A/N Hello everyone! I am now setting things up for a nice fight in the future and I am starting to show the back story, muahahaha! Now that I am done being evil, *cough cough* I shall go in with the story. Please enjoy and read and review. Also, something very important is in the bottom note and I think that everyone needs to read it! Thank you to all that have reviewed, and enjoy.
Chapter six: Surprises
The next morning, Lucy woke up to find her apartment full of people. Well, not full, but her team had broken in again. Natsu had even gotten under the blankets with her on the bed. It was probably a good thing that Draco left for the spirit world right after he saw Lucy fall into REM stage sleep. Though the Celestial Spirit mage had felt loved the night before when she came into the guild and everyone welcomed her back, she was not especially happy to wake up to the sound of someone destroying something at five in the morning!
Giving Natsu her famous 'Lucy Kick' and ignoring his various complaints, she went out to the other rooms to see that Erza and Gray were messing up her kitchen, again! Already they had gotten most of her pans lying on the floor instead of in the cabinets as she had placed them earlier.
"What are you guys doing in my house?" Lucy demanded as she attempted to but a leash on her temper. It really wasn't working.
"We wanted to see you and walk you to the guild this morning!" Natsu announced in his happy way. A huge toothy grin stretched across his face as he addressed his partner. He was, as usual, completely clueless about the atmosphere in the room and oblivious to the fact that the blond haired mage would have preferred it if she had gotten to sleep in.
Taking what Lucy hoped was a deep calming breath, Lucy said "I don't care; I want you all out right now! I will meet you at the guild, but until then I want you all out of my house." When no one moved she then resorted to sternly shouting "NOW!"
Seeing the golden glow around her that was caused by her temper, Erza and Gray thought that it would be wise to leave her be. They both took hold of Natsu and dragged him out, but only after the pink haired dragon slayer had forced Lucy to promise to hurry up and get to the guild as soon as she was done.
"Man she was grumpy," Gray said as he rubbed the back of his head. He was oblivious that the itch was caused by a certain water mage who happened to have stalkerish tendencies. Unfortunately, he had also left his shirt in the middle of Lucy's couch, not that he had realized that yet anyway, giving the rain woman even more to fantasize about.
"We are acting a little clingy," Erza noted with her head down, "I mean, for her it was only a day. That really isn't long enough to miss someone."
"But we always break into her house!" Natsu argued.
Erza nodded her head "Yes that is true. And I know that she doesn't mind that. She might yell a little, but she always lets us stay. That is a sign that she doesn't mind if we break in on a daily basis." She said it as if it was common knowledge, not really knowing that it was just the blond's way of giving up because she knew that they would always break in whether she wanted them to or not.
"Not to mention she usually only yells at Natsu. Only sometimes will she yell at me when I accidentally strip." Gray thought out loud.
"Ice Pants, what are you saying? Are you saying that Luce like you better than me?" Natsu demanded as he lit his fist on fire.
Gray had incased his own fist in a layer of ice as he retorted "No shit that's what I'm saying Ash Brains!"
The three mages barely noticed that they had already walked into the guild and already they were starting a fight. Erza picked up on what was around her faster than the boys and was already on her first slice of strawberry cake for the day.
As they continued to fight, Lucy finally made it in. And once she was within the doors, she flung the shirt that Gray had misplaced in her apartment with most of his clothes that were now thrown haphazardly around the room. She was grateful that Natsu was fighting seeing as Draco had accompanied her to the guild and was now resting around her shoulders. She didn't want to be bombarded with questions the moment that she walked into the room.
But, upon her arrival, the other three Dragon Slayers in the guild had all seen and smelled the new spirit. And they all wanted to know what was going on with it. Wendy had seen the little thing and thought that it was adorable. Gajeel wanted to know if it knew where Metalicana was. And then Laxus was heading over because he wanted to know if that was really what all dragons looked like, or if Blondie had gotten herself a fake chibi dragon from somewhere.
"Bunny Girl, what the hell is that?" Gajeel grunted when he got to where Lucy had parked herself at the bar. Mira had also snuck in closer to hear what was going to be said, and to deliver the note that Yukino had left for Lucy.
"This is Draco; he is one of my newest spirits. As you can tell, he is the celestial dragon." Lucy said with pride.
"Greetings," the dragon said in his rumbling voice, he then looked at the two first generation dragon slayers and added, "son of Metalicana, daughter of Grandine."
Wendy finally found her voice, "Um, ex-excuse me, but d-do you know my mother?" She asked shyly with hope brimming in her innocent eyes. She wanted desperately to know how the sky dragon was doing. Any information at all would have been good enough or her.
"Yes, I knew your parents. But that was quite some time ago. It has been nearly a thousand years since I last had the option of coming here to Earthland. I had long lost contact with most of the dragons." His voice seemed to echo. The four had not realized that the entire guild had stopped what they were doing to listen to the dragon spirit.
"So you are a dragon?" Natsu clarified as he walked up to the group.
Draco rolled his eyes as he answered "Yes, son of Igneel, I am a real dragon. I remember teaching your father magic, he was a great pupil. All three of your parents were."
That caused some gasps, even from Lucy, she had only just gotten Draco, and so she didn't know a whole lot about him yet. It wasn't like Virgo or Loke that she had gotten to know. With Draco and Phoenix, everything was new.
Finally Laxus has enough of being in the back ground and asked "Why are you tiny? I mean, we have fought dragons in the past, and they were much bigger."
"Laxus," Lucy whined as she attempted to swat at him. His comment had made her angry because she was very protective over her spirits an he was not showing Draco the respect that he deserved. "Draco had three forms. This is the smallest one." She explained.
"Oh, cool! Can you show us his other forms?" Natsu jumped out of his seat in excitement.
"No!" Lucy answered in a stern voice.
"Aw, why not? You know that I've wanted to fight with a real dragon! It's just mean to have one and not let me fight it!" Natsu accused in his childish voice. He seemed really discouraged because he thought that Lucy was just holding out on him for some reason.
Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed before saying "Natsu, I can only summon his real dragon form twice a month and his dragon slayer form once a month. I don't want to waste it in case we might find that we need a dragon for whatever reason."
The dense idiot did not understand, but that was expected. As he continued to pout, Mira noticed that Draco had been looking at her for quite some time. Well, not at her, but at the package that the Take Over mage had been meaning to give to Lucy. Just seeing that told the bar tender that Draco was highly intelligent and sensitive to anything that involved his master.
"Lucy, Yukino left this note for you before she and Orga had to go back." Mirajane said with her customary smile.
Lucy took the envelope and gasped when she felt three keys fall into her hand. "Oh, no she did not!" Lucy mumbled as she read over the letter. A tear dripped past her guard at the sacrifice and gift of friendship that Yukino had just given her.
Draco had known what they were all along. As with most celestial spirits, h could feel the presence of the keys before he actually saw them. He had known that the keys were there and without a contract. He could even sense that they all were waiting rather impatiently for Lucy to summon them so that they could form a new contract.
"Lucy, what is wrong?" Erza asked as she glared her way into the circle around the blond mage.
"Yukino terminated her contracts and gave me the rest of the zodiac plus the thirteenth key! I knew that she wanted me to have them, but I had never thought that she would do something like this before." She was willing to just have the ten, but Yukino had made this sacrifice, and from the note, there was no way for her to form the contracts again. The full zodiac set was now Lucy's.
And of course the younger mage had taken what Lucy had to say seriously. Lucy remembered saying that as long as they were still in a contract, she would not take them, and so Yukino had terminated the contracts in order to give them to Lucy and reunite all twelve, or thirteen, zodiacs. It almost reminded Lucy of a fairy tale for some reason. It was a dream come true in a way.
Of course, in celebration of Lucy collecting all of the golden keys, the guild was served another round of ale to most of the patrons. There was also a giant brawl. No one really noticed when Lucy took Draco and the keys out to the back of the guild so that she was facing the ocean. Lucy felt as if she should meet her new keys as soon as possible. She also wanted to make sure that they would not call her master. It was something that was important to Lucy, even if the others didn't understand why she did things differently.
Never again did Lucy ever want to see one of her friends used as a tool for some higher gain. She never wanted to see any of her spirits used as shields. Lucy, herself, always felt so guilty when they got so injured that they were forced back to the spirit world. She felt like it was her fault for not being strong enough on cases like that.
Of course the three were eager to form the contract. They had also been talking with the spirit king ever since Yukino decided to give their keys to Lucy. They knew how important it was to make sure that the girl was prepared for what was going to happen. But they also were going to let Leo and Capricorn take care of training her. They all knew that out of all her spirits, those were the two that were best suited for the task. Capricorn was an expert on building magic capacity, while the lion spirit could easily teach her how to fight in hand to hand situations.
Just when Lucy was about to go back into the party, Loke came out of his own gate to speak with her.
"Lucy, my love, I have some wonderful news for you!" The lion spirit purred as he took her hand in his and kissed the knuckles.
Lucy was very confused on why he was acting so flirty, but she also decided that it wouldn't be wise to ask such questions. If anything, he would just spout on and on about his undying love for her. "What is it, Loke?" She asked with a hint of exasperation in her voice.
With his flirtatious smile intact, he said "Well, Princess, the King would like to congratulate you on collecting all of the golden keys, and we, your spirits, have decided to train you! Isn't that wonderful?"
Lucy thought that over for a bit. She had never really trained with all of her spirits, only Capricorn. It sounded like it would be a good thing to do. Not to mention that it would be nice to not just wing it during a fight. If Lucy could organize what worked and what did not, she knew that she would be able to be better in fights; it would save magic and energy during actual battle situations as well.
"Alright, that sounds like fun!" She voiced her opinion openly to her spirit.
"Great, and before I forget, I was also told to give you this. Having all of the golden keys opens many new doors. You may not be able to use these right away, but the Spirit King is confident that you can learn them. Capricorn will help you with them if you need it. But you should also read it. Though they may be legends of the celestial realm, they are lessons that must be learned." The lion spirit said with a seriousness that was almost unbecoming of him.
What the young spirit mage did not know, was that the leader of the zodiacs had just given a clue to figuring out why they were going to train with her. Written in the pages of the book held a secret so old that it was already forgotten in human memory; it had the dangers that the blond would have to face sooner rather than later.
With tears of gratitude in her chocolate eyes, Lucy said "Can you thank everyone in the spirit realm for me? This really does mean a lot to me."
"Of course, Princess," Loke said as he disappeared with a bow and a fancy flourish of his hand. It was clear that the spirit was just as cocky as ever.
Lucy looked at the leather bound book that was just given to her. It looked absolutely ancient. Covered in tanned leather and with some sort of golden calligraphy on the top, it had to have been one of the most beautiful books that Lucy had the pleasure to hold. And as Lucy looked at the text that was write on pages so thin that one could see through them, she could see it blur into a cipher every once in a while. Lucy suspected that only the holder of the thirteen golden keys could read it. After all, that was what Loke had told her the book was for.
"The lion was correct," Draco suddenly said from her shoulder. Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin. She had forgotten that the spirit was on her shoulders the entire time that she was out in the training grounds. "You should read the entirety of that book before you start your training. It will help you a lot more than you realize now."
Lucy wanted to ask the dragon what he meant. But, the pesky flying lizard poofed away before she could even try and ask him what he had meant by that. It was so frustrating to say the least. Lucy wished that spirits could just answer a question clearly.
Looking at the book she decided that she would just have to read it herself and find out what it was that they were trying to tell her. It looked as if the book was going to be interesting anyway, so Lucy decided that it really wasn't that big of a deal.
Going into the guild and ignoring the brawl that had chairs being thrown and punches flying, Lucy took a seat next to her favorite book worm and began to read the book that Loke had given her. Her chocolate eyes were wide in wonder as she read the first few pages. Soon, not even the noise of the guild was making it into her mind. Only the words that were on the page as they played out in her mind could hold her attention.
A/N Okay people, I have a very serious question. Who should I pair Lucy with? I want to add a little bit of romance in this, but I have absolutely no clue who to set her up with. So I have decided to ask all of your opinions. I know that I do not want it to be Gajeel or anyone who is not in the guild Fairy Tail, (so no Sting or Rogue) but that is all. If you have a suggestion on who, I would absolutely love it is you would review and tell me who. I will probably take all of the suggestions and start up a poll of sorts, probably just a vote through the reviews, to see who would work for this. And another warning is that it will be a slow romance that is not the center of the story. Thank you so much for reading!