AN: I've heard readers go on and on about something called 'Show, Don't Tell' like it makes them an excellent critique to say. Ha! Let me show you how to tell. – It's a joke to all you serious nuts out there, sheesh.

I had a final holdup on this chapter for what song addition to add, but as I couldn't decide for the life of me, I'll just leave you all a few options and update the chapter with it if anyone has a good answer later.

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"Somebody speaking."

'Somebody thinking.'

{Telepathy}

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, or any other anime/novel/manga/fanfic that I may use.

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**AN: So, a lot of the mountain ranges in the Fairy Tail world were not named, which means I have to make names. The mountain range introduced in this chapter is the one with Crocus on one side and the Sabertooth guild on the other; you can google it for a map. I'm naming it the Mirage Mountains for reasons you will soon find out.

Possible Song Options:

/: Scott Buckley - Chasing Daylight

/: Eternal Eclipse - Timeless Tale

/: Eternal Eclipse - Hidden Machinations

/: Fantasy Film Music - Bound

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Chapter 3: The Journey Part 1 – A Home, A Contract, and A Maid.

Ishgar, a peninsula living and breathing in magic. A land born from ethernano, whose residents learned to live in harmony with mana. A breathtaking place where nature thrives in millions of forms, evolving beyond the mundane thanks to infusions of high concentrations of ethernano spreading across the land.

Ethernano is the term coined to describe particles of raw neutral mana in a gas-like state. An energy birthed from the very world itself, existing in all living things. It is the source of magic in all its forms.

However, not all lands were given the same exact amounts of Ethernano by the world. Due to many reasons that mages worldwide have been studying for centuries, ethernano sometimes seemed to collect in specific locations. Lands where something occurred to either draw ethernano from the surrounding atmosphere in mass quantities like moths to a flame or gushed forth with it from the ground naturally like a spring gushing water from the earth.

And when ethernano clumps together in a high density, it creates what civilians and mages refer to as 'Danger Zones.' A danger zone is a term used to describe an area with such a dense concentration of ethernano that the environment and wildlife evolved to unprecedented degrees.

Pockets of land that can work to defy the very laws of nature of everything surrounding it. With very few exceptions, such zones never move and are, in their own ways, self-contained ecosystems. Humans had long come to understand the threat of such places and marked every map they could with signs to avoid them.

After all, as long as you avoided entering them, you could almost close your eyes and imagine they were never even there in the first place. But every now and then, a brave or suicidal soul searches for adventure. Often never to be heard from again.

In the kingdom of Fiore, a domain on the far western edge of Ishgar, there existed a mountain range that was regarded far and wide as a Danger Zone. What was unusual about this zones location was that this specific mountain range was in the very center of the kingdom and was adjacent to the capital of Fiore, Crocus.

The mountain range was aptly named the Mirage Mountains.

It wasn't s a dreadful place that no one came back from that earned it its designation; in fact, among danger zones, it actually had one of the highest chances of leaving the area alive if you stuck to the outer layer.

Very few had ever ventured into its depth and ever lived or shared their tales. The reason was that the outer layer of the Mirage Mountains, being the reason it earned its name, was a labyrinth.

Walls of thick fog wrapped around the circumference of the range like a gate that caused anyone who entered to become trapped in illusions as they end up walking out the way they came in without ever realizing they weren't even walking forward. And those are the civilians, the fog wasn't as gentle with mages.

More so, even the 'gentle' illusions were not simple. Some saw the dead spirits of their loved ones, others, places they hadn't been to in years, and some occasionally went mad from being forced to recall traumatizing memories.

Past the fog was an unknown land. Whether one entered by land, sky or beneath the earth, the effect of the fog would always take hold. Mages or civilians alike were turned around in so many circles, and it was only due to how large the land was that many could wander out alive. If they stumbled on the beasts that inhabit the fog, there was little chance of making it back. Mages, in particular, seemed much more attractive for whatever lay in the fog.

One of the few travelers who made it past the fog and left any comment on their travels was Fiore's own Gildarts Clive. He only left a single paragraph on the Mirage Mountains in a book he wrote on his travels.

{Calling it the interior of a mountain range doesn't do it justice. It's not simply some wonderland beyond the fog, but dozens of self-contained ecosystems side by side as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Any mage worth their salt at S class could survive through the fog, but it's the inhuman weather patterns alone that can be the end of you even if you manage to avoid the various magical beasts. Some even gave me a good fight. As for the actual interior of the mountain range. Just don't go there. Trust me.}

Thankfully, for the residents of Fiore living around the Mirage Mountains, the danger zone wasn't a threat to the country itself. What lived within and beyond the fog stayed within its boundaries.

Exceptions always existed, but they were rare enough that the outer edges of the danger zone were still used for travel. Some assumed it was due to the mana density lowering beyond the fog being uncomfortable for the wildlife. Still, the zone was truly self-contained in a manner of speaking.

Farms, tiny villages, and others inhabited the region where nothing else lived. The king of Fiore had long since built farmlands on the fertile ground considering the dirt surrounding the danger zone was rich in nutrients.

It was the true reason for Crocus being widely known as the Flower Blooming Capital. The jewel of the kingdom had been where the kingdom itself was founded centuries before. However, every now and then, the monarchy comes to remember why building their capital so close to a danger zone was a double-edged sword.

Just because the magical beasts prefer not to leave the danger zone didn't mean it wouldn't ever happen. And when it did, destruction was often left in their wake.

*Line Break*

Deep inside the Mirage Mountains, past the miles of fog barring the world from the interior, an idyllic home was carved out in a specific thriving forest ecosystem.

The home was built into the bowels of a massive redwood tree. A tree dwarfed by the genuinely titanic examples of its kind all around it. The dwarfed tree had only grown to a mere two hundred and fifty feet compared to its siblings topping off at four hundred feet. In contrast, the dwarf grew a hundred feet in diameter compared to its siblings' twenty to thirty feet.

For example, a hundred feet in height is the equivalent of three school buses stacked together lengthwise.

A home was built into the dwarf redwood. Wooden stairs designed to look like tree roots intertwined at the base of the tree, creating a natural L-shape up to an ornate and beautifully carved door built right into the bark.

Rectangular glass windows pocketed the tree's walls, going up three floors from the ground level. The various windows held shutters made from the removed bark, ready to slide over the glass, perfectly blending in with the rest of the tree.

Moving inside the home, the interior contained four floors from a basement level to its third level. Following this, a spiral staircase extended from the top floor through the center of the tree, reaching the canopy far above, where an elaborate deck had been built to enjoy the pollution free heavens above.

The basement level was used for both cold and dry storage.

The ground floor was an ample spherical space one would enter through its front door. A bare step down from the rest of the flooring by the door was a welcome area to take off shoes and hang jackets in wooden cabinets and hangers.

In one corner was a tastefully designed kitchen that mixed well into the natural vibe of the tree, containing an assortment of enchanted appliances, and walled off from the rest of the floor by a waist-high bar top matched with bar stools.

A crackling hearth built into the wall was on the opposite side of the floor, accompanied by plush leather chairs and an incredibly comfortable three-person couch. The plush fur carpet, low wooden oak table, and shelves carved into the tree holding numerous books added a relaxing vibe that would make one wish to tuck in with a hot beverage and read the day away.

Curved rectangular glass windows tinted from the outside view lay to both sides of the front door, allowing natural light to flood in.

In between these two areas, in a straight line from the entrance, was a curved stairway built into the wall like a wooden tube leading up to the rest of the home.

Ascending the stairs, one would find an opening in the wall like a hollow in a tree leading to the next floor. The space on the said floor was a decorated sphere of empty space containing five doors along the walls and a new staircase tube across the hall from the first staircase. Gentle glowing stones were embedded in the ceiling of the spherical space, not too bright but well illuminating the area.

The five doors led to rooms that reached from the center sphere to the walls of the tree.

Two were guest rooms, homey and open with glass allowing light to shine in, as well as glowing stones on pedestals that could be activated for light at night. Each room was outfitted with soft beds built into wooden frames, nightstands, dressers, and a half-bath. Artistic carvings along the walls and ceilings showed a great deal of skill and passion from the designer.

A third room was a storage and cleaning area for laundry, linen, cleaning supplies, and various crates of goods.

The fourth room was dedicated to the bath. A place where an artist's touch passionately shined through. A small changing area was walled off from the bath by an opaque sheet of glass. Through the glass was a sizeable Japanese-themed bathing space with a washing area and two tubs carved out of the tree itself.

The larger of the two was dedicated to hot water, embedded with jacuzzi stones, with the smaller tub for icy water. The bath also held a large floor to ceiling, tinted glass window, allowing one to look out into the view of the natural landscape.

The fifth and final room of the floor was dedicated to a large potion's lab. Large floor-to-ceiling dressers with hundreds of small rectangular cabinets filled with herbs and potion ingredients stood wall to wall. Books, jars, vials, and bottles lining carved shelves in organized lines.

In the center of the room stood a raised sector-shaped table that held open books for various herb-related topics, different-sized vials containing a variety of liquids, and handheld cauldrons containing different ground-up herb mixes.

A large copper cauldron sat comfortably in a cutout section at the center of the table so that its rim came to a few inches above the table itself.

A few potted plants hung from the ceiling above, spreading rich scents throughout the room. And at the far wall, a wooden sliding door could be opened to reveal an ample balcony space extending out from the tree's bark in a semi-circular shape.

The balcony was half occupied with a miniature garden for various delicate herbs unable to be grown in unprotected environments. At the same time, the other half was dedicated to pleasure. A stone firepit was placed in the center of the balcony with curved couches ready to relax for a pleasurable campfire experience.

Leading back into the spherical hall and taking the stairway tube up to the final floor, the study and master bedroom appeared.

The room was more larger than any other singular room in the home. It was split evenly between a bedroom and a study with a half-bath to the side. The study held an assortment of items organized neatly behind a polished hardwood desk and plush leather chair. Shelves lined the walls holding dozens of glowing potion vials and framed pictures on display. One particular picture of a young couple in love standing proudly on the desk's surface.

Directly behind the chair, attached to the wall of the room, a large surveillance projection lacrima was set up, displaying an assortment of video feeds from two dozen screens spread throughout the forest around the home at various ranges.

On the direct opposite side of the large room was a fluffy king-sized bed on a frame cut out of the tree. Nightstands and dressers glowing weakly with enchantments to both sides of the bed.

To the back of the bed frame, a large circular glass window, sectioned into fourths by a design of wood to resemble tree roots, was placed to allow natural light to stream in and shine rays of sunshine all around the inhabitants in a morning greeting.

A central plush rug combined both halves of the room tastefully, along with an assortment of animal pelts and carvings along the walls with well-spaced pedestals holding light lacrima-like torches for the night.

And finally, the home tour brings us to the young man currently sleeping peacefully in the plush master bed surrounded by rays of morning sunshine. A cracked open window allowing warm fresh forest air to flow in alongside the sounds of hundreds of distant bird songs.

The gentle wind softly caressed long locks connected to an aristocratic face. High cheekbones and a delicate jawline were wrapped serenely by a pillow of silky green hair. The young man lay at six feet, built somewhere between a swimmer and a bodybuilder, and with a physique tested in combat with various scars and burns adorning his torso as proof. Some spots showing the true lethality of past battles.

Around his neck, a thin chain link necklace held a single golden key secure over his sternum. A place the key had never left since it was first worn so many years ago.

The young man, once a much smaller teen dropped randomly into a world of fantasy, was Dante Ouroboros, the protagonist of our story. And beneath his serene facial features, his eyes roamed in closed lids as he dreamed back to that day half a decade ago when it all began.

5 years earlier:

It was a few days after escaping Everlue's mansion that Dante finally decided to summon Virgo. After seeing how much distance he could cover using the magic carpet and not knowing if there could still be a way to follow his trail, he chose to move his camp to ensure his safety.

He touched down in his clearing, collected whatever spare few things he needed, and burned the rest to cover his trail before moving on the carpet eastward, dropping down in a random spot to roll up the carpet, and then running northwest through the forest on foot.

Miles passed in the hours he ran before stopping when he came upon a wall of strange fog in the near distance, and only then did he feel safe enough to settle down at a small stream. Having been moving for over a day with so much activity, he didn't even bother with a shelter and just curled up in large leaves to sleep the rest of the day away. It was only when he fell asleep that the mana enhancing his limbs finally receded.

The next few days were spent resting his body as he came to find out that just because you enhance your muscles with mana did not mean your muscles could handle the strain. Bone-deep pain and soreness took over most of his cognitive thinking for those days as he could barely build himself a small wooden shelter to match his old one. Thankfully, he had a knife this time to make the process smoother.

On the fifth day, with mana helping his natural healing along, Dante finally returned to himself enough to call on Virgo. He sat against a tree a few feet away from the stream and inspected her key.

It was made entirely out of gold. The center of the bow being white, stamped with the crest of the Maiden, and colored in purple. Surrounding the heart-shaped center on either side were simple curves, spiraling on the top and bottom, while the blade's end was shaped like a heart. It didn't weigh much, but it glowed like a star in the night sky to his mana sense.

Now he just had to activate it. 'Do I really have to say the chant though?' Dante couldn't help but cringe at the thought. Even as an adult, Lucy had no shame in twirling around and saying cheesy lines. He wasn't even sure if he even remembered the chant correctly. 'My memory is good but not that good. It's not like I focused all my attention on Fairy Tail.'

Thankfully, or not depending on who you asked, he figured it out when he shrugged and tried to just funnel mana into the key. After it absorbed enough, the chant seemed to automatically appear in his mind without any prompt.

But he still had to say it. He got the feeling the key wouldn't activate before that. 'I am connected with the path to the celestial spirit world. Heed my call! Pass through the gate! Open, Gate of the Maiden.

What am I? A goddamn twelve-year-old? Am I supposed to fucking say that out loud?

…..

Ah, right, I am twelve.' Dante despaired for a long moment before trying to psyche himself up. Telling himself all kinds of motivations for why he was doing this.

He stood tall with firm eyes and steel in his spine as he held the key up. "I am connected…." The key flashed bright the second he stared as Virgo appeared in a magic circle a few feet away.

"…"

"…"

The two stared off silently as a tumbleweed was gently blown in the wind. In a forest.

"It's good to see you again master." Virgo bowed her head, completely ignoring what just happened. Dante violently twitched as he awkwardly put his hand down. "Virgo?"

"Yes master?" She still looked the same as she was the last time he saw her, with her slim body and emotionless face, but as soon as her eyes landed on his own, they noticeably softened with a slight smile to her lips.

Dante had to fight off the urge to smile back at her as he asked his question. "Did I need to say the chant out loud to summon you?"

"No, I heard you when you paid mana to my key." She responded promptly without any shame.

"So the purpose of the chant is….?" He trailed out hopefully, and her body said it all.

"…" How Virgo managed to look so smug without changing her facial expression or saying a single word was beyond him, but Dante was sure he just got punked. 'Do all the keys do this? Is this some massive practical joke on summoners? Is Lucy really just a major exhibitionist?' These questions and more were questions that needed answers one day.

Externally, Dante just sighed and sent a warm smile to the spirit. "It's good to see you as well Virgo." Having a sudden desire, he stepped over with his arms out and raised a brow in question; not seeing any rejection, he gave the spirit a hug.

She didn't freeze up like the first time he touched her shoulder back at the mansion and after only a moment, she slightly leaned into the hug. It was warm, comforting, and said more with a simple action than words could.

The two pulled back a moment later and naturally fell into conversation. "Did you have trouble while you were gone?" "Not at all master; I haven't felt so light in a long while." She managed to put a good deal of inflection in the words, and Dante didn't doubt her. He led her over to the tree he sat at earlier, and the two got comfortable.

"I'm glad to hear to hear that Virgo, you deserve to rest after all of that. How long were you even there for?"

"My previous contract lasted 244 Earthland days." Her response was crisp and cold, and Dante decided to leave that particular topic alone for the moment. Instead, he focused on something that interested him a great deal. "Earthland days? Is time different in the Celestial Realm?" He knew a bit from the anime but wanted to hear it from Virgo herself.

Virgo hummed a bit with an adorable tilt of her head as she responded. "Time is relative in the Celestial Realm. As a realm created from chaotic space and time by the Spirit King, the more stable the area, the more time is connected with Earthland. The more unstable the more time can become both longer or shorter than what humans experience."

Dante habitually pulled out his journal to take notes. "And what qualifies as stable space?"

Virgo raised a brow at his actions but answered all the same. "Essentially, the stronger the spirit, the more stable the realm they mark out. All zodiac spirits have their own personal pockets of space, Silver keys have smaller shared pockets, and spirits of the same species share a collective pocket. We draw mana from our contracts and use it to help stabilize our own pockets, as well as the collective realm.

Hm… you can think of it like a tax set by our king for the stability of our realm. So overall, the stronger spirits have more stable realms due to absorbing more mana from contracts and are essential to the survival of the Celestial realm in total." Virgo's voice gained more emotion than he had seen before as she spoke of her realm. Joy and love shined through prominently.

Dante absorbed all of her words with equal fascination to her emotion as he furiously wrote things down. "How many spirits even are there?"

Virgo held up a hand, letting a minor illusion of mana form to take on a variety of shapes, from birds to fish, to combinations of animals, to things he wasn't familiar with. "A majority exists even without a physical form, but there are tens of thousands for the most part. The vast majority of which are small and weak. It takes many long years for a spirit to grow enough to form a key of its own, and even then, summoners rarely ever look upon the weakest bronze-grade keys. But the spirits that never give up, with their own efforts or through the key system, manage to grow with the passing years."

Dante recorded everything. "Wow, I never thought about that. Do most mages know of this?" Virgo shrugged. "It's not common knowledge if that's what you are asking master, but any celestial spirit capable of speech could share it. We are bound by contracts all the same and most contractors do not care for asking us about our world." The emotion trailed off her words toward the end.

Dante noticed the distant look in her eyes and, without really thinking, reached over to gently rub her head. Her blue eyes turned to his own as he spoke. "It must have been hard to hold the weight of that responsibility as a zodiac. You must really love the Celestial Realm."

Virgo's cheeks reddened a bit as she looked down, a gentle look forming over her features. "The Spirit King forged our land long, long ago from a large pocket of ethernano that escaped into the Celestial Realm due to an ancient war between gods.

Born into the realm, we zodiacs only gained consciousness and form thanks to the kings actions, and all spirits that followed owe their sentience to him. He never asked us for subservience or to do his bidding. He was always kind and supporting. But soon the king found that without a continuous source of ethernano, the realm would collapse. And ethernano cannot naturally enter the celestial realm. He could not obtain it no matter how many ways he tried.

When he shared his dilemma of ethernano being needed for the stability of the realm, as we watched the realms walls darken, the strongest twelve spirits forged a ritual and created our keys." There was an ancient flame in her eyes as she went on. "We formed our ancient laws and the king chose to oversee them as a neutral judge from behind, his own power being too great to form a key as his essence was rejected by Earthland. One by one, spirits woke, grew, and joined us. For us zodiacs, it's an honor to help the stability of our realm."

Dante smiled at the ancient spirit as she recalled a length of time he couldn't comprehend and enjoyed seeing the emotion in her gaze. "Do you see your fellow zodiacs often?" Her eyes refocused on his own and she nodded. "Every now and then we meet up, but as I said, time is subjective for us. One spirit cannot enter another's pocket without permission, so we often go many years without meeting." Dante noticed a strange emotion cross her features for a moment, but it passed before he could make it out. "I see, do you all share your experience with contractors?"

Virgo got quiet for a moment before shaking her head. "We may have done it at the start once a contractor passed away, but part of our rules is the confidentiality of our current contractors. By the time the contract ends, many of us simply never mention it again for assorted reasons." He felt her body stiffen for a moment before it relaxed again under his gentle hand running through her hair.

Seeing her relax, he tried to pull his hand back a bit, only for another hand to grab his wrist and keep it where it was. The look she sent him said much, and only when he continued running his hand through her soft pink hair did she release him with a strangely pleased look in her eyes. He found it adorable.

'I feel like I just lost a fight with a bunny or something…' Shaking his head with wry amusement, he decided to bring the conversation to a more humorous topic before things got awkward. "So what was with the chant thing? Do all spirits do that?"

The corner of her lips turned up as the look she sent him radiated smugness. "It's an ancient prank master. Leo thought of it and it simply stuck. Although, if we mention that fact to our contractors is up to us. If one wishes to take the wording of the contract as the extent of a bond, we shall reciprocate. After all, a lot can happen in a life and death battle when a contractor decides to stop and say a full chant and the spirit is not held accountable if something happens in that time frame." There was both a humored smugness and a warning in those words that Dante took to heart.

"I'll keep that in mind, although I'll take it your prompt response when I added mana to your key instead of making me say the chant was a sign of trust?" At her warm nod, Dante promised himself he would show her that her faith wasn't misplaced. Their contract wasn't formed yet, and anything could be changed.

He was especially grateful for being stopped midway into a chunni moment that would never go away. Although the smugness coming from her told him she wouldn't forget how she could have let him go through with it if she wished.

With his free hand, Dante rubbed the key hanging on his chest. "So how does the whole summoning thing work then, what are the limits here?"

Virgo looked satisfied upon seeing her key there, and to his surprise, she placed a hand flat on his chest over the key. A gentle heat spread from the contact as she spoke. "The ritual and connection exists within the key itself. To activate the ritual only requires an infusion of mana. The more mana put into the key, the more of our own strength can be utilized in Earthland. As celestial magic is not naturally accepted on this plane of reality, the equivalent in mana is necessary from a mage for us to perform grander acts."

Dante nodded at that. "Equivalent exchange. There must be a cost to have an effect. I can't expect you to create a sinkhole without spending the mana that a mage would usually need for such a thing." Virgo was pleased with his note and nodded. "Precisely. Every zodiac is a master at our branches of magic and can do things most mortals cannot within those branches, but only if the cost is paid. Everything extra a spirit does without a cost would come from our own… savings you can say."

Dante continued for her as he followed the logical route of her words. "Because after you pay the mana tax, the rest of the mana goes to stabilizing your own pocket. You can spend the mana within that pocket as you like, but you lose your home if you go too far. Are there benefits to the pockets?"

"Of course. Every pocket is attuned to the elements of the spirit. My own being earth. I know everything that happens inside my pocket, I recover faster inside, and I can meditate deeper on my element inside its space. The path to understanding one's own magic never ends master." She finished in a lecturing tone, and unable to stop it, the mental image of Virgo in a skintight teacher's outfit tapping a ruler in her hand as she spoke to him flashed through his mind.

A light sting of Virgo's fingernails pressing into his chest snapped him out of his thoughts as he noticed the amused look in her eyes. She went on without pressing on it. "As for the actual summoning, you just need to add mana to a key and call our name mentally or verbally. In case of emergencies, we can appear on our own and take the cost at a later time. That's all."

She finished with such simplicity that he couldn't help but chuckle. "'That's all' she says. Not like you just simplified incredibly complicated math and formula that went into a tiny medium to allow just about anyone to pay recoverable mana and summon a master of a branch of magic without any further study needed."

Virgo let out a small laugh as she leaned further into the hand running through her hair gently. "I didn't want to offend master. Humans tend to get upset when we explain things far above their mere mortal minds." Dante held his free hand over his heart, unintentionally holding it over Virgo's own hand. "That hits deep, right here." The two chuckled in shared humor before a gentle calm came over them.

A breeze blew through the trees, the sounds of birds, insects, and the stream echoed around them, leaves fell from the branches above, and a few rays of sunlight broke through the canopy above to shine around them.

Their hands remained where they were, each of them blending into the momentary vibe in a harmony that surprised them both. Dante calmly patting her head through her hair, her hand over her key and his heart, and his other hand resting over her own.

A leaf swung back and forth through the air to land ever so slightly in Dante's green hair, seemingly acting like the signal to comfortably end their little moment. He gently squeezed her hand before letting it fall from her own as he spoke gently. "Would you like to form a contract with me Virgo?"

Virgo's hand slowly rose to his hair, lightly brushing off the leaf that landed there. She gazed at him in a way Dante didn't know how to describe. Like she was seeing him and something else at the same time. A moment he would one day remember vividly passed as she responded. "I would like that…Dante." Her voice was equally gentle as she held up both hands in front of her with her palms up. "If you allow it, I would like to do this as it was done in the beginning."

Dante's confused eyes met her calm ones before he understood her meaning and he quickly nodded with inner curiosity. "It would be an honor Virgo." She sent him a small smile as she pointed her chin forward. "Place your hand above my own please." He did so and she began speaking.

[Play Song]

"In the times of ole, a contract between spirits and humans was a sacred affair. For the mortals, it was often a lifelong promise. And for us spirits, it was an honor bound duty for survival." Her voice grew deeper as golden energy began wisping off her form.

"As the ages passed, things slowly changed. Spirits became more familiar with the mortal world, and mortals began to see us more as tools, than beings. Contracts lost their respect, and spirits grew uncaring of the loss as long as mana was paid, often creating strange and unusual conditions for their contracts. Between certain days being off limits, to specific environments they won't be summoned to, to physical payments. A mockery of their former bonds that took seconds of speech to establish. It wasn't a bond, it was a verbal promise, a fickle thing.

The contracts took multiple forms, and the more careless the rituals, the more the bonds suffered. Most contracts these days became simple affairs without any true meaning or care.

Even I have fallen into this trend, more for my own protection than preference as I didn't allow anyone in. How deep a bond goes will always be between the spirit and contractor, a bond that should have gone deep to form trust and understanding, but the ways of the ole have fallen behind for millennia."

Light began to condense in her hands, celestial energy reaching out to the mana within his own as her eyes glowed golden, her voice gaining an ancient tint with her resolve. "The bond was special once, and I wish to make it so once more." The light glowing from her hands erupted, and Dante started lightly as he felt it spread into his mana pathways, reaching for the figure eight inside him and tracing it back to his core.

Virgo had an improving smile as she felt out his pathways. "Impressive for one so young, but you have much to learn my master." She increased the output of celestial energy and, almost like a metaphorical guiding hand, began to extend and mold his self-made pathways. Dante fell inward to the void as he watched her mold his glowing pathways and let her take action, instinctively knowing he could use his mana to reject her influence. His lack of reaction fueling her on with more assurance.

His figure eight pathway began to become unstable and chaotic, but before it could lose form, Virgo guided a strand of celestial energy like a roadway, breaking the flow and letting the liquid follow a new path. Loops formed to each side of the original eight, crossing over the central point, before returning to the original pattern and repeating. What was once a single figure eight slowly became two connected by the central node where his core rested.

Dante watched the changes happening in fascination. It wasn't a comfortable process, but he was fumbling in the dark when he made his pathway and decided to trust someone he felt wouldn't hurt him. And as his mana followed along the new path and began speeding up, he was happy he did. Ethernano began gathering toward him at twice the rate it did before, gathering toward his core to be converted rapidly.

His eyes opened in wonder as he looked at the spirit gently staring into his own eyes, a question of trust clear in his gaze. "Why?" It was a simple question, but she answered all the same. "Despite the age of your aura, your physical body was unable to support the contract being formed in the old way, so I helped push you along so to speak."

Dante raised a brow. "I think you did a little more than that." Her answering smirk said it all. "Continue to develop your pathways, the more complex and widespread and the more benefits it shall provide. But more on that later, for now, prepare yourself master."

"Prepare myself for wha…!" Celestial energy flooded his pathways at triple the rate before, moving along his pathways toward his core and entering inside. It felt strangely intimate in a way, more than letting her in to see his pathways. His core was his own, the center of his being.

Virgo sensed his emotions, being so close to his being, and spoke in a meditative trance, her voice ringing through his inner world. "Do not be afraid master, feel my energy as it pushes through, I shall never bring you harm. Watch and feel, then repeat my actions." The celestial energy gathered in the air above his mana pool, forming into letters. A capital M with a J on the end. The symbol from Virgo's key. The celestial energy formed the shapes, drawing them like a finger tracing them through the air. Dante had the feeling she was slowing down for his own benefit and tried to pay close attention to the process.

The symbol took shape, and soon the celestial energy trailed off, leaving a single strand as the symbol gained independence, rotating gently with a dim golden light as it hovered in his core. He stared at it, wondering if something was supposed to happen, when Virgo's voice rang through. "Attach your mana to my energy, and I will guide you." He did so, creating a crude tether inside his core and awkwardly wrapping it around her own.

Like a fish caught by a hook, his sight blurred as he was pulled along into a new world. He thought his own inner world was impressive with its double figure eight, but the view before him gave him a new perspective. "It's beautiful." His breath was taken away as he looked at the constellation of stars that make up Virgo in the night sky. Each star was its own kaleidoscope of mana pathways, connected to each other by rivers of shining golden celestial energy.

Virgo's amused voice rang out. "Follow along for now master; we will have many years for me to show you all of myself." The tug was gentle this time, but he followed along all the same. A nebula of colors appeared before him as he felt himself move through a membrane into a new area.

A continent of earth in a scope beyond what his mind could comprehend spread before his eyes. A clear blue sky hovered above the land, painting an image of heaven and earth in a way that left him feeling like a piece of dust in the universe.

But there was no liquid, no celestial energy to be seen. Dante frowned as he looked around in confusion. "Virgo?" He didn't even need to state his question, as with the current connection, their emotions were evident.

A feeling of deep amusement and calm came over him as Dante's consciousness was suddenly enveloped in golden light. A feeling like a gentle caress, a warm embrace, and a comforting pillow wrapped around him. 'Arms' of golden energy embraced his spiritual form from behind as Virgo's voice whispered in his 'ear.' "Calm yourself master, close your eyes and feel, give yourself to the flow and open yourself. I shall keep you anchored to me, always." Her voice like a thousand bells ringing faintly and he felt a part of himself truly believing her.

Taking a steadying breath enveloped in a soul-deep comfort, Dante found it hard to simply feel anything else. He just wanted to float there, to stay like this till the end of time. It wasn't lust, it wasn't love, it just was, without negative or positive desire. It was an ancient spirit letting him in, allowing him to see all that was her center, giving him an instinctual understanding of a single fact.

Virgo would never harm him.

He stopped trying to see and tried to feel. And that's when he understood why he saw no ocean of Celestial energy. The continent of earth, extending far beyond his range could see. It was her ocean. Every stone, every block, every boulder of earth was compressed and condensed energy.

Virgo felt his awe and proudly explained. "Aside from few lifeforms, all beings born with a core contain a pool of liquid energy. As the being grows, the core adapts, taking on the elements and forms that make up who they are. When the concentration of liquid energy reaches a critical point, it will condense and become solid. For me that meant earth. For others it could be light, or shadow, swords, trees, the variations are as endless as the number of beings capable of magic exist." A flash of a distant memory of seeing Igneel in a volcano inside Natsu's core in the anime went through his mind before he shook it away.

Dante felt around him in silent amazement. "I can't even see the end…." A resounding giggle echoed through him as a fond response rang alongside it. "I have a few millennia on you master. You have a long way to go if you wish to match me."

Dante chuckled and projected the image of nodding his head. "Fair. I acknowledge the road ahead but I can't help but feel excitement to walk it." The feeling of a gentle kiss landing on his forehead came through. "It would be an honor to watch your journey." Virgo was surprised when Dante returned the gesture, placing his own lips upon her brow as he responded. "The honor is mine Virgo, oh ancient maiden of the stars."

Virgo's brow twitched, and a gentle playful tap to the back of his head was her response. Dante laughed and playfully flicked her forehead, startling her. But here, inside her core, she couldn't hide the spark of joy behind it.

Soon the two were play fighting in a realm without form. Dancing through the sky of her core in a twirl of color and emotion. Like children without worry or concern, just the joy of the moment. But after a wrong turn, Dante found himself trapped in her embrace. Emotions of joy and pleasure coming through clearly. Her amused voice rang in his ear. "Enough master, we can play later. For now, finish the connection."

She grasped his metaphorical hand and pointed it toward the earth of her core. "Don't think, feel, search for the symbol that speaks most to you, let your mana flow through of connection and draw the symbol upon my earth. Leave you mark upon my soul as I did yours and then the contract can begin."

To say this was an intimate process would be to say that water was wet. Dante might not have truly understood the significance when she marked his core, but as he was to mark her own, he truly felt the weight of the promise. The bond. It was until the contract was broken or until death did them part. It was very intimate. "Virgo…are you sure…." The warmth embraced him once more as she whispered resolutely. "Do it master."

Feeling the steel within her words ignited his own. Dante wouldn't disrespect her resolve and hesitate here. His methods were crude, inexperienced, and a mockery compared to the ease with which Virgo performed, but Virgo didn't mock him. Her energy formed a pipeline for his mana to follow, guiding him into her, through the thousands of pathways, and into her core.

'A symbol that defines me…' Dante did what was requested and felt. He stopped thinking entirely and just felt in the dark for an undefinable amount of time. Virgo stood steady, supporting him in the real world and the spiritual one, waiting patiently for as long as it would take.

And eventually, his hand moved. For as long as it took to search, the actual symbol was ever so simple. His metaphorical hand traced a large circle, with the end becoming the head of a serpent to bite the start, the symbol for infinity, the symbol of the ouroboros. Virgo's mind stirred at the sight, but she kept her peace with an excited gleam in her eyes. 'Infinity…, so it really is you.'

Dante's spiritual gaze re-opened as he finished and looked on with a complicated feeling. 'It feels right… the same way I first drew my mana pathways, it was instinctual. But why?'

Virgo's cheerful voice broke him from his thoughts. "Congratulations master, you have taken a step forward on your path." He looked away from the symbol at her words. "You mean this symbol?"

"Yes, the formation of a symbol is an expression of the soul. It is one of the core elements that make every being unique. Don't think too much on it master, I can explain more at a later time."

Dante shrugged. He was curious but not in a rush to search a new mystery. He took a final glance at the symbol, seeing the earth around it change to cement its shape firmly upon it before he turned back. "So what now?"

He felt the repressed laughter in her words as she responded. "Now, you wake up master; your body has fallen asleep." His eyes widened as the world blurred around him, pulled from her core and inner world, and gently pushed back into his own body.

Dante woke with a gasp, looking up in a blur as his eyes opened to see a night sky full of stars far above and the celestial spirit gazing down at him with warmth as her hands combed through his hair. "Welcome back master." Her eyes expressed so much more than before, like an emotion given physical form. His mind swam in those orbs as he felt the connection. Felt the bond. Felt her as she felt him.

He wanted to give in to it, wanted to get lost in it, wanted to accept it, but he had to know one simple thing. "Why?" His dry voice croaked out the question for a second time, willing her to answer this time. Why was she trusting him so much? Why was she going so far? They just met. No matter how bad her long eight months with Everlue were, it was illogical for her to be so taken with him; this wasn't a fairy tale.

And more than that, why was he allowing this all to happen? Why did he want this so much?

Virgo's eyes were like a window to her soul, the blue of her eyes opening to that sky above the continent that contained all of her. Her voice was a soft whisper on the wind. "Because I saw your soul."

"My soul?" Dante sat up from her lap to face her. Virgo definitely didn't pout as her hands fell onto her lap. "You mentioned you saw Everlue's mana, correct?" Dante shivered in disgust at just the thought. "I did."

Virgo sent him an understanding nod. "Mana, or any form of energy like my own celestial energy, is more than energy. It's an expression of emotion or desire. To those who know how to look, you can gaze deep into another's mana and see the soul beneath. Without words or actions, you can see what makes a being who they are. Of course, the stronger the being, the harder it is to look within. And there are many ways to protect or fool one's senses directly or indirectly based on a mage's inherent magic and self-learned knowledge." She took a breath and followed with a slight smirk. "Safe to say, you have no such protection, although there is also only so much one can tell in a scant few minutes, but I have been looking into your soul since our first meeting, and as the hours passed, I liked what I saw."

Dante flushed a bit, feeling strangely embarrassed, and looked away slightly to avoid those literal soul-piercing eyes. "And what did you see?"

A gentle hand reached forward to rest on Dante's cheek, turning his eyes back to her own warm gaze. "I saw a soul of great steel, seeking adventure, desiring to learn, hating cages, wanting to be free, older and wiser than the physical body would suggest." She smiled cheekily, ignoring his widened eyes, and went on. "I saw a man who was so brave yet so alone, no longer even willing to reach out to others, but too kind to turn others away. I saw a soul capable of so much potential, wanting love with all his heart, but too scarred and chained by cautious insecurity to ever risk loving another."

Virgo slowly pulled him toward her, resting her hand on his cheek and placing her forehead against his own, staring him in the eyes with a trace of wonder as she finished. "You're perfect for me. I have seen so many souls over so many years, and very few have interested me the way yours has. It wasn't clear at first, but the longer I gazed into your abyss, the more I couldn't bear to look away.

I saw your fears, and I chose the way of ole to show you, to prove to you, that no matter what you do, even if you were to fall to the same level as my last master, even if you did things that lost all of my respect and care, even if you fell into a pit you could never rise from, that I will never betray you, that your insecurities were useless against me." Her head tilted as she placed a gentle kiss on his cheek and whispered her last words. "And I wanted to show you… just how perfectly you mirror my own soul." Her hand flashed gold before he could react, and suddenly, images and feelings foreign to him invaded his mind.

His vision swam as memories not of his own came and went. Seeing through eyes not of his own into things he had never witnessed. Battlefields, gardens, standing in front of recently dug tombstones, dancing through a barren earth, endless faces, barked orders, a golden world, battles between dragons and gods, massive libraries, serene landscapes, a sunrise in a dimension without a sun.

Rage, joy, sorrow, will, despair, hope, awe, fear, wonder.

Hundreds of scenes, hundreds of emotions, far too much for Dante to truly comprehend at once, and yet, like the painting of an artist, with strokes beyond the painter's understanding, an image was formed.

The core of Virgo, a small girl, hugging her knees in the center of a storm, this was her. He saw himself, with his back to her own, mimicking her fetal position. She was a reflection of himself in so many ways, like the color blue meeting the color blue, their two storms interacting without one being noticeable from the other. The shade of blue wasn't exact, the years having done much to mar her paint, and yet her true color still remained in the core of who she was, hidden behind a wall of insecurities and desperate for love.

And like two children on a playground, shy, lonely, and scared but wanting to be friends, a tether extended from Virgo's back to gently tap on his own. A request to take a chance with something you were familiar with.

The painting froze there as he reached for the tether, millions of images and memories making up Virgo's form, a tiny fraction making up Dante's own, and yet it felt so right. He wanted to take that tether and be her friend, her ally, and cherish that ancient soul.

The vision ended, and Dante opened his eyes to see himself resting in her embrace, his head held to her soft bosom as she cradled his torso. Her eyes stared into his own as a tear stain traced her cheek. "Like I said, your perfect for me master."

Dante blinked as their connection deepened, his own hand coming up to cup her cheek as she nuzzled against it. "You have been through so much…." His words weren't a question but a statement, and it was one she didn't answer except to just close her eyes and lean into his warmth.

The two were silent there in each other's arms as the moon above shined down on them with an ocean of stars twinkling in the night sky. Virgo was giving him time, and Dante was finally beginning to truly process everything. To be honest, he had been taken for a ride, entirely out of his depth and off his game as he let Virgo guide him forward.

But just because he followed didn't mean he was unhappy. He just needed a moment to gather his bearings and reaffirm his desires.

As he looked at the suddenly fragile-looking ancient spirit, a spirit so old, so powerful in her own dimension, so willing to sacrifice for a responsibility she never asked for but took on without a word of complaint, he felt for his own desires.

He wanted to be free, she was right. He wanted to adventure and explore. He wanted to be strong, not for the sake of strength, but for the sake of having the ability to be free and explore. He enjoyed the process of growth a bit more than the average man, always willing to dive into a challenge.

He also had his fears, his insecurities, and his mental scars not from trauma but from simple life. The things he did and didn't do. The life he once lived and his wish for something more that never had a true expression of hope tied into it.

He went over everything she said, everything she shared with him, their similarities and shared pains of different scopes, and came to a swift conclusion.

'I want her. I want to cherish her. I want her by my side. I want to support her. I want to grow with her. I want to protect her. I want… to be her contractor.' It wasn't love or lust that drove him. He had minimal experience with the first and would never demean her conviction with the second. He just wanted her, all of her. It was that simple.

"Virgo." His voice was soft but firm as her eyes snapped open to look down at him. "Yes master?" He sat up once more and faced her. "How do we complete the contract?"

The largest smile he had ever seen on her took his breath away. "Hold out your hand." Dante wordlessly did so, and she interlocked her fingers with his own.

A magic circle of golden and purple energy grew beneath their interlocked hands. Virgo looked at him and instructed. "The number of clauses is up to us. You must state your words clearly as they will be taken exactly as intended. One of us shall state a clause, and the other must agree. Then the other can continue. We shall continue until no more needs to be said." Dante nodded in understanding as the magic circle glowed brighter, growing to envelop the two in separate conjoined circles. Virgo's own being greenish purple and Dante's being golden purple as their energies poured into each other's marks on their cores.

A geass scroll was birthed from raw energy to appear above and between their forms, hovering in the air on an unseen wind.

Virgo began. "When summoned, Dante must supply the necessary mana to sustain myself as well as any addition costs to perform orders given."

Dante didn't hesitate. "I agree."

The geass flashed as a line appeared at the top.

[#1: When summoned, Dante must supply the necessary mana to sustain Virgo as well as any additional costs to perform orders given.]

He went on. "If my orders were to place Virgo in danger, she may decline or adjust the parameter of the order(s) given as she sees fit."

Virgo's eyes widened. "Are you sure? You would be giving me a lot of freedom with that clause." Dante's return smile had her cheeks flush. "You will always be free if I have anything to say about it Virgo, you are your own person, not a tool."

She looked away for a moment as Dante felt the turbulence of her emotions, awkwardly trying to push his assurance toward her through the bond. She looked back at him with a light giggle and meekly called out. "Mn."

[#2: If an order were to directly place Virgo in danger, she may decline or adjust the parameters of the order(s).]

Virgo took a moment to compose herself before continuing. "One day an Earthland week, I reserve the right to take a day off." Dante smiled at that. 'Good, she is thinking for herself.'

"Agreed, as long as Virgo retains all employee benefits on or off duty." Virgo didn't quite understand the meaning of his words, but she didn't deny it, and the contract flashed.

[#3: One day an Earthland week, Virgo retains the right to take a day off with all employee benefits retained.]

And that's when Dante struck. "As long as I do not specify her not to, Virgo may take from my mana at all hours of the day, whether summoned or not, and retains the right to open the gate at her own leisure." Virgo's jaw dropped for a moment as she exploded on him. "Dante! What do you think you're doing!? Do you have any idea what that means? The contract is supposed to be to the benefit of the master, NOT the spirit."

She was so flustered she used his actual name for only the second time since they met, and it made Dante smile; he decided there that he wanted to see her flustered expression more often. "I am treating you like I would want to be treated Virgo. We will be bonded together till death or till the contract is broken, right?"

Virgo nodded with a flush, and he went on. "Then from now on, we are partners. Your burdens are my burdens, your responsibilities are my responsibilities, your worries and woes are my worries and woes. If you need me, if you need support, emotional or physical, I will be there as long as I am not preoccupied." Dante sent a cheeky smirk her way. "Till death do us part Virgo."

Virgo sat there speechless, and Dante sweat dropped. 'Did I break her?' He worriedly raised his free hand to rub her head, running it through her silky pink hair. "Do you not want to be my partner Virgo?" The question and slight tinge of anxiety coming from him snapped her out of her trance as she flushed heavily and grabbed his free hand with her own in a death grip. "Of course I do, you idiotic foolish man!"

The contract flashed.

[#4: Virgo may take mana from Dante at all hours of the day, whether summoned or not, and has the right to open the gate at her own leisure unless he states explicitly for her not to use his mana.]

""…"" Virgo's deadpan stare and Dante's smug smile matched off for a long moment with nighttime crickets in the background until Virgo's mask cracked first.

Her brow twitched dangerously at being tricked, and faster than Dante could process, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and brought him forward to smash her lips into his own. His eyes widened in surprise, and before he could respond, she pulled back and stared him in the eyes from a bare foot away as she spoke. "Clause #5, from the moment the contract is established until its conclusion, I will be designated as Dante's personal maid in all forms." She spoke quickly, forcefully, and firmly.

"Wha…"

"Shut up and say yes Dante."

"Um…I agree?"

The scroll flashed.

[#5: From the moment the contract is established until its conclusion, Virgo shall be designated as Dante's personal maid in all forms.]

Virgo smirked in satisfaction at Dante's stupefied one. The roles being perfectly reversed. It happened so fast Dante's mind was still on the fiery and passionate fury of the kiss flooding the emotional bond before she suddenly let go of him, and he fell on his side. The drop woke him up, and he looked over. "Oi!"

She patted his head condescendingly. "You have much to learn master." He grumbled and sat back up with a fierce look. "This isn't over." Virgo stuck her tongue out. "Come and get me." Dante's brow twitched as he dove forward.

The two play wrestled in the dirt like children under the starry sky as their battle cries became laughter, and their attempts to make the other submit became a chance to hold each other. Meanwhile, the geass followed along above them, waiting for completion.

Despite his efforts, Dante was no match for the power of a titan packed into the small petite body of the spirit and ended up pinned beneath her.

He traced her cheek with a hand as he looked up at her. "Why Virgo? I said I wanted to be partners." She nuzzled her cheek into his hand as her gaze was full of growing affection. "You asked for me to do as I wished, and this is my wish. The ideal partnership I wish for."

Dante searched her eyes and bond for more but found only a flush to her cheeks as his response. "Are you certain? This is binding you know." Virgo scoffed and slapped a hand lightly and playfully on his chest. "Says the one who gave me total access to his mana. You foolish master, no contractor ever gives a spirit so much. I've never heard of it even happening before. We are meant to serve you, not the other way around."

Dante chuckled and brought her head down to place his forehead against her own. "Then I guess we're both stubborn, rash, and foolish children, so eager to give to the other. I have my desire, and you have yours."

Virgo giggled in reply and bent her head up to kiss his brow. "I guess we are." She sat up and rested a hand over her key on his chest. A smile unlike any other he had seen before resting on her face with a look he couldn't describe. She raised her free hand and showed him the shackle on her wrist. "Do you know what these chains are made of Dante?"

He shook his head in confusion at the topic change, and she went on as the hanging chain link rose on its own and started extending slowly. "This manacle and chain are my personal weapons, forged in the heart of a star by spirits long, long ago. It is made from my own celestial energy and materials found in our realm. It is not indestructible, but it is among the top ten metals for pure durability in the known world. As it's made with my energy, only I can ever manipulate it."

Dante looked on interestingly, going along with the sudden topic change. "Why manacles and chains?" Virgo blushed for a moment before going on with a smile that made his heart skip a beat. "Minor reasons aside… my original reasons were simple. No matter where life takes me, no matter what I end up doing, only I can ever decide to chain myself. Any contract I make will have my agreement, and any choice I made will be of my own will. The consequences of my actions have often haunted me, but the cause has never changed. My life is my own."

His breath was taken away as he felt those words resonate within himself. "Beautiful." His comment came out unbidden as he thought on the concept, and Virgo blushed for an entirely different reason as she looked down at him. And at that moment when Dante looked up at her, pinning him down with her waist on his own, seeing the bashful smile on her face with the full moon and starry sky in the backdrop, he couldn't help but carve the moment into his mind and soul as his definition of the word 'beautiful.'

Virgo went on, unknowing of his inner thoughts. "Never before, in all the years I've worn this artifact, has a piece of it ever left my side." The chain link extended rapidly, piercing downward and wrapping around his neck in the blink of an eye, hovering over in the air as Virgo lifted the key from his chest.

Under two pairs of eyes, the chain rapidly condensed and shrunk to a thin metallic chain necklace, piercing through the loop of the key and shredding the old worn string from Everlue's pouch. The connection complete, the chain snapped off from the shackle, showing a full two out of five chain links missing from the original shackle.

Dante reached up and held the key aloft, seeing the shimmering necklace shining in the moonlight above in wonder before looking up. "Virgo…I can't…." A finger was placed to his lips as she looked down with fondness. "I give this willingly. No matter where you go, I will be with you. To heaven or hell, my chain will follow you, and my key will be the door to you, always. You're not getting away from me master; I'll chase you to the ends of the world." The tooth-filled smirk she sent him as she finished sent a shiver down his spine, and he was suddenly sure. 'Sharing our souls and cores of our beings or not, it's been two fucking days, and I'm smitten with this woman.'

Dante started chuckling, and then his chuckles turned to laughter as he laughed at the absurdity of it all. Virgo looked down on him with the same smile, feeling his emotions shifting through their bond. A minute later, he sat up, still with Virgo pinning his waist as he looked up at her. "Fine! Fine, you crazy woman, you got on this horse, so don't go looking to get off when we hit a bumpy road. I'm yours, and you are mine. Let's finalize this."

Virgo giggled with bubbled laughter as she bent down to place their foreheads together, her arms wrapping around his neck as his went around her waist. She whispered the words into his ear, and the two spoke as one.

[#6: In case of emergency, the above clauses may be voided temporarily.]

""With this contract, we are now bound.""

With those words, the geass scroll flared brightly, the words being burned into magic as the parchment dissolved and the particles entered each of their bodies to sink into their cores. Both of their energy pools draining rapidly as the magic came into effect.

The marks left upon their cores glowing with their respective colors as the bond deepened further. The significance of six clauses on the sixth celestial spirit pushing the bond even more than what was usually seen as symbolism in magic was oh so important.

Dante felt as his mana suddenly formed a thin stream, trickling up from his pool into Virgo's mark at a steady rate. His regeneration recovered faster than it could be spent, but it would be a permanent uptake on his mana moving forward.

Other than that, he felt a strange addition to the connection. Almost like a second heartbeat in his chest, he could feel Virgo's mark beating in tune. Reaching his mind toward it curiously, he poked it.

{Virgo?}

{'Yes master.'}

His eyes opened, and he saw Virgo's eyes looking at him with apparent amusement. "The bond is set." Dante swallowed. He could feel her heartbeat, her emotions. He would never be alone again.

Dante turned his head to bury it in her neck as he repeated her words softly. "The bond is set." It was comforting, just listening to the beat of a new heart within him, soothing him in a way he never knew before.

Virgo followed and nuzzled her cheek against the side of his head in affection before a mischievous smirk grew on her face. A soft whisper entered his ears as they basked in the moment of connection.

"I will do my best to server you in every way a personal maid should, my m-a-s-t-e-r." Dante shivered at the breathless tone that did wonderful things to his prepubescent body. Puberty waking up in full force for the second time in his life.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, he silently lifted a hand to flick her forehead when her following words finished him. "Oh? Are you going to punish me now master?" The playful and yet excited edge to her voice destroyed him as, for the first time since this all began, he suddenly recalled exactly what her fetishes were from canon.

His head dropped onto her shoulder in silent despair for his future. 'Fuck me.'

{Not until you are physically older master.}

Dante was not used to having to control his thoughts from reaching the bond. And it was then that he groaned in utter defeat as the sound of Virgo's giggling laughter echoed in his ears and mind.

Looking back, Dante blamed his mana exhaustion for so quickly losing the verbal battle, but Virgo would hear none of it.

She won fair and square, and she never let him forget it.

Flashback/Dream end.

"Master~." A loving voice called out as Dante groaned.

"Wake up master~." Dante's brain started waking up, but the warmth wanted him to stay, his body moved to silence the offending voice and bring it down into the warmth. "Mast…eep! Hehehe Dante~." A giggle echoed in his ears and mind, softly making his eyes open to investigate what was stopping him from sleeping.

A pair of bright blue eyes glowed inches from his own with wry amusement and mirth. "Sleep well master?" Dante blinked in his bed as he realized he was cuddling Virgo's more petite frame to his own. He smiled soul deep as he leaned forward to rub his head gently against her own. "Mn. Was dreaming about the night of our contract."

Virgo's amused eyes softened into a gentle, loving look as she reached her hands up around his neck, the two blending their bodies together in a natural combination done thousands of times before. "Is that so?"

Dante hummed and lightly bit her ear playfully. "Yeah, and how you took advantage of my young self." Virgo's indignant scoff rang out clearly. "Excuse me but you need to be another millennia older to be anything but young in my eyes my master~."

"You weren't saying that last night my love." Virgo flushed and giggled as she slapped his back with a bit more force than necessary and smirked as his hand returned the action to her full ass. "Behave my love, and for the record, we did nothing serious till you were physically older. Don't give me a weird image."

The two chuckled as their foreheads pressed together, and they stared into the other's souls as they loved to do. ""I love you.""

They smiled and leaned forward before a hand clamped over Dante's mouth. He stared into Virgo's amused gaze as she raised a brow at him. "Not happening. Go brush your teeth my foolish master." Dante rolled his eyes and groaned as she pushed him out of bed to fall on his back, taking her with him as he refused to go down alone.

Their laughter rang throughout their home as it did every day of their idyllic life.

The life of a potion master and his S&M maid.

The Journey Part 1 – A Home, A Contract, and A Maid. – End.

AN: Thoughts?

Response to Reviews:

/: Trixuny, 1302, lonetigar20 – thanks :).

/: massone22Sorry but not this time. I get what you mean, Archive is a cool magic with loads of potential. Mainly gamer style potential. But my current rule for stories I write is to try and keep things simplified. Archive on top of potions magic could work in a way, but not for this story in particular with the way I'm taking things. If I ever use Archive magic, it will be the focus of a story.

/: Isshion – Thanks for sticking around. Let me know what you think of the differences.

/: ArktheLegend – Hahahahaha *no*. Virgo stays with me. Forever.

/: Noahbadoah – Nice catch bro, glad to see you still around. That's a big reveal I still plan to use this time. Hopefully better this time lol.

/: Alex Grant – Thanks for the reviews man. I tried to simplify the mess that was his magic the first time around. Let me know what you thought of the lore I made for the Celestial spirits this chap. As for more spirits, I don't plan on it at the moment. If anyone recommends an interesting Silver key I could think about it, but so far I don't see anything.