"Natsu I swear to the heavens if you ruin this job for us," Lucy growled, waving a finger in the destructive drakons face threateningly. Natsu just rolled his eyes.

"When have I ever ruined a job?" He asked. Gray burst into laughter, and even Erza smiled.

"Let's see, the last time, you blew up the city hall of that tiny village, and there was the time that you burned down an entire forest, or the time that you accidentally set fire to a neighborhood, and the time you burned all of those nice people's crops," Lucy said, counting each incident on her hand.

"Okay, okay, I get it. I can be a little destructive sometimes, but it ain't my fault everything gets in the way of my attacks," he exclaimed. Now Lucy was the one to roll her eyes.

"Natsu, I really need this money for rent, so you are absolutely not allowed to destroy anything and make us have to pay for it with the reward, okay?" She placed her hands on her hips and tried her best to look stern and serious.

"Fine, fine, I'll try my best," He said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Lucy, you look constipated," Happy trilled, floating above them with a devious smile. Shrieking in anger, the blonde threw her shoe at the pesky Exceed, scowling when Happy just flew a little higher and easily avoided her 'attack.'

"There, was that really so hard?" Lucy grumbled, quickly putting her shoe back on her foot. Together, the group of Fairy Tail mages walked the streets of the small village, keeping an eye out for the band of thieves that had terrorized the citizens for a few weeks already. Their job was simple: catch the bandits and bring them to justice.

"Team Natsu, to the rescue!" Natsu yelled, pumping his fist in the air and cheering.

"We are not called Team Natsu, asshole," Gray barked, starting another argument into what their team should be called, neither of the boys coming up with any good suggestions.

After Lucy returned from her family home, three weeks ago, she had been going out on jobs almost non-stop to save up money for her overpriced rent, which was due in two days. She was still short a couple thousand Jewel, and this job was her last hope to keep her wonderful apartment and to not be thrown out on the streets, again.

Erza was the one to suggest that she, Gray, Happy and Natsu should all form a team so they could go out on tougher jobs with a larger reward. At first, Lucy felt a bit out of place, surrounded by such strong fighters, but they all insisted she was a vital part of the team. Even Happy stopped teasing her for a moment to compliment her growing strength.

"What have I said about fighting?" Erza growled. Natsu and Gray immediately hopped apart and smiled brightly at the Valkyrie.

"Us? Fight?" Natsu said, a fake and way too enthusiastic smile decorating his features.

"Never!" Gray responded. Lucy shook her head and laughed under her breath at their eccentric behavior.

"Do you guys think we should split up?" She asked. They had Happy patrolling the skies, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

"I think it's a good idea, and if we encounter the thieves, just send a flare of magic into the sky," Erza ordered before stalking off to the eastern border of the village. Gray waved as he walked off to the northern path, leaving Natsu and Lucy standing in the center of the village.

"Which way do you want to go?" Lucy asked. Natsu pouted, and whined, "but I wanna go with you."

Over the past few weeks, after Leo's story about the evil dark wizard who'd stolen a portion of her mother's starlight, Natsu- and even the rest of the guild- decided she should never be alone, or too far away from help at any given time. Since she'd been travelling across Fiore for jobs, there hadn't been any issues but Natsu always stayed close to her side.

"Natsu, I won't be alone. I'll summon Virgo," Lucy said, pulling out the spirit's key and calling her forth with a flash of light.

"You called, Princess," Virgo said with a low bow. Grimacing, Lucy once again reminded her spirit to just call her by her name.

"I am sorry, would you like to punish me?" Virgo said, a dangerous glint in her dark eyes. Natsu chuckled, and Lucy kicked at his ankles. Virgo was a unique character. She wore a simple maid's uniform and had chains dangling from her wrists. She was also Natsu's favorite of Lucy's spirits due to their shared hair color and her quirky personality.

"I'm going to go patrol the west, you go south. Okay?" She patted his arm in comfort and pushed him to the southern road.

"Fine, but if you find them you better signal," Natsu grumbled. Lucy just rolled her eyes and walked with Virgo over to the road leading to the western corner of the village.

"He's such a worrywart, I think he'll have an aneurysm one of these days," She mumbled.

"Is the fire dragon worried about Zeref coming and stealing your starlight?" Virgo asked bluntly. Lucy stumbled over the cobblestone roadway.

"I guess, I mean we haven't seen any signs that Zeref is coming after me yet, plus I can take care of myself now. Erza's teaching me how to swordfight," She said proudly. Virgo nodded, taking a moment to compliment Lucy's newfound ability.

"Nevertheless, we believe the dark wizard will come after you, especially since he failed to drain your mother of all her starlight," Virgo said simply. Lucy groaned, and wished for the billionth time that her life wasn't so complicated.

When she returned to Fairy Tail after journeying to her family home, she sat down with Makarov, Levy, and Team Natsu to share what she had learned. She shared her family's history, about how her fae blood was thinned from years of mixing with humans, and how she was a literal star made flesh. Leo filled in the gaps of her story, telling them about how long ago, before Layla had even met Jude, a black wizard known as Zeref hunted her down to try and steal her starlight. Apparently, this wizard was under a curse, and the only way to cure it was by using the pure magic energy of starlight.

"So, this Zeref character is going to come after me and try to kill me and literally take my soul?" Lucy asked with disbelief. Leo nodded, turning Makarov's face grim.

"I have heard of this wizard. He is known for his evil and demonic creations, and responsible for many terrible tragedies," Makarov said.

"A Starchild's magic is incredibly rare, and one of the most powerful types of magic in the universe. Technically, Starchildren are from the same realm as me, the Celestial Spirit world, and because they are a blend of heaven and earth, they are incredibly valuable," Leo said, giving Lucy a sympathetic smile.

"When your aura gets out of control, you risk burning away your body and turning back into pure starlight, which is why we need to work on your training and on finding the other keys," Leo continued. Lucy sighed, rubbing her temple as a headache started to develop behind her eyes.

"So, you're telling me that not only will I be hunted down for basically my entire life, but that if I lose my temper I might end up dying?" She asked. Leo nodded.

"We won't let anyone harm you, Lucy," Erza said firmly. Levy nodded in agreement, and Natsu scooted closer to her, lending his warmth in comfort.

"Don't worry, I'll research the Star-children and find out more," Levy said, her mind already whirring in thought.

"Exactly, we protect our own," Gray said. Lucy smiled at her friends in thanks.

"Miss Lucy?" Virgo called, pulling the blonde from her reverie. Lucy shook her head and winced. She couldn't believe she let herself get so distracted while on the job.

"Sorry Virgo, just got lost in thought," She said. The spirit nodded in understanding.

Lucy chatted idly with her friend as they walked through the quiet and empty streets, the villagers having to stay in their homes past dark due to the threat the bandits brought to their small town. The mayor hadn't given them a lot to go on to find the violent thieves, but Lucy knew her team would easily overpower a small group of thugs robbing a small, defenseless town.

She twirled her keychain on her finger, trying not to be bored as she patrolled the empty streets. Suddenly, a burst of ice exploded in the sky near the northern forest bordering the village.

"Virgo, that's Gray's signal, quickly travel over there and help him please," She said, pausing for a moment to summon her short sword. The spirit nodded, then twirled and drilled deep into the ground, disappearing beneath the earth.

Lucy took off running over to the ice burst, her shining sword shining in the dark streets with golden light. By the time she reached the edge of the village, Natsu and Erza had already arrived and were locked in combat with the thieves.

Lucy spotted Virgo fighting two of the bandits, and she rushed over to help her spirit. She spun her blade and slashed at the legs of the bandit right behind her spirit, sending the man crumpling to his knees, then she leapt over his body and kicked his head. Before the thief had a minute to recover from her speedy attacks, she twirled again and lunged, piercing his shoulder with her blade, she sent a wave of magic pulsing through her sword, heating the blade and automatically cauterizing the wound, searing his flesh.

Screaming, the man clutched at his shoulder and fell on his side. Satisfied, Lucy turned to help Virgo but saw that her spirit had already trapped the unconscious man in a small hole in the ground, leaving only his head and shoulders above ground.

"Great job Virgo," She said with a smile, letting her golden sword dissolve away. Lucy felt a wave of heat wash over her and turned to see Natsu roaring a brilliant blaze of flames right at one of the thieves, successfully knocking the man out. Erza was already tying up three of the attackers with some thick rope, each unconscious and covered in bruises and cuts.

Gray was still fighting his opponent, but soon froze his feet and sent the bandit tumbling, allowing Gray to knock him out with one of his ice lances. Happy appeared in the sky above them, cheering.

"Good job everyone," Erza said, looking over their captives with a prideful smile.

"We didn't even cause any damage to the town!" Lucy exclaimed with a happy clap of her hands.

"I told you I don't destroy something on each job." Natsu smirked. The moment the words passed his lips, a scorched tree crumpled to ash and fell. The five of them stared in surprise at the fallen tree, then everyone but Natsu burst into hysterical laughter.

-ooooo-

"I did it, I paid my rent," Lucy grumbled, dropping her head against the bar top with a groan. She was back to having almost no money, and she already was behind on saving for next month's rent. Dropping out of college and quitting her job had created a huge dent in her savings, plus she didn't go out on any jobs when she was still recuperating.

"Mira, I'm broke," She wailed. The barmaid just smiled sympathetically and dropped a plate with some chicken fingers in front of the dejected blonde.

"You are an angel from heaven, I should know I'm a star," She joked, gratefully munching on her lunch. Mira laughed as she walked away to help the tables out through the tavern.

"Cheer up, Lucy, at least now we know what kind of magic you have," Levy said, rubbing her friend's back. The demi-fae snagged a few fries from Lucy's plate, and received a deadly glare in response.

"I guess," She grumbled, pulling her plate closer to her body and away from the fry-stealing fae beside her. It was true that Erza's sword fighting lessons had helped her immensely, and now that she knew what her sword was made of, starlight, she was getting better at regulating its presence. She could even modulate the heat and the light the sword emitted to a small degree. Plus, Leo and Sagittarius were helping her develop her Celestial Spirit skills. She could now keep one golden gate open for almost ten hours, and around half that time if she was fighting. She was starting to attempt a dual summons, but could only manage the strain for a few minutes before she passed out.

"I still can't believe that two month's ago I thought the world was normal and that I was just a simple college student, trying to work my way through school," Lucy muttered.

"Isn't this life a lot more fun though?" Levy teased. Lucy agreed, smiling over at her friend. She was intrigued by a skill Leo told her about, the ability to adopt her spirit's powers and temporarily use their magic.

"We still need to find the other keys my mother scattered across Fiore," Lucy said.

"About that, I think I may have an idea of where to find one," Levy said, pulling out a booklet from her pocket. "I've been sending out feelers ever since you told me about how your mother scattered the celestial spirits, mostly contacting friends in the magical objects and antiquities field, and I got a hit in a small town near Hargeon about a potential golden key."

"Levy that's amazing!" Lucy exclaimed, jumping up from her seat in excitement. Levy shared in the blonde's glee. Lucy felt a new burst of energy fill her and she excitedly started to babble about which spirit it could be based on what her new spirits shared with her about the others.

"So, Virgo was telling me about Capricorn, and apparently he used to train my mother so I'm hoping if he wants to make a contract with me that he'll accept me as his student. Oh! Or maybe it's Taurus, the bull. Leo says he has a giant axe and is super strong," she continued to ramble, her excitement increasing with every word. Her spirits were a key to her mother, and they all shared memories of Layla from before Lucy was born. She was desperate to find out any information on how Zeref stole her mother's starlight, and hoped Layla's former spirits would have some answers.

"Umm, Lucy," Levy said, trying to stop the blonde in her rant, only to be brushed aside as Lucy continued to ramble on and on about her fuzzy memories with the spirits. Levy poked at Lucy's skin, which had started to glow in response to her emotions. Even with Levy helping train Lucy on controlling her aura, the Starchild was terrible at it.

Lucy's hair started to radiate light, and golden flakes of light shone on her skin. The blonde was oblivious to her magical mishap, as usual.

"Oi! Luce, you're a glowstick again!" Natsu called from the entrance to the guild. The moment he walked through the door he could see Lucy shining like a lightbulb. Lucy turned to look at Natsu, then furrowed her brow in confusion and looked down at her shimmering skin.

"Oh, not again!" She cursed, taking a few deep breaths and calming her mind, the starlight dimming with each breath until it had disappeared entirely. Huffing, the blonde smiled apologetically at Levy and returned to her seat.

"Sorry about that, why didn't you tell me I'd turned into a firefly again?" She asked. Levy just laughed nervously and shrugged. The pattern of Natsu being the only one to help Lucy keep from bursting into supernova had continued.

"Luce, d'you wanna go on a job with me and Happy?" Natsu asked as he sat on the stool next to the blonde, an excited purr rumbling from his chest when he saw the chicken fingers on the counter. He snagged a chicken tender and eagerly ate the fried chicken.

"Hmm, I don't know, Levy was telling me that she might have a lead on a potential golden gate key," Lucy said, grabbing a few fries from her plate. Levy watched in slight annoyance as Lucy let Natsu freely eat from her plate when just a few minutes before the blonde almost ripped her hand off over a few fries.

"You two are practically a couple," Levy grumbled under her breath.

"Did you say something Levy?" Lucy asked. Levy stammered for a moment before saying, "Um, I said that, uh, I think you two should go. Get the key."

"That might be a good idea," Lucy mused, turning to Natsu, who was munching on another chicken tender.

"Would you want to go?" She asked, affection in her eyes as she watched Natsu try to blow a few stray strands of his pink locks from his face.

"I guess," He answered with a shrug, grabbing another handful of fries from Lucy's plate.

"Great! We can go tomorrow," Lucy said cheerfully.

-ooooo-

"Somehow, I always forget about your terrible motion sickness," Lucy says with a laugh, watching Natsu squirm in his seat with a green-tinged face. His hair stuck to his sweaty forehead and he generally looked completely miserable.

"Bleahg," He grumbled, leaning over to rest his head against her shoulder. Deciding to take pity on the drakon, since he agreed to accompany her to a small town on the outskirts of Hargeon in search for another golden key. She was a bit worried about returning to Hargeon with the possibility of accidentally running into someone from her past. It was hard enough to leave without arousing suspicion, especially because of her changed appearance.

"Luce, I'm gonna die, why couldn't we have walked?" Natsu asked, rubbing his forehead against her shoulder and groaning in discomfort.

"Well, Hargeon is over two days walk away, and only a few hours away by train. If it makes you feel any better, we'll be walking to Basta, which is pretty close to Hargeon," she responded, sympathetically patting his head. Luckily Happy decided to stay in Fairy Tail for their little field trip. Happy said he didn't want Natsu to puke on him, plus he needed to catch a fish for Charle, and didn't have the time to go looking for a "stupid key."

"Just try to breathe, we'll be there before you know it," she murmured, continuing to stroke Natsu's soft hair. The fact that one of the strongest fighters she knew could be taken down by a little machinery would always be a source of endless amusement for her.

Lucy occupied her mind during the trip by reading up on a few ancient scrolls about Celestial magic on her phone, scanned into digital format courtesy of Levy. So far, none of the texts had anything more than surface-level information about celestial magic, let alone any clues about Starchildren.

She tried her best to ignore Natsu's gagging and groans of pain during the train ride, and was almost as relieved as him when the train finally reached Hargeon station after four hours of pain and suffering. Before Lucy even had a chance to sit up and grab her bag, Natsu shot out of their train compartment and disappeared in the crowded station.

"Natsu!" Lucy called, cursing and running after him. She pushed through the crowd trying to enter the train, keeping her eyes peeled for a flash of pink floating above the crowd. Scowling, she hopped onto one of the benches spread throughout the station to get a better vantage point for her search.

"I swear to the gods, I'm gonna kill him," she muttered under her breath when her search turned up nothing. She pulled out her phone to call him, only to groan in frustration when she realized that Natsu didn't even own any kind of technology.

"Mental note: buy Natsu a phone," Lucy mumbled. Annoyance bubbled in her chest and she huffed an angry breath, cursing when she saw her fingertips start to glow. She dropped into a seated position on the bench and shoved her hands under her thighs, hoping no one saw her brief outburst. She spent the next few minutes fuming, thinking of how she could torture Natsu for abandoning her in the train station, which did nothing to help her firefly-esque fingers.

She wished she could summon Virgo, knowing the spirit would instantly be able to find her lost companion via a pink-haired shared consciousness. When her hands returned to normal, Lucy stood and decided to just leave the station and hope she ran into Natsu on the street. Maybe he'd already gotten into mischief, and if that was the case, she only had to follow the screams and explosions.

Unfortunately, the streets of Hargeon were relatively quiet and calm with no sign of magical mayhem to be found. She muttered curses under her breath as she began to walk in the direction of Basta. If there was a golden key there, this whole trip would be worth it. She jingled her keychain idly as she walked, wishing she could summon one of her friends without arousing suspicion. Hargeon was a decently sized city, which meant there was a strict no-magic policy in place, and summoning a giant crab man in a shower of golden sparks and bells would definitely draw attention.

Sighing, Lucy resigned herself to her lonely walk through the center of town, wishing Natsu was still alive somewhere and not dead in a ditch. He was not allowed to die until she got her hands on him for ditching her. He most likely had stopped for food somewhere near the station, but there were too many restaurants and little carts and shops and Lucy did not feel like searching for him.

She decided to keep on her path towards Basta and her golden key and to let Natsu fend for himself in Hargeon. He'd managed to survive before he met her, and we would be perfectly fine now. Humming quietly to herself, she walked through the familiar streets of her previous home, feeling a wash of nostalgia as she passed by the familiar buildings and stores. She lived in Hargeon the longest of all her temporary homes after leaving her father, and was quite fond of the city. It wasn't too quiet, but not as loud and busy as Crocus, perfect for a runaway college student.

Soon she made it to the quiet outskirts of the city, with still no clue as to where her partner had disappeared to. She quickly pulled out her phone to text Levy of her arrival in Hargeon, and to briefly complain about Natsu's rudeness. The demi-fae would not receive the messages unless she was outside of the guild, but Lucy figured she should keep someone updated with her whereabouts, considering the frequent recent kidnappings.

Resigning herself to having to walk all the way to Basta on her own, Lucy began her trek to the village. The sun was still in the sky, and she hoped that with a fast pace and no breaks, she would make it to the town just after sunset. She double checked the navigation app on her phone, and continued down the country road that led to Basta.

Right as she was leaving Hargeon city limits, she heard a voice calling after her. Turning, she scowled when she saw Natsu running towards her in the distance. With a dramatic huff and muttered curse, that she was certain he could hear, she turned on her heel and continued walking down the road.

"Lucy, wait up," Natsu yelled. She ignored him. He caught up to her a few moments later.

"Wow, there sure is some great food here," Natsu said, rubbing his stomach with a sleepy grin. Lucy's scowl deepened, and she remained silent.

"Oh, where'd you disappear off to? I swear you were right behind me, but then I turned around and poof," he waved his hands outwards to emphasize the "poof" and continued, "- you were gone."

"I'm not the one who went running off!" Lucy exclaimed, glaring at him before turning her gaze back to the distant horizon and swearing to keep ignoring him for the rest of their journey.

"Eh, what're you talkin about?" He drawled. She just rolled her eyes, and kept her silence. Sighing, Natsu decided to share his culinary adventures with her, hoping his hilarious reenactments would illicit a response from the angry blonde. Unfortunately for him, Lucy was one of, if not the most, stubborn person he knew and she refused to crack.

"Aw, come on, that was funny!" He said, trying to reign in his own laughter. Lucy didn't even raise a brow. Groaning, the drakon grabbed her arm to stop her from walking and pulled her in close. Before she had a chance to pull her arm from his grip or slap him away, he said, "Look, I'm sorry for ditchin you at the station. I just got so hungry and forgot to make sure you were still with me."

Lucy's gaze softened, and she pursed her lips in thought. She narrowed her eyes, and looked deep into Natsu's dark green eyes.

"Oi, Lucy, why do you look constipated?" Natsu asked, breaking her concentration. Shrieking, she pulled her arm from his grip and kicked him hard enough to send him sliding a few feet away.

"I am not constipated! I'm trying to decide if I should forgive you, jerk," She said with a stomp of her foot. Smiling, Natsu just walked back over to her side and slung an arm over her shoulder.

"If I promise to buy dinner and pay for the hotel room, will you forgive me?" He asked, mirth glittering in his dark gaze.

"Fine, but don't skimp out on me. I want a fancy dinner with an actual waiter," she said, leaning into his arm and wrapping her arm around his waist. Natsu hummed in agreement. Lucy sighed in contentment, and together the two continued walking to Basta, where another friend of her mothers and potential ally awaited.

-ooooo-

So here's another update, and so fast...

As always, please leave a review I only gave this a quick read-through before posting so please forgive any mistakes.

Fun fact: this was only supposed to be one chapter, but it was approaching the double digits (10k+words) so now it's two chapters. I hope to update again in a week, but I do have an ochem midterm in like 6 days

I'm so tired rn yall but I hope y'all enjoyed and let me know what ya think!