AN

For the purposes of this work, I will not include any events from the manga after the current anime end (episode 170). This means that the manga will likely contradict information about Yami's homeland when it gets written.

Another thing to add. Yes, I'm switching POVs. As a general rule there shouldn't be more than 1 POV per chapter so its easier to follow along. This also allows me to develop more characters that were underserved by the anime.

Both this chapter and the next will not be from Lucy's POV, even though she is still the MC

Chapter Start

Yami was tired.

Specifically, he was tired of everything.

His squad had caused more mayhem and gotten 4 negative stars this week, Julius was bothering him with ridiculous missions, and some new foreigner was causing him a ton of paperwork.

How difficult was it to get some normalcy, where his squad didn't lose stars and kept the destruction to the hideout, where the most excitement he got was in gambling.

Whatever, if Julius was going to stack up the paperwork he might as get to it and finish quickly. Even speeds of paperwork filling had limits to surpass. Or he may just get Finral to do some of them.

The day had to start somewhere, so he headed down from his bedroom to the cafeteria, where Charmy was already getting her sheep to cook. Soon enough, everyone greeted him.

"Good morning captain," Finral called out.

"Breakfast is ready, la," came from Charmy's direction.

Yami joined in to eat, then afterwards, addressed his squad.

"Ok brats, here's missions for the day. Grey, Gordon, you're on patrol. Magna, Luck, There's been reports of a new dungeon near the ocean east of here, take care of that. Gauche, Charmy, clean up some magical beasts outside Nean. now go."

"Uh captain, where am I going." Finral asked.

"You and Vanessa are staying here. Now, you two are going to tell me about this foreigner you saw a while back in the capital."

"Uh captain, should you be talking about her like that, you're a foreigner too."

"Shut up and get on with it."

Vanessa started out, "what all is there to say about her, she showed up randomly on shore, then we saw her beating down some noble brat. Her magic's not anything we've seen before, she called it Celestial magic, and all her spells seemed to call out to a constellation. She also had some ally in that fight that disappeared into dust when the fight ended."

"All interesting. Well Julius had me, the other foreigner, find out more about her and track her down, so since you two have seen her before, you're coming with me. Any news on where she's gone since."

"Last I heard some Nean resident took her home the night. Do think there was some rumor about her flying straight west from here."

"Well, the exams are coming soon so everyone should be coming in town. You two and me are gonna intercept her and find out what's going on. After that, there's work to do. This paperwork ain't gonna fill itself.

"You got it boss!" they both responded.

Soon after, Finral and Vanessa headed out to scout for any of the girl's whereabouts. At some point in the next week she would have to show up in the capital again. people with that kind of strength would pretty much always try out for the magic knights. This left Yami thinking quite a bit about something that rarely crossed his mind, that being his homeland. The land of the sun was on a faraway continent, so separated from the suit kingdoms that they've never heard of it outside of Yami's existence. Still, one thing they didn't know was where the new girl came from. If she had really been seen shipwrecked outside the capital, it was likely she was from the same continent as the land of the sun. There may actually be another person out there to know of his homeland. Yami didn't think back to his time home much. He had been in Clover since he was a young kid, before receiving his grimoire and everything, but he still remembered some images. The shape of the pagodas where magic and sword fighting was taught, the inside of a classroom where writing was done in characters instead of in letters, even an image of his parents. It wasn't like Yami to think of them often. He knew they were still out there back home, no that wasn't really right. He may have been born there, but Clover was his home now, ever since Julius and William accepted him here. Even still, his parents must be alive somewhere back there, and his mind drifted off in memories.

Yeah, he was going to have to speak with her at some point, wouldn't he. That was the only way to answer his questions. Oh well, that was for another time.

Nearly a week of normal operations passed before the girl was heard of again. Vanessa had apparently caught her coming into town with a smile on her face. Wherever she had gone, it worked out. Well, he would figure that out. Walking into the main hall of the hideout, he called, "Finral, Vanessa, we're going to intercept the other foreigner." Now was the time to meet her for real, and maybe answer those questions about his homeland.

They ended up finding Lucy in a hotel on the corner of town. Clearly, she had obtained some money on whatever mission she did but was still being frugal. Smart, since there was still another week until the magic knight's exams. They quickly noticed she wasn't present. Vanessa asked the hotel manager, who responded saying, "She asked me to point her to the nearest body of water, so she's probably off to the beach. There's one a few blocks south of here.

"I'll get us there immediately. Though, I have to wonder, what would she need a body of water for?" Finral asked.

"I don't know the answer idiot, that's why we're trailing her.

Stepping through the portal, led us to the outside of the beach. This one was not commonplace for visitors, as the beach was small and had a wooded cliff overlooking it. My squad took cover in the trees on the cliff and stared down 20 feet below on the short section of sand, where we found the girl. She was a beauty for sure, with golden hair and a body that could match anyone in clover. She was also radiating strong amounts of magic, a lot more mana than he expected for a person that young. Now to see what she would do. Finral and Vanessa were in place to spy, and then we would come out of hiding once we find out a bit more. For now, it was time to listen in.

Lucy's voice was heard almost immediately saying, "I drained my magic quite a bit summoning two of those silver spirits for new contracts. Luckily, they're all so nice and fit my growing family so well. No, focus Lucy, you still haven't done what you came here to do, Aquarius is waiting. Oh, I hope she's in a good mood today and not on a date."

"What the hell is she talking about with spirits and family," questioned Finral

"Keep watching, we're going to find out, maybe it's her magic." Yami responded.

Lucy's grimoire was out and she started radiating magic. He could feel the mana from far away, and her ki was giving off all kinds of signals, like her entire body was going into this spell. That wasn't normal for most magic. They usually focus on the area of the body the magic goes through, not everything unless it's a mana skin, which coats the whole body. Her raw power was on par with the more gifted nobles, and he was shocked at her just throwing that amount of power on a spell by herself.

She chanted, "I am one connected to the world of spirits. Oh spirit, heed my call and pass through the gate. Celestial spirit magic, open gate of the water bearer, Aquarius!"

The water of the ocean rose up suddenly and created a vortex facing Lucy. The center looked black for a few moments, but then the waves died down and out came Aquarius, notably without her signature sneer. "I shouldn't be surprised you would find my key again brat, you never could leave a friend behind. Don't worry, the cat filled me in on everything."

Lucy looked like she was about to break down in tears. Somehow, she held back and sprang into the mermaid's arms, "I could never leave you behind. I'm so happy you're back Aquarius!" At this point, she sobbed into the mermaid's shoulders, who just held her in embrace.

"You don't need to feel bad. It was my decision to have my key broken, and I always knew you were too stubborn to leave me without trying. Now, if only you could be that stubborn about getting a boyfriend, and you may actually look like a grown up woman for once."

"Don't tease me Aqua, I'm not a kid anymore."

"You'll always be Layla's brat to me."

"God I missed you so much, please come back into contract with me."

"I wouldn't accept it with anyone else. terms are the same as before. I'll be leaving now, make sure you call me out enough, and only when I'm not on dates. Oh, and also do try to find a boyfriend, you really do need one."
"GAH its not like that Aqua."

"I'll always tease you brat. Goodbye for now."

With that, the mermaid disappeared in a flash of gold dust and Lucy was cleaning up her tears of joy after the reunion. It had gone better than she could have ever imagined.

Yami turned to his squadmates and told them, "I think I get her magic now. She summons those spirits who can fight for her, and each summoning takes a ton of magic to pull off. Apparently first times are worse. She also knew that spirit from before and was reuniting with it instead of a first-time meeting. Well, we've learned enough to fill my reports to Julius. I want to go ask her about something."

"Ok go ahead captain, but you know that's not very like you, were you thinking she came from the same place you did?"

"Not at all" I lied. They didn't need to know that.

I stepped out and jumped down the cliff, landing calmly in front of the girl who seemed shocked to see me. Can't say I blamed her.

"Oh, a magic knight here, is there something you needed."

"Yes there is. I'm Yami Sukehiro, captain of the black bulls squad, and I've been looking to meet you for some time now. You're rather elusive, you know. Caused me a ton of paperwork to fill out everything known about you. Your little demonstration of magic there was all I needed to see. It's certainly not a magic I've seen before."

"I wouldn't imagine so that magic was passed down in my family for years, very few others have it, and I know them all. I'm sure there's more you want to ask, go ahead, I don't mind sharing if it's to make sure I'm not a danger to the kingdom I'm in."

"Good to hear that, can I ask where you were the past week?"

"I was looking for my friend's key, as I'm sure you saw if you watched earlier. I found it in a dungeon near the Heart kingdom border."

"That's rather far away!"

"I did what I needed to do. Now that I have some of my keys back, I think I can take on the magic knight exams!"

"You sure about that. I'm one of the graders, and it's tough. We only take the strongest mages out there. We have jobs to do, not act as any random gathering place. You've got to earn it by pushing past your limits. Still, it's happening in a week, and since your homeland is unknown, you're going to be a Clover citizen from now on. You got nowhere else to go, so might as well take it. The wizard king will of course make sure you want the best for the citizens."

"I'll always protect innocent civilians, you can be sure of that!" Lucy exclaimed.

"You have the right mindset at least. Mind telling me where you're from.

"I'm from the kingdom of Fiore, on the continent of Ishgar. You've probably never heard of it since it's very far away." Her ki was showing what she said to be true, but there was still something else she was hiding about where she's from. I didn't dig further.

"Now this last one is gonna be a bit personal. I'm also a foreigner her in Clover, been here since I was shipwrecked as a kid, much like you now. So tell me, have you ever heard of the land of the sun, a land built on an honor system that uses characters, for writing and katanas as swords?"

"..." After hesitating a bit, she continued, "I'm sorry, but I haven't heard of it. Some of what you described sounds like what we called the eastern continent back home, but I wouldn't get your hopes too high. My spirit friends have already talked me out of finding Fiore as they think it's impossible, and they want me to build a new life here, which you've done a good job of doing. Sometimes, the past just needs to stay in the past."

"It was at least closure. Maybe I find them at some point. Until then, stay out of trouble girl."

"Lucy"

"What was that," I called out.

"You might as well call me by my name, Lucy Heartfilia. if you're the other foreigner of Clover, you might as well know it. We're not too different, you and I."

"Very well then, I wanted to learn about the other foreigner, and I did. I'll likely see you at the trials next week."

"Right!"

"See ya then gir..., Lucy."

"See ya Yami."

Well, that was something, can't remember the last time someone called me out by name like that.

Well, she was right in that our stories were similar, and in this cruel land of Clover, maybe us foreigners really did need to stick together.