A Dragons Fire In My Heart

Chapter 14: The Blue Gem

Lucy P.O.V

We had reached a mountain by early the next morning. We only had about 5 hours of sleep the night before. Natsu kept watch that night again, but I decided that it wasn't fair that he didn't get any sleep, so we swapped, I slept for 3 hours and he slept for 2. Out of breath, we just stared up at the mountain.

"We are going to have to climb that monster." Natsu said.

He was right, the Kingdom use to be on a mountain, according to the legends, and if the legends were true, then the only way to go was up. I was worried though, we were both tired...

"We will become tired and weak fast. I'm not sure about this, Natsu." I said.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Its our only choice, please, if you happen to see a flight of stairs speak up." He said sarcasticly.

We were both clever to pack climbing gear. Natsu took a long rope with a hook at the end out of his bag. He swang it, then aimed for a ledge a few meters above us. Once he had gotten a grip on it, he tugged it to see if it was safe. Next, I strapped both of us into harnesses, then hooked them onto the rope. Natsu suggested that I should go first, In case something happened, then he could catch me if I fell.

It Took a while, but we finally managed to make it to the ledge. Once we were their we could both see a bigger ledge, and a path. Once again Natsu aimed for the bigger ledge. While we were climbing, something occurred to me...

"Hey Natsu?"

"Yeah?" He said from below me.

One hand after the other I pulled, "Why don't we just, use your fire magic to fly up?"

I heard him laugh nervously, "Yeah about that... uhm, I didn't want to tell you in case you would worry, but do you remember when we could almost make out the shape of the mountain?"

"Yeah?" I said nervously.

"Ha, well. After that, as we got closer, my fire magic became weaker, and... now it kinda doesn't work anymore..."

"It kinda doesn't what! Does that mean my keys won't work?" I was nearly out of breath now, but I kept climbing.

"And how am I suppose to know that? Do I look like a key enthusiast?" He sighed.

If my keys won't work, we won't have anything to protect us if there's something big and bad, waiting for us up there... but why would Natsu's magic not work? This doesn't make any sense...

"Can we stop for a second? I need to see something." I slowly reached for my belt and lifted my shirt, to get a look at my keys. And sure enough, I saw something I didn't want to see...

"What's up Luce?" Natsu asked.

I sighed and looked down at him, "My keys..."

He looked confused, "Well, what about them?"

I wanted to cry, "They are black..."

Now he looked really confused, like I just asked him a maths question, "What do you mean, "black"?"

I was frustrated, I was tired, I was scared! I didn't want to carry on, "They are black, Natsu! Not gold, or silver! Pitch black!", suddenly my arms became weak, and i knew that was it, I couldn't go any more. I just cried, "I can't do this anymore... I... I can't..."

I felt empty, like I had nothing. My mouth was dry, my feet hurt, my arms ached, "I have tried... I have pushed myself past my absolute limit. I kept going, even when my body was screaming to stop. I... I tried to put away my fears, my nightmares, but I can't do that anymore..." I just hang there limp, the tears streaming down my face.