July 9th, x777

Train Station

7:24 AM

According to Layla and Anna Heartfilia's desires, Sting and Lucy woke up early this morning to make the first train to Oshibana, the train central of Fiore and one of the first places Team Natsu fought as a one. From there, Lucy and Sting would be on their own for the first since returning to the past.

While Lucy would have preferred to have her father see her off, Jude Heartfilia had a business meeting with the Toko family in the hopes of expanding our property and power. Deep down, Lucy should have expected this much from her father. Profit before anything else...

"I'm sorry your father couldn't make it, but you know he wishes you the best regards," Layla smiled weakly as she held Lucy's hand in between her hands. "Now, be careful Lucy. I want you to come back in one piece."

"I understand mom. It's just how he is." Lucy chuckled dryly. "I'll be back before you know!"

"And the same goes for you, Sting," Anna lectured the drowsy teen. "I do not want to see your name in the newspaper's obituary. Just because you're fourteen years in the past, that doesn't mean you should underestimate the wizards of this year. There are still capable mages who can overpower you."

"I know. I know." Sting groaned as he wiped the crust from his eyes. "Can we get going, now? I wanna take a nap before I'm fully awake."

Sighing at the White Dragonslayer's logic and antics, his new partner waved goodbye to her family and climbed aboard the train. The clouds of steam blew out of the train's chimney as the locomotive began to pick up speed and roll-out of the station. Anna and Layla Heartfilia waved goodbye as the train left their sight. Once Layla was certain Lucy could not see her, the gate opener collapsed from exhaustion. Opening the Eclipse Gate without Aquarius was a mistake, but Layla couldn't have Lucy worrying, not when the world's future was on the line. No, this was one secret she must hide from her daughter. Layla could only pray that she can see Lucy one more time before time runs out.

"Please be safe, Lucy."


July 9th, x777

Train to Oshibana

8:05 AM

Even with Sting's sleeping head on Lucy's lap, the train ride still felt lonely. She had grown accustomed to having Team Natsu make the rides more enjoyable. The time would fly with Natsu, Erza and Gray. On the rare occasion that Lucy took a mission alone, she still had Loke or Virgo to give her some peace of mind, but Lucy only had three keys on her person. Aquarius was out of the question, not because she needed water to be summoned, but Lucy wasn't in the mood to deal with her attitude. That left Cancer and Capricorn. Both were kind spirits, but they were straight-laced spirits. Ones that didn't deviate from their area of expertise.

"I guess I'll see what I can learn from Capricorn," Lucy sighed as she had an idea of what this conversation would sound like. Snaking her hand into her key pouch, Lucy grasped the sea goat's key. "I call upon you! Open! Gate of the Goat! Capricorn!"

"Lady Lucy," Capricorn knelt down once he passed through the gate. "How can I be of service?"

"Caprico, please, take a seat." She offers the other half of the table to him. "I have some questions that I think you can answer."

Heeding her direction, the spirit sat across from his master. "How may I be assistance, Miss Lucy?"

"As my mother probably explained, I'm gathering the twelve golden keys, but I lack the guidance to locate the majority of them, especially Pisces and Libra. I don't have any of my silver keys. Things are looking pretty grim. Can you think of any person or spirit that might give us a lead to where the left nine might be?"

"Crux, the Southern Cross, is a common silver spirit but a well informed one. If information is what you wish, then I would suggest searching for one of his keys." The Goat spirit explained. "I am unfortunately unable to relay the location of my dear comrades, but Crux has fewer restrictions on what he can speak on."

"That's right! How could I forget about Crux?" Lucy groaned as she facepalmed. She even used the Southern Cross to dig up Loke's past with Karen. "Thank you Caprico. You saved me and Sting a lot of time and energy. I can't believe I overlooked such an obvious answer."

"It is my pleasure, but I must ask this. How do you plan on fighting with only three keys?" He inquired with a worried expression. "Per your word choice, I can assume that you hold more the golden zodiac roster. Therefore, I am concerned that the decrease in allies may put you in harm's way."

Whether Lucy wanted to admit or not, Capricorn raised an excellent point. She comfortable switching between ten keys as the situation changed. However, she was limited to basically two spirits that didn't have a requirement to be summoned. Aquarius might be the strongest spirit on call, but she was nowhere near a suitable body of water. Cancer's strong suit was any situation that involved hair, and Lucy only encountered a handful of those instances. It would wrong to call on Capricorn for every fight. There's a limit to every spirit's stamina. Lucy knew he wouldn't complain, but it would not make that level of dependency acceptable, not for someone who Lucy sees as a friend.

"Should I learn secondary magic?" Lucy asked as she stroked Sting's head. "That might help me in a pinch. I always thought Requip and Transformation magic was pretty cool, then again that might take a while. The longer we stay here the higher the chance of us impacting the future."

"If time is precious, then I suggest tapping into the power of the stars and your spirits."

"Hold on, I thought the point of the conversation was finding a way for me to be less reliant on you, Cancer, and Aquarius," Lucy said with a brow raised in confusion.

"Miss Lucy, there is nothing wrong with relying on our services. We are here to serve and protect you, but I am referring to the power known as a Star Dress." The Goat spirit furthered his explanation. "It seems a deeper and more thorough summary is necessary. The Celestial Spirit Magic Spell known as Star Dress allows the user to incorporate the powers of one of the twelve golden zodiacs into their bodies. It is very similar to Requip magic in the sense that the user can switch between the Star Dresses as one does with armor or weaponry for Requip magic. By forming a trusting bond between you and your spirits, more and more Star Dresses will be unlocked. However, you must first own the key if you ever wish to use that spirit's personalized Star Dress."

"...That's amazing! Think of all the combinations I could make with my spirits!" Lucy said with excitement in her voice. If what Capricorn was saying is true, then she wouldn't be in trouble when one of her spirits were incapacitated or stolen from her. Channeling the power of the zodiac, this would be revolutionized how Lucy battles. This had the potential to bring her closer to Aquarius and the others and allow her to battle alongside them even more than before. "When were you going to tell me this?!"

"Because the amount of magic required is more than most Celestial Wizards can manage." Capricorn waved. "However, I have faith in you, Miss Lucy. The potential inside of you will give you the power to shape your future, remember that and never forget we are with you every step of your journey."

Placing her Fairy Tail emblem close to her heart, Lucy smiled as she watched Capricorn return to the Celestial world. The goat's key shined momentarily before she slipped it back into her pouch. "Thank you, Capricorn. I'll make you proud."


July 9th x777

Oshibana

12:30 PM

Upon their arrival to Oshibana, Lucy and Sting had to change their attire. They were in the public eye now, so the formerly blond two had to change the way they dressed. Layla and Anna took it upon themselves to prepare more modest clothes for their children.

Lucy grimaced at the outfit as she stood in the women's bathroom. This was practically a nun's dress with how plain it was. The female wizard was staring down a black long sleeve dress with a simple gold belt for her waist. Hidden underneath the dress, Lucy found a pair of simple golden-colored gloves to cover her guild mark and a pair of combat boots. Her mother might as well thrown in the hat for good measure! Lucy groans loudly, not caring who might be in the bathroom with her. Besides, it's the middle of July. "I'm going to have a heat stroke before the day ends."

The now black haired woman sighed as she resigned to her fate. Lucy understood the risk of remaining in her normal attire all too well. Her magic was too recognizable as was Sting's dragonslayer magic. Whatever they could do to hide their identities must be done. A couple of minutes passed before the key holder dragged herself out of the bathroom where she was met with Sting Eucliffe.

He was wearing a dark green leather jacket with the lower half buttoned-down leaving his bare chest partly exposed. His baggy pants were nowhere to be found as they were replaced with a pair of dark blue jeans and black combat boots. "Well, don't you look good and holy? Wanna read some biblical scriptures to pass the time?"

"Oh shut up, the moment I find Virgo's key, I'm getting a new wardrobe." Lucy glared at Sting before waving for him to follow her. "For now, we gotta find a magic shop and buy a silver key."

"What the point of doing that? I thought silver keys were just collectibles compared to the golden ones." He folded his arms defiantly but nevertheless matched her steady pace.

"Treat them with some respect, will you? Each spirit is a living creature with a mind of its own." Lucy narrowed her eyes at Sting. "If we're going to work together, you have to respect all the spirits we come across."

"Fine. Fine, but the first spirit that's disrespectful to me Imma clock them in their mouth."

Lucy let out an exhausted sigh. This day was too taxing for her liking. "Anyways, we need the Southern Cross spirit known as Crux. He has access to information about every known Zodiac spirit and possibly their location."

"Shit, that's convenient. Why didn't you lead with that?" Sting raised an eyebrow as they entered the nearest magic shop. The dragonslayer stood behind Lucy as she began to converse with the clerk man.

"Good afternoon, I'm looking for Crux the Southern Cross. You wouldn't happen to know where to find his key?" Lucy asked politely as she leaned against the counter.

"Ah, I do believe I have one of those keys in stock. Are there any others that interest you?" The store clerk asked as he searched through a box underneath the counter. "As you could probably guess, this town is more of a train hotspot than anything else. So, it's very rare wizards to shop in this town. Now, that will be 40,000 Jewel please."

That's twice as much for what I paid for Plue, you half baked con artist is not what Lucy said.

"I'm sorry, but can you repeat the price-" She asked sweetly but was cut off by the store owner.

"40,000 Jewels, please."

"Why does Crux cost that much?!" Sting grumbled as he reached for his wallet. A stunned Lucy watched as he paid the requested amount, in cash, to the greedy store owner. Her companion handed the silver key to the celestial wizard. "This key better oughta be worth it, or I'm returning the damn thing."

"Thank you and have a wonderful day, sir and madam," The clerk called out as they left the magic shop.

"Th-Thank you," Lucy stuttered as she followed closely behind. "Hey Sti-, I mean, Wiess where did get that money from?"

She wasn't trying to be insulting, but Rouge seemed the more responsible person between him and Sting. And if Sting was anything remotely similar to Natsu, then he shouldn't be handling that much jewels.

"Huh, oh that's just my allowance from Sabertooth," He shrugged. "I'm one of the top earners in the guild, so I get a hella lot more than an average person. Shit, Minerva even gave me a black credit card."

"You do realize we can't use the credit card right?" She sweatdropped.

"Why the hell not? It's my money!"

"Because Sabertooth doesn't exist in this year. You can't use funds that don't exist."

"Oh...shit, that's right. Well shit, how much do you have on you?" He asked as they stood outside a moderate hotel. "Wait, you're filthy rich. Why do we care about funds? Let's milk your dad dry!"

Lucy groaned. Dear Mavis, Sting was just as dense as Natsu."Because we're not supposed to leave any evidence of existing in this year. If I used my father's money, that would lead to the financial situation for my family to change, and I don't want to affect that. For now, we should pull our cash together and try to live off that for as long as possible."

"About 460,000 in cash," He recalled without glancing into his wallet. "And you?"

"200,000 Jewels, so together we have 660,000 Jewels," Lucy concluded with a low sigh of relief. "For now, we're safe, but if this mission is drawn out for too long, then we'll be in trouble."

"Hold on, why did I pay for the damn key if you had 200K?!" Sting shouted as he stomped his foot on the ground. "I want my money back!"

"I didn't ask you to pay for it! If you waited, I could have gotten the price lowered, but you're just as impatient as Natsu," Lucy snapped back. "Now come on, we have to find a room to stay in or we'll be sleeping outside tonight."

"Fine, but you're paying for the damn room," The light dragon grumbled underneath his breath as he followed her inside the hotel.


A/N: So like 100 Jewel is equal to about 1 American dollar according to the wiki which is pretty cool. I know that the whole concept for the Star dress doesn't technically come around until the final arc, but come on, this is the best thing to happen to Lucy. It's only a shame Hiro waited until the last goddamn arc to introduce some level of independence for Lucy! I figured I would introduce it a tad earlier than Fairy Tail did.

Keys Obtained: Cancer, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Crux

Keys Needed: Leo, Aries, Virgo, Taurus, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Gemini, Libra, and Pisces