An: Hey guys I'm back from vacation! I didn't get as much writing done as I had hoped but I did get some done. =] It was weird being away from my computer for those four days… I've grown accustomed to being on it daily now.

Hope you like this chapter.

Lucy POV

The loud snoring coming from my couch a few feet away had woken me up from my peaceful sleep. For the past hour I have been trying to go back to sleep, but the incessant noise prevented me from doing so. You would think I would have grown accustomed to the sound of snores within my apartment since Laxus had been staying here for the past three days, but it still annoyed me to no end. When Laxus had said that Master wanted him to stay the night I had thought it was only going to be for one night, but when Laxus appeared the next night and the night after that I was shocked. The first night I hadn't minded, but by last night I was wondering when Makarov was going to consult me on the subject of my safety.

Since my return to Fairy Tail I haven't had a single moment to myself. When I wasn't at home with my new pal Laxus, I was being swarmed by everyone at the guild. The most persistent of them all was my team, of course. They refused to leave me alone, sticking to my side as if they expected me to disappear again. For the past three days they have been bugging me about going out on a mission, but each time Master or Laxus caught wind of it they would make up some excuse as to why I couldn't go, sometimes going as far as locking me in the office with them for hours at a time. At this point I was debating telling my team everything about Polaris since my life wouldn't be much different than it currently was. The whole point of not telling them yet was so I could be free to come and go as I pleased, instead Master and Laxus had effectively prevented me from going anywhere without protection, just as my team would have done. Although I hated the lack of time to myself I dealt with their constant worrying, knowing that they did it because they had missed me and that they did so because they love me.

The only time I was able to leave their sight was when Rogue and I went down into the library, and that was only because Natsu, Erza and Gray were banned from entering the library because of the likely hood of them fighting and destroying what books were left. While we stayed in the library we talked about what was happening; he knew that they didn't know yet and understood why I kept it from them. But when he had learned that I had an unexpected roommate he grew quiet and had stalked out of the library suddenly. His abrupt departure had left me wondering why he would be bothered by Laxus staying with me. It didn't take me long to think of why he would be bothered, but I didn't know if that was just wishful thinking. Deciding that it was ridiculous to constantly wonder how he felt about me I decided that I would put myself out there and make the first move, and tell him how I felt about him.

That had been last night, but when I went looking for him after leaving the library I hadn't been able to find him. So today I was determined to find and speak to him.

A particularly loud snore had me rolling my eyes and burying my head under my pillow. This had got to stop! Peeking out from underneath my pillow I saw the time and jumped out of bed. "Laxus. Laxus! Wake up!" I yelled scrambling to the back of the couch so I could shake him. "Spark Plug, stop snoring and get up!"

"Buzz off." He mumbled as he burrowed deeper into the couch and resumed his snoring.

"I will not buzz off. This is the day you promised to find a request that we could go on with my team. Plus I want to get to the guild early so I can talk to you and master before everyone else gets there." I said, leaving out my need to speak to Rogue. When he still didn't move I went to the kitchen and reached into the freezer to pull out an ice tray. Without warning I felt a hand on my arm preventing me from pulling the tray out fully.

"What did I tell you yesterday Blondie?" He growled out as he pried the tray out of my hands. Not waiting around to have Laxus follow through with yesterday's warning I tried to run past him, only to be stopped by a muscular arm around my stomach, lifting my feet a couple of inches off of the ground, preventing me from escaping.

"Haha… technically I didn't dump them on you so there is no need for you to retaliate." I said nervously halting my struggle, trying to stop my impending ice bath.

"But you were about to do it Blondie, that's just as bad as actually doin' it." He guffawed, stull trying to get the ice out of the tray one handed. Growing frustrated with it, he slammed it on the counter causing the ice to shatter and fall out of the tray.

"You're blonde too Spark Plug! Ahhhh…cold!" I screeched, as ice was shoved down the back of my night shirt. Kicking and screaming I was able to land a kick on his shin and was released with a loud roar. "That wa…was no…no…not nice Laxus." Stuttering out as I jumped up and down trying to get all of the ice to drop out from my shirt.

Receiving a shrug in return I growled at him in mock anger before running to the bathroom to take a warm bath and rid my body of the chills; grabbing the clothes I had set out last night on the way. Unfortunately I couldn't take a leisurely bath as I usually did, not if I wanted to get to the guild before everyone else. Once the tub was three quarters full I got in, sinking down so the water was just beneath my nose, letting the heat of the water chase the chills away. Utterly relaxed, I laid in the bath letting my mind go blank for the first time in forever. It was nice to have a moment to stop all of the worrying thoughts that ran through my head at full speed when I was around my guild mates. The danger they were in constantly weighed on my mind and I wished that there was something I could do right now, but until Levy and Freed deciphered the books I had brought, we had no leads. It was frustrating, just sitting here, trapped and doing nothing. To make things worse there were barely any requests being sent to the guild because of our horrendous reputation.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go on a mission with my team was so I could check the magic shops to see if by some miracle they had any new keys, because the one in town didn't. In the seven years that we were gone the owner hadn't seen a single key. He even told me that they were becoming even more rare and expensive – probably the work of Polaris' followers. I just hoped that most of the keys were able to escape their grasp and were still out there, unbroken.

A slight pull on my powers was all the warning I had before Loke appeared next to the tub. "You're Prince has arrived!" he announced, shooting off tiny fireworks, in the shape of hearts, with his hands.

Sinking further into the bubbles so he wouldn't be able to see any part of me besides my head and arms that were crossed over my chest I glared at his interruption of my relaxing bath. Releasing a sound that was only reserved for moments like this I growled at him, "Loke, what have I said about popping in while I'm in the bathroom? Get out!"

Kneeling on the ground, he sat there glancing from the bubbles to my annoyed face. "But my love…"

"Don't 'my love' me Loke. I'll give you five seconds to remove yourself from this room before I promise to tell Erza about this visit and the many other visits. I'm sure she would come up with some way to punish you for your attempt on my virtue." I said evilly, knowing that Erza was still on the top of the list of people he feared the most. "Five."

"But-"

"Four."

"Princess-"

"Three."

"Okay fine."

"Two."

"IjustwantedtotellyouthatLibraPiciesandOphiuchuswerewonderingifyouwereevergoingtocallthem."

"…What did you say?" I asked as Loke disappeared from the bathroom in a glow of light. Sighing in annoyance at his sudden departure I quickly finished my bath and got dressed. Stupid Loke.

Once I was dressed I stepped out of the bathroom to find Loke and Laxus whispering across the room, but they grew silent when they saw me standing outside of the bathroom.

"…Is everything alright guys?" I asked as they parted and Laxus left my apartment without a word of goodbye. Following his exit with my eyes I turned to Loke confused. "What did you say to him Loke?"

Waving away my question he changed the subject. "Your three new spirits have been asking me when you're going to make a contract with them. It's almost been a week since you've gained possession of their keys and they're getting worried that you don't want to make a contract with them after what happened with their previous master. But I assured them that the past didn't matter and that you would have no problem making a contract with them."

Oh crap, how could I forget to make contracts with them? Sighing at how scattered my mind has been recently, I resigned myself to getting to the guild much later than I wanted. "Thanks, I'll get right on that." Grabbing everything that I would need for the day I ran out the door, locking it as I went.

Surprisingly Laxus was nowhere to be seen when I left the building. "What did you say to Laxus, Loke?"

"Nothing." He said, stubbornly looking away.

"Loke, come on. Laxus is just trying to help me out by following Master's orders."

At that he turned his head, looking at me in disbelief. "Do you really think Master would have had Laxus stay with you, instead of one of your team mates? He isn't following any orders; he made the decision to stay over himself."

"Well…that was nice of him…" Shocked and touched that Laxus had took it upon himself to protect me, I resumed our walk in silence thinking about everything he had done to ensure I was safe. In addition to having Freed set up runes around my apartment building, and the guild, he had escorted me to and from the guild, zapping to the office when we had arrived. Accompanying me on what must have seemed like silly errands, to the magic shops in town and the park so I could get some training in at night; all the while watching over me, bored out of his mind.

Making it to the grassy clearing at the edge of town, keeping the town to our backs. With Loke out, taking up some of my magic I knew that he couldn't stay out and protect me if I were to summon the three spirits in quick succession. As if he had known that, that would be the case he looked at the line of trees in front of us, staring at something. Following his gaze I saw a familiar spiky blonde head of hair standing just outside of town. With a nod of his head Loke vanished, returning back to the Spirit World. From the distance Laxus stood, waiting and watching. Ignoring his presence I focused

"I am connected with the path to the Celestial Spirit World. Heed my call! Pass through the gate! Open, Gate of the Paired Fish! Pisces!" Instantly the two giant fish appeared and turned to face Laxus baring their teeth. "Whoa, no, no, no. He's with me." I said, running to stand in between them. Focusing all of my attention on Pisces, I motioned behind me with my hand telling Laxus to approach slowly. Feeling Laxus touch my hand I grabbed ahold of him and dragged him to my side. "See, he's a friend."

Transforming into their other form once their perceived danger had passed they bowed their heads to me. "Master, sorry for threatening you're… friend."

"That's alright; I should have had him standing closer to me so this misunderstanding wouldn't have happened. I'm sorry that it took me so long for me to summon you, I've been busy lately and my mind has been scattered. Would you like to make a contract with me?"

"Yes, it would be our pleasure to serve you, Master."

"Please don't call me that, I want to be your friend. I know it may seem strange to call me something other than master but I honestly prefer it that way. Most of my spirits call me Princess, but if you would like to do differently you can call me Lucy or almost anything else. Now, what days are you available?"

"Mas- Lu- Princess we are available everyday besides Saturdays and Sundays." The man answered without consulting the women beside him.

"Does that work for both of you?" I asked looking to the woman, with a nod of her head I dropped the subject. "And what should I call you? Do you two have names?"

"You may refer to us as Mom and Son or Pisces. We do not have any other names."

"Okay... What are your powers? Anything I didn't see during our earlier fight?"

"We have exceptional hand to hand combat abilities when our magic fails to do the job-" Son started and Mom finished "which happens very rarely. In addition to that I have great control over water, second to Aquarius." She said proudly.

Jumping with joy on the inside I thought of all of the attempting drownings I could avoid by summoning Pisces instead of Aquarius. "Wonderful! Thank you, I will be sure to summon you two soon." I said with a wave and a smile as they disappeared. Once they were gone I continued my celebration by literally jumping up and down.

Seeing Laxus look at me as if I had lost my mind I halted my movements and smiled "sorry bout that I'm just happy that I have another water spirit so I don't have to bug Aquarius all of the time." I explained

Returning to my original spot I made sure Laxus was close by so he wouldn't be mistaken as an enemy again. "I am connected with the path to the Celestial Spirit World. Heed my call! Pass through the gate! Open, Gate of the Heavenly Scales! Libra!

"Good morning Libra! Sorry it took me so long to summon you. As you've probably guessed I've been really busy lately. If you are still up for it I would love to make a contact with you."

Watching her closely I saw her nod her head slightly, the movement was so small that I would have missed it if I hadn't seen the veil over the bottom of her face shift. Making sure that I continued to watch her I continued my spiel of making a contract. The only day she wasn't available was Wednesday. Unlike any magic I had come into contact with she was able to control the gravity surrounding herself and her of all of the situations where Team Natsu got surrounded by the enemy and had no choice but to fight our way out, I imagined how easy it would be to get out those situations with her magic.

Thanking her before closing her gate I realized that I now had a contract with all twelve of the Zodiacs. Mama would have loved to see this. I thought holding all of the gold keys in my hand. I promise I'll defeat Polaris, and avenge your death.

"Oi, Lucy you all right?" Laxus asked with a hand on my shoulder.

Bobbing my head up and down I put the Zodiac keys back onto my belt and grabbed the last key of the last spirit I needed to make a contract with. "I am connected with the path to the Celestial Spirit World. Heed my call! Pass through the gate! Open, Gate of the Snake Charmer! Ophiuchus!" Instead of appearing in a flash of golden light the sky above us darkened going from a clear blue sky to a clouded black sky. Descending from the clouds, Ophiuchus landed in coils around my body, separating me from Laxus.

Seeing sparks coming from Laxus I shouted over the roar of the winds. "It's alright Laxus, just remain calm and don't try to attack Ophiuchus." Seeing the sparks die down I turned back to the giant snake that surrounded me. "Hello Ophiuchus, would you like to make a contract with me?"

It raised its head and looked down at me before it spoke. "Yesss Massster."

"You can call me Lucy, I would rather be thought of as one of your friends rather than your master." I said, placing one of my hands its metallic body.

"Assss you wissssh." It said before suddenly tightening its body around me, making it impossible to see anything beyond his mechanical body.

"Lucy! Luc- oh shit!" I heard Gray shouting form beyond Ophiuchus' body. "Lucy are you alright?"

"I'm a little busy right now Gray can this wait?"

"Not really, Master is calling an emergency meeting at the guild, he needs all of us there asap."

Sighing at being interrupted I apologized to Ophiuchus for cutting our meeting short before I closed its gate. When I asked Gray what had happened he just shook his head and ran in silence back to the guild. It was times like these that I was glad that Capricorn had insisted that I at least increase my stamina during our training, making me run laps around the park and Sabertooth, when I had been there.

"Gramps what's the meanin' of this?" Laxus thundered as we entered the guild, none of us phased from the run across town.

The old man was standing on top of the bar as per usual, except this time he was pacing back and forth, with a crease of worry and anger in the middle of his forehead. "About ten minutes ago we got a distress call from Sabertooth, asking for assistance. Apparently a group of dark mages attacked them in order to release one of their own from the dungeons... Sabertooth didn't do so well against them, their guild is burning as we speak and the dark mages have promised death for everyone that's apart of the guild. Also their master was terribly wounded in the fight and needs to be healed asap."

Gasping in horror because it was my fault that they had been attacked. "We have to go help them!" I stepped up to the bar, staring at him pleadingly.

"We will my child. We just have to figure out what teams to send out and where we are going to house them once they get here. We don't have the space we once did before we disappeared if you hadn't noticed."

Without thinking I offered up the reward money I had been planning on using to buy back the Heartfilia Mansion. "I have 5 million jewels, use it to pay off the debts and buy our old guild building back, then we will have plenty of space for them." I said quickly writing out my account information so he could withdraw the necessary amount. Holding out the paper to Master I watched as his mouth dropped open and he floundered, not knowing what to say.

"Where did you get all of that?" Natsu asked equally shocked.

"That doesn't matter now." Shoving the paper into Master's hands I looked around the guild for Rogue and Sting. "Has anybody seen Rogue or Sting?

"We haven't seen them since last night." Gray shrugged before confirming with Erza that they would be joining in on the fight.

"I saw the four of them walking out of town in the dead of night I tried calling out to them, but they must have not heard me." Lisanna said from her spot at the bar. "Rogue didn't say anything to you before he left Lucy?"

"…no he didn't." I said, shaking my head free of unwanted thoughts of why he would leave without telling me. Making sure not to react to the news I pretend that his sudden departure didn't affect me, quite as much as it did. Feeling a hand on my back I leaned back into Natsu's arm. "It's alright, maybe their guild called them back knowing that they would be attacked." I said hopefully.

"I'm sorry Lucy, but Sabertooth was asking for them when he called. They haven't been able to get into contact with them."

Stuck between worry for the four of them and fury that Rogue hadn't said goodbye before he left, I towards the doors, shoving aside anyone who stood in my way. Mentally calling for Draco before I exited the building I felt a huge pull on my magic and knew that he had taken his normal form and awaited further instructions. When I slammed the doors open I heard several people calling out my name, telling me to wait for everyone else before I left, but I only had one thing on my mind right now and that was helping Sabertooth and making sure Rogue was alright. With a running leap I flung myself onto Draco's neck right before he took off.

In the end worry overpowered my anger as I clung to Draco's neck, pleading to who ever was listening to watch over them.

AN: Sorry to leave it at a cliff hanger of sorts. I didn't want to make this chapter much longer than it already was. Good news though, is that I have already begun writing chapter 22 and will post it on Wednesday!

Let me know what you thought of the chapter, please and thank you!

I just wanted to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, favored and followed this fic! 3

Moonlight Starlove: Yay! I'm glad. =]

GemNika: Thanks! And thanks for the reminder that I hadn't included when and how Laxus had been reinstated as a mage of Fairy Tail. =] Because of you Lucy and Laxus got to spend more time together... If only this were a LaLu lol

halobeast: :D