Chapter 26
Revelations, revelations~
I apologize for any grammar errors that I have made! Read and Review!
Disclaimer: You know what would happen if I owned either of these two... ABSOLUTE CHAOS! And plot holes all over the place.
Earthland~
"You're beginnin' to hold up well, Bunny-Girl." Gajeel suddenly told her.
Lucy looked up at him, surprised. She quickly wiped a bit of sweat away from her head. "Really?" She asked him, a little winded with the run.
The Iron Slayer nodded with a grunt. "Yeah, ya aren't dyin'." He grinned and added his usual laugh.
She laughed and nodded. "Guess you're right about that." She agreed. Compared to the very first week, she wasn't dying in the guild afterwards as much. Well, it had been a pair of weeks now, so it should go that way preferably. "So does that mean we'll do some actual fight training soon?" She inquired.
"Gihi, you wish!" He laughed at her, to which Lucy replied with a scowl. He looked down at the blonde, grinning at her expression, then, finally, noticing the extra clinging of her keys and looked down curiously to see at least one key he had never seen or heard before. "Oi, Bunny. New keys?" He simply asked.
She looked at him confusedly for a moment, not quite understanding what he meant, but then it dawned on her. She smiled and pulled out the four keys. "Yeah, Hibiki gave them to me yesterday, when he came by." She explained. "It's Aries, Scorpio and Gemini of Angel's." She told him and separated the silver key from the three gold ones a little. "And this is Solarium, a lost key, which had once belonged to his now dead girlfriend, Karen Lillica. I'm not sure if you heard, but she was Loke and Aries' former owner as well." She said.
He raised a pierced eyebrow. "Lost key?" He repeated. He couldn't remember ever hearing that or if it was supposed to mean something special.
Lucy nodded and placed them all back down on the chain. "Yeah, that means the constellation was abandoned, for one reason or another, and that there only are the ones left, which are already owned by a mage." She said and looked at him. "They can be as rare as the Zodiac keys." She said with a smile.
"I see." He simply replied, remembering Lucy telling him about the pony. "That guy knows about Earth too, right?" He asked her.
She nodded. "Yeah, he does." She confirmed as they turned a corner, turning in the direction of the guild.
"Don't ya think it's about time you tell the guild?" He asked. Someone outside their own guild knew before they did, it seemed wrong to him.
Lucy stared at the Iron Dragon Slayer for a moment. She knew what he was thinking, and he was right too. It was unfair of her to not tell her own guild first, although she hadn't had much of a choice back there. "It is, isn't it?" She asked him.
Gajeel nodded. "Imagine you go on a mission with someone other than me or your team, and then, when you fall asleep, you just disappear." He said. "It wouldn't be pretty." He added.
She nodded. "Yeah, I know, you're right.." If she was knocked out and disappeared during a mission, sure, she wouldn't be in the way, but maybe if the ones she was on a mission with couldn't find her, they'd get distressed during a battle, or just shocked that she disappeared, and then their opponents would take advantage of the distraction. "I'll tell them when I get back there, I promise." She told him, to which Gajeel simply grinned.
At the guild~
The last of the run and a quick bath later, Lucy once again arrived at the guild, waving around to everyone who looked in her direction. She saw Gray and Natsu already far into another fight in the middle of the guild hall, and Elfman looking like he was about ready to join at any point in time. Erza was having a conversation with Gajeel and Levy, a little bit surprisingly. As she entered, the three turned their heads towards her, and gave her various different forms of reassuring smiles.
Lucy smiled back. So it seemed Gajeel had at least told the two of them what she was planning to do. That was probably for the best too.
She didn't have to look around for long, before she found the old master sitting by the bar desk, enjoying a bottle of some kind of alcohol, dressed in his ridiculous 'joker' costume, with Cana sitting close, but with a barrel rather than a bottle.
She quickly made her way to him, hoping he still had yet to be drunk. "Excuse me, master." She called out to the old man.
The guild master looked up from his bottle and at the blonde in front of him. "Ah, yes. What is it, child?" He asked her, putting it down with a goofy smile.
"There's something I would like to tell everyone..." She trailed off, and looked out over the very much noisy guild. "If you would please." She said and gestured towards her friends and family.
Makarov stood up on the desk and cracked his back, before looking out at everyone with determination in his eyes. "BRATS! CALM DOWN!" He bellowed through the hall, easily overwhelming everything else and instantaneously silencing the whole building. "Lucy would like to say something." He said before plumbing down and giving the blonde the spotlight.
Lucy nervously rubbed the back of her hand, what with the entire guild's attention on her. "Thank you, master." She thanked him with a little smile. "So, uhm, there's something I'd like to tell you guys..." She started slowly. "And I should have told you earlier, but..." She trailed off.
"It doesn't matter, you're telling us in the end, right?" Mira asked, gently urging her to continue.
Lucy smiled and nodded. "Yeah." She agreed, her determination awakened with the barmaid's forgiveness. Although that didn't make it any easier so figure out where to start. "Do any of you believe in the existence of other worlds?" She started.
This question earned her a lot of confused frowns from her guild mates. "Lucy, you insanity's showing again!" Cana said, beginning to chuck down another barrel, while some began chuckling at the drunkard's word.
Lucy shook her head. "I do." She said, once again silencing everyone in the room. "Because every time I go to sleep or get knocked unconscious, I go there. To another world." She said.
"Child, what is it you're telling us?" Master asked her confusedly.
Lucy smiled. "It's hard to understand, I know, but it's... Well I guess you could say it's an ancient tradition for Celestial mages." She said, finally feeling a little comfortable standing in front of all these people, who she loved and cherished, listening to her intently. None of them seemed about to consider interrupting her. "Every night, when I fall asleep, or when I'm knocked out, I will go to this other world, Earth. It is a world without magic, but... More focused on technology I guess. It's a test the Spirit King put every Celestial mage through when they're around 17 to 20 years old." She told them.
"Why is this, if I may ask?" Freed inquired from the second floor, where the remainder of the Thunder Tribe sat, even though none of them were actually S-class.
Lucy turned to face the green haired mage. "Of course, Freed." She reassured him with a smile. "It's because at this point in time, every Celestial mage's magic goes through a 'transformation' of sorts, in which our magic reserves get very small and... Well..." She trailed off. "In this period of time we're weak." She said and didn't look at a single person in the crowded hall. "In most cases, we feel week. We can see how quickly our friends keep progressing and how slowly we do ourselves. But in the rare case someone does not actually think or feel like that, there will be people telling said person they are." She explained. Realizing she was about to go off topic, she quickly returned to what she was doing. "Anyway, that's the basis of the test, actually. The Spirit King shows us another world, in which we won't be the weak ones and where we'll be accepted by the people there..." She trailed off, trying to prepare herself for the last part.
The master quickly seized the pause. "It is my hope you don't feel that you aren't accepted here, Lucy." He said, saying what everyone else wanted to.
Lucy looked at him confusedly for a moment. "What...? Oh!" She had meant they would accept her having magic, not like that... "No, of course I don't!" She reassured him, quickly shaking her head.
Erza stepped forward, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "I believe what Lucy meant was though there is no magic on Earth, the people she meets there, will accept the fact that she possesses magic and that she originates from another world." She reassured the guild members, whose faces revealed relief when Lucy nodded in agreement.
They both turned their heads towards the white cat, when she cleared her throat for attention. "This test, am I right in assuming it is to see whether one can handle the pressure of this... 'Transformation'?" She asked.
Lucy tilted her head a little, impressed with the cat. "Something like that, actually. But it'll make more sense when you know everything." She replied.
The redheaded knight nodded. "It is quite important to mention, that if a Celestial mage even once says out loud that he or she wishes to stay on Earth forever, this will happen. The mage will be stuck there forever, even though he or she may wish to go back here." She explained.
The guild gasped at this information and began muttering between themselves, until their attention was instead turned to Lucy, where they bombarded her with frantic questions and statements such as 'Lucy, you're not weak!', 'Lucy! Are you going to stay at Earth?!' and 'Please don't leave us!'. They were so many and so loud, the blonde couldn't find head or tail in them.
Before it could become so much panic would settle in the targeted mage's mind, the pink-haired savior jumped up on the table and spouted flames all over the place, making everyone shut their mouths. "OI! SHUT UP! Luce is not like that! She won't leave us!" He yelled at all of them, his voice carrying through the now silent hall like a sharpened knife.
A certain laugh was heard from the corner of the room. "Gihi! And even if she does that, we're gonna haul her ass right back here." Gajeel promised, to which everyone agreed.
Lucy smiled happily at all of the people around her. "Thank you, guys." She thanked them all, happy with their support. Of course, they didn't know everything yet, but that probably basically covered everything they 'needed' to know... If they wanted to know more, she knew they would ask her.
Suddenly Mira came out from behind the bar and wrapped Lucy in a hug. "Oh, Lucy! Thank you for telling us." She gushed.
Lucy felt another female arm land around her shoulders, weighing her down heavily. "Oiiii, Lucy~" Cana sang drunkenly in her ear. "Are there any cute guys~?" She asked the blonde.
She smiled a little and gave a nod. "Yeah, there are, actually." She agreed. Cana and Mira both pulled away from her and gave her gazes, which demanded she tell them all about these boys. "They do a lot of training, are quite tall, beautiful eyes and messy hair..." She trailed off, gauging the expressions on the girls' faces, and grinned. "And they're about Wendy's age." She finally added.
Instantly the two girls' faced dropped and the sighed in frustration. "Oh, come on now, Lucy. Don't do this to us~" Cana whined.
"That wasn't fair, Lucy!" Mira added.
Lucy laughed. "They're really cute, all seven of the boys, and the girl too." She reassured the both of them.
While the two ladies grumbled about her lie, the master called out to her, Macao and Wakaba flanking him, having grabbed bottles of their own. "Lucy, my child, may I have a word with you?" He asked her, beckoning her over.
Lucy nodded, excused herself to the two grumbling girls. She smiled at the old men. "Yes, what is it?" She asked politely.
The guild master returned her smile. "Ahh, it was simply that I wanted to ask you why it is you decided you wanted to tell this to us today." He told her.
"Well, master, that's because Gajeel suggested it." She admitted. "Then reflecting upon the fact that Hibiki Lates of Blue Pegasus knows about this before you do, as he witnessed my travelling to the other world during our latest mission, I thought it was about time I let all of you know as well." She explained to him.
For some reason, every time she would have to talk with the guild master about missions, she would just change to the language she was brought up with. It was in all likelihood because it reminded her of whenever she had to tell Jude something, as she couldn't use a relaxed or familiar tone of language with him if she didn't want to be grounded or anything like that.
Makarov nodded thoughtfully. "I see." He simply commented.
"Also." Lucy said, drawing their attention back to herself again. "In the future, if you did not know, it might serve as a hindrance for you, giving the opponents an opportunity which they should not have gotten." She explained.
The master smiled at her, while the other two were already blissfully drunk. "I see your point, my child. It was a good decision, thank you for telling us." He thanked her.
Lucy smiled and was about to reply, when she was cut off. "OI! LUCE!" Natsu called from the other end of the hall. "C'MERE!" He told her.
The blonde sent the old man an apologetic smile, which he quickly waved off, before she proceeded towards the Fire Dragon Slayer.
He grinned brightly at her. "Tell us something about Earth!" He said.
Lucy looked around at all the people gathered around. Not only were Team Natsu there, Team Shadowgear and Gajeel were there too, as well as Cana, Mira, Elfman, Wendy, Carla and she could feel the gazes of the Thunder God Tribe in the back of her head. Little Romeo was sitting on Mira's lap, looking really excited.
Lucy smiled, nodded, and sat down with them all. "Well, what do you want to know?" She asked, having no idea where to begin.
Cana put down her barrel. "Why don'cha tell us about these people you've met over there?" She suggested. Lucy raised an eyebrow at the brunette's suggestion, having thought she had lost all interest in them. The drunkard only grinned a little wider. "They may be young now, buy y'know, it won't last forever." She reassured the blonde.
Lucy laughed. "Right, right." She said. "Well, the first ones I met were two boys around Wendy's age. Akashi and Midorima." She started out.
Later~
After hours of trying to explain each of the people she had met on Earth, Akashi, Midorima, Momoi, Aomine, Kuroko, Murasakibara, Nijimura, Haizaki, Kozo and Mary, she had been forced to also explain basketball, how schools worked and also how they could survive without Lacrima. All in all, a long explanation.
"It's quite hard to believe, the existence of another world." Freed commented. Somewhere along the way, the Thunder God Tribe had abandoned the second floor in favor of being able to hear what Lucy said instead of straining their ears and attention.
Lucy smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah, I know, it was hard for me too." She admitted. It had been, but bringing that blazer with her home back then kind of made it impossible to not believe it had happened.
Mira tilted her head with a confused frown on her face. "So, every time you fall asleep, you go to... Earth, was it?" She asked.
Lucy nodded. "Yeah, that's right. But it's not only when I go to sleep, it's also when I'm knocked unconscious." She added, seemingly only confusing the barmaid more.
The blonde heard heavy, approaching footsteps and saw Gajeel grinning mysteriously at her. "I think this calls for a demonstration, gihi!" She didn't even get to catch the meaning, before a sharp pain erupted from her neck and blackness covered her sight.
.... I know.... These chapters get shorter and shorter... And I'm really sorry!
See, I think the explanation is I'm trying to figure out how to proceed with the story line, as not much has been happening yet, to be brutally honest. But, I figured it out, and as such had to cut this chapter short. I guess it'll make sense with the next chapter, or perhaps it won't. Well, either way, let's see if I can manage to make the plotline progress just a bit, shall we?
Either way, hope it was somewhat enjoyable though. It had to be done sooner or later.
Thank you to everyone who has read, favorited, followed and reviewed!
~Line464d