Dear Readers,
I'm just gonna leave this here... with a reminder: Desna owns the Pradesh Family, Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, and GoddessxNyte2 is the reason Lucy has all her limbs (probably) because she's a great beta.
Enjoy!
By the time everyone had gathered to listen to Lucy's story, they were back on Boscan soil. Instead of sitting in an uncomfortable circle on the airship, they'd decided to meet back at the Pradesh estate in Palerno, where everyone was going to be anyway, as they had all taken time off to spend time with Zen.
So here they were, 15 hours after the confrontation in the infirmary, and they were all sitting uncomfortably around a large dining table. Bickslow and Erik had taken either side of Lucy's chair, Zen next to Erik and Kaleb, and Arman at the opposite side with both girls at their sides. Vander, Cristoff, and Farron were seated in the chairs next to Bickslow.
"So," Kaleb began. Lucy couldn't help but think on how she should have expected him to be the most eager to spill her dirty secrets all over the table.
He shot her a look, and she averted her gaze and immediately started a few conversations with her bonded spirits to hide behind their illogical thought processes.
The platinum blonde narrowed his eyes at her, but continued speaking anyway, "How about we start at the beginning and figure out how much of what we know is actually true?"
Lucy nodded, "Yeah, okay. But before that," she fidgeted a little in her seat, "Can you promise that everything we talk about stays in this room?"
Half the table started protesting, but she waved them off, "Hear me out! If after you know everything, we decide together that we need to tell other people, than whatever the group decides I will honor. I promise. But please, just… promise you'll hear everything before you decide. I've spent the last year of my life hiding all of this, I just… Please, promise me."
Kaleb was, surprisingly, the first to speak, "Alright, I promise."
Erik nodded, "I've kept the secrets I know to myself for this long, I'm with you Bright Eyes."
The others all murmured in agreement after that, the last of which was Bickslow, who did so with great hesitance.
Lucy sighed in relief, "Okay, so what do you want to know?"
"What do you know of the Dark Guild that attacked Fairy Tail a year ago. Were you ever a spy for them?"
Lucy shook her head, "Honestly, I don't know much. I… was never a spy for them. They go by the name Fallen Star," she scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "I've been trying to track them down, along with Crime Sorciere, for the last year and we haven't had much luck. We also have no idea what they want. From what they revealed while… Uh, politely trying to convince me to cooperate…," Kaleb winced at a few of the memories strong enough to slip through her spirits jabbering, "They want two things. Me - something to do with my mother, but I've not been able to find a connection - and the Zodiac Keys."
Arman piped in, "Your mother was Layla Heartfilia?"
Lucy raised an eyebrow, "Um, yeah. Did you know her?"
He nodded sadly, "She and Ganier, my late wife, were close when they attended the Academe. It carried over into adulthood, up until she married she spent summers here. Even met Zen and Farron a few times. I was… very sorry to hear of her death."
It was Lucy's turn to wince, "Ah, well, thank you."
Farron leaned forward in his seat, "Do you know why they want you and the Zodiacs? Did they give any indication of what the purpose was?"
The celestial mage shook her head, "No. And if my spirits or the King know anything, they can't tell me."
"Why not?" Zen asked her with a confused expression.
Lucy was going to answer, but Arman did so faster, "Celestial Spirits are bound by many things. Rules, promises, some even say they are unable to interfere with the fates - though no one has been able to confirm the fates truly exist at all, that part is more of a myth. Either way, it could be any number of those things that prevents them revealing information, even to Lucy, their current contractor."
Lucy nodded, "Exactly, though you're wrong on one point. The fates do exist, they're not a myth. Not sure what their real role is, Stache Face won't tell me. I doubt they actually control the destiny of every individual, it's more likely they control some sort of celestial power, or they predict the outcome of certain events. Many believed you could tell the future if you could read the stars well enough, some still do. My most promising theory is that the three fates are in charge of divination and advising on the far future, but again, Father won't confirm."
Arman, Kaleb, and Cristoff blinked at her.
"Actually, Bix," she turned her attention to the seith mage, "You remember that pass phrase I gave you when I sent you to get the guild kids from Porlyusica's place?"
"Cosplayer, that was a year ago. Of course I don't."
She rolled her eyes, "Right. Well anyway, it was a real phrase. I read it in some of the family journals, though it's not necessarily an incantation and I've never had the opportunity to research it, but I guess it could mean something:
"Forever Guardians of the Benevolent Gate, Stand Zodiac Twelve and the Hands of Fate."
Everyone just stared at her silent, except for Erik, who was tracing random patterns on the table, bored.
"What?" Lucy asked them.
"There were a lot of things in that explanation I have questions on, honestly. Mostly, did you just refer to the Celestial Spirit King as 'Stache Face?' and then as 'Father' moments later?" Cristoff asked with a small smile on his face.
"Well, have you ever seen the Spirit King?"
"...can't say I have, no. But that goes for literally everyone currently living, apart from you three," he said, gesturing at Zen, Lucy, and Erik, the latter of which scoffed.
"All of Peregrande has seen him. Something tells me they won't soon forget it either," he mumbled, resting his head on his hand, propped up on the table.
Lucy chuckled, the first genuine laugh she'd had since meeting up with Zen, "Well, he has an incredibly large Mustache. Seriously, it's impossible to miss. When I first met him, that's what I called him - it was mostly an accident, I was just so shocked by his appearance that it was all I could focus on - and it just kind of stuck."
A couple light laughs were heard from several of the Pradesh siblings.
"What about calling him father," Emzadi piped in, curious.
Lucy rubbed the back of her neck before she realized what she was doing, then snapped her hand back to her lap - though Erik and Bickslow had already laughed at her impression of one Natsu Dragneel, "Well," she ignored them, "That's kind of recent. Stache Face adopted me after I ran away from Fairy Tail, don't ask me why because I have no idea."
"That's not fair," Vander pouted from his seat, "Fathers never like me. And that one is scary as hell… Well, now I think about it," he smirked. "I have always enjoyed a challenge…" He gave Lucy a wink.
Bickslow slapped his brother, "Cosplayer's staying far away from you, Van. Far, far away."
"Can we focus?" Xally chimed in.
Farron ignored his brothers, and asked his own question, "This is something I've not heard about before, Lucy. Is there anything special, any duties you must carry out as the human daughter of a celestial king?"
Looking uncomfortable, she nodded, "Yes, but there's… not much I can tell you about it. Some I don't fully know yet, and the rest are secrets of the Celestial Realm I am not at liberty to discuss."
Bix wanted to argue, but Lucy glared at him, as did Arman, "Celestial Spirit Mages, much like the Spirits themselves, are honor bound to protect their spirits and secrets of the celestial realm. You will not be pressing her for more information about that," Arman commanded all of his children, who nodded.
"Okay…" Vander drawled slowly, "Guess that brings us back to why you left Fairy Tail and lied to everyone about it."
Lucy looked down at the invisible designs Erik was drawing on the table's surface.
"I…," She sighed, "You didn't see what they did to my family," the celestial mage nearly whispered, "The only time I came close to considering giving myself over to the enemy was during the hour I thought everyone had died. I was afraid, unless I left, and broadcasted my leaving, that they would use my guildmates against me again… I wasn't strong enough to stop them from trying, that much I did know."
No one spoke up, so she continued, "I felt so incredibly guilty, I could barely breathe. I wasn't sure I'd have protected my spirits well enough if I was forced to choose between them and Fairy Tail again, so I left. Made sure whatever spy was in the guild thought they were in the clear, and that I'd left for good. It was the only way I could think of to keep everyone safe… We… weren't ready to take them on, not yet. They're bastards with a terrible guild name, but they were strong enough to fight me, Natsu, Mirajane, Gramps, and Laxus consecutively and not take any unintentional losses." she told them, "besides, we couldn't find them. The only other option was to sit and wait for them to take advantage of our next weak moment and hurt people again, I couldn't let that happen."
The room was silent for a moment, before Bickslow pulled her in for a hug, "You're an idiot, Cosplayer. You didn't have to leave, or at least… not alone. The Thunder Legion would have gone with you. Your team would have too. Fuck, Gramps himself would have gone with you."
Lucy shook her head, "I know that, but the spy. My team and yours tagging along would have made it pretty obvious that I was still attached to the guild."
"You could have at least told us."
The celestial mage pulled back and gave him a raised eyebrow, "When has Natsu Dragneel ever been able to keep a secret? Or Evergreen? Or Erza - I've never seen a worse actor in my life than Erza."
"We would have found some other way to deal with it, Lucy."
"I know, but I couldn't wait. I had to take some kind of action to make sure you were all safe."
Bickslow was about to argue the point again, but Emzadi glared across the table and spoke up, "You said 'again'. That you had to choose between your spirits and Fairy Tail 'again'. What did you mean?"
Lucy averted her gaze, "Oh, umm… it's not important."
"Lucy." Zen glared at her.
She looked at him in question.
"My magic. Part of it is that I can tell when people lie to me. So I suggest you try that last statement again," he explained.
Lucy sighed in resignation, "Aquarius, okay?"
"Either I'm missing something or that explanation is," Vander drawled casually, picking at his nails with a shadow-made dagger.
"I really don't want to talk about this…"
"Sorry, Tink, but I don't think you can get away from it this time. Just tell them," he told her softly, using a tone nobody but Lucy had heard before.
Everyone looked at her expectantly.
Lucy's shoulders slumped, "The Celestial Spirit King has never been called to Earthland by a celestial mage before me, do you know why?"
Bickslow was the one to answer, "I'm guessing power. You're the strongest celestial mage I've ever heard of."
Said celestial mage nodded, "Right, it does take a large amount of power to summon a being like that. But Anna Heartfilia, my ancestor, had more than enough power to accomplish it. Several others did between her and myself, as well. The real problem with summoning him is that he has no key."
Arman was confused, "So how did you summon him?"
"There are a few different ways," Lucy said quietly, "I summoned him twice - technically - before I contracted him. The first time, I just got his attention by being stubborn. I'd used my magic to try forcing a sealed gate open to save a friend, and I nearly killed myself doing it. He showed up to tell me off for the insults I shouted his way, and ended up leaving having changed a celestial law. I'm still pretty proud of that," she smirked.
'As you should be, Princess. And I am eternally grateful.' Loke spoke in her mind. She smiled softly, pushing warm feelings through the bond.
Arman, Cristoff, Erik, and Bickslow were the only ones who didn't look shocked. Bickslow knew Loke, obviously, and had heard at least part of the story. Erik had heard the whole thing from her soul years ago when she was reminiscing with Loke at the bar at Fairy Tail, and Cris and Arman had heard of something happening with the spirit world years ago, when the Academe had been looking into the effect it had on the celestial realm.
"And the second time?" Arman prompted when Lucy made no attempt to continue.
"The second time, I used the only true method for actually summoning the king on one's own power - rather than just annoying him enough to make him show up. It's called a substitution summoning, I used it during Tartaros when every one of my guildmates was trapped in a curse magic known as Alegria, cast by Mard Geer Tartaros," Lucy clarified softly.
Zen reached over Erik to poke her shoulder, "... and what does that entail?"
Lucy glanced at him, nodding, "Right. I used a golden zodiac as the anchor to summon the Spirit King... Aquarius."
Farron furrowed his brows, "So anyone holding a golden key can summon the Spirit King, How has no one discovered this before?"
Lucy sighted, "Technically, yes, but it's not that simple. A failed attempt at doing so would kill the mage attempting it, and it has to be with a spirit with an incredible level of trust, and… it's not common knowledge - typically the only way to discover this truth is for a Zodiac key to inform you. The only reason you're finding out is because the King agreed to let me tell you."
She took a moment to steady herself, and continued speaking, "In addition to all that, the key used as an anchor… It's not just used that way and then goes back to normal, the key shatters. It's… a sacrifice. The spirit in question becomes trapped in the Celestial realm until their key is reformed. No one knows how long this takes, it's never been done before, but… Loke and Stache Face think it'll take a few centuries, at least."
Lucy was trembling, and she pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly. Bickslow was horrified, he couldn't even imagine losing one of his babies, they were family. He knew Lucy felt the same about her own spirits. He tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off.
Silence ensued while they all absorbed this information. Kaleb found, despite his frustrations with having trouble finding her and her overall poor first impression (one he formed based on rumor alone), he was gaining a healthy amount of respect for her. Was her decision the best? Maybe not. He could think of a few other, better ways to handle the situation, but he couldn't exactly say she hadn't had the best intentions. Even through the layers of conversation happening in her complex brain, he could get a decent read on her thoughts. Enough to know she was fully genuine, anyway.
He came to the conclusion that she had been hurting for a long time, and her decisions were clouded by that hurt. So of course they weren't always the greatest.
For several long minutes, no one could bring themselves to speak up and prompt further discussion, not when Lucy looked ready to crumble.
Finally, she gathered enough courage to speak once more, "Anyway," she started, "Apparently that initial summon creates an automatic contract between the summoner and the spirit king - no details, mind you, just a connection that is later solidified by a spoken agreement. No one had ever officially summoned him before, so my spirits and I didn't know about that detail until Stache Face noticed it after. He didn't even mention it to me until I left Fairy Tail, when I anchored my keys to my soul and created the soul-anchor for his gate as well," she held a hand over her heart, where the King's mark rested.
Bickslow spoke up, "Shit, cosplayer… I had no idea. That's why you were so messed up after Tartaros?"
She nodded, but didn't say anything.
"I think…" Kaleb spoke, "Maybe we should take a break. Finish the rest of this conversation over dinner. Lucy, I'll show you to the room you can use."
She looked at the mindbender, grateful, "Thank you," she said, standing up to follow him, "I could use a nap more than dinner, honestly, my magic is still recovering."
Cris followed behind them to check over her again, to make sure her magical containers were refilling at a normal rate.
Stepping out of the room, Cristoff shut it behind him and faced his brother.
"I put her to sleep, her emotions are all over the place. I don't want anyone to press her for more details until she's had some rest."
Kaleb nodded, heading back down the stairs, "I agree. There are still a lot of unanswered questions, things we need to know, but I don't think she's some kind of criminal. For now, at least, we will keep her location from anyone else."
"Yeah. That's probably for the best. Did you try and get some details from her mind? She might be easier to read while she's sleeping."
The mindbender laughed, clapping Cris on the back as they walked into the kitchen, "She isn't the problem, Cris. Her spirits are all in her head, holding random conversations, half of which Lucy is a part of. It's like her own version of the family link, except instead of everyone holding one conversation and relaying important information, they are overlapping topics and debates and observations. It makes it hard to follow, and it doesn't get any better when she's sleeping."
Cris rubbed at his head, "That sounds fucking exhausting."
"It is," Erik called from the other side of the room, "She hasn't been that hyperactive in her fucked up head since she first established those links," he tapped at his own temple, "Tink is doing that shit to keep you out. Why do you think she's so tired?"
Kaleb considered this, "I suppose that makes sense. So she uses magic to sustain those conversations?"
Erik rolled his eye as they approached, "Yeah. From what I know, they're a constant drain. I'd never be able to keep it up, but her magic capacity is fucking ridiculous. Normally, when she's not constantly talking with all of them all at once, she doesn't even notice the energy it takes to maintain a loose connection with all twenty of her spirits."
"That's fairly impressive," Kaleb conceded, "So you mean normally I'd be able to just read her, without all the noise?"
The dragon slayer snorted, "I guess. The bonds fuck with my hearing regardless, but normally its not bad enough that I can't hear the gist of what's going on with her. Your magic would probably have an easier time, though. You're in her head, I hear her soul. It's different."
Kaleb agreed with that. He could tell the difference, as he observed Cobra's mind to see what he was talking about, "I see what you mean."
Erik narrowed his eye, "Stay out of my head, Legolas, I don't like you mind-fucking me without my permission."
Kaleb shrugged, "Sorry. It's a habit."
Bickslow jumped in on the conversation from where he'd been standing, trying to sneak past Mr. Elan to reach the cookies he'd long-since gotten banned from so he wouldn't 'ruin his appetite' before dinner, "Wait, you think her spirits are connected to her soul? Directly?"
Kaleb looked at his brother, "Yes," he narrowed his eyes as he looked into the seith's mind, "You've seen the connections, Bix. How did you not notice?"
Bix gave up on trying to steal a cookie, rubbing at a red spot on his arm where he'd just gotten smacked with a kitchen utensil, "I guess I did notice, I just didn't understand. Soul bonds are pretty rare. Celestial spirits usually have a thread to their keyholders soul, but an actual bond can be dangerous, I've never seen one apart from the dragon kin thing," the tall mage clarified, plopping down at the table next to Erik.
"Dangerous how?" Cris asked, being the only other person at the table who couldn't just get more details by listening (Erik) or looking (Kaleb).
Bickslow shrugged, "In cosplayer's case? I'm not too worried, especially now I know more of the story, but in general it opens souls up to corruption. Dragon bonds are less dangerous, because their second soul acts as a buffer - the dragon portion of a slayer's soul has the ability to sever a bond that becomes taxing on the slayer. Human souls don't have that. Lucy's soul though, I've seen it all but shattered before - and now I know why - but even then it was pure. She might have a harder time blocking out some strong emotions from her spirits though. Probably act more impulsively, but even then she'd never act on something truly contrary to her beliefs."
Emzadi had joined the group of males when she heard 'dragon', and she sat on the kitchen counter near them listening. Looking at Cristoff, she tilted her head curiously, "Hey, Cris, you've always been more in tune with your dragon soul than I am. Tell me… have you felt an odd urge to claim a perfect stranger as kin lately?"
The lunar slayer nodded and leaned against the wall, face thoughtful, "Yeah, I feel the pull to claim Lucy same as you, but I don't know why so I haven't acted on it."
Erik chimed in, "It's just Lucy," he told them, "Everyone but that idiot Natsu has claimed her, and even after everything, the sky and iron slayers refused to completely sever the connection. No idea why, besides the fact that we all lo-...tolerate her. She has more self-proclaimed siblings than even you all do."
Kaleb smirked. He knew the poison slayer almost said 'love', but when said slayer glared at him he just shrugged and kept it to himself. If the guy didn't feel comfortable expressing himself it wasn't his business.
"Aww, widdle Ewik woves his widdle sister….." Bickslow teased, reaching out to pinch the man's cheeks before pulling back suddenly when he almost lost his fingers to the guy's fangs.
"Whatever," Cobra said, looking anywhere but at the other mages at the table.
"Cobra," Cristoff spoke, approaching his fellow dragon slayer, "Can I-"
"None of Tink's kin will stop you from also claiming her. She doesn't have a dragon mate, so you're safe," he said, not looking up from the interesting speck of dirt on the wall.
"-take a look at your eye?"
"What?" Erik looked up in surprise, "Why?"
"...did you not notice that Lucy now has two functioning eyes? The eye was still there, just damaged, I was able to fix it."
"...What's your point?"
Cristoff rolled his own eyes, "Your injuries were similar, I can tell because neither of you had an unsightly hole in your face where your eye used to be. It's likely there's still enough left to repair, just like I did with Lucy," Cristoff explained. Slowly. Like he was talking to a child.
To be fair, he was kind of behaving like one.
"I am not, Moony. Just… being realistic. I've been a cyclops for a hell of a lot longer than Bright Eyes."
"Just let me look, will you?"
Erik sighed, but turned to face him, "Fine. Don't run off and cry when you can't fix it, I warned you."