Gaining Courage: The Search for the Lost Keys (a Fairytail Galu story)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Water Wars

Lucy POV:

Two weeks after taking care of one of Gajeel's monster missions we arrived at my next stop, a sacred lake that apparently had a monster guardian just outside Dawn City. The nearby villagers had told us that for the last year the lake guardian had been attacking anyone that came near; normally the monster stayed in the deep trench at the bottom of the lake only bothering looters and thieves. Just like I'd warned them I set out into the water alone. As I walked further into the water I heard Gajeel call out about 'getting changed'. Waving at him I called out Cancer and star dressed into Aquarius' form. Hearing his jaw snap shut gave me a feeling of petty satisfaction that I tried to shake off as I waited for something to happen. After a few seconds when nothing attacked us, I gestured to Cancer to follow me. Diving under I used Aquarius's gift of water powers to propel myself down deeper into the lake.

I had been swimming for about a minute whensomething struck me out of the darkness, sending me flying across the lakesdepths. As I regained my senses from the blow I looked back and saw Cancer inan underwater battle with what I presumed was the lake guardian. I was about toswim and help when I got a good look at the monster in the light from thesurface: something wasn't right. There had been depictions of the beast withinthe village and none of them had shown the several black marking spreadthroughout the creatures body. Knowing Cancer could hold his own for a few moreseconds I finally took the time to look around.

Spotting a suspicious black vapour coming from a rock on the nearby lake bed, I quickly swam over and examined it. The closer I got the sicker I felt, so quickly surrounding myself in a bubble lock similar to Juvia's I approached with caution. The moment I saw the similar markings on the rock I took an educated guess that this was the cause of the trouble. Getting it as far away as possible seemed to be the best option so concentrating hard I used the waters around me to force the rock up like a geyser until it was out of the lake and onto the shore.

With that out of the way I turned back to the guardian and Cancer in time to see Cancer take a hit that sent him flying. Closing his gate quickly before he could hit the side and get more damage I was about to swim to the surface and exit the water when a light reflected off the creature. Squinting my eyes, I could just make out a shiny object clutched in one of the guardian's tentacles. Recognising the pull of a celestial key anywhere, I got ready for action.

Activating my whip in water mode I attacked quickly using water bullets at the same time. I knew the guardian was only doing its job so I didn't want to hurt it too badly; all I wanted was the key. Realising that was it I focused on distracting the guardian with water attacks and used my whip to latch on to the key and yank. As the key flew towards me I got ready to move; once it was within my grasp I used my water control to speed my way out of the water as fast as I could not stopping until I was safely back on the shore.

Out of breathe considering I was still in Aquarius form I didn't bother moving as I lay on the bank trying to recover. Before I could get up a shadow fell over me blocking out the sunlight. The moment I heard the 'ghighi' sound I knew who it was. Groaning I forced myself up with the help of what I assumed was Pantherlily's hand considering that Gajeel was still blocking the light. Glaring at Gajeel I quickly checked two things; that I still had the key and that the strange rock was still out of the water and harm's way.

"Took you long enough."

Not bothering to answer back to Gajeel's comment, I slowly made my way over to the rock being careful not to get too close as the closer I stepped the more that sick feeling came back. Annoyed already as the moment I held the key I knew it wasn't Aquarius' I tried to push past my disappointment and think. Still having energy left I called out both Crux and Gemini in Hibiki form looking for answers. It took the both of them a few minutes to come back with a response. It turned out the rock was a dark magic object that gives off negative energy that corrupts whose near it. Sighing, I quickly summoned Aries.

"Aries do me a favour and wrap that thing in the happiest thickest wool you can come up with, and Crux stick it in a corner away from everything else until I can find where to put the thing. In fact could you ask around to see if there is a way to destroy it? Thanks and give my best to Cancer he did great today."

Having dealt with that issue the next item on the list is the new spirit; the fact that it isn't the right key can be dealt with later tonight in my tent when I can muffle the tears. A quick examination leads to the discovery that it is the silver water spirit key for Cetus. Always welcoming of new friends I knew I had to take a rest and recuperate my lost energy before I could meet them. Wandering over to where Gajeel had set up our camp, I collapsed onto the ground and let him grunt around as I breathed deep and long soaking up what energy I could from the only star visible.

After around half an hour I felt recovered enough to try contacting my new spirit. Getting in the standard stance the words of the incantation had barely left my lips before the light of an arriving spirit flashed in the clearing. As it came out the spirit looked like a young redheaded boy about ten years old who was cute even with six eyes in his head. Before I could speak to him Gajeel spoke.

"What in Mavis' name is that?"

Seeing the tears appear in the spirit eyes andhow he flinched at Gajeel's loud voice had me reacting automatically.

"Lucy Kick!"

I didn't even wait to see where Gajeel landed I was already comforting the crying spirit. Shushing him I tried to show him that I wasn't one of those masters. Though I had some basic knowledge of this particular spirit from lore I settled him back and quickly introduced myself. Once he realised who I was his spirits lifted as apparently he had heard of 'the Princess' and was happy I had found him. 

"You can call me Cetus, Master. I have been stuck down there forever. My other key is lost out at sea and I haven't had a master in a long time. Most of my masters prefer my big form. It is monstrous and huge with big teeth and claws. When I'm in water I grow big and am able to control the water and attack with it. I can't really control water like this only a little so it isn't used much but when I'm like this I'm very fast and I can see really far."

Smiling to show I was happy and not at all upset with him or what he said I quickly told him not to call me master and that he could appear however he wanted unless I was summoning him for a specific reason and it was an emergency. When he asked to call me 'Lucy-nee' his big sister I was pleased and happy and couldn't help squeezing the life out of him in a hug as I agreed and finished making the contract and quickly welcomed him to the family.