It wasn't until she got back to her apartment that one of her keys warmed up with the desire to talk to her. To Lucy's shock, it was Aquarius who wanted to speak. She frowned at the now burning hot key in her hands. While Celestial Spirits could communicate through the key if there was no time or energy to be summoned, it wasn't the same as holding a face to face conversation.

Aquarius, however, absolutely loathed being summoned for simple conversation. To her it was a waste of time and her skills. Anything that she wanted to talk or gripe about would be said through her key. Unless of course she wanted to smack Lucy for doing something she considered stupid.

However it wasn't the Zodiac's day to be summoned, more than that, she still had the week off to go on that date with her boyfriend. What could possibly have been so important to interrupt her social life?

It might be because she was working on Plue's contract. Aquarius was incredibly unsatisfied with the contract she and Lucy had at the moment and was always looking for excuses to get it re-written. It wasn't the first time her first Zodiac demanded a re-write; after the third time she'd literally chucked a dictionary of Celestial world legal terms at Lucy's head. Even after making five more contracts for Aquarius, Lucy was no closer to figuring out why the older woman didn't seem satisfied with their written contracts.

Bemusedly, Lucy poured some water into a nice and large ceramic bowl and summoned the testy air spirit. One look at the mermaid's face told the summoner that she wasn't in a good mood, though Lucy had kind of guessed that.

"So," the blue haired beauty started, crossing her arms in agitation. "What's this I hear about you joining a guild?"

Lucy blinked in surprise. That hadn't been what she'd expected at all. "Yes? It's true?" What did she expect Lucy to say? "I needed the money and they all seem like really nice people."

Aquarius huffed and examined the bowl she'd been summoned from. "What happened to leaving the country? You were all gun-ho about it a few weeks ago."

"I couldn't. I just…" Lucy shrugged. "It felt wrong and then I talked to Crux."

She snorted. "Of course you did."

"Could you have told me? About the thing keeping the Zodiacs in Fiore?"

"I could have. But I had thought you'd be strong enough to leave the country," she tisked, "so much for that. Even Grammi's brat probably could have…" Aquarius trailed off, muttering darkly.

Lucy winced at the mention of Aquarius's former holder. When she'd first heard about the spirit's last summoner, Lucy had searched for her thinking to return Aquarius and perhaps to give the other spirits she had over as well. Finding out she'd been stabbed and left for dead at the side of the road had been a shock. There were times when she wondered if the older woman would have survived if she'd had the spirit with her.

She shook those thoughts away, now was not the time to get lost in her head. Aquarius would soak her new apartment if she thought Lucy wasn't paying enough attention to the conversation. She couldn't afford to pay for water damages!

"Sorry for that." She grumbled back, "but now we might have a better chance at finding another Celestial spirit summoner." She'd even already found one, granted even if Everlue hadn't been arrested, she wouldn't let that man within 100 feet of her keys. Still not all summoners she'd encounter would be like him.

At least, she hoped not.

Something flashed in Aquarius's eyes when she mentioned other summoners, but it was gone before Lucy could interpret it. Instead she scoffed. "Right, you decided to join the loudest, most eye catching guild in all of Fiore." She rolled her eyes, "that'll help you hide from That Man for sure." None of the spirits ever used Lord Heartfilia's name. He was always 'That Man' with a particular negative emphases. From what Lucy could recall, they even did that when Miss Layla owned them.

Lucy grimaced. "They're not that bad. There's rarely ever pictures of guild members printed out. Even if the papers do mention my name; there's got to be dozens of women with the same name as me."

"But not your looks." She huffed, "you say you've disguised yourself, but you've barely changed anything about you." Lucy opened her mouth to object but Aquarius was on a roll. "Oh, yes you've dyed your hair and you've picked out your own clothes, that's all well and good. But any pea-brained moron could look at you and think you're That Man's daughter. Especially if they've seen a picture of you from before." Her gaze sharpened. "All it'd take is one person and everything will be back to the way it was before."

Lucy's breath caught in her throat. If Lord Heartfilia were to find her and take her back, she'd be dead, but more importantly her spirits would be taken away. They'd be locked up in the safe again for who knew how long. The thought broke her heart.

"That won't happen. I promised you I wouldn't let that happen again." To keep her spirits from their fate, she'd promised they would never be returned to the Heartfilia manor. It was even in all her contracts and it will be in Plue's contact too, once she wrote it.

"It won't be a matter of you letting it happen."

She grimaced again at that remark and the truth it held. What she'd want would never matter in the face of Lord Heartfilia's desires. "I know," she sighed out, "but I'm not going to quit Fairy Tail."

Aquarius gave an un lady like snort. "Of course not. That'd be far too easy for you." With a casual wave she began closing her gate. Lucy quickly complied and shut off the gate on her end. Aquarius had one last thing to add as she faded into stardust. "I'm going back to my date. When That Man catches you, just throw my key away. Anything will be better than rotting in a vault."

Lucy stared at where the spirit had once been and huffed. "I won't need to do that." Aquarius had absolutely no faith in her at all. All she needed to do was avoid large high profile missions. Lucy might not earn as much money that way, but she didn't need that much.

With a sigh she started cleaning up the bit of water that had splashed about when she summoned Aquarius. Maybe she should look over her contract when she was writing up Plue's, perhaps then Aquarius might be a bit more relaxed about Lucy being in a guild.