"We're home!" The little girl yelled as she ran through the front door of her home straight to the living room, milkshake cup in her right hand, small black box in the other. She had been holding it this entire time, not once putting it down, even for a second. Her mother had offered to hold it during the time they were out, but she wouldn't give it up.
"Welcome back. What kind of trouble did you get into with your mama?" The older man jested at the small child before picking her up for a big hug and leaving her to sit on his hip.
"I didn't get into any trouble this time, I promise papa!" She puffed her cheeks out with disagreement, letting out a little huff as she finished speaking.
"Hmm… I don't know, I don't think I believe you." How could he resist poking fun at her when she just looks so cute every time.
"I was! Ask mama, I didn't!" Voice raised but not yelling. Although for such a little girl she had quite a big voice when she wanted to, if you asked her mom she would tell you the girl gets it from her father. He wouldn't disagree.
"No, she behaved herself the whole time." The older woman let out a slight chuckle after she spoke and walked over to plant a soft kiss on the child's forehead, and then gave another one to the older man on his cheek. After this brief conversation she walked away toward the kitchen to throw out her empty milkshake cup and put down the box of cookies she had picked up at the sweets shop earlier that day. She didn't want to come back empty handed for her husband, after all, she knew he liked the cookies from that shop and they rarely ever go out of their way to get them.
Back in the living room the little girl was still telling the man all about her day today, still so excited about what happened today she couldn't stand in just one place as she told him everything. She told him about the milkshakes and the sweets shop, how they ran into one of her friends and his mom while they were walking home, even about a cute dog she met while it was out for a walk with it's owner. She was so excited that she almost completely forget to tell him about the gift her mother had bought for her at the 'antique' shop. It wasn't until the taller man asked about the box in her hand that she had been holding the entire time that she remembered.
"So what's with the box you've been holding onto this whole time?" He gestured to the black rectangular box in her left hand.
"I almost forgot the best part!" She seemed surprised by her own forgetfulness, she also gets that from her father. "Mama bought me this at the magic shop! isn't it so pretty?" She handed the man her half empty milkshake to hold as she used her now free right hand to open the box and show him. In the box, sat on a small pillow of a soft red velvet material, was a shiny key made of gold. The key had a small gold loop sat atop the bow, the bow itself was sort of an odd shape, more curvy than round, extending out of that was a long slender stem attaching the bow to a less than normal tip. Rather than the usual key wards you would find on a house key it was in the shape of a goat head. Nothing about this key was really usual when you stopped to look at it, but he couldn't argue with the girl, it sure was pretty.
The older woman, now back in the living room with the other two, had finished with her business in the kitchen and she decided to join back in on the conversation. She hadn't missed much of the story, considering she had spent the day with the girl and was there for everything she had already told her father about. This didn't mean she was not interested in chatting with the two. Once the older woman entered back in the room she took it upon herself to get comfortable on the couch, to give her feet a little break from running around with a child all day. Since she was already taking the time to get comfortable she decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to also take her hair out of the ponytail it's been sitting in all day. Finally freeing her hair, she let her short but beautiful bright blonde hair relax, combing her fingers through it a few times to make sure it wasn't messy. With his wife back in the room, he decided to invite her into the conversation by shooting a question her way.
"So how much did this cost anyway?" The man asked as he sent a questioning gaze towards his wife, referring to the box in their daughters hands. Knowing her, it was cheaper than originally priced, but the key still looked like it fared for a good amount of jewel.
"Not much."She wasn't a huge fan of telling him the exact price she paid for a key that doesn't do anything, so with that answer she chose to change the subject right after. "Do you remember when those other versions of us showed up 7 years ago?" This question seemed so out of the blue to the man, he didn't see the connection between this story and the key his wife bought at the magic shop. Was there supposed to be a connection? Or was she just avoiding the answer? He wondered for a moment.
"Well yeah. How could I forget? Its was so weird seeing two of you in the same place." He also remembered how strange it was that the other versions of them were so different, almost complete opposites. "But why would you bring that up out of nowhere?" He didn't really see where she was going with this.
"Do you remember all that cool magic they could use? It was so different from the magic we used to have here." She paused for a moment, thinking about how amazed she was at seeing a human man breathing fire as if he was a dragon from an old storybook. Then she thought about the magic her counterpart had used, the pure golden glow of her magic when she used it was so beautiful, the woman wished she could see it again someday. "The magic my other self could use was so amazing, and it looked so pretty. Do you remember? She used these golden keys to make people appear to help her fight, and those keys looked just like this key we found in the shop. How could I not buy it?" She was now reminiscing fondly on the memories she had from that time.
"Did she have keys? Hmm... I don't quite remember." The man joined his wife on the couch and scratched his head, trying to recall.
As they both sat there in thought, the little girl stood by studying the key with such an enchanted look in her eyes, then there was a sudden knock at the door. Both snapped out of thought to look at each other as if to ask if they were expecting somebody, neither of them were, so who could it be? There was only one way to find out, so the blonde got up from her spot on the couch and made her way to the front door. As she opened the door to find out who was on the other side knocking on it, she discovered it was none other than a good friend of her's and a long time guild mate.
"Juvia? What brings you by here?" It wasn't an unpleasant surprise but a surprise nonetheless.
"Well, when Greige and Juvia ran into you and Nasha earlier today it just gave him the idea to have a little play date today. So Juvia decided to stop in to see if that would be okay with Nasha." The blue haired woman couldn't help but show a smile from how cute she thought the whole situation was.
"Oh of course, that would be a wonderful idea, let me go get Nasha so you can ask her yourself. Does that sound okay Greige?" The blonde bent down to the little boy's eye level to ask him. He just nodded his head, still half hidden behind his mother's legs, the boy has always been quite shy.
Leaving the door open to quickly turn around and grab her daughter from the other room, the blonde didn't want to keep the pair waiting too long.
"Who's at the door Lucy?" The man asked his wife as soon as she returned to the room. Having resumed her milkshake after her mother got up to answer the door, the little girl finished drinking it and put the empty cup down. She was paying full attention to her mom because she was also curious.
"Little Greige is here with Juvia, and he wants to ask Nasha a question." Lucy looked over at Nasha to see if she was listening, and she was. "Do you want to come talk to him?" She directed this question at her daughter, smiling a little because she knew what the answer would be.
"Yes!" And with that, the little girl immediately ran towards the front door, key in hand. Her father also decided to get up from his place on the couch to go say hi. "Greige! My mama said you came by to ask me something." Excited to see who she considered to be her best friend, even if she did already see him today only an hour ago. "What is it?" Even though the boy was shy that was okay, because she spoke enough for the both of them. Before the dark haired boy could speak Nasha's parents showed up behind her.
"Hello Natsu." Juvia greeted the little girl's father as he appeared in the doorway.
"Hey Juvia. It's good to see you and Greige here, you guys don't stop by too often." The pink haired man offered her a friendly smile to go along with his greeting. "Hello Greige." He also shot the little boy the same friendly smile.
"Hello uncle Natsu." Barely above a whisper the boy responded, he has always been so soft spoken.
"So you came all this way just to ask my daughter a question huh?" There was a slight teasing undertone to his question. Greige has always been quite a shy little boy, but everybody can notice he's a little more nervous around Nasha specifically.
"Yes, I wanted to ask her if we can play together today." He didn't even direct the question at the little girl like he was meant to, but he was still a little extra nervous about it.
"We can play right now! We can go to my room and I can show you this super cool new thing my mama bought me today from the magic shop in town!" So excited and not able to wait any longer, she grabbed the boys hand and pulled him out from behind his mother's legs and led him into the house, heading straight to her bedroom. The adults all let out a little chuckle at the girls antics.
"Juvia, why don't you and Greige stay for dinner? I was just about to start making it." Lucy offered, figuring the kids would probably still be playing together long after dinner time.
"That sounds like a good idea, Juvia can help you prepare the food." The blue haired woman offered, before coming into the home and closing the door behind her.
In another part of the home, the two kids were sitting on the floor of Nasha's bedroom while she was showing off her newest prized possession; her golden key. She had taken it out of the box and was waving it around the room, like she had heard her mom talk about earth land Lucy doing in her stories.
"Mama told me these keys used to be for making people appear" She didn't really understand how it worked, Greige didn't either. "Mama said that it opened gates or something, but I've never seen a gate with a keyhole like this." Nasha tilted her head for a second to think about it, but gave up, it wasn't really that important. She just likes the way it looks.
"If it's magic, then maybe it's for a magic gate?" Greige may have been the one to say it, but that doesn't mean he knows what that meant. What even is a 'magic gate'?
"Of course! That makes so much sense, you're a genius Greige!" Nasha seems to have figured out what that means. What a relief for the boy, a magic gate was the only thing he could think of, and even that wasn't much of a sound suggestion.
How much help is it to know the magic key goes into the magic gate? After all, there is no magic in Edolas, everyone knows that. Well, there isn't supposed to be magic in Edolas. But if there is no magic in this land, how do you explain what happens next?
"If it's magic then maybe i need to magically make the gate appear." Nasha was awfully confident in saying this as if that would do anything. How would she magically do anything without magic? That won't work. Right? "Goat gate, appear!" The girl chanted. Nothing happened. "Goat! Open the gate!" She doesn't seem to be giving up. Still nothing happened. "Golden gate open!" Still nothing. "Open Gate for the golden goat!" Close enough.
Just as Nasha had finished chanting the 'almost' right words, something did happen. There was a big bright glow, so gold in colour that it was the only thing you could see, it was blinding. Although the little girl wanted something to happen she never truly believed anything would, so when something actually did, she was scared. Neither of them knowing what to do and being scared, their first instinct was to grab on to each other as fast as they could. Just barely they had made it in time to one another, holding hands as tight as possible hoping the other won't let go. The flash of light only lasted 3 seconds, but within those few short seconds the two children who were just playing together vanished completely, without a trace.