Her magic! There was only one occasion where it felt effortless to use magic when she was in the Celestial Spirit world.

Granted she wasn't doing much with her magic seeing as it was a party and the other time the Zodiacs went rogue. But her connection to their keys was still present, which is why it allowed her and the others to use the keys to return the spirits to the Celestial world.

The clothes like celestial clothes, the not-like lacrima because it is a lacrima, the floating island.

Leo saying he couldn't tell where they were but it feeling familiar, Virgo not pulling from her magic.

They are either in the Celestial Spirit world or a pocket universe between earth the gods' and Celestial world.

It's a prison.

The realization hits Lucy like a freight train. Two of the gods here are losing control of their powers. This is why their in this stupid garden. If they fail the garden keeps them here and keeps the other worlds untouched by destruction.

If you fail you will be trapped in the garden forever.

But which gods? Could it be one She's already met. One of the defecting gods?

And if it's just two gods then why bring the others?

Why have her here if the plan was meant to have one human representative?

What does Yui's sword pendant have to do with anything?

"Why am I thinking about this when I should be sleeping?" She voices her inner monologue.

"Zeus' plan is stupid and crazy anyway…" Lucy mumbles before passing out.

When the morning comes, and Lucy finds it incredibly difficult to get out of bed she knows today will not end well.

Five minutes pass, and the heat from the morning sun forces her to shower quickly. She throws on the summer uniform wishing for cooler weather.

And just as she pushes away the negative thoughts to something more productive, her train of thought is quickly derailed by literally smashing into a god.

A grunt is the only sound she hears from the tall god before She's falling to the ground.

"Ah, Lucy did you fall for me?"

Lucy looks up and sees familiar wine red hair. "Dionysus." Lucy rolls her eyes, this guy's ego is going past the roof to reach the stars!

"Forgive me a beauty as yourself should stay on the ground." Dionysus wraps his hand around hers and pulls her up supporting her by the waist. "It's fine I guess." Lucy forgives him wanting to forget this encounter entirely.

"Anyways … I'm going to be late for class.." A light bulb idea hits her, and a mischievous smile appears on her face. It's never worked for her before but maybe," unless you want to join me in class today?" Lucy adds hopefully.

Dionysus laughs, "if Apollo had led with that in his argument I would have said yes sooner."

He finally releases her from his groups." Your very entertaining human."

"Hah! Natsu just calls me weird." Lucy denies.

"Well this Natsu person doesn't know what he's talking about."

"I agree he's at least two or three times weirder than me."

"Hmm. I don't care much. Tell me more about you, or should I talk about myself?"

Lucy rolls her eyes, dancing in her eyes," Sure tell me, what a god like you does?"

"Well as the god of fertility I garden by day, and party by night. I like booze, and women."

"Hmm. Sounds like some things are no longer on your schedule." Lucy hums.

"Yeah. Zeus is not a very patient person but I doubt he'll go through with his threat. I can wait for him out. And then I can go back to partying!"

"How can you be sure he won't?"

He shrugs, "I'm not but I frankly don't care enough to follow along with any of his plans no matter what the reason is."

"But then why are you-"

"Listen Lucy Zeus doesn't care. So I won't either."

"That's incredibly childish, not to mention if there's a clear way out shouldn't you at least try? There is more than just yourself to think about. What about the other gods, or Apollo and Hades?"

"No, they'll figure something out, I'm just going to see if this is something worth while or if I should quit while I'm ahead."

"So you're not going to class because I asked." Lucy looks away humiliated.

"No Apollo did try to convince me and I said no, I really do find you entertaining. That's why I'm going today."

"Well thanks for giving it a chance, too." Lucy stares at the ground awkwardly.

"Luce! DeeDee!" Apollo shouts waving enthusiastically from the classroom building.

Next to Apollo is Yui and Tsukuyomi with Balder.

"Good morning." Lucy greets the group upon reaching them.

"DeeDee did you decide to come after all?"

An exasperated sigh mixed with fondness escaped Dionysus. "Only on a trial basis."

"Yes! DeeDee this is going to be great. I'm super excited for the first day!"

"Shall we head to class then?" Balder suggests.

"Oh. Yes we should." Yui startles out of her surprise and begins walking with Balder with the rest following behind them.

The group of students reach the classroom that Thoth had told them is for morning classes.

"So this is our classroom." Tsukuyomi observes the room.

"What are we supposed to do?" Balder wonders walking around the desks carefully hoping not to fall.

"Well usually there's a chart for assigned seats for the class for the first couple of weeks of school. But I didn't see any charts and Thoth-sensi didn't mention anything so I think we can choose our seats." Yui says, quite uncomfortable with their sudden focus on her. " Uhm. The teacher shows up when the bell rings. Gives a lecture on a certain topic I'm not sure how Thoth-sensi will structure the subjects with a lecture… but that's about it."

"Hmm. Based on what you've said it doesn't sound very appealing to the gods that are refusing to participate." Tsukuyomi comments.

"True but learning can be fun. I'm sure there's some aspect of school that would interest them." Lucy contemplates this. What would call to the other gods? What would keep them interested?

"This feels like scheming to bribe children with candy." Lucy huffs annoyed by the stubbornness of the other gods. Only a small part of her is willing to understand them but the rest of her mind refuses to acknowledge them as anything but a pain to deal with.

If she were Erza she would have strong armed the gods into submission.

But She's here which means She's got to be the one to do something.

"If we can't come up with something Yui and I have a back up plan." Lucy watches the other gods for a reaction.

"Ehh. Really?" Apollon asks.

"Then why can't we just do it now?" Balder asks next.

"We're hoping it won't get to that." Yui trials off.

"We don't want to force them but if we can give them a choice between participation in school while being stuck here I'm betting they'll take the chance." Lucy nods her head.

The other gods seem very competitive. However she doubts they underestimate the blond's determination for that matter.

The bell rings loudly signaling five minutes before class.

The final bell rings and Thoth enters the room. Stepping in front of the class with a stack of papers he picks up the papers on top. "Good morning class."Thot begins giving an expecting glare to the rest of the class. Yui and Balder and herself answer in a respectful tone, while Apollo responds with an excited "Morning Thoth-sama!" trailed by a slow confused reply from Tsukuyomi

"You will be studying these subjects under my instruction. History Social Study Biology Language Arts Literature and Physical order to graduate you must be proficient in these subjects."

He pauses looking at his students.

"Failure in any of these subjects and you will not graduate."

"What the heck?" Lucy mumbles anxiously rolling her pen between her fingers.

Yui had mentioned that taking notes during lectures would be important but.. are they really going to study all of these subjects on humans?

She liked reading, in fact she loved it, almost as much as going out on adventures with Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail.

How are they supposed to keep the gods in line if school already feels daunting to her?

She never thought that she would have to deal with formal education again but now the fate of the world literally depends on her ability to learn and understand humans of Earth.

Humans at a school for gods to teach them about love and what it means to be human.

She glances around the room at four gods and a handful of empty desks.

Celestial Spirits are also immortal beings so why are these gods struggling with understanding humanity? What makes a Celestial Spirit different from a god?

Celestial Spirits have a connection to Earthland and constantly interact with humans in the good and bad.

They form bonds with humans unlike the gods here because they exist in a separate realm from humans. Is that it? Is that what made the difference between these two immortal beings?

If that is true the "connection" between humans and gods can easily be fixed with friendship. But if that is the only reason then Yui must have a particular trait for her to be chosen by the "Heavens Gathering Clouds" .

Now let's begin the first lesson. Thoth continues unperturbed by the gods independent doings.

Tsukuyomi with a super human ability to write down every word spoken. Apollon looks surprised and a little nervous. While Dionysus has his head down and shoulders slumped and his eyes closed.

Straining her ear, you could hear the faint snores coming from the Greek god.

Balder smiled serenely straight ahead not bothering to take any notes.

This is off to a wonderful start.

"We will be covering Biology seeing as your current very human body you need to understand the limitations of your body in order to not die."

"Eh we can die?"

Thoth looks up and glares through stilted eyes. " If you're not careful, yes."

"However I am confident that all of you are at least capable of basic human survival.

"Speaking of which these are things that you must do on a daily basis in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle throughout the year." He turns around to the chalkboard writing down some basic stuff like, eating three meals a day, doing daily exercise, sleeping a minimum of seven hours. "This list of things you need to do in order to keep your body functioning. However it's not everything." Thoth separates the board writing 'Hygiene' on the bard, and making another list underneath it. "While you should attempt to bath daily at minimum at least every other day is a must."

Several pages of notes, and Two subject changes later Thoth snaps his book closed, "That is all for today. Class dismissed." He waves them off and then leaves.

The students sigh in relief.

Yui takes the opportunity to put away her things in a small bag she found in her room. Taking out the student handbook and looking at the schedule for the cafeteria. "Mina do you want to get lunch?"

Lucy looks over her shoulder leaning back stretching her aching spin. "That sounds great!" Lucy replies immediately followed by a loud growl from her stomach, " I'm starving!" Lucy forces herself to keep smiling, that's something Natsu would say just before dragging her off to the nearest food stand or restaurant and eating twice his body weight in food. Suddenly feel quite lonely despite being surrounded by people she almost couldn't bring herself to stand. A warm pulse of magic flared from her keys strapped to her leg. 'Just get through the day Lucy. You got this!' Psyching herself up she grabbed her bag and stuffed all of her things on top of the desk into it.

The group of gods and humans went to the mess hall and parted ways.

Yui and Lucy waved goodbye to gods heading towards the male's doors and then they went to the female dorms.

"So are you still up for that sleepover tonight?" Lucy fiddles with the hem of her sleeve.

"Oh." Yui startled brings her attention from her thoughts to Lucy, "Yes, I would really like that."

"Okay, does six sound good?"

"Yes that's fine."

"I'll bring some snacks too!" Lucy claps her hands together excited. "What kind of snacks do you like?"

"Me?" Yui tilts her head to the right. "I really like chocolate and small cakes."

"Perfect! Ill picks some up from the student store then." Lucy replies, giving Yui a quick hug before stepping back. Yui doesn't hug back but by now expects it from the bubbly blond. When Lucy lets her go she opens her dorm room giving her final farewell to her female friend before closing her door.

Lucy goes into her dorm and drops off her bag on the small table to the side She grabs a fresh notebook from the drawer of supplies she discovered this morning she briefly looks at the school guide book map trying to memorize where she's headed before pocketing it and leaving her dorm.

She needs to go to the library and the student store, not wanting to make two trips she decided to go to the student store first. There is a section for nearly every common product from clothing to school supplies to hygiene products until she finally reaches the section she was looking for magical items.

The small corner had a bunch of random items that looked like an assorted mini magic shop in a handful of shelves. A lot of the items are things that she already owned but due to her current circumstance does not have in her possession anymore.

On the fourth shelf a familiar item that brought fond memories of heragon. Her lips curl up wards for a brief moment before tearing her eyes away. Looking further down she spots the item she was looking for. Gale force reading glasses. Her shoulders go lax in relief.

Grabbing two pairs she turns to the counter, she glances back and grabs the color changing device before she can change her mind and walks up the counter. She takes a pen and fills out a form for other things and feeds it to the reading machine. The machine spits out a timestamp for how long her special order will take. She stuffs the slip of paper into her pocket and heads to the library.

She managed to get to the library with only one wrong turn, reorienting herself by backtracking to the cafeteria and this time making the right turn before pushing in the doors to the library open and stepping in.

Not sure where to find the information she was looking for she searched for the Egyptian god of knowledge instead. After searching the first floor she went up to the second floor where she found Thoth-sama.

A bit unsure Lucy tries to get his attention, "Uhm. Thoth-sama?" Lucy calls out, wincing at the echo of her voice. She waits for him to acknowledge her, but instead Thoth continues engrossed in his book elegantly flipping a page and then continues reading. Slightly irritated with being ignored she decides to just ask her question -rudeness be damned. "Thoth-sama, can you direct me towards text on the mythology of the gods at this school?"

"Hn. So you finally ask a question. I was wondering what was taking so long."

'Is that why he ignored her? Because she didn't ask a question?' More annoyed than before Lucy clenches her jaw stopping herself from saying something rude. 'Why do the gods act so conceited!'

"Thoth snaps his book shut, standing up he walks away from his seat. "Follow me." He commands not bothering to look back if Lucy is following or not.

The mythology section is down stairs," leading her to a section closer to the back he points out the shelf labels. "This is where the mythology section begins starting with the letter A to Z. Walking down the aisle he points out tiny markers for where the letter section ends. "At this school there are four different groups Egyptian," he pull out two thick books and hands them over, "Greek," pulling out three medium sized books, "Japanese and Norse," adding several more to her stack of mythology books, "If you need anymore information your welcome to lok at any other book here, now if you'll excuse me."Thoth leaves Lucy struggling with her precariously stacked pile of books. Lucy glares at the retreating back of the god of knowledge, the books covering her face just below the bridge of her nose making her angrily mutter, glaring making it that much more amusing. She can practically feel the humiliation if Natsu and Happy were there to tease her. Making her more upset. Creating a vicious cycle where she angrily stomps forward forgetting how heavy the books are almost tipping forward getting embarrassed by the phantom jokes made by Natsu in her head and getting angry again only to almost stumble again.

Finally she reached a comfortable cushioned chair with a table in front of it. She sets to work immediately with the help of Hologrim archiving the information for her. She read through the first book within the hour writing down a few notes about the god that her information related to before moving on. She got through the japanese and the Norse about two and a half hours later.

Taking a small break to look over notes so far. There seemed to be a lot of inconsistencies with the gods that are portrayed in these stories versus the real versions. The impression that most gods have given her is very cold and bitter but a lot of their domains or power seems to change with what attributes are given to the god.

For example Takeru is mainly the Japanese god of the sea and storms and sometimes noted as god of the sea but is also attributed other gifts. According to his mythology he is a troublemaker, no surprise there. His problem is anger.

The other Japanese god Tsukiyomi seems fairly normal, that however doesn't help seeing as all the gods are here because they lack some kind of understanding of humans or whatever. They all have a problem is all she can glean. She's sure that Tsukiyomi is no exception. From their interaction this morning he seems very quiet and calm, he definitely has a few strange tendencies like the aggressive note taking was a bit strange. If anything he kinda reminds her of Virgo and Levy a bit.

A few other problems were Apollon and Dionysus; she couldn't tell if there was anything that is particularly wrong either. Apollo especially with his kind and sunny personality. Dionysus seemed a bit lazy but nothing that screamed 'I have problems!'. Balder is also very similar to Apollo in personality, but Apollon is by far more energetic compared to the gentle kindness of Balder. Loki is another fiery personality but seems to dislike anyone outside of his circle. Perhaps that might have something to do with his underlying problem. As for Thor and Hades she can't gage anything from them as she hasn't interacted with them.

Knowing stories about them is not a reliable source to get to know someone. A first impression of a person goes far in understanding a person. Knowing some basic information on them to make a better impression on them can be the difference between saving them and the destruction of everything in existence. The more she studies the more oppressive feeling of stress weighs on her shoulders. Not only do all of these gods need to pass but two of them have a high probability of destroying everything on a whim at any given moment. The more she thinks on this the more she wishes she didn't know about the gods and Zeus' plan. Yui is a sweet girl that doesn't deserve what is happening to her and for whatever reason she has been chosen by that sword for now she will have to have faith in Yui and help her keep the gods in check.

Pulling off her gale force reading glasses she rubs the bridge of her nose. This is going to be a long year.

Grazing her hand over Hologrim's key she jumps up nearly spilling everything on her lap to the ground. "I need to pick up my order!" She grabs a heavy stack and puts them on the return desk leaving four books that she rushes over grabs along with her notebook and glasses. She hurries out of the library over to the student store.

Entering the student store she spots her order sitting on the counter. She glances inside the bag before shrugging it's probably all there she doesn't need to make sure. She slides the bag off the counter on top of her books. Letting out a huff at the added weight. Damn these books. And her stupid injures. Her leg wants to give from where her leg was exploded the muscle is still tender and weak. Another thing to add to her list workout seeing as she's not going on a mission to stretch out her muscles anytime soon.

She grits her teeth walking toward her room. Maybe she overdid it with the books. Thinking back on everything she's been pushing it all day with the chairs and the sweeping and then the books and now she can barely make it to her room! Maybe Natsu made the right call in not taking her with him.

The only thing not wrong with her is her magic which is getting a strange boost from being in this strange realm. She'll need to talk to Loki soon and maybe Capricorn about it.

A few more turns and she finally reaches the girls dorms passing by Yui's room before finally reaching her own room she turns the door handle and stumbles inside. She puts her stuff on the counter. Sitting at one of the bar stools she pulls out some of the items in the bag. The first thing she pulls out are snacks that she'll take with her later for the sleepover. The next thing she pulls out is a medium sized wooden box with a small lock on it. The next thing she pulls out is a quill and a bottle of ink, a stack of envelopes, a candlestick , fire lighter, and a wax stamp are put into a separate pile. At the bottom of the bag are two sets of casual clothes and one set of workout clothes.

Returning the snacks back to the bag and putting everything else away she finally begins getting ready for the sleepover. She pulls on her pajamas, pulls her hair tie out and brushes it. She grabs the slippers that Virgo brought with the pajamas. She checks the time only a little bit more. To pass the time she decides to do her nightly routine now instead of later. A few minutes later she's drying off her hands taking the wrap in the basket that she hadn't used yet she sits on the edge of her bed and wraps her calf. She slips on her slipper and grabs the bag of snacks on her way to the door. She wanders over to Yui's room knocking on her door excited to become friends.

"Yui it's me Lucy."

A few seconds pass before the door opens and Yui is dressed in her casual clothes from the first day.

"Lucy-san!" Yui moves away making room for Lucy to step inside her dorm.

Lucy holds up her bag, "I brought snacks!"

"Ah, thank you Lucy-san!"

Lucy goes over to the counter and begins sorting out different snacks and candies.

"I wasn't sure what you liked so I got a bit of everything!"

"Woah!" Yui takes in all the snacks on the counter. "There's so much I don't know what we're going to do with all of them."

"Ah, I guess I went a little overboard huh?" Lucy tugs at a small knot in the back of her head sheepish.

"Well, we can just keep them in our room, it'll be our emergency snack stash!" Lucy grins, imagine that actual food in your pantry! Now there's no pesky dragon nose that sniffs out every snack sweet and candy no matter where you hide it or how many times you tell them no. No more dorking grins of 'hey Lucy we're out of food!'. Lucy shakes her head and grins wider at Yui.

Yui tentatively reaches out and picks out a few sour candies and some bite-sized chocolates before settling down on the bed. Lucy grabbed some chips and some small chocolates and sat down on the window seat.

"So where do you want to start?" Yui asks the first question, "Or how do you want to do this?" she adds.

"Hm. How about we play a game of 21 questions?"

"Okay,"Yui nodded amiably, "how about you ask me questions first, I'm not too sure what to ask you." Yui fiddles with the hem of her blouse.

Lucy agrees, noting Yui's shyness,"Sure! First question then… What is your family like?"

Yui replies, readily happy to talk about her family."I have my mom, she's very kind and understanding, and my dad he's always believed in me and helped me with anything and everything, and then there's my two older brothers Manabu-nii and Jun-nii they're smart but at like absolute clowns most of the time and tease me the rest of the time it's nice to know they have my back."

Yui smiles broadly, sometimes it's chaos living at her house. Remembering all the festivals held at the shrine but most of the time the quiet atmosphere, the simple and daily routine made her home feel calm and familiar protected that gives her comfort like a piece of her family is with her. Her shoulders slump released from tension she had been holding on to since she found herself in this garden unsure and confused. The pendant around her neck feels a little lighter a little bit more bearable.

"Where do you live, have you ever moved or are planning on moving?"

"I am from Japan. I live in Tendo Yamagata. It's close to the shore so it's kind of nice. I've lived there my whole life and so has our family for many generations. I'm not sure if I'm going to move out any time soon though."

Yui trails off she doesn't know what else to say about it she hasn't figured out anything about her life and while she somehow wound up with more time to think about it her being stuck her by a willful god on a floating island really isn't helping her think about the future when the present is so..so uncertain if she fails it will be pointless to even have a future planned out.

"What do you do during the day?"

"I go to school most of the day at Hakoniwa High School, I'm a second year. After school I do Kendo club and then I go home."

"Kendo? Is that a hobby? Do you have more hobbies?"

"Uhm, yes but I also practice Iaido on my own, my father is the one that taught me. It's something I've always done since I was old enough to hold the blade and now I do it daily or at least I did anyway.

Lucy sighs "Yeah, I kind of wish I would have been able to keep some of my things with me here instead of my apartment but if nothing else I'm absolutely grateful that my keys are with me regardless of the Cronos' time thing I don't think I would be able to handle being separated from my spirits at all right now for now though I'm not going to think about that possibility until I'm home when this is all over." Lucy sighs truly her life has fallen to complete shambles but she'll be damned before she gets her spirits Yui and these gods trapped here forever. She needs to make it back and see her family again. Fairy Tail is going to come back together, Natsu will come back to her, he promised. She doesn't want to think about how he already broke a promise. Natsu Happy, mina watch over me.

"Who is your best friend?"

"Ah, I have two Akane and Yuki. They've been my friends since middle school. During the summer we would go out into town and just do whatever came to our mind and just have as much fun as we could."

"Sounds like you have some great memories with them." Lucy watches Yui's small smile and glossy eyes. It must be strange to be so far away from everything you've known. She needs to distract her for now.

"Hmm. What's your favorite color and why?"

Yui absently takes a candy into her mouth and chews quickly, "My favorite color is blue, because I like to look up at the sky when there is perfect weather.

Lucy's eyes light up excitedly,"Really? Blue is one of my favorite colors too, besides pink!"

Lucy leans back a little before asking,"Okay, what's your favorite food?"

"Udon." Yui replies,"with extra negi" she adds quietly.

"You like the onion?" Lucy laughs lightly.

"Yes." Yui defends her tastes.

"I'm not laughing at you," Lucy smiles warmly," it's just it was cute the way you answered. Plus it's nothing bad my best friend cannot eat food that is not spicy, and by spicy I mean it's not for regular human consumption." Lucy blanches.

"Oh wow that sounds scary." Yui clutches her stomach protectively.

"You don't get used to it but I learn to tolerate it. It was that or starve."

"Um I don't think that's normal Lucy-san."

"Tell me about it the man can eat four times his body weight but does it all have to burn like an inferno?" Lucy retorts.

"Ah uh.. that's not what I meant Lucy-san." Yui gives up trying to understand.

Lucy, ignorant to Yui's words, returns to the conversation and asks, "So what's your favorite animal?"

"I like cats, they're really small and very cute."

"Ha! Cute.." Lucy mumbles.

"Personally I like dogs. Oh speaking of, I can summon Plue." Lucy stands up setting her candies aside.

Lucy dusts off her pajamas and pulls her key ring from the left pocket tumbling through them before pulling out a silver key. "Oh well I promised to explain more to you. You know how the gods are from different realms and you're from earth?" Lucy doesn't bother looking down at the key in her hand; she knows it's the right one. "Well I'm from a different world called Earthland and in my world people have the ability to use magic!" Lucy puts her feet apart, arm extended key in the air. "As for me I practice Celestial magic which allows me to summon all kinds of spirits!"

Lucy turns the key to an invisible lock, a bell toll rings around the room," Open! Gate of the small dog. Nikola!"

A bright light flashes across the room.

Barley standing is a tiny creature that looks more like a snowman than a dog.

"Plue!" Lucy scoops up the dog that lays contentedly in her arms.

The dog stretches out a fluffy paw towards the air. "Pun! Puun!"

"You want to pet him?" Lucy hodson out Plue bouncing excitedly. "Look at his cute face!"

She smiles and pets the small creature.

"Hello Plue, I'm Yui. It's nice to see you again."

"Pun! Puun PunPun!"

"Of course Plue." Lucy hands him a large lollipop, crumpling the wrapper in her hand.

"Celestial Spirits are very special beings. It allows them to do things like this. But there are many different types of Celestial spirits. All of them have different abilities, looks and personalities."

"Are they like your family?" Yui asks, she won't even question the logic of giving a 'dog' a lollipop.

"Yes, some have been with me since I was child." Lucy puts the silver key away.

"So tell me, how old are you?" Lucy continues.

Yui looks slightly put out at the turn of the conversations but holds her questions for later.

"I'm seventeen."Yui replies.

"Wait,"Lucy stares in disbelief, really?" Did Zues drag this girl here on a whim?

"Well.. how old are you Lucy-san?" Yui asks nervously.

"I'm 19… kind of.."Lucy finishes lamley. "It's complicated." Lucy amends," I can tell you more when it's your turn. It's just kind of a long story." Lucy patts Plue on the head taking the finished lollipop from him without missing a beat.

Yui stares at Lucy, unsure of how to continue after that.

"What are you scared of the most?" Lucy starts again.

"I- hmm.. I'm not sure, but if I had to say something probably tornadoes and hurricanes."

"What is your most embarrassing moment?"

"...," Yui curls her finger over her chin, "Oh no, I can already feel the heat on my face…, I'll tell you only if you promise to tell me your most embarrassing moment!"

"With my luck it's bound to happen here anyways... okay." Lucy nods stiffly.

"So one morning I thought I had slept in and was going to be late to school, so I rushed to put on my uniform and ran out the door. I was so worried about being late that I didn't bother to put on socks and ran half way to school when I realized I forgot my backpack… on my way back home I resigned myself to being late and decided to walk….," Yui tugs at the ends of her hair, " A few people were staring at me strangely but the last straw was when these two kids started laughing and pointing at me. I had no idea why. The mother of the two kids took pity on me and came over to me. She told me, "Young lady, your school shirt is inside out and your shoes are mismatched,she told me gently." I was so embarrassed I thanked her and started running back home and when I got home I told my mom what happened and then asked if I could stay home instead of trying to go back to school." Yui sighes, " the rest of the day I was too scared to do anything so I just stayed in my room laying in bed wishing the day would go by faster." Yui pops a candy into her mouth, "For the next week I woke up early and refused to leave the house before checking myself over in a mirror. Sometimes when I get nervous about school I'll start obsessing over how my uniform looks before a test."

"Sound's like you had a really bad day. But things just happen and that's when you smile away the negative thoughts and keep going through the day, good thing no one you know was there to lord it over your head…"Lucy giggles, "can't wait to see your reaction when I tell you my most embarrassing moment, your mom was really nice letting you stay home."

"Yes, I'm their only daughter and their youngest child, my mom is always there for me."

"That's very sweet, I'm sure wherever they are they're watching over you."

"Okay back to questions, if you could do one thing without any consequences what would you do?"

"Right now, I would like to send all of us back home." Yui answers.

Lucy smiles at Yui, "that's really thoughtful Yui."

"If you could have any magic of your choice which one would you want?"

"Magic is pretty flexible in my world if it's really impossible I'll tell you but whatever you come up with I'm sure will be fine." Lucy waves off Yui's concern.

"Hm. Maybe something with swords then? It's not very creative though..."

"Not at all one of the most powerful mages I know uses powerful armor and weapons in battle. She's amazing!"

"Well I know a little for swords, armor would be too much,and entirely out."

"Don't sell yourself short, you've been training since you were little, besides in my world fighting against others happens regularly, my world is just too different to compare each other." Lucy breaks open a bottle of milk. She drinks from it before setting it aside and asking the next question.

"What do you think about the gods you've met?"

"Apollon-san is really nice. He helped immediately, even though he was a bit too forward. Balder too, but he seems kind of lonely somehow. Dionysus is flirty, kind of a joker, and a bit lazy. Hades and Thor seem to be equally elusive and mysterious. Tsukuyomi-san is really quiet but very hard working. I don't understand how he's brothers with Takeru-san, they're the exact opposite of each other. I don't like Loki-san or Takeru-san they're very rude!"

"Well those two certainly make you upset."

"I just don't like people who are rude." Yui huffs.

"Whatever reason they have for acting the way they do we're going to have to do something about it.. Eventually that is. We can worry about it at a later date." Lucy's eyebrows knit together, we can get away with putting this off, I hope.

"I want to compare our experience, can you tell me how you ended up here?"

"I was supposed to clean out the storage shed but then I heard a loud voice call my name but everything around me was completely I found out it was Zeus. That's when I saw a glowing light coming from the storage shed, it was green and pulsing and the voice called my name again. I went inside and saw a simple green box and inside it was this sword," Yui holds up the pendant for Lucy. " It was a normal size at first. I touched it and then the light became brighter and I fainted. I woke up in a random room with the sword. This time I went to push it away from me but the moment my fingers touched it turned into a necklace now I can't take it off."

"I think the sword has to do with how they choose a human representative and why it's stuck to you. But I'm not sure why or how, because it's the exact sword I saw except the box was different and it disappeared once I touched it." Lucy offers,"It might become important later Zues and Thoth seem determined to make us flounder in the dark and learn through trial and error. We might never find out. For now like Thoth said just keep it safe. What do you think about this place then?"

"You know despite how scary it seemed at first, especially after Apollon showed me from above, everything is beautiful."

"What did it look like from the sky?"

"It looked like a chain of small floating islands around the main island where the school is. Nothing outside of that exists; it just looks like an endless sky around us."

Silence follows Yui's statement.

Lucy takes a deep breath before breaking it. "Well I think it's your turn to ask questions."

An: Promise I'm not dead! Though that's not saying much since I haven't updated in a few months. This is my list of excuses:

1 Writer's block 2 I was being lazy half the time 3 I was busy the other half of the time 4 I don't remember what it was but I think it was important... maybe I'm not sure I don't have the best long term memory for my life events. 5 I wrote an outline for the rest of the story.

And this is my list of peace offerings: 1 This is the longest chapter so far 2 The next chapter is just as long if not longer. 3 I have a bonus scene for Natsu bellow.

"Nee Natsu why didn't we bring Lucy?"

"Because we couldn't Happy."

"But why not?" Happy picks at the skin of the fish in his paws. "I miss her."

"I miss her too," Natsu refuses to to answer the same question again.

The past several weeks he has asks then ignores him the entire night.

"I need to be strong so we can go back." His bleary eyes look up at the empty night sky. "I can't fail her again." He barely whispers the words out. He shuts his eyes tightly. His eyes burn, hurt. His heart aches,, it hurts. It burns. I wanted to have more adventures...protect the future.

He quietly begins to eat his meal. Lost in thought. When he finishes he puts out the fire, eating the flames before lying down.

"You believe me?" Lucy's voice hitches, shoulders shaking and eyes glassy.

"Of course we believe you Lucy." He feels himself nod.

"Then you'll stop this from happening?"

"Stop what?"

"Everyone's death." Lucy smiles -her teeth are stained red. Lucy collapses on the ground.

He reaches out but her body sinks into the shadows. Around him fire rages but everything is silent. He can't hear anything. Dread fills him denial fuels him.

"Lucy!" Silence. His voice doesn't carry.

"Lucy!Lucy!Lucy!LUCY!" He shouts with all the force of his lungs.

He starts running. He runs yet nothing makes a sound. HE trips over some thing. Looks down. A claw buried in the dirt.

He's frozen.

He can't think. He doesn't want to see. No.

His body betrays him. He slowly looks up there are bones. Large bones that cane only be of a dragon. This could be of any dragon yet he knows who it was.

Igneel

He feels a sharp pinprick on his chest. His eyes snap open.

"Natsu..."Happy retracts his claws from from his friend's chest. "You where yelling in your sleep..." Happy sniffles. "You wouldn't wake up.

The feeling of something wrong became overwhelming , like a vice constricting at his lungs. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy!

If something happened to her while he was gone...if he- No! She has has everyone else, there is no way he could have failed her already. He needs to be stronger for her! Gray and Erza and everyone else can keep her safe if she needs it. He doesn't need to go back. Not yet. Please.

AN: So that happened... I would feel bad for Natsu but he choose to handle his grief alone and so NatsuxEmotionalGrief is a small paring on the side. That is not the last we will see of Natsu but we won't be seeing him for a while. He basically realized something happened to Lucy (aka kidnapped by Zeus) but is in complete denial. This will make sense why I added this later but not now so comment your speculations as to what will happen.

Speaking of future chapters: my lovely commentator DeathGoddesses yes I am doing the sea side school trip but it will be a consequent of the competition.

I try an keep my typos and grammer errors to a minimum but there are bound to be plenty that I missed feel free to point them out to me and mock me horribly for my simple mistakes I wont mind. Thank you to everyone that has been patient (or thought this story was abandoned) enjoy. I'll try and update within the next two weeks. Stay healthy everyone!

~Alycat