Dear Readers,

Here ya go!

Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, Desna owns the Pradesh Fam. GoddessxNyte2 is my beta and probably my biggest fan (besides myself).

Enjoy!

"Aquarius!"

Lucy woke up screaming the name of the water spirit, for the first time in over a year and a half. Panting and sweating, a phantom pain in her leg where she could still clearly see the faint scars from the mini-explosions Jackal had so kindly delivered to it all that time ago, she clutched at the sheets.

"Fucking goddamn it…" Lucy whispered to herself, trying to calm her frantic heart. She should have known telling other people about it would only bring that moment straight back to the forefront of her mind. She wanted to hit something, but everything in the room she was staying in was too nice, she didn't want to break it all. She chose to grit her teeth instead, clenching her fists against the pain in her heart.

'I am sure my father appreciates your restraint,' she heard Kalebs amused voice in her head, 'And please don't ask your spirits to distract me. They just settled down and I'm finally getting rid of the migraine.'

Lucy felt her frustration dissipate slightly as she laughed aloud, '...you and me both. Though I still don't appreciate you hanging out in my head.'

'It's an interesting place,' Kaleb admitted, 'Though, I'm not actually here to entertain myself. I sensed your panic and wanted to make sure you were alright. Do you have that dream often? It has been several years since then, you may consider talking to someone about it.'

'Thanks for your insight, Doctor Kaleb,' even she could hear the snark in her mental voice, and she cringed, 'Ah, I'm sorry about that. I do appreciate your concern. To answer your question, no, I don't have this dream often. I used to, but since I left Fairy Tail I've been either too tired to dream at all, or I dream about my family dying. I guess talking about Aquarius's sacrifice today just made it… a little closer to the surface is all.'

'I am sorry about that,' Kaleb apologized, 'But we needed the truth. Still do. Bickslow has been a mess about it, you know. And besides that, we want to help you. This isn't like Tartaros, Lucy, and none of us are trapped in the Alegria curse. You're not alone.'

Lucy let her head fall into her hands as she took a deep breath, 'I know that. And I'm stronger now, I can protect everyone without running away this time…'

'You don't have to protect everyone. We protect each other,' Kaleb argued, 'I thought Fairy Tail would have made that clear to you.'

'Yeah. Until I almost lost them all. Twice. And I wasn't strong enough to protect anyone the same way they protected me. Look,' Lucy sighed, 'I really don't want to talk about this right now. I need to take a walk. You still have all of Bosco searching for me or can I release some magic?'

'Bosco is still looking for you, but if you're still on estate grounds the wards should hide you. And I'd appreciate it if you stayed on the estate grounds,' Kaleb advised her.

'Don't act like you're not going to be listening to my every thought while my head is clear, Kaleb. We both know you'll be keeping tabs on me.'

She heard a faint sound of laughter coming from above her. He must be staying in the room directly on top of hers.

'You're not wrong. Be careful, you'll feel the edge of the wards if you're paying attention.'

Lucy stood up and stretched, 'Thanks.'

Lucy never returned to bed. She sat at the edge of the water the rest of the night and into the morning, activating the Mark of Aquarius on her collarbone to feel the waves and lightly manipulate the water. That was the only thing she ever used her newfound water magic for. She'd never even tried to wield it appropriately for battle, though she probably could.

The Mark seemed to have given her both the ability to wield water magic as well as some instinctual knowledge of how to use it. She had no doubt that she could use it to a devastating effect, she just… couldn't bring herself to use it. She'd rather use it for the sole purpose of feeling closer to the spirit she'd once considered her second mother. Her only mother, really, for a long time. She had always loved Layla, knew she was a wonderful woman, a great mother, but… she was barely a memory. She died when Lucy was barely old enough to understand it.

If you wanted to know who raised Lucy, in a house where her only biological parent couldn't stand the sight of her, you just had to look at the temperamental mermaid spirit.

Lucy often wondered if her tendency to invoke Scary Lucy came from what she learned from her water spirit.

Lost in thought, the celestial mage didn't notice when another mage approached her, and so when they spoke, Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin and shot all the water she'd been playing with at her 'attacker' out of pure instinct.

Xally laughed, and took control of the water herself to save her outfit, manipulating it gently back to join the rest of the Grass Sea, "I do love the water here, but I just bought this ensemble," the young raven-haired woman laughed.

Lucy's face turned a bit pink, "Oh, sorry. You scared me, I didn't mean to throw all that at you."

The water mage smiled at her, and held her hand out to help Lucy to her feet. She eyed it for only a moment before she took it, standing and letting her magic recede.

Xally watched as the faint glow from the mark on Lucy's collarbone faded from gold into the same black it was when she'd first seen it, standing out starkly on the celestial mage's pale skin. She raised an eyebrow, "That's nifty."

Sighing, Lucy nodded, "Aquarius, she was… temperamental and pretended like she hated me most of the time, but we were really close. When… well, when everything happened, she gifted me with her magic. Said to use it to protect myself, since she couldn't be there to save my sorry ass," she laughed, "Her words."

The young healer laughed lightly as well, "She sounds… interesting."

"She is. Whatever she's doing, I hope she's happy. I should probably check in with Scorpio, but the last time I did that he came back to recite her most recent lecture. I miss those, if I'm being honest, but I just want to hear them from her, you know?"

Nodding, Xally responded, "I think I know what you mean."

"Enough of all that though!" Lucy said brightly after a few minutes, faking cheerfulness, "Let's go meet with the others. I did bail yesterday before all their questions were answered, I think they'll all want to jump back into the discussion now."

"Yeah," Xally said, sheepish, "They sent me to get you. Said to bribe you with breakfast."

Lucy's smile turned genuine, "Breakfast it is then. Let's go."

Lucy expected the questioning to start right away, but was spared for a while as the entire Pradesh family bantered, played, teased, scolded, or fought with each other. Lucy found herself comparing them to a more mature, mini version of Fairy Tail (with significantly less destruction).

Vander kept making, admittedly very smooth passes at her. She was half convinced to take him up on his offer, but just like usual, she found herself too preoccupied with the most recent crisis to partake.

Zen hovered around her. He seemed to be falling in with the others well enough, but every once in a while she'd notice him tense up. And for some reason, whenever the teasing fell on her, he'd defend her either with a silent glare or an actual spoken reprimand. She thought it had something to do with her saving his life, that was until Vander had teased Zen back, and she herself felt an overwhelming urge to come to the man's aid (though he likely didn't need her help, he hadn't looked tense at all).

Vander backed off for about ten minutes after that while Lucy finished her pancakes, having seen a hint of Scary Lucy. Or at least, that's what Bix had whispered in his ear.

Bickslow was just enjoying whatever wicked teases were thrown around the table, offering few of his own, but adding on to some of the more clever lines. It made Lucy smile seeing him so at ease after how sad he'd seemed when she first reconnected with him.

Farron and Arman, unsurprisingly, were the source of most of the scolding, but for the most part they were talking quietly at the other end of the table with Xally, laughing at whatever jokes caught their attention.

Emzadi - for some reason - kept grabbing bits of food from other people's plates to eat, claiming she deserved their food because she had to put up with their idiocy. Lucy agreed with this, but was also curious as to why the solar dragon slayer hadn't actually eaten any of her own food.

Kaleb and Cristoff were nearly constantly laughing, which she would have found strange if she didn't know Kaleb's magic. She imagined they were both silently making fun of their family, and just as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she heard Kaleb's voice in her head as his eyes locked with hers.

'You're not wrong. Want to join?'

'Making fun of people who can't hear me? Count me in.'

He laughed again, and when Lucy was 'added' to the conversation, she was surprised to hear that her poison dragon kin was also involved. Though, she shouldn't have been. His snark was the most amusing thing she knew of most of the time, so of course he would be the main entertainment. His sharp-witted commentary had her giggling out loud enough that the others grew suspicious, and eventually called all four mind-linked mages out for having fun at their expense.

None of the four felt guilty about that, but Kaleb did finally resolve the link after a few choice insults from Erik toward the Seith Mage for ruining their fun.

Finally, when everyone had finished eating, they all directed their attention to Lucy once more, looking at her expectantly.

Her smile died a little, but didn't fall completely, as she sighed and addressed the eager mages, "Alright. What else have I not covered?"

'Will you berate me if I ask the first question again?' Kaleb's voice sounded in her head.

Lucy suppressed a chuckle, shaking her head slightly, and so Kaleb began, "Did you steal Yukino Augira's celestial gate keys? If so, for what purpose?"

The blonde dropped rested her chin on her hand and looked directly at Kaleb, "Yes… and no… Kinda, but not really."

Zen was… confused. He didn't sense she was lying at all, but she'd just given four consecutive contradictory statements about the same question.

Arman tilted his head, "Would you care to expand on that?"

Lucy nodded, "Right, right. So, I told you the stupidly named guild that attacked Fairy Tail was after the Zodiac Keys, right?"

Nods around the table confirmed her statement.

"At the time, Yukino held two of the original Zodiac Twelve, and the Thirteenth Zodiac. Libra, Pisces, and Ophiuchus. When I left Fairy Tail, I went straight there to warn them of the threat."

"So you went from warning them about someone trying to take her keys, to being the person taking her keys?" Vander questioned.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him, "In a sense, I guess," she told him, rubbing at the key tattoos on her wrists, "She asked me to take them."

"Why would she do that?" Cristoff asked, curious.

"... that's not really for me to say."

Kaleb could see what she was saying, as he focused on her. Her brain, now no longer muffled and barricaded by illogical thoughts and conversations, was extremely well organized. He flicked through memories from the night she spoke with the twin dragons and the girl in question, and while he saw her point, Ms. Augira's business was her own, the others needed further explanation. Besides, the white-haired woman had given birth months ago, it wasn't like it was a secret anymore.

"You're going to have to elaborate Lucy. Or I could show them your memories?"

Lucy considered this for a moment, before nodding to him, "I guess it will feel less like me telling everyone her business if you let her tell everyone through the memory," Lucy reasoned, giving her consent for him to share it.

"Bright Eyes, the way your brain works sometimes is illogical as shit," Cobra chimed in, receiving a rubber band to the face from a scowling celestial mage.

"Where did you even get that?!"

"I've been saving it, since that day you flicked my own hair tie at me," Lucy said, as if he had asked a stupid question.

Everyone but Erik laughed softly at the poison slayer's expense.

Arman cleared his throat, gathering everyone's attention, and looked pointedly at Kaleb.

"Right, here," he said, distributing the memory into the family link he always get loosely open, after looping in Zen, Erik, and Lucy herself.

They all 'watched' as the scene played out in front of them. Lucy's protests at taking the keys, how Yukino had practically begged her to take them, how grateful the mage was when Lucy finally agreed. How happy Sting was to be a father. How terrified Lucy and Rogue were of Sting's ticket to fatherhood. How Lucy's dumbass self told Sting to report her.

"Wait, wait," Bickslow said, waving his arms and staring incredulously at Lucy, "You told Sting Eucliff, the most over dramatic dragon slayer on the planet, to 'fake' chase you across the continent?"

Lucy sank down in her chair, "...yeah, not one of my finer moments…"

Kaleb chuckled, "He was a surprisingly good actor, too. He called me, frantic, begging me to help him return his mate's beloved keys back to her before they had their child, because Yukino had promised Ophiuchus she would deliver the baby while they were still contracted."

Lucy and Erik paled.

"You…" Lucy turned to face Kaleb slowly, "...you know Ophiuchus is a… giant, snarky, sadistic snake, right…?"

Kaleb shook his head, looking surprised and, dare she say it, a little embarrassed, "I… did not, actually, no…"

Lucy's laughter was probably heard in Peregrande, until Erik covered her mouth with his hand, hissing in her ear, "I just got full eyesight back, over here, 'Phemus. You make me go deaf and I'll do something drastic."

The celestial mage rolled her eyes, "Nope, you won't. But alright, I'll keep my peals of laughter to a respectable volume," She whispered to his sensitive ears.

"Thank you. I appreciate that," he said, sitting back down.

Farron spoke up, "I… understand what happened now, but may I ask why Yukino was so afraid of keeping her keys?"

"She explained, she didn't want to feel hunted all the time because of her magic."

"Is it really that big of a problem?"

Lucy sighed, "Farron, do I strike you as a weak mage?"

He shook his head, "Not at all. I've never seen you spar personally, but your magic is impressive and you did take on Peregrande with one other mage and escaped with only a few cuts. Why do you ask?"

"Because celestial mages are seen as weak. Why do you think that is?"

Cris answered, "Few celestial mages can do what you can, Lucy."

She nodded, "That's true. Even fewer still are given the chance at it, though," she informed them, "I'm sure Bickslow has told you of at least a few of the times I was kidnapped?"

Everyone nodded at that, and Arman had a knowing look on his face.

"Any of those times I could have died. Would have, if I didn't have Fairy Tail chasing after me to keep me safe. The fact of the matter is, celestial magic is a favorite target of dark guild end-of-the-world plots. It's not the only magic that is targeted, but it requires so much magic and energy to be an effective defense, that very few actually get to a point where they can protect themselves adequately. Most are killed before they get the chance."

Xally was the first to speak up, "So why does anyone use it?"

Lucy's features darkened, but not because the question angered her. The answer did, "There are two answers to that. One - celestial magic isn't a magic of summoning beings from another world to fight your battles. True celestial magic is about partnering with celestial beings to protect the celestial realm from threats on Earthland, and in turn they help their keyholder. That's why they are called 'contracts', both parties benefit. Born celestial mages, like myself and those of my bloodline, have been tasked with this duty for generations, and our magic, while powerful, doesn't lend itself to other forms of magic easily. If I wanted to quit celestial magic - which I never will - I'd have to quit being a mage altogether. The concentration it took to even learn basic requip magic was ridiculous.

"Now, Yukino isn't a born celestial mage, but she took on the task of protecting her keys and being their partners without hesitation, but that is extremely rare. Most frequently, people tend to attempt to learn and use celestial magic because they are dark mages, or their misconceptions of the magic itself lead them to believe that spirits are tools. Celestial beings are always more powerful than their human mage counterparts, so when the magic was first created, the laws set into the magic favored humans - so that humans couldn't easily be manipulated or killed by their summons. Unfortunately," Lucy frowned, "in ensuring the safety of humans, the spirits essentially crippled themselves. They tied their power while on earthland to the power of the mage that summoned them, as well as enter into lopsided contracts that make it so that humans with bad intentions easily became their slavers. Abusers. When used by a dark mage, celestial magic can become powerful quite quickly, although it will never match up to the rare mage that gains power in the way it is intended."

The explanation finished, everyone took a moment to absorb the information.

After another moment's silence, Lucy spoke up again, "So, to answer your question, Farron, a bit more simply: Yukino feared she could not protect the child she was bringing into the world while also being tasked with protecting her spirits and the spirit realm itself. She has suffered for the sake of her spirits before, and had I not been willing to take them, she would have done so again without hesitation. But I don't blame her for wanting a life beyond that, the burden of celestial magic can be a heavy one. I'd suggest," she turned her attention to all of them, "that none of you blame her for it either."

All of them nodded, for most it being the first time the magic was really explained to them. Among them, Bickslow and Arman were the only two who didn't seem surprised in the least, nor judgemental of Yukino initially for giving up the spirits she'd claimed as family. Arman had lived with Ganier, who had been one of the few who had grown strong enough, as Lucy did, to defend herself and the Ivory Keys she'd held. Even though she had lived in a time when more celestial mages existed in general, so she was singled out less often as a target, but the older Pradesh could only imagine how difficult it would be for a light celestial mage to survive when there were so few left. Bickslow, he acted in much the same capacity as a seith mage. More often than not, any target he had on his back was from other seith mages, but the role of a protector for the spirits he had was a role that his magic and celestial spirit magic shared. He understood the burdens just the same, and felt as Lucy did - he'd never give them up.

"So…." Lucy started again, a little awkwardly, "Um… anybody else have any questions…?"

Vander spoke up, "You want to get out of here, Mia Stella?"

Kaleb smacked him, "I don't think that's what she meant, Van."

The shadowquip grumbled something about being cockblocked, but posed a real question all the same, "So, I guess what I'm curious about is how a pretty little blonde woman such as yourself found her way into the Earthland's most misogynistic country?"

"Yeah, Bright Eyes, why don't you explain that one to all of Zen's family?" Erik teased with a wiggle of his eyebrows, "Tell them how you were just… drawn… toward the world's hottest gladiator."

Lucy actually stood up and crossed the room to punch him, much to the dragon slayer's frustration, "Damn, remind me never to teach you anything again. You just turn around and use it against me…"

The celestial mage ignored him as she returned back to her seat, also ignoring the raised eyebrow and small, intrigued smirk Zen was giving her, "It was not like that."

"Well, not that I would have complained," the archangel spoke, "but that much is true. If it was similar to what I felt, there was a magical pull. If I could have actually gone anywhere I would have followed it, but no - it wasn't sexual. More like familiar, like my magic recognized hers."

Lucy nodded, "It was similar for me. Erik and I were travelling through Iceberg. We meant to go to Stella weeks before, but someone kept sending mages out to look for me, and we didn't want to be any closer to Bosco and White Sea, so we had to adjust and head for Bellum-"

'You can't blame me for the fact that you had Sting Eucliff beg for help from every major guild in Ishgar,' Kaleb spoke in her mind.

She didn't even stop talking, only sent him a small glare, "-When we got farther North, near the Pergrandian border, I felt a kind of imbalance in my magic. I kept track of it until we were a days' walk from the Bellum/Iceberg border and I realized that it was coming from Peregrande. The pull got stronger the closer we got, and my spirits and I recognized it as some kind of heavenly magic and decided we needed to check into it. So I convinced Erik to chase it down with me. We eventually found ourselves in the capital, and I found Zen fighting wyverns in Sky's Reach two days after we entered the country. You know the rest."

"Actually, we don't know the rest," Emzadi countered, "We walked in to Peregrande ready to tear it to pieces, and found only rubble, and you three sitting in the middle of a pile of bodies," she said, a little grumpy that she hadn't been needed to fight, "A pile of bodies, I might add, that included the King of Peregrande."

"Okay, hold on. We are getting a little ahead of ourselves here," Xally pointed out, "Back to the weird magical pull thing. Do you still have that?"

Zen and Lucy looked at each other, then, considering.

"...I… think so?" Zen answered first.

Lucy nodded slowly, "Kind of. It's way more faint. I think it might have something to do with my celestial roles, to be honest, but I haven't had time to ask."

Arman raised an eyebrow, "And by that you mean…?"

Lucy rubbed at her temples, 'Father…?'

She could feel him through the bond, but he wasn't responding. Kaleb saw what she was doing and just observed silently, curious.

'Uh… hey... Dad? Am I supposed to call you that?'

No answer. He seemed distracted. Lucy pushed more magic through the connection, 'Stache Face!'

'Lucy? Is there something I can help you with, daughter?'

Kaleb's laughter at her frustrated expression confused the rest of the table, apart from Erik and to some extent, Arman and Farron, who's sound magic was somewhat similar to the poison slayer's - all of whom had discovered the best way to get past the fuzziness that Lucy's soul bonds caused was to just pay attention to Kaleb's clearer image of her thoughts.

'I've been trying to reach you. What's the point of a soul-bond if you don't pay attention to it?'

'I… am sorry, Lucy. Draco is starting fights with Loke again that I have been stuck mediating.'

'Hold on.'

Lucy focused on her strongest soul bond, 'Loke. How many times have I told you that Draco is just trying to get a reaction from you, and to just ignore it?'

'Princess, this time he took it too far! He replaced all my artwork with dragons!'

'...do you know how ridiculous it is that all your artwork now is Lions anyway?'

'You wound me, Lucy.'

'Listen, I need to talk to Stache Face. Please. Just go fix your pictures and you can go back to arguing with the dragon constellation when you're done, okay?'

He didn't answer but she felt his resignation through the bond, 'Lucy, daughter of mine, I am not sure how you do it, but even after millennia of practice you are better at this than I am. Now, what do you need?'

'What am I allowed to tell people about my titles and responsibilities?'

'What do you mean? Everything! Are you ashamed to call yourself my child, my child?'

Kaleb laughed out loud, and the sound trio all chuckled. Lucy tried, and failed, to relieve her headache by rubbing her temples. She had no idea that the Spirit King could behave so much like Gildarts. Or Natsu. Or some strange combination of the two.

'No, Father, I am not ashamed of you. But there are so many restrictions on what you can say to me, I assumed there were restrictions on me as well.'

'You are human, so no. These are not celestial secrets, daughter, but titles you have earned that we expect you to bear, both here in our world and in your own. I encourage you to share what you know of your duties with your allies. I feel you will find it difficult to complete them if you try to hide them.'

Lucy nodded to herself, 'Okay. Can you tell me what you know of the pull I felt with Zen?'

'I have my suspicions, Lucy, but I do not know. I would suggest have Crux research the issue. I may be immortal but the time of the archangel's is unclear even to my memory.'

'Okay. I'll do that. Loke should be back soon, so I'll let you get back to work.'

Lucy felt his exasperation through the bond before she stopped feeding magic into it. His was the one gate she did not constantly maintain - it would exhaust her to do so constantly, his gate, even just for a mental connection, demanded excessive energy to activate.

"Okay, Arman, to answer your question, what I mean by the pull having something to do with my titles is this: as the holder of all active Zodiac Keys, and adopted daughter of the Spirit King, I am bound to protect more than the spirits in my care. I'd get into it, but it would be easier just to show you," she looked to Kaleb.

He saw the memory she wanted to share, and promptly dumped it in to the link he'd made earlier.

It was Karadin's trial. They all paid close attention, watching all the way up to just as Lucy swung her blade before cutting the memory.

Vander pouted, but the rest were grateful, especially Lucy. It had taken her some time to realize that, though her actions were justified, she was far from bloodthirsty. Normally.

"So anyway," she spoke up, "That's the gist of it. You know about as much as I do. But the lines of the trial weren't random. Part of my duty as Starbringer is the protection of the celestial realm itself, and by extension, any person, mage, or relic under that realm's guidance. Zen falls under my protection, so his magic called to me while he was in danger in the pits. And from what I gather, Archangels were also protectors of the celestial realm, and as the Celestial Princess, his magic would protect me as well, and as I was constantly avoiding mages… it's possible my magic sought his out as well. That's just a theory though, but I will ask Crux to explore the issue further."

"So, you think our magics are just trying to protect each other?" Zen clarified.

"Pretty much, yeah. It's the best idea I could come up with."

"It would make sense," Xally agreed.

Emzadi asked the next question, "So, who all knew about this. Obviously you weren't at this entirely alone," she pointed out.

The celestial mage cringed. She'd hoped they wouldn't ask, "I'll tell you, but you can't get mad at them. Most of them I tricked into agreeing, so when you want to be pissed off - I'm talking to you, Bickslow - be pissed off at me."

He nodded.

"Laxus and Gramps… I tricked them into agreeing, made them a horrible promise that would have gotten me killed if they didn't let me do as I wished. Gray… I tried, but I couldn't lie to him, but I didn't tell him everything either. All he knew was that I wasn't the traitor I pretended to be, and that I was going off alone on a dangerous mission. Sting, Ryos, Yukino, obviously, you all saw that. And… Gildarts. He trained me for the first four months, until Cana - I don't know if she's okay, I hope she's better now - but he was with me until he heard how badly Cana was taking everything. He went back after that, and it was just Erik and I after that. We worked with Crime Sorciere - Meredy, mostly - to try and track Fallen Star's movement and had no luck, and we checked in with Laxus or Gramps weekly, but that was it."

Bickslow looked hurt, they had been close for a few years when she'd gone and left, and it was clear he was upset that he wasn't trusted with the information. To be fair, she'd not met with him before she was 'exiled'. But if she were being honest, she likely wouldn't have told him even if she had.

"I'm sorry, Bix. I was trying to protect you. It was a dumb way to do it, but I can't change that now."

It was quiet for so long Lucy was half convinced they'd all fallen asleep with their eyes open.

She sighed, "Is there anything else I need to answer? We've been at this for hours…" and she was exhausted, but she didn't say that. She owed them, especially Bix, whatever answers they wanted.

It was that very mage who spoke up once again, "I did have one last question," he admitted.

"What is it, Bix?"

"What… happened to you? What did they do that scared you badly enough that you thought Fairy Tail couldn't protect itself, or you?"

For once, Lucy felt the memories surfacing and didn't fight them.

"Kaleb, will you…?"

He saw what she was talking about, and cringed, but nodded. He could at least not force her to retell that particularly horrible story, and maybe they'd get information she'd not noticed before.

"Sure," he looked around the table, "but it won't be pleasant."