Chapter 7

Old KeyHolder's

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, and my Ideas

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"Open: Gate of the Lion, Leo!"

In a flash of gold Loke appeared before Alumina as she stood in the middle of the train station of Kilian City. She had gotten back from her job with Juvia and Gray two days ago, and this time she had decided to take a job on her own.

Natsu hadn't been around when she got back, and she felt a little bad to have been relieved he wasn't there. She would prefer he just he friends with her, instead of hating her like he seemed to.

No, not seemed to. She knew he hated her, and she sort of understood why.

The Fire Dragon Slayer's heart must be broken, from what she understood from the others in the Guild, it seemed like Natsu might have actually loved Lucy. And she didn't mean the love everyone in the Guild had for their lost Celestial Mage, she was talking about a very different kind of love, something that may go deeper then the bonds of a family.

"How may your loyal Lion serve you today?" Loke asked with a smirk on his face as he bowed to her and placed a kiss on her hand. Alumina rolled her eyes a little at his play-boy antics and drew her hand away from him.

"I'm going on a job to take down a ground bandits down here." She explained as he got to his feet and adjusted his glasses. "I'm heading to find them now, but I wanted to talk to you on the way there." She explained.

"Ask away my princess." He told her smoothly with a smile across his face. Alumina stepped past him with a smile sigh, and he turned to follow her down the long and winding road toward the place where the bandits usually jumped people in their travels.

"First thing, is there a reason you and Ursa.." She trailed away as he literally flinched the name, but continued anyway. "Don't seem to get along? I didn't even know you guys knew each other." Alumina asked him and he sweatdropped, putting on a nervous smile as he tried to remain semi-calm.

"Did Ursa ever... Ever tell you who her last KeyHolder was?" Loke asked her slowly and Alumina blinked a few times. She slowly shook her head and he let out a long sigh, "Ursa and I belonged to the same KeyHolder before I was passed on to Lucy, and she was passed on to you." He murmured and Alumina blinked in surprise.

She was surprised to hear of this, Ursa had never mentioned it, but then again she had never asked.

"But Ursa was taken from my old KeyHolder before she died, I don't know if she was immediately given to you, or if she went through someone else first." He put in, "We are pretty familiar with each other, and our KeyHolder wasn't... Wasn't the best. When we were with my Old KeyHolder, Ursa and I, we started getting agitated with one another, to the point where we can't stand each other anymore." He told her.

"It looked a little more like fear than hatred, on your part." Alumina told him and he sighed.

"You ever seen how damn scary Ursa can get? She could beat me to a pulp if she wanted to!" He replied and Alumina in amusement chuckled at his panicked tone. Beat you to a pulp? Aren't you supposed to be the leader of the Zodiac or something?

"Relax Loke, I know what you mean. I only ask that you guys try to get along as long as I am your KeyHolder." Alumina told him with a smile and he sighed. She liked to pair her Spirits up in battle based on their strengths and weaknesses, she was hoping Loke and Ursa would make a good team in battle, but that would only work as long as they worked together.

"I'll try, but she is so damn stubborn..." He muttered and Alumina chuckled a little. She would have to get Ursa's side of the story later, but right now she decided it be better not to press the subject anymore with Loke. They fell into silence as Alumina walked down the road, as trees started to close in around them, the train station left far behind them.

She was aware that Loke was casting glances back and forth at her as she continued walking, and she knew why. She was biting her lip in frustration, eyes narrowed. She didn't know how to ask her next question without sounding... well, rude, or mean about it.

"Was there something else you wanted to ask me?" Loke said, trying to get her to say what was on her mind. For a moment Alumina stayed silent before she let out a long sigh.

"Was Natsu... always like he is now?" She asked him quietly. "Tell me he wasn't always so... so..." She trailed off, not being able to find the right words without possibly making Loke a little angry by insulting one of his friends.

"So what?" Loke asked as he blinked in confusion.

Of course... He had no idea how Natsu was acting, he hadn't seen the Salamander in such a long time, and only that brief instance when she had arrived at the Guild. He wouldn't know how Natsu was acting, wouldn't know what she meant, that meant she had to say it.

But finding a less hateful way to say it would be wiser.

"Always such a jerk." She put it lightly and was aware of Loke stiffening next to her.

"What did he do?" Loke asked her quietly after a pause and Alumina didn't glance his way.

"Not a lot... other than his sort of coldness toward me, and everyone who talks to me." Alumina told him and rubbed the back of her neck. "And he... sort of said a few things... hateful things." She told him in a small and nervous voice.

"Tch... that idiot..." Loke muttered under his breath, so low she almost didn't catch it. "However Natsu is now, its probably nowhere close to how he used to be." Loke explained and Alumina glanced back at him, but his eyes were fixed on the path ahead. "Natsu used to be the liveliest person in the Guild, always wanting to brawl with people, always smiling, never ever seeming to be bothered by things. He was always positive, one of the best Mages in the Guild." Loke adjusted his glasses and his eyes closed for a minute. "He was the one that got Lucy to join the Guild, one of her best friends, always there for her. Natsu hardly ever let anything bad happen to Luce if he could help it, and he was always personally hurt when something happened to her. Though I doubt he'll ever say anything, he fell in love with Lucy."

Alumina looked away, looking down at the ground in front of her. She had been right, Natsu had liked Lucy more than a friend...

"I can only imagine how Lucy's death affected him, he did seem off when I went with you to the Guild on the first day..." Loke trailed away as he thought about it and Alumina looked back at the path ahead.

Her mind flashed back to Natsu's face that first day she had met him, right after Loke had mentioned Lucy's death. That look that had appeared in Natsu's eyes, that look of horror... she didn't like it, and she wasn't sure what kind of memory would cause him that kind of horror.

She wasn't sure she wanted to know either.

"Hold on." Alumina murmured calmly as she came to a stop and Loke came to a slow stop soon after. Her eyes were closed, head tilted slightly as she listened in around her, the trees swished in the slight breeze, small creatures ran through the brush, birds flapped over head. She was sure she heard it...

Loke POV

Loke watched her silently, head tilted in confusion at what she was doing, he could tell she was concentrating on something though he wasn't sure what. Then he remembered, his thoughts had been so immersed in the conversation he forgot what she had said she was out here for in the first place. She was on a job to defeat some bandits in the area.

Is that what she's looking for?

Alumina's visible eye opened as she fixed on one point in the trees, face neutral. "Here they come." she told him as she pulled a staff from her Magic Storage.

All in an instant about a dozen men jumped from the trees, eyes hard and smirks on their faces. Loke blinked in surprise, how had Alumina heard them coming, when even he hadn't heard any of them?

Alumina POV

Alumina swung her staff out to send one of the men crashing to the ground as he jumped toward her, she could tell they weren't that powerful, and now she really wasn't in the mood to spend to much time taking them down.

Loke jumped into action beside her as more of the bandits approached, looking furious their marks had decided to fight back before they robbed them.

Her mind was on something else though, what Loke had told her, what Mavis had told her, and the limited information she had gotten from others at the Guild since she joined. She swung out harder with her staff as her eyes narrowed in determination.

She was going to change Natsu's attitude, she was going to make Fairy Tail the lively Guild it once was.

She wouldn't give up until she had done that.

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