13 Chapter 13

Lucy swept her blonde hair over her shoulder and studied her reflection in the mirror, her brown eyes shining with anxiety. Sure, it was just a meeting to discuss important things with people that were friends (Natsu's words, not hers). But that didn't mean she couldn't look decent. Hair loose, jeans, and a nice shirt was what she'd decided to do, along with a pair of heels that gave her an extra few inches in height.

What?

She didn't like being shorter. And while the heels didn't make her any taller than Natsu, they definitely helped her feel better.

Lucy gave herself a final once-over, then hummed to herself as she made her way out of the bathroom. Her gaze searched out Natsu and Happy, and she rolled her eyes when she found them with their noses buried in the book they'd been reading. She plucked it out of Natsu's hands, tucking it into her purse and earning a rather nasty glare for doing so. "Time to go, or we'll be late."

Happy pouted. "I wanna come…"

Natsu patted his friend's head soothingly. "Sorry, little buddy. Not like Lector or Frosch is gonna be there either. If they brought them, I bet Luce will be nice and let them all come over."

Lucy glared. "If they eat half as much as you do, then hell no. You better be paying for your own food today."

"I am," he replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. He was dressed in simple yet decent clothes. A pair of jeans, sandals, and a simple T-shirt. And, of course, his scarf was wrapped around his neck. She eyed it, but said nothing but, "At least you won't look completely ridiculous...it is rather chilly."

He tugged it away from his face. "It goes where I go. Better get used to the idea now."

She shrugged, then gave Happy a look. "You can read any of the books on that shelf," she told him, pointing to her bookshelf. "And you can watch TV. Don't bother trying to read my work on the laptop though; there's a password. Promise not to destroy the place and I'll be nice and bring you a fish or something."

"Aye, sir!" Happy cried cheerfully.

Lucy checked her phone, quickly shoved it into her purse, and then pulled her keys out, dangling them in front of Natsu's face. "We're taking my car."

Natsu moaned, face tinged with green at the thought. "C'mon," he pleaded, a pout sliding onto his face. "Anything but transportation...ugh…" He shuddered at the word, looking ready to be sick all over her carpet.

"Puke," she hissed, eyes flashing, "I dare you."

"Natsu gets bad motion sickness; all of the dragon slayers do," Happy informed her with a smug little grin. "Don't worry, it's normal. Sting and Rogue might be a bit under the weather when you weirdos show up."

"I want Wendy," Natsu whined.

"What on earth can Wendy do?" Lucy asked, bewildered.

"Troia," was all he whimpered, dropping to the ground to hide his face in the carpet. Lucy lightly prodded him in the ribs with her shoe-clad foot, arching an eyebrow as she told him to stop being so dramatic. She knew exactly what he was talking about. She remembered reading about the Troia spell on the website and knew immediately why he wanted it.

...I need to make another account on there...using my pen name of course, if I use my real name, people will be all over me in an instant…

Lucy grabbed Natsu by his scarf and proceeded to haul him out the door. "We'll be back, Happy! Remember what I told you!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Honestly," Lucy scolded as she dragged Natsu outside and towards where her car waited. He moaned and groaned and whined pitifully the entire time. "You'd think I was murdering you…"

Natsu slid out of the car and practically melted onto the cement beside it, lying face down. Lucy flushed at the strange looks he received and locked the car before going to crouch in front of him, her lips puffed up in annoyance. "Come on, Natsu, it wasn't that bad. I'm a good driver."

He shot a look at her from piercing onyx eyes. "...not my fault I - gah! - get sick!"

She rolled her eyes. "Not my fault you're an idiot," she retorted with a sigh. Feeling pity for the poor dragon slayer, she gently patted his back. She remembered getting motion sickness a few times in her childhood, when her mother had still been alive. It wasn't fun, and she expected getting it to this extent was even worse.

A few minutes later, Natsu was finally able to haul himself up off the asphalt. Almost immediately, a cheerful grin spread across his face, and the dragon slayer's energy returned. He yanked Lucy to her feet - she winced at the strength behind his eagerness - and then demanded, "Where we going?"

"This way," she instructed, making her way towards a building only a moment's walk away. They entered and Lucy asked for their reservation, smiling charmingly at the waiter as she did so. Natsu glared at him over her head as he told her shakily that their company was already there.

Nerves struck her, and Lucy had to pause to take a deep breath. Natsu remained a silent comforting presence, watching her carefully as she focused on calming down while they walked. There was no sign of the flames that sometimes flickered to life - something she was relieved about.

Finally, they arrived at a spacious booth, where three people already sat on one side.

Closest to the wall was a dark-haired man. His hair fell in front of one of his eyes so that it was hidden, but the other was a piercing red that distantly reminded her of Gajeel. A scar crossed over his nose, and he was dressed simply, as far as she could see, in a hoodie.

The one on the outside seat was a blond man, his hair only a shade lighter than her own, his blue eyes gleaming as they swept over her form. A scar decorated his face, too, over his right eye. Unlike his dark-haired companion, however, he was clothed in a strange way that Lucy didn't dare even try to figure out, complete with a fur-lined vest and gloves that tied off at his upper arms.

Sandwiched between them was a woman with silvery hair that was a little darker than that of the Strauss siblings'. Dressed similarly to Lucy in a nicer outfit than the two guys, her brown eyes sparkled happily as she waved at them both, standing carefully. "Hello, Natsu," she greeted warmly. "And you must be Lucy?"

"Yes," Lucy agreed, extending a hand to shake. Yukino shook it happily as she introduced herself.

"This is Sting, the white dragon slayer," she introduced, waving at the blond. "He's the Sabertooth guild master. And this is his partner, Rogue. He's the shadow dragon slayer."

Lucy smiled at both in greeting. Sting gave a huge grin of his own while Rogue only nodded slightly. Yukino waved for them to sit, and Lucy slid into the Fairy Tail side of the booth with a soft sound of relief. Natsu slipped in beside her, a smirk playing along his lips - until Lucy sighed and said, "Sorry we're a bit late, someone can't handle vehicles, apparently…"

Yukino laughed softly, resting her chin on her folded hands, elbows placed carefully upon the table. "Oh, I understand. They weren't much better this morning after sitting in a car for hours on end yesterday."

Sting scowled, as if annoyed by this. "It's not our fault you didn't let us fly here on our own," he muttered, earning a nod of agreement from both Rogue and Natsu. Then he shot a grin at Natsu. "So, Natsu," he said cheerfully. "We heard you guys finally got to take down Phantom Lord."

Natsu's eyes glowed happily. "Damn right we did. They decided to take Levy, and since they broke the laws of the Magic Council, we had permission to get her back forcefully." He grinned, showing off those sharper-than-average canines, smoke rising from his fingers in his excitement. Lucy cleared her throat, tapping one of his hands with a pointed look. He blinked, then waved his hands so that the flickers of fire died down. "Shit," he mumbled. "Forgot about that."

"Well make sure you remember, because I don't think I can be Lisanna today and watch everything you do," Lucy muttered, then yelped when he threw an arm around her shoulders and leaned most of his weight on her. She nearly toppled over, silently wondering just how much he weighed.

"They grabbed Lucy, too," he informed Sabertooth. "And 'cause they involved someone who didn't know anything about magic, they helped out. And we get to keep her."

"I can see that," Yukino murmured, smiling brilliantly at the Fairy Tail emblem on Lucy's hand. "Moving on… Why don't we get business out of the way before we eat? Lucy. You don't know anything about your magic, so I'll explain what I know. As you're probably aware," she said, sitting back, her eyes thoughtful. "I was not born able to use magic, like you are. I learned of it by accident only a few years ago when someone broke into my home and decided to dig through my things for a cursed object."

"That was an accident," Sting grumbled. "I thought no one was home. Rogue lied to me."

"I did not," Rogue replied, finally speaking up. His revealed red eye gleamed with amusement and Lucy mused to herself that maybe something was wrong with the other, or maybe it was just the way his hair was. "I told you to be quiet because someone might hear you."

Lucy giggled. "Better than the way I learned," she told them with a grimace.

Natsu huffed.

"Anyways," Yukino continued. "Because I wasn't born with it, not only is my knowledge limited, but so are my abilities." She gave a sad smile, pulling something out of a bag that she'd set on the floor by her feet. She placed what she'd pulled out on the table, and when she drew her hand back, there were a few keys. Five, Lucy counted. Two gold, two silver, and a strange looking one she couldn't even begin to describe.

"What are these?" Lucy asked, curious. She glanced at the other woman for permission before picking up one of the gold ones, peering curiously at it. As she did so, it warmed beneath her touch, shuddering, and she nearly dropped it in shock.

"Keys," Yukino laughed. "They open the gates of the Celestial Spirits they belong to. These two gold ones are two of the Zodiac. Pisces and Libra. This silver one here is Deneb, and that one's Polaris. And this key right here," she finished, holding up the strange one, "Is Ophiuchus. I have contracts with each and every one of them."

"Wow," Lucy breathed, studying them. Curiosity flashed across her face. "Where'd you get them?"

She shook her head, looking thoughtful. "Various places. Magic shops. Rewards on jobs I've taken. Not really sure where I got Ophiuchus, though. His key just showed up one day." She laughed to herself, completely unbothered. "One part of being a celestial mage is forming contracts with the residents of the Celestial Realm. It hasn't happened to me, but if you're lucky, a Spirit will approach you on its own accord and will request that you create a contract with them." She touched the keys affectionately. "Libra told me it hasn't happened in a very long time, though."

Natsu suddenly interrupted their conversation with a snort. "None of 'em usually like us dragon slayers, either," he muttered with a pout. "Don't like dragons period."

"And they won't tell us why," Sting agreed, studying Lucy with curiosity. Natsu shot him a look that nobody else saw, and Sting rolled his eyes before glancing at Lucy again, tilting his head. "You look familiar...have I seen you somewhere before?"

The way the young blonde tensed didn't go unnoticed by Natsu, who gave her a suspicious look. "No," she said firmly. "You shouldn't have. My books - I'm an author - don't have my picture in them." For damn good reasons, too. Hurrying to change the subject, she smiled faintly at Yukino. "Is that true? They don't like dragons?"

Yukino nodded, giving a small frown. "It's strange...every time I summon them, they avoid Sting and Rogue like the plague. You'll have to see if it's the same for you." Suddenly, she gave a huge smile. She pulled out a sixth key, a silver one that she slid to Lucy. Lucy took it with wide eyes. "That's a key for the Canis Minor Spirit, Nikora. It's one I picked up a few weeks ago and haven't made a contract with, so I figured I might as well give it to you."

Lucy stared at her with a stunned look on her face. "Are you...are you serious?"

"Of course," Yukino laughed. "From what I've been told, Nikora isn't a Celestial Spirit you can use in combat, it's more like a pet, but you'll be able to practice using your magic with it. Once you can summon it, you'll be able to keep it out of the Celestial Realm and work on your store of magic power."

"Thank you," Lucy said, her voice full of gratitude. She cradled the key in her hands, studying it, and then reached for the purse she'd placed beside her, safely tucking it away into her wallet. "But how do I summon it?"

"Yukino usually just...swishes the key," Sting offered.

Rogue promptly smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Ignore him, please," he pleaded.

Lucy only giggled.

"I open the gates that allow the Celestial Spirit through," Yukino informed her with a sigh of exasperation. She used her hand and sliced downward. "Like that. With the key in hand, though. When I first began using my magic, though, it helped me to call them with words, as well. Usually the Spirit will hear you calling and come forward." She smiled. "Just be careful...having too many out at once or using them one after the other can drain your magic, even kill you if you're not careful."

"Got it."

Natsu spoke up now, his eyes serious. "Levy mentioned there were other bits she could use, too. That you can't."

Yukino pressed her lips into a thoughtful line. "Yes," she admitted. "There are rumors of her being capable of many things I am not in regards to the celestial magic. I was told by Ophiuchus - he doesn't really care much for the rules of the Celestial Realm, and he really shouldn't have told me - that there are certain spells that only those born with celestial magic are capable of." She rested her chin on her hand. "For example, Star Dress. It allows you to share powers with whatever Spirit you have summoned, but there isn't much more I know. The last one to be able to use these kinds of spells...well, they were alive thousands of years ago."

"Huh," Lucy murmured. "Guess I'll have to ask my own Spirits about stuff like that when I get them…"

"Definitely," Yukino agreed, then waved for a waiter, tucking her keys away. "Now. Shall we eat?"