Sidenote: There used to be a General Announcement at this location and I just simply removed it. But that will also mean that the way it's outlined past the chapters I updated will probably be off. (Also while I haven't got this far yet I think Chapter 11 will be new and different, but that will partially fix up the way it lines up a bit also.)
***I can't figure out how to change the name of the chapter title. I can replace it but I can't seem to rename it. So I guess unless I can figure how to fix that ignore that it says General Announcement instead of Chapter 8 and until I get to new content just go with what chapter it's indicating below the updated marks.
Chapter 8
As the light of the sun barely caressed the glass of her bedside windowpane Lucy stirred. An overwhelming heat curving around her body that made her huff and shift away from the discomfort it was causing her. Her eyes felt itchy but her arms seemed to be heavy and trapped beneath her quilt so instead of rubbing them she attempted to blink herself awake. Immediately in the line of her vision she saw a full head of salmon hair attached to a snoozing, drooling, heat conducting dragon slayer. She groaned in annoyance and considered 'Lucy kicking' him out of bed. It was because she had other plans that she decided against it.
It took her several minutes to dislodge Natsu's heavy arm from around her waist. Then a few more to disentangle the quilt from how it had twisted and wrapped around her body. Once she was done with that she ended up having to remove Natsu's appendages as he had somehow once again managed to wrap himself around her. She rolled herself away and literally crawled out of bed. Yukino slept on a stow-a-way mattress not far away so she had to be extra cautious not to land on her unintentionally. She quickly grabbed an outfit for the day and went to the bathroom to get dressed and start her morning routine.
Natsu grumbled in annoyance when the mattress had shifted underneath him, and he was no longer surrounded by the vanilla and strawberry scent that he associated with his partner. He blinked his eyes partially open when his ears twitched at the sound of her shuffling in the living room. When he heard the thud of the large door to her apartment shutting behind her he found himself wide awake. He quickly jumped to the window to trail her progress with his eyes. Once she was no longer in his line of sight he grabbed his sandals, opened the window, and jumped down to the street below.
It seems odd that Lucy would wake up this early. The sun is barely creeping above the horizon. This thought fed his curiosity which is what had him tracking her. He followed her scent through a small forest on the outskirts of town. The path she was taking opened up and led to a small clearing. He found her there with her eyes shut sitting on a patch of dewy plush grass. He watched as she took deep cleansing breaths. He really didn't understand what she was doing but something told him not to interrupt her. It nudged the back of his mind that she must have been preparing to talk to the sun spirit she mentioned.
"That's it Lucy. Just keep channeling the rays of the sun and listening to my voice. This will attune yourself to my magic." The sun spirit encouraged the young girl.
The warmth of the magic tickled lightly against her skin as she absorbed the rays of the sun. It passed through her and gently began to seep through her veins taking root at her core center of gravity. Once she felt as if she were full of the magic Solairia stopped her from channeling more.
"Lucy, while you have access to your Second Origin this magic is new to you, and at this point you only have the ability to absorb enough in the well of your First Origin. You will eventually be able to build that up as time progresses. Please do not expect this to happen overnight however."
Lucy opened her eyes and smiled at Solairia. "I understand."
"Now, I am going to touch your temples and teach you how to call upon my powers along with a new spell." Lucy's muscles locked up momentarily as the memory of how Hibiki taught her Urano Metria came to the forefront of her mind. Solairia soothed her by touching her shoulder. "Relax, this will not hurt. If you remain rigid you won't be able to absorb the information of the spell."
Lucy nodded and relaxed as the information was passed to her.
oOo
Natsu was really getting tired of waiting. Lucy had been doing the strange sleeping-while-sitting thing for almost an hour now. It was boring to watch but he also didn't want to leave her. In this state she was vulnerable, and he feared leaving her alone while she was unaware of what was going on around her.
Lucy's chocolate eyes blinked open as if Natsu's thoughts had pulled her out of her meditative state. He ran over to her side and was about to ask her what she was doing. The words that formed from his mouth, however, were kind of different than the ones he intended. "Lucy are you crazy?! You shouldn't have come out here all alone to do that," he wasn't sure what to call it so his hand did this weird motion of indication, "stuff. You could have been attacked while your eyes were shut!"
Lucy's temper flared, and she Lucy kicked him across the clearing where his back collided hard with a tree trunk. His body crumpled to the ground for a moment before he picked himself back up. "I am not incapable! I can take care of myself!" Her insecurities were brought towards the surface and she felt tears prickle in her eyes.
Natsu shook his head. He took a moment to realize what he said and chalked up his reasoning for being so callous, because he had been a bit dazed by the blow. "Er, sorry, Luce. I didn't mean to say it like that. I don't know I guess I was just worried is all."
Lucy sighed and shook her head. "It's okay. You do have a point. Next time I will remember not to meditate alone." She half smiled at him. She was itching to try out the new spell she learned. "Can I show you something?"
"What's that?"
"Stay here." She backed up about three feet. Then she closed her eyes to calm her mind. "Solairia, while you shine down from the bright sky above I ask to be charged with your powers. Light me up from within." She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
Natsu visibly gulped at the sight before him. Lucy was gorgeous before but now she looked nearly angelic as a soft flickering glow began to dance all over her body. "That's really neat, Luce!"
"That's not all." Lucy mentally conjured up the spell visualizing the shape of it before a fireball formed in the palm of her hand. Once it solidified into the proper shape she thrust it forward launching it away from her body. The sphere grew in size as it traveled and impacted one of the trees close to the same one Natsu struck earlier. "Oh crap! I didn't think that part through." Lucy visually cringed in worry over her actions
"No worries, Luce. I got it." Natsu drew in a breath while simultaneously consuming the fire before it did too much damage. He burped loudly. "Now there's a fire in my belly!" Then he paused for a second. "Whoa! That fire you conjured was delicious!"
Lucy took a breath to release the magic channeling through her. Then smiled widely at Natsu. She proceeded to flail left and right in what Natsu could only interpret as some kind of celebratory dance.
This went on for a few minutes until Lucy became winded. "That was fun but now we got to go meet up with everybody at the guild."
oOo
A pair of shadows shifted away from the trees as Lucy and Natsu left the clearing. "You imbecile! I told you that charm wouldn't work! You should have never purchased that from that two bit merchant!" She pushed the larger male away from her.
"It's not like it didn't work! For a minute there I thought they were going to tear each other's throats out. But...I don't know what happened. It's like the spell shattered and was no longer effective."
The woman sighed and seductively curled her body around the male's. "I'm sorry, baby, I shouldn't have called you an imbecile. It's just that I really wanted to teach that snob, Lucy Heartfilia, a lesson. I guess you got some of the backlash, Samson."
He shrugged out of her embrace. "It's fine. We will just have to think of something different is all."
"Perhaps the charm isn't the problem. Maybe it's the target."
The man called Samson seemed to consider this for a second before he looked down at the female beside him and started shaking in fear. "Uh, Lacey, um...your hair is smoking."
Lacey's eyes went wide and she reached up where the heat was centralized. "That bitch singed my hair! Lucy Heartfilia, that charm may not have worked but I will take you down another way. Just wait and see."
oOo
A few hours later Lucy, Yukino, Natsu, and Hibiki all found their way back to the guild. A rapid blue blur bulleted across the room and landed directly into Lucy's ample bosom. "I've been waiting here for hours. What took you guys so long?" The group conversed for awhile but once the Master stuck his head out of his office the two celestial mages ended up excusing themselves.
The two keyholders relayed all the important tidbits that they had learned at the symposium. Not surprisingly he was in complete agreement and wholly supported their conviction to go after the platinum keys.
Only moments later Master Makarov then decided it would be prudent to announce a brief skeleton of the plan Lucy and Yukino were making for their newest adventure to all the members of Fairy Tail. After his announcement it didn't take long for the entirety of the guild to start brainstorming their next course of action.
"So, I guess the first thing we should do is start researching the gods and possible locations." Yukino thought aloud.
Levy nodded. "That's a good idea. Where's that book Syneviar gave you?" She asked Lucy.
Lucy pulled the small book out of her handbag. "I don't know how much information we will find from a book this size."
Levy turned the page. "The Keys of the Four Celestial Gods, well at least the title is promising." A bright light shined for a moment when she turned the page again. "Now, I can grab my gale force reading glasses and simply read this from cover to cover. But I can just as easily focus on a specific point first. Then we can build on more information later."
"I say we go look for the dragon first!" Natsu exclaimed.
Lucy smirked at this announcement.
"You would, Flame Breath."
"That's it Frost Britches let's go!" The two mages got in their everyday normal scuffle while everyone else circled around to learn more about the platinum keys. Even Erza was intrigued to know more rather than deal with the two ruffians at that moment.
Lucy thought for a second. "I say we start with looking up information about the God, Genbu, first. Syneviar mentioned he was believed to be to the north in Iceberg. Since it's late spring now by the time we get there it should be the warmest it can be in that area."
"It says here that the Great Black Turtle god named Genbu is the guardian of the north. There's an illustration here of a giant black turtle with strange tentacles protruding from somewhere underneath its shell." She showed Lucy and Yukino the illustration before turning back to the book. "The last time Genbu was seen on Earthland was several centuries ago. It is believed that he locked himself away behind a glacier he made with his own magic."
"Is there any exact mention of where in Iceberg?" Yukino asked.
Levy looked back at the book. "After the disappearance of Genbu a tribe constructed a shrine in dedication to the God. It doesn't seem to say anything else though."
Hibiki jumped up from the bench he was perched on and accessed the panel of his Archive magic. "I'm going to do a search on Genbu and shrine see if that pops up any information for us. It will take a few minutes so relax and hold on tight."
Cana snorted from where she was situated on her corner bar stool. "All this boring research stuff is driving me to drink."
The consensus of the guild turned to her as a single unit with cocked eyebrows of disbelief. It was like they were all seeming to say. What doesn't drive you drink?
"So, who all are we taking with us on this adventure?" Erza, who had been absorbing the news quietly asked.
"Oh, goodness, I couldn't ask you all to sacrifice your time like that. It would probably take weeks to even get to Iceberg in the first place. I wouldn't want you all to miss out on job opportunities between now and then." Lucy appreciated the offer but she couldn't ask this of her friends.
"So, then don't miss out on the job opportunities. I am sure I remember some jobs on the way toward that area you could take. I say grab those together and decide which ones work for you." Mirajane suggested.
"Okay, there is village just south of a large turtle shrine called Gwaineira. What a mouthful! I'm not even sure I pronounced that right. I know it's not much to go on but..." Hibiki trailed off with hope in his eyes.
"But it's a start." Lucy finished for him.