July 9th x777

Oshibana

9:35 PM

Steam poured out of the bathroom as Lucy stepped out. The two of them managed to buy a room for the night for about thirteen hundred Jewels. Once they dropped their bags onto the ground, Lucy immediately claimed the bathroom so she could take a nice, long and hot shower. Thirty minutes passed before she even considered leaving the bathroom. Oddly enough Sting never bothered to knock on the door, urging her to hurry up. Taking the blessing, Lucy took her time as she appreciated the 'me' time.

"Hey Sting, I save you some hot wat-" Lucy said as she stepped out of the bathroom. Once she finished drying her hair with a hotel towel, Lucy witnessed the horror Sting created and why he was quiet for the past half hour. The room was littered with discarded wrappers, half-eaten plates of food, unopen containers, and jugs of different drinks. "What? Where did all this come from?!"

"Yo," He casually waved as he swallowed the food in his mouth. "I got hungry. I ordered room service."

"Wh-How much did this cost?"

"I dunno...around three thousand jewels probably."

Lucy groaned as she paced from one end from the room to another. In the span of a single shower, Sting had managed to spend that much on food alone. "Dear Mavis, you're actually worse than Natsu. I cannot believe this. Does every dragonslayer eat like someone who was starved for a week?!" If this was a warning, then they were going to blow through their money faster than Lucy had anticipated. "You're paying for all this."

"I can't. I used you your stash to pay the guy." The Light Dragonslayer nonchalantly shrugged as he tossed another finished dish to the side.

"You what? You owe me three thousand jewels then!"

"Correction, you owe me thirty-seven thousand jewels. I paid for Crux."

Seeing his knowing smirk, Lucy sighed as she sunk into her bed. She knew this wasn't an argument worth having nor fighting. The black-haired girl gave him an annoyed glare before reaching for the sealed container of chicken parmesan. "Might as well eat my share...I'm paying for it anyway."

"That's the spirit!" He cheered with a chicken leg in his hand. "So, what's this Crux spirit supposed to show up?"

"I have to create a contract first. Then, I'll be able to summon him like Capricorn and Cancer." Lucy explained as she fumbled for his key. Setting her dish to the side, she poured magic into the Southern Cross. "I beckon the Southern Cross to my side! Heed my words and answer my call! Pass through the Celestial Gate, Crumudgeon!"

The elderly spirit appeared with a dazzling light. His head was in the shapes of a metallic cross with a floral-like golden pattern in the four-pointed corners. With his eyes closed, Crux levitated about a foot from the floor. He wore something that resembles an outfit from medieval times.

"Grandpa Crux, thank you for answering my call," Lucy smiled as she rested his key onto her lap. "Shall we begin writing up your contract?"

"I am free at any time I needed. However, I must warn you that I...have...a tendency...to...zzz." Crux succumbed to his narcotic patterns.

"...Did he really just fall asleep?" Sting's eyes widened as he spoke in a surprised tone. "What the hell? Wake up!"

Snapping his eyes open, Crux seemed visibly shaken by Sting's outburst.

"Er...Thank you, Sting." Lucy eyed him warily before turning back to Crux. "I'll make this quick. I need to locate the twelve golden keys, and I already have Aquarius, Cancer, and Capricorn. Do you know a way to find the rest of where they might be?"

"Master, I must warn you. There is a limit to what I am able to relay to you. The location of unbound keys is fairly easy to learn, yet I cannot disclose the location of spirits with contracts nor who their master may be. Do you understand? That is simply beyond my control. Only Leo or the King can disclose that information." Grandpa Crux explained with a sadden expression. "I'm sorry, but I must state that before I do any research."

"I understand what you are saying, but please call me Lucy or Miss Lucy. I want to be your friend, not your master." She smiled before returning to the matter at hand. "Is there any way of knowing who is unbound?"

"Currently...the remaining nine are free, but you must act fast. There are Celestial Wizards en route for them. Karen, a rising star in Blue Pegasus, is one." The old spirit sighed. "From what her silver keys have said, I pray no other key falls into her hand. Everlue is another as he is close to collecting one key."

"Wait, doesn't that bitch die in like five years or something," Sting cocked an eyebrow.

Lucy sighed as Crux quietly stared at him. Unfortunately, Karen was known for abusing her spirits as Angel did. Karen treated her spirits worse than Angel. However, Scorpio and Gemini weren't treated the same way Aries was. From what Crux and Loke told her, Karen would force Aries to sustain her own gate for days on end. If Lucy had to think of an equivalent of that for a human, she'd go with a slow-acting poison. "Yes, but she's alive now, and we have to beat her to Aries!"

"Unfortunately, Aries and Libra, both must be won in a tournament." Crux informed us with his arms crossed. "The tournament will begin September 1st in Veilstone City. However, I do believe Virgo's key is a day's walk from your current location."

"Virgo's the one in the skimpy maid outfit, right?" Sting asked as he licked his twentieth plate clean.

"Yes, but she's one of my most loyalist spirits," Lucy huffed out a sigh. With the wide range of characteristics Virgo has, Sting would remember the demeaning one. "Thank you Crux, do you know where Virgo's key is exactly? That would be a huge help for us."

"Of course, Miss Lucy. I do believe Virgo is working in Shirotsume Town. Now, I must be on my way. I...must do...some more..rese-zzzz"

"Thank you for your work." Lucy smiled as she sent the knowledgable spirit back to the Celestial World. She placed his key back into her pouch and resumed eating. "Well, we have a lead on a couple. That's good news, and Virgo's one of them."

"Yeah, but why are Aries and Libra prizes in a tournament," Sting asked as he waved a fork up of spaghetti around. "You said Celestial spirits are treated like regular people."

She answered with pain her eyes as she thought back the punishment Aries and Loke had to endure. "I said that I treat them like people... I've heard what happens when a spirit has an abusive master."

"Like what?"

"...Karen, the one Crux mention, when she had Aries and Loke's keys, she would force Aries to stay in the human world for weeks on end. For a spirit, that's torture. The energy in the Celestial World maintains their life force, and the magic from a Celestial Wizard acts as a substitute for them. The stronger the wizard, the longer the spirit can stay in the human world. However, when a spirit is forced to stay in the world using their own magic...it slowly kills them. For Loke, that's nothing, but that would bring Aries to the edge of death. Karen did this one a regular basis, and I'm grazing the amount of physical abuse they suffered under her control. It makes me sick."

He raised an eyebrow with confusion. "And she was allowed to keep her spirits? Ain't like that illegal?"

"No..." Lucy sighed. "Sadly, spirits don't have any rights in our world since they're technically not citizens. No one can take legal actions if Karen kills Aries or a different spirit, but Loke was punished for inadvertently killing Karen. By forcing his gate open for an extended period of time, Karen couldn't take any missions because she couldn't keep two golden gates open at the same time."

"I guess he got tired of the abuse."

"It wasn't even that. Karen was only abusing Aries because she knew the Ram was weaker of the two. For Aries' sake, Loke forced his gate open and would only return to the spirit world when Aries' contract was nullified. Karen didn't agree and went on a mission she couldn't handle. Needless to say...Angel became Aries' new master, and Loke was banished from the spirit world for about two years."

"Let me get this straight...Angel killed Karen, and this Loke guy takes the blame?"

"Basically...I'm just glad I could reunite most of them." Lucy smiled softly. "They're family after all."

"Family, huh?" Sting grumbled before laying back on his hotel bed with his arm behind his head. "What's it like being a Fairy? Is it really like a family?"

The Celestial Wizard blinked twice before she could process Sting's question. "Of course, Natsu and the guys might fight each other every chance they get, but we loved each other to death. Erza's like a big sister to me, and I treat Wendy like a little sister. Master treats every member, new or old, as a child of his own. Every day's an adventure, and I smile and laugh each day. A moment doesn't pass without me being grateful for meeting everyone I've come to love. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing...it's just that Sabertooth is nothing like that. Everyone's always trying to one-up another and fighting for dominance. The negativity and hatred get annoying. Did you know Master Jiemma didn't allow any missions below an S-rank? He believed that anything below an S-rank wasn't worth a tiger's time. Shit, I'm not even gonna touch on the 128 person tournament he used to host for one person to join the fucking guild. That bastard was ridiculous," Sting scoffed as he reclaimed his memories as a Sabertooth tiger. "The only reason I joined Sabertooth was that Fairy Tail was practically dead. I didn't see the point of joining a guild in the brink of self-imploding."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Lucy mumbled softly as she stared at the ground. "I can't imagine how tough that must have been."

"Meh, it's alright. Rouge and Lector made it toleratable. And, chick flock to me, so that's a plus. Shit, I wore more latex than a doctor." Sting laughed loudly at his perverted joke.

"Gross, I don't want to hear your sex history." She crinkled her nose while cringing.

The White Dragonslayer rolled his eyes at Lucy's prudeness. Avoiding her screaming his head off, Sting kept the suggest of sex to himself. "Fine, but I'm serious about Rouge and Lector. They were the best kind of friends I could ask for. Lector would keep my ego in the sky while Rouge was my rock in the ground. Those two kept me sane. It just sucks that neither of them is here..."

"I get it. I wish Natsu was here. He might be an idiot, but I feel safer when I know he's around. Everything works out perfectly when he is by my side." Lucy said as she curled up in a ball. "Hey Sting...everything's gonna work out, right? We won't fail Master Mavis...right?"

"Shit, I mean we have a plan and we're a fourth of the way done. Unless we fuck up to the utmost degree, I'm sure we'll be fine." He shrugged before seeing the worried expression printed on Lucy's face. "Look, I know I ain't Natsu, but I promised him I would protect ya. I'll be damned if Imma let you die on my watch. So put some faith in me and see how far that gets us."

"I'll...try. Thank you, Sting."

"Don't worry about it. It's getting late, so I'm going to sleep." He yawned before throwing the sheet over his tired body. Hugging his pillowing, Sting drifted off.

Lucy glanced around the room and noticed the mess he had left. Well, Sting and Natsu have that in common Lucy thought. The black-haired girl knew that she wouldn't get the dragonslayer to clean early in the morning, and she couldn't look at the staff in the eyes if they left without cleaning. So, Lucy began to sort the food into two piles, what could be saved for later and what had to be thrown away.

Technically, she was paying for all of this, so it would be within her rights to take what they didn't finish, right? Thirty minutes passed before Lucy had an idea of what food was left. A little less than half was untouched which irked her a little. Why spend three grand if you can only eat half? Resigning to her fate, Lucy stacked and wrapped the remaining food in some bags she found scattered around the room. "Open! Gate of the Goat! Capricorn!"

"How can I be of assistance?" He bowed before surveying the situation.

"Is there a way to store our leftovers in your world? Sting ordered more than either of us can finish in one sitting." She motioned to the bags on the table. "And...can we begin my Star Dress training tomorrow? I want to be more than just a key holder during this mission. I don't want to be the damsel in distress forever. I can't keep playing that role."

"The leftovers will be refrigerated, and I already have a proper training regimen for you." Capricorn stacked the bags on top of each other perfectly and pulled out a small notebook with his free hand. "Yes, I spoke with Aquarius, and we believe it will be beneficial if you began with her Star Dress."

"Won't I need water to do that?" Lucy folded her arms as she felt a chill go down her spine. Training with Aquarius...She'll be lucky if the Water Bearer doesn't try to drown her. But, Lucy wasn't willing to back down from a chance to grow. "I guess Sting and I could walk to the next town. After all, we're bound to come across a river or a stream."

"No, the Star Dress spell only requires a bond between spirit and master, but I will report to Aquarius about this development." The Goat hummed as he took a mental note of Lucy's misunderstanding. "Originally, I was going to mentor you in the ways of mastering each Star Dress, but it will be more beneficial if each spirit taught you. That will result in a stronger bond."

"Great..." Lucy facepalmed as Capricorn returned to the Spirit World. "Aquarius is going drown me tomorrow."


A/N: I felt it would be too easy if Crux just blurted out the location of every key. Nah, that's too easy.

Keys Obtained: Cancer, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Crux

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