Dragneel; Igneel & Layla 6, Saraphina 3, Nash 2 months

Redfox; Ren 6, Axel 4, Connor & Wyatt (8 months along)

Haroworth; Nolan & Lucca & Kellen & Rainer & Aura 6 months

Drayer; Lexie 7

Justine; Marcus 4

Alberona; Chance 4

Fullbuster; Storm 7, Ur &Ulter one week

Damian 5

Fernandez; Maia 10 months

Fiore; Drake 9 months

Ecluiff; Reese 4

The Zodiac Curse

******Two years after Celestial Mage Wanted*****

Bixlow took a deep breath as he scanned the guild hall. Each of his children had one spirit that looked over them. Not because the seith mage had asked them to, but because his little souls loved his kids about as much as he and their mother did. It wasn't uncommon to find them entertaining the now six month olds from the minute they woke up and until the second their eyes closed.

Lisanna had often joked that she wasn't sure how she would be able to handle the children if Bixlow had to go off on a mission. The babies took care of who ever had to wait for mom or dad, whether it be a diaper change, feeding, bath, or what have you, so the crying in the house was thankfully kept at a minimum. But requests for the Seith mage's help had been coming to the guild more often than usual. The new head of the anthropology department at Crocus university was hopeful that Bixlow's ability to communicate with the long departed would provide unique and invaluable insight to the past.

Usually Bixlow would just ignore such requests, after all he had been getting them from the moment he joined Fairy Tail. Most often souls lingered due to traumatic deaths and often the only thing they could communicate was the pain their felt just before they died. It could take years to sooth a soul to the point where Professor Metlin wanted and usually once they reached that point they just wanted to move on and be with those that had gone before them and Bixlow wasn't going to trap a soul here for a question and answer session.

But the money to be offered was substantial and with Laxus taking over as Guild Master since his grandfather decided to retire and just spend time with all of his grandchildren; the Thunder God Tribe hadn't taken any jobs since then. He and Lisanna were fine for now but he knew they couldn't live off of what she made at the guild alone.

"Yo," Natsu called out pulling the seith mage back from his thoughts as the dragon slayer sat next to him. "So Luce wants to go back to the sacred burial ground in a few weeks. She said you can bring the babies cause she's bringin like twenty people from Dragon's Keep and there will be plenty of people to watch em," the pink haired man said as he took a drink of his mug.

"Why does she need me there?" Bixlow asked as he watched Lucy coo over Aura who was being held by her aunt Evergreen.

"She wanted to know if any of the lingering souls there are bad," Natsu spoke as he felt a tug on his pants and reached down to pick up Saraphina who had somehow crawled all the way across the guild to him and was using his pants leg to pull herself up.

"I didn't see any that were malicious while there," the seith spoke as he watched Natsu place his daughter on his lap.

"Yeah well, Luce say better safe than sorry. I told her it wouldn't be need cause that place was crawling with blood magic. But she's worried that something will happen and the spirits that linger there will start attacking everything," the pink haired father said as his daughter tried reaching for his mug and he expertly kept it out of her reach.

"Yeah I guess I could see her point let me talk it over with Liz and then I'll get back to you, if I can't go I'll make her some charms to sooth spirits. It won't be permanent but it should last long enough to get everyone out," Bixlow spoke as he watched Mila, who was now in her own little totem, hover by Lucy.

That wasn't all that strange the soul of their ancestor seemed to favor the blonde and would continue to be near her until either Loke or Aries would appear. Then the soul would flutter around the spirits, chirping happily, until they had to return and then once again Mila would be right next to Lucy until she got too far from Bixlow. What was strange was the fact that Mila was acting annoyed she kept chirping, not having been with Bixlow long enough to full speak without his help but the soul was obviously anxious about something.

Standing up Bixlow walked over to his spirit and cupped in in his hands. The totem vibrated as it growled at him trying to say something. Noticing the distress Pappa left Kellen and came to rest on Bixlow's shoulder. What's she saying? Bixlow asked his grandfather as his oldest soul hummed in response.

"Zodiac Curse!" Papa finally chirped as Lucy quickly looked over at the seith mage as the totem all chanted "Zodiac Curse!"

"What about the Zodiac Curse?" Lucy asked cautiously as the seith mage finally realized where he had heard of it.

"Our friends, the spirits, they need your help, centuries ago there was a cursed placed on the high twelve. One that allowed them to become no better than slaves, and kept them from protecting the other spirits and I need you to break it," Layla said firmly as she watched her daughter nodded her head as she held her gaze.

"Wait, how could they be curse? And wouldn't they say something to me about it?" Lucy questioned.

"Darling, they can't. The curse blocked out their memories of the time when they were completely free. Besides only one wasn't cursed," Layla said quietly as she ran a hand through her daughter's hair.

"Which one? Maybe they can…." Lucy began to ask but the tearful look in her mother's eyes as she glanced down to the locket around her daughter's neck. Sighing in realization the blonde daughter touched the locked as she whispered, "Aquarius, she was the one that wasn't cursed was she,"

"Yes, but she never talked about it while I was alive," Layla said quietly.

"Then how did you find out about it?" Lucy inquired as she looked back up to her mother.

"Draco, after I died my spirit went to him as all of our ancestors before had. He knew I had given you the conjuring spell and asked that you break the curse," Layla spoke quietly as Lucy nodded her head.

Lucy had spent most of the last few months of both of her most recent pregnancies trying to find any information on the zodiac curse but from what Lisanna had told him she had been unsuccessful in finding anything on it. Even with the help of Levy, Freed, Rufus, and Hibiki no one could find anything on it. Levy had supposed that there may not even be any record of it since at the time only the Haroworth family had Celestial mages.

"Break Curse!" the totems all began chanting as Lucy looked over at Bixlow.

"Mila do you know how to break it?" Lucy asked as the little totem in Bixlow's hands nodded as if to say yes. "How?" Lucy asked as a frustrated whine left her.

"Pappa?" Bixlow asked as his grandfather's spirit sighed.

"Too much," Pappa sighed as he shook his head.

"What does that mean?" Lucy asked almost desperately.

"Mila must have too much information for Pappa to radio back," the seith mage spoke as Lucy deflated instantly.

"You know there's a book on seith magic from the celestial realm that I am almost done translating, maybe it has something in it that can help," Levy spoke up as she fidgeted trying to get comfortable in her final month of pregnancy with her twins.

After Gajeel had been sent off to retrieve said book. The trio sat down and poured over its contents. Lucy and Bixlow with the translated set while Levy worked on the last few sections of the book.

"There's nothing here!" Lucy nearly sobbed as Natsu handed her a fussing Nash as he was trying to calm Saraphina as well. The two month old sobbing for reasons un know Lucy automatically began trying to sooth the pink haired boy as Bixlow skimmed the book again.

"Wait I think I have something," Levy muttered as she tried to fight off the telling pinch of her lower back. I am not in labor, I am not in labor. The solid script mage chanted as she pushed through trying to finish the job.

"Levy I can smell your pain, what did I tell you about trying to ignore it?" Wendy hissed as she grabbed Gajeel and made him carry her up the stairs as Levy hissed.

"But lu need the translation!" Levy cringed as she finally accepted the fact that once again she was delivering early.

"Yes, and I know you wanted these babies at term but if they want to meet the world early there is not much we can do about it," Wendy huffed as she turned to the guild. "You know the drill!" she shouted with a slam of the infirmary door.

"Bixlow?" Lucy asked as the seith mage studied the rough scratch on the spare paper that levy was using to translate on.

It looked like someone was attempting to a math equation. Each line bore more sense than the one before it until Bixlow came to the end of the page. Know thy name; spare they blood, to call forth all thy soul. The end of the paper read.

"I think I know what I need," Bixlow said as Lucy looked at him in confusion as a litany of curses came from the second floor.

Twenty minutes later had Bixlow, Lucy, Yukino and all of the seith mage's totems in one of the conference rooms. A single bowl sat between Bixlow and Lucy a small pile of herbs sat before them as Bixlow offered Lucy a knife. The blonde slit her palm without prompting as and pressed a few drops into the bowl.

"How did you know about the blood?" Yukino asked as she watched Bixlow do the same.

"A lot of the Haroworth spells require blood. I would guess to prove that they are legitimately a part of the family," Lucy sighed as she watched the bowl began to glow as Bixlow hummed five of his totems surrounded them as they began to glow and circle them slowly.

Mila hovered above the bowl as she two began to glow. Taking a deep breath Bixlow spoke her name as Mila began to glow more brightly until a flash filled the room. Upon adjusting to the light Lucy looked up to find the transparent figure of a girl no older than herself kneeling before her. Her feet over the bowl and the wooden totem floating in the center of her body as Lucy took in the soul. Long blonde hair billowed down to the floor, dressing in a traditional robe her bangs were held back with two golden pins each with a symbol of the Zodiac one for Aries the other for Loke.

"Hello," the soul spoke as Lucy gapped trying to find what to say. "You are the mage who holds the keys of Leo and Aries now?" Mila asked as Lucy nodded her head.

"What do you know of the Zodiac Curse?" the blonde asked as the spirit before her sighed in shame.

"It was my fault that it was able to be enacted," Mila confessed as the blonde looked at her in confusion. "Let me explain it all began so long ago,"

"Mila, come inside!" an elder woman called out as the young woman laughed.

"Mother I am simply going to market and I have my keys will me all will be well," the young woman shouted as she continued on the dirt path that lead to the village not far from when her family lived.

As she continued forward she felt the tinge of fear as she could feel a pair of strange eyes on her. Racing for cover she reached for her keys only to be stopped by a strong hand over her mouth and another reaching into her pocket grabbing the keys himself.

"Now now these are of no use against me so I'll just dispose of them he said tossing them out of reach as he slammed her against a tree turning her so he could see her face.

His hair was wild, long dark blue locks spilled behind him as his dark skin held her against the tree with one hand at her throat. Green eyes glared at her with nothing but hate surrounded by strange marking on his face that she did not recognize. Gasping for breath as she clawed as the hand that held her.

"Why he prefers you weaklings to me I'll never know," he hissed as he slammed her back against the tree he felt her head crack as the tree groaned in pain.

"I… Don't…." she gasped out as he slammed her against the tree again causing it to fall.

"My name is Acnologia, son of Draco, but my father has always preferred you pitiful spirit holders. Always growling about how I was never like his daughter, his precious Sitara. But I'll prove to him that I am better than all of you once and for all," he hissed as he threw her across the ground.

Her body only stopping when it came in contact with a rock, coughing on impact she saw blood escape from her mouth as she struggled to breathe. Soon he stomped over to where she was and kicked her in the stomach five times each one more painful than the last as blood now began to trickle out of her mouth. Feeling the urge to pass out he grabbed her by the face again shaking her as he hissed in her face. "Now now, no dying yet I need you a live for this."

Calmly he walked away and towards her keys bending down he picked them up.

"What… are… you…" she gasped out every wor, every breath felt like knives stabbing into her chest. But her questions stopped as soon he wrapped her keys in a dark energy which sent pain shooting through her body. Screaming in agony she felt every single one of her nerves come alive like they had all been set on fire.

She was unaware of how long she remained in agony but she knew that she had lost her voice and found it again as the pain grew and grew. But once the pain had gone it had left her numb and hollow as she sobbed for it all. A wicked grin appeared on his face as his fingers were replaced by long talons scratching them against the back of her keys, Mila trembled as the pain rocked through her again. Dropping them on the ground near her she felt the agony both Leo and Aries were suffering as the tears continued to fall down her face.

"I want you to know that this is all your fault, After all I had to start with the Lion," he hissed before his talon like hands soon connected with her head and she felt pain no more.

"I died that day, but unlike those before me when my soul left this world my keys did not," Mila explained.

"Why would the keys leave when you died?" Yukino asked as she felt the tears stream down her own face.

"When the keys were created the spirits choose who their holder was. When a holder were to die the keys would return to the celestial world until another holder was chosen. And to be chosen by a member of the high twelve was a great honor my mother and grandmother wept for joy the day that Aries and Leo's keys appeared to me," Mila informed as Lucy mulled over everything she had just been told.

"So the spirits choose?" Lucy asked as she looked up at the spirit with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, and if a holder were to mistreat their spirits then they would all be taken from them and would never be able to hold a contract again," Mila spoke firmly as she repeated what her mother at told her the day she made her first contract with a spirit.

"What is the Zodiac Curse?" Yukino asked moving closer to Lucy.

"It's simple really; the High twelve can no longer act in their own accord. They must follow every command that they are given by those who are their masters, and if they can somehow ignore their masters they are punished for it. No longer is it a partnership between spirits and mortals but now the mortals may use the spirits however they see fit and none can stop them," Mila spoke.

"But what about the spirit king surely he must know the truth! And what about the silver keys?" Yukino cried out as she watched Lucy bite back her sobs.

"Once the Curse had been placed on the twelve the other spirits were affected by it, now only the king and Aquarius know the truth. So the King has to up hold the laws that he know to be false because if he were to tell them the truth it would cause the spirits great agony," Mila spoke as Lucy growled in rage.

"But that's horrible they have feelings and they feel pain. They're not weapons!" Lucy ranted as Mila looked up at her with hope. Lucy kept thinking about what had happened between Loke and Karen. If it wasn't for the damned curse then never would have happened.

"Yes but the curse also affected those who were raised with the family. They began seeing the spirits as like you said nothing more than weapons," the soul spoke sorrow filling her voice as she remembered watching as each generation became worse than the last until finally the sacred burial ground was sealed.

"But wait then how did Lucy bypass the curse?" Yukino asked.

"My mother, she wasn't raised with the family and neither was I," Lucy said quietly as she looked over at the soul for conformation.

"Yes, and also Aquarius may have helped with that," Mila spoke as she nodded her head.

"How Aquarius wasn't cursed," Lucy stated as Mila sighed.

"The only reason she wasn't, was because even then Aquarius was picky about who she would hold a contract with. She appeared for Anna and then after the eclipse gate was closed she left so that the same fate wouldn't befall her. But your mother was the first mage in almost a thousand years that the mermaid made a true contract with," Mila said with a smile as she continued. "She has only had three true contracts in her life. Sitara, Layla and Lucy,"

"Wow she must have really loved you," Yukino whispered as Lucy clutched her locket tightly.

"How do you know all of this?" Lucy spoke her voice shaking as she fought back tears.

" Our shared father told me," Mila said with a smile as she looked to the white haired mage, "He also told me that you Yukino Eucliffe mate of the White dragon slayer have proven yourself worthy to be his child and has blessed your lineage that they may too call themselves children of the heavens." The soul spoke with a smile as Yukino stared at her in surprised confusion.

"I have one more thing to tell you before I must go," Mila said as Lucy and Yukino looked up. "To break the curse will require sacrifice on both of your parts. Acnologia set the curse and it cannot be broken until he is defeated. Once he has you both must take the keys to the great well. In the pool in the main cave you must place all twelve of the gold key who were cursed adding a drop of your blood to the pool and release your spirits from their contracts."

"We have to give up our family?" Lucy asked as a fresh set of tear began spilling down her face.

"Yes, but once the curse has been broken they may choose to ask for your partnership again, or they may choose to work with your children. And once the curse has been lifted then all will be as it once was," Mila said with a smile as she began to glow again.

"Mila?" Lucy asked as she watched the soul glow lightly as Mila smiled and exhaled softly as she disappeared into fading light. Soon the totem that once held her crashed down into the bowl of herbs and blood as Bixlow shook his head.

"What just happened?" Yukino asked in panic.

"Mila is at peace, she moved on," the seith mage said a small smile on his face. "Did ya get what you need cosplayer?"

"Yes," Lucy croaked as she bit her lip tears falling down her face.

"What's wrong?" Bixlow asked noticing that both woman had tears running down their faced and within a few moments both Natsu and Sting crashed into the room and raced towards their mates.

"Luce?" Natsu asked as he held Lucy close.

"Its fine Natsu, I'll be fine," she whispered as she prayed that this would be all worth it in the end.