Chapter Two
Both Capricorn and Cancer clashed into each other. The physical and magical impact of both spirits fists colliding into each other caused debris to fly everywhere. Loki was forced to take a defensive position, his arms blocking his face as he struggled to watch both spirits throw punches at each other, then dodge each other and jump back. He noticed during the first spirits' collision, he was forced back by the sudden impact. He could barely grasp the right footing since he was standing in a soiled area. Automatically, his eyes shifted to Lucy. Her bright light was beginning to dim. Her body was sagging to one side as her hands were slowly dropping to her sides. Loke waited for the right moment to dash between the two fighters to get to her side. He swept her off her feet and held her bridal style. Clutching her frail frame in his arms, he scouted the terrain for a safe place. He had to get her away from the two fighters. Her magic was depleting after suddenly releasing a large amount of it. Quickly, he moved away from Cancer who was charging in the other direction at Capricorn. It seemed that Cancer was aware of Lucy's magical state because he was purposely leading Capricorn away so that Loke could find a secure location before alerting Virgo to take care of her.
Gratefully, he discovered a new spot near the stream and he ran to the other side, considering that the stream was shallow. The running water reached his hips as he walked through it. He lifted Lucy's body higher in his arms to prevent her from getting wet. The weather was warm but Loke refused to get her sick, because her immune system was already down from all the excessive training she endured.
"Is your training really worth your life?" Loke asked her. He glanced down at the beautiful but tired blond girl in his arms. "Aren't you strong enough?"
Lucy could barely keep her eyes open. She felt safe and warm in Loke's arms and her body didn't want to move. Even as Loke slightly shook her while he was struggling to walk in the water, Lucy felt how her limbs were getting heavier. His words, however, broke through her haziness. Her training was everything to her. Her determination to get stronger meant she could become independent again, as she was before she joined Fairy Tail. Not that Fairy Tail was her home and her family but when she was living by herself, she was capable of summoning her spirits to fight by her side. She discovered strategies to win her battles on her own and she never met anyone tougher than her that she couldn't beat. And then being with Natsu and the other Fairy Tail members made her realize her worth. She felt useless. Watching their physical strength combined with their endless supply of magical power made her realize she couldn't compare to them in any way.
"Yes, I..." she tried to say the words, but her tongue was too lazy to find the right placement to say the sound, "wa..nt... st.. ." And then she fainted. The light from her core disappeared and her hands fell limp at her sides as Loke lowered her prone form on the ground.
He shook his head at her careless antics as he brushed the golden strands away from her face. "I hope all your struggles are worth it."
Virgo popped out next to him with materials needed to make a camp. He left Virgo to take care of Lucy while he gathered the camping gear and set everything up. Capricorn shortly joined in with helping him. Loke tried to keep his tone low when he noticed that Virgo cradled their mistress' head. The scene made him smile a bit before turning his attention to Capricorn. "What the hell just happened?"
Capricorn shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."
"That display of power wasn't any ordinary type. I never felt anything like it before. Is it possible for a celestial mage to have her type of power?"
"Like I said before, her will power to become strong has resulted her desired effect," Capricorn answered. He leaned down to gather the fire wood and make a pile of it by the river. Loke helped him pile the rest of wood and handed him some matches he found in the camp gear.
"That doesn't answer my question about the type of power she has," Loke said with a grim expression.
"No, it doesn't but we do know that she could mentally summon a spirit if she has our keys with her."
Loke got up from his seat and moved to a tree trunk. With all the pent up frustration he felt for the past week, he made a fist and punched the tree hard. There was a crack in the trunk before the tree lost stability and fell down.
"Are you trying to wake up our princess?" Virgo seethed through clenched teeth. Loke whirled around and realized his mistake. At least Lucy was still sleeping in Virgo's arms. "Do you want punishment?"
Raising his hands in the air, Loke shook his head.
She looked away from him and continued to dutifully look after their mistress. He moved to another tree and leaned against it, wondering what tomorrow would bring. The past week, Lucy had drastically improved in her magical power. He never knew she contained such strong and pure magical energy in her small frame. Lucy appeared to be delicate and girly in mannerism. Any opponent would never expect her to be a celestial mage or a fighter. Mostly, people overlook her as a possible threat. Unlike Natsu, Erza and Gray who rushed into battles with quick tempers and clenched fists, Lucy tended to ask questions first and search for possible solutions. She wasn't quick to fight without knowing some information about her foes, which made Loke view her as a gentle person. She was not meant to be a physical fighter but if Lucy knew how he viewed her, she would smack him or Lucy kick into the spiritual realm. But that explained another reason he couldn't believe how people viewed her to be rough around the edges. Sometimes, the guild members overheard incorrect information about her taking down foes when Natsu, Erza, or Gray were responsible for it, but from her compassionate nature, they should understand that Lucy was one to look for peaceful means and save brutal fists fights as a last resort. Her fight with Angel during the Oracion Seis incident proved how desperate she was to avoid one when she was clearly risking to give her life to save her celestial spirits and Angel's ones.
Loke gritted his teeth as his fists clenched at his side. Lucy saved his worthless life, even though he broke the sacred law in the spiritual realm to never hurt or kill a summoner. His previous summoner died because he was trying to save Aries from a cruel punishment. He didn't want to be responsible for Lucy's death, which was why he was protective over her. He was willing to serve her for eternity to repay what she did for him. She reestablished his key, his life and his placement in the spiritual realm. Lucy was an amazing person. He wasn't the only one who felt a strong love and loyalty toward her. All of her spirits felt gratitude, love and loyalty toward her. She was willing to compromise with their eccentric natures to keep them happy.
"Don't worry. We will protect our lady with our life," Capricorn said as he joined him. Breaking him from his reverie, Loke blinked his eyes at his comrade.
"How long were you observing me to know what I was thinking?" Loke asked him.
"Long enough to see the concern for our lady in your eyes," he answered. "She'll be alright. We will discover more about her magic as she continues her training. For now, we will work on her summoning and maintaining magic at certain levels. Then we will have her work on mentally summoning us."
"But don't you think she's progressing in her magic too fast?" Loke asked. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought there was something strange playing with her magic.
"It's strange but at the same time I think it might not be unusual for her to learn celestial magic quickly."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, I have a theory. I'm not sure if I'm sixty percent right about the information." Capricorn leaned against another tree. He gazed up at the sky. The clouds were beginning to gather over the horizon as the sun was setting down in the west. The scene appeared peaceful but the two males knew there was trouble lingering under the surface. The moment their mistress woke from her slumber, she would demand to train again for their sakes.
"Do share your theory," Loke encouraged as he sank down against tree to make himself comfortable.
Continuing to gaze at the sky, Capricorn shared what was on his mind. "Humans are complicated creatures. When they truly desire something, they will do whatever it takes to get their desires. Lucy's desire to get mentally stronger is driving her to extreme difficulties but it's because of her desire, she is able to progress quickly in her training. And I wonder if what her beloved mother believed is coming true..."
"What do you mean?" Loke instantly shouted and shifted closer to the other spirit in order not to incur Virgo's wrath.
"There's a theory that everything living has magic in them. With humans, there are some people who are born with more magic than others. This explains why we have the Magic Council and the magical guilds. The people who have more magic are able to weave magic into a physical form and the Magical Council and guilds provide a place for these people to conduct their magic in the proper setting. But I don't know how to continue from there." Capricorn shook his head. Then he scratched it, contemplating his next words. "I think I forgot my thought."
Loke sagged in his seat.
A silver light flashed clearly before the two males spirits' eyes, taking them by surprise. Fortunately, they didn't have to cover their eyes due to their shades shielding them. But the unexpected spirit from the celestial world astonished them. They never knew Crux could optionally open his gate.
"When?... How?... Why are you here?" Loke effetely tried to question the human cross.
The cross simply crossed his arms over his chest while he floated in the air. "Don't give me that expression," he said to Loke. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and I wanted to complete Capricorn's thought. But first I want you to answer my questions."
"What is it?" Capricorn asked.
"Wait, we can't be wasting our time..." Loke never got to finish his sentence.
"You do forget that Crux is an archive that has vast information on celestial spirits and their summoners. He knows the celestial spirit history better than anyone else," Capricorn admonished the golden lion spirit. Loke scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and apologized to Crux.
"As you were saying," Capricorn gestured to the cross to ask his questions.
"Do you know why the Magic Council and magical guilds were formed?"
"Yes," Loke answered. "They were built to help gather the strongest of wizards who can weave their magic into physical forms and use them for a greater purpose to serve society rather than have the wizards use it for destruction."
The cross nodded his head, a big grin formed on his thin lips as he was impressed by Loke's information. "But what happen with the people who have magical auras and don't know how to utilize it properly?"
"They get training from teachers or masters," answered Loke while he shrugged his shoulders.
"Correct," the cross spirit said. He nodded his head. "Now for a more challenging question. What happens to the others who don't have resources to get extra training?"
"They don't get magical training. They live as ordinary humans do," Loke guessed.
Cross shook his head. "That's the part Capricorn left out." Cross lifted his pointer finger into the air. "Some humans are born with large amount of magical energy, although it's rare. This magical energy converts into spiritual energy if the person know how to weave their magical aura into a physical form. But for the ones who can't do it, they are called magical sources."
"Magical sources?" Capricorn and Loke both repeated.
Cross put down his hand and again nodded his head. "Magical sources are rare because those who are born don't live past childhood. Their magical auras are too great in size to maintain in their small bodies. Doctors call these passing as a form of disease to try to explain the anomaly. But the Magic Council know who the children are and keep their names and family lines in their records because the Magic Council is responsible for keeping track of possible magical sources. However, it's very rare a child matures into adulthood and there have been some cases that it happened before. A couple of them were celestial mages."
"What exactly are you saying?" Loke was baffled by Crux's explanation. Capricorn was listening quietly.
"A magical source who doesn't know how to use his/her magic can survive two ways. One way is to have that person's magic constantly fed from a magical user. Another way is to have the person sustain everyone's magic without him/her being aware of it. You will know a magical source by the little details. The person is encouraging, outgoing, sparks a knack for getting into trouble, when all hope seems lost the person creates a miracle."
"Okay, I think I understand," Loke said.
"No, I don't think you do, fellow." The Cross shook his head in sadness. "In our celestial spirit history, our first celestial mage was a magical source. Al Mevins, the first summoner, couldn't weave his magical aura into physical forms like other wizards. Instead, he discovered a way to open a gate to the heavens and created spiritual forms to dwell in it. To give us, spiritual forms or life, he used his magical energy as a life sustenance in forms of keys. Others, who were born with a similar magic like him, but were not viewed as magical sources were taught how to become celestial mages."
"How is it we are able to live in the spiritual realm, then?" Virgo asked, causing everyone to jump in astonishment.
Crux smiled warmly at the loyal spirit. "It's believed that Al Melvins' magic was so great that when he died in the spiritual world, his magic collapsed and collided with our magic and created a big bang. The particles of magic spread throughout the spiritual realm creating new life and continues to do so today. Another theory is we are constantly feeding from our summoner's magic. If you noticed, when our contract expires with one summoner, we search for another summoner to begin a new one."
"I see," Virgo responded. She and the other spirits glanced at their mistress who was sleeping peacefully in her arms. The new information they discovered from Crux made them realize how important Lucy was in their lives. Without her, they wouldn't have the tight knitted family or experience a lovely world.
But then something about Crux's words didn't seem right to Virgo and she may have discovered the forgotten part of Capricorn's theory. Virgo eyes widened and her body stiffened. Her bodily reaction caused her chains to jerk and for Lucy to shift in her arms. The three males detected her actions and concerned expressions marred their faces.
"What's wrong Virgo?" Loke was the first one to break the silence.
"I was just thinking," Virgo half way responded before shaking her head. "It can't be."
"What?" Capricorn questioned.
The three males continued to stare at her and she realized she had no choice but to share her epiphany with them. "What if Lucy is a magical source?"
A whole week had passed in Fairy Tail and Natsu Dragneel still didn't know what happened to his partner, Lucy. His mistake was not taking the approach to instantly search for her on the first day. He was too laid back when he entered Fairy Tail. At the time, his mind was on food. He was as hungry as a dragon and ate almost everything on Mirajane's menu. After, he sat back and watched the other Fairy Tail members do their usual thing, which was either bicker at each other or drink heavy amounts of alcohol. Only when his stomach was settled, he told Happy about going to Lucy's place so they could go on a mission together. However, Lucy was not at home and Natsu stayed at her place until the next day waiting for her. On the second day, he was worried about her. He went to the guild and began asking members if they had seen her, although he got the worst beating from Erza for losing Lucy. Sadly, no one knew what happened to her and Gray, Erza, Juvia, Wendy, Levy and him barged into Master Makarov's office to find if he knew Lucy's whereabouts. To say Master Makarov was a bit shocked and disappointed how long it took them to notice Lucy's disappearance was an understatement. Master Makarov silently passed the group and stood in front of the banister overlooking the main floor where most of the guild members gathered. He hunched over and with dismay announced that Lucy was taking a vacation from Fairy Tail. His announcement astonished the guild because it was so unlike Lucy to take a vacation without letting anyone know her whereabouts. And from Master Makarov's reaction to the announcement, Lucy must have been troubled for her to request sometime of absence from the guild.
Since the old man's announcement, Natsu and Happy searched earnestly for her. He ran back to her apartment and used his enhanced smell to trace her scent from the apartment to the train station. But once he arrived at the train station, he lost her scent. It mingled with hundreds of other different scents. If his enhanced senses were stronger, perhaps as strong as an actual dragon, he would have been able to trace her scent. But it was impossible. He returned to her apartment feeling depressed but with new vigor he searched her belongings, especially read the special novel she was writing for Levy to read, for clues as to her desired destination. Unfortunately, he found nothing. The only fact he discovered was Lucy was a great writer. He read some of her work, but only bits and pieces that she allowed him to read. He realized that he would never make fun of her writing again. Even Happy sat down on the couch and flipped through the pages of her book. At one point, Natsu saw tears in his little friend's eyes. Any book that could make the little cat engrossed in it had to be a good writer because Happy didn't like to read.
Natsu returned to the guild and scanned the job board for any missions that might intrigue Lucy. Most of the jobs were about fighting or either doing menial labor for money. Lucy wasn't the type to be interested in those types of jobs. She was interested in work that didn't have physical labor, mostly like working in a café or helping someone's play. He rescanned the job board to see if any of them were rewarding keys. Since Lucy was a celestial mage, she might have been looking for a job that offered silver or golden keys, although he could never understand how her spirits operated. They were weird to him, like Lucy.
When he couldn't find anything on the job board, he had Happy fly him all around town. They stopped in the places she was interested in, especially the clothing stores because she had an obsession for clothing. He never understood how she could have so many shirts, pants, skirts and dresses when a couple outfits were enough for him.
Natsu sighed as he dropped his head on Mirajane's counter. Happy sat next to him feeling dejected as well. Where in the world was Lucy? Why did she suddenly leave Fairy Tail without letting anyone know? What happened to their partnership? He remembered the last time he saw Lucy. She didn't look like her usual self. Her mind was elsewhere when he accidently bumped into her because a stupid ice mage couldn't control his temper. Maybe she was vex at him for not apologizing or for not walking her home that night.
"I don't get it," Happy said as he glanced at him with sad eyes. "Why did Lucy leave us? Did we do something to make her mad at us?"
"No," Natsu said, trying to cheer up his other best friend. "It's definitely not your fault."
"It's not yours either, flame brain," Gray entered the conversation. Gray probably saw Natsu's hyper active energy was at a low and he was trying to gain some reaction from him. But it didn't work.
Natsu sighed again.
"Come on, Natsu." Gray elbowed him. "Lucy only went on a vacation. It's not like she permanently left Fairy Tail."
A fist popped out of nowhere on Gray's head. "How can you say something so insensitive?" A scary voice said. Gray turned to a see a scarlet haired woman standing behind him. Her aura radiated anger and Gray found himself lifting his hands in a defensive gesture.
"I'm sorry," he apologized immediately.
"You better be," Erza admonished him. "Natsu and Happy have a right to feel sad about Lucy's departure. It's so unlike her to leave without telling anyone where's she going. Even Master Makarov doesn't have a clue where she went."
"I don't get it," Natsu repeated his friend's words. He lifted his head to display a gloomy face. Happy moved next to him and patted his head. "We're best friends and partners. Normally, she will go on a mission with us."
"It's not your fault," Happy soothed him. "You know how weird Lucy is."
Natsu nodded his head and then dropped his face on the counter hard. Both Gray and Erza winced from the impact. Happy, on the other hand, hunched his little body in defeat. Two other people joined them and Erza immediately turned around, ready to pounce on the two intruders. She stopped when she saw Levy followed by a grumpy Gajeel.
"We know how you feel," Levy answered. "I've been trying to think of different reasons for Lucy's abrupt departure."
"Maybe bunny girl wanted a rest from us," Gajeel mumbled under his breath. "A vacation is a gateway from this place."
No one never saw when Natsu got up from his seat nor they did expect him to punch Gajeel hard in the face. The iron dragon slayer fell back with such a force that he indented the ground.
"Don't say that about Luce," Natsu threatened. He stood tall as his hands clenched into fists. The people in the guild immediately quieted as they felt Natsu's magical pressure increased in the room. Levy covered her mouth in shock and made a move to help Gajeel but was blocked by Erza. The scarlet haired woman shook her head at her. Gray's mouth finally closed as he stepped aside. Everyone realized Natsu's uneasiness had built for the past week and decided the best way for him to calm down was to express his emotions the best way he did, through a fight.
"Or what will you do to me?" Gajeel got up to his feet and brushed aside the dust from his shoulders. "A trail of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth and he wiped it away. He grinned in delight, showing sharp teeth. His red eyes flickered with amusement.
"I'll kill you," Natsu said simply. Both men stared at each other, which was a given first because Natsu usually rushed into a fight without thinking. His fists tightened more against his pants as he growled. Muscles tightened under rough skin and both magical pressures increased in the room.
"Are we seeing Natsu's reaction clearly?" Levy asked Erza. Erza nodded her head.
And then both males dashed at each other. They yelled their special techniques before their fists were engulfed with their magical powers. Natsu's fist turned into a wild flame while Gajeel's fist turned into iron, both about to collide with each other but it was stopped by another huge fist. The impact of three fists' collision caused all the occupants in the room to cover their faces as debris flew everywhere. Erza stepped in front of Levy to protect her from slamming into Mirajane's bar table. Gray hunched over while shielding his face with his arms. The others ducked under tables or hunched over on the floor.
As the atmosphere cleared of the dust, Natsu and Gajeel found themselves facing none other than Master Makarov in his huge form. "What the hell is going here? Why are you two trying to kill your members?" Makarov questioned in a booming voice. The other members shook from fear with his voice.
Natsu's and Gajeel's anger deflated and they retreated from their over grown master as much as possible.
"Well? Is anyone going to answer my questions?" The huge and burly man turned to his children to see if they would provide answers to his question.
Levy was the one to answer him. "They were fighting over Lucy's disappearance, sir." Her voice sounded small and she appeared more delicate than ever as her head bowed and her hands intertwined nervously in front of her. Natsu sighed and unclenched his fists.
"I don't care what anyone says," Natsu said with a final declaration in his voice. "Lucy loves Fairy Tail. She is a part of our family. She is the light and happiness of this place." He raised his finger and pointed it at Gajeel. "Don't ever say that she left here because she was tired of us."
Master Makarov was astounded from what he heard from Natsu. Usually, the boy showed a lot of conviction about his family when they were in danger but to see the amount of passion and sincerity coming from him while facing his own members left him speechless. All of Fairy Tail was speechless.
They were all silent as they watched Natsu turn and leave the guild, followed by Happy, Erza, and Gray.
"It's so strange," a whale full voice said. Seven dark figures, wearing long cloaks and hoods covering their heads, gathered in an unknown room, surrounding a huge chair designed as a throne. Only there was a machine equipped at the head of it. The armrests and stool to settle the person's feet had shackles to chain a person down. On top of the chair was a long band to restrain a person. And at the headrest was a collar known to suck a person's magical force. "I never felt such power," the same voice said.
"Could anyone discern the aura?" another voice asked but it was smooth unlike the first one.
"You mean if it was good or bad?" a high voice pitched in.
"Yes," the second one answered.
"No doubt the magic was powerful but it was still weak to discern if it was intentionally good or evil," said another voice that sounded cocky. "I could beat the magical user into a blood pulp any day."
"Are you sure?" a deep baritone questioned. "The power's location felt very far from us. If we were there in person, something different may happen otherwise."
"Shut up!" the cocky person yelled. "I could beat it any day!"
"You wish!" Another voice squealed.
"Silence," a simple tone commanded in the room and everyone stopped talking. "Now, Zora relay the details of your report about the magical incident."
The cloaked figure named Zora stepped forward and with a wave of a pale hand, a diagram appeared before everyone's eyes. The information appeared in golden words with pictures and symbols floating in midair that Zora could only comprehend.
"The magical output was sensed to be fourth to none." There was some gasps and skeptics at the unusual calculation for the unknown magic sensed earlier. Zora continued in his smooth voice while ignoring their reactions. "The magical output remains to be declared whether it is good nor evil and it's destination is in far outskirts of Magnolia. It may be that Zeref, Acnologia or Zeref's creations have awoken. I will have to wait for more incidents to occur to present more accurate results."
"Therefore, you're unsure about the magical aura we all felt," the deep baritone concluded.
Zora didn't say anything.
"I don't know about you guys!" the voice squealed. "But that power felt so similar to a magical sources' power!"
"Wait, now that you mention it, I must agree," the cocky voice said.
"Are you sure?" Zora asked. "We haven't encounter one in fifteen years. And it was from a child on the verge of death."
"Hmmm..." the authoritative voice countered. "If the powerful aura is from a possible magical source, then we better sharpened our senses to locate it. This might be the one we were waiting for a long time."
A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! Originally, I was planning to make this story a short one and then I received encouraging reviews, favorites and follows. Again, thank you! I continued this chapter from other perspectives to clearly establish more drama in the plot. The next chapter will include Lucy's and Acnologia's perspectives, I promise. Please leave a review, I will love to know what you think.