Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

The Fangirling-Fanboy: Don't worry, BB x Raven is most definitely on my list of pairings for this story. :)

Enjoy!


Wakaba looked up, stunned, as his long-time friend sat down next to him and whimpered.

"Uh, Macao, are you okay?" the smoking man asked, concerned at the uncharacteristic action.

The purple-haired man looked at him, looking ruffled and, honestly, kind of pitiful.

"I only just finished the paperwork to officially become the guild master." Macao explained quietly, both men pointedly ignoring the pang they felt in their hearts at the words. "So the guild's magic let me go through our financial records."

Wakaba cursed under his breath, causing Macao to nod in agreement.

"Yeah." He grimaced. "Turns out we're worse off than the old man ever let on. If we don't do something soon, we're going to lose the building."

Of course, it was at that moment that the loud chatter in the guild hall that had been masking their conversation ceased, so everyone heard him say it.

It was silent for a long moment.

"What did you say?" Laki asked, eyes wide behind her glasses.

Macao winced, horrified that he hadn't thought to make their conversation more private, especially as he caught the stricken look on his son's face.

"B-but we just re-built it!" Max protested. "Some of us put our blood, sweat, tears, and MAGIC into it!"

"Oh, the building itself is ours." Macao said dryly, signing in resignation as he realized he wouldn't be able to distract them from this. "But the land itself was still being paid off, and we don't really have the funds to keep making those payments right now."

"I don't suppose that's something the council can help us with?" Nab asked with a sigh.

Everyone looked towards Jellal and Ultear, who had of course both been councilmembers previously, and the two mages exchanged a glance.

"I doubt it." Jellal admitted, causing Ultear to nod with a frown. "The council doesn't oversee the debt collectors unless the debt is to them specifically. We could try and renegotiate with the loan office itself, but the leverage you guys have over the council won't help."

Lucy sighed. "So, what, we have to fundraise just so we can keep staying here?"

Macao blinked at her. "Well…yeah, I suppose."

"The Magnolia Harvest Festival isn't for another two months, and we never made money from that in the first place." Bisca pondered. "Even if we could think of some way to make money from that, would we even last that long?"

Macao grimaced again, which told them all they needed to know.

It was best not to risk it, even if they technically could.

"So…" Macao coughed awkwardly. "Any ideas?"

A few eyes gleamed at the prospect of a challenge…


*Two weeks later*

Yukino's eyes widened in wonder at the sight in front of her.

She had been dreaming of having the opportunity to travel the kingdom to tour the various guilds in Fiore, and now that she was finally in Magnolia to see the Fairy Tail guild (having saved the best for last), she found out that the guild was throwing a surprise event for the townspeople!

Maybe her luck was turning around…

The streets were so crowded that the small preteen had a hard time getting around, but Yukino was so fascinated by the sights and smells around her that she didn't mind.

Food, beer (not that she would be drinking), homemade goods, performances…this place had it all!

In one corner there was a large, funny-looking man running a stall where he alternated between painting people's faces and drawing caricatures.

Another stall was being run by two teenagers in Western-style clothing, something to do with shooting a gun, though someone moved in front of her before she could tell exactly what.

At the park playground there was a blonde man creating anything requested of him with his Sand Magic, and then at the town hall she saw another blonde man enthusiastically conducting an auction (she had never heard someone say the word 'cool' so many times).

Of course, the local businesses (and it looked like more than a few from out of town) were taking advantage of Fairy Tail's event by contributing, having paid a fee to join in since Fairy Tail had managed to reserve pretty much the entire town.

It was amazing.

Yukino didn't know what to try first!

Eventually she decided to get her face painted, and went towards the large man with the strange hat.

After waiting in line for a few moments, she decided to get the Zodiac symbols of the spirits she was contracted with painted on her cheek.

She had been prepared to draw them out for reference, but the large man, who introduced himself as Reedus, didn't need it.

"One of my guildmates is a Celestial Spirit mage." He explained when she asked, and Yukino was heartened by the fond smile on his face as he spoke of the other Celestial Spirit mage. Most of them weren't really good people, having let the power of having 'slaves' under their control. "I was curious about her keys, so she showed them to me. I looked up the ones she didn't have."

Yukino nodded in understanding, gasping in awe as she felt the man use his Pict Magic to animate whatever he had just drawn.

"Ah, I might have gone slightly overboard." He said sheepishly as he handed her a mirror to show her.

Her jaw dropped as she saw not only the Zodiac symbols for Pisces, Libra, and Ophiuchus, but their constellations as well, with the stars sparkling and giving off a dazzling effect.

"T-thank you!" she choked out, feeling overwhelmed as tears started to build.

Reedus panicked slightly when he saw her tears, but after remembering what she had just said, he realized that they were happy tears.

"You're very welcome, little star princess." Reedus smiled gently down at the sweet girl and trying to resist the urge to ruffle the girl's hair (she reminded him so much of Lisanna, and god, it had hurt so much to lose the girl along with the others so soon after they had gotten her back).

She blushed at the nickname he had given her, and he was struck with the feeling that she was very, very lonely. He could see it in her eyes. Just like he had seen in many of his guildmates' eyes when they thought about their pasts.

Maybe Fairy Tail could become a home for her, just like it had for so many other lonely children, and lonely people in general.

"You know, our own resident Celestial Spirit mage, Lucy Heartfilia, decided to sign up for the show tonight at 8." He offered. "She has…well, a 'few' Zodiac keys of her own."

Yukino looked up at him curiously, having noticed the slight emphasis on the word 'few', but decided not to ask, and assured him that she would attend the show before thanking him and disappearing back into the crowd.

Meanwhile, Reedus marveled slightly at the idea that, even if Lucy and the younger girl never met face to face, the twelve (he thought, though he wondered at that third symbol) Zodiac spirits were in the same place (Magnolia, and even closer if she did go to the blonde's show) for the first time in what had to be centuries, at least.


Yukino had never stopped being in awe since the moment she stepped foot in Magnolia, but it was worth mentioning that the feeling grew to even greater heights as she watched the performers wow the crowd (herself included) with amazing feats of magic.

She perked up when she saw a blonde girl a few years older than her walk up onto the stage after the Trimen from Blue Pegasus had completed their own act.

The girl was beautiful, no doubt, and certainly her appearance caused the vast majority of those inclined towards her gender to zero in on her, but Yukino's gaze was drawn to something else.

The Celestial Spirit keys on her belt.

It was hard to tell, from the distance, but…did she have ten gold keys?!

Her hand went down to her pocket, feeling the outline of her own two golden keys, and the dark gray one that belonging to Ophiuchus, the so-called Thirteenth Zodiac that most didn't even believe in.

Together, Yukino and the older girl (Lucy, she recalled) had the entire set.

It was…she couldn't even think of a word to describe what she was feeling right now.


Lucy took a deep breath as she hesitantly stepped up onto the stage.

"Hello, everybody!" she said as genuinely as she could, smiling at the crowd. She swallowed slightly as she saw just how many people were there, and did her best not to falter as she continued on. "My name is Lucy Heartfilia, with Fairy Tail. I use Celestial Spirit magic."

She took her ring of keys from her belt. "Celestial Spirit magic is one of the most diverse types of magic in the world."

As she spoke, all of her keys glowed brightly, and suddenly ten golden orbs and five silver orbs appeared, swirling around her before shooting up into the air, leaving star trails behind them as they moved. A few of them sped off into the crowd to interact with the audience, one of them tugging the hair of a small white-haired girl who gasped in wide-eyed delight.

"There are twelve Zodiac keys in the world, and the other Celestial spirits have about five keys in the world at any given time." Lucy continued as her otherworldly friends, still in spherical form, gathered back around her, glowing even brighter. "There are 88 constellations, and each one has one or more spirit to represent it. They're all unique, with their own strengths and weaknesses, though some would deny it…"

One of the orbs smacked her in the head.

Lucy smiled wryly as the crowd laughed.

There was no physical way of telling which spirit it was, but Lucy would bet every Jewel she had that it was Aquarius.


Most of the crowd couldn't feel it, but Yukino sensed the emotions pouring off the spirits in waves, all directed towards their contractor, Lucy Heartfilia.

Warmth, protectiveness, reluctant fondness, gratitude, and concern were but a few of the many feelings the spirits were emoting.

But stronger than any of those other emotions was…

Love.

Yukino was struck by a realization.

She was drawn to this girl because, so far, she seemed to be everything that Yukino wanted to be, and everything that she wished her mother had been.

The person she knew her sister would have become if she had survived the raid that killed their parents all those years ago.

"They're some of the best friends a person could ever have." Lucy Heartfilia finished her presentation, smiling fondly after her spirits as they disappeared to go back to their realm.

'Lucy-sama…' Yukino thought to herself as she palmed her own golden keys, eyes tearing up again.

She would become a better master than her mother had been. She wouldn't treat them as tools or shields like so many other Celestial Spirit mages.

She wasn't at the point where she could summon her spirits yet to make the contract, but she would be soon.

'I will treat my spirits as well as you do, Lucy-sama!' she continued thinking, utterly determined. 'That's a promise!'

And as any Celestial Spirit mage would tell you, they NEVER broke their promises.


The next morning, as Yukino was about to leave Magnolia and go back to the orphanage where she lived, tour completed, she ran into Reedus.

She gasped, surprised, but not hesitated to bow in respect. "Thank you again for yesterday, Reedus-san!"

The large man smiled down at her, giving into the urge to ruffle her hair this time as he noticed that she was still alone, even though it looked like she was leaving.

"Yukino-chan, it was a pleasure." He said with a flourish, bowing back deeply. "If I may ask…are you…ah, that is to say…"

Yukino gave him a small, sad smile, knowing what he was trying to ask.

After all, he was hardly the first adult to become concerned upon realizing that the twelve-year-old was traveling on her own.

"Yes." She answered simply. "Do not worry, I will be fine."

"I'm sure you would be." Reedus agreed, knowing from experience just how strong and independent some children were. "However…I was wondering…"

Yukino tilted her head curiously.

"Have you considered joining a guild?" he asked. "Fairy Tail would be more than happy to have you, if you're interested…"

Yukino's jaw dropped, utter shock filling her.

Along with, for the first time in a while…

Hope.

Maybe she could finally have a family again!


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