It was a bright and sunny day.

No, really, it was. There wasn't too much else I could say about it. What, not every day can have a super detailed description. What am I doing? That is a bit easier to answer, but maybe a bit of background helps.

Since coming back from our first serious mission, I was partnered with Yuno, Klaus, and Mimosa for every mission since. Of course, this mostly consisted of city patrols and a few noble escorts. God, I hated those missions. How could anyone be so stuck-up and mean as some of these nobles. That was somewhere Yuno and I agreed on, since we were both targets. He was much better about going unfazed though. What else? Well, I had to do a bit of training at the base, work on combat and all that. It's a lot more fighting than I'd ever really done compared to anything in Fairy Tail. There, I was supporting the strong fighters. No, here, I was expected to overpower people on my own, even though that's not my style. Good thing no one really knew what to do against someone that used multiple elements.

The training spars are even worse since I don't want to call out spirits to fight and get hurt just for training. That's not how I worked, and I had to tell people so many times that they're my friends, and I can't just call on them to fight completely pointless battles. Instead, I took the time to get better at using star dresses, which I did do, but I was still limited by only having two gold keys. That was still my most important thing to do, reunite my spirits. I did use the time of only having two gold keys to actually spend more time with the spirits I had, which included a lot more arguing with Aquarius, but our relationship was much better than before Tartarus.

Now, for the next key I could get. I found out that our next mission would be a major one. We would be exploring a dungeon along the border with the Diamond Kingdom and were expected to bring back all the treasures, which includes Cancer's key. He is my second oldest spirit who's been by my side ever since mom died. I couldn't wait to see him again.

Here I was, flying high in the sky off to the dungeon for a major mission, our first since the criminals at Hage. I wondered about what we would run into. Just like my last dungeon, this one contained a key and was on the border with another country, though this time, it was barely inside Clover's borders. I read up a bit on the Diamond kingdom, and what I found meant they likely would show up to claim the dungeon themselves. Clover and Diamond have for years fought wars over a territorial dispute on the border, with Diamond usually being the aggressor trying to claim a mineral-rich strip of land from the town of Kiten up to the Witches' forest. Clover wasn't completely in the clear, as they also tried to claim land on the southern edge of the border, causing even more battles. That was the sensitive nature of this mission, we needed to be faster than any Diamond mages if we wanted to get out without a fight, discounting any traps the dungeon itself set. My last dungeon exploration was peaceful with Gaja of heart, and the only threat was the dungeon itself. I had a feeling this one would be different.

I guess one thing I should have mentioned before was what all the keys were that I obtained in the Heart dungeon. besides Aquarius, there were four other silver keys, which included the Phoenix and Great Dog, but also two others that don't exist in Earthland, those being the spirits of the map and the cat. Those constellations were visible from here, meanwhile others like Horologium weren't visible. No matter how much I looked into it, I couldn't find anything on who this ancient mage was that left behind all these keys in dungeons. Maybe I could find something on that today?

We finally arrived at the dungeon. Much like the last one, this one looked like an old ruin, but this one had the front door wide open, no locks this time. What else would be in there. According to Klaus, there would be a few Black Bulls members there, which included Yuno's longtime rival Asta. I was looking forward to meeting him.

We entered and immediately found ourselves in the main room, which simply oozed mana in all directions. It glowed bright blue, illuminating the many streams of water running along the sides. More concerning was the fact that there seemed to be a hundred different paths we could take. Just as I was thinking of that, I saw a magic circle erupt from underneath me and shoot up with fire. A gust of extinguisher wind blew out the fire keeping me safe.

"Thanks Yuno." I said, immediately knowing who saved me.

"Watch your step, traps could be anywhere past this point." Klaus said.

Would've been good to know about floor traps earlier. "You couldn't have told us that earlier!" I said angrily.

"Now I know where the traps are, Mimosa, can you navigate us?" Klaus said.

"I can. Plant magic, Flower guidepost" she called out. An orange plant bloomed from her hands, growing into the shape of the dungeon showing the layout. A glowing orb in the center represented the treasure room.

"That's great, I may be able to try something new here too. Open, gate of the map!" The spirit came out of the gate, appearing in a flash. The map spirit took the appearance of an actual map, a giant floating parchment with no humanlike features. "Can you draw out this dungeon?" I asked. Almost immediately, the parchment updated to show a 3D image, also showing a glowing orb in the center. So we know where we are and where our goal was. Of course, the dungeon was still a maze to navigate through.

"So we know where to go now, but there's still the maze to deal with, what should we do?"

"Lucy, go on your own and try to navigate to the treasure room. The rest of us will do the same taking a different route. One of us should get there fast." Klaus said.

"Are you sure that isn't a bad idea? What if I run into Diamond mages?"

"You could, but I'm sure you can deal with any you run into. Any mages who enter have to pass through here, so they'll hit us before you. Get going, that's an order."

So it was, I split off from the rest of the group, following my map spirit's guidance towards the treasure room. Luckily, the hallways I went down seemed to have a small amount of traps compared to the central hall. A while later of exploring and I found myself in a room. It was similar to the central hall but much smaller and without the streams on the ground. There were also a few pieces of debris on the ground. Clearly someone had been trying to break down a wall, but who. The black bulls could be it, but would they destroy a wall to get around? No, they had to have a way of navigating. That only left the Diamond mages. Sure enough, standing behind a rock was a mage holding out a grimoire with a diamond on the center. Of course I ran into them. Hopefully, I didn't need to fight. Right as I noticed him, he turned around and looked at me, then at my grimoire. Might as well find out what he wants.

"So you're one of the Diamond mages, I wonder what you want from a dungeon on this side of the border?"

"Oh a lot of the standard stuff, there's a lot of material wealth to be found you know. I must say, I only expected Clover mages and my team to be here, can't say I expected a third country that uses star grimoires. Where are you from?" The man said.

"I'm not from this continent, I'm from another land far away from here. Don't bother asking how I ended up in Clover, I'm not entirely sure myself." I lied. He didn't need to know about Acnologia and Zeref's destruction, or the fact that Fiore doesn't exist in the present anymore. I didn't need to tell anyone that. I had my own problem that didn't need their involvement, new friends or not.

"Well then, is Clover to your liking?"

"It's been pretty good so far, nobles are a bit of a problem, but I imagine Diamond has its own wealthy class. The other people have been so welcoming"

"Yeah, I suppose entitled nobles are going to be snotty anywhere. Diamond doesn't really have too much of that. We don't really have a lot of nobles, the king and military control almost everything. By the way, who are you?"

"My name's Lucy, and you?"

"Lotus, one of Diamond's eight shining generals."

"Shining generals, you're one of the top generals of Diamond! And you were sent here?"

"Yeah, we're kinda running out of resources, so we need the money here to stay afloat. You can't really blame us, though I can't imagine your friends would like me really much, I mean we did invade quite a few times. Still remember that other foreigner knight, gave a nasty scar that one did."

"You're talking about Yami?"

"Yep, that was the one, man could he fight for a younger man. Had to run away from that fight."

"You just ran away from a fight like that?"

"Not that you youths would understand it, but sometimes it's better to run away and fight another day, and I didn't feel like dying. I have three daughters you know. Besides I trust in my friends to handle themselves."

"Makes sense. So, what now? I don't expect you're willing to just let me go and take the treasure for Clover are you."

"You're right, I'm not. Maybe if it was just you I could be bothered to negotiate. But those others with you, they'd fight to the end to deny me. Just Interkingdom relations you know, nothing wrong with that, but you know as well as I do that a fight is inevitable. We can't really come to an agreement that satisfies us both, especially one that doesn't piss off our governments."

"You're right about that, honestly, I've still been trying to deal with my loyalties, but as long as I get the key in this dungeon, I'll be happy. I need those for my magic. Much like you, I'm bound to help my friends and hold up part of joining Clover's magic knights. So, as much as I'd to just leave and not fight. We have to. Why don't we just get this over with."

"I couldn't agree more, might as well deal with your youthful energy now. My allies should be dealing with yours. If it's worth anything you were pleasant to talk to."

Well, might as well get this over with. Or so I was going do if a person in a black bull's robe didn't walk into the room, carrying behind him a bunch of knocked out diamond mages. "Aw, those guys were no fun, but you're stronger, right. I can sense it. Let's fight." Right, the black bulls were here too, and it seems this one has no interest in diplomacy. Oh well, not that it would have worked, and well, a bit of chaos could never hurt anyone, could it? Before I could even think about that, the black bull mage shot out with a lightning-fast attack. When he landed, I noticed Lotus had a cut on his cheek.

"Man, you youths have so much power to just throw around, I'm an old man, I can't be dealing with this."

He didn't exactly look that old, but I wasn't going to say that. As for the black bull, he just kept attacking with quick strikes and now he was completely coated in lightning, just shooting all around the mist. As for Lotus, he just kept dodging and covering the room in smoke. I moved out of the way and back into the hallway. There was something dangerous about that smoke, there had to be a reason he kept coating the room in it. What was it though. As for the fight, the black bull just kept attacking, but his attacks seemed to be slowing down. Right, using that much energy and not landing a single attack would tire out most mages, and he was no exception.

"What's the matter, can't hit me now? My smoke is working to lower your physical abilities, you might as well sit there and continue getting weaker, I have friends to catch up to." Lotus stated. So that's what the smoke was for. Luck seemed to not care at all and instead focused his lightning coat and somehow got even faster while grinning even. Yeah, I can't say I got how some people were so excited to fight, but then again, I'd been around Natsu long enough.

All the lightning mage could respond with was a repeated "win." Every attack he made, he whispered, "Win, Win, Win, keep winning." Yeah, he was another battle maniac, probably worse than Natsu. Lotus's response was to cover the room in more spoke, all while commenting about being out of gas. Yeah, that was some lie. Well, I had to get involved now, and I could help by clearing away some of the smoke. I shifted into Aquarius star dress and opted to blast him with water. it didn't affect the smoke since it went solid and trapped the bull. "Yeah, You won't be able to zip around anymore like that. Now then, I wonder how our kid is doing. Owchie." He only rubbed his scar and left. Or at least he tried to. I blocked him with a stream of water.

"Yeah, you're not going away that easy. I'll trust my squad to deal with that 'kid' of yours. You've got to deal with me now."

"God, you can't let an old man catch his breath. Fine, I'll fight you." Turns out I didn't need to, as I said that, a sword came flying out of nowhere and cut through the smoke, setting the black bull free. I looked over and saw Asta, along with another girl I didn't recognize. I Yuno talked about Asta's skills correctly, we should be able to fight this guy. I was still worried about how my squad was doing.

"Who are you?" Lotus asked.

"I'm Luck's friend." was the response. Luck, so that was the lightning mage's name.

"Yeah, having even more allies show up is definitely not in my favor." Lotus replied.

"Oh it's you, that girl that beat Yuno. Were you fighting this guy?"

"Was just about to Asta, but it looks like you want my place. You should be able to deal with him if what Yuno says about you is true. The man always thinks highly of you. Anyways, I'm going to help my own squad, sounds like they're facing a tough opponent. I'll have to leave this to you with a bit of help. Open, Gate of the Lion."

"Loke, please stay here and help in the fight, my squad may be in trouble and I'm going over to help."

"You're leaving already?"

"Sorry, but my squad may need the help against this 'kid' that diamond guy brought up. Loke will help out here, he's probably better than me against smoke. We can talk later Asta, now's not the time."

I didn't wait around for a response and left behind the Black Bulls and Loke to fight there, instead I ran down the hallway towards the treasure room which was only a single hallway away. The room opened up to a sight not unlike the first chamber, just with a giant door at the left wall. That must lead to the treasure. The other sights in the room were far more worrying.

Firstly, Mimosa was downed and healing herself with her cradle, with wasn't a good sign. Klaus and Yuno also looked to be struggling against a single Diamond mage with white hair and gems embedded in his forehead. Klaus was breathing hard and about to take a big attack, and Yuno was just now flying in to deflect it. I had to make a move, but I didn't really have a combat spirit to summon right now with Loke fighting elsewhere. I still had moves I could use. Star Dress, Leo form." I called out. I immediately attacked the diamond mage in the back while Yuno hit from the front, deflecting an attack that would have finished off Klaus, who looked absolutely stunned.

"Yuno, you came back, but why. I ordered you to go for the treasure. Lucy, when did you even get here."

I responded with, "Sorry if I'm late, had to deal with a few other Diamond mages. For now, I let the black bulls handle him so I could help out here, glad I came."

Yuno added, "It will be the Golden Dawn, and the Golden Dawn whole that reaches the treasure chamber first. We're not leaving anyone behind. I'm going to get serious now. Wind Creation magic, Swift white hawk and Swift blade shower."

Yeah, I needed to get serious too, so I attacked with a Regulus Blast from behind, which seemed to hit and do no damage. Just perfect. When the dust cleared, I saw he put up a shield of crystal to guard both attacks. Yuno kept attacking moving in the sky at every angle while I tried to sneak in Regulus attacks anywhere I could. The diamond mage known as Mars simply responded my creating a giant sword, threatening his attack. The fight dragged on for a few more minutes and nothing changed, until I heard a voice call out, Steel creation magic, Fierce Spiral Lance. A drill shot straight at Mars, who just stood there and took the hit. When the dust cleared, a mineral statue took his place while the real Mars was behind. That clone ran straight at Klaus.

"Klaus, what are you doing?!" Yuno called out." It was clear he wasn't in any shape to attack, but he did so anyways to help us. This time, I could do something to protect him. "Regulus Impact," I called out. I moved in front of Klaus and hit the clone with a blast of light, breaking it into pieces. Minerals tend to be strong but brittle, and my attack was just strong enough to break it. That did take quite a bit of power out of me though. I would need some other help here. I did have another spirit I haven't used in combat and only recently contracted, but now was as good a time as any to bring him out. Open, gate of the Great Dog, Canis Major. Out of the gate came a being that could be seen as similar to Plue, only a lot bigger and scarier. The great dog was a much rarer spirit that did take a good amount of power to open for a silver key, and it was well worth the power the big dog came with. "Thanks for coming, it's a fight this time, I need your help." I got a bark of acceptance. Together with the great dog and Yuno, we surrounded Mars with an onslaught of attacks. Yuno was flying around in the sky, dodging any attack coming his way while launching razor-sharp blasts of air. Canis Major ran around on the ground and tried to take bites out of Mars, but was getting denied by his mineral hardening. As for myself, I alternated between Regulus attacks and whip attacks, but much like my squadmates, none of it was doing any serious damage. At this rate, I may be forced to use Urano Metria again. I'd gotten better about using it without Gemini's assistance and not fainting due to running out of magic, but that wasn't a move I wanted to use every single fight. That just isn't consistent enough. With a lack of combat spirits I could call out, I was a bit stuck until Loke and the Bulls finished up with Lotus. I just needed to stall until then.

Knowing that, I stopped my constant attacks and opted for using my whip to deflect the giant sword threatening Yuno, which worked surprisingly well. My celestial magic-infused whip was as powerful as ever, enough to reroute the crystal swords and give Yuno an easier time. My stalling was enough, and I felt a glow of Loke's key. They had finished their fight and were on their way.

Yuno, meanwhile, dropped back to the ground after being told "it's useless" enough times to regroup.

"Give up." Mars threatened.

"I'm not giving up, not ever again!" Yuno said while standing up, ready to deliver another attack. When the crystal sword came down on him, a yell was heard in the distance and the sword was nullified. Finally, Asta had arrived. That meant Loke was here too. "Loke, we're ending this fight now, Regulus Impact." Unlike the last time, Loke joined me in the attack, and the resulting blast actually pushed Mars back and seemed to deal actual damage. As strong as my star dresses could get, nothing was as powerful as the magic used by the spirit, especially when that spirit was a zodiac. Now that I could finally use a zodiac, we were looking a lot better. We also now had the black bulls with us, which just got shown with how well Asta stepped in to defend Yuno.

"Hey, pale guy, hands off. You too Lucy. Only I get to beat Yuno. Now I'm gonna have to beat you for that." Asta threatened.

The fight was on, Cancer lay behind that door and I wasn't going to be stopped from getting to him.

AN

Sorry for being late on this one, but life calls. Next update may be delayed a bit and take a week to post.

As far as this chapter goes, you probably noticed that quite a lot stayed the same from canon. As a general rule, if I don't have a change to make from canon or a reason to include an arc, such as foreshadowing a later event, I won't include it. In this case, the conversation between Lucy and Lotus was the significant change, there was quite a bit of foreshadowing and set up there.

Also, why set the chapter break there? I prefer to follow a strict one POV per chapter rule, as I feel it makes the story much easier to follow and that was the point where Lucy's POV ran out of additions.

The diamond kingdom will play a bigger role in this story than canon

Next chapter will be from a new POV, Asta, and feature interaction between Lucy and the Black Bulls at last. Please do post any reviews or suggestions, it helps a lot.