As always Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima

Chapter 10

The lost and the spirits

~ Still in flashback ~

Lucy woke up in a hospital bed. She looked around and saw Laxus in a chair against the wall watching her.

"What happened?" She whispered.

"When the mage hit you, and when you crashed into the tree and rocks, you... you suffered some internal damage." Laxus took a deep breath and looked directly into her eyes. "The doctor also said that you had lost your child."

Lucy could feel the hot tears running down her cheeks. She had been afraid of that when she was first hit by the mage, before she had hit the tree. She had just found out that day, and now her child was gone.

"Hey." She looked over to see Laxus watching her, his eyes full of sadness. "Were you going to tell anyone?"

Lucy choked back a sob. "No one else knew. Hell, I had just found out that I was two months pregnant today." She smiled sadly. "I found out after leaving the Guild, after I talked to you."

"Didn't you tell Natsu?"

"No, I was planning on telling him after the job so he didn't get distracted. I guess that isn't going to happen now." Her hands went to her abdomen. "Did the doctors already..."

"Yeah. They were pretty freaked out when a bolt of lightening struck in the waiting room, though. After everything had calmed down they took one look at you and rushed you into the operation room. It's been four hours since I brought you here."

"What about Lisanna and N-natsu?"

"They're here somewhere, Lisanna has a minor head injury, though. Bickslow is with them."

"Could you find Natsu for me please. I need to talk to him."

"Right. I'll be back in a few." As Laxus left the room, Lucy took the chance to look around, and noticed something on the end table. It was a clear glass vase with a single white rose with yellow tips in it, a note placed under the vase. Lucy picked up the note and read it.

Blondie,

This is called a Forever Rose. It has a spell put on it so that as long as the one who buys the rose is alive the rose will never wilt or die. I bought it for you so you know someone cares for you, even if that flame brained idiot doesn't show it. Whether you keep it or not is up to you.

~ Laxus

Lucy felt her eyes tear up when Laxus walked into the room, dragging Natsu by the scarf. He threw him in and left, closing the door behind him.

"Hey Luce! What happened to you?" Natsu asked, clueless as ever.

"Some bandits attacked after you left, but Laxus and Bickslow showed up and helped." She answered him calmly, preparing herself for what she had to do.

"Oh, okay. So what did you want to talk about, because I promised Lisanna that I would stay with her until she got out." He stated, oblivious to the hurt that crossed Lucy's face.

"I wanted to talk about us, Natsu. I'm your girlfriend, not Lisanna. You're supposed to promise to stay with me, Natsu." Lucy could feel tears streaming down her face, but she didn't bother to wipe them away. She had a feeling that there would be more tonight. "But that's okay now, because we've both known for a while that things aren't going to work out between us." She took a breath and felt more tears. "It's over, Natsu. We both know that you still have feelings for Lisanna, more than you have for me. Just go. I'll make sure to tell Bickslow to give you two your share of the reward. So please, for me, just go."

Natsu slowly walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead.

"Thank you, Lucy." He whispered and left.

She felt even more tears slide down as he left, and realized she didn't want to be alone.

"Laxus," she called out softly, know he would hear her. "Could you come back in?" Lucy watched him walk in and look over at her.

"What is it, Blondie?" Laxus asked softly.

"Could you stay with me, I don't want to be alone?" He nodded and pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat down. Seeing her tears he grabbed her hand with one of his and gently rubbed it with his thumb. Lucy, seeing that he was staying, curled onto her side to face him, grabbed his hand with both of hers, and broke down in tears.

~ End Flashback ~

Lucy looked over and saw that Erza had tears in her eyes.

"So your child... " Lucy handed her a tissue.

"Would have been the same age as Rose. I told Laxus as we were leaving not to tell anyone." She sighed as she sat back. "That is also the reason why I stopped going on jobs with Natsu. Every time I was around him I kept thinking about how our child might have been like. I kept thinking if he had known I was pregnant would he have stayed instead of running of after that mage. After a few months I realized what had happened was for the best. I wasn't ready for a child back then, and I pretty sure Natsu wasn't ready either. There was also the little problem of raising a child when I knew that its father was in love with someone else, and I knew I could never put a child through that." Lucy reached out and grabbed a tissue for herself, and wiped away her tears.

"That isn't the whole story, is it Lucy?" Erza asked softly.

"No, it isn't. A few weeks after everything I realized there was another reason I didn't love Natsu, and it was because I was in love with someone else. The one person who showed me that he cared." Lucy smiled sadly as she looked over at the rose again. "He wasn't the nicest man when I met him, he has changed throughout the years, though."

"Laxus really is a kind and strong man, isn't he?"

"How did you guess?"

"They way you act around him, you try to keep your distance, but I can tell all you want is to be by his side. Believe me, I know the feeling."

"Oh, right, you and jellal." Lucy sighed. "I would tell him, but he can have any woman he wants, so why would he pick me?"

"Lucy, listen to me. You are more than any woman, you are strong, beautiful, caring, and you have saved everyone countless times."

Lucy laughed. "That's what Laxus told me."

Erza pursed her lips. "It's the truth, Lucy"

"But after what happened earlier, how am I supposed to talk to him?"

"You're going to have to find a way," Erza said as she stood up and made her way to

the door. "You two are going to be on the same float for Fantasia!" With that Erza quickly made her escape. Lucy went to go after her, but was distracted by a small bag falling off of the door handle.

"I'm going to kill you Erza!" Lucy called after her as she bent down to pick up the bag. Inside was a small velvet box, she shook it and heard a small clink. She opened it to find a silver key and a short, one word note. Sorry, it said and she looked at the symbol on the key, it was two inverted triangles, one on top of the other. The key of the Hunting Dogs, Canes Venatici. But who... Oh it must have been Laxus. I guess I did mention not having any keys that could track. Oh! I still have to make contracts with my new spirits.

Lucy checked to make sure she had her keys, closed the office door, and made her way to the training field behind the Guild. When she got there she saw Elfman teaching his two oldest daughters and Mira's oldest son about some new Take-Over magic. She waved and made her way to an empty spot on the field.

She grabbed her keys and focused on her magic. Time to try out my new trick. She closed her eyes and felt her magic swirl around her.

Elfman and the children stopped to watch as four golden circles appeared around her. In a clear voice she called out:

I am linked to the path to the World of the Celestial Spirits, now!

O spirits, answer my call and pass through your Gates!

Open, Gate of the Winged Horse, Pegasus,

Open, Gate of the Wolf, Lupus,

Open, Gate of the Fox, Vulpecula,

Open, Gate of the Hunting Dogs, Canes Venatici!"

When she finished speaking there was a flash of light, and standing before her were her four new spirits. She heard cheers from Elfman and the children and turned to give them a bow.

"Way to go Lucy... That's how a Man does it!" Lucy laughed and he went back to teaching. She walked up to her first spirit, a beautiful gold pegasus with white wings.

"Hello again, Miss Lucy. I'm glad to see that you are doing well." Pegasus greeted her in his deep voice.

"Hello, Pegasus. Are you the one that Laxus summoned?"

"The spiky haired man? In a way, yes, he did summon me, but it was an emergency."

"Well then, thank you. Would you like to make a contract with me?"

"It would me my honor, Miss Lucy. I use minor wind magic and I'm also available for transportation. I'm available whenever you need me." With that he disappeared, and Lucy turned her attention to the next spirit. This one was a pitch black wolf almost as big as she was with purple mist curling off of. It gazed at her with glowing purple eyes.

"Greetings, Master. I am the wolf know as Lupus, and I use poison magic." It spoke in a deep, yet feminine voice.

"Hello, Lupus, my name is Lucy, and I'm not your master, I'm your friend. Would you like to make a contract?"

"Yes... Lucy. The only day I'm not available is Monday." Lupus disappeared and Lucy turned her attention to the next spirit. This one was a little girl, about eight, with a mess of orange-ish red hair and teal eyes. She was wearing a light orange, floaty dress trimmed with red ribbons.

"Hi, Princess! I'm Vulpecula and I would love to make a contract with you! I've heard so much about you from my big sister, and I'm so happy that it's you who has my key." Lucy took a step back in surprise, the little girl was too hyper.

"Ah, okay. So what magic do you use and when are you available?"

"Oh! That's right! Silly me. I use trap magic and I'm not available after 10pm unless you really, really need me. I'm going to go tell big sis Virgo that you have me now! Bye-Bye!" The little girl disappeared and Lucy turned to her last spirit, the one Laxus had given her.

There were two larger than average German Shepherds sitting side by side. One was pure black with silver eyes and a silver collar, the other was pure white with gold eyes and a gold collar. Lucy examined the dogs and found out that the black one was male and named Asterion, and the white one was female named Chara.

"Hello Asterion and Chara, would you two like to make a contract with me?" The dogs barked in agreement.

"Okay, I'm going ot guess that you use Tracking magic?" They barked in agreement once again. Lucy asked a few more questions and found out that they weren't available on Saturdays.

"Okay, that's all. You can go now." Lucy stood as they disappeared and felt a slight ache in her muscles. What I need right now is a hot bath, and I know just where to get one. She then turned and made her way through town, to her apartment. Once she got there she ran water for a bath, throwing in bath salts and some bubble bath. Lucy then slipped in and sighed. It's going to be a long two weeks with Laxus until Fantasia.