Author's Note:

Hey all! Well... I did it again. My post date slipped right by me. Gah! Sorry everyone!😅

Hope you all enjoyed the little trip to the special shop last chapter. ;D And of course, we now have a little hint about what this story is going to be about... I was delighted by your interest in the dark mage and celestial keys gone missing! ❤️

And of course, as always, HUGE thanks to my lovely reviewers! You guys really are my motivation to keep writing... even when it comes to my own novel! BIG hugs and kisses to: Natsulover89, SistershoOk, and BurstingDragons.

Alrighty! Let's get on with the show!

The very next morning after Leo had visited, she'd gone straight to the master and told him about the situation, and he'd immediately called a guild meeting. Once they'd heard what was going on, everyone had promised to keep their eyes peeled for the keys while they were out on missions, and Warren had said he would use his network of contacts to actively search for them.

She'd thanked them all profusely, relieved and touched by their willingness to help. With Fairy Tail on the case, Lucy knew it was only a matter of time before they found Leo's missing friends… and she did her best to push her worries to the back burner and trust that it would all work out.

Tying herself in knots over it wasn't going to help, and she distracted herself with work, training, Natsu, her friends… and of course starcharting.

Leo's tips had let her narrow down the location of Taurus's temple, and a few days later, she made the trip to a small town in the kingdom of Dahlia. It was incredibly lucky that her lion spirit had come when he did, because it also turned out that her calculations had been off, and the bull's temple was CURRENTLY active. If she'd waited any longer, she probably would have missed her window of opportunity.

Unsurprisingly, Natsu and Happy had come with her, and once they got to their destination, the three of them set about asking the locals if any strange things had been happening recently. Very quickly, they were told about an enormous bull that had taken up residence in the nearby forest – which had caused the villagers a lot of grief, attacking anyone who set foot past the tree-line.

That didn't surprise Lucy, considering the crabs that had protected Cancer's temple. However, she was startled when the villagers recognized them as The Dragon, Angel, and Blue Flash from Fairy Tail and begged them for help.

Natsu and Happy, she could understand – considering how famous they were. Everyone knew what The Dragon looked like: with his pink hair, scaly white scarf, chainmail shirt, fingerless dragon-scale gloves, and extremely recognizable tattoo. Likewise, Blue Flash (Happy) was also easily identified in both of his forms… especially as a walking, talking, blue cat.

However, she hadn't expected word of her work persona to have already spread this far.

She'd taken to wearing an outfit that consisted of a short shirt, thick tights, thigh high boots, fingerless gloves that came up to her biceps, and a halter top. The top and skirt both looked slightly military-ish, with buttons and lapels in crisp lines, and she had several of them in different colors (ranging from white, navy blue, lighter blue, and black.) The tights and gloves were black, and her boots were a light brown. Her long blond hair, she mostly wore in a side ponytail now… though she turned it white for missions.

As for her halter top… there was a reason why she wore it. Shortly after receiving her new moniker, Fairy Tail had held a party to celebrate – they never needed much reason to drink and be merry – and in this case, she'd managed to get very, very drunk. While she was under the influence, someone had whisked her away to Gajeel, and predictably, she had woken up the next morning with a pair of angel wings tattooed across her shoulder blades.

If it hadn't been such a beautiful tattoo, with delicate feathers in shades of white, blue, and gold that looked honest-to-god real, she likely would have sicked Aquarius on the guild mates she suspected were responsible, but as it was, she instantly fell in love with the artwork now stamped on her body. It didn't hurt that Natsu had also flipped his top when he saw it and complimented her a number of times on how good it looked.

Maybe that was what had given her away. The pair of wings on her back really were fairly obvious and recognizable… but whatever the case, after being identified as members of Fairy Tail, they were promised a reward if they could take care of the wild bull problem.

So now, they were facing off against the tree-line, discussing their next move…. Or at least, that was Lucy's plan, but naturally, Natsu had other ideas. Before she could suggest that they stay close to her, he was already saying, "Alright! Let's go kick some bull-butt!"

"Wait! Natsu! I don't think that's…. aaaaand there he goes," she sighed, watching him run off into the woods.

Happy snickered, and she glanced down at him. "Come on, Happy. Let's go make sure he doesn't get himself into too much trouble."

"Aye Sir!" he exclaimed and followed her into the trees. After a bit though, he added, "You know that's impossible right?"

"Yeah," she sighed again and rolled her eyes. "All too well."

Soon enough, loud crashes and explosions started sounding from up ahead, and she assumed that Natsu had met the bull of the forest. Picking up the pace, they hurried to see what was going on, and within a minute, they emerged from the dense wooded area into a clearing. Obviously, this particular clearing had only just been made, considering all the trees that had been destroyed… not to mention several had caught on fire.

"Shoot… we'll need to put those out," she muttered, watching as the potential forest fire slowly spread from one tree to another right before her eyes.

"Uh-huh," Happy agreed. "But let's do that after we deal with –"

He didn't even get to finish his sentence, because at that moment, Natsu came flying through the air right in their direction. Lucy ducked, and Happy spread his wings and zipped up to catch the fire-mage before he could crash into the trees behind them.

"Are you okay?!"

She ran over to them as they landed and sucked in a deep breath when she saw the deep gouges on her boyfriend's forearms. Glints of white bone peeked through, and he was bleeding badly – making her stomach turn over and her heart-rate shoot through the roof with worry.

"Oh… shit … that's awful," Lucy cussed as she turned pale.

"It'll be okay," he grunted, and then told Happy, "Thanks for the save, buddy."

Lucy just shook her head and would have summoned Horologium's clock to reverse his injuries, but she didn't have the time to do that right now. From the other side of the clearing, a monstrous bull exploded onto the scene, knocking over another tree in the process. They had to quickly dodge the falling pine to avoid being crushed under it, and a spray of twigs and pine needles assaulted them as it splintered on impact.

The celestial mage winced but kept her eyes focused on the massive creature opposite them. It truly was beautiful and awe inspiring… as well as completely terrifying. The bull stood at least twice their height (but probably more like three times), with enough muscles that he seemed like he could flatten a boulder with ease. He was pitch black from nose to tail, aside from bright glowing gold eyes, and his horns spanned a ridiculous width, the sharp tips looking downright deadly. If she had to guess, those were the points that had ripped Natsu's arms to pieces.

He stood there, pawing the ground and glaring at them, snorting angrily, and she could tell he was going to charge again very soon. When Natsu freed himself from Happy and stepped forward as though he was going to take the bull on again, Lucy stopped him with a hand on his chest.

"No. You stay here. Let me handle this."

"Wha… come on, Luce, I can take him!"

"Maybe, but if he's the guardian of Taurus's temple, then there's no point fighting him. We might even need him. So. Let. Me. Handle. This."

He grumbled, but luckily stepped back, sulking a little.

Relieved, Lucy turned and focused on the bull, feeling her heart jump as she faced off against the enormous creature. If she was wrong, and he attacked her, she wasn't sure she would survive… but she had to trust her instincts.

Just in case though, she said to Happy, "Uh, if this doesn't work… I might need some help getting out of there."

"Count on me! I'll grab you before he can smoosh you."

"Thanks…."

Taking a deep breath, she walked forwards into the middle of the clearing and summoned her magic so that she was cloaked in a golden glow. The magic circle on her chest lit up, shining through her shirt, and she tugged the collar down a tad to show it off as she introduced herself. "I'm a celestial mage, here to visit Taurus's temple. These two are with me. Will you let us pass?"

The bull stared at her for a long moment, and it took all her courage to stay in place, especially when he snorted and started walking towards her. Luckily, his pace was slow and non-aggressive, and when he stopped in front of her and lowered his head, she held her breath. It came out on a soft, surprised chuckle when his nose bumped into her chest, right over her magic circle, in a surprisingly affectionate gesture.

"Well, hello to you too. It's nice to meet you," she said and gingerly patted him.

However, his attitude completely changed when Natsu whooped behind her and said, "Alright! Way to go, Luce!"

The bull's head popped back up, scaring her with the abrupt motion, and he looked over her shoulder, glaring at the other two. He made a low, warning sound in his throat, and she realized that he was NOT going to let the others past.

So, she gave him another gentle pat on his neck and said, "Let me go heal my friend, and then they'll leave. Okay?"

He snorted and stepped back, his eyes going from her to them and back again a few times, until finally his gaze landed on hers and stuck, as if to say, 'Do what you have to do. I'll wait.'

When nothing else happened, she turned and hurried back to the two boys.

"Hey, I don't think he's going to let you past. So, I'm going to heal you, and you can follow from above, okay? But you'll need to stay up there. I'll be in and out of the temple as fast as I can."

Natsu scowled, obviously not happy with that idea, and Happy whined, "Awwww, that's no fun. I wanted to go in the temple too…."

"If he wasn't so powerful, I'd have no problem with it, but this guardian is obviously very dangerous," Lucy said, gesturing at Natsu's arms.

They protested a little more, but she mostly ignored them and focused on summoning her watch so she could reverse the time on Natsu's wounds. There was no way she could leave him the way he was… at the rate he was bleeding it would be too dangerous, and there wasn't any reason for him to be in that much pain when she could just heal him right now.

As soon as Horologium's vessel appeared in her palm, she gently touched a non-damaged bit of his skin and poured her magic into the watch and him. A second passed before the clock hands started turning backwards, and then his flesh knit back together again right before their eyes. As always, it was a very strange sight, and thankfully, it distracted the two guys from fussing at her.

"Wow! That's just so cool," Natsu commented as it finished up, and Happy agreed.

"Thanks, you guys," she told them with a grin and glanced back at the bull. It was still waiting patiently for her, but the sight of those burning trees caught her attention, and she grimaced. "I'll be right there… sorry, but I should probably take care of this first."

Taurus's messenger cocked his head and blinked, and she heard her two companions also make questioning sounds behind her. However, they all quickly figured out what she meant when she pulled out Aquarius's vessel and sprayed the trees with powerful jets of water, putting out the blaze before it could spread and turn into an actual full-blown forest fire.

"Hey! Good thinking!"

"Yeah, well, we can't just burn down the whole forest," she snorted in response to Natsu's comment, and both he and Happy laughed along with her.

Once all of the flames had been doused, she finally turned back to the celestial guardian, who had stood there and watched her fire-fighting adventure without any sign of getting impatient. Much to her relief.

"Alright, guys. I'm going to go discuss things with the bull. Maybe he can lead me to the temple… because I don't actually know it's EXACT location."

"I wanna come, too," Happy whined, and Natsu seconded it.

Lucy groaned and rolled her eyes for what felt like the millionth time. "He's not going to let you, and if you push, he'll probably attack you again. Just follow from above, okay?"

They both sighed and then shrugged, finally giving in.

As soon as her friend and boyfriend took to the skies, she walked back over to the giant bull and said to him, "Sorry for the wait."

She honestly didn't know if he understood her… but for now, there wasn't much else she could do but assume that he could. He certainly gave off the impression that he at least got the gist of what she was saying, considering how he snorted gently in response.

"Um… so, by any chance could you show me to Taurus's temple? Or do I have to find it myself to prove I'm worthy?"

The bull snorted again, and then (of all crazy things) he turned to the side and folded his legs up under him so that he was laying down in front of her. She blinked at him, wondering what the heck he was doing.

"I guess… that means you'll be staying here, and I can continue on. Well, thank you for letting me pass."

She gave him a small head-bob of respect and walked around him towards the other side of the clearing, picking her way over all the rubble laying around. However, the surprises weren't over, because with a loud grunt, the bull heaved himself back up onto his feet and trotted up behind her. He was so heavy, the ground shook with his footsteps.

At first, she thought he planned to follow her, but that didn't seem to be the case. He passed her and then circled so that he was squarely in her path again, and she immediately stopped, trying to translate what he was doing.

"Oh, er… was that the wrong way?" she asked and altered her course in a different direction.

Once again, he blocked her path, and they repeated that several times until she'd exhausted all of her options. At that point, she figured that she must have guessed wrong, and he was trying to tell her something else.

"Okay, I'm not quite sure what you want from me…." she told him, standing still and watching his body language for more clues.

When she stopped moving, he laid down in front of her again just like before, and she put her hands on her hips, staring at him in confusion. His actions made zero sense to her.

This was starting to get a little annoying, which meant that her tone was a hair sharper when she said, "Aaaand… now what?"

He cocked his head and looked at her, and she stared right back, wishing he could talk. After a minute, he snorted and arched his neck in a way that made the back of his enormous horn bump into her rear and push her towards him. She stumbled forward with a yelp, having to brace her hands on him or risk bashing her nose into his hide. Even lying down, his spine was almost eye-level.

"Ack! What are you doing?" she sputtered, and then yelped again as he hooked his horn under her butt and actually lifted her a little.

That finally got his message across, and she quickly said, "Wait! Are you saying you want me to ride you?"

In answer, he just head-butted her again – this time lifting her so much that her chest made it over his spine. She took that as a resounding 'YES' and started scrambling to heave herself the rest of the way onto his back. After one more bump of his horn, she was able to swing her leg over and got herself situated astride him.

He was so huge though that her legs couldn't even spread wide enough to straddle him, and there was nothing to hold onto. His fur was too short to grab and there wasn't any loose skin that would provide a handhold either.

"I'm going to fall as soon as he stands up…." she muttered to herself, trying to find some way to stay on him.

Apparently, the bull had an answer for that though. His hindquarters hitched up first, pitching her forward, and she squeaked as she slid up his back. To keep herself from falling off, she lay down, but that didn't stop her slide. She came to a halt on the hump across his shoulders, but he gave a little buck that forced her onto his thick neck.

With a snort, he finally stood, and she ended up straddling his neck with her behind resting on his shoulders – almost like a child would ride their parent's shoulders. The sudden motion of his front half made her yelp again, and she grabbed for his horns to steady herself.

Once he was upright though, he stayed still for a moment to let her adjust, and she realized that this particular position seemed fairly safe. His neck was narrow enough for her to sit astride him, and she squeezed her thighs on either side of it to help keep herself seated… while tightly holding onto his horns like a pair of really, really, really large handle bars. They were so thick, she couldn't even wrap her fingers halfway around them, but she did the best she could.

"Okay… alright… I think I'm good…" she huffed, slightly out of breath from all the exercise and excitement.

The bull snorted and started walking back the way he had come from, picking his way through the trees carefully. Lucy rocked side to side as his shoulders moved, but after a few minutes, she grew used to the movement and let her hips sway with his steps.

They continued on like that for longer than she'd expected. The temple was actually quite deep into the forest, and as they went, the trees gradually got larger and were spaced further apart, until the bull could very easily walk between them. At that point, he picked up his pace, and she had to really hang on or risk falling off.

It was sort of fun though… in a slightly dangerous way. She knew that if she fell, she could really hurt something – or even die if she landed VERY wrong – but even so, it almost felt like she was on top of the world. Everything looked different from her spot on his shoulders, and it was amazing to feel the sheer, unbridled power flowing through every muscle underneath her. Even at a gentle trot, he was faster than she'd ever be, and the wind whipping past her face took her breath away.

He really was a magnificent creature and being allowed to ride him was more than a little awe-inspiring and mind-blowing.

When they finally reached their destination, and he laid down once again, she was a little sad having to climb off him… but at least it wasn't difficult. She just had to sling her leg over his neck and slide down until her feet touched the ground.

He waited until after she took a step back before standing up again, and then he gave her one last nose bump before trotting back off into the woods. As he disappeared, Happy and Natsu flew a little lower and called to her, "Ya think we can come down now?"

"Let's wait a bit longer… he's probably going back to the edge of the forest, but I don't want to take any chances."

As they circled overhead for a few minutes, she looked around at where she'd been dropped off. It was yet another clearing, but this one was much different from the last. For one, it had obviously been here a long time, and it was much larger. The trees surrounding it were absolutely massive, bigger than she'd ever seen before, and they acted almost like a natural wall of giant columns.

That sense of nearly-architecture was underscored by the fact that the clearing was perfectly circular, and the ground was completely flat, covered in an even blanket of grass that reached her ankles. There weren't any rocks or shrubs or weeds to be seen anywhere… almost as though it was a manicured lawn.

Just like the cavern they'd visited before, this place had an innate, natural, ancient-seeming beauty, and Lucy could only imagine how much more amazing it would be once the sun set, and they saw it in its full glory tonight.

"Isn't this place fantastic?" she called up to her two companions, who were still circling above her.

…

.

…

"Yeah, it's awesome!" Natsu yelled down at her.

The place really was cool. He'd never seen anything like it before, and he was SUPER impressed by how HUGE the trees were.

Flying here had been kinda annoying at first… mainly 'cause he was ticked off at the bull for kicking them out. And following from above had been a real pain, 'til Luce started shooting blasts of light from her rings up through the trees for them to see.

After that though, it hadn't been so bad. In fact, he and Happy had a great time flying together, especially since they hadn't had a chance to do it in a while. The only problem might've been if Happy got tired… but Natsu knew he wouldn't. Happy could pretty much fly all day by riding thermals and stuff.

But by now, he wanted to go back down and be with Luce again. It felt weird to be up here while she was on the ground, and Happy obviously felt the same way.

"Luuuuushy… can we come down now?" his buddy yelled after a couple more minutes.

"I guess so."

She didn't sound really convinced, but they didn't wait for a stronger answer. Happy landed them next to her, and Natsu slung his arm over her shoulders.

"Alright! So, we're here! Now what?"

"Well… we have to wait until the right stars rise, so it'll be a little later tonight before the temple appears. I guess we can just sit back and relax until then."

He was about to agree with her when they got interrupted. There was a loud bellow, and the fricken' bull trotted outta the trees again. It pawed the ground and snorted at them, like it was saying, 'Oi! Get off my turf!'

"Uh-oh…" Happy yelped and quickly popped his wings back out and snagged Natsu.

"Dang it. Where'd it come from?!" he growled, ticked off at the big jerk again.

The bull glared up at them for a sec, and then it walked over to Luce and gave her a nuzzle. Natsu snorted and rolled his eyes. He was happy for her and glad they'd made friends and all (and actually kinda impressed too), but he was still annoyed with it.

"Ya do know we're with her, right?!" he yelled down at it, and the bull glanced up at him.

Unless he was totally crazy, he was pretty sure it looked smug. But then, it suddenly went stiff and looked off in some other direction.

Luce was in the middle of asking it, "What's wrong?" when the bull up and disappeared. Literally.

One second it was there, and the next, 'poof'.

"Oh. So that's how it got here so fast."

"Yeah…" Happy agreed. "It must be able to sense when someone's in its forest and teleport to them… or something."

"Looks like."

That made things kinda complicated, and they circled around above Luce.

She called up to them, "Sorry, guys… it looks like you're going to have to stay up there. Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine. This is nothing," Happy said back, cheerful as always.

"Okay…."

"It sure is gonna be boring though," Natsu grumbled, but then a fun idea popped into his head, and a grin replaced his frown. "Hey, Happy… wanna play a game?"

"What kind of game?"

His friend sounded pretty interested, and Natsu could feel his smile get bigger. "Let's see how bad we can piss off the bull."

There were a couple seconds where Happy gave it a good think. But when he started snickering in an evil sorta way, Natsu knew he was on board.

"Heheheheh. That sounds fun. And maybe he'll give up after a while."

"Never hurts to try."

"Aye sir!"

When they swooped back down and landed next to Luce again, she gave them a shocked look and said, "Wait… what are you two doing?! You know he'll come back if you come down here!"

"Yep!"

She blinked and stared at Natsu… then she looked at Happy, like she hoped he was gonna be more sane. But Happy just said, "Don't worry, Lucy!" and she threw up her hands.

"You're both nuts! If you know that, then why are you-"

The bull cut her off. He thundered into the clearing – looking a little more annoyed – and stopped a few feet away to glare at them. He snorted and pawed the ground again, but when they didn't move, he charged.

At the last second, Happy whipped them both into the air. "You can't catch us! Ha!"

"Yeah! Nice try!" Natsu yelled, and the bull mooed angrily.

He glared up at them, huffed and puffed, pawed the ground, and stomped around for a while, but eventually the big guy snorted one last 'phthufoooo' out his nose and then turned to Luce. Natsu scoffed when the bull gave her another nuzzle before he left.

She patted him and apologized for 'the two stupid idiots up there,' (which got a 'hey!' from both Natsu and Happy). And when he was gone, she rounded on them. "What was that for?! Were you trying to annoy him?"

"That's the idea!" Natsu yelled back.

"Why?!"

Happy answered this time as they landed again. "Cause it's fun!"

"Don't tell me you're going to do it again! Stop it, you guys! You're going to really annoy him, and that might affect whether he lets me stay!"

Natsu snorted and immediately dismissed that. "Nah, he loves you."

Before she could fuss at them anymore, the bull charged outta the forest, and this time, he didn't stop. He kept coming, and they hopped up into the air and landed back behind Luce.

"Hey! Don't try and use me as a shield!"

The bull rerouted and ripped up the ground as he came after them around Luce. He wasn't aiming for her at all though, and it was totally obvious that he was being careful not to hurt her. So, she did make the perfect 'shield' – despite her squawking at them to "STOP IT!"

They ran circles around her, keeping Luce between them and the bull. He'd go this way, and they'd go that way, running around and around while she yelled at them. It was all pretty funny.

After a few minutes of that, they flew up again… and then repeated the whole thing over and over again. Since there wasn't anything else to do to keep themselves entertained, they just kept messing with the forest guardian. And despite Luce getting all worried, it never got mad at her. Every time they took to the air again, the bull went over and snuggled up to her like it was some kinda cat or something.

Eventually, she stopped fussing at them and just kinda ignored the whole thing; though it was pretty obvious that she still thought they were dumb.

The bull never did give up, and they kept at it 'til late in the evening. But by sunset, Happy was starting to get a little tired from all the extra-crazy flying… not to mention they were hungry. So, at that point, they were ready to call it quits and try something different.

Happy landed them at the top of one of the super tall trees, and they waited to see if the bull would try to knock them outta it. He showed up like they'd expected, and stopped right at the base of the tree, looking up at them like he was thinking about it. The big jerk gave them a hairy eyeball for a good couple of minutes before he seemed to decide that this was okay. Or maybe he was just tired of chasing them around and didn't wanna headbutt this big tree.

Either way, it worked out pretty good, 'cause he snorted and walked away, and they both whooped at the little victory.

The two of them didn't waste any time making themselves comfy and digging into the food they'd brought in their backpacks. Pretty soon, Luce also climbed up to join them, and they all ate dinner together – which was really nice after being separated all day (and having Luce yell at them for a couple hours).

They stayed up there in the tree chatting and napping 'til night fell and the right stars came out.

'Course, Natsu and Happy were the ones who did most've the napping, and Luce shook them both awake when it was almost go-time. That gave the two of them just enough heads-up to drag their butts outta sleepy-town before the whole scene around them changed. All of a sudden, the clearing got a lot brighter, like the stars were beaming down at it, and a whole bunch of little white spots popped up on the ground.

"Woah… hey… what're those white things?" Natsu wondered, and they all leaned over to look down at the grass.

"I think… oh, wow… I think they're millions of tiny glowing flowers…" Luce whispered, sounding kinda breathless and awestruck.

And in the same sorta voice Happy said, "How pretty…."

Natsu just nodded quietly with his eyebrows hitched up high, 'cause he totally understood where they were coming from. The way it was all transforming was seriously fricken' awesome.

After the little flowers bloomed, there was a flash, and even he and Happy could feel the crazy wave of celestial magic that pulsed outta the place. That light swirled around into the shape of a building and then turned solid in a really spectacular way.

The last temple they'd seen had been all white and glowy… but this one looked like it was made outta pitch-black, glassy, slightly see-through rock that did a great job of reflecting all the stars and shiny flowers. Which was probably the point, and Luce noted, "Wow… it's like the night sky full of stars."

…

.

…

Lucy was as blown away by this temple as the last. It was absolutely breathtaking….

The stars above were echoed in the thick blanket of tiny, glowing flowers below, and when reflected in the glassy walls of the temple, it made the structure look as though it was made from starlight.

Rather than a spiraling pyramid, this temple was a perfectly round wall of arches, several stories tall. The trees surrounding it were still taller though, and from above, she could see that there was no roof to this particular building. Inside, it appeared to be some sort of amphitheater, with a deep depression into the ground and rows of steps leading down to a circular arena (which was also carpeted in white flowers).

Naturally, as the meadow transformed, waves of magic also thickened the air, making her skin prickle and tingle all over. Just like before, it was as though she'd been transported to the celestial realm, and it took her several long minutes after the transformation was complete before she could think clearly enough to climb out of their tree.

"Alright… I'm going down there. You guys stay up here, okay? I really mean it this time. I don't know what will happen if you come down, and I don't want to risk messing this up," she said as she shifted off her branch and fixed them with her most severe stare.

"Aye sir!" Happy replied for both of them, and she just had to trust that they really wouldn't interfere this time.

After eying them for a few more moments to get across just how serious she was about this, she nodded and made her way down the tree. It was definitely a little difficult to do in the dark, so she took her time and made sure of all her footing and handholds.

Luckily, she was able to reach the forest floor without any incidents, and after wiping the sweat off her forehead, she turned to get her first look at the temple from the ground. It was even more spectacular up close, and from this vantage point, she could appreciate how the surrounding trees seemed to create a wall of dark columns around the glowing meadow. The flowers were soft and springy as she walked towards the temple, and petals flew up through the air, making sparkles dance all around her.

In contrast to the soft blanket of flowers underfoot, the temple itself was all hard edges and crisp lines, and as she got closer, she could see that the glossy stone was engraved with clean, geometric carvings.

It was both beautiful and slightly imposing, and she felt herself holding her breath slightly as she walked through one of the archways – which were all open and much taller than she'd anticipated. Unlike the other temple, this one didn't seem to have any sort of barrier keeping people out.

Once she'd exited the archway and entered the amphitheater, she could see that the rows of stairs leading down to the middle were also much taller than she'd expected. They were made of the same black stone and carved with the same geometric lines… and just like the rest of the building, they came to very crisp edges. In this case, 'crisp,' also translated to, 'pretty dang sharp,' as Natsu would probably put it.

So, when she made her way down those stairs, she did it very slowly and carefully.

Of course, the guys didn't really help. They'd taken to the sky again and were circling above, teasing and needling her to entertain themselves. In any other situation, she would have griped at them for being annoying, but she currently didn't have the breath to spare.

Each step was probably the height of her chest, and lowering herself over them one by one was a trial of patience and strength. However, if she went too fast, she was absolutely positive she'd end up skinning herself (probably badly.) Not to mention, she didn't want to risk losing her footing either. The stone was slick, and the way the light reflected off the black surface made it difficult to see exactly where the steps began and ended.

With all of that combined, it took her at least thirty minutes to reach the arena floor, and as soon as she did, she sat down in the flowers and took a breather as she looked around. This view was even more spectacular than the one outside… all those stairs leading back up to the wall of arches, which was crowned by tree tops peeking above. And naturally the black stone still reflected the night sky, making it almost look like she was sitting on a disk of flowers floating amongst the stars.

She was thoroughly awestruck, and despite the difficult climb down, she felt blessed to have the chance to experience something so magical.

Unfortunately, there was one small problem. The bottom arena was just a flat circle… blanketed with flowers… and nothing else. She didn't see any indication of where the key might be.

"So… now what?!" Natsu called, and she shrugged – even though he probably wouldn't see it from where he was.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out! Let me think!" she called back, still slightly irritated with them.

There wasn't much else to do; so after catching her breath, she stood and walked towards the middle of the arena, wondering if maybe she would have to search through the flowers.

Her question was answered as soon as she stepped foot in the center. Suddenly, all of her surroundings melted into darkness, except for the circle of flowers at her feet and the stars above. One constellation stood out from the others, abruptly growing much brighter while all the other lights dimmed – even the glow from the flowers.

Even though she'd already experienced this once before, it was still just as amazing, breathtaking, and terrifying as the first time… and she stood somewhat rigidly as everything happened around her. The starlight thickened and seemed to coalesce right in front of her, and she watched with wide eyes as a golden key manifested within that light. It hung in midair, just like the other had, and after staring at it for a moment, she reached out and gingerly wrapped her hand around the warm metal.

Magic flooded from the key, rushing through her body and filling the air so thickly it made her feel as though she was submerged in golden syrup. Light burst from her hand, quickly growing too bright for her to watch, and she slammed her eyes closed and covered them with her other hand, waiting for the wave to pass.

It did within a few minutes, and as the blinding light and heavy magic finally eased, she gingerly peeked between her fingers and saw that the temple had disappeared. Instead, she was standing in the middle of the now back-to-normal and much darker clearing.

A split second later, Natsu and Happy swooped down on top of her, both of them very hyper.

"That was nuts!"

"Yeah!" Natsu seconded. "There was a big flash of light and suddenly everything just vanished – including you!"

"Oh, wow… really? I guess when the key appears, I really am taken to another place," Lucy squeaked, slightly squashed under both of them as they hung all over her.

"It was really freaky!" Happy cried, smooshing himself into her chest and hugging her. Apparently she'd scared him when she disappeared like that.

"Yeah, it kinda was… but you're back now! So it's all good."

Natsu's voice had grown slightly quieter and more serious for a moment, before going right back to its normal cheerful boisterousness.

"Right," she agreed with them, making sure to hug and comfort Happy (who still seemed a little upset).

"So did ya get the key?"

"Hm? Oh! Yes, I did. See?" She opened her hand and showed Natsu Taurus's key, and he whooped and gave her another hug.

"That's awesome! Congrats, Luce!"

Happy somewhat tearfully agreed, and she smiled at them both and hugged them back. "Thanks, you two!"

Sneak Peek

For the fifth time in her life, she stabbed herself in the chest – plunging the key straight into the center of the magic circle – and she heard both Levy and Happy yell, just like everyone else who'd seen her do this. She couldn't stop to tell them she was okay, but luckily Natsu took over and let them know that she'd be fine while she finished up the magic ritual.

As soon as the door of light appeared, she finally took a normal breath and quickly told the others, "Hurry, we have to pass through before it closes. Stay close behind me."

She walked through first, immediately sent into a dizzying tumble through space. As always, it felt absolutely awful, and she clamped her hand over her mouth and clenched her eyes closed, just repeating over and over in her mind, 'It's going to be over soon, this never takes long. It'll be done in a second. We're almost there. Just a little more….'