Reviews are Nice; The pairings are NOT decided yet. I get people like Vander/Lucy, I like them too, they're adorable when she's sassy and keeps up with him, but...I really don't know if they will get together or if it will be a friendship...or how far this darkness is going to go.

I don't own Fairy Tail. Mashima Does.

I don't own the Pradesh Clan. Desna does (and thank you for them).

I own the Storyline. That's it.

Since I can't Reply to some Comments:

Ko-chan: if I had an editor or beta, they'd have probably fixed that, or pointed it out. "Drug" as a past tense is more a regional 'slang' dialect. One that, in this case, I obviously grew up with. English/grammar lessons not withstanding, sometimes even teachers don't correct it. In this case however, if you take out "grabbed and" what is left is "was drug" which is, I believe gramatically "sound".

On another note: I am thinking of taking on an Editor/Beta for this story. I've a lot of little things and a lot to delve into, but sometimes things don't work out quite well in my head and I'll sit and stare for a few hours trying to grasp what I want.

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Lucy stared at the woman that was there to test her education level for a long moment before she scooted her chair in to start working. She sat straight in her chair and used as few movements as possible to actually write each character or answer.

Arman watched quietly from the observation room, glancing at the man next to him out of the corner of his eye, "Dean."

The man smiled, brushing his silvering hair back, "Arman, we spoke, but I really would like her at the Academe. There are very few bloodline mages left...his mother was going to enroll her but her father refused."

The Patriarch gave a soft hum, "yes, I would not put that past him." He took a breath, "I take it she'd been tested when she was younger?"

"No, but Layla was and if that gold key she has says anything…" he arched an eyebrow, "and her chatting about how she swims with one of them, I'd like to test her."

Arman gave a faint nod, "I want to at least give her until her induction to grow in normal classes, then we can see about her at the academe."

"Good, she'll need the training," He smiled a bit and watched as the girl motioned to the woman testing her.

"Yes, Dear?" The woman smiled softly.

Lucy looked up at the woman and smiled, innocently, but there was an edge in her eyes of someone that was extensively and privately tutored, "this problem is wrong, Ma'am. It's unsolvable given the information and it's not even the right formula to use."

"what do you mean, Dear?"

Lucy looked at the woman and then slowly started explaining, almost as if she were the teacher. When she was done, the woman smiled and then retreated from the room.

Both men looked at each other in amusement, the Dean shaking his head, "she's a bit of a spitfire."

"When she wants to be," Arman smiled softly, "other times, not so much." He shook his head, "she's adjusting, slowly but surely and I know there are classes that she's going to take that will be good…Including general lessons…if we can figure out about where she's settled at."

"By the sounds of it, right up there with Farron and Kaleb, despite being a few years younger than they are." The two watched as the girl sat patiently, as if waiting.

After ten minutes, it looked like boredom got to the girl and she hopped up from her seat. She looked around almost as if trying to figure out of anyone was around and then pulled out a golden key and giggled as two little blue 'dolls' appeared.

"piri, piri! Lucy! Lucy!" they danced around the girl in the air and she laughed before grabbing them into a hug.

"Gemi! Mini!" she nuzzled the two and smirked, "…copy me."

There was a bit of giggling before there were two more Lucy's in the room, all three of them identical. They spun around so much that if the two men didn't have their own magic, they wouldn't have realized which the child was and which two were the Spirits.

"I'm bored, piri!"

Lucy let out a sigh, "So am I, Mini."

The three sat down and the girl let out a huff, "I think I scared the tester off." She grinned a bit and then settled against the two, "Hopefully I'm done soon."

"That's a golden key, Arman," Kalperden looked at Arman for a long moment.

"It is, she has nine of them," The man watched as the three 'girls' sat and whispered to one another. His father senses were tingling much like before one of his own did something that ended up in either a chase…or a glitter bomb. "she has a mermaid she brings out for baths."

The Dean took a deep breath, speaking softly, "nine?" his voice had a bit of awe and appreciation as he watched how the girl treated the spirits like friends, like family.

Arman nodded, "At one time, the Heartfilia family held all twelve zodiac keys, but one went missing shortly after Layla's death…" his lips drew into a frown, "and we found sale contracts on the other two. We're working on…attempting to get them all back, they're her family legacy."

The Dean's lips thinned as a sour look overtook his features, "Wonderful, it's good that you brought her, and them here." He patted Arman's shoulder and then turned, "next testng is either next month or two years after that. Try to make one of them with her."

Arman nodded, "we will." He turned back and narrowed his eyes as he saw only one "lucy". He thought it might be the right one, but he couldn't be fully sure.

The man watched as another tester came in, "hello, Miss Lucy." He smiled as he sat across from her, "I hear that you've found a few…incorrect things in your test."

The girl slowly rolled her head and leaned back before scrambling back to the chair, "yes. Hygge can, most likely, get information from my tutors on my current progress." She folded her hands in her lap and cast a warm smile.

That was the indication to Arman that it wasn't Lucy. Lucy was still very skittish around men; his eyes went wide and moved towards the door out to the hallway, only to hear a startled yell. When his eyes panned back to the viewing pane, he could only stare in horror at the sheer amount of glitter that was in the room…yet managed to not cover the girl.

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He'd attempted to punish her by making her clean up the glitter bomb, he hadn't expected her to call out a pink haired maid spirit to help her. This little girl was going to be right along the same lines as Vander and Bickslow, he had the strange feeling, because she had an arsenal of different magic at her beck and call.

The girl innocently followed after him, her magic needed work, but she had just enough to apparently do ten minute stints with the zodiac spirits to do things like get help and play pranks. Immaculate light, help him, he almost feared for someone that got on her bad side.

Vander was the first to greet them by leaping down the stairs and tearing off towards the doors to the beach, "whatever Xally says, I didn't do it!"

Arman just slowly arched an eyebrow as he looked at his youngest child, "is that so?"

Xally wasn't too far as she thundered down the stairs, "VANDER! GIVE IT BACK!"

Vander opened his mouth and then shut it before he took off running, "I didn't do it!"

"never a dull day," Arman smiled and shook his head.

Lucy gave a faint snort, "he did it, I saw one of her hair pins in his back pocket." The girl then skipped past him, humming happily as she made a beeline towards the library.

-0-0-0

"hey, Dad?"

Arman looked up from his book, "yes, Farron?"

"When is Lucy's birthday?"

The man paused and frowned before pulling out a folder. He'd completely forgotten about that and with everything, he knew he should not have. "It was last month.." His lips drew into a line, "Right before I brought her here."

Farron looked at his father for a moment, "you gave her a family for her birthday…we need to get stuff, even if it's late."

Arman chuckled a bit and smiled, "she has her first riding lesson today, we can do that then, so she's not as nervous by having everyone watch her." He made a small motion, "now, go tell your brothers and sisters."

He chuckled and shook his head, he knew next year wouldn't be a set of late gifts, no, not from his children nor him. They had a lot to make up to her and he was going to make sure that the girl would be happy.

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In Retrospect, taking seven very unique children out shopping for birthday presents with only an hour and a half time window was a bad thing. Emzadi had been the first to find something, a golden rod veil dress that would fit the young girl. Xally had hummed and the two girls had looked at charm bracelets before nodding and picking out a few.

It was the boys that were having an issue. They didn't want Help, they didn't want suggestions, but they darted around the market and he was having issues keeping an eye on them. When the girls were finally done, he took their bags and then herded them towards where he'd last seen the boys and was semi-grateful that they moved as a pack.

He found them slowly inching into a magic store and arched an eyebrow as he walked in behind them. Thankfully, they weren't completely wild and understood this was not a store that you ran through.

"Welcome! Need anything, let me know!" The woman behind the counter smiled, brushing a bit of her hair back.

The boys looked at one another before Farron walked up to the counter and looked up, "we're looking for celestial keys."

The woman blinked slowly down at the boys and then smiled, "oh? Why is that? I know they're pretty but…"

Kaleb shook his head, "a friend of ours summons them. we're celebrating her birthday."

The woman took in the boys, noticing the light blushes before she grinned, "I see…" She moved to pull out a box, "keys aren't exactly cheap boys." She opened it revealing four keys, "and these are around fifty thousand each." She watched as the boys balked a little bit at the price and smiled.

Arman stepped up behind them and looked at each, "which constellations are these?"

The women smiled warmly, "ah, let's see…" She tilted her head before tapping one that had a feather on it, "This is Columbia, the dove. It's mainly used as a messenger. The summoner can use it to get a letter to anyone they know. Time varies by how far away they are, but these keys were good for use during the holy wars." She smiled as the boys' eyes lit up, "this is Horologium, the clock, mostly used for keeping time, I hear they key has been used as an alarm clock and a few tales that it will encase it's summoner if they are in mortal danger. This is Lyra, a companion spirit, she plays beautiful music to help soothe" The last one she tapped made her smile, "and this is Monoceros, the Unicorn. Usually this one is contracted primarily to females."

Arman looked to the boys who were turning pleading eyes up to their father. He smiled a bit and nodded, "we'll take all four…and the box."

The woman laughed softly and nodded before she stepped back. After a moment of rummaging, she pulled out a silver and gold ribbon, moving to tie it around the box and then create an intricate bow, "There, all done."

The boys eyed the box, even as Arman put it into the bag, he himself had a key that he'd been meaning to send to the girl, but the letter and everything else had made him forget about it. It was one of a set of four, but Pyxis would serve the girl well for the time being, until the rest of the set could be found.

Vander paused, "we're missing one more gift." He titled his head as he stopped in the doorway and then looked around for a moment.

Arman looked at the boy in amusement before tilting his head. He wondered what the child was up to. "Are we now?"

Vander let out a small sound as he wriggled around the shop before grinning when he found a book. The boy walked to the counter and grinned as he put the old dusty tome on the counter, "I'll take this."

The woman looked amused, "oh, ancient star charts; a very good choice." She laughed as the boy bounced and then carefully pulled out some deep blue fabric with silver thread woven into it. She wrapped the book and then put the same ribbon around it. After it was paid for, she watched the boy hold it to his chest and waved good bye, "Tell her happy birthday!"

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The gifts were carefully secured away by the time the family went to pick up the girl from her riding lessons and they had to snicker. She stood there, waiting and rubbing her rear end.

"Do we need to give you a piggy back ride?" Farron arched an eyebrow as he looked at the semi-sulking girl.

Lucy pouted a bit and mumbled, "yes."

Farron chuckled and turned, crouching down. Lucy didn't miss a beat before she fell over his back and let her arms curl around his shoulders. She knew she was tiny, even compared to the others. She was at least seven inches shorter than Xally, but it made for an easy way to get piggy back rides. Her head settled against Farron's shoulder and the boy stood with a bit of help from his brothers, all of them softly chuckling as the girl seemed to doze off.

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When they'd gotten home, the girl was settled in her bed as preparations started. It wouldn't be anything Fancy, but with work, there was fresh ice cream being made from scratch, a cake being made and more strawberries than Arman thought Mister Elan knew what to do with.

The presents were set on the coffee table, including a small box from him added to the mix and they waited, the children near bouncing as the smell of the cake filled the air. The children looked at the stairs quite often and then half jumped up when they heard the soft steps and a very small yawn.

The children watched the stairs in anticipation, not just because 'cake and ice cream', but because she was finally awake. They had truly enfolded her into their family, even if she wasn't a 'sister'. When she smiled, they all felt warmth in their chest because despite everything, she had a pure warmth and innocence to her.

The chorus of 'happy birthday!' had her tripping and losing her feet down the last few stairs and the children all running to her. She blinked as she slowly rolled onto her back, looking up at them and trying to clear the confusion from her fall out of her head.

"what?" She looked around at the group and then slowly was helped up, rolling her eyes only slightly at the doting, even as she was picked up and carted to the couch. There were times when being small was nice and then times like this where she felt they took advantage of it. The gifts on the table caught her eye and she looked at them curiously before the group nodded and grinned, giddy.

Each key made her eyes dance and light up, her laughter and tears filling the space as she sniffled, rubbed her eyes and doled out kisses that left quite a few sets of pink cheeks. The book had her eyes wide and had gotten poor Vander tackled…but Mister Elan?

The Chef brought her out a small bowl of unbaked cake batter. He got the biggest hug she could muster as she dipped her fingers in the bowl and let out a happy sound. She'd debated on keeping it to herself, but between the smell in the air and the wide almost puppy dog eyed looks she was getting; she smiled and shared, creating more laughter and joy.