Celestial Apocalypse

Eleven

Lucy smiled and looked around from her perch on a large boulder, before hopping off and running further up the mountain. She twirled around in her new outfit gleefully as she reached a familiar clearing on the mountain side, eagerly waiting for her grandfather to arrive. She tried stare up at the dark shape that blotted out the sun, the wind from the massive set of wings making her squint her eyes. The form slowly descended, shifting back into a more human form.

"Grandpa Acno!"

The man in question smirked and shook some stray hair out of his face, carefully setting a large sack that had been slung over his shoulder on to the grassy space.

"Hey Hatchling. Looks like you beat me."

"Yup! Though... I did have a shorter way to go."

The two spread out a large blanket to sit on and set up an array of foods for their lunch. Lucy clapped her hands excitedly as she saw Acnologia pull out a white box from his bag.

"Is that-"

Her grandfather opened the box, revealing a small cake with light pink frosting.

"Happy eleventh birthday, Lucy."

"Thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah. C'mon then. Dig in, then we can do presents and train for bit. That sounded good?"

The blonde nodded happily, eating her fill as she observed the beautiful scenery around them.

"You done?"

"Hm? Yeah! I'm done! Can we do presents now?"

Acnologia let out a bark of laughter, and dug into his bag.

"Yeah hatchling. We can do presents. Here you go."

Lucy grinned and took the box from the Dragon Slayer. Her gift wasn't exactly a secret; he got her the same thing every year, for her birthday and for Christmas. There were always four gifts: a gate key, and outfit, a sweet, and a book. She had already gotten the outfit, a cute red skirt, a loose pale blue blouse with a red bow, brown boots, and a red ribbon for her hair. This was clearly a gate key. Lucy opened the box and squealed.

"It's the Little Lion! Leo Minor!"

Acnologia smirked.

"Yup. That's... twelve keys ya got now, right?"

"Yup! I've got Aquarius and Taurus and Cancer and Crux and Lyra and Pyxis and Horologium and Pavo and Cassiopeia and Musca and Puppis and now Leo Minor!"

"Glad you're happy, Hatchling. Sorry I couldn't find those two you really wanted."

"Carina and Vela? It's okay. I'm probably not powerful enough to summon three spirits at once anyway. I just wanted them so that I could have the entire ship."

"Alright then. We'll just have to make sure you get stronger so that when you do get them, you can summon all three and have your ship. Why ya would want a ship though is beyond me. Things are fucking devil traps..."

"That's only because you get motion sickness Grandpa Acno."

"Shut it Brat. Here's another present."

Lucy smiled and eagerly tore of the wrapping paper, to see a box a fine chocolates.

"Thanks Grandpa Acno!"

"Yeah, well, you like those, dontcha? This is your last gift. Here."

Lucy unwrapped her last gift with glee, while Acnologia slowly lifted his hands to cover his ears. The right choice it seemed, as Lucy squealed in a pitch Acnologia wasn't even aware humans could reach.