Chapter 9

A. N.: Oh boy. Guys, I'm so sorry. I know it's been months, but they have been really hard…

My birthday was this November 14th (finally 18 yay!) and I came home after a fun dinner the night before and found one of my hamsters had died in his sleep… Plus my classes have been HELL.

On the other hand, I have a person now, and she makes me uber happy. ^_^ She's been keeping me sane this whole time, and encouraging me.

Anyways guys, I hope you like the new characters I am putting into this chapter. I'm literally going to write until I don't have any more story planned out.

The general theme for this one is family, so the theme song for this chapter is "Welcome to Our Family" by Jump 5. There's a good AMV for it on YouTube here: watch?v=zBkQdO-82A4&index=8&list=UUz2WJ-u01BtiNR_5_BHoMw.

Enjoy! - M. M.

Lucy's POV:

I could hear Natsu begin to play his guitar when I stepped out of the bathroom. It was the same song he had been playing earlier when I woke up. I walked over to his doorway, seeing Levy sitting on a stool, listening. She was watching him play, her foot tapping gently on one of the stool's crosspieces.

I listened, entranced, to the sound of his fingers moving over the strings, his soft yet rich voice singing flawlessly along with the music. I stood there until he finished, a small smile on my face and an ache in my heart.

I missed my Zodiacs.

When I was very young, I spent almost every waking moment with my mother. We would play together all the time, and she would teach me about the stars; their stories, positions, and how to tell where you were based upon the stars alone.

Over time, we gathered more people to us. People we loved. I was young and obsessed with the stars, so I gave them all nicknames, that became more used than their real names, to the point that I don't remember their real names.

All accept Loke.

First was Capricorn. His ability to rock climb was amazing. He used to strap me on his back, and climb up the side of our mansion. Later, he tried teaching me to do it myself, but I was to small to do it without help. We were found out by my mother eventually, but after the initial shock of seeing her six year old little girl halfway up the side of a three-story mansion, she just laughed, stating, "Just don't let her get hurt Capricorn. I know you will protect her from all harm." He had known my mom since she was a teenager, acting has her personal servant and protector for many, many years until her death. Afterwards, I never saw him again.

Second, was Cancer. My mom helped him out when he was on the losing side of a knife fight, both her and Capricorn fending off the ruffians and saving his life. His scissors from beauty school were his only weapons against them. My mother helped him through beauty school; paying his tuition, making sure he had the highest quality tools possible- and in return Cancer was always at my mother's disposal for anything scissor-related, be it cutting her hair or her enemies. I am still in touch with him, though he has his own studio now, so he can't always be with me. He recently got a boyfriend as well, so I don't like to call favors in with him if I can help it.

Third was Aquarius. She is a professional mermaid, working mostly in high-class places. My mom was walking to her car when she saw a couple men cornering a young Aquarius by her own car after one of her shows. Needless to say, my mother beat the men within an inch of their lives, and took the young mermaid under her wing, teaching her how to protect herself. My mother was a couple years older than Aquarius, and growing up, Aquarius was my ever-grumpy aunt. After my mother died, Aquarius easily stepped into the role of surrogate mother. She no longer felt obligated to my mother, but she "just can't leave a brat like you to try and figure stuff out for yourself. If I do that you'll never get a boyfriend" as she put it.

Later in my life, keeping with the trend of the Zodiac names, I met Taurus and Loke. Father hired them to be my official bodyguards as soon as we started having trouble keeping ahold of our gang territory.

I adored the huge loveable black man instantly. Taurus has a gauged septum piercing that inspired his name, as well as his deep southern accent. I always used to envision cows speaking with southern accents, when I was little, so he was dubbed "Cow Man" for many years. He has been by my side nearly constantly ever since he was assigned "udder-ly amazing detail" as he used to call it. At first I found it crude, but now I would do anything to hear his rumbling voice make perverted comments about whatever I am wearing.

Last came Loke.

At first, I found his flirting annoying to the extreme, but after having a serious conversation or two with him, I saw the pure spirit within him. He still continues to borderline harass me, but I know now that it is his way of showing affection and his love for me. He is as close to me as a brother. On the nights that I couldn't sleep, he would either get Aquarius to come sleep with me, or he would keep watch over me himself. He never once did anything untoward, and I never had any nightmares when he was with me. He taught me hand to hand combat, as well as how to use my whip. Everyone trained me with the weapons they specialized with, but I trained with him the most. It always made him happy when I did well in the ring or on the mat, his hair moving as he clapped looking eerily similar to a cat's ears twitching. That's how he became my Leo.

Because we needed a way to tell each other if there was trouble, we came up with a code. If there was trouble, we would call each other Lucy and Leo, otherwise it is princess and Loke. The last time I called him Leo, I was crying on my bed after I had my heart broken. Before I had started down the path that led me to here.

That night he had played "Wherever You Will Go" on his acoustic guitar that he kept stashed under my bed for impromptu guitar lessons. He promised that he would stay with me, no matter how bad it got.

The opening of the front door of our dorm brought me out of my thoughts. I found myself staring into Levy's eyes, her brown eyes glossy with unshed tears. She got down off her stool and came up to me, hugging me gently as I felt Erza come up behind me. I had not realized it, but I had started crying silently, the reality of my situation coming crashing down on me.

I was alone.

"Well," said my small internal voice, "maybe not." I looked down at the blue hair of my new friend, the first real female friend I made in this crazy place, and gently hugged her back. As we let go of each other, Erza cleared her throat.

"Excuse me Lucy, but as Unit Head, it is my job to get you set up here and show you how everything works." She had a pink laptop case under her arm, as well as what seemed like a sword on her other hip.

I wiped my tears away and smiled at her. "Yeah, no problem." I squared my shoulders, turning completely away from Natsu, who was staring at me with an indecipherable look on his face. "Do I need anything in particular? I'm wearing boots today, if that's a concern."

Erza gestured for me to come sit on the couch, where Gray had come out to sit as well. I sat on the opposite end, as far away as I could get from him. It wasn't that I didn't like him. I just didn't like boys.

When Erza sat down she handed me the laptop case, explaining that every "participant" as she called the people here, was issued their own laptop for the duration of their stay, and were required to take online courses.

"There are a designated four hours per day in which every person must be working on their work in the common room in their unit's building. This is from 10 A.M. to noon, and from 1 P.M. to 3 P.M. in the summer. There is a different winter schedule, because those are the warmest hours of the day. During the summer, the director wants all of us inside during those times, unless it is a weekend."

I nodded my understanding, and Erza launched into an explanation of how the online classes worked, helping me get signed up for my classes, and get in contact with all my teachers. After we got my classes all sorted out, and my new (loaner) laptop stashed in my room, Erza stood up.

"So, here comes the fun part!" Erza grinned widely at me as she beaconed me to follow her outside. Levy shared her excitement and followed, as well as a straggling Natsu and Gray, both mumbling about having nothing better to do.

I smiled at Levy as she offered her hand, and I ran with her to catch up with Erza, comfortably holding her hand as we walked to the center of the driveway. We stopped when Erza suddenly spun, focusing on me with an intense stare.

"Here at the Fairy Ranch we do things differently than other places. One of the biggest things we do is assign each participant with an animal. Everyone is required to care for an animal, and every animal must be properly trained, and serve a purpose. For example, I have a horse as my companion. You have the choice of a cat, dog, rabbit, horse, cow, sheep, or mule. Feel free to wander about and look at all of the animals, and make your choice. Any animal that has already been paired has a collar, or some other designation of ownership. When you leave here, you are more than welcome to take your animal with you, as long as you can prove that you have a safe place to keep it. Otherwise it will stay here, and be paired with someone else. Regardless, while you are here, you will care for your animal, keeping it happy and in pristine condition. We do not tolerate animal abuse here, and if I see your animal suffering in any meaning of the word, I will deal with you directly."

I pride myself in my bravery, but I paled as Erza's hand tightened on the hilt of her sword, her eyes cold with the promise of pain should her expectations not be met. I nodded quickly, shrinking back from her intense gaze.

Erza smiled happily. "Good! I'm glad we are on the same page. Just let either the director or I know which animal you would prefer to have as your companion, and we will get them a collar. Good luck." She smiled and walked away to watch the fight Gray and Natsu were having, there just in case it should get to out of hand.

"Well, I'm going to go work on my homework. I wish you luck Lucy!" Levy smiled up at me before skipping back to her unit building, dodging a flying Natsu on her way there.

I shook my head and turned to the porch where all the cats were being fed by Elfman, the great hulk of a man being swarmed by cats in their hunger, putting up with the multitude of scratches I was sure he was quickly acquiring. I watched him with the cats for a little while, before walking toward the dog kennels.

I was always a dog person anyways.

A. N.: Aaaaaaand that's a wrap! I'm sorry this took so BLOODY LONG guys… I tried. I had the first two sentences finished for weeks, I just had terrible writers block!

Upside, I PASSED ALL MY CLASSES. I was honestly sooo worried about it. I'm hoping to regularly update and progress this story over this school break.

A shout out to my friend AndytheIcelander, who I have been chatting with and who is an amazing person. :) You should look at their fan fictions, OMG they are great, and only more yummy goodness to come. XD

Have a lovely time until we meet again! Don't forget to R&R. :)

-M. M.