In honour of reaching twenty-five thousand views of this story with my last chapter, I give you this extra long one that is just under 2 200 words. Yay! Enjoy!
Chapter Fifteen
Laxus was right. When we got to the guild Natsu and Gray were being held down Master, Erza was sharpening her favorite sword, Mira was switching back and forth between 'love mode' and 'overprotective older sister mode', Freid was in tears on the ground crying something about 'how Laxus didn't tell him, but told Evergreen', so once an innocent Romeo and Wendy said something as simple as 'Good morning, Lucy, Laxus' the chaos was then directed towards us. It took everything I had not to run, and I think I saw Laxus twitch away, as well.
"LUCY! Why are you living with the lightning freak?"
"LUCY! I'm one of your best friends, why didn't you tell me?"
"Laxus, you better not have done anything to her last night, or I swear I'll skewer you!"
"Laxus, is it true that you and Lucy are living together?"
"Lucy, Laxus, I think you two will have adorable little blonde babies, but, if you hurt her I will tear you to shreds.
"Freid, I already told you it's true, Laxus spoke to me yesterday about her staying in my room."
"You have a room at Laxus' house."
"QUIET, YOU BRATS!"
Thank Mavis for Master. I thought I was going to explode.
"Now that you're quiet, they might actually be able to answer your questions." Nevermind, damn him.
Slowly and carefully I stepped forward. Once I made it through the crowd and went to the bar and asked for my usual strawberry milkshake. Kinana brought it to me since Mira was still behind me. I took a few sips, then spun my seat around.
"Now, what would you like to know?"
"Why have you and Laxus been spending so much time together?" The first question came from Levy, who was sitting at a table to my left with Gajeel and Lily.
"Something went wrong during my mission, as I'm sure many of you know. My injuries were so extreme that Wendy had to use a spell, called 'Link', in order to save my life. She linked my life force to Laxus' and the spell did something odd. I now have some of his magic abilities. Laxus is teaching me to control it in case it doesn't go away with the spell."
"How long will the spell last?" I see Erza's composed face, as if asking questions on a mission.
"We went to see Polyusica and she said at least six months, possibly more."
"And if it doesn't go away with the spell?"
"Then I guess I have Lightning magic."
"I've never heard of a mage being able to use both holder and caster magic." Levy is now off to the library to search.
"Is it true that you and Laxus are living together?" Freid's eyes are begging me to say no, Natsu and Gray's seem to hope its a no as well. Mira's are switching back and forth between yes and no.
"For the time being, yes, I am staying with Laxus at his house."
"What for?" Someone shouted from the back of the guild behind the people crowded near me.
"Master's orders, and Laxus has said that until I can control the lightning magic it's best that I stay out of town where innocent people can get hurt."
"So, you and Laxus are not dating?" Mira asks carefully, as if insure whether or not she really wants to know the answer.
"No, Mira, we are not." Her face both falls in disappointment, and relaxes in relief.
After the crowd disperses, Evergreen comes walking towards me at the bar.
"Lucy, are those my clothes?" I ask, forgetting that I'm wearing, yet another, person's clothing.
"Um, yes, they are, unfortunately I have no clothes at Laxus' yet."
As the usual rowdiness of the guild starts back up, I grab my milkshake. I sigh and walk over to Master, "Master, do we have any targets set up out back?"
"How far are you in your training?" He asks as he looks towards me.
"I still am unable to completely create the lightning without getting upset."
"Well, you only started yesterday, the fact you can make any is still quite a feat. Even Laxus took almost a month to create even a small bolt. And, yes, there are some targets already set up." I smile to the kind old man.
"Thank you, Master. That makes me feel a little better." I start in the direction of the back of the guild, but remember a question I wanted to ask, "Oh, one more question, Master?"
"Yes, Lucy?"
"My magic drains a lot faster than I figured it would while I use the lightning magic. You've learned several kinds of magic, did that ever happen with you?" The elderly man smiled at me. He almost looked proud that I would ask him a question like this.
"I didn't think you'd ask such a question, I thought that you'd just figure it was because you were switching from holder-type to caster-type magic." He answered the question my mind had asked. He tapped a chair beside him with his foot, telling me to come sit.
"So, Lucy, strangely enough, you're the first person I'm explaining this to. I didn't think that you'd be the one to learn a second kind of magic so soon." I nodded, and muttered an agreement. "Learning magic is a very draining process, which you know from learning your Celestial magic. Learning a second kind of magic is even more difficult, and that is because you are training your magical energy to do something completely different from what it's used to. It's actually very similar to learning a second language. Training your brain to understand and use something that's completely foreign to it, literally." Master let out a small chuckle.
"Though it's probably a bit more difficult for you, because not only is this a new magic, it's complete switch from holder to caster types, and one that you aren't even choosing to learn, but one that you actually have directly in you already, so you're learning to control it." I nod, following along.
"Not only will it be very draining throughout training yourself in the magic, but also once you apply all the kinds of magic you know to a fight. No matter how great the mage, if they are using more than one type of magic, their magic will drain faster, especially if they aren't proficient in the magic." I scrunch my eyebrows together, not understanding why that would happen.
"Going back to the multiple languages thing. Imaging how tired your mind would get if you had to write, or read, a letter where every word would switch to a new language."
I nod, getting what he was saying. "Right, because despite a person knowing all the languages, having to go through all of them every second would be exhausting for the mind."
"Correct." Master nodded proudly.
"So, using multiple magics has the same effect on a person's magical energy. Is that why most people who know several kinds of magic usually only use one kind if they can help it?"
"Absolutely, it makes it easier on them, but it also helps to surprise an opponent with a different kind of magic when they aren't expecting it." I nod, going to get up to go train, before sitting back down with another question in mind.
"What about the Raijinshuu? They all have two different magics in them, yet they act as if switching between the two doesn't affect them."
"It's a little different with them. The two magics that they use are actually very similar, so it doesn't drain nearly as quickly as it would if they were using two very different kinds. Take Bixlow, his Seith magic all has to do with controlling souls in an artificial body, and his eye magic has to do with controlling a live person's soul and body. It's like a stronger version of his original magic."
"The fact that their magic is also directly linked with a specific part of their body, namely their eyes, also helps with their magic not draining as quickly. They also can't control it perfectly so they use something to block their magic and keep it from activating."
"I see. If people know more than one kind of magic, their magic will drain faster while they use it, but this also depends on how different the magic is from one another." Master nods his head, and once again I get up to leave the building.
"Lucy, wait a minute." Master spoke before I could stand. I looked to him and quirked my head.
"I'm going to teach you a little something. It won't take long. It's very easy to do once a person starts training themselves in a second kind of magic." He gained my attention again.
"Look out to the guild, and try to feel them."
"What?" I was dumbstruck.
"If you concentrate, your magical energy will feel out theirs and you'll be able to sense how much magical energy they have, and if you get good enough with it, possibly even see it." I swiveled my chair to face the guild. Pushing out my energy, being careful not to accidentally let out any electricity, I looked to every person. I noticed I felt something. That something switched very little with every person I looked at.
"I feel something, but it's not changing much."
"Try looking to the members you know are more powerful than the others."
I look over to the people who were on Tenrou and...
"Holy shit!" Every single person easily three times as much as the others.
Makarov was laughing while the guild was staring at me like I was someone else. I gasped and covered my mouth. I looked to Laxus to glare at, and have words with, him, but the words died on my tongue as I felt how much magical energy he had.
And I thought the others had a lot. There's so much coming from him that it's almost tangible.
I pull back my energy and yell a thanks over my shoulder to the Master as I rush out the back doors to the training area.
Once outside, I allow myself a few moments to relax. I seriously wasn't expecting Laxus to have as much magical energy as I felt. Laxus' was easily double what I felt from Natsu, Gray, and even Gajeel. Erza and Mira weren't even in my line of sight, are theirs at the same level?
The area is wide open and, since I'm the only one out here, there's no chance of anyone getting hit by stray lightning.
"Not that there would be any, anyways." I mumble to myself. "I can't even make a single bolt, let alone enough to actually hurt someone."
Sighing, I find a spot on the grass about thirty feet away from a targeting doll and start concentrating. Closing my eyes this time, I only listen for the different crackles and sparks. They're slightly more powerful this time, though my magic is still draining quite fast. After almost an hour of losing magic to small sparks and crackles, I decide to do something that may or may not be just a little reckless.
I stop for a few minutes, letting some of magic replenish. Once I feel that enough of my magic has replenished, I stand up and directly face the target, pointing one finger at it. I force much of my magic into and out of my finger. My magic drains faster with the amount I was forcing out. And finally I created lightning. Too much lightning. The result was the targeting doll exploding. I let out a small scream as it sent me back several feet.
After a few seconds, or maybe minutes, I rolled onto my side, coughing and trying to catch my breath again. Soon I feel strong arms helping me to my feet. Even after I'm on my feet they don't let go of me. I open my eyes to see the entire guild at the gate of the field, with Master, Freid and Evergreen attempting to hold people back as they tried to force themselves through. I turn to look at the person holding me, expecting it to be Laxus, Natsu, or Gray, I'm surprised when I see Bixlow's masked face. From what I can see of his face, he looks worried. I ignore this and force my dazed eyes to look past him and I see Juvia and Gray attempting to put out some flames and Natsu eating the larger ones until they're small enough to be put out. After a few seconds I see Laxus eating residual lightning in the air.
"I can't believe I caused this."
"Eh, cosplayer, it ain't your fault. This is still new to you. Whatever you did, we all know you didn't mean this."
"I didn't even use a quarter of my magic to do this."
"Well then you'd be quite the powerful lightning mage."
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I'm sorry." I feel myself begin crying. My apologies don't stop. I don't notice when I'm picked up, I don't notice people telling me that everything is alright, I don't notice when I've changed hands. I don't notice I've been carried from the guild, down the streets of Magnolia, or in to the woods. I don't notice when I'm put on a bed that isn't mine.
Hello, my dear muses.
Just so you all are aware, when Lucy is put on a bed that isn't hers, I mean Evergreen's bed at Laxus' house. And before you ask, yes, I was watching Yu Yu Hakusho while writing the last bit of this chapter when Lucy points her finger and forces her magic out. I love that show so don't be surprised if there are some points in this story that make you think of it.
Have a lovely time, and hopefully I'll see you next week. Keep the inspiration coming all of you.