I do not own Fairy Tail.

A new Lucy

Chapter Eight – The secret of Narcissus Palace

We found the second chamber and the second task not long after we began walking again. The second task was a huge chessboard; we had to win a game of chess to be able to pass. We were the white pieces and the black ones were played by the ghosts of people that had been here before and not succeeded in their tasks. Evergreen took control of the game and directed us to which piece went to what place, apparently she and Freed used to play together but since Freed wasn´t here, she was the best one for this particular task.

We did win the game but it was a close call a couple of times so it was with relief that we left the chamber behind us and continued down the tunnel.

The third chamber was only about a twenty minute walk away but when we reached it we stopped before entering. The room was completely empty and the opening of the tunnel on the other side was beckoning for us to come closer. The one thing that put us on edge was the skeletons that were still lying on the floor were their bodies had fallen.

Clearly the room wasn´t as harmless as it looked.

Laxus was the first one to step inside the room but despite a grimace on his face there was no indication that something was wrong. He made it to the other tunnel and shouted back at us.

"It hurts to move while you´re in the room but it´s manageable." He warned us and then Evergreen was the next one to go. She moved much slower than Laxus and I could see the strain on her body. She cried out in pain every now and then but she made it safely across. Bickslow gestured for me to go next and after a second of hesitation, I stepped into the room and started walking.

The pain was bad, it felt like every nerve-ending in my entire body were on fire but like Laxus had said, it was still manageable, at least for us, the people before us probably hadn´t felt the same. I simply closed my eyes and forced my body to move.

It was a huge relief to reach the other side, the pain disappeared and my knees went weak. I would have fallen if not for Laxus steadying me and letting me lean on him as Bickslow made his way across the room as well.

We rested for a while to regain our strength before moving on forwards, towards the fourth and last chamber and obstacle.

The fourth chamber was different from the others, when we reached it there was a sign on the wall, warning us that only one of us would be allowed inside this chamber and that the survival of the entire group would depend on if the person succeeded or not.

"What was required for this task?" Ever asked me.

"Agility." I spoke quietly, thinking hard about who would be the best choice.

"Then I´m out of the question, if I have a concussion I´ll just mess up." Ever said and looked towards Laxus to get his opinion.

"I´d suggest that either Blondie or Bix does it." He told us.

"I think Lucy should do it, she´s smaller than I am and she might benefit from that, becoming a smaller target and all that…" Then they all looked at me, waiting for my response.

"If you think I can do it then I will do my best." I promised them and they all smiled at me, giving me encouraging slaps on the back to show their support as I stepped inside the seemingly empty chamber before us. I felt the loss of my magic but had come to expect it from previous experiences so I wasn´t startled.

Suddenly something came at me with high speed and only my new and improved reflexes prevented me from getting pierced by a needle dripping with a fluid that was probably poison. Then several more came at me from their hidden places in the walls and I began my dance with death, dodging and turning and bending my body at almost impossible angles to avoid being hit by the needles. I lost all track of time but soon my body grew tired and my muscles ached with overuse.

I felt a needle pierce my thigh and then only moments after that I reached the safety of the other side and allowed myself to collapse flat on my back on the floor. I felt the burning poison starting to spread and quickly gripped one of my keys, calling out Fenix.

"Open! Gate of the Phoenix, Fenix!"

"Princess! Are you alright?! What happened?!" Fenix asked me frantically while searching me for injuries.

"A poisoned needle in my thigh, can you fix it?" I asked him calmly despite the burning sensation that slowly spread.

"The needles were poisoned?" Another voice asked and I looked up to see that Bickslow, Laxus and Evergreen just had arrived safely from across the room. I simply nodded my head yes as my eyes slid shut while Fenix slowly removed the needle and then the poison from my body.

"But we managed to clear all of the tasks didn´t we? We should be able to find some answers as well as a way out from here now…" I said slowly as the last of my energy disappeared and I fell unconscious.

When I woke up again, I was in a real bed which surprised me greatly, I couldn´t have been out for that long right? I sat up and noticed that it was late at night thanks to the dark sky outside the window, I was alone right now but I had a feeling that it was only temporary.

The room was enveloped in a familiar golden light as one of my spirits came through on their own and I turned around to face whoever was coming, even if it probably only was Loke checking up on me like last time I had fallen unconscious.

But to my surprise it wasn´t Loke who did not come through, nor was it Virgo. Instead Fenix stood there in his red leather pants and white shirt, watching me with a gentle smile.

"How are you feeling princess?" He asked while putting a hand on my thigh, enveloping it in his healing light for a moment as if to reassure himself that there was no lingering poison left in my system. I already knew that he had healed me completely though, I felt great, rejuvenated.

"I feel fine Fenix, you did a good job. Do you know what happened after I fell unconscious? How did I get here? Did we find the information we were looking for?" I asked him, eager for news.

"Yes I believe that the others found some information… As for how you got here, the dragon slayer teleported all of you back to town and then he sent the other two to inform the one I healed before about the situation and to tell him that they should all meet back at the beach house when he finished his mission and after that he carried you here. I healed the other girl's concussion as well since I figured that is what you would have wanted from me." Fenix told me and his smile turned from gentle to mischievous before he told me.

"Also did you know that you´re the dragon slayers mate?"

"WHAT?!" I shrieked and flung myself backwards, landing on my back on the bed.

"Jeez… did you have to be so loud? I already know you like him whether you realize it or not, it´s all written out in your hormones. I don´t think he knows that you are his mate though… He likes you, but I don´t think that he has realized that the dragon instincts telling him to protect and be close to you are a sign that you´re his mate. I might have to have a talk with him…"

"Oh god please no…" I whimpered and turned around in the bed so that I could bury my face in the covers to try and hide from this embarrassing conversation.

"Sorry princess, it´s for your own good." Fenix told me before disappearing out the door, leaving me slack-jawed with disbelief before groaning and hiding in the covers again. I did realize that I liked Laxus, that's why it was so embarrassing… I sighed and burrowed even further into the bed, I might realize that I liked Laxus but that didn't mean I was going to do something about it. I didn´t think that he felt the same even if I might´ve been wrong about that… But I also didn´t know if I was going to be able to open up and trust him to the degree he deserved if we got together.

I sighed again and decided to just stop thinking about it and to tackle that problem when or if it turned up. Since Fenix had come through his gate on his own power I couldn´t tell if he was still here or if he had gone back to the spirit world. I hoped he had gone back and wasn´t telling Laxus about this me being his mate stuff though…

Laxus POV

I was down at the restaurant belonging to the hotel, looking to get some food for myself and the sleeping blonde up in the room when her red-headed spirit healer walked up to me and told me bluntly.

"My princess is awake now and there´s no lingering damage done from the poison, she´s completely healthy. Did you realize that she´s your mate though? I can tell that she has feelings for you but you have to be careful when you talk to her about it, make sure that you don´t scare her away. You would be good for each other. See ya!"

And with that he poofed out of existence and left me alone with a dumbfounded expression and more questions than answers. But then it all clicked. Her damned spirit was right, Lucy was my mate. My instincts screamed the truth at me and demanded that I tell Lucy so that I could mark her as mine but I knew that I had to hold them back. I would only frighten her if I didn´t explain everything to her first and the last thing I wanted to do was to have her frightened of me. She didn´t have that many people that she trusted anymore and I didn´t want to lose my position as one of those precious few.

Having decided that the easiest and best way to solve all of this was to simply talk to her about it, I ordered our food and remembered as I waited for it to be ready that I had to tell her about what we found in the ruins as well.

Lucy POV

The mouthwatering scent of freshly cooked food reached my sensitive nose before I heard the door open and the heavy footsteps of Laxus entered the room. I did my best to pretend that I was still asleep since I didn´t want to show myself if Fenix really had talked to him like he said he would.

"You awake Blondie?" He asked me and I sat up, watching him as he put the food down on a table. It didn´t look like he had talked to Fenix…

"Yeah I´m awake…" I mumbled and made my way over to him and plopped down on a chair as he put my food in front of me. I thanked him quietly and we ate in silence, both of us seemingly lost in our own thoughts.

"Lucy we need to talk." Laxus told me after the food was gone and I moved back to sit on the bed.

"Sure, what about?" I asked nervously despite the feeling in my stomach that told me that I already knew what he was about to say. Laxus took a seat next to me on the bed and asked me seriously.

"How much do you know about dragon slayers and their instincts?" I sighed but answered him anyway; we needed to talk about this if what Fenix told me earlier was true.

"Only what Natsu and Levy has told me. Natsu told me mostly about how the instincts affected him in battle and about the higher senses and Levy told me a little about mates when she found out that she was Gajeel´s mate. She said that the dragon in Gajeel told him that she was the one for him even before he realized that himself, she said that when a dragon slayer mates they mate for life and that the mating itself is a rather peculiar process."

"Yeah that´s right, the dragon instincts automatically know who is right for us and there will only ever be one person that fits us that well. We will always protect and care for our mates, treasuring them and even lay down our own lives for them." Laxus agreed and I tilted my head in curiosity, the embarrassment forgotten for now.

"How exactly does a dragon slayer mate? What does it entail?" He looked away for a moment, his cheeks flushing a faint pink before he turned back towards me and told me.

"Well… the final bonding happens during sex, we bite our mate and infusing the bite with a little bit of our magic, leaving a mark behind. But for that to happen the mate have to accept being a dragon slayers mate, it won´t happen if one part doesn´t want it to." I nodded absent-mindedly trying to process all this new information when I realized something.

"How do you know all of this? You didn´t have a dragon to tell you stuff like this…" He looked away again and said quietly.

"Gajeel taught me… He has been teaching Natsu and Wendy as well since their dragons left them before teaching them everything."

"He really is a good guy despite the stand-offish behavior he keeps up…" I concluded and Laxus nodded his agreement. We were silent for a few more minutes before I had gathered enough courage to ask the first embarrassing question on my mind.

"Fenix told me that I was your mate, is that true?" I held my breath as I waited for him to answer and answer me he did. He locked his gaze with mine, his blue-grey eyes filled with so many different emotions that they really looked like a stormy sky.

"Yes it´s true, you are my mate." The silence that followed his answer was slightly suffocating and I dared not look at him in fear of what I would see. What if he didn´t really want me to be his mate? I knew that my fear was irrational but I couldn´t help myself, he had made me a promise that he wouldn´t leave me and I believed that promise but that didn´t mean that he saw me in a romantic way… and promises could be broken.

"Talk to me Lucy, I can´t help you if you´re shutting me out like this." Laxus spoke from beside me and I slowly looked up and met his eyes again. They had turned a dark blue from worry and to my surprise I could see a trace of pain in them coming from seeing my distress.

I was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that he actually wanted me to be his mate, that he actually loved me for me. The expression he wore was open and I could read his emotions just as easy as if they were words on a book page.

"You actually don´t mind me being your mate?" I asked him eventually and his eyes widened almost comically before reassurance after reassurance spewed from his mouth.

"Of course not Lucy! Why would you get the idea that I didn´t want you? Have I done something to make you believe that?" I could see the frazzled emotions in his eyes, fear that I would reject him and hope for that I would accept him, self-hate in case he was the one to make me feel so unsure.

"No you haven´t done anything but I figured that since you have no control over it then maybe you simply didn´t have a choice in the matter… And I don´t know why you would want to be with me so…" I told him quietly and averted my eyes.

"There´s a lot of reasons as to why I would want to be with you Lucy, You´re kind, brave and strong. You have a huge heart and don´t bear grudges for things in the past, you´re beautiful inside and out. The better question is to ask why someone like you would want someone like me. Also even though you´re right that we have no choice in who our instincts tell us to mate. They don´t tell us to mate someone who is wrong for us, you are my mate and that means that there is no one that I would be happier spending the rest of my life with." He said calmly and gently raised my chin until I met his eyes again. His eyes were calm but I could see a resignation in them that told me that he was sure I was going to reject him and that pained me.

"Do you really think that I am all that?" I asked quietly as tears gathered in my eyes, preparing to fall. His eyes were filled with honesty as he looked me in the eyes and answered.

"I do. I love you Lucy, it´s as simple as that." My tears fell and he wiped them away before kissing my forehead, pulling me into hug that warmed me all the way to my bones.

"I may be a broken mess but I… I love you too Laxus…" My voice broke as sobs racked my body, I really did love him but it was hard to admit since I was such a mess. I couldn´t understand how things was going to work out but for now, I decided to trust Laxus dragon instincts on the matter, hoping that they wouldn´t lead him into an unhappy relationship with me and to take things slowly and one day at a time.

I guess I fell back asleep when my sobs had stopped because when I opened my eyes I was met with Laxus happy ones only inches away.

"Morning sleepy head how was the nine hour nap?" He asked me with a smile and it took me a few minutes to comprehend what he had said.

"What! Nine hours! You mean I slept through the night?!"

"You sure did Blondie." He replied with a small laugh but when he saw my expression he pulled me closer and pressed another kiss to my forehead.

"It´s okay Lucy, you needed the sleep." He reassured me and I relaxed again, how could I not when his large, warm hands made gentle trails on my back. I closed my eyes again and sighed contently before asking him.

"How are we going to do this Laxus? I´m afraid to think about what will happen when we return to the guild…" I admitted.

"We´ll do things slow, as long as I get to be close to you, you can decide when we move forward. Don´t worry about the guild, it will work out fine and if you feel otherwise even after a few weeks then we can go again. We could stay in the beach house and only come to the guild once a month or so." I didn´t say anything after that, I didn´t feel the need to. He was clearly prepared to do anything to make me happy even though I hoped that we would be able to stay close to the guild. Suddenly I remembered that we had never gotten around to talk about what they had discovered at the ruins when I was knocked out and I immediately asked Laxus about that, eager for some answers.

"What did we find in the ruins? Do we know why Natsu and Lisanna are behaving so weird?"

"We found a book… and I believe we do." Laxus said slightly absent-mindedly as he slipped into his memories.

Flashback Laxus POV

The moment Lucy fell unconscious I felt panic grip me tightly in its claws, the needles were poisoned… would she be able to pull through? I shook my head to rid myself of these negative thoughts, of course she would be alright, her spirits would never let her die just like that and she was strong, she would make it.

I tore my eyes from her pale and unmoving form and searched our surroundings, we should be able to find what we came here for somewhere around here.

"Will she be alright?" I heard Bix ask her red-headed healer spirit and after a quick look at him I realized that he felt guilty for not taking on the challenge himself. Her spirit answered that she would be fine, that there was no need for us to worry. He was clearly answering Bickslow ´s question but he was looking straight at me when he spoke, letting me know that he knew of my feelings for his master.

When he was done healing her he moved on to heal Evergreens injuries as well and warned us that while Lucy would be alright, she most likely would be asleep for at least another few hours.

He then poofed back to the spirit world and I picked up Lucy from the ground, cradling her in my arms as we walked down the last tunnel to our final destination.

When we reached another chamber we entered it cautiously, hoping that there would be no traps here and that it would be the last chamber we needed to visit before we could get the hell out of here. This chamber was different from the others though, along the walls golden runes gleamed faintly and in the middle of the room was a pedestal that carried a book on its back.

The book was clad in green leather and a golden rune was etched on its front. I handed Lucy over to Bix as I walked up to the pedestal and carefully touched the book, waiting for and expecting something to happen when I did.

But nothing happened and I picked up the book without a problem, opening it to see what was written inside. Only to see line after line written in a language I did not understand in the slightest. It wasn´t written in runes though, but in a foreign language that I had never seen before.

I returned to the others with the book and showed it to them but they had never seen the language before as well. Freed could probably recognize it and maybe even Lucy since she had mostly likely had to learn other languages as a part of her noble upbringing. But none of them was in any position to translate the book at the moment so we would simply have to wait before getting to know what it said.

Suddenly a voice seemed to echo from the walls themselves and all three of us flinched as it spoke.

"Well done! Not many pass the trials and make it to their goal. The book holds the information you seek now leave my palace and never return again."

A hidden door in the wall slid away and revealed to us the way out, we all shared a look before entering the new tunnel and walked to our freedom. We would simply have to trust the voice telling us that the book is what we came here for.

End Flashback

Lucy POV

"So according to the voice the information we need is written in the book?" I asked Laxus to clarify.

"Yes, Freed took one look at it and said that he could translate it for us even though it might take him a while, apparently the language it´s written in is almost extinct." He said and stretched slowly, relishing in the movement as a series of small pops came from his spine as it realigned itself.

"Do you feel okay enough to travel?" He asked me then and I nodded my head yes.

"Yeah I feel fine, we need to get back to the beach house either way because I have a feeling that I need to go back to the guild. Master told me that some of the guild members' didn´t take my "death" very well and that I might need to come back for their sake. I have a feeling that that time has come." I told him honestly with a bad feeling clenching my heart.

Let me know what you think! And for those of you who have asked, they will return to the guild in the next chapter.

Love C