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

Chapter Thirty: All For One

I couldn't help but beam at the thought of someone else understanding the spirits right to choose. Nodding to show I agreed I stepped back and once more examined the keys to see who I'd found. As I stared at the keys I was at first stumped as to who I had discovered. The three spirits being set together must mean something and with that idea firmly lodged in my mind I ran through the name and description of every spirit I knew of. As the thoughts of three together, sisters, brothers, linked sped through my mind I finally realised what keys were in my hand. Carina the keel, Puppis the stern, and Vela the sails: together they formed the legendary vessel the Argo.

After realising who I had I froze. These keys were almost as hard to come by as the zodiacs especially all together. There were legends told about these spirits about how they helped a great hero of ancient times conquer an army of skeletons. How no spirit mage in centuries had held all three at once so the ship had not been seen in recorded history.

Holding all three in my right hand I could feel the keys slowly awakening as they sensed my magic starting to come to the surface. Taking my stance I could feel the words flow through me and called forth my summoning.

"I call upon thy in the world of the celestial spirits, I beckon you to my side at once, pass through the gate, open gate of the sails, the keel, the stern come forth Carina, Puppis, Vela, I summoned thy Argo."

As the ringing and lights began I could feel the pull on my power. An original calling always cost more magic than a contracted spirit and with three linked keys I knew beforehand that it would be a drain however even I was shocked at how much magic this summoning was taking; it felt like the first time I tried a double gold key summoning. Holding strong as I had been building up my power capacity through meditation over the last year, I watched in awe and shock as Pyxis' key also started to glow and I felt him use my power to open up his own gate. Now I knew where I had seen that symbol before, the arrow on all three other keys was also on Pyxis'. As the three new spirits and one contracted appeared in their true form I could feel the overwhelming joy of a family reunited run through all four spirits. 

Before the shocked audience floating in mid-air was a magnificent sailing ship. I could tell even Gajeel was impressed at this new spirit as the ship was not only floating without means but it gave off remarkable levels of magic energy. A voice that oddly felt like four voices in sync called forth into the air seeking its new owner.

"Master what would you command?"

Before I could speak I felt myself being pulled upward and onto the vessel. Hearing Gajeel's shout of fury I quickly leaned over the side and waved to show I was alright. Getting right to it as I didn't know how much the four spirits could differentiate as one being and so didn't know it the Argo knew what Pyxis knew I decided to start from scratch.

"Argo, my name is Lucy Heartfilia. And I am not your master I am your friend. Pyxis is one of my spirit family and he will tell you if he's able that I treat all spirits as equals and not as tools. I will ask you to make a contract with me but should you refuse I will not force you. If you want I will return you to the temple or should you allow pass you to another mage who sees her spirits as family. The choice is always yours. "

Suddenly the air around me shifted as four transparent figures materialised on the deck. Looking closely I was relieved to see Pyxis waving one of his little wings at me as he stood next to what I assumed were his sisters. The first figure on the left stepped forward. As it got closer I could see it took the shape of a giant crocodile with a depression in its back making it seem hollowed out. When a deep but smooth voice spoke all my ears heard (and probably Gajeel's as well with his dragon hearing) were a series of 'tick tocks', the difference was in my head as when she spoke my mind understood, just like Plue just like Pyxis.