AN: Yes I know this chapter is late. I wracked my brain all week trying to get it onto paper/my computer, it just didn't want to be written. =[

Hopefully everything makes sense, it did in my sleep deprived brain.

Enjoy!

Lucy POV

I stood there in a daze watching as the mayor paced the room as he rambled about the wyverns and dragon that had been terrorizing the town for the past six weeks. With all of the damage done to the town I had no clue how the town's people could believe bandits were responsible. Every jewelry store had been destroyed and ransacked, everything of value stolen. After the jewelry stores had been destroyed they started going for homes of the rich. It was as if they could sense were the valuables were.

In addition to the thefts, livestock from the farms on the outskirts of town has been disappearing at a rapid pace. At this rate, soon there wouldn't been any left to supply the town with food and it was the mayor's fear that people would soon start to disappear in place of the animals.

By the time he had finished talking and I had left his house my hand was soaked in saliva from all of the kisses he had bestowed upon it in gratitude. When I was far enough away from his house I dug in my bag with my one clean hand and found a tissue and wiped off my hand. It was still dirty but it'd do until I could find a bathroom to wash it all off.

Everyone I passed gave me a strange look because I was holding my hand out to my side so it wouldn't touch any part of me. Answering my prayers I found a restaurant and quickly ran into it and ignored the startled hostess as I found my way to the bathroom. I took a ridiculous amount of time washing my hands and by the time I finished they were red and pruny. Deeming them clean enough, even though I still felt tremors of revulsion climb up my spine, I returned to the hostess to be seated.

Sitting down at the corner table I had pointed out I sat down facing the entrance and pulled out my notepad and pen.

Okay... What do I know. I know that wyverns don't usually have an agenda, they usually are mindless creatures that focus on basic things like food, protecting their territory and family, and survival. So for them to be so organized they are obviously being controlled by something. If that's the case then it's probably the dragon... Makes sense. Dragons do love their gold and jewels, and they all have to eat... So if I can get to the dragon then I can stop to wyverns. But getting to the dragon won't be easy. Assuming he/she has taken refuge with the wyverns then they will be providing protection.

Arghh! That'd be in possible to defeat the 5 known wyverns at once, especially if I don't have enough magic to preform Urano Metria. Next plan...

I taped my pen on my lip as I thought, totally oblivious to the waiter that was standing next to my table, ready to take my order. He got my attention after he jolted my table with his leg. When I looked up I could see him leaning closer to me trying to get a better view of my cleavage while I was distracted. Clearing my throat his eyes immediately met mine and he took a couple of steps back from my table. His face turned bright red as he tried to stammer out his usual spiel about the specials of the day.

Although I was blushing too, though not as bad as him, I let out a laugh and stopped his poor attempt at communication. "Haha… Sorry. Can I have a strawberry smoothie and some pancakes please?"

Watching him leave my table I shook my head and let out another chuckle. He's much too young to be taking advantage of situations like that. If he continues down this path he'll turn out like most of my guild mates and become a pervert. Shuddering at the thought I forcibly made myself think of the problem at hand. Looking at my notebook I waited for it to give me the answers I was looking for.

Fiddling with my keys my fingers went over something odd. Looking down I noticed which key I was stroking. That's it!

With everything that had happened with Rogue and Sting on my mind, and the need to help the town I had completely forgot about the book that I had found on my nightstand before I had left the guild. I assumed Rufus had left it for me since he had promised to keep an eye open for any books on Celestial Magic, so I had just tossed it in my bag without getting a good look at it and made a mental note to read it once I got a minute.

Quickly taking it out of my bag I looked down at it and saw 'The Six Banished Spirits' on the cover, no author or publisher's name which was odd but I just shrugged and opened it up. Flipping through the pages I saw nothing but the titles of each section. Why would Rufus bring me a blank book? I thought in disappointment as I closed the tiny book and put it aside in time to make room for my food. Taking a bite of my pancakes I made a face at them and drowned them in syrup hoping to make them less dry and crunchy. I wish I was home with Mira's deliciously, moist pancakes. I sighed watching as the pancakes absorbed the syrup before I picked up the book again hoping to figure out why it had been left by my bed if it wasn't going to tell me anything. Turning it every which way I saw a glow coming from within it and opened it to the source of the glow. I watched as intricate lettering appeared on the pages.

Corvus

Previous Owner: Julien Avril; Defeated in battle – contract void

Current Owner: Lucy Heartfilia; Contract pending…

Bio:Like his non-magical cousins Corvus or Corvo is known as a harbinger of death and destruction. In total Corvo has had four owners; two before his banishment and two, two hundred years later. Out of the four, three of them have been dark mages who used him to spy, kill and wreak havoc upon their enemies.

As it is well known Celestial Mages greatly influence their spirit's demeanor; due to the nature of his previous owners Corvo has grown to enjoy the kill and crave it. If left unattended Corvo will kill indiscriminately until he is stopped. Because of his tendency towards violence Polaris was able to easily persuade him to her side, leading him to his eventual banishment.

Powers: Corvo is able to take three forms, a giant crow, several normal sized crows and his human form.

Several Crows: Weakest of the three forms. Used to distract and attack multiple targets. If a mage is not strong enough this is the only form Corvo can take.

Giant Crow: Used mainly for scouting and attacking one target. When a mutual trust has formed between the spirit and mage, Corvo will be able to fly any distance away from his mage, the distance depending on the mage's magic capacity.

Human Form: On par with the giant crow in strength. While in this form Corvo can call all birds within a half a mile radius and control them; he is also very capable at hand-to-hand combat and stealth.

Temporary Powers: The contracted mage is able to borrow Crovo's stealth for a limited amount of time. Corvo's stealth is able to cloak their smell and blend in with the shadows. When blending in with the shadows, the mage is still visible, but barely.

That must have been how Julien snuck into my room without me noticing. If he can sneak past two dragon slayers, then, if I make a contract with Corvus now I can use his stealth and hopefully bypass the wyverns and find the dragon... Let's hope I'll have enough magic to deal with Draco once I get to him.

I was startled out of my thoughts when all of the sounds in the room ceased. Looking around I saw everyone and everything frozen mid action. The annoying couple that had been making out in the booth across from me were still attached to each other, and I could barely see where one ended and the other began. As for the perverted waiter he was frozen in a similar position as to when he had been at my table to get my order except her the girl he was looking at had a murderous looking father with her who was staring daggers at him while reaching for the knife.

When I had first experienced this time stop I had been too preoccupied with saving Loke that I wasn't able to really see how the space around me had been affected. I have to say it was pretty cool being able to see everything that had been happening around me. This moment even gave me the chance to notice that the man I had sat next to on the train was sitting in a darkened corner of the diner looking in my direction. Glancing around me for the object of his intense gaze I found nothing of particular interest, unless he was watching the couple but I doubt anyone would want to watch that. I really do need to be aware of my surroundings more... I didn't even notice when he had gotten here, or that he was looking this way.

"Old friend."

Smiling when I heard the gravely voice of Mustache Man behind me I turned to him and greeted him. "Mustache Man! What a pleasure to see you! How have you been?" I watched as his lips smirked at hearing my nickname for him.

"As always Lucy it is a pleasure to see you too. But I fear that all is not well and I have a favor to ask of you." He said seriously with a grave look on his face. Looking down at my lap he spotted the book and released the smile he had been holding in earlier, although it did not quite reach his eyes. "I see that Pegasus left you the journal. I was going to bring it to you but he had already grabbed it from my library. As always he is one step ahead of me during times like this. As you noticed before most of it is blank. The holder of the spirit's key is the only one that can see and read the text within. Meaning when you gather the others their entries will become available to you. Feel free to write your own notes too, the book is now yours.

"Now on to the business at hand...I'm sorry you have been caught up in all of this trouble. I also wish to apologize for not telling you the truth about your mother's death and keeping your spirits from telling you. I know you're wondering how all of this came about and I'm here to tell you... No interruptions if you would... I will answer any questions you may have at the end." At my nod he began.

"I wasn't always alone Lucy, like everyone else at one point I had a family. My daughter was the light of my life and was to be my heir when the time came. Like all of the other spirits she had a key and made contracts with Celestial Mages. Though, no one outside of the Spirit World knew that I had a daughter and in order to keep our secret I was never able to intervene when she got a particularly nasty mage. No matter how much I wanted to I could not show outward signs of favoritism.

"It all began when she was contracted out to was a dark mage who was hell bent on gaining control of the most powerful spirit… Me. Jean was surprisingly strong for such a young mage, his family had all had some affiliation with Celestial Magic, but he was the only one to pursue it. Polaris, my daughter, was the tenth spirit to make a contract with him; he was also the last mage to make a contract with her. In all of his extensive research on Celestial Magic and the Spirit World he had never come across anything on Polaris and was positive she was the answer to his prayers. He spent years with her gaining her trust, but all the while filling her head with nonsense about ruling the Spirit World together. While he was nice, no... tolerant of Polaris, he was down right mean to his other nine spirits. At some point during their contract his evilness seeped into Polaris, corrupting her.

"Too blinded by my love for her I ignored her changing attitude and any spirit who talked against her; giving no thought to their warnings. After weeks of overhearing spirits talking about Polaris I knew something was wrong, but I hoped it was just a phase. Confronting her after watching her belittle one of the Silvers I watched as she crumbled to the ground and broke down. She said it was all because of her mage's influence and that she did not like the spirit she was becoming. She told me that she hated watching the other spirits get abused, that she yearned to be free of humans entirely so she would never have to see such cruelty again. Her last words before she was summoned was that she hated humans and wanted to be free of humans entirely.

"It was with those parting words and much debate that I came up with a plan to grant her wish and end her suffering. Consulting my trusted friend and advisor I waited for her mage to fall asleep and sent Pegasus to him with orders to plant the idea of how to summon me in his head. When Jean woke up he called upon Polaris telling her that he had an idea of how to make all of their dreams come true and asked her one question 'do you trust me?' When she nodded he held out her key and pushed most of his remaining magic into her key ordering for the Spirit King to appear. Polaris watched in horror as she saw the cracks appear on her key, slowly fading away with each piece that broke off, until she was gone completely as her shattered key fell to the ground. She knew what a broken key meant, she had seen it happen once before. Once a key is broken that spirit's gate is permanently sealed shut, no longer allowing them access to Earthland.

"As I had been watching the whole thing I was waiting for her when she returned, tears pouring down her face. 'You're free now, just as you wanted.' I said to her as I took her in my arms. Expecting her to be happy I was surprised when she yanked herself out of my arms and ran away from me. Although Pegasus and I were concerned we knew it had been for the best, not only for her but for myself as well. I had grown tired of the endless days, and wanted to follow my wife and join her in the stars of Earthland, devoid of the responsibilities that were attached with being king."

For a moment Mustache Man starred off into the distance, collecting himself so he could continue with his tale. I could tell that he had been holding his emotions at bay whenever he mentioned Polaris. I couldn't imagine what he had been going through, to watch not only watch his friends being treated like crap, but his daughter too. I wanted to go to him and comfort him but I knew now was not the time.

Before be started up again he shifted his gaze to me, as if looking for something in my eyes. Whatever he had been looking for, he had found it because he gave me a nod and spoke. "The first couple of days showed vast improvement in her attitude and socialization with the other spirits. After a month of no complaints I thought that everything thing had been resolved and that Polaris had reverted back to her old self. No longer worried about my daughter I made plans to leave for a week in Spirit World time. Giving her the chance to prove herself to me and others that she was ready to take my place as ruler of the Spirit World.

"Not even four days into my vacation I received an urgent message from Leo, requesting I come back immediately. Given that Leo wasn't one for dramatics back then I made due haste and returned with Pegasus in tow. We were horrified to see the kingdom devoid of the happy spirits we had left. While I made my way to my house I released the spirits that were in chains and healed the ones that needed it. Entering my house I took in my destroyed living room. On the wall farthest from me I saw Leo chained to the wall, struggling to get free to stop Polaris who was too busy to notice my return. She was enjoying herself as she used Fleuve d'etoiles to whip both Leon, Leo's little brother and Aries into unconsciousness.

"My darling daughter, torturing our family, our people - I couldn't believe it, but how could I ignore what was right in front of me? Shutting down my thoughts I struck her down and restrained her with anti-magic rope within seconds. When she looked up at me I could see that she had no remorse or guilt for what she had done, she was just angry that she had been interrupted. Leaving her hog tied on the floor I healed the three spirits and told all but Leo to leave.

"In the four days I was gone she had turned our once happy kingdom into hell. There wasn't a spirit who hadn't been affected by her sadistic nature. Apparently she had been lying when she cried about wanting to be free of humans, she just wanted to avoid further suspicion. Because of that she grew extremely angry and resentful that she could not, and would never again be able to return to Earthland and her mage.

"Planning her revenge she began contacting the spirits that were contracted to similar mages as Jean. She was able to persuade the six of them to follow her and help her find a way to return to overthrow me and gain control of both worlds, just as Jean had wanted. Given that their mages were almost as bad as Jean they weren't hard to persuade. With their help she was able to convince the dark mages of Earthland that she was a Goddess and commanded they do everything in their power to do her bidding.

"When everything was in place she was able to preform one of our forbidden spells, one that allowed a Spirit or person absorb any and all magic; in short it turns the user into a black hole. It was because of this spell and her six lackeys that the Zodiac were unable to stop her or warn their mages to stay away from the dark mages who acted as a conduit for Polaris. Every time a mage was defeated and killed their magic was absorbed and then transferred to Polaris. Since the Spirit World is entirely made up of magic that supplies all spirits everyone who dared to defy Polaris was weakened, until they were no longer able to put up much of a resistance. Which is how she gained control of everyone so quickly.

"Realizing the seriousness of the situation and seeing how so many spirits had been affected by the spell I had no choice but to seal away my daughter so she couldn't hurt anyone again. In order to do that we needed to get her out of the spirit world and to a place where she would be the weakest; Earthland was that place, since the only way to get Spirit Magic was through a Celestial Mage. Finding the strongest Celestial Mages that I trusted enough for the task I had them preform several hundred spells that would layer her prison with the strongest defenses that would prevent any more absorption, or transference of magic...

"As for her six lackeys Corvo, Draco, Nick, Ele, Ayla and Ayame they were also banished to Earthland, with only a fraction of their magic available to them until they atoned for their sins. Because of their actions were greatly influenced by their masters and Polaris I gave them an out, a way to return to the spirit world. If they could completely learn to care about someone other than themselves and willingly put themselves in danger for the greater good then they would be forgiven. That has yet to happen though... so they remain stuck in their animal forms wandering Earthland.

"Unfortunately the six original mages that began following Polaris were able to find her prison somehow. Combining the last of their magic they canceled out some of the key spells that held the rest in place, allowing for small traces of magic to leak through. Due to their actions the seal has had to be sealed every 20 years, but in recent years the time between the reinforcement has decreased...

"And that's where your mom comes in. I personally asked her if she would be willing to help reinforce the spells like I had done many times before. At that time she was the most powerful Celestial Mage that had a pure heart and wanted nothing but the best for everyone. It was because of her ability to summon her three Zodiacs at once that I thought that she could handle it... I was unaware of how much magic Polaris had gained, and how weak her seals had actually gotten that I was not prepared for Polaris to attack your mother and plant the spell of absorption upon her. You know what happens after that..." He finished with a huge sigh, enough to send my hair flying all over the for the momentary distraction I processed what I had been just told and did something I hadn't done before.

Slowly, I got up from my chair and made my way to Mustache Man. Although he had downsized he was still taller than Laxus by at least a foot, which means that when I put my arms around him and leaned my head upon his belly it was kind of awkward. I just stood there not caring that he didn't return my hug, I wanted to make him feel like he had someone he could lean of if he needed, that he was not at fault for all of this. If what he says is true about Polaris then she would have used that spell eventually, and the results would be almost identical.

"You don't need to apologize, you did nothing wrong. All you wanted was for your daughter to be happy and when that didn't work you took action and prevented her from continuing with her plan. As for my mom's death I know she would not want you to blame yourself. It was and is all on Polaris. Everyone has a choice, she chose to become evil long before her key had been broken." Looking up at him I smiled "you're a great king."

"Now about that favor?"

"Right... I need you to end Polaris after you have gathered all of the Jeweled Keys." He said it as if it was no big deal.

"Uh... when you say end, do you mean end, end? As in END?" I questioned as I gulped. I can't kill anything, not only does Fairy Tail not allow such things, I don't want to kill someone! Least of all a spirit!

"Yes end. If you're worried about it a spirit never truly dies, they just join the rest of the stars in your sky and continue to watch over their family and friends until the time comes. But if its something you really can't and don't want to do don't worry I can try to find another way to end this." He said with another big sigh.

At the thought of another person taking on this burden I shouted "No, I can do it. I will do it."

I wasn't too keen on 'ending' someone, even if they don't truly die, but I knew that if I didn't do it Mustache Man might take it upon himself to do it and I couldn't do that to him, or the Spirit World. If he had the absorption spell cast on him everyone would be doomed. Great I haven't even finished the quest yet and I've already gotten myself into more hot water.

As if he read my mind he answered my prayers for one of my many problems. "Here is a small jar of Celestial Water from my springs, it will replenish your magic. Use it sparingly because this is all you are going to get. Two drops is all you need to completely replenish your supply. Be safe my friend, I will help you when I can." He said right before he disappeared and everything turned back to normal, except for the fact that instead of leaning on Mustache Man I was not face down on the spot he had occupied.

"What a great help you are! I didn't even get to ask any questions" I growled as I pushed myself up, only to see everyone staring at me as if I was crazy. Plastering on a fake smile I stoop up, packed my stuff and threw some jewels on the table before I left to find a secluded spot to make a contract with Corvo.

AN: Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought. If you have any questions lmk.

A big thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favored and followed! I love you all!

The Reaping Wolf: *blushes* Thanks! I love your Emotionless fic!

Moonlight Starlove: Thanks! Glad you are enjoying it. =]

artisofthemind: Yes and no. Lol. He reminded her of Makarov so she couldn't resist helping! Was it the smartest thing to do? No, but at least her heart is in the right place. :)

shika93: Thanks!