Hey guys! Mslead here! Sorry about the late update!


CHAPTER 45

Coaming

A surface that prevented water on the deck from dripping to lower levels of the ship


Natsu settled his palm flat against the flank of his riding cat, rubbing his palm behind its ears and over its head. He grinned, looking out at the early morning that began to drawn and gleam over the early morning snow.

He thought it was beautiful, but still felt a familiar twinge of loss as he looked at the fascinating sunrise glowing red over the fresh powder. This had been a welcoming place in the time past four hundred years ago. How often did he remember Gray's family opening their doors to their crew when they came to visit the beautiful mountain village.

It had been a place of quiet and relaxation back then, with springs the locals could relax in, and a valley grove with plenty of spices and medicinal herbs to keep any healers shelves stocked for long to come.

If he hadn't had Tenrou Island back in the day, he would have considered coming here.

"You ready to go?" Lucy's voice drifted up from behind him and Natsu jumped, startled from his thoughts.

"Oh yeah," he grinned back at her, "where's Lyon and Juvia?"

Lucy crunched through the snow, her hands tugging on her gloves and meeting Natsu's eyes. He noticed a honeyed gleam in them, of a magic sparkling in their depths and trying to emerge.

"They're inside," Lucy commented, coming up on the other side of Natsu's cat.

At his intense stare, she blushed and looked away, "Stop it sailor, your gawkin' ain't polite."

"When have I ever cared about polite?" Natsu asked, reaching a hand out to caress her cheek and pull at the lock of hair framing her face, "You rememberin' again?"

"How could you tell?" Lucy asked.

"Your eyes are glowin' a little with magic." Natsu replied gently, "What'd you remember?"

"Nothing big." She replied, leaning into his warmth a little, "It was Jellal and I." She smiled softly, "We were helping father create spirits."

She smiled as she brushed her silver key, "I remember now why I've always loved Canis Minor so much. He was my first creation." She leaned over and kissed him, "And you gave him back to me."

Natsu chuckled and curled his arms around her, "How could I do anything less?" He purred, "He's part of your nest."

Lucy giggled softly, pressing herself against him, only to be distracted by the crunch of snow under a foot. She looked up in time to see Meredy grinning broadly at them while Juvia blushed and looked anywhere but them and Lyon stared at them in shock.

"What?" Lucy asked, her cheeks heating.

"You... really are a celestial?" Lyon asked, "You weren't exaggerating?"

Lucy frowned a little, "Of course not. Why would I do something like that? The story's already insane enough as it is!"

Meredy giggled, "Don't mind him." She told them brightly, "He's just not used to having his worldview shattered. It's a common problem up here."

Lucy shrugged a little, "Try it from my perspective." She replied, "Here I thought I was an ordinary, if cursed, mortal. You want to talk about something that changes your worldview..."

"Dare I ask how many meltdowns you had?" Meredy asked in amusement, and Lucy couldn't help grinning back.

"I might've raised th' roof a few times." She admitted as she pulled away from Natsu, "We ready to go?"

"Er, yes... yes of course." Lyon replied as he composed himself, "Apologies for the delay. I... had to ask the Lady Juvia a few questions."

Lucy could well imagine what kind of questions he'd asked. They were probably identical to the ones she'd half shouted at Levy what seemed like a lifetime ago. However, she said nothing as she nodded and gave her cat a gentle ear rub before vaulting onto its back.

Natsu swung up onto his cat, settling down with a steady sort of comfort. He was still a little out of practice with riding, but the previous day of travel had helped tremendously.

He looked over at Lucy and where she was giving Juvia a helping hand up onto the cat. Lyon for his part was positioning himself at the front.

Ignoring the strange, bear-like mount Lyon had, Natsu was more worried about that gleam in Lucy's eyes.

She would regain all of her memories soon, Natsu could sense it. And once that happened, no amount of protective spell would keep Acnologia's at bay.

Although he knew Lucy could fend off the god of war, they would still be at odds in a long term fight. Natsu twisted the reins in his palm and pulled them to his hip.

Acnologia had weapons at his disposal, and apparently the Spirit King's key. That put any fight directly in his favor.

They had to hurry.

—::—

It didn't take long for them to quickly understand why they needed a guide. With as dense as the snow was over certain parts of the land, many landmarks looked completely the same. However to Lyon's sharp eyes, he was able to tell the difference between one snow laden tree and the one next to it.

Lyon bent over the map drawn out, a derisive snort coming from his throat, "the line work is beautiful on this map. I doubt my brother had anything to do with that."

"Aye, he doesn't have the best writing, but he certainly has an eye for design," Lucy agreed.

"Gray has excellent penmanship!" Juvia protested, causing Natsu to snort out a laugh.

"Probably better' mine, but that ain't sayin' much!" Natsu barked, but dismounted as they made it to a river so they could relax and water their cats.

"You all are so rude to him!" Juvia's cheeks puffed out, not liking the teasing. Lucy laughed and pulled her into a hug, soothing the temperamental goddess.

"Love can blind us to the faults of our beloveds," Lucy grinned at her.

"Like you and Natsu?" Juvia asked slyly, causing Lucy to blush over how expertly the goddess had turned things around on her.

Lucy looked over at where Natsu was currently making faces at his riding cat.

"Perhaps," she allowed.

Lyon looked at the map, his eyes squinting against the position of the sun overhead, "the location you gave us should just be at the base of the mountain coming up. The valley runs right into it, and you'll find a lot more wildlife around. It's much warmer the further down we get."

"That's not encouraging for the trip up considering we've got snow down here already." Lucy sighed, "How long do you figure it'll take us?"

"To get to the mountain itself?" Lyon peered in the direction of the mountain rising over them, "Maybe another hour if we move slowly. But if this place holds true to the other two temples you spoke of then getting to our destination will only be the beginning of our trouble."

"Aye. I was afraid you would say that." Lucy grumbled as she set out a ration of food for her cat and rummaged into the saddlebags for some of the food Meredy had been kind enough to pack for them.

"It won't be as bad as you think captain." Lyon replied, "I can clear us a path easily enough. That alone should keep you lowlanders from fainting from exertion up here."

Lucy eyed him, not sure if she should take offense over the implication she couldn't handle a mountain climb, but decided to just be grateful instead. There was no denying she was out of her depth up here with the biting cold and the thin air. It made her long ferociously for her sturdy ship and the sun bouncing off the waves.

She pushed the thought aside and handed a bag of pastries over to Natsu for warming and eagerly tucked into a wedge of cheese and an apple instead, "So who's temple do you think this was?" She asked idly, "If the town has no patron gods... who would've been out here?"

Juvia frowned a little as she copied Lucy's motions, "I'm not certain." She muttered, "But there's something about this place that tickles my memory."

Natsu toasted the pastries, nearly burning them when Juvia distracted him.

"Eh? Really like what?" He asked curiously.

"Natsu focus!" Lucy chided, plucking one of the rolls back from his hands and blowing on it. He blinked and flashed her a sheepish smile in apology before he passed them around.

Juvia took hers with a grateful nod and bit into the steaming bun, "I can't explain why. But I get the feeling that this town did at one point have a patron god. But perhaps only thousands of years ago. Prior to the death of the Celestial Princess."

"Huh, talk about old," Natsu chewed loudly around his pastry.

"No kidding," Lyon agreed, "my family has lived in this town practically since the first stone was laid. We have no known record of a divine temple."

"The god must have moved on or not had enough followers in the area to stay," Juvia noted, "it was a challenge just to visit the temple, so only those very strong and healthy could have made the trip."

"None of this sounds fun," Lyon grunted, "We should probably hurry soon after we eat. You are clearly on a deadline and if we want to get back to the town before dark then we need to get through the pass in the next hour."

Lucy nodded solemnly and made short work of the rest of her meal. The others followed suit and it wasn't long before they were back in the saddle. Their mounts must've sensed their urgency because it seemed they made better time than before and it wasn't long before they were kissing the feet of the mountain.

"Alright, this is the place." Lucy muttered as she stared at the map, "Let's fan out and look for a sign of some kind. If this place is like the others we'll know it when we find it."

The others nodded, and they split up, though they were careful to remain within sight of each other as they looked. However, despite their diligence nothing turned up. The snow down this far wasn't as bad as it would soon get, but there were still icy patches and lingering snow drifts a foot or more deep. Which made digging around for a sign difficult.

"Agh!" Natsu finally cried in frustration, "Why the hell is this so difficult? We got the right spot!"

"You have to be patient!" Lucy replied, "We'll find it! We know there's something here or Levy wouldn't have sent us out here."

"We'll never find anything around this white crap cap'n." Natsu protested, and ignited his fist, "I'm gonna melt it!"

"You're what?!" Lucy yelped, "Natsu if you do that-!"

But it was too late. Natsu plunged his fist into the nearest drift and watched it instantly turn into water. Which then proceeded downhill straight towards Juvia in a miniature waterfall.

Juvia let out a shriek of surprise and threw her arms up, flashing a slice of water up to cut through the drift of snow and water before it could bury her.

The goddess panted, giving Natsu a look that bordered on a crazed glare. He gave her a sheepish grin in apology, not having expected the mini avalanche he caused with his impatience.

"You need to be more careful!" Lucy hissed at Natsu, "Your fire could bring the whole mountain down on us!"

"Sorry captain," Natsu mumbled an apology, his hands cramming themselves in the loops of his belt so they wouldn't be put to poor use again.

Lucy flicked the back of Natsu's ear, but was distracted by Lyon making a sound of surprise.

Right where Natsu had plunged his fist into the snow, was a mark of red magic burning into the mountain face. It still shone in the very stone, but Lyon was lifting his hand to touch against the gleaming mark.

"My, look at this," Lyon gasped, his palm running against the warm rock, "I think Natsu stumbled across what we were looking for."

Juvia blinked as she watched Natsu's magic spiderwebbing up the mountain face. She drew in close to the symbol branded in the rock, curious to see which god whose temple this belonged to.

However she drew back, stunned at the sight.

"This is the symbol of the Destroyer," Juvia whispered.

"The what!" Lucy exclaimed in shock, "That jerk has a temple out here?"

"He must've once." Juvia murmured, a thoughtful look on her face as the red magic Natsu had inadvertently unleashed spider webbed all over the rock and trailed onto another one that Lucy would've sworn hadn't been there a moment ago.

It turned out to be the first of many as it revealed itself to be only a starting marker for what seemed like a never ending line of stairs.

"I... remember..." Juvia breathed as she stepped onto the first of the stairs trailing up into the mist, "This was Acnologia's very first temple ages ago." She rubbed her hand over the marker and sighed, "He was very different then."

"What was he like back then?" Lucy asked as she followed the goddess onto the stairway. However much she might dislike the god personally, she wasn't going to quibble about raiding his temple for a relic. Not if it kept it out of his hands.

"He was a gentle soul before it blackened." Juvia replied, "He was originally a mortal. The first mortal to ever ascend to godhood." She glanced at her friend, "He created fighting you see. Back then, the world was very young, and we were still bestowing our gifts onto all creatures. There had never been conflict before. Not until that day."

Her eyes took on a faraway look, "In those days Acnologia was a simple hunter. He took only what he needed from the land to survive and to help his fellow mortals do the same. It had never occurred to him, or anyone, that the free will we blessed mortals with could also cause chaos."

"What happened?" Lucy asked softly.

"A member of his tribe decided he was entitled to more than his fair share." Juvia replied softly, "He tried to take the portion given to an elder by force, claiming he had the greater need as a 'productive' member of the tribe."

"Acnologia didn't like that?" Lucy asked, hardly able to wrap her mind around the idea of an Acnologia not lusting for blood and things that did not belong to him.

"Aye. He stepped between his kinsman and the elder and demanded the portion be returned. It was in the argument that followed that Acnologia struck the first blow of what would become the first fight." She nodded at the stairs they were climbing, "Later, this was where he built his temple, to train other mortals how to fight that they might protect themselves and their loved ones against those who abused their blessings."

"Doesn't seem to follow with what we know about that bastard," Natsu grumbled, hardly daring to believe Acnologia would teach anyone anything if it didn't benefit him in some way.

"It May come as a surprise to you, but he was kind once upon a time. At one point I imagine you two might have actually been friends," Juvia explained when they began to follow up the steps.

Natsu settled his hand over the magical lines, noticing how each pulse drew more magic from him to keep the runes lit. A test of endurance then, he supposed that made sense from the standpoint of a god that respected power above all.

Still his gut twisted with the idea that he could in any way ever be in good spirits with the bastard that took such pleasure in trying to ruin their life.

"Please Juvia, I think I'll be sick if you say something like that," Natsu scowled.

Juvia smiled, nodding back in agreement, "It is not a pleasant thought to be sure."

"I don't know why he turned out the way he did," Juvia murmured, "Perhaps because he was alone in his power, he fell so far. It hardly matters now, his sins now far outweigh any good he did in his past."

"Agreed." Lucy huffed as she paused to suck in a breath, "Do we know... how far these stairs go?"

"Quite some ways." Juvia replied, dropping a hand on Lucy's shoulder to bless her with as much of a boost of endurance as she could. Which, sadly, wasn't much under the circumstances, but it at least gave Lucy her breath back.

"You're not used to this altitude." She smiled, "Truthfully, I'm not either, but I've at least got my divinity to help."

Lucy cracked a wry smile, "Thanks for that." She breathed gratefully, "I'd hate for us to lose out just because of this."

However, despite her determination, Lucy quickly found herself lagging behind. Awakening memories or not, for the moment she was still utterly mortal. Mortal and used to life at sea level. Mountains with their thin atmosphere and difficult terrain were no longer familiar to her. Nor was she a thousand year old dragon with nearly supernatural endurance, or a goddess with magically renewing stamina.

After her third stop for air in less than fifteen minutes she finally accepted the inevitable and summoned Horologium. She hated doing it, but there was no other way she was going to be able to keep up with the rest at this rate.

"Sorry about this." She had the spirit tell Natsu.

Natsu snorted a bit on a laugh, his knuckles tapping light on Horologium's glass. He settled a hand flat against the glass, Lucy's hand settling against his.

"Don't worry about it Captain, we're almost there. Ya can see us soon," Natsu grinned at the pouting blond, "Come on clockman, we are burning daylight while Lyon sits on his ass in the cold down below."

Together they made the last of the trek, the temple built right into the side. It was a might construct, untouched by time or the elements.

Natsu whistled, his eyes wide at the sight of such a beautiful temple belonging to a god as evil as the Destroyer. He had seen the temples for Acnologia in other cities, but those had been cold and empty constructs.

Natsu settled a hand against one of the fences, almost hearing the echoing voices of mortals training in the empty halls.

There was a pop of magic behind Natsu, the sound of Lucy's spirit disappearing and leaving her standing in place. He grinned at her, moving around one of the pillars, "got to say, I like these digs. He had some good taste."

"Too bad he's terrible," Lucy shuddered and walked forward, "Come on let's hurry and get out of here. Forgotten temple or not, I don't want Acnologia figuring out we are here."

Juvia nodded and frowned when they looked around, "If the pattern holds, we need to find the inner sanctum. I doubt Acnologia will figure out we are here, I was completely unaware of that hidden temple under the sea."

"If there's one thing I've learned... never count on things going right on land." Lucy muttered, "Let's get this over with. I want us back on the ship with as much margin of error on our protections as possible."

Natsu nodded in agreement and they headed inside.

Inside proved to be as much a surprise as the outside. Filled with intricately carved beams, and inlays of different colors of wood, or very rarely gold, it was a thing of clean lined beauty. It felt a little like walking into the indoor version of an outside temple, and without the sort of clutter some other temples boasted it gave of a sense of both wonder and contemplation. Ideal for an ancient austere god devoted to fighting and protection.

It made Lucy wonder just what had happened to cause such a radical change.

She brushed the thought side however, in favor of looking for the inner sanctum.

"Juvia, I'm not familiar with this kind of temple... do you know where the inner sanctum was?"

Juvia looked around thoughtfully, "He would have constructed this shortly after his ascension so he would have still been thinking very much like a mortal at the time." She laid a hand on a pillar, "You can see it in his homage to the Creator here."

"So if he was thinking like a mortal he would've put the inner sanctum somewhere logical to a mortal mind." Lucy mused, "He wouldn't have been as concerned about keeping it away from his followers."

"Well if it was me, I'd put it somewhere near the main training hall then." Natsu shrugged, "I mean, what would be the point of putting my room somewhere hidden and a pain to get to when I'd always be training?"

Lucy blinked and smirked at her lover, "I think you may be onto something there. Let's see if there are any places that connect the worship hall and the training yard!"

They dashed off, their hopes rising for the first time since they'd started their overland trek.

As their luck held, it didn't take them long to find the Destroyers sanctum once they located the training hall. Natsu's gut reaction proved correct when they pushed open a sliding door out of the old styled training grounds and came across a magically charged room.

"This is it," Juvia nodded, hanging back.

"How did you guess it?" Lucy asked Natsu, turning towards him with curiosity. Her love just shrugged and scratched the back of his head.

"It's just what I would do y'know? The dragons have a similar set up, the drakes stay close to where they're needed. It doesn't make sense to hide yourself away from the people who will need you," Natsu shrugged and glanced at the two women, "I still don't get why gods have their inner sanctums so far. But I guess it makes sense if someone is constantly trying to break down your door."

"Aye, sometimes the distance is needed," Juvia gave Natsu a fond smile, "A god's power is naught to be trifled with, and even mortals can be affected if they draw too close. Those Acnologia trained here became known as demons because of their considerable strength. Possibly due to their proximity to their god."

"Huh, well that's fun to know," Natsu glanced back at Juvia and stepped into the Destroyer's room. He glanced back at Lucy, who looked a little hesitant over going into the gods inner sanctum.

"I'll grab the piece and come out," Natsu grinned at Lucy, leaning out to peck her with a warm kiss and smile, "no need to push our luck eh?"

He didn't wait for a response before ducking back inside to retrieve the third piece of their sacred key.


Sorry guys! We didn't make our cut off for the sneak peek, but thank you to everyone who DID review! Your next chapter will be up on Wednesday!