A/N: Hello! I have a new chapter up, Yay! Congrats to LucyXHeartfiliaXFan for guessing right on the newest keys. It made me happy that I was kind of obvious on that. But I hope that you like how I have made them. Please let me know how it is, and thanks for reading so far!

Chapter Nineteen: Fur and Heads

Without waiting for them to say anything more, Lucy jumped forward, got into stance, and said in a clear voice "I am the person who connects the path to the stellar spirit world. Thou shall respond to the calling and pass through the gate. Open the gate of the wolf, Lupus!"

When the sparkles of celestial magic went away a large black dire wolf with yellow eyes stood before her looking absolutely majestic. He was large, but also toned so that he looked as if he could be very agile. He also seemed to be shifting in and out of the shadows around him, especially near his feet. And to emphasize how big he was, one of his paws looked to be about the size of a plate while he stood so that he was almost eye to eye with Lucy.

Laxus saw it and almost had the urge to attack if it wasn't for the fact that Lucy had just summoned it in front of him. He really didn't like the power that was coming off of the spirit, and he felt a little apprehensive around it. After all, from the look of the few fangs that Laxus could see, each seemed to be about the size of his ring finger and as sharp as one of Erza's swords.

Mira too was having difficulty convincing herself of the safety in dealing with such a creature. She decided to take a false relaxed stance so that if it posed any threat she could quickly turn into her demon form and grab Lucy as Laxus got rid of the thing. When she looked at him, she couldn't even get him to look away long enough to see if he would agree with her plan. No, he seemed to be trusting that it was spirit and so it fell under Lucy's responsibility. So Mira tried her hardest to not take things at face value and tried to relax a bit more. It would do Lucy no good if she spooked the beast.

Lucy, however, was completely at ease with the large and intimidating spirit. After all, it was on her magic that he was summoned so if anything went wrong she could force close the gate. Not that she would. Lucy also knew that spirits didn't like to fight all the time and when they are summoned for the forming of a contract, they are peaceful. They simply show their powers in order to show the mage what they were capable of. So the first time they were usually flashier then they were normally.

With a smile she said "Hello Lupus, my name is Lucy Heartfilia and I was wondering if you wanted to make a contract with me?"

The wolf seemed to look her over for a moment before he dipped his head and answered "I find that it would be acceptable, master."

"Please, don't call me master, anything but that. I would like to think of you as a friend, and for you to think of me the same way." Lucy said immediately.

It sort of annoyed her when the spirits talked to her as if she was better than them when she knew that she was nothing without their contracts. Besides, they were her friends and not tools. She just barely allowed them to call her princess because Virgo wouldn't call her by her name and Loke had taken it up as a term of endearment. Even then she preferred them to use her real name. Most of her spirits from before Virgo had just called her Miss. Lucy, and she was fine with that.

Lupus bowed his head in understanding before he said "I will take that under consideration. I am a stealth export that is mostly used for fighting. I am very good in a fight and I can manipulate shadows to an extent, even allowing us to blend in with the shadows. We do not become a part of them, but are allowed sanctuary and cover inside of them." He said. His voice was almost as rich as Draco's, only his vice seemed more bestial and harsh.

"Alright and when am I able to call you?" Lucy asked, her cheerful smile never wavering for a second.

"I will be available any time except on the longest day of the year." He answered with another bow as he left with a shimmer of silver sparkles.

Lucy nodded as she took out her note pad and marked that she would not be able to call him out on the Summer Solstice of each year. Lucy nodded when she was done and made a silent remark within her mind over how interesting it was that most of her new spirits did not give her many restrictions on when she could call them out. It was really nice of them, but she was slightly worried that it was going to lead to something more meaningful later. A thought that was slightly unnerving.

Lucy also knew that she was collecting a set of sorts, though she hadn't a clue what the set would be called or how many keys were in it. The only thing she did know was that they were almost on par with the golden zodiac keys and that they had been hidden for some time waiting to be contracted.

"What the hell was that?" Laxus asked gruffly once the wolf was gone. Lucy couldn't hear any worry in his voice, but when she looked at him she could almost see it in his eyes. It was almost funny to the Celestial Spirit mage. At the very least it made her aware that he wasn't comfortable with Lupus yet. That was a fact that she felt she needed to rectify before something bad happened because of it.

"That, as you so eloquently put it, was my newest spirit; Lupus the wolf. And if I ever call him out again, you will be nice to him. For all you know he might save your life one of these days." Lucy said with her nose up in the air.

Mira smiled at that and decided that it would be alright to lower her guard around the new spirits that Lucy was summoning. So she said "I can't wait to see him in action. I bet you will have no trouble with anyone messing with you when he comes out! It will be a lot like the snake you have, I think!"

Then, before Laxus could cut in with anything else, she thrust the next key forward and called out "I am the person who connects the paths to the stellar spirit world. Thou shall respond to my calling and pass through the gate. Open the gate of the water serpent, Hydra!"

In a shower of light and a sky like magic circle, a very large spirit came through. It was perhaps one and a half times the height of Pegasus, and scaled in green and blue. Four thick lizard-like legs held up the impressive mass that served as the body. Looking up to face the creature, Lucy found that he had nine heads in total that reached up into the sky from atop the serpentine necks that sprouted from its shoulders. Behind his mass stretched out a tail that was now curling around his legs due to the dragonesque creature being at ease with the situation that presented itself. From each head dragon-like fangs protruded from the mouth as obsidian eyes gazed down at her, calculating and expectantly.

"Hi, I am Lucy Heartfilia, and I would like to make a contract with you!" The golden haired Celestial Spirit mage said with as much enthusiasm as she had used a moment prior with Lupus.

All eighteen of the obsidian eyes looked at her, as if looking into her very soul. After several moments of scrutinization, all the heads dipped slightly as he said within her head "That is acceptable." Of course as he said that Lucy could tell that it was actually Columba who was taking the liberty to transmit what he wanted to say into her head. Lucy smiled slightly at that thought. It was great that they were always so attentive when it came to her needs and wants. That was one of the many things she loved about them.

Nodding her own head, Lucy said "So when are you available to be summoned and what are your powers?" Her head tilted to the side as she scanned the impressive spirit with just as much detail as she felt he had used previously.

Mira and Laxus both looked slightly confused from behind their fellow guild member. They had seen the nod, but they were unsure about what the serpentine heads had meant by it. It they were appraising or accepting. From the way that Lucy lit up, both would have assumed that the thing had said something, but there was nothing that they could hear from the being that was before them. They also didn't like it that she was acting as if they both were not right there.

Mira was alright with it seeing as she understood these things were very important and usually done in privet, but Laxus had his male arrogance to contend with and he really did not like to be ignored by anyone, especially when he had been forced off of a train in order to be there. The least she could do in his mind would be to answer their questions out right instead of just doing as she pleased. He still stood by the declaration that he had made earlier: he was not her babysitter!

"I am available any time that you have need of me with the exception of the first day of every month. I am able to spit acid at my enemies; also, I am highly effective during battle with swordsmen. You see, not only are my scales near impenetrable, but if one of my heads were to be severed two more will grow in its place. I am also much faster than I would appear to be." The spirit once again said inside of Lucy's head.

"Thank you so much, I look forward to working with you in the future!" Lucy said as she respectfully dismissed her newest spirit before making a couple of notes in her book. She then turned to her two chaperones and said with her normal joyful smile "Okay, I'm good now. We can leave."

With a low growl at not liking being ordered around, as well as the fact that he had no idea how it was that the blond and the hydra had been speaking, Laxus turned on his heel and began to stalk away. Mira and Lucy simply traded smiles and followed him, Lucy feeling slightly bad now due to the fact that the two had been forced to follow her this far away from the others as they were still on their way home. She didn't mean to.

"Oh, would you look at that? Big brother is bruiting because his little sister is bossing him around. Isn't it just adorable?" Mira asked with complete seriousness and hearts in her eyes.

Lucy paled as she looked at the takeover mage while Draco rolled his eyes and Laxus decided that any reaction from him was not worth his time. It was now clear that it was going to stick, and he had no intention of getting into a petty argument in the middle of nowhere over it. Besides, once they were back at the guild they could set it all straight.

Nervously, Lucy looked to Mira and then said "So, Mira, who is your newest Fairy Tail couple?" The Celestial Spirit mage knew that this was the only subject that would keep the older girl talking for hours, and she was rather curious to hear who the poor souls were who were about to get matched up by her. It was also a great topic that Lucy knew would annoy the already walking on pins dragon slayer who was leading them.

"You know, there are a few. Levy and Gajeel are still both in denial, but I'll get them there. Thanks to you I'm thinking that Lisanna and Bixlow would be perfect for each other. And of course the densest couple of them all are you and Natsu." She replied with ease.

Not wanting to talk about her woefully nonexistent love life, Lucy asked "What about Evergreen and Elfman? Oh, and I've seen some of the looks that you and Freed have been sharing, there is obviously something there too." Lucy then shot the renowned matchmaker a devious smirk as the white haired beauty blushed a little.

"Would you two leave my team out of this? If they get involved with people then they get involved with people. Just stop gossiping about them and leave their personal lives to be personal!" Laxus called over his shoulder.

Both girls giggled at this, and then Lucy called out to him in a teasing manner "But big brother, we are also talking about Mira's family! Isn't it nice that your teem is gunna end up as siblings in law if they all go through with the couples that Mira and I have been talking about?"

Laxus then growled something unintelligible that caused the dragon spirit to chuckle. Mira and Lucy then went back to gossiping about the guild and somehow they both ended up staring at the broad shoulders of Laxus thinking the exact same thing. They wondered if there was a girl in the guild that would be perfect for Laxus. The only problem was that anyone they brought up was already taken in a way.

It didn't take long for the silence to wash over the dragon slayer, and it took even less time for him to notice that he had two pairs of eyes boring into his back. What he didn't know was that he was now walking the plank with the two girls behind him judging and analyzing every move that he was making. One wrong move and they were going to throw him overboard and into the ocean of single ladies just to see what would happen.

Finally it got on his nerves and he asked in his annoyed voice "What are you two doing now?"

Mira was the one who spoke up first. "So, Laxus, are there any girls around that have caught your eye lately? Or even a guy?"

Lucy laughed as Laxus all but face planted in surprise by the question that the demon and just asked him. That of course caused the little dragon to move once again to Lucy's shoulder to avoid being thrown off. He spun to face them with his mouth still gaping like a fish as he sputtered "NO, absolutely not!" in a louder than normal voice.

Lucy then pouted and said "Aw, come on, there has to be someone around that you like, or will we have to bully it out of you? My big brother needs to be happy!" The declaration was met with puppy eyes that tried their best to penetrate straight into Laxus's soul.

"Cana might have worked, but she is taken for the time being. So are most of the girls in the guild actually then again, we might have to look into Mermaid Heel for him; they have plenty of pretty girls. Or maybe even Blue Pegasus!" Mira began to prattle on about where exactly they were going to find a woman who would be perfect for Laxus.

But the big bad lightning dragon slayer was not going to have any of that. Forcing them both to stop talking with a rather intimidating glare he said "First off, I do not have a girl right now, second, don't you dare try and set me up; I'm not looking for one at the moment, third, I am not your brother, and finally, we will be in the town in half an hour. I swear that if you so much as talk about this subject while we are there I will fry you both to a crisp with my lightning!"

The girls got the hint and smiled between themselves as Laxus started to walk away with a purpose. They both fought to stop their giggles. It only served to make them worse, and Laxus was just about fuming as they got closer to their destination and found a road that they decided to follow.

None of the three felt the two pairs of eyes that followed them. One pair glowed green while the other shown a soft brown similar to the Celestial Mage that they currently tracked.

A/N: And now we are heading into the next big hurtle that Lucy has to overcome! And this one might be even more trickier. The plot is thickening and the next chapter is going to be called Nat Magic Allowed! Thank you all for reading this and please let me know how I am doing. It helps a lot to know just who is reading! Until next time!