A 5 year old Lucy was running around in the botanical gardens of the Heartfilia Konzern. Happiness exuding off of her as she stopped to smell the flowers, hearing the rushing of water, she giggled and ran towards the waterfall that was situated on the edge of the gardens.
"Lucy, darling be careful, make sure you don't fall in" Layla warned softly, smiling at her precious daughter, seeming so carefree
"I will be mom" Lucy grinned back, looking at her mother with her beautiful chocolate eyes as the wind blew through her hair, then sitting down near the edge of the waterfall, near a few rocks, she looked at her mother confused
"Mom, what did you want to talk to me about?" she questioned, looking at her mother quizzically.
"Lucy sweetheart, I'm sorry for leaving you as I did. However, there are things you need to know about yourself, things I didn't have a chance to tell you when we were together. I thought we'd have more time together hoping I'd be able to tell you when you were old enough, however, not everything works out as planned. Lucy, you have a magnificent power contained within you, passed down within my family for generations. Wake up, Capricorn knows about it and he'll help you, before I passed away, I told him all about it, instructing him on how to help you and awaken your powers. Wake up Lucy, and always remember that you are my daughter, my pride and joy, and no matter what, I will always be proud of you." Layla smiled as she started to walk away, in the direction of the sunset.
Lucy stared on in disbelief as her mother was joined by her father, both looking regal and prideful as they stared at their daughter, smiles gracing their face
"Mom? Dad? No don't leave me, please not again" Lucy screamed, tears streaming down her face, trying to get up and run towards them, however she was frozen, staring as her parents started fading away
"I will never leave you, me and your father; we'll always be with you, as long as you remember us. We love you Lucy. Oh and Lucy, ask Leo or Capricorn about the precious keys" Layla said tenderly while grinning, finally fading away. Then they were gone and she was alone, yet again.
Lucy woke up, sweat drenching her skin, she looked at the alarm clock, it was 5am. She groaned and got out of bed, wondering if her dream was real or just her creative imagination, giving her hope that she wasn't as weak as she felt she was.
'Well, only one way to find out, I'll have to speak to Capricorn.' Lucy thought to herself as she walked towards her bathroom, shedding her clothes while she was at it. She stepped into the bath and showered quickly, washing her hair and body. She got up and dried herself off, wrapping a towel around her curvaceous body, she walked over to her draws and pulled out a light blue lace bra and matching boy short underwear and dropping her towel, she slipped them on. Walking over to her cupboard, she dressed herself in a mint green skater skirt that stopped just below her mid thigh and a plain white loose crop top that stopped just under her breasts, revealing a thick gap of her skin. She smiled and winked at herself and then summoned Cancer in order to do her hair, she left it down today falling in loose waves.
After having a light breakfast that consisted of some cereal and then jam on toast, Lucy decided to find out some answers about her dream, a large part of her believing exactly that, that it was only a dream, while a smaller deeper part of her hoped that it wasn't. Then she remembered about the precious keys, wondering what exactly that meant, she summoned Capricorn.
"Open, Gate of the Goat, Capricorn" Lucy stated firmly, while holding out Capricorn's key.
"Good morning, Miss Lucy. What is it that you need today?" Capricorn asked, as he bowed down.
"Good morning, Capricorn, and ummm... you see I had a dream today" Lucy said sheepishly, regretting this now, in case Capricorn thought she was nuts.
"Oh?" Capricorn looked down at her, waiting for her to continue
"Well, I think my mother appeared to me and told me that she left you some instructions in order to awaken some magnificent power within me and then she mentioned something about precious keys. I was wondering if you knew anything about this or whether it was just a dream" Lucy said hopefully, wishing that he had some answers for her, whether they be disappointing or not. She looked up at Capricorn who seemed shocked and then he went back to being serious.
"Yes Miss Lucy, your mother did leave some instructions that were to be followed when you were of age. However, I am shocked that she would have told you about the precious keys, humans don't know of them, believing them to be a myth." Capricorn replied to her.
Lucy could not believe it; she was excited yet scared at the same time. What if she wasn't strong enough to wield the power within her? Then she remembered her mother's words, determination shone in her eyes, she would make her parents proud.
"Capricorn, tell me about the power within me, and if you wouldn't mind, the precious keys as well" Lucy spoke as she sat down.
"Alright, before your mother died, she told me an important secret about your bloodline. Her bloodline. She told me that like her, you were an Elemental Dragon Fairy. However, unlike her, you have the power and time to master all the forms. See usually Dragon Fairies can only wield one of the elements, and even these Dragon Fairies are extremely rare, being born only every few hundred years, however, an Elemental Dragon Fairy wields all 8 elements, including two heavenly elements. These elements are the Celestial Light and Celestial Dark elements and can only be wielded by a true Celestial mage, one who has the first ever Celestial mage's blood running through them. You Lucy are a descendant of Norma, the first ever Celestial mage. She created the 96 keys in order to call out the spirits from the Celestial Spirit World." Capricorn explained to Lucy, while watching her reaction.
"96 keys? But there are only 88 constellations? How can there be 96 keys?" Lucy questioned, baffled.
"I do not know, that is not knowledge I am privy to, however, Leo, may know of them, as he is the leader of the zodiac, it would be best to question him. Now, your mother told me that in order to awaken your power, you will need to train so that you body can handle the magic power that will be needed to use your Elemental Dragon Fairy forms. You see they're exactly like take over magic, I'm sure you know all about it as three of your guild mates utilise take over magic. You transform yourself into one of the 10 elements taking form of a fairy and having dragon like powers. However, unlike take over mages, your power is much stronger in this form as you have both dragon blood and fairy blood in you. This allows your elemental magic to be stronger than that of a dragon slayer. Similarly, it also means that to replenish your power, you can consume the element of the form you are using, such as if you're in your fire dragon fairy form, you can consume fire to replenish your power. These forms take a lot of power, more power than the strongest mage in Fairy Tail." Capricorn carried on, however like before, Luc cut him off, however instead of questions this time, and she was panicking while crying in the corner of the living room, anime style.
"MORE POWER THAN GUILDARTS? HOW DO I OBTAIN THAT MUCH POWER THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE AND ALL THAT POWER JUST FOR ONE FORM? AND I NEED TO MASTER 10? HOW? WHY? WHHHYYYYYY?!" Lucy cried out, her hands flailing about comically.
"Miss Lucy! Please calm yourself, you do not need to gain that power, you already contain it. However, it is locked deep within you, for the sheer power you have would kill you. In order to unleash and control it, all you need to do is train yourself physically and mentally so that you can wield it without it harming yourself. With me as your personal trainer this should take around 6 months. This way you will be back in order to take part in the S-Class trials and then as part of the Grand Magic Games next year. Leo will be out in order to explain to you about the precious keys soon. I suggest after that, you head out and speak to the guild master, asking for a leave of absence to train yourself. We shall head over to Clover town and train in the forests near there. Pack your things and hand them over to Virgo for safe keeping. I shall see you tomorrow in Clover for your training, Miss Lucy" Capricorn said, his eyes glinting evilly as he thought of all the training he would make his master undergo.
Lucy seeing the glint just cried in horror as thoughts of training with Capricorn flew through her mind. As these thoughts occupied Lucy's mind, she failed to notice the bright gold light, signalling the arrival of her perverted lion friend, Loke, or Leo the Lion.
"Hello my beautiful Princess." Loke said while charmingly, taking Lucy's hand and kissing it, startling her out of her thoughts.
"Oh! Hello Loke, I hadn't realised that you were already here" Lucy said while blushing at the chivalrous gesture performed by her Lion friend. "I assume you are here to tell me about the precious keys?" Lucy questioned, beckoning Loke to sit down. However, she gulped as she saw Loke turn serious, something he rarely ever did while around her alone. Her eyes followed his form as he took a seat opposite her and heard him sigh.
"The precious keys consist of the most powerful celestial spirits. Like the golden keys and unlike the silver keys, the precious keys are all one of a kind. There are a total of 47 off them, 13 of which you already own, the Zodiac keys. You are the first ever Celestial mage in over a million years since Norma to own the entire Zodiac collection of keys." Loke stated and stopped talking as he realised she was a bit distracted, probably remembering the day she obtained the last 3 Zodiac keys.
*Flashback*
Lucy smiled as she headed towards Magnolia Cake Shop where she was meeting her friend and guild mate Yukino. She walked through the door and ordered the vanilla and strawberry cheesecake and sat at a table waiting for her white haired friend to arrive. After waiting for 5 minutes, Yukino arrived and sat down next to her, smiling.
"Hello Lucy" Yukino greeted with a small smile
"Hello Yukino, I was wondering why you wanted to meet here instead of the guild, then I realised you must want to speak to me about something important in private" Lucy said, grinning back. "So, what did you call me for? Help with your sex life with Rogue?" Lucy enquired, looking at Yukino with her eyebrows wiggling at her own suggestion.
"Lucy, I know you refused to take them earlier due to the love I had for my spirits, however I would very much like you to have them." Yukino stated and just as Lucy was about to argue, she held up her hand to stop Lucy from interrupting her. "Lucy, please, do not argue, you are my friend, and I would like you to respect my decision, however this time, I will be handing you the 13th Gate Key as well." Yukino stared at Lucy, hoping that she would accept her offer.
"But Yukino, why are you giving them to me? Is something wrong?" Lucy questioned and seeing the sadness in Yukino's eyes, her eyes narrowed. "Yukino, what's wrong? Tell me so I can help you." Lucy said softly, trying hard to be there for her friend. Yukino sighed, realising that without a good explanation, Lucy would not accept the 3 keys.
"Lucy, I am dying. My magical energy is running low and my body cannot sustain using magic any longer. The healers state that I can be saved; however by saving my life, I will lose the rest of my magic as well as the ability to replenish it. In any other circumstances, I would keep my keys and allow myself to die with my spirits at my side, however, I do not want to leave Rogue and Frosch behind, you see, after Rogue, Sting, Rufus, Orga, Frosch, Lector and I left Sabertooth and joined Fairy Tail, my bond with Rogue grew even strong and a week ago, he told me he loved me and I love him too. I do not want to lose them, plus even though I'm giving you my keys and I won't be able to summon them anymore, I can still see them since we're all in the same guild. I have spoken to my spirits and they also agree that they would rather be contracted with you and still see me, rather than stay with me and let me die. So please Lucy, take them, all I ask is that you allow me to see them should I ask for it." Yukino finished, although there was sadness and regret in her tone at first, she eventually had a small smile on her face.
"Oh Yukino, I'm sorry, but alright I'll take them. If it means you're alive, I'll take them. I promise I'll take good care of them" Lucy said smiling back at her friend.
"Thank you Lucy, now I must be going, I need to go meet Rogue and head of to the hospital. I'll see you later" Yukino said, hugging Lucy and taking off with a small smile on her face.
Lucy stared at the 3 new gate keys and smiled. She was glad that she could help her friend, even if it meant that her friend had to give up her magic, at least she'd be alive.
*End of Flashback*
"Oh, sorry Loke, please continue" Lucy said sheepishly realising that Loke was waiting for her
"It's alright Princess, now as I was saying, you owning the entire Zodiac collection in itself proves that you are a descendant of Norma. Therefore, the Spirit King has deemed you worthy of collecting the rest of the precious keys. They take up a lot more power than the Zodiac. On your journey to master your Elemental Dragon Fairy forms, you will be bestowed with the keys as your power increases. There are 5 more sets to collect. Capricorn believes that after each month of training you should be able to collect the next set of keys, contracting them as you will have enough power. By the end of the training you should be able to hold out two of the final set with relative ease while using your Dragon Fairy form." Loke said looking at her proudly, proud to call her his master, but even more proud to call her his friend.
"Oh, I can't wait Loke, if you don't mind could you tell me what the collections of keys I need to collect?" Lucy asked with hope at getting some inclination as to what her next keys could be.
"Aha, sorry Princess but no, they are going to a surprise for you as well as a present from the Spirit King himself in order to celebrate your growth in strength, now I'm sorry to cut this conversation short my princess, but I am late for a date with Aries" Loke said standing up and flashing a dazzling smile, he faded back to the Celestial Spirit World.
Lucy smiled, glad that Loke and Aries were together after all this time. With a smile on her face, she called out Virgo.
"Hello Princess Lucy, punishment time?" Virgo asked stoically.
"No, no punishment Virgo, would you mind packing up everything while I go tell the land lady that I will be leaving this apartment? Also if you don't mind, would you also pack whatever I'll need for training, and then keep the rest of my stuff for safe keeping?" Lucy questioned looking at Virgo.
"Of course Princess, is that all?" Virgo questioned while she started by packing what Lucy would need for her training.
"Yes that is all, than you Virgo." Lucy smiled while waving back at Virgo.
*Time Skip - 1 HOUR*
Lucy walked into the guild with a smile. She stared at everyone, taking in the scene in front of her, she watched as Alzack and Bisca played with Asuka, Reedus was painting, Natsu and Gray were fighting, Mire and Kinnana handing out drinks, while Erza ate cake, Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe sat in the corner drinking while Freed sang Laxus's praises and Evergreen who kept flicking her eyes to Elfman who yelled about being a man, she watched as Sting joined the fight with Natsu and Gray as Rogue and Yukino sat with the Lector and Frosch talking. Finally her own eyes flicked over to where Levy and Gajeel sat along with Wendy, Carla and Lily. She smiled, albeit slightly sad that she would be leaving for a while; she knew that she would be back. Before she walked up to the Master's office, Lucy went over to Reedus and asked him if he could paint the guild exactly how it was right now, and as he agreed and started on the painting, Lucy walked up to Master Makarov's office on the second floor.
Lucy knocked twice on the door and waited till she heard an 'Enter'. She opened the door and saw the master almost in tears looking at the paperwork the magic council had sent them probably from the damage that her team has caused on their latest mission. Master Makarov looked up at her and smiled.
"Hello Lucy, please take a seat, what brings you here?" Master Makarov question as he looked at his nervous child.
"Hello Master, I have a request to ask of you" Lucy said politely as she sat down on the chair opposite of him. She continued as he beckoned her to carry on. "You see Master, it has come to my attention that I have some duties that my mother wanted me to carry out and I would like at ask for a leave of absence in order to fulfil them. I do not want to leave Fairy Tail and I would like to keep my guild mark if that's okay with you. My duties should take 5 to 6 months max" Lucy asked with hope.
"That should all be fine my dear, we shall miss you and of course you can stay as part of the Fairy Tail family, after all, you are known as the light of the fairies, Fairy Tail's own Celestial Mage. However, would you mind telling me exactly what your duties are?" Makarov asked. Lucy nodded and began explaining about how she was an Elemental Dragon Fairy and that she needed time to train or her magic power would kill her slowly. She also told her about the keys and that she would be collecting them. Master Makarov sat shocked, he could not believe that one of his children was as powerful as this; he had heard of the myths of both the keys and the Elemental Dragon Fairies but never truly believed them. After Lucy finished explaining he sat there for a while absorbing everything.
"Well that is quite shocking my dear, however, I'm glad you've taken the initiative and are training yourself to contain the power, I accept your leave of absence, however, take this communication lacrima" he stated while pulling out a small ball that looked almost like a crystal ball that some psychics used. "Use this to contact me so that I know that you are safe. I am going to assume you do not want anyone to know of the true reason you are leaving?" Makarov questioned
"Yes, that is correct, however, should they ask, tell them that I need to carry out some duties for my mother and father and that I am also out looking for any other Gate Keys, which should keep them placated. Also if you could tell Team Natsu not to look for me and that I will definitely be back, that would be great." Lucy said smiling, happy that their guild master was so reasonable.
"Yes that should be fine my dear. I also assume you're leaving today" he asked and as she nodded he got up and hugged her. She smiled and hugged back. "Be safe my child and come back to us in one piece" he said with tears in his eyes, she nodded and got up to turn around and walk out again and as she did, she felt Master Makarov smack her arse. She blushed and walked out quickly as he laughed.
As she was leaving, she collected the portrait of the guild from Reedus and left without saying goodbye, as she knew that it wasn't really goodbye. Taking one last look at the guild she left the doors. She walked away, her back to the guild, with her right hand up, her pink guild mark facing the guild as her index finger pointed up and the thumb pointed out in the symbol of Fairy Tail, making a silent promise to return back.