Disclaimer: I do not own Diabolik Lovers or its character, that right belongs to Rejet and their team; nor do I own Fairy tail or its characters, that right belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Layla stood before her father and Mikhail, the leader of another Gypsy clan Broden, his wife Eda, and their son Seumas, along with both clans Seers. Off to the other side of her stood Baron Leon Heartfilia and his son Jude. Who had inherited the land her Clan traveled and lived on three years ago. And had to agree to allow them to stay if he accepted his late grandmother's inheritance.

Shifting her brown eyes from her father to Baron Leon and back, she knew she had to speak up. Two days ago, on the 19th of June, she'd been approached by those gathered. A choice presented to her. A decision she recalled had been foretold. Both with their ups and downs. Duty or Love? That was the question she had been told to think on by her great-grandmother. Who was barely able to even move nowadays with her advanced age. Said grandmother, who had bluntly reminded her father that it was her choice whom she married as it was for all of the Gypsy girls who came of age.

Now, Layla stood there, feeling the pressure. She knew that she would be loved if she married Seumas. They'd grown up. And the benefits of marrying the second born of Broden, who came from Scottish Tinkers and married into the Tiksvic Clan, would gain her clan access to trading with the Scotts. But she didn't love Seumas. No, he was like a brother to her, even though he was the one that wanted this marriage and had his father approach her own.

While Jude had done the same with his father, marrying him would bring more security to her people. So that in the future, there would be no contesting their right to live on the land. The pact that had been forged almost two hundred years ago between her ancestor and the one that founded Baron Leon's line. When she had met Jude just after her fifteenth naming day, she'd felt a stirring in her blood. And over the last three years, she'd come to know him, adore him, love him. And knew he felt the same.

The downside of both was still apparent in her head. This was her choice. Today was the Summer Solstice, and she was the one to perform the right through the old ways of song and dance. But there lay the downside of being with Jude. Giving up an integral part of who she was. What she was. His father didn't like their 'pagan' beliefs and rituals. Jude was more or less of the same mind. Though she knew that he had a more open mind about it after she just blurted out at their first meeting something he had never told anyone. Shocking him and making him ask tons of questions, which she answered as best she could without breaking the tenants of the clans.

"Layla, what is your decision?" Eda asked her in a soft inquisitive voice.

Taking a deep breath, Layla spoke, "I chose to marry Jude Heartfilia."

The way her father frowned and huffed told her he was disappointed in her. While Seumas looked like he had figured it, though, he was smiling softly at her. His parents were not too happy about her choice, but laws were laws. While Jude preened and his father looked dissatisfied.

"Then I suggest since we have our celebration tonight, and all the clans are gathered for it, that Baron Heartfilia the two are married by our standards. And you can have a separate wedding apart from us," her father spoke.

Silence met that statement before a gruff agreeance was given. Then she was whisked off to be readied by the woman for her wedding after everything was said and done. With a small smile on her lips, she thought about the love she'd have with Jude. And the fact she'd have her daughter. A daughter she had no doubts about would be every bit as special as she was and carry on her legacy as a Gypsy seer.

Lucy sat there on the wooden steps to the cart. She could hear her father and grandfather screaming at each other. They'd come back to Russia to return her mother's body to her people. It didn't help that she knew she'd never see her mother again. That she had gone to join the stars and sing eternally. No, it hurt. And that already there was a change in her father how he had distanced himself from her.

"Come, child. Follow me."

At the four words, Lucy lifted her head from her lap. She had been sitting there like she'd been told. She did not want her father to be upset with her. Hands clasped in her laps over the top of her brilliantly colored and patterned smock. There was not a speck of dust or ash on her clothing. Her father had kept her away from the funeral pyre.

Shaking her head as she looked at the blue-white Ghost that had beckoned her. A sad smile on her lips. The way the old ghost lady looked at her, eyes crinkling in a manner so much like her mothers. Lucy felt horrid for denying the Ghost. They usually had a reason when they appeared to the living.

"Child, ye need to come and say a proper goodbye."

This had Luck blinking as she watched the Ghost lift her hands and place them over its heart and then throw them up into the air. She knew that gesture. Her mother had done it when she had been healthy to praise the stars. And one thing Lucy knew was how to praise the stars. Even now, with her sadness flooding her young mind.

Fidgeting as the yelling got louder, Lucy stood up, not wanting to be there anymore. Slipping her jacket off and folding it before placing it on the steps, she looked at the old lady ghost. Who gave a small nod of her wrinkled head and turned walking away. Quickly Lucy followed. Her footsteps silent on the grass as she was led through the wagons and carts. She was keeping her head down though she felt the stares of those gathered as she weaved through the shadows.

Eventually, they came out on the far side of the encampment. Where the cooling ashes of Lucy's mother's funeral pyre were. There in the center stood the old lady ghost, and next to her was her mother. Lucy blinked her eyes a few times in disbelief. Then her eyes began to burn with tears she refused to shed since the first day she found out her mother was sick and dying. It hurt to see the understanding in the faded brown eyes of the phantom her mother was now.

"Lucy, you need to cry. You need to let go and say goodbye," the ghost image of her mother stated. "Come, come to me, my little star and send me safely to the other side."

It felt like something was pushing and pulling at her. It was compelling her to do as her mother was asking. Bending over at the waist, she removed one shoe and sock, then the other, and taking great care not to get grass stains on the soft material. Knowing Mrs. Spetto hated washing out grass stains. Once they were off and neatly set to the side, Lucy stood up and walked in a slight daze towards the center of the pyre.

In her ears and head, she heard the sound of drums beating. It pulsed in time with her heart and blood rushing through her veins. The still-warm ash on her bare feet didn't bother her one bit. Once she reached the middle, giving a small bow to the two ghosts, Lucy let her eyes slide shut as her body began to move on its own. Swaying side softly to side before her feet moved in time to the beat, she was sure only she could hear. Then the rest of her body began to move as well.

The voices of the stars started to come in loud and clear as she danced, for that was what the beat demanded. Something profound in her began to swell. It was familiar to her. She felt it every time she was outside and looked at the stars, and they talked to her. But she did more than talk to the stars; she could summon the spirit of the constellations to her. She was again earning her mother's caution about not letting her father know about it. And Lucy was always eager to please her mother.

Nose and throat burning as she breathed in the ashes she was kicking up as she danced, Lucy let her eyes open. She was allowing the tears that, for so long, hadn't been shed to fall down her face. She was cutting fresh tracks into her soot-covered face. Only to feel shock coursing through her tiny body. There surrounding her as she spun and dipped was more than just the two ghostly images of her mother and the old lady. Now, there were so many of all ages looking that odd blue-white. But mixed amongst them, she recognized the silver-white and gold-white of the spirits of the stars.

Aquarius, Virgo, Cancer, Capricorn of her mothers. Then there was her Lyra and tiny canis minor whom she named Plue. All were watching with smiles on their faces. It made her heart beat a bit faster in her chest. Feeling as if it was soaring as that pressure in her swelled further. Bringing her hands up to her chest, right over her heart, Lucy let her mouth open and the harmony only the stars could produce escape from her lips and ringing clear on the warm night air.

One more spin, a jump, and half twist of her body, Lucy landed in the ash. She was causing a large cloud to billow up around her, obscuring her from not just the spirits but now the others of the clans and her father. Throwing her hands to the sky, whispering goodbye to her mother, Lucy suddenly felt at peace and very empty on the inside. A coldness was settling into her chest where her heart was. Then as the ash settled, she felt weak and fell to her knees, a smile on her lips as she watched her mother, the other Ghost, and all the spirits turn to small balls of lights and fly into the sky.

"What just happened to my daughter?" she heard her father yelled as her eyes fluttered shut.

She felt sleepy now. Tired and exhausted like never before. Her ears were picking up the bickering of her father and grandfather. The voice of several women telling her father that she was unique in a way that only a few could ever be. Then as she slipped into sleep in the now cold ash of her mother's funeral pyre, Lucy felt something tug at what could only be her soul. As if calling to her while her father refuted the blasphemy of what he was hearing. That her mother's people were nothing but pagan witches, and he would not leave her there alone with them.

Pale blue eyes were watching the stars in the night sky. Boredom darkening them as they listened to the droning of their father, lecturing them about being the eldest. The snide, disdainful sniff of their first youngest brother wanting nothing more than to put their earbuds into their ears and listen to classical music that they loved so much.

"Shuu, are you listening to me?"

Blinking his eyes as he looked over to his father, Shuu Sakamaki just gave a single nod of his head and watching as golden eyes narrowed for but a second before they went wide. At the same moment, he felt something powerful wash over the area, and he let his gaze go to the skies. A hiss from his brother, who began mumbling about phenomenon and such as all the stars in the sky lit up brilliantly — covering the darkened sky as if it was daylight. Then slowly, the sky returned to normal until only two stars were shining.

And if he knew those stars. One was the Alpha Andromedae of the Andromeda Constellation, and the other was Alpha Persei of the Perseus Constellation. It had something in him, settling deep down as he let a small smile grace his lips. He was then looking to his father as he heard him curse softly in a few languages under his breath. Knowing his brother was also watching his father for his uncharacteristic reactions.

"This discussion will be put on hold. I must go," Shu father stated and then was gone before either could answer.

Lifting his head back up, letting his pale blue eyes take in the two alpha stars of each constellation as they finally returned to normal. He knew this was something profound, but why he had no clue. Just that it made something deep down in him stir to life.

TBC!