Chapter 7

A Hunch

It was around ten thirty at night when Alu opened her door just a crack. She had been quiet for a long time, hoping that she would fool her parents into thinking she was asleep. And it seemed to have worked, for neither one came into her room the entire evening.

But for Alu, who couldn't sit still and do nothing for very long, it was the most agonizing wait of her life. She hated being still for so long with nothing to do. It made her feel like she was trapped in a cage where boredom was the torture method.

At least it was over now.

Now, Alu was listening for the definite sign that both of her parents were sleeping.

And that sign was the sound of her father snoring and nothing else. Alu gave a grimaced smirk when her sensitive hearing picked up the sound of Natsu snoring loudly. He sounded like a Magic mobile with a bad motor.

"Geez," Alu thought to herself, "I'm amazed Mom can sleep through that. I can hear it from all the way down hall. Then again, I have Dragon hearing and Mom doesn't. So that might make a bit of a difference, but still. Anyway, now's my chance. Even if Mom's not asleep, Dad's snoring should cover up any noise I make."

After closing the door with the utmost care, Alu walked into the center of her room.

She then held out her golden key and commanded in a low voice, "Open, Gate of the Golden Ram. Aries."

The Zodiac Key glowed golden yellow for a moment. Then Aries appeared in a puff of pink smoke.

Aries was about as tall as Alu herself, if not slightly taller. She had snowy white skin, purplish-brown eyes, cotton-candy pink hair that fluffed out at the end, and two twisted brown horns on each side of her head. She wore a woolly tube-dress with matching boots that went up to her knees along with yellow leggings.

"Good evening, Alu," Aries said in a soft, cute voice. "Is something you need me to do for you?"

Alu smiled brightly when she saw her friend.

"Hey, Aries. Great to see you again," she said. "But if you don't mind, could you please keep your voice down? I don't want to wake my parents up."

"Oh, yes of course!" Aries replied in a whisper, becoming flustered. "I'm sorry! I'll keep quiet!"

"Whoa, relax," Alu whispered calmly, "it's not that big of a deal. I just had a question to ask you."

Upon hearing that, Aries looked up at Alu with curiosity.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry if this is rude, but I would think you'd summon Capricorn for something like this," she replied tentatively.

"Yeah," Alu shrugged, "but it's been a while since I've summoned you. Besides, I think you could help me on a question like this. I'm sure Capricorn would understand."

Alu then looked bitterly down at the floor and grumbled, "Not to mention, summoning Capricorn takes a lot of my Celestial Magic. And I exhausted a lot of it on Gemini today."

"I see." Aries nodded. "Well, what is it you wanted to ask me?"

Alu looked Aries straight in the face.

"Do you know a Zodiac Spirit by the name of Aquarius?" she asked.

The moment Alu said that name, Aries jerked in surprise. She then stared at the young human girl with wide eyes.

"Um…" she hesitated. "I'm sorry, but did you say…Aquarius?"

"Yeah." Alu nodded slowly. "I overheard my mom mentioned something about Aquarius and a broken key earlier. I remember Mom told me about how she had to break Aquarius's Key to summon the Celestial Spirit King during the time Tartaros invaded, but she and Dad have talked about finding her key a few times. From what I can remember, Mom said that it was possible for Celestial Keys to be remade and appear somewhere else in the world."

"Huh?" Aries blinked, confused. "I'm sorry, but what are you talking about?"

Alu stopped and stared at Aries. Something in the Golden Ram's face gave Alu a bad feeling.

"Don't Celestial Keys get reborn if they've been destroyed?" Alu asked carefully.

Aries slowly shook her head, "I'm sorry, but who told her that?"

"You gotta be kidding me." Alu said, stunned. "Aquarius said to my mom that her key had been remade in another part of the world. You're telling me she lied to her?"

Aries stared at Alu with an uncomfortable expression. While she was trying to think of what to say next, Alu took the silence as proof of her assumption. An angry expression quickly came over her face and she began to shake with fury and her hands curled up into tight fists.

"Why that lousy, no good Spirit!" she raged in the quietest voice possible. "Lying to my mom like that! I know she said she hated my mom, but that's just low! If I ever see her I'm gonna knock her flat!"

Aries quickly saw her friend's anger increasing and became afraid. Alu was already beginning to have an aura of pale flames swirling around her. Aries had seen what happened when Alu got enraged. Needless to say, it was never a pretty sight. Not to mention, Alu can get really scary when she's mad.

Aries had to say something quick to calm her friend down, and fast.

"Alu, Aquarius isn't a liar!" the Golden Ram Spirit said quickly.

Alu paused, causing her flames to disappear. She looked back up at Aries with a confused expression that still had traces of her fury left in it.

Aries swallowed hard. Alu wasn't completely calm, but she was at least at a point where she would listen to some reason.

"I know that Aquarius and Lucy never saw eye-to-eye on a lot of things," Aries said timidly, "but Aquarius would never lie to her. None of the Spirits would ever lie to their key holders. I'm she had her reasons for saying that her key would appear again. You know, just giving your mother a sliver of hope that they would meet in the future."

Alu narrowed her eyes suspiciously. That explanation kind of made sense, but it still ticked her off that Aquarius would give Lucy hope in the form of a half-truth. Especially since Lucy clearly took the statement of the Water Bearer's Key being reborn literarily. Now the thing just seemed like a wild goose-chase to Alu.

But if Aquarius said her key would be reborn, then just what did she mean be that? What was another way an object could be "reborn"?

Alu brought her hand up to her chin and thought for a second. A key being reborn. What else could that mean?

Suddenly, a hunch came into Alu's head.

"Hey, Aries," Alu said, "I've got one more question for you. If Celestial Keys can't be reborn on their own, is it possible for them to be repaired?"

Aries gasped in shock at that question. That really caught her off guard.

"W-Well, I don't know!" the Spirit stuttered, her voice rising just a bit. "I guess it's possible, but I'm not really sure! I'm sorry! I just don't know how to answer that-!"

"Whoa, easy, Aries," Alu interrupted, trying to sound as soothing as she could, "I didn't mean to startle you with that. It's just that since I thought since Celestial Keys had to come from somewhere, it could be possible for broken ones to be re-forged, right?"

Aries thought for a moment before saying, "Yeah, I guess so. But I honestly can't answer that for you."

"Well, do you know of someone who could?" Alu asked.

Aries lowered her gaze and bit her lips. That was a sure sign for Alu that her Celestial Spirit friend did know of someone who could answer her question. Aries just wasn't sure if she should say it.

Finally, Aries gave a small nod and looked back up Alu.

"It would be the Celestial Spirit King." Aries answered.

"Of course." Alu said, snapping her fingers. "Why didn't I think of that before? Aries, can you take me to the Celestial World so I can ask him about it?"

"What?!" Aries shrieked loudly.

Alu jumped at that and leapt forward quickly to cup her hand over Aries mouth.

"Shh!" the girl shushed.

Alu listened intently for a moment for any sound that would tell her that one or both of her parents had woken up. She was really hoping that they didn't hear Aries. She really didn't want to be caught right now, not when she was on to something very important. And considering the trouble she already in with her parents, she wouldn't put it past her mother to take away her Celestial Keys as punishment. And that would ruin everything.

Luckily, much to Alu's relief, there was no disturbance. She let out a long-sustained breath of air and took her hand away from Aries's mouth.

"Sorry about that," she whispered, "but could you try to shriek a little quieter next time?"

"Of course, I'm sorry!" Aries replied in a hushed voice. "It's just that…well…you know that a human entering the Spirit World is a breach of contract."

"But this rule can be lifted under certain circumstances, right?" Alu pointed out. "Mom and Dad have told me of all the times they have been to the Celestial World before. I just want to ask the Celestial King if he knows anything about repairing Celestial Keys. Surely, he would let me in for that."

Aries gave a small moan of uncertainty and twiddled her fingers. She was already uncomfortable with Alu firing off so many question in a row like a Magic machine gun. And she wasn't really sure about the wizard's request either. Aries had never requested an audience with the Celestial Spirit King before, let alone brought a human into the Celestial World. Although it wasn't considered a deplorable act, she could still be seriously punished for it.

Still, that look in Alu's eyes was enough to tell the Golden Ram Spirit that her key holder was eager to find out the truth. And if there was one thing Aries knew about Alu, it was that once she got an idea in her head, there was no stopping her.

"Well," Aries said at last, "I guess I could ask the Celestial Spirit King if he would have an audience with you. I don't want to break any rules or anything, but I guess there would be know harm in asking. Would that be okay?"

"Yeah, that'd be fine." Alu replied. "But could please be quick. I really need to know."

It was then that a deep, commanding voice resounded in both Aries and Alu's heads.

"Aries,"

Both Aries and Alu jumped and gasped in shock. They looked at each other with wide, startled eyes. Aries quickly recognized the voice and began to shiver.

"C-Celestial Spirit King?!" the Golden Ram Spirit squeaked, her voice spiking with fear.

"Do not be afraid," the voice said. "Your key holder wishes to know if about repairing Celestial Keys, does she not?"

"Y-Yes, sir." Alu answered, trying to get over the fact that she was freaked out about hearing a voice in her head. "I was hoping you could tell me about that. I know humans entering the Spirit World is against contract, but could you make an exception this time? I really need to know. If you know anything about re-forging Celestial Keys, then please you tell me."

There was a long silence. This made Alu nervous. Was the Celestial Spirit King going to reject her request? If so, then what would she do?

"Very well then, young one," the Celestial Spirit King replied, his voice sounding kind. "I grant you passage to the Celestial World. I promise that I will answer your question. Aries, please bring her back with you."

"Oh, yes sir." Aries answered with an obedient nod. "Right away."

Both Alu and Aries waited for a moment to hear if the Celestial Spirit King had anything else to say to them. When he didn't respond, they both looked at each other and nodded.

"Well, we better get going." Aries said.

"Right." Alu replied with determination.

Aries then reached out a hand towards Alu. With a small smirk, Alu took it without hesitation.

Then, in a small flash of gold light, both human and Spirit vanished from the room.