Here's the next update! Please enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 3

The next day she arrived to the guild hall with a bounce in her step. She had once again had a successful mission, and try as she might to prevent it Lady Christine's words had given her hope. She now had a new path and was determined to see it through. She opened the doors to the normal brawl, but even that didn't deter her.

"Morning Lucy!" Mira chirped from behind the bar, happy to see Lucy back to her old self. She placed her normal drink in front of her and went off to refill others' orders.

Lucy scanned the guild looking for Levy to ask her more about the balance of magic that Lady Christine had talked about. It had been over a year and still nothing about Aquarius's key, so a new angle or lead was definitely worth looking into. To her dismay, Levy had left on a mission with Team Shadowgear, Gajeel, and Lily and wouldn't be back for a few days. She glanced around anxiously not sure she could wait that long.

Then a certain green haired mage caught her eye. She bolted over to Freed who was coming down the stairs with the rest of the Ranjishu. "Freed! Can I ask you somethin' quick?"

Freed glanced at his companions and nodded quickly, "Yes, Lucy-sama, how can I be of service?"

"I was just curious, what do you know about the 'Balance of Magic?'" Lucy asked.

Freed looked at her a little skeptically, "What specifically? That is a rather large subject."

"Well…" Lucy was stumped. She didn't know how to go into it without revealing her purpose. No one knew about Aquarius's key. No one had asked right away, then after the year break there hadn't been a good time bring up what had actually transpired at Tartarus. "I heard about it from a client. She was insisting that magic must always be in balance, and that if it wasn't in balance something should happen to fix that."

Freed nodded, "Yes, that's the basic idea of it in a nutshell. Why do you ask?"

"Well, umm…" Lucy started, but she was saved from answering when Laxus and the rest of the Ranjishu came over.

"Ready to roll?" Bixlow asked.

"Don't be rude they were talking!" Evergreen said yelling at Bixlow.

"Sorry, Blondie. We gotta go. Trains leaving soon," Laxus said.

"Don't call me that, you're blonde too!" She said glaring up at Laxus. It didn't quite work as she was mostly relieved to not have to answer Freed. Plus, Laxus just smirked down at her.

"Sorry, Lucy. Maybe another time," Freed said. Despite herself, Lucy looked disappointed, but tried unsuccessfully to hide it. "Perhaps, though, you could do some research in Crocus. They have an extensive library and a good section devoted to just this topic."

Lucy perked up immediately. "Oh thank you, Freed!" She was relieved. Now she could find answers without having to wait, and more importantly without having to divulge why she was looking. She waved them all off and headed to the door as they headed up to get their mission stamped by Mira.

As Lucy was nearing the door she was stopped by Natsu, "Hey Luce! Can we go on that mission now?"

Lucy felt bad. She really wanted to get to Crocus right away, but she had bailed on Natsu a lot recently. "Sure, but only if it's in Crocus. I really want to do some research at the library."

Natsu shrugged, "Works for me. Hey Mira, got any missions in Crocus?"

"Sorry Natsu, the Thunder Legion just took the only one we have right now," Mira said.

Freed and Evergreen looked at her apologetically, but Bixlow spoke up, "Sorry Cosplayer! We woulda given this one to you, had we known."

Natsu didn't seem to care much, but Lucy looked upset. "Hey Natsu… Can this wait? I really need to go to Crocus…"

"Aww c'mon Lucy! What do you want to go look at dusty old books for anyway?" Natsu whined.

Lucy involuntarily brushed her hands on her keys, "Natsu I…" She didn't know how to get out of this.

She was going to cave when Ever spoke up, "Actually Natsu, Lucy is going to be joining us."

Natsu and Lucy both turned on them in a whirl. Freed nodded in confirmation, "We knew she wanted to go to Crocus, so we thought we would let her join us."

"Yeah, thought it'd be fun to have a cute blonde along for once," Bixlow said catching on throwing her a week. Laxus raised an eyebrow at Bixlow's antics, but said nothing. Freed looked affronted that Bixlow was deeming the Great Laxus as uncute.

Lucy was baffled, but tried to play it off, "Ri-right! I forgot we discussed that."

Natsu looked peeved, "Lucy! Why are you going on a mission with them and not me?"

"It's just that it's in Crocus, no big deal. I'll go with you when I get back. Okay?" Lucy said. With that she quickly moved to follow them out the doors leaving a dumbfounded Natsu and guild hall in her wake.

When she finally got to the train station, she found the Ranjishu in their own compartment. She waved at Evergreen taking a seat across from her next to Laxus. She was grateful to them for helping her out of that, but she didn't want them to feel obligated to let her tag along. She told them so, but Evergreen waved her aside, "Nonsense! It's not a problem at all."

"Few more hands to take down a pack of beasties can't hurt," Bixlow shrugs. 'Can't hurt,' 'Can't hurt,' 'Can't hurt,' his totems chirp.

"Not that the great Laxus needs any help," Freed interjects, but quickly adds, "But, we would be happy to have you along. Besides, I'd be happy to help you research in Crocus!"

"Plus, we could go shopping too!" Ever adds getting excited.

"Well, as long as you don't mind. I'll try to stay out of the way," she peaks over at Laxus who had slid his sound pods on the moment the train had started moving. He looked slightly paler with his face pressed against the window. Lucy couldn't help it she started snickering.

Laxus opened one eye at her, "Problem?" He meant it to come out more demanding, but it really just sounded like a wheeze.

"Oh nothing… Just funny that you get motion sick too. Not as bad as Natsu, but still," she shrugged chuckling to herself taking out a book. He went to roll his eyes at her, but that made the whole thing worse. She stopped laughing, "Here." She patted her lap, and he eyed her skeptically. "What? Natsu says it makes him feel better?" At this point, they were all looking at her weird.

He was about to tell her off when the train lurched, and he almost lost it. Before he could protest, Lucy had taken his head and laid him down. She rested one arm on his side as she opened her book, and the other started running through his hair. He kept his eyes shut to ignore the shocked expressions of his teammates. He hated to admit it, but this was way better. He hardly felt sick at all, and her hand in his hair felt great.

Bixlow was the first to recover tongue lolling out in a snicker, Evergreen was eyeing both Lucy and Laxus with a curious gaze, and Freed looked affronted that anyone would touch Laxus like that. "Just what kinda relationship do you have with Natsu?" Evergreen finally asked.

"Hmm?" Lucy asked looking from her book.

"It's just your always together," Evergreen started.

"And ya sleep together," Bix added.

"So, we all just assume that you're together, together." Evergreen finished.

"Yeah, everyone thinks that, but no. And the sleeping together is him breaking in my window and taking over the whole bed." She gives a forceful glance to Bixlow so he understands. She then adds, "Maybe, we could be if he wasn't so…" Lucy looked at a loss for words.

"Infuriating?" Evergreen tried. Lucy gave a half committal gesture.

"Blind?" Bixlow tried with a snicker which was echoed by his totems.

"Unperceptive?" Freed tried unable to resist the allure of a word game.

"All three really. I mean he's my best friend, and I used to think there could be something more. But, lately I don't know. He's just been so reckless. Plus, I don't really think about dating much. I've been preoccupied," Lucy said.

"C'mon. Every girl thinks about dating," Evergreen said giving her a knowing look.

Lucy snorts, "Fine, but if you find a guy that could handle my crazy team let me know. Until then," she shrugs it off.

"Does your current preoccupation have to do with your trip to Crocus?" Freed asked.

Lucy tensed. Freed was observant, and it's not that she was hiding what she was doing, but she'd really rather not go into it. She'd probably turn into a blubbering mess. "Just something a past client had mentioned to me. I was curious about its application to celestial magic," Lucy said. Not a lie, but not the complete truth either. She was just glad Laxus was covering up her hip to keep them from seeing her keys even now her hand was itching to rub across them.

Freed nodded seeming to accept that as an answer. Evergreen shrugged and went back to her magazine to figure out where the best deals in Crocus were. Bixlow however continued to watch her long after she went back to reading. Her soul seemed the same as ever, a large golden orb. There were fissures in it, but so few people lived life without something happening. There were two that were deeper than the rest. The first he assumed was due to the death of her father. There were cracks growing out of it like tree branches which he also assumed were due to their tenuous relationship. The other large fissure left him stumped. He knew Acnologia and Tartarous had left scars on all of them, but no one's went quite as deep as this. It made him curious as to what happened in the guilds year absence to let the fissure become so deep. He might have to try and snoop around a bit more to figure out what caused it. It was dangerous to let cracks fester because they could start to blossom like a pestilence, and while the one pertaining to her father was sealed in a way it wouldn't cause any more harm, the other was untouched.

The other thing that always intrigued him about her soul was that her celestial spirits were also represented. He could see smaller golden and silver orbs orbiting around her soul. Again, he was brought up short. One orb was hallowing. It had a golden outer coating, but there was nothing inside of it, like the orb itself was fading away. This confused him. Perhaps Lucy had given away one of her spirits? He couldn't imagine she'd do that she always spoke about how precious they were to her. It was something he respected about her because he felt the same way about the spirits in his totems. They had even discussed in the past the similarities between their magics. His magic didn't seem to freak her out like it did others. Instead, she was curious to see if she could apply principles of his magic to her own. Nothing ever became of it, but it was nice to discuss his magic with others as he had not come across any other seith mages.

A while later, Lucy shook Laxus awake as they arrived in Crocus. He looked slightly embarrassed as his team smirked at him, but he just grumbled about stupid fairies and lead the way off the train. They strolled through the town which seemed to change every time Lucy came. The shops were ever changing with new boutiques popping up that Evergreen would rattle on about. Bixlow chatted with Laxus about the various girls that strolled by, and Freed stayed ever vigilant ready to guard Laxus from who knows what.

Laxus had them headed towards the client's house when a voice called out to them, "Well, well, well, it seems we've found some fairies a long way from home."

The group turned to find the twin dragon slayers of Sabertooth smirking at them.