in Cobra's complaining face. Jellal had headed out first, so they did not attract suspicion on having arrived together.

Darque was awfully quiet in Lucy's head, and Lucy was still deep in though on how she was going to break the news to Makarov when she reached the guild. She pushed the door open and was greeted with a chair in the face.

She glared in the direction which it had come from and sighed. Natsu and Gray had started the free-for-all brawl of the day. Rubbing her sore head, Lucy made her way to the bar, dodging thrown furniture and flying people.

She greeted Mira with a smile. "Hi Mira. Have you seen master?"

Mira looked at her worriedly. "Yeah. He's in his office. Why, is something wrong?"

Lucy shook her head reassuringly at her. "It's nothing. I just want to ask something."

Mira nodded, then moved away to collect other orders.

'Good mooring, Lucy.'

Lucy slightly jumped at Darque's voice. "Hi." She replied. "I'm going to talk to master now."

'Okay. Should I call Jellal, or do you want master Makarov to call him?'

"I'll get master to call him." Lucy said. "Just make sure you warn him."

'Sure.'

Lucy stood up from her chair, and made her way to Makarov's office. She knocked, then waited for some sort of response.

Lucy opened the door and stepped inside when a "Come in." Was heard.

Master was leaned over his desk, surrounded with paper. He looked up when Lucy stood in front of him. "Hello, my child. What can I do for you?"

Lucy smiled at him. "Can you please call Jellal here as well? This also involves him."

Makarov looked curiously at Lucy and nodded. "Mira, please send in Jellal."

A minute later, there was a knock and the door was pushed over. Jellal poked his head in then stepped into the room. He nodded at master an offered Lucy a small smile.

Makarov gestured for the two to sit in the chairs facing him. "Now..."

Lucy and Jellal glanced at each other. "Master, have you ever heard of the keys of Afterlife?" Lucy began.

Makarov frowned. "I have read about them, as there are some books about the two legendary keys and their cycle."

'Wow, I'm legendary.'

Lucy couldn't hold back a small laugh, not loud enough for Makarov to hear.

"What about them?" Makarov asked.

"First, would you please tell us how much you know about them?" Jellal asked.

Makarov closed his eyes. "Well, I know that there are two keys, one representing Heaven and the other representing Hell. How they've been enemies for as long as anyone can remember and that they are said to have been constantly fighting." Makarov paused. "Why the sudden question?"

"Have you ever seen the keys before?" Lucy asked, slightly shakign her head.

Makarov slowly nodded. "Well, the drawings in the books anyways."

Lucy took a deep breath. "Would you believe it if we told you that they were real?"

Makarov's eyes widened slightly. "Well..."

Lucy held up Darque's key. "This is one of the two keys." She blurted out.

Jellal quickly took over before Makarov could say anything. "It's true." He said, ten turned to Lucy. "Summon her."

Lucy nodded and waved the black key. "Open, gate of the Devil, Darque."

Darque appeared in a burst of black. She smiled at the two candidates then turned and bowed at Makarov. "Hello, I take you are Master Makarov Drayer?"

Makarov looked very surprised but managed a nod. "And you are...?"

Darque smiled. "I am Darque di Daemon, also commonly known as the spirit of the Devil, the key of Hell."

Makarov turned to Lucy. "This is..."

Lucy glanced at Jellal, then Darque, receiving nods from both of them. She opened her mouth and as if a dam had been broken, she began to talk. She told Makarov everything. How team Natsu had ignored her, how Darque's key had fallen from the sky, how she and Jellal had come to know each other. Everything.

Jellal and Darque pipped in once in a while, filling in the bits she had missed.

By the time she had finished, she was out of breath. Makarov was staring wide eyed at the three, too shocked to say anything.

Lucy took a gulp of air. "The main reason I came here was to tell you this. This is because I would like to leave the guild."

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