//------------------------------// // Keys in Disarray // Story: Spike the Fairy // by PonyJoel //------------------------------// It's 8:00 in the morning. Spike and Lucy are waking up after having a good sleep. "Morning, Lucy," Spike yawns a little. "Morning, Spike," Lucy yawns a little. Spike and Lucy get up and starts making their beds. They hear the front door knocking. "I'll get it," Spike says, allowing Lucy to use the bathroom first. He opens the door to see Natsu and Happy. "Hey, Spike. Ready to get some work done?" Natsu smiles, looking down at Spike. "Hey, where's Lucy?" Happy flies into the apartment. "Hey, Natsu. Lucy is getting ready. We just woke up a few moments ago," Spike answers. "Great! Get ready and come on! We have work to do!" Natsu excitedly expresses. "Hold your horses. I need to freshen up too," Spike said. After an hour of getting ready for the day, Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and Spike head to the guildhall. On the way there, talks about strange phenomenons and anomalies all around Earth Land has been the main topic. Lucy complains about not having the chance to eat breakfast since Natsu and Happy are in a rush. When they enter inside the guildhall, Mirajane and Kinana are present while the entire guildhall is empty. "Whoa," Spike said in awe. "The whole place is cleared out," Lucy said in shock. "Weird, where did everyone go?" Happy asks. "It's like a graveyard in here," Natsu said. "Is there an S-Class trial coming up, and we weren't informed?" Spike asks. Natsu, Happy, Spike, and Lucy go up to the bar to speak with Mirajane and Kinana. Mirajane and Kinana are cleaning the dishes and bar table. "Is everyone else out working or what?" Natsu asks Mirajane. "Yea. Between the weather and natural disasters, folks have been hurting out there." "So, naturally, the guild is just about buried in job requests," Kinana noted. "Hey, I'm great at disasters, so let me at 'em," Natsu claims. "Giddyup then, I want to check out that request board," Happy says. He's on top of Natsu's head. "This is perfect. My Celestial Spirits are pretty much born with putting nature in its place. They'll rock this," Lucy smugs at the idea of using any of her spirits to make things better for society. "Just point me to a town that's overheated, and I'll have Aquarius flood the place with cool water." "Along with you, Lucy. You should know how she feels about you," Happy reminds Lucy about Aquarius' tone with her. "There was a place like that, but Juvia and Gray beat you there," Mirajane said. "What about a location that needs repairing. I'm sure Taurus could rebuild the entire town singlehandedly," Lucy asks. "Sorry, Erza took that job a while ago," Kinana says. Kinana and Mirajane tell Lucy the jobs that would have been perfect for her Celestial Spirits. Spike questions about Nab Lasaro taking a job when Mirajane explains that he read too many horror comics and has decided to skip work for this week. Spike wonders if Wendy and Carla ran into Captain Sparrow, blowing wind for his ship to move. "Man! These jobs are real lame!" Natsu complains. He wants something intense, not boring. "Isn't there anything that'll be worth our wild?" Happy asks then turns to Lucy and Spike. "This is your fault! If you two would have hurried up instead of taking your precious time, we would have gotten real work!" "You caught us when we were waking up! We have our routines in the morning!" Spike barks at Happy. "No kidding. You made us skip breakfast because the two of you were such in a hurry," Lucy responds to Happy's claim. "No need to fret. I have a job that has Lucy written all over it," Mirajane says. "Thank you, Mirajane," Lucy graciously says. "You're a lifesaver," Happy says. "Oh ho, stop it," Mirajane slightly blushes. "Take a look," Kinana gives the flier to Natsu. "There's a little coastal village called Seabellus that needs help with research. There's a pretty hefty reward too." "150,000 Jewels. Sounds legit. Let's get a move on," Natsu says. "If we make it back before Gray does, we can call him a slacker," Natsu chuckles at the idea. Spike takes a look at the flier. "I never heard of this village, so flying is out of the question." "No..," Natsu realizes that motion sickness is on its way. Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and Spike leave the guildhall and goes to the train station. Natsu sweats like crazy because of his unavoidable motion sickness. They board the train and sit in their seat. The instant the train moves, Natsu feels queasy and slumps over. "That didn't take long," Happy said, watching Natsu suffering his motion sickness. "I should have asked Captain Sparrow for more of those Motion Relieve pills," Spike said. "Not.., fair.., Just throw me out the window, I'm dying," Natsu says in pain. "No way. It'll take us days to get there. Just endure the trip for two more hours," Lucy says. "Two... hours! Kill me now..," Natsu pleas. Lucy reads the flier. As it states, a Celestial Wizard is wanted to investigate a disturbance with the Celestial Spheres. It's a possible cause of recent changes in the climate throughout Earth Land. Lucy proclaims that Celestial Wizards are hard to come by these days. Unfortunately, the flier doesn't say who the client is so, to pass up the time on the train, Spike, Lucy, and Happy come up with theories left and right. Two hours later. Spike carries Natsu off the train while Lucy and Happy hop off. A wagoner is stationed with a sign asking for Lucy, Natsu, Spike, and Happy. Natsu wants to walk, but the wagoner mentions that their assistance is urgent. Without further ado, Natsu musters enough courage to ride the wagon to their destination. The wagoner instructs Lucy to take his wagon and follow the map. He's banned from the village ever since he broke several laws in his drunken state. It's 12:30 in the afternoon. Lucy halts the wagon in front of a beach where the village is supposed to be. Spike carries Natsu off the wagon while Lucy and Happy investigate the area. "Beautiful beach. However, I don't see a village," Spike said. "We notice," Lucy and Happy said in unison. They are dumbfounded at the moment. "Did we get ripped off?" Natsu asks. He sniffs for anyone around the area. His scent picked something else up. "That smell, what is it?" "What are you smelling, Natsu?" Spike turns to Natsu. The waters near Lucy and Happy start rippling as a gigantic sea slug make its presence known. Happy and Lucy flee away from it. "Whoa, that's huge!" Natsu said. "Spike wants!" Spike increases his size to half a dragon. The gigantic sea slug is the same height as the Kraken Spike fought a few days ago. "Here, Natsu, get your fill!" Spike throws a fireball at Natsu. "Thanks, buddy," Natsu consumes Spike's flames and powers up. "Fire Dragon! Iron Fist!" Natsu lunges at the gigantic sea slug. It eats him. "Hey!" Spike punches the sea slug in the face. "Spit him out now!" Spike punches left and right at the sea slug, trying to get it to sput Natsu out. "Open Gate of the Waterbearer! Aquarius!" Lucy places her Aquarius Celestial Key in the waters. She recites the chant over and over. Aquarius doesn't appear. "Fine! Open Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!" Taurus doesn't appear. "What's the deal!" Happy panics at Lucy's situation. "Why won't any of my spirits come out and help me!" Lucy complains a bit. She doesn't understand why her Celestial Spirits are neglecting her. "Fire Dragon Roooooooar!" Natsu unleashes his fire breath inside the sea slug. The sea slug spits Natsu out. "Ice Spike!" Spike conjures an ice spike from the ground, causing the sea slug to hurl back a bit. Spike grabs the sea slug from behind and performs a german suplex on it. "Time of payback for eating me!" Natsu is fired up. "Fire Dragon Rooooooooooar!" Natsu unleashes his fire breath a second time. This time, it went into the sea slug's mouth. The sea slug winds up consuming too much that its blown away. "Yep, I don't think its coming back," Natsu watches the sea slug flying in the skies and landing far out into the ocean waters. "I wonder if it's a relative to King Shark?" Spike ponders a bit. He reverts to normal size. "Thanks for the assist, Spike. Your flames are still delicious." "You're welcome, Natsu. I couldn't risk doing critical damage while you were in there. So, Lucy. What happened with your Celestial Spirits? Are they on strike?" Spike turns to Lucy. "I don't understand. My Celestial Spirits didn't come to my aid," Lucy takes a look at her Zodiac Keys. "Have you tried summoning all of them?" Natsu asks. "Only Aquarius and Taurus. I might as well try the rest of them. Hopefully, one will show up." "Well, try. Bring Loki; I want a piece of him," Natsu says. "Okay," Lucy tries to open Loki's Celestial Gate. He doesn't appear. Lucy tries the rest of her Zodiac Spirits. Not one of them appears in front of Lucy. Lucy starts getting depressed. "Something must have happened. I know you well enough, Lucy. You love and care for all your spirits," Spike says. "Maybe they all partied too hard and got wasted?" Happy theorizes a bit. "Maybe a Celestial Spirit decided to become evil, and all hands were on deck?" Natsu theorizes a bit as well. "Maybe they got sick and couldn't make it?" Spike gets in the mix of coming up with theories. "I don't know," Lucy sadly sighs. "Well, with the Zodiac Keys out of the way, why not use your Silver Gate Keys?" Spike asks. "Good idea," Lucy takes out her Crux Key. "Please, let it work," Lucy prays a bit in hopes of seeing her Celestial Spirit. "Open Gate of the Southern Cross! Crux!" Crux appears in front of Lucy, hovering in mid-air. "It worked!" Lucy excitedly shouts. "Wow, you did it! Long time no see Grandpa Crux!" Happy greets Crux. Crux falls; he's weak at the moment. "Grandpa Crux!" Lucy becomes worried. "Whoa, man. You okay?" Natsu checks on him. "What the hell happened to him?" Spike walks up to him. "I'm afraid not..," Crux weakly replies. "You're badly hurt," Lucy says, now examining Crux's condition. "Talk to us. What happened to you?" "Just tell us what their name is. Spike and I will take care of the rest," Natsu said. "Agreed," Spike concurs with Natsu's statement. "Something awful has happened.., in the Celestial World..," Crux says. "Wait, what do you mean?" Lucy is confused. "Okay, one of our theories may be the truth behind the disappearance of Lucy's Zodiacs," Happy says. "Either sick, drunkenly wasted, or going after a rogue spirit," Natsu said. "Will you guys quit it and let Crux tell his tale?" Lucy irately says. "Sorry, Ma'am," Natsu and Happy say. "Ms.Lucy. Heed my words. The Celestial World and Human World will be destroyed if they aren't put to a-" Crux is interrupted by a sudden attack. Natsu grabs his friends and lures them away from the attack in mere seconds. Multiple explosions appear while Natsu dodges each one of them. "What attacked us?" Lucy looks around. "Maybe those moles have kids?" Happy answers. "Not likely. I don't think moles use magic," Spike says. Natsu sniffs. "I know that scent." "Natsu, where's Grandpa Crux?" Lucy asks. "Aaaaaaaaaah!" Grandpa Crux wails in agony. He's held high in the air by a whip. "Ms.Lucy! Run while you can!" Grandpa Crux pleas. "Shut your mouth," The woman said, who's using the whip to hold Crux in place. "The punishment for trying to help humans is severe." "Hey! Who are you?" Lucy demands to know who the woman is. "The scent doesn't lie. We know her," Natsu said. "No..," Lucy looks at the woman thoroughly. "She'll never hurt a friend of mine." "I like to hurt things. It's the best part of being the Maiden," Virgo said. "Oh, yeah," Virgo sinisterly smirks. "Please.., help me!" Crux begs for help. "Your cries are giving me the shivers," Virgo takes delight in Grandpa Crux's suffering. "Hey, let him go!" Natsu demands. "It can't be her? Can it?" Lucy is having doubts despite seeing Virgo in front of her. "Maybe she's from Edolas?" Spike suggests. "Why do you say that?" Happy feels like he's losing brain cells. "I fought a sadistic version of myself. Perhaps she's the sadistic version of Virgo that was brought here years ago by the Anima?" "Whoa!" Happy's mind blew with that theory. "I wouldn't come up with that answer," Natsu is in shock with that theory. "Foolish creatures," Virgo shakes her head at the accusation. "Go back where you belong, traitor!" Virgo closes Grandpa Crux's gate key. "Or maybe not," Spike takes back his claim. "She forced the gate to be closed!" Lucy is in shock. "Tell me, are you actually Virgo?" Natsu wants answers. No more delays. "Who else would I be?" Virgo responds. "I don't know why or how but, Virgo's personality got switched. Judging from her physique and demeanor, I want to say that the rest of the Zodiacs suffered from the same fate." Natsu, Happy, Spike, and Lucy gasps. Virgo tries looking for the fifth person who made that claim. "Apparently, she has forgotten about me residing in you, Spike." "Even so, she's not Virgo. The Virgo I know is not sadistic," Lucy said. "And yet, I think to myself. How can I be contracted with scum like you?" Virgo goes on the offensive, using her whip. She then snaps her fingers. Natsu runs and dodges the explosions left and right while Spike, Happy, and Lucy move out of the way. "You want to fight me!?" Natsu is fired up once more. "Natsu, stop!" Lucy shouts. "What for?" Natsu stops. "I have to deal with this myself," Lucy takes out her whip. "I'm the one she made her contract to, so it should be me who enforces that pact." "I was told I used to be a slave of yours," Virgo gets ready to brutalize Lucy. "Slave? We were friends! What do you mean told? Don't you remember?" "Sure don't. The days I spent serving you has gone dark," Virgo imagines the pain she'll inflict on Lucy. "That's crazy; you forgot that much?" "I'm done talking! Let's get straight into the pain!" Virgo starts lashing at Lucy. "I'll make you remember!" Lucy intercedes the lash attack with her whip. Natsu, Happy, and Spike watch Lucy and Virgo at it in their fight. Spike wants to help but knows this is Lucy's fight. The ground Virgo is standing starts to crumble. Lucy is about to finish the blow when she sees Virgo. The image of Virgo in her maiden attire flashes through her mind while remembering Virgo calling her Princess. Lucy withdraws her attack to finish Virgo. "You just showed mercy to a sadist. Bad move!" Virgo retaliates and knocks Lucy down. "Lucy!" Spike, Natsu, and Happy shout. "Stay back.., it's my fight..," Lucy commands. "But why?" Happy asks. "Something is taking the memories. That doesn't mean she's my friend. I have to find a way to help her." "Weakling! You coward!" Virgo continues her onslaught on Lucy with various strikes from her whip. "Screw this!" Natsu wants to intervene badly. "Natsu, stop! If you want to help, stay out of this, okay!" All of a sudden, Lucy gets chained to a tree, causing her to wail a bit. Virgo joyfully chuckles at Lucy's pain. "The look on your face is quite exquisite, Lucy. You can scream far louder than that, and we both know it," Virgo whips Lucy on the tree mercilessly. Lucy cries in pain during the lashing. "Enough!" Spike flies after Virgo. "You want pain too?" Virgo turns to Spike and snaps her fingers. She places an explosive on Spike's chest. It explodes in front of her. "Spike!" Natsu, Happy, and Lucy shout. Virgo laughs sinisterly. "Stupid dragon," Her smirk goes away when she sees Spike's eyes turn orange. "Now, you're dead meat!" Fairy Rage back claws Virgo in the face. She crashes into several trees. Virgo's magic that bound Lucy to a tree dissolves. "Lucy," Natsu catches Lucy when she collapses. "Snap out of it. Come on." Virgo gets up and licks the blood off her face. "You made me taste my own blood. Time to return the favor," Virgo cracks her whip. "That'll be enough, Virgo." A golden blinding light appears, causing Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and Fairy Rage to shield their eyesight a bit. Then all of a sudden, more of Lucy's Zodiacs Spirits appear, standing next to Virgo. "No way.., Aries. Taurus. Gemini. Cancer. Sagittarius. Scorpio. Capricon. Aquarius," Lucy is in shock and disbelief. "Why do they look so different?" Natsu asks. Each of the Zodiacs standing next to Virgo looks like their opposites features. "The same theory I mentioned for Virgo has happened with them. They're different for reasons unknown." "Greetings, old master," Sagittarius says. He's half-human above, half-horse below. "We thank you for the introductions. We also ask you to excuse us for our ill-manner entrance," Taurus said. He sounds polite and mannered. Taurus is wearing a suit and a silver cow helmet. "We were planning to beat you up until later," Aquarius said. She's a young girl, similar age to Wendy and height. "Alright, spill it! Why do you all look so weird?" Natsu demands. "Perhaps we took on forms to please you humans but no more," Loke is last to appear. He's wearing black-golden armor with a blue cape. "Loke," Lucy calls him out. "Is that you?" "Loke? Is that what you used to call me back when I was one of your pet spirits? Here me well, I am as through with that name as I am with you." "Did you really snap Lucy's love?" Happy asks. "That's crazy! You've been hitting on her for years!" "Silence, cat! I am Leo the Lion!" "So, what are you planning? What's all this about?" Rage asks. "We're here to personally tell Lucy that all of our contracts with her are now void." "What!?" Lucy panics. "We serve ourselves now!" Leo proclaims. "We decided to lure you out here and see your utter inability to control us for yourself," Taurus explains. "Thus, we came up with the idea of luring the gigantic sea slug," Aquarius said. "We wanted to make a statement that Lucy can't call us to do her dirty work. Tee-hee," Aquarius smirks. "She's freaking me out," Happy is not used to seeing this side of Aquarius. Natsu puts Lucy down. "Can we talk about this?" Lucy asks. "Listen, please. I understand that you don't remember making contracts with me, but you did, and it's because you wanted to. I was never your master. I'm your partner, your friend. I'm still am." Leo scoffs at the claim. "Crying. My, what a pitiful sight to behold." "Aquarius! You and I have been together since I was a little girl," Lucy said. Hoping there is enough spark for Aquarius to remember. "Honestly, you don't look too familiar," Aquarius responds. "I moved on, lady. You should do the same." "Times are changing," Sagittarius said. "Any more questions before we take our leave?" Taurus politely asks. "This can't be... Please, try to remember. You've been with me for so long, through good times and bad. I was never alone because of you. I just.., I want my friends back..," Lucy becomes teary. "Think she means it?" Aquarius asks her friends. "It means not," Taurus replies. "We delivered our message. It's not our fault if she refuses to understand." "Yea, humans are dense like that," Aquarius says. "Well, if the girl won't be convinced by our words, then let's give her a demonstration," Leo's hand is ablaze in blue flames. "Let's prove our bond is broken," Leo attacks Lucy with his magic, causing an explosion much wider than Virgo's. Fairy Rage and Happy grab Natsu and Lucy, flying them away from the explosion wave. "Thanks for the assist, guys," Natsu and Lucy say to Fairy Rage and Happy. "No, sweat," Happy replies. "There's one thing I don't understand. For the most part, I figured out their situation." "What is it?" Happy asks. "For starters, they have no recollection of Lucy in their memories. Only that she was their former master. Therefore, there's a blockage within their minds." "Think you can access their minds?" Natsu asks. "Ain't no way you're manipulating us, Dragon!" Leo barks, overhearing their conversation. "I never tried going inside a Celestial Spirit's mind before. However, something is amiss which I can't quite figure out." "What is it?" Lucy asks. "The doors to their minds. I don't see a door or sense one." "Aquarius!" Leo commands. He wants to take down Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and Fairy Rage. "Okay. You four look awful thirsty!" Aquarius shoots water bullets using her gigantic vase at Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and Fairy Rage. "Rage Wall!" Fairy Rage conjures an orange fire wall that incinerates Aquarius' water bullets. "Grrr.., Sagittarius," Leo commands. "My aim is true," Sagittarius aims and fires many arrows at them. "Rage Arrows!" Fairy Rage shoots orange flaming arrows from his claw to intercede with Sagittarius' arrows. "That dragon is getting on my nerves! Taurus!" Leo commands. "Yes. If you please be so kind and leave!" Taurus kicks the ground, causing the rocks to hurl at them. "Rage Shield!" Fairy Rage crosses his arms. He conjures an orange metallic shield. Fairy Rage protects his friends from the incoming rocks. "Nice going, Fairy Rage!" Happy shouts. "Virgo!" Leo is getting livid. "On it!" Virgo leaps in the air, wanting to punish Fairy Rage. Fairy Rage turns to Virgo. "You're mine." Fairy Rage raises his claw. Sparkling Orange flames engulfs his claw. "No more! Stop!" Lucy cries out. She wants Fairy Rage to stop retaliating. Fairy Rage hesitates to listen to Lucy's advice. Virgo sees this as an opportunity to strike. "You're mine!" Virgo latches onto Fairy Rage's claw with her whip. Fairy Rage pulls hard on Virgo's whip. "Spike! Noooo!" Lucy knows what he's thinking. Fairy Rage uses his fire breath to teleport Virgo back to the other Zodiacs. Lucy is glad to know that Fairy Rage is listening to her. "That dragon is full of surprises," Scorpio said. "Indeed. He'll be harder to defeat to obtain true freedom," Taurus said. "True Freedom? Something to research for later down the road." Fairy Rage thought to himself. "What is that supposed to mean, Loke?" Natsu angrily asks. "Stop calling me that! I am Leo the Lion! I'm ending this! Once and for all!" Leo powers up. He had enough with Fairy Rage's magic display. Fairy Rage senses Leo's power intensifying. Due to Lucy's condition, she's unable to think twice about retaliating or defending herself. Fairy Rage swoops down to his friends. "Time to go!" Fairy Rage uses his fire breath to teleport his friends and him away from the scenery. Leo is appalled by Fairy Rage's teleportation and becomes agitated, knowing that he could have defeated them. Fairy Rage teleported his friend to the front doors of the guildhall. It's pouring in Magnolia. "Nice save, Fairy Rage," Happy said in relief. "Dude! I could have taken down Loke!" Natsu claims. "The way Lucy is feeling, we would have made things worse. She's in disarray with her Celestial Spirits going astray for reasons unknown besides true freedom. Something else is amiss, and we need to find out." Fairy Rages takes a deep breath. "Spike is waking up. He will know what's going on the instant he starts remembering." "Wait, then that means," Happy realizes what it means. "Virgo knocked Spike out with her magic. Now having a taste of Celestial Magic, we know how to counter it. Celestial Spirit magic has a different hold on dragons. It's all I know." Fairy Rage blinks several times. Spike's eyes are now green again. Spike starts to remember what has happened. "Man.., that hurt," Spike turns to Lucy. "Are you okay?" Lucy is sobbing on the ground. She couldn't believe that her friends had forgotten all about her. Spike and Natsu help Lucy up and enter the guildhall. They see Yukino, Erza, Wendy, Carla, Gray, Mirajane, and Kinana standing by a table after Yukino explains her story with her Zodiac Keys. "Guys, we have a problem," Spike said.