Author's Note:

Ack! I lost track of time again and ended up posting way later than I'd hoped to! I'm so sorry guys! .

HUGE thanks as always to my wonderful reviewers out there! Big hugs and kisses to: Skibblez, Natsulover89, SistershoOk, gruntled, Bookwork129, valerioux, Byrd3-13, stranger1999, fjlkrfjksafk, sakshishetty3003, Ics36, Melga92, Copperreign12, MillennialStargazer, Moon'n'Tide, Ninja-Turtle Charlie, DevilHippy, and Cino2K. You guys are all amazing!

Alrighty! Let's get on with it shall we?

"Check out this awesome mission!"

Lucy blinked at Natsu a couple times and then eyeballed the paper he shoved under her nose.

"… Destroy the vicious yeti that's terrorizing the village of Blossom in the kingdom of Dahlia…."

Her nose crinkled up, which told him she probably wouldn't wanna tag along with them.

"Yeah, it's going to be tons of fun!" Happy said, and Natsu shared a grin with his best buddy. It'd been a while since they'd been on a mission together, so this was gonna be great.

"Um… it sounds dangerous…"

"Eh, shouldn't be too bad, but I hope he puts up a fight. I'm all fired up for a good brawl."

"I can, uh, see that…" Luce said, sorta chuckling.

Then, Happy cut in with, "Yeah! And the reward is great!"

"Well, that's good at least. I know you were talking about being low on jewel, Natsu."

"Yep!" he agreed, also remembering that conversation he'd had with her.

And it was totally true. His wallet was running crazy low, and if he didn't take a job on pretty soon, he'd run out completely. 'Course, he could always just eat the free food at the guild, so that wasn't a problem in Magnolia. But if he wanted to buy anything else, he'd need some money.

Plus, it'd be bad if he completely ran outta cash, 'cause then he'd have trouble paying for inns and food when he went on missions. Camping and hunting was fine (and actually pretty fun), but that'd only get him so far.

Not to mention, he was dating now, so he wanted a little extra spending money. While he'd been in town, Gildarts had given Natsu a whole list of things girls liked, which included dates and gifts and all kinds of stuff that he just didn't have the jewel for right now.

After a couple secs though, Luce knocked him outta those thoughts by saying, "Why don't you two go on without me… I don't think I'm quite ready for a monster mission yet."

She didn't look really happy about it, and he wasn't super happy about it either to be honest. Maybe it was 'cause they'd only been dating for a couple of weeks, but he wanted to be around her all the time.

Before he could say something about it though, Happy complained for him.

"Well, you'd better hurry up and get stronger, Lucy! I'd like to go on a mission together sometime!"

"Yeah!" Natsu added loudly and punched his fist into his palm. Not in a threatening way, but in a 'let's do it!' kinda way.

Luce rolled her eyes and then smiled crookedly.

"Okay, okay! I'd like to go on a mission with you two as well, so calm down. Once I can get one more spirit to make a contract with me, I think I'll be ready…"

"Sounds good! I can't wait!"

Happy kinda took a different approach and got a mischievous look on his face that told Natsu his friend was about to say something really stupid. This was the reason why Happy got his butt kicked by Erza so often.

Sure enough, a couple seconds after he puffed out his cheeks and hid his smirk behind a hand, he joked, "Wow, Luuushy… you've been kind of laaazy haven't you?"

Lucy shot him an unimpressed look and snarked back, "Oh, shush your mouth, Cat-boy."

Natsu coughed a laugh, thinking that she was getting spunkier by the day. Spending lots of time with Fairy Tail was doin' great things for her…. She definitely didn't sound like a noble anymore, and he thought she seemed a whole lot happier and more relaxed.

…

.

…

After Natsu left, Lucy spent a little time thinking about what she wanted to do while he was gone.

Of course she would miss him, a lot, but she also wasn't dependent on his presence to be happy or productive. The last thing she wanted was to be a clingy girlfriend…. And if she desired companionship, there were still plenty of people at the guild for her to spend time with, so she wasn't worried about being lonely.

It didn't take her very long to pick a way to occupy herself, considering the conversation she'd had with Natsu and Happy before they left. They'd had a point, though Happy had been a bit of a jerk calling her lazy. She knew he'd been joking, but still… she wasn't going to put up with that sort of nonsense. Especially when (in reality) she had been working extremely hard and had made an enormous amount of progress in the past two weeks.

However, even though she hadn't been slacking off by any means, she did think that it was probably time for her to try summoning another gate so she could make a second contract. By now, she felt fairly confident using her celestial harp, but she still didn't think that she was quite strong enough with only one magical tool in her arsenal to go on a mission.

So, with that in mind, she quickly finished breakfast and headed to her room to change into exercise clothes… which only took a few minutes, and then she was off to the gym.

As she walked through the door and headed towards the side where people were practicing their magic, a few of her friends waved hi. She waved back at them, but today she was on a mission, so she didn't stop to visit with anyone.

It didn't take her long to find an empty spot that seemed like it would work well, and then she stopped and readied herself for what was about to happen. After a few deep, bracing breaths, Lucy hooked her finger under the invisible necklace around her neck and pull it out of her shirt, randomly selecting one of the keys from it to use today.

Digging deep, she pulled on her magic reserves, and they responded quickly… warming her insides with that wonderful glowing golden light. Honestly, she had gotten used to the feeling by now, but it still somehow managed to take her breath away every single time.

Once her powers had risen up and filled her to the brim, she began to chant in that strange, otherworldly language that her mother had taught her. Each syllable seemed to shake her entire body, and the sound of her own voice completely filled her head until she couldn't hear anything else. It was an overwhelming experience, and one that she didn't think would ever become any less powerful….

Then, just like the first time, Lucy plunged the key into the center of her chest at the exact moment when her incantation reached its peak. Luckily, the teeth were drawn to the keyhole, so she didn't have to look or worry about accidentally stabbing herself for real in some random part of her breast, and it slid home with very little effort. The sensation made her wince a bit… not because it hurt (because it didn't) but because it was just a very strange and intense feeling. She was fairly certain that the physical key didn't actually pierce her body, but it did feel as though something had touched deep inside of her and connected with her magic.

There was a strange sucking sensation, as whatever connected to her magic drew on it with a strong tug…. and then finally, with something that almost felt like a 'pop,' the pressure released, and a spiral of light and darkness spilled out of her, forming a celestial gate. Lucy stared at it in awe for a few moments, but quickly pulled herself together and – with another deep breath – she steeled her nerves and walked into the swirling dimensional rift.

A dizzying sensation overtook her senses… light, colors, darkness, and energy streaking all around her as though she was moving at extreme speeds through a galaxy of stars. Then, after a few seconds too long in her opinion, the portal finally spit her out, and she landed in a heap on what felt like a stone floor.

It took a little while, but when she finally managed to conquer her spinning head and churning stomach, she gingerly sat up and looked around at her new surroundings. She quickly saw that she was in a long, imposing hall – much like the first time she'd done this – with a never-ending stretch behind her and a massive door in front. However, it definitely looked different. Bright coral spiraled around blue pillars that stretched up at least forty feet to a massive arched ceiling of glass. The walls seemed to be made of waterfalls between those pillars, and above – through the transparent ceiling – Lucy could see an underwater scene full of glittering, colorful, otherworldly oceanic creatures.

Just as with Lyra's home, this space made no sense from an engineering and logical standpoint… but of course, this was a magical realm, so physics probably worked much differently here.

Her awe was cut short though, when an even more spectacular surprise arrived. With a flash of white light and foamy bubbles, the spirit of this realm materialized in front of her… and Lucy's mind went entirely numb from shock for several long moments.

The mermaid was truly gorgeous. Her azure fishtail and the pale, pearlescent skin of her upper body were covered with swirling golden tattoos like the other two spirits Lucy had seen. And like them, she was also wearing glittering gold jewelry. Thin delicate chains looped from her jewel-incrusted brassiere and over her stomach… thick golden hoops (which actually seemed to be dermal piercings) glinted along the sides of her tail… bands wrapped around her upper arms… and an elaborate headpiece set with corals and crystals adorned her head.

However, it wasn't the woman's appearance that stunned her though. What shocked her into silence was the fact that those alien and otherworldly features were paired with a very familiar face.

"Aquarius?!" she squawked as soon as she found her voice, and the sound echoed throughout the expansive hall.

The other woman winced and grimaced.

"Jeez, loud as ever I see."

"Aquarius! What are you doing here?! You're a celestial spirit?! Why didn't you tell me?! Wait… how were you even in the mortal realm for so long?! Isn't that impossible?! Why in the world did you pretend to be my maid?!"

The questions tumbled out of her mouth with the speed and uncontrollability of vomit, which obviously didn't impress the bluenette.

"Yes, I'm a celestial spirit. Your mother tasked me with looking out for you when she died and used an enormous amount of magic to make it so that I could come and go from the human realm. It was a highly unusual circumstance."

Lucy's mind raced with the new information and quickly came up with a new question.

"So, wait… does that mean I can use magic to summon you, and not just your vessel?"

"No… you can't just summon me. I come and go as I please, and I use my own magic power to do it. However, what allows me to enter the human realm is my key, which is only active when it's been absorbed by a human mage – just like it's inside you right now. Your mother found a way around that though. For the last few years of her life, she took my key out of her body and stored all of her magic power within it – which allowed my key to stay active even after she had gone."

"Oh… I see. That's amazing…." Lucy murmured, feeling more than a little dazed.

Aside from shock and curiosity though, her predominant emotion was joy that she was able to see Aquarius again. The last time they were together, her friend had been attempting to save her… and Lucy had always regretting not being able to say a proper goodbye.

Her eyes started to water a little as she thought about it, and she quickly and quietly sniffled to try and hide the fact that her nose also grew stuffy in response.

"Well… anyways…" she said slightly thickly. "It's so good to see you Aquarius. I've really missed you."

The celestial spirit huffed and looked away abruptly. "You're always so emotional, I swear. This is a trial, not a reunion…. Pull yourself together."

Despite her gruffness, Lucy was almost positive that the other woman's voice also held a soft undertone – which suggested that Lucy wasn't the only one who was happy about their reunion. Still, considering that this was a trial, she didn't try to tease Aquarius like she was tempted to…. Instead, she just did as the bluenette suggested and pulled herself together.

"Oh! Right, yes, of course. So, what sort of terrible ordeal do you have planned for me?"

Her tone was light but only half-way joking… because there wasn't a single doubt in her mind that Aquarius's trial would just as difficult as Lyra's. In fact, it wouldn't surprise her at all if the mermaid's tests were even harder.

And her concerns were only confirmed by the smile that Aquarius sent her in response… thanks to a special sharpness in it that said Lucy was about to experience something very unpleasant.

…

.

…

Three days later, Natsu and Happy got back to the guild.

They split up right away, 'cause they each had a girl to find. Happy ran off to hunt down Carla, and Natsu did the same thing… but with Lucy, obviously.

"Oi! Where's Lucy?" he asked Mira as he bellied up to the kitchen counter.

That was always where he went for info first, 'cause she pretty much knew everything that was goin' on inside the guild. And (as usual) it paid off.

After giving him a happy smile, she said, "Welcome back, Natsu! If you're looking for Lucy, I believe she's in the gym right now."

"Alright! Thanks, Mira!"

He shot her a big grin of his own and made a beeline for the gym. It'd only been three days, but he still couldn't wait to see Luce… for a couple reasons.

One, he missed her – which was weird since he hadn't been gone long, but whatever. He didn't waste any time wondering about it, 'cause this being in love thing was just weird that way sometimes….

But the other reason he wanted to see her was a lot more serious. While he and Happy were on their job, they'd seen a lot of wanted posters of her… way more than they'd been expecting. It wasn't a HUGE deal, 'cause she'd be fine as long as she stayed in Magnolia. Everyone here was loyal to them, and pretty much all the Fairy Tail members had some kinda bounty on them.

Though, he didn't like how quick the things were spreading. It seemed pretty aggressive, which meant that whoever was after her really wanted to get her. They still didn't know if it was her sicko dad or sicko husband, but Natsu hated both of them…. His blood boiled just thinking about one of the bastards trying to get their hands on her again.

Whenever she did start taking missions, she was gonna have to be super careful.

'Course, there was no way she'd be going on any solo missions for a while, so anyone that tried to hurt her would seriously regret it (if they survived.) But he still figured she probably needed to know what was going on.

That plan got all screwed up though as soon as he busted through the gym doors.

A blinding light blasted through the place… and when the light went 'poof' a second later, Lucy dropped to the mats like a lump of dead meat. What he'd been wanting to tell her shot right outta his head, and he immediately ran over to check and see if she was alright.

He got there right as she was groaning and shoving herself up onto her elbows.

"Luce! You okay?"

She blinked up at him, her face all twisted up (probably 'cause she was hurting).

"Natsu? When did you get back?"

What the heck had she been doing to get all beat up like this? Bruises, scrapes, and cuts covered every bit of skin he could see on her, and her clothes were totally torn up.

"Just now, but forget me! What happened to you?!"

"Oh… I was just trying to make a contract with Aquarius, and her trial is a beast."

He squatted to get a closer look at her.

"Wait, back up. Who's Aqua-Grass? Is that one of those celestial spirits?"

"Aquarius… and it's a funny story actually. Remember my hand maid? The one who attacked you with water in my room? Well, it turns out that she's actually a celestial spirit… one of my mom's in fact."

"Woah… yeah, I remember her! That's crazy! How'd you find out that she's a celestial spirit?"

"Well, after you left, I decided to try using another of my keys… and there she was."

He scowled, kinda annoyed that she'd go off and do that without him.

"Oi! Why'd you do that while I was gone?! I thought we were gonna do it together!"

That surprised her apparently, 'cause she got all wide-eyed and sounded pretty shocked when she said, "Huh? But it's my magic, and they're my trials. There's no way you'd want to join me every time."

"What're you talkin' about?! Of course I wanna come!"

She gaped at him for a sec and then sputtered, "Seriously?! Why?!"

"'Cause it's fun! And I wanna help ya out!"

"Well, this one isn't fun. It's a pain in the behind…"

Natsu laughed, not really surprised that Aqua-Grass had come up with something super sucky for her trial. She seemed like kind of a pain in the butt in general.

"What'd she have ya do?" he asked curiously.

Lucy sighed and sat up fully with a groan. "It's a brutal obstacle course, though that's not really the right term for it…. It's more of an endurance and strength course. In it, I have to swim through a long room full of water and reach her urn on the other side, but the room is full of impossible currents… and as you can see, I get banged around a lot. So far, I still haven't been able to get the urn."

"That sounds insane! I definitely wanna come with ya next time!"

"Okay… but I doubt she'll let you help me, even if you do come."

"I'm still gonna go," he stated, leaning in and frowning right in her face so she'd know that he was serious.

"Alright, alright! I already said you could!"

He backed up with a grin, excited at the thought of another trial.

"So, when're we doing this thing?"

"Not for a couple of days. I need to rest and recover before I can try again…" she grunted as she got to her feet with several big winces. "Speaking of, I'm going to head to my room now and patch myself up…"

"Okay, cool. Want some help?"

"Uh, sure. That'd be great if you don't mind," she said, sending him a big smile that made his heart do all kinds of funny things.

"Awesome! Come on, then!"

Sneak Peek

The sharp sting took her by surprise since she wasn't expecting it, and she jumped and yelped, her back arching away from the cold touch of Natsu's damp gauze.

"Woah! What was that about, Weirdo?" Natsu exclaimed, sounding almost as shocked as she'd been.

"Sorry… I just didn't realize you were ready. You could've warned me that you were going to get started, you know…"

"You sure are bein' jumpy," he snorted, and then his hand landed on her waist and gripped it firmly. "Now stay still, so I can get these scrapes clean."

Post Note:

Sorry! I know it's a bit of a shorter chapter. But don't worry, we've got some bigger ones coming up soon. ;D