Lucy walked towards the guild with Natsu walking next to her. She was still nervous and worried that what she had done couldn't be reversed. She looked at Natsu, who was holding and staring at the key that could now summon him. He turned it in his hands before turning to Lucy. They made brief eye contact before Lucy looked away embarrassedly.
"Hey Luce?" Natsu broke the awkward silence quickly.
"Yeah, Natsu?" This time Lucy kept eye contact with Natsu.
"Well," Suddenly Natsu was interrupted by Gray and Juvia, who were running down the street towards them.
"Flame-Brain, Lucy, You have to get to the Guild NOW!" Gray yelled as he came closer. Natsu and Lucy looked at each other before Natsu grasped Lucy's Arm and pulled her towards the guild.
"What's the matter?" Lucy asked Juvia now that they were running side by side.
"Juvia does not know, but Master asked for Lucy-san specifically." Juvia kept her eyes ahead.
"Yeah, plus Charle and Levy were pretty adamant that you hurry up as well." Gray sped up as the guild came in sight. All of them sprinted to get to the door. Natsu and Gray burst through the doors, and Lucy and Juvia ran in behind them.
"Ah, Lucy, Master is waiting in back." Mira greeted Lucy specifically. She had a smile on her face, but her eyes revealed that she was concerned with something, "He says it is very important."
Lucy passed a table that held Charle, Lilly, Levy, and Romeo. All of them gave her questioning stare. Charle seemed more concerned or worried than the Others, and Lucy wondered if something was wrong with Wendy.
"Master, you asked for me?" Lucy took a tentative step into Master Makarov's office. She immediately spotted Gajeel standing in the corner, and Wendy sitting in one of Master's Chairs. "Is there a problem?" Lucy was now getting a very sick feeling in her stomach.
"Ah, Lucy, Come in!" Makarov had a very welcoming and warm look on his face, that calmed Lucy down some, but she could still see fear in Wendy's eyes, and a deep scowl on Gajeel's Face. "You've done nothing wrong child. No need for you to be frightened." Makarov could sense Lucy's apprehension, and he led her to a seat.
Makarov went back to the door of his office, but paused before completely shutting it, "Natsu, I suggest you come in as well, this may concern you too." Lucy looked back at the door to see Natsu step in. He looked sheepish, as if he had been caught trying to spy on this conversation.
"Now that we are all gathered, perhaps we should begin." Master went and sat behind his desk. He glanced around the room to the scowling face of Gajeel, the worried faces of Lucy and Natsu, and Finally the worried, almost sad face of Wendy. "Wendy-chan, perhaps you would like to tell Lucy what happened."
Wendy blushed and looked at Lucy, all the while stealing glances back at Makarov to see if it was okay to continue, "Ano, Well Charle and I were coming to the guild, and um, we came in like normal, and we um sat next to Romeo, and there was a, um, light, and suddenly..." Wendy finished quietly as she looked back at master, who urged her to continue.
"What the runt is saying," Gajeel interrupted, stepping forward and placing a strong hand on the back of Wendy's chair, "Is that we both have keys." Gajeel pulled out two bronze keys that looked like the one Natsu had. Both long ends were shaped like Dragons, while one key's end looked sharp like scrap metal, and the other was soft and round like a summer breezed.
Lucy's Heart stopped, and she only further proceeded to shut down as Natsu pulled out his key.
"Hey, you both got keys too!" Natsu said excitedly. It figures that Natsu would be like this.
"Of course I got one, ya ain't the only special one 'round here," and of course Gajeel would pick a fight with Natsu about it.
As they fought, Master Makarov and Wendy approached Lucy, "So I see you already knew about this?" Makarov asked.
"Well, I knew Natsu had a key, because I-I summoned him," Lucy stuttered out, "But I didn't think I created keys for Wendy and Gajeel too." She looked back at Gajeel and Natsu, who were butting heads with each other and shouting Insults. "In fact, Natsu and I were coming to the guild to tell you what happened."
"Well, I think that would do us some good," Master said, and promptly gave a giant chop to both Natsu's and Gajeel's skulls. Walking balk to his desk he said, "Now tell us your side of the story, Lucy."
So Lucy recounted her tale to Gajeel, Wendy, and Master, all the while, Natsu would interrupt with his take on things. Finally, when they were done, Master responded, "Blood summoning, I didn't know such a version of celestial magic occurred?"
"Ah, well, you see It was more of an ancient ritual," Lucy awkwardly laughed out, "It fell out of practice, when celestial mages crafted keys for the spirit, and now, blood summons or sacrifices, are more of a dark and forbidden magic…" Lucy was embarrassed to admit she used a more ancient and almost illegal form of magic to make this happen.
"So that is probably what caused this," Master replied calmly, "and looking into a reversal of the spell may help us greatly." Makarov got up again from his chair, and went to the door.
Suddenly a familiar bell was heard, and Loki and Crux appeared in Master's office. "Lucy, I think we finally got the info you need." Loki stood in the middle of the room. "Oh, Hello Master." Loke suddenly noticed Makarov, and then took notice of the other two new members to know of this information. "Oh no, this situation is worse than we thought, isn't it?" Loke looked back at Lucy.
"Gajeel and Wendy have keys too! What are we going to do Loke? How many keys did I make?" Lucy was starting to panic; she knew that this was only the beginning to this very large problem. "Loke, Crux, Please tell me you can fix this!" Lucy grabbed Loke's Lapels and looked him in the eyes.
"Loke and I know how to stop this, but that was when Natsu was the only one who had a key in this set." Crux was the center of attention as he spoke. "However, the problem has changed, now that more keys have appeared." Crux looked to every dragon slayer, and Lucy, "Now, to prevent you all from becoming Celestial Spirits, all Keys must be gathered, and destroyed at the same time."
All human occupants of the room gave a gasp at that, and Lucy spoke up, "But, But how does that stop the changing process, the keys would just reappear after that right?" Lucy said as she racked her brain on all she knew about destroying keys.
"That is true, Lucy, but only for silver keys." Loke step forward and began his explanation.
"Celestial Spirits that are summoned by silver keys are very dependent on their contractor's magic. The spirit themselves can not destroy their own key, and when the contract between the to is destroyed, the key is sent back to the Celestial Spirit World, where the spirit can choose to send their key back to Earthland. Alternately, The Mage can destroy the key themselves, which would break the contract anyways, and the same process would occur.
We of the Celestial Zodiac are different. We all have our own magic reserves, and when we are summoned, the Mage who summons us lends their magic to increase our own, and compensate for the different magical flow here in Earthland. Since the Twelve Zodiacs have Magic of their own, our keys are solid embodiments of our magic, and can only be destroyed by our magic alone. When a Contract made with a Zodiac is broken, the key does not return to The Spirit World, it simply reappears in another location here on Earthland. Plus, The Twelve Golden Keys are part of a set. All twelve keys can only be destroyed at the same time. If one key is destroyed out of the set, the other eleven keys compensate for the loss by recreating it. When all twelve keys are destroyed at the same time, then they will all be sent back to us in the Celestial Spirit World.
Now, when the Key is back in the Spirit World, the key can truly be destroyed, and the spirit will never again be able to be summoned. Silver spirits can be destroyed, but again, the Golden Keys must be destroyed in a set."
Finally Loke finished with his explanation. He let the news sink in. Lucy finally spoke up first, "So, the only way to destroy all these keys is to destroy them all here on Earthland, and then destroy them in the Spirit World?" Lucy asked tentatively.
"Yeah, but if we destroy dem in the Celestial Spirit World, then we are stuck their for the rest of eternity." Gajeel roughly stated, and Wendy gave a small weep as the realization sank in.
"Like Hell I'm gonna get stuck in the Spirit World for all of Eternity!" Natsu shouted out.
"I-I don't want to be a spirit forever!" Wendy quietly cried out.
"Quiet!" Master shouted out, and looked back at Crux and Loke, "Now there must be more to the story than just that, the reason we want the keys destroyed, is to prevent these children from being turned into spirits.
"Well, the problem is quite simple really," Crux again spoke up, "The keys were created here on Earthland, and if they are destroyed before the dragon slayers become celestial spirits, then the keys will be permanently destroyed!" Crux explained.
"But there's one problem." Lucy stepped forward and looked to Loke and Crux, "How many keys did I make, and how do we get them all together to be destroyed?"
"For that Question, we will need the help of the Celestial Spirit King." Loke replied.
Hello again, everyone! Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but I had to finish up midterms. Now I have a week free to work on this story, and I expect to release a chapter by Sunday, and I plan to try to put out weekly releases after that, but I can't Promise anything.
I hope my explination on the Celestial Spirit World made sense to all of you, and if it didn't I'm sorry I made you read those big blocks of text for nothing, but that is a major part of this story, so get used to it!
Anyway, write a review so I know what ya'll are thinking. And thank you to those have reviewed! See you soon!