Chapter-2
The girl and her spirit
.•°Lucy Heartfilia°•.
~•~
You are awesome. Congrats.
It was night right now. The sun has already set in the ocean and the dark sky was illuminated occasionally by the moon and stars. It was a cold night. Luckily, Lucy has a hotel rented... so she won't have to spend the night in a park. She rented it for 2 days and 2 nights. Today was the last night.
She traveled for the whole day in Hargeon. There were just so many attractions that two days seemed really short to see or experience all of them.
Lucy enters her hotel and climbs 2 floors through stairs. 'Number 206', that was her room.
Lucy enters the room and closes the door behind her. She then throws her shoulder bag on the bed, removing her boots.
She walks inside slowly and jumps on her bed. It was really comfy. She lets herself lose, relaxing her muscles that endured all the exhaustion. "Today is the last night..." Lucy mumbles realizing how good this room was, atleast while it lasted.
The room was not too big though. The walls were painted with shade of light blue, a small window giving the view of the calm ocean, a soft bed, a small kitchen, that she didn't really use, and a perfect bathroom.
Maybe I will bath first, Lucy decided. She starts crooning a soft melody, simultaneously taking her clothes off.
She folds them neatly and puts them on the table, beside the bed.
"Natsu must really be sad... he didn't appear again after that incident." Lucy sighs, regretting her actions. He was in her mind throughout her journey in Hargeon.
She stops humming her melodious tune and wraps a white cotton towel around herself. She then stretches her arm, relaxing herself from all the stress she endured and says aloud, "Nothing beats a warm soak after an exhausting day!!"
Lucy opens the door of her bathroom and enters it. Wait... something was odd. The sound of water splashing... someone was here. An old familiar presence was lingering in her bathtub.
"Yo Lucy it's been a whi-"
Lucy stood on her spot for a second and then screams as loud she could, throwing everything she could find towards Natsu. Her ears became red, she was NOT EXPECTING someone to be in her bathroom.
•••
After a good whole damn minute, Natsu, now under a pile of cosmetics grabs the edge of the bathtub and sneaks his head out-"You okay Luce?"
"It's Lucy and why would you break into someone else's bathroom?!" Lucy asks, covering herself, still in a shock from the events ongoing.
"Huh? What's the problem? We have bathe together too."
"Only when we were 7."
"We were of same age at that time."
"Yes."
"We are still of the same age."
"Yes. But... but we were kids at that time and now we are grown ups."
"Seems same to me."
"Alright buddy, the fun is over. Now get out." Lucy concludes their little argument, pointing outside the door.
"Alright, alright"
Lucy goes out the bathroom and waits for Natsu to come out. He took unexpectedly long but Lucy didn't mind. He was just wearing a towel and his scarf.
"Where are your clothes?" Lucy asks, not much surprised.
"Oh them... I forgot", Natsu replies sincerely. "I think I kept the new pair folded in the celestial world-"
"So why are you just wearing a scarf!!" Lucy asks, not satisfied with Natsu's answer.
"What do you mean? Why will I leave my scarf in celestial world." Natsu says, surprised and confused at the same time.
Lucy sighs. Why are you so dumb... Natsu. "Alright, nevermind. Just let me take a nice warm soak. You can go back if you want." Lucy says, while entering the bathroom.
Natsu shrugs and stretches his arms. He looks at the fluffy bed. Then looks at the bathroom. It was closed. He grins and does a elbow drop on the bed. "Damn...this thing is so cozy!" he whispers and starts to roll on it.
"Come to think of it, I never told her about my scarf", he whispers, struggling with the bed.
•••
Lucy double checks if the door is locked. After inspecting it thoroughly, she takes her towel off and slowly walks toward the bathtub, sliding her palm against the cold marble of the wall.
She gets inside the tub and let herself sink in it, feeling the warm touch of water, relaxing her mind and her body. "It good", she mumbles and closes her eyelids. "Natsu..."
11 years ago
It was raining heavily. Dark clouds dominating the sky completely, blocking light from reaching the earth.
It had been a month since Lucy's mother, Layla died.
Lucy stood by the window of her room when she saw someone, someone of the same age as hers near her mother's grave, soaked completely wet in the rain.
People only came and visited the grave till a week after Lyala's death. It was new for someone to visit after a month. Mother must be really close to that kid...but she never told me about anyone...
"Who is that..." Lucy says to herself, with keen interest. "Maybe a girl... no.... wait...a boy."
Present day
"Maybe I should tell her..." Natsu mumbles, now lying motionless on the bed.
"..."
"Or maybe not" he changes his mind and starts rolling all over the bed again.
Its been 15 minutes since Lucy went to take a bath.
Lucy was now felling sleepy while sitting in the bathtub. She wanted to get out now but her body refused. It was just too relaxing.
But her tired eyes were opened wide open by a loud thud in her room. "Natsu! is that you?!" she shouts from inside, a bit worried.
Natsu shouts back, painfully- "It's alright! Don't worry I am definitely not checking your stuff."
"Really...." Lucy says in a voice full of pity.
"Don't break privacy of others without permission." Lucy says with a sigh.
"How do you know." Natsu replies, in utter shock. Still in pain.
"I am a celestial wizard you know." she says in a voice filled with pride, still in tub, curling her hair around her index finger.
(It was Lucy's regular reply to such questions. She really flexed her being a celestial wizard...)
"I am really sorry." Natsu says, unzipping something.
Lucy recognizes what Natsu was unzipping. She moves her muscles that were refusing to even twitch and gets out in a hurry. She almost slipped because of her wet feets. She wraps the cotton towel that was hanging on the door as fast as she could.
She then opens the door, stretches her right hand out and announces pointing towards Natsu without wasting a moment, "Hands off from it Natsu!" But it was too late.
"You writting a novel... Lucy?" Natsu asks in a teasing tone looking at Lucy with one eye and looking at a pile of loose A4 sheets with another. Only some sheets were used. Most of them were blank.
Lucy's hand that was streched out starts shaking. She flusters and walks towards Natsu.
"Its nothing!!", Lucy says snatching the shoulder bag in which sheets were kept. Her cheeks were red from embarrassment.
"I won't tell anyone you know. No need to feel like that." Natsu says stretching his arms and interlocking them behind his head, "The fun was just about to begin." he complains to Lucy. In a high pitched voice, he imitates the starting lines of the novel, "Once, there lived a girl named Iris-"
"Just go back." Lucy cuts him. She goes back into the bathroom to wear new pair of clothes, taking the bag with her. She did not trust Natsu anymore.
After a minute she comes to find Natsu still there, in the same towel and scarf.
"You look like a pervert in those clothes." Lucy says as she drys her hair with her towel.
"Thanks." Natsu replies sincerely to the compliment.
"You really are clueless. So what do you want?" She asks turning off the lights of bathroom and keeping her bag on the table, out of Natsu's reach.
"I said I became stronger in the morning"
"Yes. What about it?"
"You never asked how..."
"I thought you meant that you can now open and close your own gate..." Lucy says, hoping that she is wrong. She wanted a strong spirit. Heck it will be best if Natsu, her best and only friend, gets stronger just like that!
To her delight, Natsu says with a toothy smile "That's not all! I mastered another type of fire magic."
Lucy stood on her spot, just waiting Natsu to say. She was stoned by her excitement. She listened patiently, not wanting to interrupt him in between.
"It's called... NO! Even better I will show you!!" Natsu jumps off the bed taking a fighting stance. Lucy gets alarmed.
Natsu didn't got a chance to show his magic because he was smacked by Lucy before he could do anything.
"What was that for!" Natsu moans in pain and annoyance keeping his hands on his head where Lucy smacked him.
"You are not planning to burn this room are you?", Lucy says with a sharp look on her face.
"Ah...no...no why would I", Natsu says avoiding eye contact. But after few seconds he makes the contact with Lucy's eyes. They were dead serious. Now that makes him confess the truth- "Alright-alright... this magic may burn this whole hotel."
Lucy had mixed emotions, fear, excitement, curiosity and many more. Just how powerful is this magic?
This time, she decided to act calmly. "I knew it. If that's the case then let's go outside."
"Right." Natsu says joyfully. He was expecting a nice scolding from Lucy, but didn't got any! Is it a lucky day?
Both of them were excited. Natsu was excited to surprise Lucy with his magic and Lucy was excited to see just what he had learned.
However, their excitement did not last for long.
Lucy was just about to tie her hair with her ribbon when she noticed Natsu's appearance.
"Wait! Are you fine going in middle of the street with that clothing?" Lucy says, stopping Natsu who was just about to open the window to jump out, on the road.
"Sure. Why not?"
"Well I am not fine with it!" Lucy turns back towards the cupboard beside the bed and searches for a piece of clothing that could be fit for Natsu.
As expected, she didn't find any.
She still takes her time to find at least one. She really wanted to see his magic this time. But still, no luck.
"Well I don't think we can go out today." Lucy declares already exhausting from the thought of holding Natsu back from using his newly learnt magic.
To her surprise, Natsu was no longer in the room. His towel was lying on the ground, the place where he was once standing.
"Natsuuu !..." She calls his name several times but no reply came. He was nowhere to be found. She deduced that he must have exhausted his magic from opening the gate for too long and returned back to the celestial world.
Now this was a bummer.
Lucy picked Natsu's towel and hung it back in the bathroom. She then walks towards and then lies on the springy bed, spreading her body across it. She feels her arms and her legs sinking into the bed.
Again...this relaxing sensation. Her eyes growing heavy and mind slowly relaxing. Eveything was going blank... But she remembers something that makes her dart out of the bed.
"The key! Gosh damn it! How can I forget!" She scolds herself for being so inconsiderate.
She searches the pocket of her blue and white stripped shirt kept on the table. The key but it wasn't there.
"Did I forgot it somewhere?" she thinks but instantly remembers that she kept it in the leather key holder instead.
She looks for her key holder and finds it still hooked to her belt. She found the silver key among the bunch of others. There were now 5 silver keys Lucy owned including the new one she got.
She takes out the key that was not familiar to her and looks closely at the design of the bow of the key. It was a something weird... something like a beak.
. . .
Suddenly her eyes widens as she recognizes the key. Instantly, she chants,
"Open, gate of Canis minor, Nikora."
A white light engulfs the room, creating a spectacular scene. It lasts for some good seconds. Then the white light recollects itself into a celestial spirit.
Nikora was a little celestial spirit. He was snow-white in color, almost like a little snowman. Nikora had a nose that resembled carrot too, for some reason. The most noticeable features of all was his body.
It was shivering...
"Cutteee" Lucy screams, hugging Nikora. "I always wanted one."
"Pun Pun", Nicora says in a low shrill voice.
"Oh right I am sorry-" Lucy keeps Nicora down, releasing him from her breath chocking hug.
"Pun Pun Pun~" Nicora says, raising his paw in the air.
"Oh right I have to give you a name too... so how's Olaf?"
"Pun Pun" Nicora shakes his head in disagreement.
"Snowy?"
"Pun Pun" He shakes his head again in disagreement.
"Pun...? Oh...umm then how's Plue?"
This time Nicora raises his little paw in the air and wags his little tail in agreement.
"That's great. From now on you are Plue!"
"Pluennn!" Plue tires to repeat his name.
"OK then... let's make the contract.
Can I call you in Monday-"
•••
This is how Lucy got her 5th silver key, making total of 8 keys in her arsenal. She always dreamed of getting this many keys, but today it was reality. Times are really changing...
Lucy was really tired from her day in Hargeon. So she did not intend to talk with Plue for long.
After making contract, she closed his gate and went straight for the bed.
"Man that was a heck of a day." She mumbles, struggling to push her mouth against the pillow.
After only a minute if lying on bed, Lucy falls asleep, with all the lights turned on in her room. She was too tired to care about them.
•••
She woke up late in the morning on the next day. In fact, she didn't woke up on her own...
Knock knock knock...
"Oo Plue yu r do kute", Lucy says she speaks softly before waking up. Her heart was pounding from the sudden awakening, her eyes were burning.
"It's morning already?!" she moans, still thinking about what she said before waking up, completely forgetting her dream.
Knock knock knock...
"Coming!" Lucy yells with a yawn.
She stretches her pink shirt and payjamas, her night suit, to fix the wrinkles on them and slowly strolls towards the door.
"Who can be at this hour?" She kept thinking but no name came to her mind. She sighs and opens the door, only to be greeted by a annoying individual.
"What took you so long?!!" a lady shouts at Lucy making her skip a beat.
Lucy takes a good look at the women. And then realizes that she is screwed.
"Oh it's you ma'am." Lucy says politely to greet the manager of the hotel, finally fully waking up.
The manager of the hotel was a middle aged women, really short and her hair were white. She had spectacles on her wrinkled nose. She wore a purple dress that... that didn't suit her to say the least.
"It's 10 am right now.", the manager says folding her arms, expecting Lucy to panic.
Lucy really thought that the manager was going to ask about lights or something. I mean... why else would a scary manager give you a personal visit? But clearly, that wasn't the case. Lucy replies "So..? Is there something I can do to help you?"
The lady took it as an open challenge to her domain. She was not expecting it.
She pushes up her spectacles using her index fingers and gives Lucy a scary look, "You surely haven't forgotten that you have to leave today, have you?"
Now reality hits Lucy like a truck. She was supposed to leave by 9 am today but it's already 10! She gives a glance over her shoulder and sees that everything is unpacked, thanks to Natsu. Maybe not because of the lights, but still she is screwed...
"Oh noway I will forget that....hahaha" Lucy say, still in shock. But the women was a tough one. She did not intended to give Lucy a way out because of her innocent smile.
The awkward laugh continues for a few seconds. But lady was still staring Lucy in her eyes, a scary stare.
"Ah... Okay I forgot." Lucy admits her defeat.
"Good girl... better follow the rules next time. For now pay extra for every minute you stay." The lady says lowering her spectacles, giving off a little smirk. She had won in her domain yet again.
"It would be good for you if you hurry up." She adds before leaving. "Every minute is 100 Jewel."
The manager closes the door with a thud, leaving Lucy alone in the silent room, with just the echo of the door being closed.
Lucy sighs after the manager's footsteps were completely gone.
"Damn it." She curses and quickly runs towards her room. "100 Jewels for every minute..?!"
"I need to do it as fast as I can. Hologium? Lyra? No, maybe Cancer...No! Natsu is perfect. Today is... no wait! I can call him anytime!" She mumbles to herself.
She takes out a key from the key holder and chants, almost in aggression,
"Open Gate of the Dragon Palace, Natsu!"
Natsu appears from thin air in front of Lucy, "Yo how has it been Lu---" before Natsu could complete Lucy says, "Save it for later. For now help me put everything back."
Natsu looks around the room. Lucy's yesterday's clothes were kept on a table, not neately, the bed was full of the stuff that Natsu took out the other day, accompnied by the clothes that Lucy tried to find for him. The bathroom had some of the cosmetics scattered all over.
It was a mess, no doubt about it.
"Geez you should have cleaned it before sleeping-" Natsu says, keeping a hand on his stomach.
"And whose fault do you think it is" Lucy snaps quickly.
"Alright I will help you", Natsu sighs, knowing he can't win the argument.
•••
They start by gathering all the stuff including clothes, cosmetics, food packets etc. It was rather fast than what Lucy expected.
Then comes the hard part. Packing them in the properly in the 'roller' suitcase Lucy had.
It was kept above the cupboard. Lucy had a habit of keeping her room neat, atleast on a first glance. So she often kept not-oftenly-used items at a place that made her room look clean and where no one could see it. (not that anyone would visit her).
"Natsu, bring down that suitcase", Lucy says pointing towards the cupboard, picking up a pair of clothes to change.
'O-OK", Natsu replies, hesitating for a bit.
Lucy rushes in the bathroom to change her clothes. It only took her a minute to change. When she just kept her hand on the door handle to open it, she heard a scream of pain... "Natsu?"
She rushed outside to see what happened. Natsu was lying on the floor, clenching his stomach with the suitcase on his top.
Lucy sighs. "Honestly....Wha--"
Words doesn't come out from her mouth as she sees Natsu screaming silently in pain. She realized it was a real deal.
Natsu always put up a 'brave man' actx but seeing him in this condition was really new.
"It's n-nothing really", Natsu says, clearly in anguish.
Lucy didn't waste a moment. She fetches pain-relieve balm she carried along with cosmetics and rushes towards Natsu, who had curled up into a ball.
Lucy sits down beside him and puts Natsu's pink haired head on her lap. Natsu doesn't resist, unlike he always did. Well, he was not in a condition to resist.
"It will be all right." she says in a reassuring voice, opening the little bottle of balm.
"It's alright. You don't have to." Natsu says as Lucy takes his right hand in her hand, that he had been keeping on his stomach the whole time. It was suspicious from start but Lucy never thought about this possibility.
To her shock, he had a blue-black bruised spot on his stomach...a big one. It covered a large area of his abdomen. It was as if someone painted that region.
Lucy covers her mouth as her eyes narrowed. But it didn't last long. She can't just sit around like that! After a moment of shock she gently rubbed the balm against Natsu's abdomen. Natsu made a few sounds in pain but soon stopped.
He was panting heavily. His body was becoming sweaty. Lucy removed Natsu's scarf and fanned him with it, not knowing what else to do.
"You don't have to help me always. You can tell me, you know, if you are not well or something. We are friends...right?" Lucy says feeling guilty for summoning Natsu.
"T'is just a scratch. Also where's the fun in leaving you alone. You have been such a clumsy girl from childhood. No way I am gonna leave you all by yourself!" Natsu says calming down a bit.
"Seriously... are you for real.." Lucy says in a worried-happy voice shedding a tear. Natsu gently and quickly wipes it.
"I will always protect you...I promised... but in this condition...I am sorry."
As Natsu says this, he starts turning into glittering embers. It started happening just now.
"Wait...what?!!" He says in surprise.
"Rest for a bit... spirits heal faster in the celestial a world, don't they?" Lucy says, wiping last drops sweat from Natsu's face with his scarf.
"You can do forced closu-" Natsu completely disappears. The room was silent once again.
"That idiot." Lucy says hugging his scarf to her chest.
Her morning is ruined...
Lucy wanted to ask him what happened but it was clear from his face that he didn't wanted to tell. So Lucy decided not to trouble him anymore.
She stands up and starts packing her belongings into the suitcase, alone.
•••
Lucy and Natsu had a very close relationship for a celestial wizard and a spirit. There are usually many restrictions in a contract with celestial spirit. One restriction being the spirit taking the belonging of the owner in the celestial world.
This wasn't the case with Natsu and Lucy. So Lucy exploited this and made Natsu take many of her belongings in the spirit world, which weren't always necessary but were nostalgic or something. She made him bring them when needed. He even had her dressing table in the celestial world!
So she only carried essentials. But these essentials were way too much.
After 30 more minutes, she was ready to leave. She picks up her shoulder bag and the roller black colored suitcase.
She gives the room a final glance and mutters to no one, "It was fun... Hargeon is a great destination after all."
She was just shutting the lights off when she noticed something peculiar.
Natsu's scarf, that he never took off was still lying on the bed.
"He told me it was a celestial cloth." Lucy sighs, taking the scarf in her hand. It was supposed to vanish along with him but it didn't.
She for the moment concentrated on leaving the room. Can't afford to give more free money to that old hag.
She hurries down the stairs, two storeys tall. She reaches the reception and hands in the key of her room to the manager.
The manager gives a sadistic smile that gives Lucy goosebumps.
Lucy gives her rent for 2 days, with some extra amount of Jewels.
"That's enough", manager says counting the money Lucy gave her. "Visit again anytime sweetie.", she smirks making Lucy more annoyed.
"Thank you... miss.", Lucy said before departing and keeping her foot on the land of the sizzling sun.
"Man this is murder." she whispers keeping Natsu's scarf in her shoulder bag and taking out the job flier she took the yesterday.
One step was enough to tell her that this sun is going to be annoying. Encouraging herself, she said, "Spade Town, here I come!"
11 years ago
The rain was growing heavier with every second. There was no time to waste. Lucy hurries outside her room to find Mrs. Aed who was a servant working at the Heartfilia estate.
"Mrs. Aed can you lend me an umbrella?" Lucy says in her childish shrill voice.
"But where are you going at this hour, child?" Aed asks with concern on her face after glancing at the dark clouds.
"Its nothing... I will be back in few minutes. I wont leave the gadern. I promise", Lucy insists.
Mrs. Aed hesitantly agrees and lends her a small umbrella, fetching it from the cellar. It was an odd request that kept bugging her.
Lucy hurries outside, opening the umbrella.
"I hope he is still there", she kept mumbling to herself.
The clouds were now roaring with lightning. It was completely dark outside and Lucy really hated darkness. The only time darkness faded was when lightning rumbled in the sky, which was even worse.
Gathering up courage, she walked towards her beloved mother's grave
She took each step with caution and froze still when she heard thunder rumble.
She was still a small child and found it hard to keep up with the wind that was constantly trying to blow her umbrella.
But she didn't gave up, even when her one-piece pink frock got wet and covered with mud. She was determined to meet this boy who knows her mother. She wanted to talk to him... it wasn't something she would have wanted normally.
But today was different. A thought kept her going. "Maybe we can be friends..."
She steadily walked towards her goal. At last, she was finally able to see the boy. He was wearing a scarf around his head, covering his forehead and his clothes were slightly torn up. He was glowing in the dark for some reason...
Lucy could hear the boy weak constant uttering "You lied...".
She didn't knew what to say as she never really talked to children of her age. More exactly, she rarely met anyone of her age. So she said in a cheerful voice "Hey there, I am Lucy. And why are you glowing like a lightbulb?"
The boy startled and looked at Lucy as if his dying eyes got a light of hope, "Wait... hold up! But... how? You can see me?!"