Chapter Text
Chapter 2: Change Starts with You
The now young girl got out of bed and went over to her desk. While there were some things that would be impossible to forget, Lucy wanted to write some things down anyways.
The celestial mage spent the first hour jotting down a timeline with all the important events she could remember.
Once she had a timeline, she sat back and looked at the whole picture. Ok, who can I save earlier? Lucy thought about her future family.
Family to check in on:
Erza and Jellal (and friends)
Gray, Ur, her daughter
Levy
Juvia
Mira/Elfman/Lisana
Freed?
Cana
Laxus
She would have to be smart going about some of this, as she couldn’t take on Deliora or the entire Tower of Heaven. She also felt a block against most of the names, as if signaling “not yet.” Surprisingly, not Juvia though. She would have to look into that soon then.
She also needed to get her mother to increase her mage training. So far Layla had just introduced Lucy to the history or Celestial Spirits and their magic as well as allowed Lucy to interact with Aquarius, Capricorn and Cancer. She needed to get a hand to hand combat teacher so she could hold her own better in the future. And she needed to convince her father now that she wasn’t going to be the typical heiress.
Lucy was also wondering if she could learn a secondary magic. Mira had taught her and Natsu some take-over magic which they were able to limitedly learn that day, so it was possible. She wanted to learn enough to reequip her keys so that she never had them taken from her again.
She felt her body flagging and realized it was still the middle of the night and she was in her young, untrained body. There was one more thing she wanted to do tonight though.
She took Virgo’s key and felt for her magic, measuring if she had enough to summon her to make a contract. While it would take a little over a year to have her magic reserve grow to what it had been, her young body now still held a lot more power than she had as a child. Probably more than she had when she first joined Fairy Tail. Lucy assumed that she would have to at the very least confirm or remake her contracts and deal with confused spirits who don’t know the blonde or why they have a connection.
“Open Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!” Lucy chanted as a soft golden light filled the room.
“Hime-sama!” Virgo greeted, appearing in her familiar form before Lucy.
“You, you remember me?” Lucy asked, shocked.
“I don’t remember it all very clearly, but the other timeline left behind an imprint in the spirit world. I believe that many spirits will remember once they meet or contract with you again,” the spirit explained.
Lucy couldn’t help herself as she rushed forward and hugged Virgo, glad she hadn’t completely lost all of her friends. “Thank you, I’m so glad to have you as a friend, Virgo,” Lucy cried softly, her emotions flowing over.
“I will always be by your side, Hime-sama,” Virgo promised. “Call on me whenever you need me.”
“I’m going to call out Gemi and mini to make a contract with them before going back to sleep. I’ll call you out again tomorrow night so I can fill you in on the plan,” Lucy promised.
Virgo bowed and disappeared back to the spirit world. Lucy was glad she had a good portion, even if it wasn’t all, of her magic right now or she wouldn’t be able to call out two zodiac spirits in a row.
“Open Gate of the Twins, Gemini!” Lucy prayed they also remembered her.
“Piri-piri!” Gemi and mini appeared. “A new master!” “Or an old master?” “Two sets of memories?”
“Take my form,” Lucy had a burst of inspiration. “You should be able to understand better!”
They looked at her curiously, but did as she suggested and there was another young Lucy standing in front of her.
“Lucy Heartfilia saved us!” “Piri-piri, she did!” “She loves us, her spirits!” “And she came back to save magic!”
They turned back into their two smaller forms. “We agree to the same contract! Piri-piri! We love you Miss Lucy!”
“I love you too,” Lucy answered as Gemi and Mini faded back to the spirit world.
Lucy clutched her keys tight for a moment before placing them and her lists into her nightstand draw out of sight and climbed back into bed, hoping that Natsu was enjoying being back with Igneel again.
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Natsu’s Interlude
When Natsu woke, he was comfortable and warm. Peaking his eyes open, he found himself curled up next to Igneel, sleeping. He closed his eyes again, and reveled in the feeling. He could feel the warm scales beneath him, the wing slightly curled as if to protect him during the night. He knew that he was going to have to play this smart, as he couldn’t have a personality change overnight. Luckily, Igneel did leave for periods of time and that could explain some of it. But for now, he was going to enjoy sleeping next to Igneel again.
The next day, Natsu had to hold back during training. Even so, it appeared that he had magically improved tenfold overnight. Igneel seemed to be chalking it up to Natsu finally applying himself, but the fire dragon slayer knew that fire dragon king was probably making some notes in the back of his mind.
Over the next several days, Natsu showered Igneel in a mix of questions—real ones about what it meant to be a dragon slayer and how that made him different from humans as well as inane, childish questions. While some questions were answered, other got a vaguer response or a brush off. Natsu was fine with that for now, but he would need more answers before Igneel disappeared.
There was very little planning Natsu could do from here, so he threw himself into training as best he could and spending time with Igneel. It was in a blink of an eye that he realized the first year had already passed and he couldn’t help but wonder, even though he told himself he wouldn’t dwell on it, about how Lucy was doing.
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When Lucy got up the next morning, she almost burst into tears at breakfast when she saw her mother. The young girl had to drop her fork and duck under the table for a moment to get herself under control, which wasn’t easy with the emotions of a child influencing her.
She had also forgotten how much lighter and happier her father had been before her mother’s death. It was a bittersweet pill to swallow to see the stark change from the perspective of an adult mind.
As Lucy went through her lessons that day, she was planning on how she could get out of them in the future without it looking suspicious. She couldn’t just magically know everything overnight, but these lessons were a waste of time now. She also needed to make sure her mother didn’t give away Capricorn’s key this time. She also needed to convince her parents to find her a martial arts and physical trainer, which her father would be especially reluctant to do.
Lucy careful crafted a plan, writing up plans and lists and timelines at night. Over the next two weeks, she began to slowly let her “advanced” knowledge for her age show, first in lessons with her answers and her questions to her tutors, then by leaving advanced books she “read” out on library tables and then several notes and writings about concepts far beyond her years. The young mage also began asking her mother more pointed questions about her keys and celestial magic, “hiding” a book about celestial spirits and magic in her room which she knew the servants and her mother would find.
At night, Lucy meditated and exercised in her room. She needed to find a way to get outside to run and work out, but it wasn’t until the end of her first week “back” that she got the idea to ask Virgo to help her dig a secret passage out of her room and link her to an isolated, back garden with enough room to run and practice martial arts, blocked by the tall hedges. Lucy made sure to carefully hide the entrance and protect it with a magical lock, physical key, and alarms.
The first night she was able to sneak out, she practically flew around the edges of the garden as she ran, happy to be able to run like this again. She used to hate running, and to some extent she still didn’t like it when she had to run for her life, but she became good at it out of necessity and the more her body adapted to it, but the more she loved the feeling that she got from sprinting outside at night.
Lucy often called Gemi and Mini out to run with her as a copy of herself so she had someone to keep her company and was starting to stretch and grow her magic. Gemi and Mini seemed pleased to be helpful in this way as many former masters used them dishonestly to maliciously deceive people. Lucy had Virgo coach her in hand-to-hand combat either against “herself” with Gemi and Mini or testing against Virgo.
Lucy was also trying to teach herself reequip magic so she would never have her keys taken from her again, but it was a slow learning process. She would never be able to use it like Erza does (would?) but she was determined to master it for at least her keys and preferably some emergency supplies. The number of times she and Natsu had lost their packs was ridiculous.
After the second week, her parents confronted her about her newly shown intelligence at breakfast.
“Lucy, sweetie,” her mother began after sharing a meaning look with her father, “how are you finding your lessons? Your tutors say that you’ve been advancing quickly.”
“They’re easy, Mama,” Lucy claimed as innocently as she could manage. “Fae and Miyugi are nice and try to make things interesting, but the lessons are slow and boring.”
“We’ve found some interesting books left out in the library recently, Lucy,” her father mentioned faux-casually.
“I’m sorry I didn’t put them back on the shelves, Papa,” Lucy apologized, purposefully misinterpreting where he was leading with that statement. “They were on shelves too high up for me to put back myself and it was after everyone was gone when I finished them.”
“No, no, that’s fine,” her father backpedaled a little bit. “But you understand what those books were about?”
“Sure!” Lucy piped up. “Some of them are pretty interesting! I love the books about the different types of magics, ancient languages, mythical creatures, history, learning about the world and how it works. I want to try so many things!”
Her parents shared another look. Lucy couldn’t tell if it was a this is what we suspected or a what do we do now look.
“You’ve been asking a lot about my keys and celestial magic, Lucy, is that something you’re interested in learning?” her mother finally asked. Lucy could have cheered.
“Yes! I know you’ve been teaching and preparing me to learn this type of magic for a little while,” Lucy said, referring to the bedtime stories her mother told her about the spirits and the spirit world that she originally didn’t realize was her mother’s “first step” in teaching her celestial magic. It seemed to surprise her mother that she recognized that.
“I had planned to increase your training when you were ready perhaps next year or so, but we can begin sooner,” Layla promised.
“Thank you, Mama!” Lucy chirped, cheering inside her head at this victory. She hoped this much earlier training would stop her mother from giving away any of her keys and help Lucy grow her magic faster.
She had called out all of her silver keys at this point and remade contracts with them. She still couldn’t let her mother know about them, however; which was frustrating. She was working with her spirits to plan how she could acquire or “find” some of the keys. The blonde was in luck, as next week her father announced he had to go into town for a meeting and Layla suggested she and Lucy accompany him in order to go shopping in the vibrant shopping district the town had. Lucy was both growing out of some clothes and was wearing on some hard with her nightly workouts.
The night before, Lucy stayed up planning with her spirits to figure out how Lucy could “find” a key in a way that let her “contract” with it before Layla or having anyone get suspicious. They decided it would be best for the young celestial mage to find Virgo’s key, as having a maid/assistant/teacher would be easier for her parents to accept than a shape changer. Lucy also wanted to officially get some of her keys back; however, she knew it had to be a slow build-up.
So, when the day of their trip into town finally came, Lucy spent the morning enjoying spending time with her mother, picking out new clothes. She made sure to ask for a variety of colors and styles, not just pink. She asked for specific work-out outfits and more casual clothes along with the more typical and fancier dresses she was expected to wear.
It was after lunch that Lucy put The Plan into action. She let out her magic a bit, letting it flair just enough for her mother to take notice.
“Lucy?” her mother asked curiously as Lucy began to walk towards large garden in the middle of town.
“Mama, someone’s lonely. They’re calling to me,” Lucy murmured, making sure to sound slightly distant.
Her mother put a hand where Lucy knew she carried her keys, but cautiously followed Lucy to a quiet section of the hedge maze part of the garden. Lucy stopped at an area where she could just fit under the hedge but her mother couldn’t follow and proceeded to crawl under.
“Lucy!” her mother called after her. “What are you doing?”
“It’s under here!” Lucy called back. When she was sure she was out of view, she took Virgo’s keys from her pocket and placed it in the dirt, digging it in a bit. She picked it up again, making sure to get her hands and key slightly dirty before crawling back out.
“Look!” Lucy said with real excitement, “it’s a gold key, Mama!” She was excited to be able to have Virgo back and around without having to hide her.
Layla gasped, watching Lucy use a corner of her dress to “clean” the key.
“It’s Virgo!” Lucy said, pretending to study and remember the symbol. “I can feel her!”
“Well, I think we found your first spirit,” her mother smiled softly. “I would have liked for you to contract with a silver key first, as Zodiac keys require a lot of magic power to hold open.”
“I can do it!” Lucy insisted. “I’ve been meditating and I’ve practiced some with your silver keys,” the young girl pointed out, as Layla had started her on calling on some silver spirits of hers this past week.
“Ok, but let’s wait until we’re back at home, sweetie,” her mother requested.
Lucy could hardly contain her excitement all the way home. Her father was quiet, as if finally resigning himself to the fact that his only daughter was going to be a mage and not the heiress he expected.
Lucy chose to make the contract out in the garden. She tried to both push her magic out to mimic someone summoning a gold key spirit for the first time while also holding some of power back, as it was much more than a standard 7-year-old with no training would have.
As the gate opened, Lucy couldn’t stop the wide smile on her face. This was it—the beginning of her journey as a celestial mage during this time.
“Greeting, Hime-sama,” Virgo appeared in her customary maid outfit.
“Hello, Virgo!” Lucy chimed, following the loose script the two had agreed on. “I’m Lucy Heartfilia and I’d love for you to become my friend!”
“I would be pleased to be one of your spirits and friends, Hime,” Virgo replied.
“Right now I’m still learning my magic, so I don’t know how much fighting I’ll be doing,” Lucy continued, “but maybe you can help me train my magic! I want to be strong enough to stand and fight beside my spirits.”
“I’m proficient in hand-to-hand combat, Hime, if that would interest you,” the pink-haired spirit offered.
“Oh, yes, please!” Lucy answered excitedly, not having to fake her excitement for finally being able to start exercising and training during the day and out in the open. “Would you like to discuss the detail of your contract?”
“You may call on me whenever you wish, Hime, I have no restrictions,” Virgo offered, knowing that this would shock Lucy’s mother in the open-endedness. It was rare that new contracts began as open as this, as the first months were used to test out the relationship and build trust. Also, the holder’s power factored into how often they could call out a spirit. By offering no restrictions, Virgo was insinuating that Lucy was already very powerful. Lucy and Virgo discussed added stipulations and days into their fake contract, but they didn’t want to interfere with their real one and didn’t want to have to explain Virgo’s presence at perhaps times she wasn’t “supposed-to-be” available.
“It would be best to start training tomorrow morning after you meditate,” Virgo suggested. “You have a large magic reserve already, but with a deeper connection to the spirit world, we can help that grow safely.”
“Hai! I meditate at least twice a day,” Lucy said, letting her parents know that she had been doing some “secret” training. Lucy knew that the servants had told her parents when they found her meditating, but the blonde was doing it “sneakily” as fit Lucy’s child personality at the moment.
There were going to be questions her parents had that she couldn’t answer. And she was going to be smarter and more powerful than a normal child would be. Hopefully much of that would be marked down as being a child genius and naturally powerful. Her heart grew heavy with the thought that her mother wouldn’t be around long enough to see her magic fully bloom.
After the contract was “signed,” Virgo suggested that Lucy procure several silver keys so she could stretch her magic out more often with them instead of always calling on a gold key. They hoped this would allow Lucy to start explaining away her collection of silver keys.
Layla and Jude hugged their daughter, congratulating her on completing her first contact. Layla commented on how powerful Lucy must already be to hold that sort of contract option and how trusting her spirit was of her and how she should respect and treasure that.
Lucy took several slow breaths, as she had now made the first major change to the future and there was no going back.