Hello, this is MountedCombat.

First of all, I just want to apologize to any diehard Fairy Tail fans. I have only seen the anime, and the first 48 episodes at that, so I apologize for any inaccuracies.

I do not own Fairy Tail.

"Open, gate of the maiden! Virgo!"

This is shouted by an energetic blonde-haired girl with brown eyes, who is at the moment swiping a golden key through the air. In the place that the key passed through, an ornate pair of doors appeared, opening to reveal what looked like the night sky. Within a few moments, a ball of energy flew through the portal and landed in front of her, quickly resolving itself into the shape of a woman.

As the light clears, it can be seen that this woman has pink hair cut in a bob, blue eyes, and is wearing a maid outfit. She also has a manacle on each wrist, with about two feet of chain hanging off of each one. She does a bow and asks, "What can I do for you, mistress?"

The girl answers, "First of all, Virgo, you can stop calling me mistress. My name is Lucy. Next, there are a few questions I would like to ask you."

Virgo responds, "What would you like to ask of me, mistress?"

"I told you to call me Lucy."

"Yes, mistress."

"You know what? Never mind. What I wanted to ask you is what you meant when you said that you try and take on whatever form you think your wizard will find most appealing?

"I change my appearance to appeal, to the best of my abilities, to the visual preferences of my wizard."

"Ok, so that means that I'm not looking at your true form right now?"

Virgo hesitates, an odd look coming over her face, before answering, "That is correct, mistress."

"So… would you mind if I saw your true form?"

Virgo jerks, eyes widening and face contorting in terror before she suddenly becomes covered in light and disappears.

Lucy does a double-take, then gets a thoughtful look: "She closed her own gate? What was that all about…?"

::::::::::::::::

A room. There's not much in it, just a glorified cot for a bed, and a toilet in the corner with a sink next to it. There's a flash of light, and Virgo appears in the room. She sits on the bed, eyes wide and unseeing.

"Why would she ask that? I guess she's the same as the others…"

Virgo flops on her back, arm covering her eyes. After a few moments, her shoulders start to shake as she cries herself to sleep.

::::::::::::::::

A week passes while Lucy mulls over her odd encounter with Virgo before she finally decides to call on Crux, a spirit that seems to know everything.

"Open, gate of the southern cross! Crux!"

The light resolves into a man in a meditating position. His head is in the shape of a giant, ornate silver cross with his neck connected to the back of the intersection and his face on the front of it. He has a two-pronged white mustache, each of the prongs being shaped like a cross.

Lucy sits down and asks, "Grandpa Crux? What can you tell me about Virgo?"

He sits still for a few moments, before a bubble comes out of his nose and a line of drool emerges from his mouth. To all appearances, he is now asleep.

'I will never understand why he does that while he's still awake…' Lucy thinks.

After a minute, his eyes widen in surprise, his search for information apparently complete.

Lucy asks, "So? What'd you find?"

"I cannot tell you much, as personal privacy laws apply to the celestial world as well. Virgo is the spirit of the maiden, and takes the form of a maid."

"I already knew that…"

"She also likes peanuts."

"Ok…?"

"That is all I can tell you."

"WHAT!?"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I've said all I can."

"OH COME ON!"

A flash of light and Crux is gone.

::::::::::::::::

The next day, Lucy decides to call on a friend of hers, Leo.

"Open, gate of the lion! Leo!"

When the light fades, Leo is seen to be a young man with tousled orange hair and square-framed glasses (which he only really wears because he thinks they make him look "cool").

"Hey, Leo, what do you know about Virgo?"

"Wouldn't that be a better question to ask Crux?"

"I tried. Apparently all information on her besides her name and spirit type is protected by the celestial world's privacy laws."

"That's odd. Well, truth is, I don't really know much. We never met often. Why do you ask?"

"I asked about her true form, and she freaked out and closed her own gate."

"Her true form, huh? She has so many appearances, nobody really knows what her "true form" is. Although, now that you mention it, there was a point, a couple centuries ago, when she up and vanished for almost half a year."

"That seems odd."

"Yeah. I think Aquarius knew her better. Maybe you should ask her?"

Lucy gets a nervous expression and starts sweating.

"Lucy?"

"Yeah, I've kind of been avoiding her ever since my keys were snatched by those freaky doll thingies during the battle with Bixlow."

"Oh yeah, I remember that guy. That was the first time that you summoned me. Anyway, how is that a problem?"

"Technically, you summoned yourself, and that's a problem because last time I lost her key, I couldn't sit for a week!"

"I see… well, I don't know what to tell you then. Writing a will might be a good Idea though."

"Very comforting… well, thanks for telling me what you could."

"See you around, Lucy."

Leo is coated in light, and disappears.

"Now what could have happened? And is it worth risking my life to find out?"

…

"Curse my loyal heart!"

:::::::::::::::

The next day…

"Open, gate of the water bearer! Aquarius!"

The light fades to reveal the form of a mermaid.

A mermaid who looks VERY pissed off.

Lucy hides behind her bed, "Eep! Please don't kill me!"

"What did I tell you about losing my key again?"

"That… you would forgive me?"

"… No."

"Wait! Before you maim me…"

"Oh, you'll WISH I was only maiming you…"

"Eep!"

"Continue…"

"I was wondering… What do you know about Virgo's true form?"

Aquarius bristles. "And WHY would you want to know THAT?"

"I was curious about her comment that she tries to take on whatever form she think her wizard will find most appealing, and so I asked her about it. She confirmed that she was not in her true form, and I asked if I could see it."

"And what were you planning on doing THEN?"

"Huh?"

"Hitting her? Banishing her?"

"Whoa, hey, where is this coming from?"

"This is coming from the five other wizards that have asked about her true form!"

Now it's Lucy's turn to bristle, although not at Aquarius. "You mean that somebody, no, five people, have injured her, simply because they don't like how she LOOKS!?"

Aquarius looks slightly surprised, then apologetic. "I see that the assumptions I made were wrong. I apologize for my false accusations."

Lucy breathes a sigh of relief.

"But I'm still not forgiving you for losing my key."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, maybe on one condition…"

Lucy's eyes light up, "Really?"

"I said maybe."

"What's the condition?"

"Help her."

"You don't have to convince me to do that, I was going to do that anyway."

"Still. If you can help her get over what's happened, then maybe I can forgive you for losing my key."

"Ok. Although, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly was done to her? You got me kind of curious."

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes."

"All right then, here goes…

::::::::::::::

Lucy lays on her bed, mulling over everything Aquarius told her.

Earlier…

"She's had five wizards ask about her true form. The first one, upon seeing it, called her a monster and terminated her contract. The second one slapped Virgo and told her to never do that in her sight again. The third one started constantly summoning her for long periods of time. After five months, she finally collapsed from exhaustion and the drain caused by spending time outside of the celestial world. He voided her contract, calling her a useless pile of hideous garbage. The fourth tied her to a stake and burned her until she wasn't able to hold a physical form anymore. And the fifth? He put her in shackles that prevented her gate from closing and then broke every bone in her body before releasing her."

Lucy is openly crying, "Why would they do that? Why would ANYBODY do that? It's not right! It's not fair, it's not right, and I won't allow it!"

Aquarius' eyes soften. "I was counting on that. Good luck, Lucy."

A flash of light and Aquarius has vanished.

Now…

"So that's what happened, huh? No wonder she was so terrified. What could her true form possibly be to create so much hate towards her?"

Lucy rolls over and stares at the ceiling.

"Well, one thing's for certain. Tomorrow, I'm going to convince Virgo to show me her true form. And when she does, no matter what it is, I'll complement her on it."

::::::::::::::::

"Open, gate of the maiden! Virgo!"

The light forms into Virgo, in the same form as before.

She bows and asks, "You called, mistress?"

"I spoke to Aquarius yesterday."

Virgo flinches, "and what did you talk about, mistress?"

"Your true form."

Virgo starts to tremble, but before she can close her gate, Lucy continues.

"What those people did to you was wrong. They had no right to treat you like that. I swear that no appearances or actions on your part could ever change my opinion of you. So please, show it to me. I want to help!"

Virgo has straightened up from her bow by this point, although her head is still hung. Without saying a word, light swirls around her. When it disperses, her appearance has changed.

She still has a human shape. She's still wearing a maid outfit. She still has manacles on her wrists with chains dangling from them. And her hair is still pink. But that's where the similarities end.

Instead of being in a bob, her hair is straight, long enough to reach her waist. Due to her bowed head, her bangs are screening her face from view. She's grown a few inches taller, and is slightly slimmer. Her skin has darkened a few shades from completely white to extremely light beige.

After a few moments of silence, she lifts her head.

Her features, which had best been described as 'determined' before, are now soft. She has a round, almost childlike face.

Then she opens her eyes.

Instead of their previous cobalt blue, they are now the color of the sky on a clear summer day.

Lucy can only think of one word to describe her.

"Beautiful…"

Virgo sobs and throws herself at Lucy, wrapping her arms around this person, this person who had seen what she truly was and hadn't thought less of her because of it. Lucy just holds her, and whispers soothing sounds.

Some amount of time later, Lucy is now kneeling on the ground, with Virgo sitting in her lap. Virgo looks up, wipes away her leftover tears, and says:

"Thank you… Lucy."

A/N: About the wizards that mistreated Virgo:

The first one was an a***hole that had already decided to end the contract.

The second was jealous of Virgo's beauty.

The third fell head over heels for Virgo, but wasn't willing to admit it. When she collapsed, it was like a kick in the teeth for him, reminding him that she wasn't human and a relationship was impossible.

The fourth and fifth ones were simply sadistic lunatics.