"Take a deep breath."
Lucy closed her eyes as she focused all her attention to heeding Rushii's instructions. What she was attempting is a small exercise that will increase her magic sensory skills, at least that was what Rushii said. Rushii didn't notice her ability to sense magic until later, but never had the time to develop it in a way that could've been useful.
Being young meant that the current Lucy would be able to build upon the foundations ahead of time, and create the potential of being quite skilled in identifying magic in an area.
It would be a very valuable skill, especially when hiding from the enemy.
Lucy sucked in a breath-but sucked it in a bit too fast causing her to let out a small choked breath as she sputtered and coughed suddenly. As she was slapping her chest to help with the desperate coughs, she could feel Rushii inside of her, shaking as she tried to hold in her laugh.
"Are you alright?" Rushii choked out.
Lucy flushed with embarrassment and squeaked out her affirmation before quickly going back to her previous position. Amusement filled her as Rushii let a laugh escape as she tried to hold it in as she felt Lucy's waves of embarrassment for looking so silly. Rushii cleared her throat and mirrored her stance in her mind.
"Take a deep breath."
Lucy did it again, slower this time, and blocked all other sounds from inside of the Manor as she sat in a meditative position, with her two golden keys in front of her. The exercise that Rushii wanted Lucy to test today was to feel the magical mana that the golden keys exuded, and to see if she could describe them to her.
"Can you feel your mana pool?"
"I think so…" Lucy trailed off as she concentrated at the center of her core. It felt warm, familiar, and the more she looked into herself, the more she realized that it was golden. That was the color of her mana.
"Books that I have read in the future have called this pool of mana, Ethernano. The source of all magic power, for all mages."
"Can you lose all of it?"
"It is possible, yes. Overexhaustion is a state that you'd want to avoid as much as possible, but in the middle of battle, it is possible to use up all of your ethernano. You can recover with rest, but it shouldn't happen too many times in one's lifetime." Rushii snorted. "You're not missing out on much if you never reach that state."
"You've been overexhausted before?"
"Yes. It's not fun at all."
Lucy took a look at her golden ethernano and watched as it glowed and slowly spun. Like a planet, she gushed in awe. It was so cool to look at and see as she felt herself float around it while she meditated. Rushii's never seen her own ethernano either, all that she's been teaching to Lucy has either been through tough experiences or theories she's read in a book but never had a chance to apply.
This was fascinating to her too.
"What's next, Nee-san?" Lucy projected excitedly. The ethernano form flickered however, and Lucy was quick to calm down and settle her emotions so that she wouldn't have to restart the process. It already took so long to block everything out, anyways. Nee-san said it was going to get easier with time, but yikes, she wasn't looking forwards to it.
"Now that you understand what magic is supposed to feel like, it's time to reach externally for the source, instead of internally, which you did in order to see your ethernano. Redirect your focus to your physical body, feeling the magic run through your veins."
Taking the ethernano core and redirecting the flow to her veins was exhausting and it took a while for her to get down to her body. She didn't even know what veins were , but could feel numerous of paths that the magic began to flow as she slowly covered her entire body. It was taxing, she could feel her small body sweating with effort.
But in return, her body felt balanced and she felt more aware of her surroundings.
It was like she was seeing without her eyes .
"This is so freaking cool." Lucy gushed mentally as she began to feel and isolate different magical energies in the manor. She would push out her ethernano aura and it would identify or highlight mana before reporting back to her mind. It was like her nerves were extending to her entire house.
"It is fascinating." Rushii said in small wonder as she felt what Lucy felt during the entire process. She's never attempted magic sensory practice like this, she only recalls this information from a book she's read a long time ago. So this is what it's like, eh?
Ah, that keys! Lucy redirected her attention and aura carefully to the keys that radiate magical energy in front of her, furrowing her brow as she concentrated. One of them felt as if they were cool, calm and collected. The key radiated a small sense of uniqueness and serene. The ethernano that it generated was a red.
The other one felt like at one moment, it was raging like a hurricane, and the next, it was as calm as a puddle. It seemed complex and turbulent, but undeniably strong . It's fierce energy glowed dark blue as it seemed to call out and taunt anyone who dared tried to mess with them.
"That's enough for now, I can feel you overwhelming your magical energy."
Lucy calmly reduced her ethernano energy back to its core before opening her eyes, and immediately fell onto the floor from the aftermath of using her mana like that. She panted lightly as she looked up at the ceiling of her room, feeling as if she ran for a really long time.
"Oh my gosh." Lucy panted out loud this time, feeling tired and sore. Rushii just chuckled in her mind,
"When you use your magic in a more unorthodox form, it does take more effort, I believe."
"Is this something that you've never-never done before?"
"There's a weird answer to that question. Yes, I've been able to sense magic after some time, and I think it's because of being in many conflicts with…the others, that forced me to unconsciously develop this skill. Yet I've never had the chance to perform what you've just done."
"The others?" Lucy caught onto her word choice.
"I can't tell you." Rushii said a bit remorsefully. The Eclipse Gate won't let her tell her about Team Natsu and the rest of Fairytail. Perhaps if Lucy finds them on her own, she'll be able to say more. That's what Rushii theorizes, anyways.
"S'okay Nee-san, I get it. The gate won't let you say too much of the future, because it can make everything really different, right?"
"You're catching on very quickly." Rushii said pridefully. She chuckled when she felt Lucy's happiness at being praised and felt her squirm as she didn't know what to say in return.
"You're pretty smart for a little kid, Lucy."
"Nee-san," Lucy whined, "I'm not a little kid, I'm 9!"
"You've yet to hit double digits."
Lucy just huffed and rolled her eyes as she sat up after taking a moment to recover from their exercise, directing her attention to the keys that she had sensed moments prior. Cancer and Aquarius, those were their names. She moved to lay on her stomach as she propped her head on her hand and grab one of the keys to inspect.
"This one felt really chaotic," Lucy began, "Like she was itching for some action. Or maybe she's just always really worked up about something. I hope she isn't mean."
Rushii sweatdropped at Lucy's analysis of Aquarius, not really knowing how to describe the Zodiac. Aquarius was a real piece of work, she also had a bad attitude when they first started working together in her past. But Rushii realizes that she had been a bit selfish from her upbringing, which is partially why Lucy surprises her a bit.
Maybe it was this age when her shyness started to morph into something else.
Aquarius was blunt, she didn't take anyone's shit. Rushii found that that was what made her so powerful though, and she knows that despite her uniqueness, Aquarius is loyal to the very end.
"She's a bit…volatile, at times. But she's loyal to the core, deep down." Rushii finally says.
"Well if Nee-san says so." Lucy shrugged. She placed Aquarius's key down and picked Cancer's up next, describing what she had felt when she sensed Cancer, like how she explained Aquarius's. Rushii gave her two cents every now and then, which moved the conversation to Rushii's constellations.
"How many keys did you have?!"
Rushii hummed, "I think at the time, I had about fifteen."
"Fifteen?!" Lucy gasped in awe. That was a lot of keys for one Celestial Spirit Mage. She remembered that her mama only had three, and that was a lot for her. And her Nee-san said she wasn't strong, pfft .
"Yep. I collected many during my..travels. Each of them have their own story, including how we met."
"Wow," Lucy said in wonder. She'll be strong enough so that she can have many keys too, just like her Nee-san. A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, and Lucy's eyes lit up as she got up to rush to her bedroom door. She opened the door and saw that it was Michael who was standing there with a small smile on his face as he looked down at the little girl.
"Good afternoon, young miss."
"Michael!" Lucy greeted happily. "Hi!"
Michael nodded in greeting and raised an eyebrow at her sweaty state. "What have you been up to?"
"Oh! I was just practicing with Ne-"
"No!" Rushii practically shouted in Lucy's mind, causing her to immediately close her mouth with a quick dose of fear. She felt bad for yelling at her, but she couldn't let anyone find out that Lucy had the ability to talk with her future self. Lucy would be in danger if the wrong people heard about her abilities.
Speaking to the future and the rare celestial spirit magic abilities?
It was like signing a death warrant.
No one must know, if she can help it.
"You mustn't tell anyone about me, Lucy, or else we could be in serious danger."
Lucy let out a small miniscule nod as she stood before Michael who was looking at her expectedly, waiting for her to finish her sentence. She was nervous now, Rushii had surprised her by yelling at her. Rushii let out a small wave of regret at her sudden reaction, letting Lucy know that she didn't mean to scare her.
"Ne..?"
"Ne..ssie. My stuffed bunny. We-We were playing and then you came and interrupted our dance party!"
Michael chuckled and held his hands in the air in a form of surrendering. "My apologizes! I was just coming to check up on you and to see what how you were doing, young miss."
"Thanks, Michael." Lucy said with a small smile. Rushii was silent the rest of the exchange, observing Michael through Lucy's eyes as she watched them interact. A part of her was on guard, she never recalled meeting Michael the butler early-on. Granted, she didn't remember much of her isolated childhood anymore, but that also meant that she had to be wary just in case.
He seemed kind, but one can never be too careful.
What if someone was in his mind, speaking with him too?
Someone like Rogue.
Rushii was quick to separate their emotions for a moment, and let herself dwell on her budding anger and resentment as she stared at Michael with narrowed eyes. She won't spoil anything for Lucy, feeling how desperate she was to have someone to talk to. Michael hasn't made any majorly suspicious moves yet either, so she won't ruin something.
She'll just continue to watch in silence, for now.
"It's probably been some time since you've stepped outside, isn't it?" Michael asked gently. Rushii narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything. Lucy just nodded slowly, seeing that the question was true.
"Some time next week, let's take a trip downtown to Ishgar, then. We can go to the book store that the young miss seemed to enjoy shopping at whenever she could. How does that sound?" Michael proposed and Lucy let out a small squeal of glee. It's been so long since she's been there! Plus she hasn't really gone outdoors since her mother's passing, she would've reprimanded her already since it's been over two weeks.
Mama loved going outdoors, and Lucy missed it too.
"Yes! Yes, I'd love to!" Lucy grinned and she gave Michael a quick hug before waving goodbye at him once he smiled back and took his leave. Rushii was still on edge about this Michael figure, but it was hard to stay on guard-duty when Lucy's enthusiasm was so contagious.
"Are you that excited to go outside?"
"Yes!" Lucy said as she ran to her closet to see what she would wear for next week. Rushii just huffed in amusement and decided to let her do her thing, as she was just having fun. She was a bit worried, however. Even if Michael proved to be innocent, their father was a business tycoon. Some idiot rival could make an attempt to kidnap her in an effort to get to their father, which wouldn't even guarantee being rescued, Rushii thought sourly.
If it was going to be just Michael and Lucy, it wasn't going be enough protection.
Rushii has made a decision.
"Going outside without a form of protection could be dangerous for us, Lucy. Your sensory abilities can't be developed fast enough to detect other hostile mages, so we must prepare in a different manner."
Lucy paused what she was doing and tilted her head confusedly, "We're only going to the book store though. We used to go to the book store all of the time, remember? It's safe!"
Rushii barely remembers anything. She still doesn't feel it's right, though.
"A good mage is prepared for anything. If nothing happens, then that's great. But if something does, no offense to Michael, but he's probably as old as our grandfather in a sense. We'd be left to defend ourselves, essentially." Rushii didn't bother to mention her suspicions of Michael. She thinks she'll always be suspicious of people she doesn't remember meeting so long as she's with Lucy, anyways.
"Okay…I guess I understand." Lucy nodded once she thought about it. She was starting to like Michael, but he really was an old man. "So how do we prepared, Nee-san?"
"I think you're going to like this idea," Rushii smiled.
"Let's practice getting acquainted to your magic, to be able to summon Cancer and make a contract with him."
Lucy gasped in delight and excitement.
-L-H-
It took hard work, but Lucy felt that she was at least a little bit ready after practicing her magic sensory exercises. Over the days leading to the bookstore trip, Rushii had explained to her that she never had the courage to summon one of the spirits before she was well into her teenager years, so she had no idea what the strain would be to summon one of the Zodiacs at her young age.
"How many were you able to summon, when you first tried?!" Lucy wondered.
Rushii paused for a moment, looking back into her past thoughtfully. "I think it was two? I was able to handle summoning Aquarius and Cancer back to back, but I don't recall if I had the ability to have their gates open at the same time."
"What could you do at your strongest point, Nee-san?"
Rushii opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated. The tone of her voice, of Lucy's voice, was what through her off a bit. It was a question that was fueled with curiosity and awe, but what if that changes in the future due to Rushii revealing her capabilities as time goes by? Would Lucy try to achieve the same exact goals as she had?
Like a mindless puppet, only following instructions?
It no longer mattered how strong Rushii was, the more she thought about it.
Her life is gone now.
Clearly she wasn't strong enough, no matter how impressed Lucy might be.
"It doesn't matter how strong I was in the past, for it is now gone. It would be best to focus on what you aim to achieve on your own, and go beyond hoping to accomplish what I have done in my universe."
Lucy was disappointed at her answer, Rushii could feel it. It doesn't change her answer however, understanding that her curiosity could turn into something more complex if kept uncheck. This was Lucy's life, not Rushii's. She's just there to stop the catastrophe and help protect Lucy from unnecessary danger, if she could help it.
That's what big sisters do, after all.
Rushii wasn't here to take over Lucy's life, even if that's what was she had originally thought that the Eclipse Gate would do. The gate was capable of many unnatural things, so perhaps this was what it had planned for her all-along. Rushii has had more than enough time to reminisce over her fate and what's to come of it, anyways.
Suddenly, it finally came the destined day where Rushii felt as if it was safe enough for Lucy to summon Cancer.
"You've spent some time practicing magic sensoring, so what have we found so far?"
Lucy sat down and closed her eyes as she felt her body go through the process at a faster pace, with easier ease. It will probably take a long time to master the ability, she thought, but with nothing to do since her studies have been put on pause for a while, all she had was time to practice!
Plus it was cool to feel her sensor field grow further out as she began to feel the mana inside the small animals that ran around outside her house. She wondered if one day, she'd be able to sense the whole world ! With her Nee-san beside her, it feels like anything could happen if she practiced enough.
Lucy transitioned to speaking to Rushii through her mind, so that her body could be as still as possible.
"It's easier to detect and feel different magic types now, plus they all have like something different about each of them."
"Like a signature?" Rushii mused.
"Yeah!" Lucy cheered but after a moment, she cocked her head. "What's a signature?"
Rushii softly chuckled. "A signature is something that is a form of identification that can be traced back to a single person or a small group of people. Like for example, writing your name to sign an important piece of paper. Father does that a lot in order to give his seal of approval on certain actions he agrees with."
"He's a businessman." Lucy said with utmost seriousness, nodding her head. "So that makes these magical siga-signatures, special to each person? That's pretty cool, Nee-san."
"Yes," Rushii hummed. "It makes it easier to track people when you get lost, or hunt someone down for a bounty."
"A bounty?!"
"Ah, the good 'ole, easy money days." Rushii merely sighed wistfully and ignored Lucy's shocked cry. She snapped out of her daydream rather quickly, as she looked and let out a pride emotion overtake Lucy, who puffed up a bit in pride.
Her Nee-san was proud of what she's accomplished!
Rushii felt a flash of amusement go through as she looked at how much Lucy's changed a bit ever since being able to communicate with her. She was reserved and sad before, feeling a little bit uncomfortable at the sound of praises coming from Rushii. She still was relatively the same, but she was able to take compliments a little bit better now.
Progress, Rushii's mind helpfully supplied, as she watched her younger self.
"I'm proud of what you've been able to accomplish so far, you're doing great, imouto."
Lucy flushed and shrugged shyly but mirrored Rushii's smile. "Thanks, Nee-san."
"Then let us begin the process, it's not hard."
Lucy's eyes opened as she felt herself manipulate her ethernano back to her core, before getting up to grab Cancer's Zodiac key that was on top of her dresser. She settled back down and held the key in her hand, unsure of what to do next.
"This is the typical sequence for calling upon a Celestial Spirit, so be sure to pay attention." Rushii said as she got up inside her mind, and Lucy watched her movements. Rushii grabbed a small flower and told Lucy to pretend that it was a key.
"Open the Gate of the _, _!" Rushii emphasised the blank areas with the name of the spirit in question. She made the motion of acting as if she was putting the key (flower) into a keyhole and twisting it to unlock something, before standing up once more. "This is the typical standard of summoning a Celestial Spirit. I don't know if there's another way, really, but that's just how I performed it. This goes for any colored key, silver or gold."
Lucy nodded and Rushii shoo'd her away, bringing her back to the real world.
Lucy stood up and held the key in one hand, eyes shining with excitement and chanted,
"Open the Gate of The Giant Crab, Cancer! "
Immediately a golden light shine as a spiritual door appeared inside Lucy's room, winding blowing as her eyes were blown wide as she saw a pair of red scissors fly out of the door, into the room. It spun rapidly and Lucy almost ducked her head in shock to avoid the impact, until a hand stuck out and caught it right at the same time. It was a man, Lucy saw in shock, as his body fully exitted the gate.
He had black and red hair that was in braids, dark skin that was highlighted with a gold chain and a sleek blue blazer paired with black slacks that screamed fashionable. His green tinted sunglasses were angled and sharp as he looked down at young Lucy, who was staring at him in pure disbelief.
One hand was cocked on his hip while the other was spinning the pair of scissors that he had grabbed earlier, as the light faded, leaving the spirit there.
Red eyes peered over the cool green shades as he looked down at his summoner, who was panting a little bit at the exertion, but was otherwise in better shape than he thought for someone so young. Cancer cocked a small eyebrow and smirked,
"What's this? I haven't seen a Celestial Spirit mage this young, since Anna- ebi ."
Lucy was floored .
"H-Hi!" She squeaked out in awe and Cancer paused for a moment before kneeling down before Lucy, reaching her height. He let out a small quirk of his lips.
"Hello, Mage. What is the name of my summoner?" He inquired gently.
"L-Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia." Cancer's eyes widened slightly at the confirmation of his previous's master's death and let out a small sigh. Considering the startling resemblance that Lucy had with Layla, it was safe to assume that this was her daughter. Cancer hoped that the spirts guided to Layla safely to her next life.
"I see- ebi. Is this your first time summoning a Spirit?"
Lucy nodded. "Yeah. I was hoping-hoping if you'd make a contract with me?"
Her big brown eyes were deadly, Cancer mentally thought as he stared at the small girl. This young girl was smart enough to figure out how to summon a Celestial Spirit, and immediately ask for a contract. How intriguing.
How rare .
"A contract, you say?" Cancer shrugged. "Sounds interesting enough. I'd be curious to see how life bounded to you would be, so I'll accept…"
Lucy smiled brightly and immediately ran to give Cancer a hug, but he held up a quick hand which paused her in her tracks.
"...but first, I'd like to chat with the other presence inside of you- ebi ."
Lucy froze and was utterly flabbergasted as Rushii's cry of alarm in her head force her to stumble for a quick second. She felt Rushii's presence inside of her entire body and their roles were switched for a brief moment as Cancer forced Rushii out of her mind and into the present. Cancer's sunglasses glinted curiously as he looked at the instant change in Lucy's demeanor.
Rushii took control of Lucy's body, she didn't even know that she could do that, and looked at Cancer in alarm and hesitance with wary eyes. Cancer noted immediately the feeling of an older, maturerer presence that took over.
Yet seemed sadder, judging by her spiritual energy.
"So," Cancer crossed his arms as he looked at Rushii, "who might you be? Just give me something to work with, for I don't feel ill-intent from you despite being inside of young Lucy's body."
"How were you able to sense me…?" Rushii asked astonished as she looked at Cancer in a new life. Cancer just raised an eyebrow,
"I am one of the 12 Zodiac Golden Keys, I hope you realize- ebi . We are able to hold a degree of spiritual sensory abilities. In fact, you were the first thing that I noticed the moment I stepped out of this gate. When the child summoned me, it felt like a joint-effort."
Rushii was in disbelief. She had no idea the true extent of the Zodiacs power, she just treated them well and used them with the descriptions and abilities that she had been given of them and what they have expressed before. She had no idea about that side of them.
It seems the longer she sits in the past, the longer she realizes that she's missed many things during her first run.
"I see," Rushii said thoughtfully, through Lucy's body. "And to answer your question, my name is Rushii."
Cancer just hummed and stared at her for a moment, taking in the state of Rushii, before waving his hand. Rushii felt her teeth clench at the feeling of distortion that she felt as she was forced back into Lucy's mind, bring Lucy's as the main conscience once more. Lucy just blinked wildly as she looked at Cancer in shock,
"What did you do to us?"
Cancer had the decency to at least look a little apologetic, "I forced your spirits to switch in order to inspect…this Rushii individual- ebi . In dire circumstances, us spirits are allowed to perform such an action, according to the King. Although it's been eons since such a law has been evoked, I'm sure that there should've been more restrictions but alas, it is what it is- ebi ."
Cancer looked Lucy in the eye, taking off his sunglasses. He felt a pull to this child, a connection to her that made him more intrigue by the second. Was it the results of the Rushii character, that seemed to be hosted inside of Lucy? Cancer wasn't entirely sure. He just knew that he was interested in being contracted with this child, feeling a fondness growing inside of him that's rather uncharacteristic for his typical nonchalant attitude.
"I apologize if what I had done had scared or caused any sort of pain to you," Cancer begins with a small pang of regret that was visible, but Lucy cut him off with a smile and a shrug.
"It's okay, you just wanted to see if Nee-san was some sort of evil spirit possessing me, right?"
"Where the hell did you hear something like that?" Rushii exclaimed in sight shock.
"I'm just glad that everything is okay!" Lucy ended on a brighter note, giggling as she heard Rushii's exclamations in her head.
"It is, indeed- ebi . I'd love to be contracted to you, Lucy Heartfilia." Cancer said, putting his sunglasses back on as he held his hand out. What awaits him, only time will tell, he mused at the little girl who's eyes shone with happiness and glee. She quickly coughed and schooled her expression, mimicking someone serious as she pinched her lips cutely and nodded as she shook his hand.
" Awesome -I mean, yes, Cancer!"