Check the author's note at the bottom! Updated: July 24, 2014
A long, long time ago, God told the animals, "Tomorrow I'll invite you to my banquet. You must not be late."
After hearing the news, the rat – who liked to play practical jokes – told its neighbor, the cat, that the banquet was the day after.
On the day of the banquet, the rat rode on the ox's back, and jumped off to get into the banquet first. The ox followed, then the tiger, then everyone else. The celebration lasted until the next morning.
Everyone had enjoyed the banquet immensely… except for the deceived cat.
The day had started out normal enough (if a day with Fairy Tail could ever be called "normal" exactly). Natsu and Happy, at least, had stuck to their habit of bursting into Lucy's apartment unannounced and waking her up with their noise, or perhaps they would accidentally burn something and set off the fire alarm, or they would purposefully wake her to make her cook them breakfast. Lucy would always forgive them and treat them to pancakes or eggs. This morning's breakfast had been waffles with syrup and butter, hot off the fire. Lucy was dressed in her everyday outfit, something cute and just a bit showy, and her keys were in their place at her side.
The sun was shining, the birds were chirping - the day was beautiful. Lucy would have enjoyed it, but something felt off to her. Not wrong, exactly, and even a little familiar, but it was strange.
Lucy smiled distractedly at Natsu and Happy's antics, glancing ever so often at the guild hall as they drew closer.
"Natsu!" Lisanna called out when they appeared in the doorway.
"Hey, Lu-chan, I just thought of something great!" Levy also waved to her friend, and Lucy left to go sit by her.
On the way, a corner table caught her eye and she gasped. As she forced herself to look away, her mind was in a state of panic. What are they doing here? Please don't look at me, please don't notice me. How did you find me?
"Lu-chan? Is something wrong?"
Lucy hadn't noticed that she had reached Levy's table and was just standing there until Levy's voice broke through her thoughts. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Did you think of a new idea?"
"Yep, I really like it." Levy smiled enthusiastically. "What if the main character-"
"Lucy."
Just one word, but Lucy recognized the voice immediately. Closing her eyes, she smiled apologetically at Levy and turned slowly to face the owner. "Haru." Surprisingly, her voice was level.
"I knew it was you." This time, the ox seemed to be muttering to himself. "We should talk."
Lucy didn't reply.
"The others agreed to wait outside so we wouldn't cause a scene," Haru continued.
"Lu-chan?" Levy looked from Lucy to Haru.
Breathing deeply, she smiled again. "Don't worry, Levy-chan. I'll be right back." To Haru, she said, "Let's go." She led the way, smiling reassuringly at Natsu when he asked what was wrong. Hopefully, she'd be back before lunch so they could have a big picnic or go on an easy job.
"What do you mean, 'family meeting'?"
The reunion hadn't lasted very long. Kisa was still latched on to Lucy's arm, but then Haru and Kyo had been subdued when Yuki brought the matter at hand back to their attention. Tohru, of course, tried to lighten the mood with her smile.
"Akito has never called one before. That was what her father did and she would do anything to keep from being the type of person he was," Lucy continued. "Why now?"
"She got a letter." Haru shrugged.
Yuki clarified with a sigh. "Akito received a sealed letter. It was unmarked on the outside, but I suppose it said something important because the next day, she made us track you down. Where's Layla-san? She needs to know this too."
"She... Mama died." Lucy's eyes closed. "A few years ago."
Stunned silence filled the room for a moment. Then, "I'm sorry."
Lucy smiled sadly, not responding.
"Lucy," Haru said, "we really missed you. And Layla-san. Why did you leave?"
"Haru." Yuri silenced him with a glare.
"No, Yuki, I understand. Haru, even I don't know the answer to that. I had assumed it was for our safety, at first, but Mama wouldn't have left all of you guys, and she wouldn't have gone to such drastic measures to leave. Maybe we'll never know." Lucy let out a short laugh. "I'm sorry for keep in up the ruse after she died, but if she had done that, she must have had a good reason and I didn't want to break that. I don't expect you to understand, or to forgive me, but please know that I'm sorry."
"Yeah. Okay, apology accepted." Kyo said, fists clenched. "But we thought you were dead and the only thing that kept us going was that Akito hadn't broken down yet and she was the closest one to you. How could we be sad if Akito couldn't mourn properly?"
"How did she know I was still alive, anyway?" Lucy murmured to herself. " Yuki?"
"Yes?"
"I'll go home with you, since Akito was this desperate. But let say goodbye first, and find good homes for my celestial spirits."
"Celestial spirits?" This was the first time Kisa had spoken up all day, from her hiding place behind Tohru.
A grin spread across Lucy's face as she squatted down to look at Kisa. "Celestial Spirits, Kisa-chan," Lucy repeated. "They're magical beings who live in the spirit world. I can call on them with my keys and bring them to this world. I'll call out Plue, if you want to meet him."
Kisa hesitated before nodding once and ducking behind Tohru again.
Seeing this, Lucy's smile dropped a bit, but then she stood up and her smile was back. Her hand moved to her side, unclipping the Nicola key. "Open, Gate to the Canis Minor."
A small glow and then Plue was waving his small fists around at the guests.
"Plue, this is Kisa. That's Haru, Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru. Be nice, okay?"
"Puun," Plue says, wobbling up to Kisa.
Cautiously, and with a smile from Lucy, Kisa bent down and stuck out her hand to the spirit.
"Other than Plue, who call out to hang out with, I have some of the Zodiac - maybe it'll be easier to just show you." Lucy smiled as she reached back to her hip for another key. With a deep breath, she commanded, "Open, Gate to the Lion Palace - Loke."
The drain of her magic was felt this time, with Plue being out at the same time, but Lucy hid it well with the help of Loke.
"Lucy," the spirit sang.
"Loke, will you help me explain?" The celestial spirit mage trusted that Loke was watching what had happened from
An amused smile flitted across the Lion's face. "Of course, Lucy-chan."
As he explained, Lucy studied her family. They had changed, of course, they had gotten taller, and were starting to look grown, with the exception of Kisa. Even Kisa, though, was growing. The last time they had seen each other, Kisa was only five or six, and Lucy had been, what, thirteen? Now, four years later, Kisa was still as shy and introverted (if not more so) than back then.
When Loke bent down so that the little tiger could feel his hair, Lucy felt a wave of affection run through her, and was glad to see the smile that showed itself afterwards.
"Lucy-chan."
Starled, Lucy jerked out of her thoughts. "Yes?"
"Can I tell Loke about our family?" Yuki asked.
"I'm not sure. Is Akito okay with that?" Lucy wondered what it would be like to have Loke, and by affiliation, the rest of her spirits, know what she had tried to hide for so long. "I think it's okay, though. I trust Loke. He won't tell." She ignored the Lion's curious gaze, relieved when he moved it to look at Yuki when he began the tale.
She stayed quiet, nodding every so often at the old story she had heard so many times before, when she and her mom were living at the Sohma residence as the horse and one of the most respected members of the Sohma family (mostly as the only one who knew magic, other than Hatori's memory spell).
"I'm the Rat, Haru's the Ox, Kisa is the Tiger, and Lucy is the Horse. Tohru isn't part of the Zodiac - our Zodiac - but she discovered our secret and kept it, so that's why she still has her memory. Kyo's the Cat, by the way. And the others at home are Hatori the Dragon, Shigure the Dog, Ayame the Snake, Kagura the Boar, Momiji's the Rabbit, Hiro the Goat, Ritsu the Monkey, Kureno the Rooster, and Akito plays the role of 'god'." Yuki finished.
Lucy waited a moment for her spirit to take in all of the information, but eventually she couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out, "Loke, I have to go back with them. It's a summons by Akito, and I can tell that something's wrong and it's really important, so i have to go back with them."
"I know," Loke responded simply. "I'm your celestial spirit, remember?"
At that, Lucy looked down. "Then you also know what I have to do."
"Yes. Lucy-"
"I don't know what Akito's going to do when I bring you guys back with me, but I know that I absolutely cannot go back with a guild symbol. Loke, I know how much you love Fairy Tail. I won't make you come with me. There must be another celestial mage who will take care of you guys, or one of the others will keep your keys safe until another mage comes by who will take care of you. But if you come with me, Akito might do something horrible, it's been ten years, I don't know how much she has changed." Lucy broke off, on the verge of tears.
None of the others interrupted, they could tell that this was something Loke and Lucy needed to do themselves.
"Lucy, I speak for all of your celestial spirits when I say that we're going to go with you and stay by your side no matter what," Loke said slowly, forcing his words to reach Lucy through their bond.
Blinking rapidly, Lucy raised her head slowly. "But, Akito…"
"No matter what," Loke said firmly. "You're our owner, and the best one most of us have had for centuries."
After a moment, Lucy exhaled. "Thank you."
Loke smiled.
"Then we should leave as soon as possible." Haru sighed. "Lucy."
"Okay." Lucy breathed in deeply, trying to calm herself enough to go back to the guild. "You guys should stay here, I'll go alone."
"We're coming with you." Haru stated as Kyo, Yuki, and Loke started towards the door. "This isn't up for debate." He waited until Tohru and Kisa were also in front of them before dragging Lucy with them.
Sighing, Lucy followed, scared of what was sure to follow.
a/n: hey, so I haven't updated in about seven months. I'm so sorry for the long hiatus, and for not saying anything. Why am I back? I started writing again! And I'm continuing this because you guys deserve something for staying here, and I've recently received e-mails saying that people are still favoriting and following. Thank you guys, thank you so much.
I don't know how this time will go, but I'll at least give you guys an ending if I can't turn it into the full out epic I was planning to when I first started, a year or so ago.