Back for a Sixteenth! I have good news! I have come up with an idea for my next stories. They'll most likely be written at the same time, for reasons I'm going to withhold. I'll explain it on the first author's note of the next story. Though I'm not going to be taking it further than a rough outline until I finish this one. So I don't know if you should be excited or not. I'm also really happy about the feedback you've been giving me. It's a pretty good motivator! Don't worry, this story still has a few more chapters left in it!
"So Natsu, do you have the keys?" Lucy asked, while standing in an open space behind the guild hall.
"Of course I do!" Natsu said, handing Lucy the keys.
"What was it that I was supposed to say again?" Lucy asked.
"Gramps said something about..." Natsu paused thinking, "Oh yeah! You have to say something like 'Open! Gate of the' and then the Spirit guy's name!" Natsu went to go sit on a log and watch Lucy practice her magic.
"Alright, well here's goes nothing. Hmm though which one should I open first. I'll probably try one of the gold ones and see if I can manage that. How about Leo the lion?" She asked.
"Leo? Didn't you tell me he was the leader of something?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah! The zodiac! He's the one in charge. I'll try him first." Lucy said. "Alright. Open! Gate of the Lion, Leo!"
Suddenly, a man with brownish hair similar to Natsu's, glasses, and suit appeared out of nowhere. Lucy and Natsu looked confused at first, but then Natsu broke the silence by greeting Loke.
"Loke! It's been so long! Where the hell did you go? And why are you here now?"
"It's a long story. I'll explain it later. In short, I'm actually a celestial spirit. I came from the Spirit world. I actually had to run away because I didn't want you guys to find out. Actually only Gramps knew about it. But I guess he didn't tell anyone." Loke explained.
"You're a spirit? Lucy here is practicing her new magic! She tried summoning the leader of zodiac! Does this mean... you're the leader of the zodiac?" Natsu asked.
"Yes I am. I'm Leo, the lion. I used Loke to hide myself from other spirits." Loke said.
"Wow!" Natsu said cheerfully.
"Umm thanks Natsu. Anyways, I should probably make a contract with Lucy before I use any more of her magic. If you said she just started, then it's probably not easy for her to keep my gate open." Loke said.
"Wait so Lucy can summon people as strong as you Loke?" Natsu asked, eyes wide. "That's so cool! So she could have an army of Lokes!"
"Uh..." Loke said sweatdropping, "Not quite. But yes, I'm her spirit, and will serve her for as long as our contract stands." Loke said.
"Anyways, what days are you available Leo or Loke or umm... What should I call you? Leo or Loke?" Lucy asked.
"Loke is fine, my princess." Loke said kissing her hand, making Natsu boil in rage.
"Hey playboy! You can't hit on a married girl!" Natsu shouted.
"Married? She's so young though!" Loke whined.
"Doesn't change the fact that she's married. You can flirt with anyone else besides my Lucy." Natsu answered defensively.
"Natsu... did... you just say yours?" Said the dumbfounded Loke. "But I mean she's... hot! How the hell did you get a girl, let alone one that's good looking! Are you sure that you're Natsu Dragneel?"
"Does nobody believe in me these days?" Natsu said sulking. "It's like you think I'm an idiot."
"Umm.." Loke began, "Well... Uh... You see... we kinda did think that. I wouldn't be surprised if they still did."
"Oh great. I was fine with them not knowing that I knew what love was, but this is just killing my pride." Natsu said.
"It's okay Natsu," Lucy said wrapping an arm around him, "You and I both know you're not an idiot." She gave him a bright smile that he couldn't help but smile back at.
"Alright well, we should probably get the contract going." Lucy said, standing up.
A few hours later, Natsu and Lucy, well really just Lucy, were done making contracts with all of her spirits except one. Natsu found each spirit to be quite interesting. He knew Loke already, so that one didn't stick out to him. The two caught his attention though were Virgo and Aquarius. Virgo offered him food and always seemed to want punishment. Natsu didn't understand, but if there was food involved, he would perk up for the opportunity. He was surprised to learn that Lucy's spirits could bring her food. Aquarius stood out because she was surprisingly cold to Lucy until she found out that Lucy was in a relationship (really a marriage), at which point she started to be nice. However, the last spirit in particular caught his eye, this one was small and white, had an orange nose with five lines on it, and shook a lot.
"Hey Lucy, what's up with this guy." Natsu asked.
"Well I was told that the silver keys aren't as valuable. So I think he's like a pet. He takes barely any magic to summon, unlike Loke or Aries." Lucy said.
"Puuu Puuun." The Nikora said.
"What's he saying?" Lucy asked, not understanding.
"Something about being excited to see his new master." Natsu said.
"Aww isn't that cute!" Lucy said while picking up the little guy in her arms.
"Puuu Puuun!" It said happily.
"Hey little guy, do you have a name?" Lucy asked.
"Puu Puun." It answered.
"He says that he doesn't think so." Natsu answered.
"How would you like to be... hmm... Oh I got it! How would you like to be Plue!" Lucy said.
"Puun Pun!" Plue said excitedly.
"He seems set on the name, Lucy." Natsu said cheerfully.
"Okay then Plue. You're Plue!" Lucy said, still holding him in her arms.
The four of them turned to face the sunset looking at how great it looked. As they watched, Lucy thought about how great her new home was. She had new friends, new family. She had everything that she could ever want. Everything was taking a magnificent turn for the better, and she couldn't be happier. And it was all because she met Natsu, in the midst of her loneliness, she found someone who could bring her out of her solitude. Someone who could show her the world from a new perspective.
"Hey Lucy, whatcha thinking about?" Natsu asked, noticing Lucy's stares of into the distance.
"Thank you Natsu." Lucy said, not really answering Natsu's question.
"What for? Did I do something?" Natsu asked confused.
"For bringing me here silly. My life wasn't very good at all until you came into it." Lucy confessed.
"Of course Lucy. I'd do anything for you. You're my mate. And I swear on my life that I'd do anything for you. So you don't need to thank me!" Natsu said, flashing a bright smile.
Taken back by his words, Lucy smiled an extremely sweet and grateful smile before turning to watch the sunset. After it was far enough down, upon Natsu's request, the two went back inside.
"So are we going to go home soon? What time does the guild usually close up?" Lucy asked.
"11:00, but we're having a party tonight!" Natsu said.
"What's the occasion?" Lucy asked.
"You of course!" Natsu said.
"That's really not necessary." Lucy said bashfully.
"Of course it is! Everyone is glad to have you here, especially me!" Natsu said. "So of course we're gonna throw you a party! You deserve one!"
"You guys are just too cute." Mira said, appearing out of nowhere. "It's a match made in heaven! You're definitely letting me plan the wedding!"
"Oh uh.. Hi Mira." Natsu said. "We're not going to get married right away though."
"I know. But nobody else..." Mira said with a seriously evil expression, "will plan that wedding unless they want to die."
"Ok, ok Mira. We understand." Lucy said trying to calm her down.
"Okay then. You want anything to drink?" Mira asked sweetly.
"Umm I'll have a vanilla milkshake." Lucy said.
"Alright be right back then." Mira said, not giving Natsu time to order something. Mira came back with a huge glass filled with vanilla milkshake, more than Lucy could drink.
"Vanilla milkshake for the two of you." Mira said, putting two straws in it.
"Jeez Mira, you know I don't need your help at being 'lovey-dovey'." Natsu said facepalming.
"We both know you're too stupid to do anything on your own that's romantic." Mira said coldly.
"You see what I mean Lucy? They have no faith in me." Natsu said taking a sip of the milkshake, before slumping down against the bar, letting his head rest on the bar.
"Mira you don't have to be so cold. He actually knows a lot about romance." Lucy said. "He just chooses not to show it to everyone else."
"Oh it's so cute how you're standing up for Natsu." Mira said with hearts for eyes.
"Is everything we do cute to you?" Natsu grumbled.
"If you count the both of you drinking that milkshake at the same time, then yes." Mira said. Immediately Natsu and Lucy turned their heads and saw each other drinking at the same time. Filled with embarrassment but at the same time happiness, they smiled at each other before they stopped sipping the milkshake.
"Uhh Mira I think we're gonna need another..." Natsu said before he realized she wasn't there. He looked around a bit before realizing that Mira was nowhere to be found. Then he looked down. "Oh shit. I think she fainted." Natsu said. "LISANNA AND ELFMAN, MIRA FAINTED AGAIN." Natsu screamed out.
Lucy was on edge after hearing that from Natsu. She asked, "Why do you think she fainted?"
"Because she saw us smiling at each other while drinking out of the same drink." Natsu answered.
"She faints because of that?" Lucy said surprised.
"You shoulda seen the day Juvia confessed her love to Gray. Mira was so surprised she fell over after hearing it." Natsu said.
"Juvia confessed to Gray? But I don't remember Gray saying anything about a girlfriend." Lucy said confusedly.
"That's because the ice-pick is too damn dense to know that she's confessing to him. She's obvious about it too, but he doesn't seem to notice it at all." Natsu said.
"Is he really that stupid?" Lucy asked.
"WHO'S CALLING ME STUPID?" Gray shouted causing Lucy to jump.
"I WAS YOU STUPID ICE-PICK." Natsu shouted while jumping on a table.
"WHY'S THAT FIRESTICK? YOU TRYING TO START SOMETHING?" Gray shouted.
"NO, I WAS JUST TALKING TO LUCY ABOUT HOW YOU DON'T SEE WHAT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU." He retorted.
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Gray asked.
"Enough!" a voice shouted from the second floor. Except this voice wasn't Erza like the two expected. No, it was Makarov's. "You two be quiet. We have important news to discuss. First of all, I'd like to congratulate Lucy for entering the guild. It's always nice to see someone with potential show up. Anyways, I'd like to see Natsu and Lucy in my office right now."
The two called came up and followed Makarov into his office. They sat down in chairs while Makarov spoke to them.
"You two understand there's something special about you, right?" Makarov said.
"You talking about that glowing-wrist thingy?" Natsu asked.
"Yes... that." Makarov said.
"Well what about it?" Natsu asked.
"Natsu have you ever heard the story of the Creator of the Worlds?" Makarov asked.
"Is it a book?" Natsu answered with a question.
"Yes." Makarov answered.
"Then nope. Don't know anything that's in a book." Natsu said.
"Well anyways. This is just a myth. But I'm sure you both know it to be true now. You see, in the beginning there was actually a single Creator. It was full of magic and it created this world, Earthland. It blessed this world with magic and the magic through throughout this world. When the Creator was done, it decided that it wanted to make another world. Originally, it intended to make the second world identical to the first. Unfortunately, the second world did not turn out identical to this one. The Creator actually didn't have as much magic power as he thought two create two universes with magic. So the second he gave a magic-permitting spell that allowed the use of magic from Earthlanders. That is why the world you belonged to Lucy didn't have magic. But that's not really important right now. The legend says that when the Creator was done, it believed that it would be able to survive. However the Creator lost enough of its magical power to not be able to exist as it was in this world. So it split into to two, and preserving them in a time spell as to not let their beings escape. For 750 years these souls drifted through the nothingness until they were born in opposite worlds. They would be connected by fate and would be signaled by that one thing. The glowing wrists. You, Natsu and Lucy, are those two drifting souls."
The two were completely surprised. Apparently they were somehow connected to the Creator of their worlds. They had no idea what that meant for them. But they were surprised that they were connected to such powerful forces.
"You see Natsu, that dream you had wasn't just a dream. I hired someone to give you a dream that would list the instructions. In the morning I sent Gajeel to make sure that you were closing in on the right path. He made sure you did and I told him to throw in the book of things you should do. It was a difficult task, but I'm glad you managed to do it." Makarov said.
"Of course I could do it! What can't I do!" Natsu cheered.
"Well, we have a problem actually. And the reason why we got you to go to Earthland was because we needed the combined power of yours and Lucy's. It's the most powerful force on the world. It has the power to annihilate an entire world! Think about that. But it's only controlled by the two wielders, you, Natsu, and you, Lucy. You can control this power and do what you so please with it. But it's extremely difficult. So we're going to need to train you how to use it. The reason why we're so pressed for time on this though is because I have spotted unusual activity at Mt. Hakobe. I wasn't aware of this until recently, but Mt. Hakobe is actually a super-volcano, that is bound to erupt in the coming months. If this were to happen, Magnolia and other nearby cities would be completely destroyed, as well as the ash that would go into the sky could create massive climate changes." Makarov explained.
"How has anyone else not seen this? Couldn't the Magic Council use their Etherion Cannon?" Natsu asked.
"Unfortunately no. They cannot. In fact they haven't detected it. As far as I'm aware, I'm the only one who knows. You see it takes a lot of observation and time in the proximity of Mt. Hakobe to know if there's a volcanic eruption about to happen. So I'm probably the only one that knows. And so you have three months to train and learn these powers before we stop the volcano. I need your help with this." Makarov explained.
"Of course we'd help. I don't think I could stand for something like that happening to this place. It's my home!" Lucy said.
"She's right! We'll do this!" Natsu said cheerfully.
"Thank you, my children." Makarov said happily. "Now let's return to the festivities. Training begins tomorrow. We'll get you two ready to do this in three months!"
"Wait Gramps... Why do we need so much training? Learning techniques doesn't take three months." Natsu said.
"Wyverns... The mountain is infested. There has to be hundreds. It's near suicide going up there. So you have to be careful." Makarov said. "But not to worry, we'll make sure you're ready and send a team with you. Now, children stop distracting me. I want a drink." Makarov got up and left the table to go downstairs.
"So Lucy, you up for this?" Natsu asked cheerfully.
"Of course! We'll definitely do this!" Lucy said smiling.
"You know this means we're the strongest mages in the whole world!" Natsu said happily. "But only when we're together!" He added while hugging Lucy.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Lucy said.
Happy has been on Natsu's head all Chapter, did you know that? Also, apparently on the FT Wiki, it says that Natsu can understand what Plue says, so I decided that'd be a cool thing to include. The story is progressing into its final stages!