CHAPTER SEVEN

THE FIRST KEY

Lucy spent most of the night and early morning reading through her books at the fastest speed humanly possible. It was rather time consuming, and she was beginning to regret leaving Magnolia in such a haste without packing a few more items. It took far longer than she had hoped to get through the first chapter of her Rune book, and even longer for her to begin practicing the magic enough to see results.

"Man I wish I brought my speed reading glasses. That would have made this so much easier," She grumbled under her breath as she slowly trudged through the second chapter, which provided just as much pointless information as the first one about opening your mind and letting the magic flow through your body like a conduit of energy like every other beginner wizard was taught.

She guessed that's what she got for trying to learn an entirely new magic from scratch on her own.

"Yeah reading glasses would probably make this a lot easier, huh?" Loke passed by her with an arm full of lumber he collected, preparing to throw them into their small fire, "Maybe we could stop by the magic shop again and buy a pair?"

Lucy hummed her acknowledgement as she attempted to digest the information that she was only giving half of her attention to, "Depends on how expensive they are. Can't waste all our money on convenience when we don't know how soon we'll get more."

Loke inwardly sighed at her comment, but tried his best to not let it show in his features. He had been holding on to the hope that her talk with Aquarius might make her start thinking about returning to Fairy Tail, but she seemed just as stubbornly against the idea as she was before. He couldn't exactly blame her for her fear, given the situation, her trauma is perfectly justified. This is why he refused to be angry with her for wanting to leave, and chose to support her decisions regardless of how much he wished he could heal her wounded heart.

But he couldn't help but wonder if leaving is what was best for her. Would being alone heal her pain? He didn't think so. Fairy Tail had always been a guild surrounded by the ideals of family and communion. What Lucy really needed was support, reassurance, and a hell of an apology from Gray, and none of that would come from her being isolated in the middle of the forest.

She needed Natsu, but she refused to make that happen.

She was scared. Of facing him or anyone is Fairy Tail because she felt weak. She thinks she let them down, hurt them beyond forgiveness. But she was so very wrong, and nothing he said would change her mind. He thinks the only person who could is the one person she's scared of seeing the most.

Natsu.

He's the one she almost ruined, almost killed. She thinks she almost ripped him away from Fairy Tail with her own failure. Seeing the dragon slayer could fix the guilt she had been dragging around after seeing him alive and well. He could tell her she was perfect the way she was, convince her to come home so she can heal properly with her family there to guide her. Or, she could relapse further into her mind and refuse him. Truthfully, Natsu could be either the one to save her or the one to break her. And Loke wasn't prepared for that reality.

"Why don't we check it out around lunch time," Loke offered as he sat down in front of fire and watched her flip through another page, "If they're cheaper we can grab some and maybe find out where you wanna go next."

Lucy nodded, trying to reread the sentence she had been stuck trying to process in her mind for that past five minutes but eventually giving up. She dropped the book by her side with a groan and rubbed her palms over her eyelids. The book was giving her a headache at this point. Nothing made sense. She had spent too long trying to read it last night and this morning that she couldn't take anymore information in. Reading glasses would really make this easier.

"Yeah let's do that," She dropped her hands to her sides, rubbing her dirty fingers through the soft dirt below her, "I wanna find a place to train while we're there."

"What do you mean?" Loke scrunched his eyebrows in concern, he wasn't sure if she was ready to start training again just yet. She only just got her magic back in her control, "Shouldn't you wait a bit? You haven't given yourself much time to recover."

Physically or emotionally, he added in his head.

"I don't want to waste any time," She didn't look up from the ground as she spoke, too mesmerized with the twirling dirt below her, "I left for a reason and so far I haven't done any training."

There wasn't much Loke could do to argue with her, especially since she does have the power to close his gate now. He knows she wouldn't want to be alone, something that also weighs on his conscience as a warning sign of Lucy being far from okay, but that won't stop her from forcing him out and summoning someone else in his place.

"Okay, let we find a place to train."

"Great," She responded, with a slight twitch in the corner of her mouth.

Though he may not be overly excited that she was going to be pushing herself so soon, it was relieving to see her so calm. She was a far cry from the girl she was a month ago, but it was a start.

"I want to clean myself off in the lake before we leave," She said, her hands covered in the moist soil as she raised them to eye level, "Then we can leave."

Loke agreed, pulling himself to a stand while Lucy made her way towards the lake covered by forest brush. He began packing up the camp they had set up for themselves, making extra care of Lucy's new books. The tent was a hassle to put away with each corner popping back out when he tried to close it, and one of them definitely didn't hit him in the face.

By the time Lucy returned, Loke had everything neatly placed where it belonged. He gave her a once over, noticing she was wearing a dark black shirt this time instead of the purple one she had been sporting since they left. Though the most noticeable change were the dirtied bandages she had dangling from her fingers. The same bandages that were covering her now exposed guild mark.

He didn't point any attention to it, afraid that saying anything might influence whatever Lucy might do. He hoped she would leave it uncovered, accept her ties to Fairy Tail without guilt or anguish and present herself as a proud Fairy Tail wizard like she once did. He could hope and plead and beg the universe, but he already knew the truth. That she would wrap a new set of bandages around the pink insignia and continue to pretend that part of her life didn't exist. She would cut off her past and move on if it meant cutting off the pain. At least until she felt ready to face it.

He was just afraid she would never feel ready.

"You should bathe too," She said as she pulled out the first aid kit to retrieve the new bandages Loke was already expecting, "Do you need a change of clothes too?"

"Nah," He shook his head, "I've only had these for a day and I have one more shirt I bought for when I need to change."

"Okay," She wrapped the first line of white over her palm, "When you're done we can leave."

Loke finished his wash up fast, arriving back just as Lucy was putting away the medical supplies. The brunette took the backpack with her books and various food, while Loke carried the tent and sleeping bags in his back. The town wasn't too far away, only a twenty minutes walk, and they found themselves in the town square rather fast.

Lucy led the way to the magic shop she visited the day before, offering the old man a kind side smile when the bell chimed their entry. There were a few customers already walking the isles, chatting loudly about the various magical items for sale. Two girls in the corner near the silver celestial keys and a group of boys laughing at a Take- Over Magic book. An older couple examining old magic trinkets, both blessed and cursed. A little girl dragging her older brother to the children's magic books with a blinding grin.

It was lively, and surprisingly filled Lucy with fondness. She was happy that youth and older generations alike can enjoy magic as mundane or necessary it may be at times. Her keys have given her the best moments of her life and some of the most caring friends she built relationships.

Even if those relationships might be broken and mourning now.

Loke left to look around the shop in curiosity. Practicing magic wasn't something he could do, or at least he didn't think he could. He hadn't tried before but figured any other foreign magic would be rejected by his own. He was a spirit, his entire existence was magic. People won, traded, bought and sold his key as well as the rest of the zodiac. He was a highly sought after magic weapon and most of his life was dedicated to protecting his master with the magic he had held his entire life.

Regulus was a power entirely his. There was only one Leo The Lion, but there were plenty of elemental wizards. No one could copy him as much as they might try, and so he didn't feel a need to expand his magic knowledge. He was only ever as strong as his master was, and that disbanded any need to grow stronger on his own.

But looking around couldn't hurt.

He was nose deep in a spell history book when Lucy rounded the corner into his aisle carrying a pair of reading glasses. He closed the book when she approached him, giving her a nod of approval, "Hey, you found some!"

"Yeah, they were pretty cheap too," She said softly, and Loke would point out how calm and relaxed she seemed at the moment if he wasn't sure if would cause her to raise her guard again.

He would ride this wave of sudden contempt as long as he could.

He trailed behind her, giving the rest of the shop a cautious glance. Nobody paid much mind to them now that Loke was dressed more appropriately, and it seemed Lucy was beginning to get less scared of being recognized now that she had traveled the town without disruption the night before.

The shop owner was kind when Lucy returned to the shop so soon, giving her a gentle welcome, "Oh my, I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon!"

Lucy gave him a smile that felt strange to her. It had only been around a week but her facial muscles were already refusing the strain it took to smile. She kept it in place however, challenging her own body to defy her desire to show a bit of her happier side, "Yup, I was in need of some reading glasses."

"Ah yes," The man cheered, picking up the case and tilting the frames so the light would glint on the glass, "Those books do take some time to get through. And these are a great choice Miss!"

She had picked a pale pink color, which contrasted with her current getup, but she didn't intend to use these unless it was out of sight. It was just a piece of her personality she was desperate to hold on to. She missed the delicate side of femininity that she so often exhibited. She missed her blonde hair, her pink shirts, and her girly skirts. She missed the insignia plastered on her hand and even all of her family back at home.

But she couldn't have all of that, didn't deserve all of that. This was all she could have right now, and she would be happy with it.

"Alrighty, then your total is 10 jewel."

She nodded, pulling out her bag of jewel she'd brought along with her and counting out the correct total. Once her palm was full of change, she passed it along to the shop employee.

"Thank you Miss. I'll grab a bag for you," He turned to search the counter for a go bag but Lucy was quick to dismiss that idea.

"Oh it's okay. I won't be needing it," She grabbed the glasses off the counter and secured them in her own bag, "But if you don't mind, do you think you could point me in the direction of a good place to train around here?"

"Train?" The old man rubbed his temple in thought, uttering a few hums in the process. He turned to look out the window, eyes scrunched as he gestured towards a few buildings, "There's a magic gym not too far away. We have a few of those scattered around the city actually. Other than that there's a mountain not too far from here that some wizards like to go hunting at. It's filled with monsters."

The brunette perked up at that, "Oh? Where's that?"

"Ah Mount Dormala," He answered with a hum, turning to face the two wizards with a grim expression, "It's on the other side of town. But you have to be a part of a guild to be let in."

"Part of a guild?" Loke stepped in, "Why?"

The magic gyms were out of the question, Loke had known the moment the suggestion was made. Lucy wouldn't willingly put herself in the public eye, and that's exactly what would happen if she shows up at a public training facility using zodiac keys that everyone in Crocus knows belong to Lucy Heartfilia, a currently missing Fairy Tail wizard according to the rest of Fiore. And if it wasn't the gyms, she was going to head to the mountain. But if they had to be part of a guild to be let in that would require Lucy to reveal her affiliation with Fairy Tail, another thing she had been adamantly against from the start. She had grown to become more frightened by the guild symbol than she had of Jonathan Barsoni. His eyes traveled to the bandaged hand that was curled into itself. Her fingers were tapping against each other anxiously, no doubt she was thinking the same thing he was.

"Well the monsters," The shopkeeper's voice turned quieter, almost in fear, "They're very dangerous. The king doesn't like inexperienced wizard's biting off more than they can chew by entering the forest unprepared. If you're a part of a magic guild, there's a better chance you know what you're doing."

"That makes sense," Loke placed a calming hand on Lucy's shoulder, "Thank you for the information Sir."

"It's no problem young man," The old man chuckled. His gaze lingered on them for a moment before shifting onto the little girl skipping her way over to the counter, "Well I hope you two stay safe! Come back again sometime yeah?"

"So," Loke gave a breathy exhale, sticking his hands into the hoodie's pocket as he walked side by side with the runaway wizard, "What's the plan?"

The streets were busy with people going all directions. It had no structure, and it was a hassle to make it through the confusing crowds, but Lucy had her eyes set on the large mountain in view. Her hood was pulled over her head, completely blocking the top of her face, but no one seemed to be bothered by her concerning level of anonymity.

"We're going to Mount Dormala."

Loke visibly flinched, momentarily faltering in his footsteps and bumping into a Crocus citizen who cursed him quietly. Loke muttered an apology and quickly caught back up to the girl with unshakable concern and confusion, "Uh, sorry but what? Didn't you hear that guy? You need a guild mark and last I checked, yours in MIA."

There was a grin on her face, which was coming to her a bit easier this time. It was devious, and Loke would eventually regret feeling relieved that she was showing more emotions than just soul crushing fear and sadness. In the moment, he considered it a part of the recovery process.

"Oh I'll have a guild mark," She replies with a sinister drip in her tone that had Loke feeling more like an evil sidekick than a celestial spirit.

He didn't have a chance to question her further before she was turning off the busy streets and approaching a cart selling various hobbyist items. He tried to protest but his words were pointless as the girl fluttered away to talk to the cart owner. He was thoroughly annoyed at having no say in whatever she was planning, yet he still followed the cloaked girl, as any hard-worked-runaway-wizard-harboring-celestial-spirit would. He just didn't have to hide his reluctance all the time.

Who was he kidding? He would follow her to the end of the world, not only as his duty as her spirit, but as a supportive friend and ally.

He stayed a distance behind her. He was careful not to block any oncoming traffic, and was successful in his efforts, besides the few children that kept running into his gradually bruising legs. Three of them had rammed into his knees, screamed an apology much too loud for his liking, and scattered away. He held his tongue so he didn't accidentally snap at any children in his annoyance, because that was the last thing he needed to do right now. He had assumed a game of tag might be taking place around the area considering the amount of tiny humans that weren't paying attention to their surroundings. He may be 90% legs,and children may be tiny little balls of energy, but that didn't mean they couldn't watch where they're going.

As if the world wanted to slap in the face, another child tripped straight into the back of his legs, sending his body knees first into the hard ground. The child, a small boy probably only 8 or 9, jumped up from the impact almost immediately, "Sorry Mister!"

Loke had a retort just on the tip of his tongue about being careful in crowded areas and being considerate of others, but as fast as the boy caused his knee pain, he was gone. He considered a blessing because he was about two seconds from giving that child the worst scolding of his life. The spirit groaned, children these days really needed to learn manners and think about the impact of their choices. What if he had broken his knees, or worse, his face! Actually, he takes it back. He was gonna find that kid and teach him a lesson-

"Excuse me," A soft voice spoke from above him, "Do you need help?"

The voice had him forgetting all about the revenge he was planning, captivating his attention instantly. It belonged to a pretty redhead with long flowing hair curling just above her waist. Her eyes were a glowing yellow that shined under the hard sun. She was dressed modestly, but still fashionably and Loke was really regretting switching out of his suit now.

"Well, if a pretty lady is offering, how can I refuse."

The woman giggled, extending her arm with Loke took instantly. When he stood she was short, only coming up to his shoulders which was perfect. Her fingers delicately pulled a few strands of her hair behind her ear. She couldn't make eye contact, choosing to smile to herself while observing the passing commuters.

Ah, she's a shy one.

"What's a breathtaking sight like you doing alone in the middle of the city," his voice came out low and sultry, earning a gasp from the girl.

"Oh um, just sightseeing!" She cheered, jumping slightly in excitement, "I'm not from here so I wanted to see as much as I can before going home."

"Not from here, huh?" He pinched a bit of her wavy hair between his fingers, rubbing the soft strands over his skin, "Where did you come from, beautiful?"

"Oh," Oh her laugh was mesmerising, Loke couldn't stand it, "I'm originally from Hargeon."

"Really?" He mused as he stepped closer into her personal space forcing her to raiser her head higher to see his face, "I like Hargeon. Maybe I can come visit you there some time."

"Hmm, maybe I'd like that," her innocent facade was quickly breaking as she dared to step even closer to Loke, "Except you wouldn't find me there."

"Hmm? Why's that? You wouldn't hide from me would you?" They were close, nearly nose to nose. Had it always been this easy to talk to a pretty lady?

"You'll have to travel a bit north to Magnolia if you want to find me, Sir."

At just the mention of the world Magnolia, the desire to woo this young maiden was shattered. Suddenly, she was so close that it was almost suffocating. Her glistening yellow eyes were blinding and her sweet smile was nearly carving his heart. The red hair tangled between his fingers were red as blood, coating his fingers in betrayal.

His shift in demeanor didn't go unnoticed. The mystery girl scrutinized him, growing more concerned as he stepped away from her and pulled away from her reach, "Are you okay? Was it something I said?"

"No! No," He practically shouted with a terrified look in his eye, "It wasn't you."

And it really wasn't. It was the fact that she lives in Magnolia but is currently in Crocus. It was the fear that Lucy would find out and realize she had been right about not being far away enough because people here were tied to home. It was the disgust he had with himself for immediately jumping on the chance to seduce this woman he doesn't know when Lucy's well being should be his priority. Had she been here to witness his horrific failure, he was sure she would be back at square one. All of her progress would wither away instantly and he would be left alone with a broken wizard.

He couldn't stand to watch her break down again, it hurt far too much.

The girl opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the cloaked figure intruding into their conversation. The brunette paid no attention to the girl as she walked up to Loke holding a thin metal canister and a paintbrush, "Hey I got what I needed."

The tension between Loke and Mystery Girl must have been noticeable, because Lucy gaze landed on the red head quickly. She squinted at her momentarily, as is mentally interrogating her motives, but quickly jumped back to normal. She gave the women and polite bow of her head in respect.

"Oh," the woman said as she realized Lucy was bowing to her before doing the same, "I… Um… I didn't realize you already had someone. I'll be going now."

Loke grimaced as she bowed again apologetically towards Lucy before quickly running off towards her nest destination. When she was completely out of ear shot, Loke sighed guiltily, "Well, I probably just ruined her entire day."

"Hmm," Lucy stared into the distance, watching the girl group up with five other people he must have traveled with, "Did you flirt with her?"

Loke scoffed, turning his head to hide his quickly reddening cheeks, "What do you think?" The woman was bit further now, and he caught the sound of her laughing at a boy in her group. Loke felt his heart rest a bit seeing that he hadn't hurt her too bad by his sudden rejection, but that felt into a pout shortly after, "I thought she said she was alone."

"And I thought you weren't gonna attract any attention. But look where we are," She teased lightly, turning around to continue walking towards the mountain.

The spirit felt his guilty conscience lifting by the minute at the sound of her tone easing into a playful lull. She hadn't seemed to have heard the conversation, and it wasn't that he wanted to hide anything from her, but the woman wasn't a threat to them and he didn't want to cause unnecessary stress. It seemed the further along into the day, the more Lucy was acting like herself and he would do anything to protect that. Bits and pieces of her personality are leaking out. The pink glasses, the passive aggressive comments that she means no harm by, the smile that hadn't graced her features since before the mission that caused all of this.

It likely has to do with her talk with Aquarius. He knew the spirit wanted to apologize and try to reassure the brunette as much as possible and her words may have sunk into Lucy brain a bit more than they originally thought. Or it was possibly the magic books she's taken the liberty in learning. She's started doing exactly what she's been itching to do since she broke down in her apartment. She's beginning training, and he believes it has everything to do with the idea that she thinks she can prove herself again. Not that she has to, but he can't seem to get that one through her head yet.

It's okay though, he'll be patient. He was loyal to her, and wanted to be seen as someone reliable. He would help her through the heartache every minute of every day even when she didn't want his help anymore. Though his emotions would continue to be present, both good and bad, no amount of annoying children or guilty flirty will stop him from doing his job.

He can feel himself relaxing knowing he doesn't have to hold her hand through this journey as much as he had too in the beginning. She's starting to develop a plan in her head, strategizing food, shelter, water, and supplies. She's taking care of her health to the best of her ability and hiding her identity. He hasn't had to forcefully take care of her since she got treated back in Carbume.

He considers it progress, as small as it may be. She's still terrified and hurting. She still doesn't trust Fairy Tail and guilt is still dragging her down, but she's fighting. She's not ready to lay down and give up, she wants to challenge the universe and he's proud of her for it. She's growing independent, slowly. Her slight relapse in not wanting to be left alone was still there, but so long as Loke was summoned in her general area, she felt safe. They had split up to buy things, and she abandoned him to deal with evil children, but that was better than her cowering in fear by his side.

"So what's that?" Loke asked pointing towards the metal canister.

Lucy responded by opening the lid and handing it over to the spirit, "Black body paint."

The man leaned in to sniff the thick substance but quickly recoiled in disgust as a horrid smell invaded his nostrils, "God, I forgot what paint smelled like."

"What?" Lucy exclaimed as she hastily retrieved the new purchase and recapped the contents, "How do you forget that? What do you guys even do in the spirit world all day? You guys don't have paint?"

"Nope," he answered with his hand pushed into his pant pockets, "We don't have much time to ourselves."

"Really?" Lucy wondered aloud with a puzzling look on her face.

"Yeah, you know how the time in the spirit world is different than in earth land?" Loke explained, and after Lucy nodded he continued, "Well if one day in the spirit world is 3 months in the human world, then you have to imagine how often in just one of our days we get called out to fight. And that doesn't include the silver keys that are sometimes kept out as pets in the human world so often. They're almost never in the spirit realm for longer than a few seconds as time."

It was silent for a moment, Lucy looking particularly distressed as she processed the new information. When she did eventually speak, it was timid and worried, "I'm so sorry. That must be really rough."

"Oh don't be silly Lucy," Loke laughed causing the girl to give him a huff of annoyance, "It doesn't bother us. It's what we're made for. Our whole purpose is to serve, and we love every second of it. In fact, I guarantee you that Plue probably misses you so much since you haven't summoned him in forever."

"Aw Plue," The brunette cooed, "I miss him too, maybe I should summon him tonight and remind him how much I love him."

"While you're at it, try summoning Aries and the other spirits if you can?" The lion spirit gave her a hopeful glance, "Only if you can. I mean they all miss you too and I'm sure they'd be ecstatic to see you again."

"Ah I see," She grinned, "And I'm sure this has nothing to do with you seeing Aries again?"

"What?" He sputtered, glancing side to side in search of nothing other than a distraction, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah okay," Lucy joked back. She gave him a moment of peace to reclaim his dignity. Giving his speech some thought, she figured it was a great idea to say hi to everyone. It could also help with her stamina to try summoning three of them at a time instead of two, but it mostly was for her ease and theirs. She couldn't imagine being used to seeing someone every few minutes and then all of a sudden not seeing them for a few days. It was probably incredibly disorienting,

She finally started to understand why Aquarius got so annoyed with her summoning the mermaid spirit so often.

It wasn't long before the entrance to the mountain was visible, long after the town had been in the rear view. Before the guard standing put in front of the gate noticed them, Lucy grabbed hold of Loke and hid in the tree line. They stumbled to a stop, Loke squawking at the girl in confusion, "What the hell, Lucy!"

Even with his shout whispered, Lucy violently hushed him, "For god sake Loke, call me Anna! Are you crazy?!"

"Fine!" He growled in frustration, pointing at the huffing brunette, "If you're Anna then I'm Leonardo. Leo for short."

"Are you kidding me!" Lucy snapped back, "You are LITERALLY Leo the Lion. How obvious can you be?!"

"Give me some freedom here!" He bickered back.

"Ugh, fine." She rolled her eyes at him but still showed a toothy smile. Loke retaliated by giving her an overly dramatic wink that she shooed away, "Take off your shirt."

"Wow," Loke purred with a seductive tilt to his chin, "Already trying to undress me?"

"Oh shut up you overgrown kitten," She retorted as she unscrewed the paint canister and slathered the brush in the thick black mush.

Nevertheless, Loke did as he was told. Neatly folding his shirt and sweatshirt and setting the clothing over to the side, he stood still as the cool breeze whispered across his skin. Lucy approached him with intense concentration, instructing him to lift his chin. He obeyed and only flinched lightly with the first stroke of cold paint on his warm skin. He didn't question what she was doing, enduring the process for the next three minutes quietly until the young wizard pulled back with satisfaction.

"There," She tapped the wet paint brush on the side of the can and rested it on a nearby rock, "Welcome to Cait Shelter, Leonardo."

Loke stared at her with wide eyes, letting the word sink in before he snickered, "Ah... you're smart."

Lucy fanned at Loke's newly painted skin to help the drying process move faster. Lying at the curve of his neck and ending just above his collar bone was a black Cait Shelter symbol signifying their belonging to a guild.

Meaning they will be granted access to the mountain.

"I have my moments," she muttered hesitantly, "We needed to figure out some way to be let in without flashing our real guild marks."

Loke didn't comment further, afraid he would cause her to start the downward spiral of self hatred again. It would be devastating after the great day she's had for her to retreat back into her shell, judging every choice she ever made and beating herself up for all the mistakes she can think of. He just needed to distract her from thinking about anything related to the guild or her worth as a wizard.

"So your turn?" He offered to take the brush and help draw out hers but she refused, "I'll put it on my opposite hand."

He accepted her request to do it alone and waited patiently for the girl to paint out the fake guild mark. After the necessary time passed, Lucy had adorned a new guild mark and Loke's had completely dried.

"Don't move too much," She warned as she packed back up the used paint, "It's supposed to be a magic sealant pant that will only disappear with water, but I don't trust that it won't crack eventually. At least make it last until we pass the entrance."

They reemerged from the hidden forest calmly and continued their trek towards the mountain. They kept up a friendly nonsensical conversation to fill the empty silence until they were close enough for the two guards to stand defensively at the large gate. Both of them seemed to be in their late 30's with dark hair beginning to gray. One of them held a hand out asking them to halt, "Sorry fellas, we have to check for a guild mark before you head inside."

"Oh of course," Lucy chirped as she hefted her hand forward. Loke followed her lead, lifting his chin once more to show the new guild mark.

The guard considered their marks, but when his face morphed from stoically polite to confusion Lucy felt her heart begin to race. Had he noticed the brush strokes? Had she not blended it enough? Her eyes shot to her hand, inspecting the mark for any imperfections and doing the same to Loke. It was probably the tail, she made it way to curled-

"Hey Mark," The guy in front of them called out to the other guard, interrupting Lucy's thoughts, "This mark belongs to Cait Shelter, doesn't it?"

Lucy and Loke made eye contact as Mark marched over to them. The spirit gave Lucy a reassuring nod, but she was having a hard time keeping calm. The new guard gave just as much attention to their marks as the first guy, and soon his face shifted to mirror his co-workers, "Yeah. Didn't they disband around 7 years ago?"

She hadn't considered that, and she was very quickly beginning to berate herself for not thinking this through. She could have used any other guild besides Fairy Tail, but she was afraid to claim any other guild she didn't belong too. It would be disrespectful and would probably end in a guild war if the opposing guild ended up mad enough. So she figured using Wendy's old guild was a safe bet, but obviously these guards weren't stupid enough to forget a guild that doesn't even exist anymore.

"Yup, they fell off the face of the earth," The first guard continued, "Didn't think any of you guys were left."

"Oh yeah!" Lucy forced a laugh as she pulled her hand back safely in her cloak. She probably looked pathetic in her weak attempt at stealthily sneaking into the mountain with obviously fake marks, but she wasn't going to give up yet. Maybe she could salvage this, "We were in hiding for a while! The guild's just really small now!"

Her laughing died down, and Loke gave out a weak cough before shooting Lucy a look to keep going.

"Well if you're a wizard, what kind of magic do you use?"

Lucy froze. Her mind stopped, and her fingers started quaking. A numbness started seeping up her legs and her head felt tingly. The fear was returning full force, because she was going to have to tell them. All of her work was going to go straight down the drain, after all the effort she put in to hide herself away. All over a stupid check point on the outskirts of Crocus.

"I'm uh-" She cleared her throat, fighting off the tears threatening to surface again, and then spoke in the softest voice she could muster, "I'm a Celestial Wizard."

Mark exploded into a grin almost instantly, "Oh a Celestial Wizard! Jonah, that's what your wife wanted to learn isn't it?"

Wait what?

These guys didn't seem to have put anything together as they continued to speak about their personal lives, "Yeah, Serena always wanted to learn but only just got her first key a few months ago. I don't think she knows how to open the gate though. Maybe she doesn't have as much magical energy as she thought she did."

Lucy blinked at the two who were lost in their conversation, "Um, so can we pass?"

The two stopped talking, giving them both a once-over. Jonah looked like he was about to give them authority to cross, but Mark shot an arm out to stop him. He eyed Lucy and Loke in concern, "Wait, if you're a Celestial Wizard, then you can't have the right keys to defend yourself. The most powerful keys are the Zodiac Keys and all of them have owners. Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail and Yukino Agria of Saber Tooth."

"And Lucy Heartfilia owns 10 of them," Jonah added, "Man that girl sure if something. She did awesome in the Grand Magic Games. I wish I could've met her."

No you don't. She couldn't help the onslaught of negative emotions that began coursing through her body. It was more than just self depreciation, it was anger Anger at these people for talking so fondly of her, as if she was someone worth doting over. As if she was special, strong, worthy. She hated it, despised, wanted to destroy this image they had of her here and now because she wasn't the girl they thought she was. She was a disgrace.

"Anna," Loke hissed from her side. Lucy shook her head out of her thoughts to face the worried spirit. The two guards were busy in their own conversation, not paying the new wizards much mind. Loke pointed towards her keys secured at her hip, "Call Gemini."

She physically recoiled, before harshly whispering back, "What?! Are you crazy? That'll just make me obvious!"

Loke couldn't quite keep himself from rolling his eyes at her, "They aren't the brightest, Lucy. Deception is your friend right now."

Lucy glared at him, not quite understanding why he wanted her to summon one of her zodiac spirits knowing that it would out her true identity. It wasn't until she thought it over that she realized the last person Gemini had transformed into was Asuka, someone that couldn't be recognized as a Fairy Tail Wizard by the public. If Gemini was Summoned in the form of Asuka, she could trick these guys.

The tricky part would be summoning Gemini without saying the sentence 'Open Gate of the Twins' because that would be too obvious. She hasn't tried to open a gate without specifying what she was doing, but now it wasn't an option. If she couldn't accomplish this, then she didn't belong on that mountain to begin with.

With a deep breath, she pulled the key for Gemini from her best loop. The men noticed her movement and halted their conversation that had moved on to various contestants from the Grand Magic Games. They watched curiously as Lucy outstretched her arm to point the golden key in front of her.

She put all of her focus in summoning the twins, envisioning the mantra in her head instead of speaking it. She put her soul and mind into the summoning and found it causing much more concentration than normal. Without the vocal tether, it took her entire mental capacity to summon them. But she did, and they came in the form of a tiny girl smiling up at two blinking guards.

"Hiya!" The little girl waved up at the two, and even though she knew this Asuka was actually her spirit and not Alzack and Biska's real flesh and blood daughter, she found the pang in her chest growing heavily. She hadn't realized how much she missed her.

"Aww this little girl is a spirit?" Jonah kneeled down to meet eye to eye with the girl, "Well don't you look adorable. You don't seem capable of hurting a fly."

"On the contrary," Asuka spoke, but the intense vocabulary surprised the two guards, and momentarily Lucy and Loke. She had reminded herself that it was actually Gemini talking and not a five year old girl, "I am capable of much destruction you would likely prefer to remain oblivious of."

"Well," Jonah coughed out, "That's a strange little girl you have there."

"I am not a little girl," Gemini stomped, pulling their arms to their chest to mimic a little girl pouting, "I am a deadly entity capable of mass destruction."

"Okay, okay!" Mark conceded in hopes of not riling up the little spirit, "I don't really want to see that happen. Why don't you guys just go through, yeah?"

Lucy smiled, bowing in thanks before closing Gemini's gate, "We'd be happy to."

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter is pretty much exclusively Natsu... Mostly ;) Hopefully you all are doing well!

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