Chapter 6
Layton Gallagher, an accomplished mending mage with 67 years of life experience, felt old.
Old and tired.
The silver haired mage with crystal blue eyes felt as if he had aged a century within the last month and his appearance was starting to show how badly he was being affected by this past month. His hair, which he used to take amazing care of, now rested in a messy high ponytail which ended at his shoulder blades. The once shiny locks were no listless and frizzy from his stress pulling - a bad habit he had developed in grade school and never grew out of - and poor maintenance. Dark bags had gathered under his eyes and he was certain he had also seeing worry lines developing when he looked in the mirror earlier that morning. Layton was sure he had also dropped a few pounds as his appetite had diminished greatly after the first set of mages - independent mages who were just kids really, god they were so young - had been killed and their bodies dumped on his porch.
Just thinking about those mages - Clara, Barry, Francis, the names and faces haunted his nightmares - filled him with a sense of guilt and tiredness that seeped deep into his bones and made him feel even older than he already was feeling. After their untimely and horrific deaths, he sent the job again but this time only to specific guilds with powerhouse mages; Fairy Tail, SaberTooth, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus. All four guilds housed powerful members and all of them had taken down dark guilds before so Layton had hope that he wouldn't be sending anymore innocent people to their death.
The mending mage sighed sorrowfully, as he made his way out of his bedroom and out to the modest living room. He was about to pull a book off of his oak bookcase when his protection rune, which were now running all day and all night, sent him a warning that there was a magical presence approaching his house. "That better not be them again." He spoke in a low voice, a slight tint of worry under lying the angry tone. He wasn't sure if his rune could handle another attack so soon after yesterday's attack, on a the plus side though he wasn't certain the dark guild's mages could handle another round with his Organic Link Runes. Before leaving his house to check out the disturbance, Layton grabbed an illusion lacrima and explosive lacrimas in case he needed to make a quick escape in the case the runes failed.
Throwing open his, he held his head high and plastered a calm yet menacing look on his face. He would face these dark mages with dignity and a sense of arrogance that would put even the most bratty rich child to shame. What he found however wasn't a horde of dark mages prepared to attack his runes nor even dark mages just inspecting them. No what he found was two blondes, a behemoth of a man and a tiny - in comparison to the man at least - shapely woman, who were covered completely dried mud, grass, and sticks. The two seemed to be bickering between themselves, the tinier blonde blaming their current on the bigger blond. Her ranting stopped though when her brown eyes glanced over and caught sight of him.
"Oh, hello." She greeted him with a sheepish smile and a nervous wave, her smile faltering a little when she really took notice of him. He didn't blame her one bit for that, he looked - and was - a complete mess. "I'm Lucy and this is Laxus, we're the mages from Fairy Tail." She told him, twisting the hand she had been waving around to show him a bright pink guild mark. "Mirajane should've sent you a message saying that we were coming for the job." She continued to ramble on, obviously nervous about something though he wasn't sure what exactly.
"Sorry, Miss Lucy, but my communication lacrima was broken a while back and traditional mail doesn't get delivered here." He told her as he took a few steps out of his house and offered her and her silent companion his hands. "Unfortunately, until that dark guild is taken care of, I have to keep the runes up for safety reasons. If you want to come in, you'll have to hold my hand until we get in the house." He told, pleased when they took his hands with no argument or complaint. Once inside, he released their hands and made his way into the kitchen to begin making some tea for himself and the dirty mages. "Please sit anywhere and don't worry about making a mess, I'll clean it later." He assured them as he finished the preparations and joined them in the living room where he found them sitting on his couch. "While we wait for the tea, why don't I tell you about this dark guild."
"They call themselves the Northern Wolves, though I'm not sure if they're affiliated with the Southern Wolves Guild." The tiny blonde, Lucy he reminded himself, stiffened at the mention of the legal guild Southern Wolves. Layton was curious if the girl had ever run into any of the members of that guild or if she just knew the name by their - less than pleasant - reputation. "Many of their members use Magic-countering spells, just like the Southern Wolves, however they're either not powerful enough nor smart enough to take down the runes or these runes are much more powerful than I was informed. I'm inclined to believe that their members are just idiots. One of them did leave a map to their base in my front yard, after all." He explained to them, trying not to grin when he heard the bigger blonde snort in amusement at his remark about the guild's members' intelligence.
The young woman sitting next to him, hiding a smile of her own, elbowed him in the side and gave him a stern look. "Unfortunately," the mood in the living room turned serious again when he continued speaking "there is something else I must tell you about." His somber tone seemed to put the two on edge and Layton felt bad about the disturbing news he'd have to give them.
"You are not the first mages I have sent out for this job, but I pray that you are the last. The others I sent out, three independent mages, were tragically killed in the guild master's twisted games that he apparently likes to play. The guild master warned me that any mages I sent out would become contestants in his games and, he assured me, that he would without fail kill each contestant." Neither mage seemed particularly fazed by the threat, though both of them had very diverse reactions to the news of three previous mages deaths. Lucy looked heartbroken at the thought of three people dead, seeming to mourn the three mages she didn't know. Laxus however seemed to become a much more scary man, lightning cracked around him for a brief second before the mage got his powers under control. "I'm sorry to deliver such bad news to you.." He said apologetically but Lucy just waved off the implied apology with a sad yet kind smile. "Though
Before anything else could be said, the kettle started whistling and Layton excused himself to pour tea for the three off them. Once inside the kitchen, and away from the eyes of the two mages, Layton let himself lean wearily on the counter with a hopeful - yet worried - look settle on his face.
Two more innocents, who looked so young, Layton prayed that they wouldn't end up like the three before them.
Once he composed himself, he began to prepare the tea and snacks for them. The snacks were prepared first, just a plate with some chocolate chip cookies, and set to the side so he could begin working on the tea.
"Mr. Gallagher?" Layton nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard the young woman's voice from the kitchen door. "Oh Mavis, I'm sorry! I didn't meant to scare you, Mr. Gallagher, I just wanted to get your attention." She apologized with an embarrassed chuckled as she nervously ran her fingers through her dried muddy hair, causing some of the dried flakes to chips off of her hair and fall to the ground. "I'll help clean that up and the mess in the livingroom." She said, though it said softly and Layton was certain that she was now talking to herself.
"Please don't worry yourself with it, Miss Lucy." He assured her as he began to pour the steaming Sencha into three cups for himself and his two guests. The young woman was still standing in the doorway and, in between pouring the first and second cup of tea, Layton noticed she was bitting her lip and looking anywhere but at him. "Miss Lucy, is everything alright?"
"Ah." She seemed surprised to be called out, even more so when she noticed that he was watching her with concerned eyes. "I actually, I had something to talk to you about. Alone." She explained as she looked at the counter where two cups of tea were poured and the third one about to be filled. "You don't have to pour a cup for Laxus, he's gone outside to scout for a good area to set up base since the dark guild has set up somewhere near here. He took the map from the table, but we decided to leave the horse and supplies." She told him and he nodded, placing the kettle on one of the cold stove tops and handing her a cup of tea. Before she could leave with her tea, presumably heading back to his living room, Layton gestured to the dinning table and pulled out a seat for her to sit in.
"We might as well stay here." He told her and she nodded, taking the seat he offered her with a courteous smile and a quiet "thank you, Mr. Gallagher.". "Now what did you wish to talk about, Miss Lucy?" He questioned her with a strange look, he had told them everything he had known so he wasn't sure what else she could want. His confusion only grew more when she pulled out a folded up flyer, presumably his mission flyer, and flattened it out so that he could see that it was in fact his flyer.
"You said in your flyer that as payment you'd repair an item for each mage," She pointed to his words on the flyer and he nodded without looking down at it, he knew what he offered. Taking his nod as a continue with it, Lucy folded the paper back and placed it in her jacket pocket. "and I know your reputation of being the most powerful mending mage in all of Fiore." She continued on, her words quivering as her body started to shake with sadness. Layton's eyes softened as he took in the distressed girl sitting in front of him and he reached out, laying a hand on her's.
"Do you need me to fix something for you?" He asked in a soft and understanding voice, he had met many mages who were very attached to a particular piece of magical equipment for some sentimental reason. Many of them were distressed like Lucy was, however very few off them ever looked like they were about to break at the seems like she did.
"Yes, please." She pulled her hand away from him and brought both of her hands to her neck, pulling something off of her neck that was previously hidden by her hair and outfit. He couldn't be sure what the object was as she closed a hand around a shiny piece of gold attached to the necklace while her other hand fished out a brown bag from her jacket's inner pocket. Both items were placed carefully in front of him on the table, leaving him slight baffled by what he saw.
The golden object she had pulled from around her neck looked like it was the top of an intricate key, a very intricate and lovingly hand crafted care made of beautiful gold. After staring at it for a few moments though, Layton realized what specifically he was looking at.
He was looking at the top of a gold key, but not just any kind of key. It was a Zodiac Key, more specifically he was certain that it was the key of the Mermaid. He gently picked up the broken key and studied it, trying to determine if it was the real deal or not. While Layton wasn't an expert on Celestial magic, nor Celestial keys, he knew how to spot a fake of anything from a mile away.
And this was certainly not a fake.
"This is a Zodiac Key." He stated in wonder, absolutely baffled on how one of the most powerful items in history could have been broken. He looked up at the blonde and watched as she opened up the tiny brown bag and poured it's contents into her hand, showing them of to him. They were fragments of gold and if Layton were to guess, the fragments of the key he currently held in his hands.
"Please, Mr. Gallagher, please fix Aquarius's key." Tears were falling from her brown eyes and Layton gently set the key down, getting up from his seat and resting a hand on her shoulder.
"I can't promise anything, Miss Lucy," he began, wincing sympathetically when sob fell from her lips "but I will try my best to fix this key." He assured her with a sad smile as her took the gold fragments from her hand, picked up the golden top from the table, and then put them all in the brown bag she had left on the table.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." She cried as she stood up and hugged him tightly, her body shaking so hard that Layton was impressed with how she managed still stay standing. She pulled away from him quickly and began to fumbled with a light brown leather case that set on her belt, this time pulling out - what Layton believed to be - a functional Zodiac Key. "This is the key of the Lion, Leo." She explained to him with a truly brilliant smile as she handed him the key. "Leo, well he mostly goes by Lock now, anyways, Leo has agreed to help you with anything you need." She told with, drying her eyes on the back of her hand. "He can come out of his gate on his own so if you need him just hold the key and say his name and he'll come and try to help or answer any questions you have." The key in his hands seemed to give off a shine of light at her words and Layton thought that maybe that was the spirit's way of agreeing with his master without actually joining them.
"Thank you, Miss Lucy, but are you sure you won't need him for the mission?" He asked her with a look his children and grandchildren called "over protective grandpa" look. "It's rather dangerous and I don't feel comfortable taking one of your most powerful keys from you."
"It'll be fine, Mr. Gallagher, I promise. I have other friends to protect and fight with me if I get in a fight," she tapped the light brown case on her belt with a smile " and I have Laxus too." She assured him as she started to move a little more away from him. "Speaking of Laxus, I should probably go and find him. Pyxis, my compass key," she explained to him, probably because he looked confused by the name "is currently tracking him and he mentioned that Laxus has stopped moving. He's probably setting up camp so I should go help him." Layton nodded and offered her an arm to walk her to the front door and then out of the house.
"Please tell your companion that I said thank you for taking this job." He told her and Lucy nodded, smiling at him once more and waving a hand goodbye.
"I will, Mr. Gallagher, we'll see you soon with good news!" She promised him as she summoned someone, a man like goat in a business suit, who accompanied her along her walk towards the denser part of the woods that ran along his house.
After she felt his field of vision, Layton made his way inside the house and to the back where his work station was. Sooner or later those two would hopefully be back from destroying the dark guild and when they came back, Layton wanted to be able to hand Lucy back a working Aquarius key.