I. Archi

Beginning

"This is the worst day ever!" Lucy threw her hands up and ran them through her hair for the thirtieth time that day.

The world was against her, she decided.

First, she failed her test. Then, she got yelled at by the spirit king for putting whipped cream on his pillow, which she didn't do, then Aquarius has the audacity to laugh at her and tell her how terrible of a prank it was.

This place was just too stressful.

"Oh, Lady Lucy, please do calm down- I'm sorry!" Aries stumbled.

The two young ladies were strolling through the castle garden, as they often did together. Something about the place was so invigorating. The roses and the violets, the bushes and trees of fresh fruit… The garden was where Lucy felt truly alive. And of course, her and Aries were friends, and everything is better with company, so the two enjoyed wandering this way and that together.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry for complaining so much, its just that-" she paused. It was her birthday. But they didn't have to know that. "-I'm just really stressed out and the King and Aquarius aren't helping, you know?"

Aries, thankfully, just nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry, but I understand." Her curled pink hair bobbed in sync with her head.

Lucy didn't like her birthday. She was glad that the celestial spirits forgot things quickly—even though she was technically a spirit too…

Lucy stretched her arms a bit. The light blue sleeves of her customary Spirit Uniform stretched over her shoulders and she yawned. When she was done with Aries, she was going to take a nice, long nap.

The two linked their arms together and walked around as per usual- with just a tad bit more irritated Lucy.

When she finally came back inside, Lucy was capitol W, Worn out. She had walked around for longer than expected, and she probably would have walked for longer if Aries hadn't reminded her of dinner.

Oh, dinner. She sighed to herself as she walked to the dining room. One of the few things to look forward to around here.

The hallways didn't give her much in the form of entertainment as she walked through them. At first, when she was young, she had been fascinated by all the vases, the pictures, and even the carpets. Her old home didn't even compare. And that was a lot to say, considering she was raised in an Imperial household.

Now, however, after living here for so long, she had memorized every turn and twist. The paintings that where once the faces of new friends were now just colors on paper and canvases.

After a good 10 minute walk, Lucy arrived at the dining room. Maids were rushing this way and that, all commanded brutally by Virgo. As she took her seat, she was served foods that, to any other Imperial, would look more like some kind of exotic fish- probably poisonous. She knew it to be, yes, a fish, that was native to the Celestial Spirit world, which made it reasonable that Imperials didn't recognize it.

Over the next 20 minutes, various other members of the Zodiac would begin to join the long table. Nobody had touched their plates yet. It was rude to eat without all members of the Celestial Council after all. Lucy amused herself with the usual small talk. How was her schooling going, did she do good on the test today, and such. There wasn't much room for boredom in a place so busy as the castle, she was sure.

When everyone had finally seated, it was already 45 minutes after Starlight.

Starlight was the basic eating time in the Spirit World. As a 'celebration' of the stars reaching their brightest peak during the night, or basically the time when the stars were the brightest, people would eat their dinner then. This was usually around 7 to 9. However, with how busy the castle was, and how often they had guests, eating at Starlight simply wasn't possible.

"Welcome to dinner!" The King's voice rung out bold and strong through the room. "Today, Virgo and her maids prepared us a delicious meal as always!" The King praised. Everyone rang out a "Thank you Virgo and Maids!" As always. By this point, it was less actually thanking and more get to the eating. "Today, we have varied guests." Varied. How interesting. I wonder how they feel about half-breeds? Lucy mused. Varied meant that the guests were not all the same race. Maybe some pixies, or even a mermaid? Lucy never knew. After all, you can just change your form to the standard "human", as they call it, shape.

This was what most opted to do. It would be to much work to contain a tail under a table, or talk to someone the size of a penny. Even the vicious dragons of Fiore often took a human form.

"Let us eat and engage in merry conversation!" The King finished. Everyone at the humongous table cheered and began to dig in to their food. Lucy wasn't a big fan of the fish they served today, so she just poked at it and ate her fruits and bread. The odd looking guest next to her seemed to enjoy the fish quite, quite a lot. As did his- his cat?!

The blonde pursed her lips in silent disapproval. How rude.

She turned to her the other guest next to her. "Hello," She greeted formally. "I'm Lucy."

The guest- sporting an orange tank top, white shorts, and wild blue hair, tamed only slightly by the headband above her forehead- looked up from her food.

"Hiya!" She was cheerful, especially compared to Lucy's formal introduction. Her brown eyes seemed to glow with a foreign emotion. "I'm Levy! I live in Magnolia. I'm here with my guild." A white and orange guild mark shined pridefully on the girl. Fairy Tail? Lucy tried to recall. It was difficult to remember all the guilds. Fiore was the land of Dragons and Guilds. Members of many races joined in Fiore, in various towns, for work and jewel.

"Pixie. You?" The girl—Levy, was it? – tilted her head.

"Half Imperial, Half Spirit." Lucy answered carefully. She was a mixed race, and some viewed mixed races as impure.

"Imperial. The people of wealth and riches. Are you a treasurer here then? " Her head tilted to the side, and blue hair framed her face. Lucy thought the messiness fit the girl.

Lucy shook her head in reply. It was a common inquiry. Imperials were people who had no magical ability. They lived in an isolated world called Earth. Imperials were notorious for being high-class, they usually lived in big, wealthy communities. It was no surprise that she would be an assumed treasurer of a sort. "I live in here," The blonde explained, "I have ever since I was young."

Thankfully, Levy didn't ask about her childhood, as others had. Rather, she asked, "Do you practice magic?"

"Nor much, but yes. The magic of the stars, Celestial magic."

Levy's eyes lit up. "Oh, I've heard of that one! Read about it, actually." She adjusted her orange headband. "It seems so cool and complex." Lucy nodded.

"It is." She agreed. "But I love it a lot! I'm hoping to join a guild one day, also. I might wait until I'm finished with school though." Levy looked thoughtful.

"Schooling isn't required for Guild Members," The small female reminded her.

"I know, but it would ease me to finish. Like, a sense of accomplishment." The blonde explained. Levy seemed to understand.

Her brown orbs searched Lucy for a second, before she said, "If you do join a guild, you should consider Fairy Tail. Then we could get to know each other better! You seem so nice."

"I might do that," Lucy replied simply, "but how about we get to know each other better now?" She took a bite of her salad, trying to crunch the crouton as quietly as possible.

"Sounds good to me!" Levy piped excitedly. "Lets say five things about ourselves." She recommended. "I'll go first. One, I was born and raised in a world south of here, with my mother and two teammates Jet and Droy. The world was named Lutin. It actually means Pixie in my native language. The people who named it were apparently oh-so creative." The girls laughed together. "Two, I looove reading."

Lucy gasped. "Reading! Novels and things?" She asked excitedly. Levy nodded seriously.

"Yep! Especially Romance and Adventure. I love studying foreign language and history books as well." The pixie listed.

"I'm actually writing a novel—I love reading too!" The blonde was excited to find a fellow reader. Most spirits were too innocent to read much romance, Why are they kissing? They are only teens! And you shouldn't be shirtless in front of others were the only comments she got about her favorite romance books, so there was no one else to really enjoy her passion with.

"Really? Can I read it?"

"U-Uh! I'm not so sure…" Lucy's eyes widened. She wasn't sure her writing was good enough for the public eye yet.

"Why write a novel if people can't read it…?" The bluenette questioned.

"…because."

The two ended up talking about books most of the remaining dinner. Their plates remained mostly untouched. Neither of them were too hungry though.

When it was two and a half hours after Starlight, and Levy and her Guild had to leave, Lucy was pretty disappointed. She and Levy had become good friends in the last two hours, and she didn't want to see a friend go.

"I'll visit, Lu." The girl promised before she left.

"Okay, you're welcome any time- oh, well maybe not weekdays because school but weekends sometimes-?"

"Don't worry, I'll figure out a good time to visit. Bye, Lu!" The pixie waved as she left. She was standing next to the pink haired man from the other side of her. He must be from Fairy Tail as well, Lucy figured.

"Bye!" She waved like a madman through the window. She watched Levy and her friends travel through a portal- to Magnolia, probably. Back to Fiore, and their guild.

"Lady Lucy…?"

It was Lyra, an entertainer of hers, who broke her out of her daze. I must have been staring off into space, she decided.

"Sorry, Lyra. Did someone need me?"

The spirit held up a towel and some pajamas. "It's time for your bath." She answered seriously.

"Oh, yeah," The blonde chuckled, "I probably wouldn't have taken it if you hadn't reminded me. Thanks, Lyra."

She gathered the towels and clothes from the girl, and thanked her once more. "You can be done for the day," she smiled.

"Thank you, Lady Lucy!" Lyra scampered off.

Lucy watched her before heading into her room. She grabbed her toiletries from the top of her dresser and headed in to take a bath.

While she bathed, she thought about something that had come up often with Levy. A very important question.

Should I join a guild…?

ANANANANAN! This is the story I've mentioned before- the name might change but I think it will stay, hopefully? I said I was gonna write ahead first but that didn't work so well so I figured I would just go ahead and post this. i hope to post at least weekly. Maybe Saturday? im very busy with school and honor society so we will have to see ^^; I'm actually at a football game working right now but I'm not getting much to do so I'm posting this. im probably going to write a new summary at some point too.

IT WILL BE A LITTLE CONFUSING.

the story is very intricate and has many different races and each race has a back story. If you want, I could give a little definition of the races mentioned I'm chapters at the end of each chapter, because they're different from the traditional way. Pixies are different in this and they are in our fairy tales, and that stuff. Anyways this is sorta long so OOONTO the story