"Hello, darling."

My family stood in front of me. My real family. My mother and my father.

"How are you-?" I tried to ask. Where were we? The last thing I remember is the people from Stone Heart surrounding me while I was alone, and a lot of power and fear…

Was I dead? I looked around to try to find out where I was, but there was nothing to look at. We were standing in a black space. There was no ceiling or walls that I could see. There was nothing.

"You aren't dead," Mama said, answering my thoughts. She stepped forward and held a hand out to me. I took it without and thinking and hugged her tightly. Papa circled his arms around us both, and we all stood together like that for what I thought was a long time.

"What happened?" I asked, reluctantly breaking away.

"You overdid it. Having all twelve keys gives you immense power, and you didn't know that. The power consumed you, and you didn't know how to fight it," Mama replied.

"You kicked ass though. It was pretty awesome. You'll be in those guys' nightmares for a long time," she added, laughing. Although her word choice shocked me, I couldn't stop myself from both giggling and crying at the same time.

"Oh, Lucy. Don't cry," Father said comfortingly.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry for everything! I was going to visit you in Acalypha and try to fix things, but you were already gone!" I cried. I had to tell him before he left. I didn't want him to think I hated him anymore! He rested a hand on top of my head gently.

"I love you Lucy. Nothing will ever change that."

"We both do. We came here to speak with you this one time. It may never happen again. We are borrowing magic from the Spirit King himself to see you," Mama said.

"But why-?"

"We wanted to tell you how proud we were of you and how much we love you."

"Our time is quickly fading," Papa said. I hugged them again, squeezing as hard as I could.

"Don't leave me again!" I begged.

"We are always with you," he whispered. "We will try to help when we can. We love you."

"Your friends are worried about you. Return to them." Mama's voice got quieter. "Be careful the next time you summon your spirits." Their voices combined for the next and last sentence.

"Live your life happily, the way you want to." The loving warmth around me increased, sapping my energy. It was comforting yet cold at the same time. I opened my eyes to see red, blue, orange, and pink hair about me.

"LUCY!" they all screamed.

"I feel like I was just hit with a bus," I complained, trying to sit up. Loke put an arm behind my shoulder and helped me. Natsu glared at the lion spirit. We were in the big green tent I was sharing with Erza. The boys had their own a few feet away, much to their dismay. They had a fit when Erza insisted that the two of us should have the bigger tent, since we're girls. They quickly agreed when Erza pulled out one of her many swords and threatened them.

Someone had changed my ripped clothes. Instead of my shorts and shirt I'd been wearing the clearing, I was now in my comfy pink pajamas. A few feet behind Gray, I saw the same box with the scale inside that I've been guarding carefully.

My body felt like lead. I could barely move my fingers. My eyelids shut heavily and took a while to open again.

"Are you okay?" Natsu asked. I smiled at him and everyone else weakly.

"I can barely move I'm so exhausted, and my body hurts all over."

"That's to be expected. You did summon twelve Zodiac spirits at once," Loke said. "You're going to feel weak for a while."

Natsu was looking at me carefully. Is he the one that found me, or did someone else take me back? I've never even heard of someone being able to summon the twelve most powerful spirits out at the same time. How was it possible that I could?

"Lucy was scary!" Happy exclaimed, floating in happy circles above my head. "She had everyone's powers and her arms turned into fish! They looked delicious!"

"My arms?" I asked, horrified. I glanced down, but my arms looked normal.

"Do you not remember any of it?" Gray asked. I shook my head.

"The last thing I remember is sneaking away and being surrounded by those men…"

"Let me explain," Loke offered. Keeping an arm around me, he shifted into a more comfortable position. "Having all twelve Zodiac keys multiplies your magic capability by twelve. You didn't know, so you just summoned us like you normally would. You had no way to defend yourself against the power.

"Because of your strong bond with us, your powers are tied to your emotions. When Klein saw into your heart, he drew out your secrets and used them against you. He threatened everyone, and you got too angry. The power consumed your mind and body.

"You used all of your magic containing us in your body. When we merged with you, you gained all of our magic as well. Even after the men from Stone Heart left, you couldn't stop. It was too much for you, and you kept going without a choice. You were blinded with power. Natsu showed up before you passed out. We brought you back here. You've been asleep all day; it's almost night now."

"Why did you leave?" Natsu burst out angrily. My temper flared up.

"I was sick of everyone treating me like a baby. I know this curse is dangerous, but I just want you all to treat me the same. If I need something, or if something is bothering me, I'll say it," I said, equally mad. We glared at each other from across the tent.

"Loke, I wasn't aware that it was possible to be possessed by the Zodiac spirits," Erza interrupted, trying to change the subject before we could fight more.

"That's because it's never happened before. Only one person has ever had all twelve keys at the same time, and even then she didn't have this much power. Lucy is making history. The legend says she will be the gate between the Spirit World and the Human World, but we don't know what that means yet."

Who knew that it was possible to do that? Could Natsu and Happy have been scared of me when they found me? Not the kind of scary that Happy always calls me, but truthfully frightening? Erza seemed to see where my mind was going.

"Alright, everyone out. Lucy needs to rest now," she commanded. Loke and Gray nodded and crawled through the little tent flap to the left. Natsu stayed behind for a minute, frowning at me. I glared back, daring him to yell at me. I sighed when he left.

"He's really mad at me," I said sadly.

"He's not mad," Erza insisted. "He was worried. He got up in the middle of the night and stuck his head in here to check on you, but you were gone. He woke us all up and went to look for you. He told us to stay here and look in the woods around us while he went farther. He mumbled something about your smell and fire. He came back an hour later with you and Loke."

"He was worried?" I asked, dumbfounded. My mother's words from before she left floated through my mind again.

"Of course. We all were," Erza said. "Now go to sleep. And no more sneaking out." She stared at me hard. I nodded sheepishly and snuggled deeper into my warm sleeping bag.

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Natsu's PoV

"She's so stupid!" I hissed in anger.

"I think you're the stupid one, Ash Head," Gray said calmly.

"What did you call me, Ice Brain?"

"Just shut up, guys. You're both stupid," Loke grunted.

"She was scared, and we weren't particularly helping," Gray noted.

"What do you mean, we weren't helpin?! We kept askin her how she was and stuff! Maybe if she wasn't so dang frustrating, she wouldn't have wandered off! Didn't she know she'd get in trouble?" I asked.

"That doesn't make any sense," Loke said, rolling over on the ground. "Just shut up already. I'm trying to sleep."

"She didn't want us to treat her any differently, you dense idiot," Gray said flatly.

"Ice Princess!"

"Squinty Eyes!"

"Droopy Eyes!"

We butted heads, about to start a fist fight in our smaller tent, when we both realized it at the same time. We looked at Loke.

"SINCE WHEN DO SPIRITS SLEEP?" Loke froze, and sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, yeah. Oops," he chuckled.