Sorry. I know everyone keeps asking where the rest of the story is and if it has ended, but trust me, it's not over just yet!
I'll give you a brief view of the next chapter since I'm not quite sure when I'll even update. I get out of school in two weeks so it should be after then. Thanks for having patience and reading! :)
By the way, the sequel will be called "Further Adventures"
Lucy's POV
"We found it," I said nervously into the lacrima as I watched Natsu scan the wall, brushing each rune carved into the mountainside with his fingertips. Dust crumbled away beneath his touch and fell onto his pink tufts of hair and around his face. He wiped his eyes absentmindedly with the back of his hand, smearing the dirt with his sweat, creating a long smear along his forehead.
Before I could comment on it, Mira spoke up from the small rock resting in my hand, reminding me that everyone in the guild was waiting on this report. "Great! Can you tell where the key goes?"
A tremor of trepidation rolled through me, and I swallowed hard. When they told Natsu and me that Nashi had awoken from the spirit world with a key in her hand, fear had nearly knocked me off my feet. True, I had received gifts from the spirit world before—articles of clothing and a whip that Virgo had given me—but that usually meant that my life was in danger, and I needed a way to defend myself, or that I had almost died and my clothes had just fallen off or disappeared somehow. Those were only minor objects…but a key? A key no less that opened the pathway to the spirit world from Earthland? Such a thing I had thought impossible, but now…
"There's only runes and pictures. I assume it's instructions on how to get inside," Natsu suddenly spoke up in an unusual serious tone. Dropping his hand, he backed away from the wall and closer to the lacrima so that Mira could see him. "In the center appears to be a small key hole that Luce found before she called you back."
Mira nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but a set of small tanned hands pushed her shoulders, and pink hair sparked into view. Staring back were a pair of deep brown eyes lightened by a hidden intelligence and amusement. Nashi grinned excitedly, and my heart leaped in my chest at just how similar it was to her father's.
"Hi Mama and Papa!" she shouted eagerly.
"Hello."
"Nashi!" Natsu and I shot back at the same time.
She giggled, and then her expression dropped into a deathly serious face. Just the same flip of emotions… I thought silently looking at Natsu. Without looking, his fingers reached out for my free hand, wrapping warmly around my fingers, just out of view of the lacrima. I blushed slightly, still not used to…well whatever we were.
"We only have tonight before we strike. We'd attack tonight, but some of us need a little more time to heal," Nashi went on, not noticing our small moment.
"I say we get them now!" Natsu yelled, grinning like an idiot and punching his fist into the air.
Erza stepped into view, and Nashi leaned away so that we could see her better. Her brows were pinched tight as she glared at Natsu for his remark. Natsu immediately gulped and hid behind me as if I could shield him. I rolled my eyes; even from here, Natsu was afraid of Erza's wrath.
"Even if all of us were well, we would still need supplies that would take all night to get, and we are still unsure of Morgania's whereabouts. If we went tonight, she could be hiding in the dark and we wouldn't see the ambush until—"
"She's already inside," Nashi interrupted her. Erza looked at her questioningly, and Nashi simply pointed to her head. "I talk to spirits sometimes. Morgania is already on the inside, but the spirit king does not know where yet. Until he has located her and her army, we'd just be searching in the dark."
Erza exhaled sharply. "This does not bode well…"
"It cannot be helped," a voice spoke behind her, and both Erza and Nashi departed as Master Makarovmade his way forward.