Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and Fairy Tail are not mine.

Author's Note: I wrote myself into a wall and it took me a while to pry myself from it. Plus, I'm not good with fight scenes. And yeah, the theme for the fight here is Greek mythology. Except Perseus is Superman, Orion is a blind dwarf, and Aquila is... somewhat normal. Also, did I get Marluxia right? I know a lot of people characterize him as kind of gay because of his hair, but he's not really like that in the game...

Blech. I don't like this chapter.

Thirteen Keys

Number XII - Marluxia

[ The Graceful Assassin ]

Lucy was doing a job on her own.

It didn't look that bad, it wasn't even an S-Class. All she had to do was teach a rogue Celestial Spirit Mage that was giving all other Celestial Spirit Mages a bad name a lesson and to make him stop doing it... Permanently. He had been using his Spirits to intimidate, steal and hurt civilians, and that just wasn't okay. She decided to take it on her own because, well, she didn't really need any help. Besides, she wanted to fight this rogue on her own - Spirit Mage to Spirit Mage.

That, and her team wasn't available. Erza was off on her own, probably beating up some bad guys several towns over (poor schmucks); Natsu and Happy were "training" (she didn't like the look on his face when he announced it); and Gray had been too hung over to do anything more than have a staring contest with a toilet (totally deserved it after challenging Cana). Even the others were busy. Maybe she could do some jobs with her other guild mates later. Come to think of it, she hadn't had a job with Wendy or Juvia or Levy in a while. Maybe she could round up Erza and the other girls and just do an all-girls job...

The train she was on stopped, announcing her arrival at Clover Town. Wow, she hadn't been there in a long time, not since that business with Lullaby. That brought back memories... Memories she'd rather not think about.

Lucy stood up and exited the train. Now that she had a chance to look around without the threat of Erigor murdering the Guild Masters, she discovered that Clover Town was actually a nice place - when it wasn't being destroyed by Fairy Tail...

Job. Right.

She pulled a paper from her pocket and read its contents again. The Mage she was supposed to beat up was tall, had green hair, brown eyes, a fox tattoo on his right arm, and no Gold Keys that they knew of. Could be found in the town square harassing people after dark (seriously, what was up with town squares?). Yeah, this was going to be easy.

It wasn't easy.

"Open, Gate of the Dragon - Draco!"

Lucy cried out and dodged a blast of fire from the humongous green dragon the size of a house. She had seriously underestimated this guy. The mage, Wade Chronnus, laughed as he summoned another Spirit. "Open, Gate of the Chained Lady - Andromeda!"

A beautiful woman with long black hair wrapped in silver chains appeared in a burst of smoke. The chains shot out, catching Lucy and wrapping her tightly in its grasp. The blonde mage struggled futilely.

No one told her the guy was powerful enough to summon multiple Spirits at once. No one told her he could summon Spirits faster than she could blink. If it wasn't for the Grand Magic Games, she wouldn't have stood a chance against him, even with her plethora of Gold Keys against his Silver Keys. They might be Silver Keys, but damn, they were powerful and versatile. And what was the use of powerful keys if she wasn't fast enough to even touch them before being incapacitated?

"So this is the Celestial Spirit Mage of Fairy Tail?" Wade sneered, stepping up to her. The intimidating dragon behind him vanished to save energy. "Feh, I thought you were stronger. Guess they were exaggerating."

Lucy struggled some more and gasped as the chains tightened. Wade rolled his eyes. "The more you struggle, the more it'll tighten. Now, I hear you have quite a collection of keys..." He rummaged through her pockets, careful to give her butt a squeeze. With a yell of triumph, he held up her key ring. "Got it!"

"I don't think so." Foosh! A glowing fist smashed into Wade's cheek, sending him flying into the fountain. The keys dropped to the ground. Without stopping, the fist continued its path and headed straight for Andromeda. A punch to the gut, a muttered "Sorry!", and the female Spirit vanished along with the chains.

Lucy gasped for air and gasped again when she saw who it was. "Loke!"

The Spirit gave her a charming grin and announced, "Your knight in shining armour is here to save you!"

Lucy sighed and picked up her keys. "Yeah... Thanks."

"Damn..." Wade pulled himself from the fountain and glowered at Loke. "Leo, I'm assuming? Very well then..." He took out a key and said, "Open, Gate of the Water Serpent - Hydra!"

With a loud poof!, a large, four-metre long silver snake slithered from the fountain. It bared its fangs, which was dripping with nasty-looking violet venom.

Loke took one look at the snake and winced. "Oh god, I don't like snakes..."

Hydra hissed, then pounced faster than the eye could see. It wrapped itself around Loke's left ankle, but one powerful light-encased kick to the head sent it flying. It landed in the ground with a thump and curled onto itself.

"It's not over yet," Loke muttered. Just then, the snake rose and struck once again. It dodged Loke's punches and kicks with fluid nimbleness - "This is why I don't like snakes!" - and headed straight for Lucy, its mouth wide open. Loke saw this and threw himself right in Hydra's path. Hydra sank its fangs onto Loke's hand.

Loke swore and ripped the snake away.

Wade smirked. "Too late. You know what Hydra's venom does..."

The Lion Spirit groaned and sank to his knees, cradling his hand, which was turning a sickening shade of yellow. Hydra struck again, this time biting his stomach, then his leg, and then his neck. Loke groaned even louder and gasped out, "It prevents... the bitten limb... from functioning... I'm sorry, Lucy." With that, he disappeared.

"Loke!" Lucy backed away from the snake. Hydra is fast, fast enough to dodge even Loke's hits... She summoned Aries, hoping that her wool magic would slow down the snake. But before she could even give her orders, the snake pounced and bit Aries in the neck.

"No!"

"You can't beat me, girl," Wade gloated. He continued his monologue of how great he was while Lucy considered her options. She didn't think the rest of her normal keys would be fast enough on the get-go to dodge Hydra's initial strike. How about her Platinum Keys? Hmm, Larxene would definitely be fast enough to keep up, but she told Lucy not to summon her or else... And she could only summon Roxas if there were Heartless around... Well then...

Lucy reached for the eleventh Platinum Key and summoned the Nobody. "Open, Gate of the Graceful Assassin - Number XI: Marluxia!"

Hydra sprung at the cloud of pink petals that appeared from the end of the key, but before it could bite anything, a long pink blade shot from the smoke and instantly decapitated the snake. It vanished.

Lucy's eyes widened. Wade gaped in shock. "How...?"

"Hmm, Larxene warned me this might happen."

The cloud of smoke and pink petals dissipated to reveal a pink-haired man in a black coat. In his hands was a pink-bladed scythe with a long green handle. The point where the handle and the blade met formed a familiarly shaped pink-and-yellow cross. Overall, he looked like a very colourful but still very lethal Grim Reaper.

The Nobody, Marluxia, scanned the area before his eyes landed on Lucy. He smiled charmingly, but like Larxene, there was something hidden underneath, something... poisonous. "Why, hello there. You must be Lucy Heartfilia."

Lucy nodded. "Uh, hello."

"I've never heard of a Spirit like you!" Wade exclaimed, studying the man. "I know for a fact that there is neither a key nor a constellation named Marluxia."

Marluxia cut his gaze at the man. There was something in that look that made Lucy shiver internally. "And I assume this is your enemy?"

"Yeah," said Lucy. "You mentioned Larxene...?"

"Not important," Marluxia said dismissively. He turned to Wade, who suddenly had an enlightened look on his face.

"I see!" the green-haired man exclaimed. "I've heard of whispers of a set of Platinum Keys being discovered somewhere, a set of keys that comes from beyond the stars. You must be one of them!"

Marluxia tilted his head. "The keys are merely one of Vexen's failed experiments... Although how it got here is something that I wonder." Vexen's failed experiment - that was the second time Lucy heard the Platinum Keys being referred to as such. She wondered who Vexen was. Another Nobody?

Wade, who didn't appear to listen, pulled out another key. "I must have you! Open, Gate of the Hero - Perseus!" A puff, and a handsome floating man wearing yellow spandex, a white cape, and a cocky grin was summoned. He wielded a large adamantine sword and a polished shield.

"Open, Gate of the Great Hunter - Orion!"

Another puff, and another man appeared, this time short, stout, hairy, and wearing only a simple brown shirt, breeches, sandals, and a slender hunting bow. Oh, and a blindfold.

Marluxia didn't seem to be daunted. Then again, neither was Lucy, considering the appearances of the Spirits. But she knew better - looks were deceiving when dealing with Celestial Spirits. But she also had Marluxia, and just by standing near him, she knew he wasn't one you wanted as an enemy. He had that I-look-fruity-but-I-can-crush-you-into-fertilizer-if-I-want-to look about him.

There was a somewhat tense moment before Perseus made the first move and lunged at Marluxia, Orion quickly following with an arrow. Before either attacks could hit, Marluxia swung his scythe and sent a wave of energy at his opponents, effectively knocking them back a good ways way. Vines sprouted from the ground, holding the two surprised Spirits in place. Both struggling to free themselves, neither noticed when the pink-haired Nobody teleported to where Orion was and cut deep into his stomach. Orion stopped his struggling, gasped in pain and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Perseus recovered and managed to angle his sword to cut through the vines and threw his shield at Marluxia. Without stopping, the Spirit flew behind the distracted Marluxia and brought down his sword... Only to be stopped by a length of vine!

"Wha...?" Perseus exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Hmph, pathetic," said Marluxia arrogantly. The vine around his sword arm tightened and Perseus was barely able to dodge the scythe going for his head. Perseus broke free from the plants and readied his sword, but Nobody kept the blows coming, pushing Perseus further and further back until his back hit the wall of a house and he was cornered.

Wade swore and pulled out another key. "Open, Gate of the Eagle - Aquila!"

Poof! A big blue eagle with a sharp beak, humongous claws and a large wingspan soared into the sky and dived down. It grabbed Marluxia and threw him away from Perseus. The Nobody landed on his feet gracefully and smirked. "Well, well..." He flew at Aquila, grabbed its left wing as it was trying to fly away, and threw it at Perseus. The Spirits were knocked onto the ground, and Marluxia slammed his scythe into the ground.

A shockwave erupted from the end of the weapon, sending the Spirits into the wall of a house. Then, with one powerful swing, an energy wave completely destroyed both Spirits... as well as the house behind them.

"Pathetic," repeated Marluxia.

Lucy just stood there, overwhelmed by what she had seen. She really should have gotten used to the strength of the Nobodies by now.

Off to the side, Wade cowered, then, knowing that he wasn't going to be defeating the Nobody anytime soon, took out one last key. "Open, Gate of the Winged Horse - Pegasus!" A beautiful white horse with wings appeared. He limped and climbed over the horse and yelled, "Let's get out of here!"

Pegasus whinnied and flew into the air, now out of reach of Marluxia's scythe. But the pink-haired Nobody wasn't going to let him escape that easily. He threw his scythe, catching Pegasus in the wing. Lucy and Marluxia watched as the winged horse lost momentum and crashed, the Spirit disappearing shortly after and leaving a moaning Wade on the ground with a broken arm. A moment later, he was bound by a tangle of thorny vines, courtesy of Marluxia, none too gentle on his injury.

Lucy blinked, then walked over to the guy. She knocked him unconscious, bent down and took his collection of Silver Keys from his pocket. Without his Celestial Spirits, he wouldn't be hurting anyone for a while.

A cough from behind her, and Marluxia gave Lucy an unreadable look when she turned to address him. "It was nice meeting you, Lucy. But I have... matters to take care of back at the Castle. I assume we're done here...?"

Lucy got the hint and closed his Gate. She stood there for a moment, lost in her thoughts. His hair is even pinker than Natsu's... I wonder if they're related... Speaking of Natsu, he'll freak once he finds out I have a dragon spirit.

Next Chapter - Number X: Luxord