Okay so new story! Yay! This is after Tenrou, but before the Grand Magic Games. For the anime watchers, the Key of the Starry Sky Arc didn't happen. I will be going through the Grand Magic Games, and while it will be similar, it will not be the same. Also, the Eclispse gate and the Dragon festival aren't going to happen, and neither is Tartaros. Basically, the only thing that will kind of be the same is Grand Magic Games, after which I will go off on a tangent. Bleach is going to follow a completely crazy schedule, its after Aizen left with Gin and Kaname, but before the Arrancar arc and all of that.

Anyways, you'll get to see me playing with Lucy, again, because I love playing with Lucy, especially since I have so many guys to choose from and it's just so much fun, because she's honestly so incredible in my book. Anyways, you'll get to see me play with her and the billions of guys in this story. Tell me what you think :)

Chapter 1: Connected

Walking through the forest towards the monsters they were hired to exterminate, Lucy fingered the new key she had found just at the entrance of it. It wasn't like anything she had seen before, as it wasn't silver or gold, but pitch black, with lavender wrapping around its handle. The actual key part looked more like a sword than a key, and it looked as if it were a million mini fragments pieced together. Something felt weird about it though, but she wouldn't be able to describe it if you had asked her.

"So Luce, what spirit does that call out?" Nastu asked, grin firmly in place as he placed his hands behind his head, which Happy was happily flying above.

"Yes, Lucy, I didn't know there were black keys. I only knew of the silver and gold keys," Erza said, looking at her blonde friend.

"I'm not sure, I didn't know about it either. I plan on asking Crux when I get home or maybe on the train," she explained.

Erza was about to say something else when she stiffened, along with the others around her.

"Can you guys feel that?" Gray asked as he looked around. There was an intense magical energy surrounding them.

A dozen monsters surrounded them, and as they looked around, they realized someone either hadn't told them the entirety of their mission, or hadn't know exactly how severe the situation was. These were all easily A-Class monsters, and Erza could sense at least 1 S-Class.

"Natsu, Gray, you take half of them and lead them away. Then fight them. We'll take the rest here."

"Right, let's go," Gray said, running off in another direction, followed closely by Natsu.

Erza and Lucy faced the monsters in front of them, while Lucy called out Loke and Virgo to help her fight.

...

Another Captain's meeting Byakuya Kuchiki was about to be forced to attend. He had just arrived, one of the first, when he felt something. It was a surge, an increase in his heartbeat for the briefest moment. It was gone just as quickly as it came, but he couldn't stop thinking about it throughout the meeting.

The meeting was drawing to a close when he felt something again, but this time it was different. Panic rushed through him, and his heart began to beat faster. His hand immediately moved there, and he started to see something inside his mind - some sort of creature - he was flashing back and forth between the reality and his vision, and he doubled over in pain as the monster fired an attack towards him.

The other captains were watching him curiously, some more indifferent while others were more concerned. They weren't sure what was happening to the usually composed Captain, and he wasn't acting like himself. As it continued, they each began to grow more concerned.

He was feeling a pull, to go wherever the person he was feeling was. He knew what he was experiencing was someone else's life. He was connected to him or her somehow, and he could feel himself being pulled in that person's direction. At first he tried to resist the pull, but then, he felt it. He saw it in his mind, a claw slashing through abdominal muscles, accompanied by the shrill blood curdling scream of a girl. He felt the pain, the agony of the girl, but within himself, over all his other feelings, he felt the overwhelming desire to go to her, to protect her, to save her.

He closed his eyes and followed the golden ribbon that had been pulling him. When he opened his eyes again, he was in the forest, standing in front of the blonde girl before the fearsome monster, holding his blade up to protect her from the final blow.

...

Lucy was fighting them to the best of her abilities. Loke, Virgo, and she had defeated 2 of them and were facing their third, while Erza was flying in her black wing armor to take on the S-Class monster.

The one they were fighting now was the biggest of her opponents, and it was vicious. She was holding her own, but her magic energy was decreasing and her body was going weak from the blows she had been dealt by the previous monsters combined with this one's. Loke and Virgo had returned to the Spirit World to heal, under Lucy's orders, and now she was about to call out Scorpio to help her, but the monster slashed out at her, cutting her stomach.

She screamed. She couldn't help it and wished she hadn't, but she did. She could feel Erza's eyes shift in her direction, but she smiled at the redhead, before crumpling to the ground. She was waiting for the final blow, and she could faintly hear Erza flying towards the monster, having finished her battle, but Erza wouldn't make it in time, she knew.

She thought about life, how great it had been, and prepared for her life to end.

She heard Erza's cry, "LUCY!" and waited for the pain, but it never came. Sight slightly blurred by the tears she hadn't known she'd shed, she looked up to see a man in front of her, with long black hair and weird hair pieces, a sword in his hands blocking the attack of the monster.

Cries of "LUCE!" and "LUCY!" could be heard from the returning members of Team Natsu, as they arrived from their finished battles.

"I assume Lucy is your name?" the man said, looking over his shoulder at her. "I don't know why, but I could feel you, your pain, your experience. I also don't know why I feel the need to protect you, but I do." As he finished his words, as if to prove its meaning, he sliced at the monster, killing it. He sheathed his sword and turned around to face her. Now she could see his narrowed gray eyes as they regarded her.

She swallowed, and then whimpered, the pain coming back to her as she felt the wound in her abdomen bleeding. When Lucy could find the strength to speak, she said, "Yes, I'm Lucy, and thank you for coming to my aid, even though you weren't contracted. May I ask what your name is?"

"Contracted?" he asked.

She looked at him in surprise, "Yes, as a Celestial Spirit Mage, I am bound by Celestial Law to form a contract with each spirit I call, should the spirit be willing."

"What are you talking about?" he asked again, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Are you not a Celestial Spirit?" she asked, shocked. Natsu had moved to pick her up, tenderly holding her in his arms bridal style. She wrapped her arm around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder, keeping her other arm wrapped around her wounded stomach.

Byakuya's jaw and fists clenched when the pinkette approached the girl. He didn't understand the protectiveness he felt for her. The action went unnoticed by most, but Erza caught it, and she furrowed her brows in confusion. All of Lucy's spirits were protective, but this was different. She would talk to Lucy about it later though.

"I'm afraid I don't know what a Celestial Spirit is," he answered calmly. Lucy was thoroughly confused now, she knew he had come from the key she had found, but she still didn't know his name, and he said he didn't know about Celestial Spirits, which meant it probably wasn't a Celestial Spirit key.

"That's... Confusing. I'm afraid at this point, I can't give you any answers then, since I don't know them myself. If you'd like, I could do some research, and call you back here later when I do have answers. Or maybe somebody from where you're from will have some answers for you," she said, "Oh... And you never gave me your name." She smiled at him, "I'm Lucy Heartfilia, from Fairy Tail. I'm not sure what's going on, but I assure you I will try to get to the bottom of it as fast as possible. Thank you very much for saving me, and I hope we can become friends."

Byakuya had no idea what to think, but just nodded at her before giving her his name. He wasn't sure what to do now, as he still wasn't sure how he got here, and he definitely didn't know how to return. But then she took out a key and stared at it and then him, "Do you not know how to go back?"

He shook his head, and she giggled, "Ok then, I'll send you back through a forced gate closure. Close: Gate of Bayakuya Kuchiki." There was a bright light and when it faded, he was standing back in the meeting room, where the other captains were staring opened mouthed at him.

He scoffed, "What?"

"You've been gone for ten minutes, Bayakuya. Where did you go? How did you go?" Toshiro asked, looking him up and down through his narrowed eyes.

"There was a girl. I was connected to her, and she needed my help," was all he said before he left the room to find some privacy to think about what, exactly, had just happened.

…

Lucy couldn't stop thinking about him. He seemed to have no idea as to who or what she was. She thought about it for the entire walk back to the town, in which Natsu carried her tenderly in his arms, and on the entire train ride home. She would have called out Crux to find answers, but she didn't even have the magical energy for that much after the fight. Because Byakuya had come through of his own will, it hadn't drained her power, but she had used what she had left sending him back home, which she could tell wasn't the Spirit World. Even that night, as she drifted off to sleep in the infirmary, she dreamed of him, and of the answers of who he was.

The next morning she called out Crux, and he immediately searched his archives for the answers she was searching for, and, while she got them, she felt unsure as she contemplated the implications of what she had learned.

…

Even after he returned, he felt her. It was infuriating and relaxing at the same time. On the one hand, he hated feeling this connection to her, hated being connected to anyone in any way. However, on the other hand, he knew she was okay, and he knew that she survived and he would see her again, and it left him extremely pleased. The night came and went, and the connection did not fade.

"Byakuya, what happened?" asked Yamamoto, who had come to his estate to ask what had happened to him the day previous.

"When I know, I will tell you and the other captains. I may or may not be disappearing like that again," he said, contemplating. Then he felt confusion and unsurety coming from the girl, until he felt a familiar pull. This time however, he could not resist, and he disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a confused Yamamoto.

When he reappeared, he was in a small studio apartment, the blonde girl standing in front of him. He took the opportunity to examine her, as he had been too blinded by confusion the day previous to really look at her. She was wearing a blue, gold, and white crop top and short skirt, showing off her features, he couldn't help but notice. She had on a belt, upon which was a whip, and several keys, while the key that was somehow connected to him was in her hand. Her blonde hair was tied in two pigtails at the base of her head, and she had big brown eyes that looked so honest and open.

"Hello, Byakuya, I was able to find out a bit more about your key, but first, I feel like I should explain a bit about me. I am a Celestial Spirit Mage, which means that, using the gold and silver keys at my belt, I can summon celestial spirits from the Celestial Spirit World. Each key and spirit represents a particular constellation. The gold keys represent the twelve Zodiacs, and the silver keys represent the other constellations. When the key holder summons a spirit for the first time, she or he sets up a contract with that spirit, outlining the rules of their alliance.

"I found your key yesterday in the forest, and it was different from any key I had seen before, as its black. I was planning on researching it before I called upon it, but you felt me and came through on your own to protect me, but traveling through the gate on your own is extremely difficult for celestial spirits, especially when not contracted. It really confused me afterwards when I thought about it, along with the fact that you didn't seem to know about Celestial Mages or Spirits at all.

"After researching, I found out that this key isn't a celestial spirit key. It's similar to one, but not the same. I have extremely close friendships and relationships to my spirits, but the relationship put in place when someone claims a black key is stronger than even that. Not anyone can wield these keys either. Not only do they have to have high magical power, but they have to have good intentions. From what I learned, there are several black keys. Not much is known about them, but there is some known.

"1. A connection is made as soon as a worthy mage comes into possession of a key. It allows the spirit to feel the emotional and physical state of the mage. 2. Should the spirit feel it is necessary, he/she will be able to pass through the gate using his/her own power in order to protect the mage. 3. The connection is irrevocable, broken only by death of either the spirit or mage, either of which would cause the other pain. 4. The spirits come from another world, in which any who reach a particular power level will have a key created and left some place in Earthland for a worthy mage to wield.

"This means there are more keys out there, which might belong to your friends. I came upon your key by accident, and I feel terrible that I forced you into this connection without you having any choice. Personally, I would like to search for the other keys, but if you wish that I don't, I won't. I forced you into this, so I will allow you to decide."

She was biting her lip, rubbing her legs together, and looking at the ground. He could feel the guilt she felt, and he didn't like it. He also knew that he would do anything to protect her, but that he might not be able to be in a position to protect her. He assumed that any with the position of captain would have a key, maybe even a few of the lieutenants, and that left him slightly concerned. It meant that Arrancar might have keys, and Aizen and Gin probably had keys as well. However, if they all felt this need to protect, she would be safe. He also knew that it might help bring peace between them, if they had her in common.

Most of all, though, if she had more of their keys, even if he couldn't be here to protect her, someone else might. He could see she was pure, and yesterday she had said she wanted to be his friend, something he hadn't had in a very long time.

"Please, search for the other keys. It would not be good if they were to fall into the wrong hands. Thank you for asking for permission, though. However, be careful. Not all Shinigami, which is what we are, are good. I can tell you there are at least 12 other keys, possibly more, as there are 13 Captains, and I am one of them. However, some of them are no longer part of our ranks and will not be aware of the situation. Be careful with them. Explain what you know to them. It is also possible that some of the lieutenants might have keys as well, and that is another 13 Shinigami. There are also the Arrancar, who have strength equal to that of a Captain, but they are not Shinigami, but something else. You must be careful with them as well. I do not know how much of it I should explain to you at this time. I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that no key you come across tries to harm you. If they do, though, I will be here to help you," he said, looking her in the eyes. Then he disappeared as he returned to the Seireitei. He had managed to figure out how to return the previous day when she sent him back.

Lucy thought through the events as she walked to the guild. Byakuya had left her quickly and with so many questions. She now knew that there were 13 divisions in the world he came from, and each division had a Captain, who would definitely had a key, and a lieutenant, who might have a key. She also surmised that previous captains that were no longer part of their divisions would most likely have keys. Then there were the things he called Arrancar. He had said they were different, but he hadn't specified how. Not to mention he said they were dangerous and might try to harm her. However, if the connection that's supposedly put in place with these keys is present, they wouldn't hurt her, in theory that is. From now on, she would try to have someone else with her when she first summoned new spirits.

She also knew she shouldn't let word of these keys out. Supposedly, only those with good intentions could call on these spirits, however, sometimes good intentions doesn't always mean good actions. Obviously her guild would know, but she wouldn't go bragging about them on the street. When she had made this decision, she was already at the guild.

She smiled, surely Fairy Tail would help her through whatever challenges these keys might bring. As she was about to walk in, she heard someone calling her.

"Hey Blondie!" Laxus said, as he walked up to her, smirk firmly in place. Gildarts had just reinstated him in the guild and he had already completed an S-Class mission, even though he had only left the day before.

"I got something for you. It was part of my reward. Figured I should take the job so none of the other Celestial Mages could get it," Laxus said.

She furrowed her brows, "You took the request because there was a key as part of the reward?" she asked, slightly touched by the show.

"Yea. For one thing, I feel like I owe ya for not helping during the whole Phantom thing and then for Fantasia. Besides, training for the GMG starts tomorrow and I figured a new key would help. I don't know what spirit it is, and it's a funky looking key, but here ya go," he said, holding up a key. It was simple, black with green and gold at its head. When she grabbed it, her face lit up into a smile. Yes, this was definitely one of the Shinigami keys.

"Yay! Why don't you come with me to summon him or her? It's only fair since you got the key for me," she smile at him. He was surprised, but smiled back, as much as Laxus could smile, and followed her to the back of the guild.

Little did they know a matchmaker was watching their exchange.

…

Byakuya had just finished explaining the revelations to his fellow captains and their lieutenants. Then, in a rare show of emotion, he smiled, "And, lastly, I granted her permission to search for the other keys. After all, it would be bad if they ended up in others' hands, and besides, it would be the best way to protect her."

"Since when do you care about others' protection? Why would you tell her something like that? It should be our choice if we want our keys found," Toshiro said angrily. He didn't feel like being the pet of some girl. A few sounds of agreement echoed throughout the room, a grunt from Kenpachi, and an exclamation from Mayuri being the loudest.

"Since I was connected to Miss Heartfilia, and I told her that, because if your key were to wind up in another Celestial Mage's hands, you might very well end up with a Master who doesn't give you an opinion. From what I understand of the situation, many Celestial Mages abuse their spirits, who are bound to obey them, which means they can't fight back. Supposedly, only a select few mages can open the gates to the keys connected with us, however, I would rather not take that wager. We don't want to end up fighting each other in another world because of orders, although I doubt Miss Heartfilia would require us to do so," he said, leveling a cool glare on the smaller captain. Toshiro scoffed, but said nothing more, acknowledging the truth in the words. It would be best not to take that chance, if possible.

"Do you think there's a good chance she'll find more keys, Byakuya?" Shunsui asked.

The captain narrowed his eyes, "And why are you asking, Shunsui?"

"Because, I would like to see the kind of woman that would make you put anything on the line to protect her. You must have known some here wouldn't like your decision. Tell me, what is she like? What does she look like, so we'll know it's her if we are called, by anyone for that matter," he answered, lifting his hat a bit.

"She is blonde, and has a very… well-endowed form, much like Rangiku. She is truthful, honest, and sincere, at least from my encounters with her. She has more strength than what she appears to possess, and she is loyal, almost to a fault."

"You got all of that from two meetings? I doubt any of it was more than a façade, and if she should call on me, I'm sure I would be able to reveal her true colors," Mayuri said, grinning somewhat sadistically.

"Although I may not agree with Mayuri as to method, I do say that sometimes, first impressions are simply a well-placed lie. Take it from Sosuke and Kaname, although I always had some doubts about Gin. However, if what he said about the girl is true, and it could be revealed to him upon two meetings, then she must be extremely honorable. I can't tell if I am excited of the truth of his words or terrified of the misconception in them," Sajin said, eyeing Byakuya carefully.

"I have taken that into consideration, however, I feel that if you were to ever meet her, you would understand why I feel it is her true face," Byakuya said in complete determination.

Yamamoto decided it was his turn to speak, "That is enough. Regardless of that, it is obvious that more of us might be called into this other world, and all we can hope for is that this girl, the one Byakuya deems honorable, is the one to call us. We can only hope for the best in this situation."

The captains and lieutenants all nodded, before leaving to go to their respective quarters. Some wondered how the girl could possibly bring peace to their world. Some wondered about the beasts they would fight to protect the girl. Still others questioned their stance on what was happening, unsure whether to be hopeful or scared.

…

Sosuke Aizen stopped in the middle of his sentence. All eyes were on him in the room filled with Espada. He felt different. He felt his heart speed up slightly, then return to normal. He saw a flash of blonde hair and big brown eyes. And most surprisingly of all, he felt… happy.