Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.

Centuries Ago in Remnant

"Lucy, darling… come here for a moment." A frail Layla called to her as a young Lucy approached her.

"Mommy, are you going to be okay?"

"I will be fine, sweetheart. The doctors told me that this illness will pass… it just took a lot more out of me than everyone had anticipated. I'll be fine…"

"Okay!"

Layla hid her sadness from her eyes. In actuality, the illness was more serious than anyone had anticipated. The doctors came back with test results and said the illness was terminal and she had not long to live. However, Layla held her head up high.

"Layla, you're dying. How are you so… calm?"

"I've lived a good life, but Lucy's life is just beginning. So please, do me a favor and do not let Jude know about my passing, doctor. She does not need to go back into that horrid life where she will be forced to do wicked things to Faunus."

"When will you tell her?"

"She will know when I am not long for this life… I do not want her to worry."

"Where would you want Lucy to be?"

"Someplace where she will be happy… because that will make me the happiest."

"She could always stay in the guild here in Atlas."

"Snowfall? That could be arranged, yet… I dunno… I feel like she would want to be somewhere else. That and I don't trust the guild master as far as I can throw him. Something feels… off about him lately."

"Understandable."

Layla forced a smile, looking at her daughter. "There's something I've been meaning to give you." She said as Lucy looked on in anticipation. She handed her a key ring holding several keys.

"Your keys?" Lucy asked as the keys glowed alongside her hands as Lucy felt an aura surrounding her. She let out a gasp. "Aura…?"

"I had a feeling… these keys have accepted you. They have unlocked your semblance, my darling."

"Whoa…"

"Go on, try one out…"

Lucy looked through the various keys, spotting one that she particularly liked. "What's this one?"

"Oh, that one? Her name is Aquarius. You can only call her out when the key is touching water." She explained and pointed to a cup of water. "Try it out and say: "Open: Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius".

"Okay!" Lucy smiled and placed the key into the cup of water. "Open! Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!"

The key glowed brightly as a blue haired woman having fish fins on both sides of her hair and was wearing a bikini. Lucy looked on in surprise and in awe.

"...Really? A cup of water?" Aquarius asked in annoyance, her hand on her hip. "Layla, I love you, but that was the best you could do?"

"That wasn't me who did it."

"Huh?" Aquarius turned her head to the awe-struck Lucy. "...This little runt?"

"That "runt" is my daughter."

"You're kiddin'..." Her eyes widened in realization. "Wait a second! You're giving your keys to your daughter?"

"Yes."

"Is that such a good idea? I mean… considering some Grimm ambushed you and key-napped some of your keys-"

"She'll be fine. I still have you, Taurus, Cancer, Capricorn-"

"Yeah, but you lost people like Gemini, Leo, Virgo… hell, you lost my BOYFRIEND for crying out loud!"

"Oh, I've a feeling Lucy'll find them. Think of it like a scavenger hunt." Layla winked. "...Lucy?"

"Oh my gosh, I summoned a Fish Faunus. Cool!"

A cross vein appeared on Aquarius's forehead. "Hey. Kid? I'm a mermaid."

"Funny, you don't look like one."

"I am too!"

"Where's your tail? Mermaids have tails!" She pointed out. "Plus, don't they have star fish on their boobs?"

Layla snickered, trying her best not to laugh while Aquarius facepalmed. "Oi… you sure this is a good idea sharing me with the runt?"

"I'm positive."

Aquarius sighed. "Alright, if you say so…" She shook her head and glared at Lucy. "Just don't summon me from anything stupid, alright?"

"Okay!" Lucy smiled as Aquarius disappeared. "Let's see… what else-"

"Oh, I forgot to mention… since you just started out, using your semblance will use up a lot of your aura, so it's best to summon one at a time. However, as you grow and become stronger, you may summon multiple Celestial Spirits."

Lucy still had a smile. "Okay~!"

A few nights later, with Layla severely weak…

Lucy was in the middle of her bath, humming to herself before an idea popped into her head. She had to admit, she was pretty bored… so she grabbed her keys that she set aside and dipped the key into the tub. "Open! Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!"

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me…" Aquarius complained. "Seriously! Why the HELL did you summon me in a bathtub! You could've called me up in a lake or the ocean… hell, you could've put me in snow for all I care!"

"I wanted a playmate…"

Aquarius facepalmed. "A playmate?! Are you for real? Why not just get one of your friends here in Atlas and they could easily play in the tub with you?"

Lucy looked down in sadness. "I don't have any friends… and… mommy is still sick, so she won't play in the tub with me…"

Aquarius's face softened. "...You… don't have any friends?"

"I used to… when I still lived with daddy but… ever since mommy taught me to treat Faunus with respect… no one wanted to be around me…" She teared up. "I'm… so lonely…"

Aquarius frowned. "Lucy…" An idea came to her head. "One sec." She took off running, leaving Lucy alone.

"Great… even the fish abandoned me." She sighed, but then she heard footsteps as Aquarius came back with a load of bath toys as Lucy's eyes sparkled. "You came back!"

Aquarius put the toys down, smirking mischievously. "Uh oh… what's this?" She pulled out a toy shark. "Dun dun~ Dun dun~ Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun~"

"Oh no! I need to get into my boat for safety!" Lucy said, trying to have her toy boat sail away.

"You're gonna need a bigger boat!"

"Aaaah! Save me!" Lucy giggled, unaware that Aquarius was giving her a soft smile as a result.

The next day…

"Mommy!" Lucy walked into her room. "It's time to wake up~! You slept in too long!" She said, gently shaking. "Mom? …Mommy, are you okay? Why aren't you waking up? Mom? Mom? MOOOOOM!"

Half an hour later…

"Open… gate of the water bearer… Aquarius…"

"Ugh, a fish tank? Well, it's better than a bathtub I suppo-... are you lonely again?"

"It's worse…" Lucy mumbled as Aquarius would see paramedics walking out with a body bag in a stretcher.

"Huh, was there a crime scene in the middle of the night?"

"No… it's… mom…"

"Layla? Pffft, yeah ri-" She paused for a moment, recalling the last time she had seen Layla was in bed, looking rather frail after passing the keys to her, then remembered Lucy saying her mother was sick. She walked over to the body bag. "Hey, mind if I see that body bag for a sec?"

"Sure." One of the paramedics opened it up as Aquarius looked in and put her hand over her mouth in shock.

"Layla?!" She said in surprise. "...Oh my spirits…" She whispered and turned back to Lucy, walking over to her and wrapped her arms around her as Lucy cried into her chest.

A few hours later…

"Layla is dead?" Jude asked. "Well… I suppose I will just have to collect the child."

"Sir… about that…"

"What, did they put her in an orphanage? If that's the case, I'll just have to go and-"

"No, she ran away. She snuck into a Bullhead and left Atlas. She ran away."

"WHAT?!"

Down in Mantle, Lucy ran through the snow. "I want to be far away from Atlas… I don't want to be with daddy!" She cried as she disappeared into the snowy outskirts.

Several years later…

BGM: Lucy's Theme (Fairy Tail)

"Soooo, let me get this straight." Natsu spoke up. "Your semblance consists of summoning these Celestial Spirits from another realm-"

"Uh-huh."

"-Most of them are Faunus, Virgo being the exception since she doesn't have a faunus trait… that we know of anyway."

"Mhm."

Natsu and Happy looked at each other, then back at Lucy. "Luce, I hate to break it to ya, but you practically have Faunus slaves."

"WHAT?! Don't be ridiculous! They're not slaves!"

"Virgo's outfit begs to differ." Happy pointed out. "Plus, aren't maids technically slaves? You definitely have Faunus slaves."

"Yeah!" Natsu agreed. "It's kinda hard not to think like that considering Virgo is, oh, what is she again? A maid!"

"I don't have Faunus slaves!" Lucy turned to Gray. "Gray, back me up here!"

"Let's see, you currently have a Bull Faunus that has the hots for you, a goat faunus that's experienced in hand to hand combat, Loke, who turned out to be Leo, is a Lion faunus. A crab faunus that is a hell of a barber, Virgo is a maid, Aquarius is a fish faunus, the last one you collected is Saggitarius, who is a horse faunus."

"Mhm." Lucy nodded. "And what do you think?"

Gray rubbed his chin. "That you're a slave driver?"

"WHAT?!"

"Thank you!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Think about it. You may have been raised to treat Faunus with respect, but you still own them as slaves."

"They are NOT slaves! Erza! Knock some sense into them!"

"Now boys, let's be nice to her." Erza ate a piece of strawberry shortcake. "Besides, she calls them up at her beck and call, she has them help her out and… she… orders them to come… out and… and…" Erza put her hand to her chin. "Come to think of it, it does sound like she's enslaved those Faunus…"

"OH COME ON!" Lucy yelled.

"Your mother was like this too, right? Guess slavery runs in the family." Happy said.

"SHE WAS NOT A SLAVE DRIVER, YOU IDIOT!"

"Are you sure~?"

"Gaaah, you guys are hopeless!" Lucy groaned. "I can assure you that they are not slaves and I'm not a crazy slave driver!"

"Sure, if it helps you sleep at night." Natsu chuckled, as several cross veins appeared on Lucy's forehead.

End BGM

Later, an hour after the Dragon King Festival…

Lucy sat on the edge of the small ledge behind the guild, her feet dipping in the water as tears ran down her cheeks. "Hey." A voice called to her as Lucy looked over to see Aquarius sitting down next to her.

"Hey…"

"Loke told us what happened." She put her hand on her shoulder. "He was a loud, obnoxious knucklehead, but… he was your loud, obnoxious knucklehead."

"Yeah…" Lucy sniffed. "We didn't just lose Natsu… but… Gray, Erza, Gajeel, Elfman…" She teared up. "We lost a good few huntsmen and huntresses but… Team Natsu's been gutted. It's just me and Wendy at this point! And Laxus… he… he's trapped in some eternal crystal!"

Aquarius looked down at her belly. "How long have you had the bun in the oven?"

"It's almost been nine months…"

Aquarius looked away. "I see… so Salem had that big guy attack at the worst moment." She said.

"...Do you… think I'll have what it takes to raise a kid as a single mother?"

"Hey, if Layla could manage to raise a dork like you on her own, I'm sure you could handle it." Aquarius said as more tears fell. "Don't worry… we'll make sure to help you out."

"You… you'd want to help out raising my kid?"

Aquarius smiled. "Like the saying goes… it takes a village. Or in this case, it takes a celestial village." She said, hearing a soft giggle from Lucy.

"Thanks Aquarius…" She put her hand over her heart. "It hurts…"

Aquarius hugged her. "It's going to be okay… all of us will get through this."

Several years later…

Lucy finished up writing her novel and then looked up to the sky, where an idea popped into her head and looked over to her daughter, who had blonde hair but had red highlights, wore a blue shirt with fire painted on it with "I'm all fired up!" written on it, the Fairy Tail mark on her neck which was blue, and she was wearing red shorts. She was reading through a book to her heart's content.

"Lumari, can you come here for a sec?"

"Okay!" Lumari walked over to her. "What's up?"

"I'd… like to give you something." She then pulled out her Celestial keys and put them in her hand.

Lumari's eyes widened as aura shined in her hands. "You… why are you handing me my aunts and uncles?"

"I figured it was time… time for you to summon them and unlock your aura." She said as Lumari looked around and spotted a fish tank, dipping the key in the water.

"Open! Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!"

"Ugh, couldn't this have waited? I was about to go on a date with Scorp-"

"Aunt Aquarius, look!"

"Hmm?" Aquarius looked at her. "Oh hey, you're able to summon me no-" She flashbacked to what happened last time. "Excuse me for a moment." She grabbed Lucy's arm.

"Whoa!"

Aquarius pulled her into the other room where Lumari was out of earshot. "You're not dying, are you?"

"What? No, I'm not dying! I'm still perfectly healthy! I just figured it was time for her to unlock her semblance and she would be able to summon you guys."

Aquarius sighed. "Ya know, I never would have imagined this semblance of yours would be hereditary, but then again, Layla's great grandmother passed it down to her, then to Layla… then you." She shook her head.

"I just figured it was time. Besides, if something were to happen to me, I could pass you guys on to my daughter."

"I suppose that makes sense… at least she has a better sense of summoning me in better places than, say… a sink or a cup of water unlike you."

Lucy sweatdropped. "Still holding that over my head, are you…" She mumbled.

Aquarius chuckled. "Someone has to." She said.

"Aunt Aquarius, come look at this drawing I've made!"

"Coming!" Aquarius walked over as Lucy smiled, then looked over at a portrait of Natsu. She gently caressed the painting with a smile.

"Knew you'd be proud of our daughter, hot head." She said and walked off.

Several centuries later, three days before the events of 3D Land

Laxus dug through Lucy's old home, which was now his home that Ozpin had kept intact just in case. "Where the devil are they…" He wondered, searching through the attic. He then pulled out his scroll. "Hey gramps, I got a question."

"Yes?"

"Do you know what happened to Lucy's celestial keys? I've been searching but I can't find them. I tried Atlas, I tried my home… I even searched through Beacon."

"Oh, right… you see, when Lucy had passed on, her daughter, Lumari, decided to move to a different area because staying at home felt disheartening for her."

"That makes sense. Where did she move to?"

"Vacuo."

"Oh, that's nice… wait, WHAT DO YOU MEAN VACUO?!"

In Vacuo…

In Tatsumi's home, specifically the attic, celestial keys lay dormant on a dusty coffee table. At that moment, a Klefki moved around the home, curious to see what was inside of it.

Once it moved up into the attic, it spotted the dusty keys. Its eyes sparkled as it moved toward said keys and eagerly collected them. "Klef Klef!"

Tatsumi…

"Klef?"

Take us to Tatsumi…

Klefki tilted its body. It didn't know what a Tatsumi even was, yet an image of Tatsumi appeared in its mind. "Klef… Klef!"

Klefki escaped through a chimney and took off… completely unaware of where Tatsumi might be.

The keys are-a coming, Tatsumi! By Klefki!

Ibuki: Oh Tatsumi-chan, you have some explaining to do~!

Yuuuup! Shout outs to Megan for suggesting this Gaiden!