Magnolia Academy was a sprawling campus sitting atop a hill, overlooking a valley in the kingdom of Fiore. It was the only institution of its kind, as it served to cultivate the usage of magic. But despite its glitz and glamor, the student population of Magnolia Academy was quite small because only ten percent of the world's population is able to use magic. It is at this school where Lucy Heartfilia could be found. Presently, her head was bent over a book in the library, blonde strands falling in front of her face and obscuring her view. Irritably she brushed the strands back, her brown eyes glued to the page of the book in some sort of awe.

Lucy had only recently begun attending Magnolia Academy, and so far had managed to stay somewhat unknown even amongst the small student body. Her anonymity and lack of friends afforded her a lot of time to study magic on her own and catch up to where her classmates were in their learning. The evaluation exam was coming up, and she couldn't afford to become distracted. She needed to move up another rank, so when the class did notice that she there she wouldn't be the laughingstock of the school because she was a F-Ranked mage.

Magnolia Academy divided their students into classes and ranks, and arguably the ranks were the most important thing. The Ranks were: S, A, B, C, D, and F; with F being the worst or the weakest, and S being the strongest. There were only a few students in Magnolia Academy who were Rank S, and they just so happened to also be in her class. That was why she had to study, so that she didn't let classmates down or get made fun of. The latter, was what concerned her the most.

The library doors flung open and a group of students filtered into the room, chatting loudly. Lucy's eyebrows dipped down into a scowl as she struggled to concentrate on the passage that she was reading. Huffing she straightened up, slamming the book closed and stood up her aquamarine colored pleated skirt swishing around her legs as she stormed toward the librarian intent on checking out the book, when she suddenly bumped into someone. She lost her grip on the book and it landed with a thump on the ground.

"Sorry," Lucy apologized, staring at the person that she had bumped into.

He was cute, she thought as her eyes traced over his figure, although his hair is a little odd. His hair was what caught her attention first, being that it was spiky and pink-colored and his eyes were dark, she'd dare to call them obsidian, charcoal or even sable, and his skin was quite tanned. He was wearing a sleeveless, gold trimmed, black waistcoat that was left open and untucked, exposing his chest and abdomen (which made Lucy's cheeks flush), and he was wearing the black dress pants that the school required as part of its uniform. Black sandals adorned his feet and wrapped around his neck was a scaly white scarf, that somehow seemed to bring his whole ensemble together.

"It's fine," he mumbled, staring at her oddly for a moment.

"Sorry," Lucy apologized again, bending down and picking her book up from the ground. "I wasn't paying attention, sorry."

"It's fine," he said, staring at her. His eyes briefly narrowed, his attention zooming in on the emblem on her white collared shirt. "F-Ranked, huh?"

Lucy flushed with mortification, and scowled at him, "What of it?" She clutched the book closer to her chest, looking incredibly defensive. Her eyes moved to the front of his jacket her own eyes landing on the emblem pinned to his clothing. "Rank A, huh," she huffed, her brown eyes narrowing.

A sheepish smile crossed his face, "Guess that sounded pretty rude, huh? Nice to meet ya, I'm Natsu Dragneel."

Lucy stared at him for a few moments, hesitantly before she said rather grudgingly, "Lucy Heartfilia."

He appeared as if he was going to say something when a sharp, female voice said, "Natsu!"
"Coming," he shouted, flinching a little at the anger-coated voice. "See ya later Luigi!"

"It's Lucy," she huffed, watching him as he ran off to join his friends who had wandered off and been waiting by the steps that led to the second floor of the library.

His friends were just as interesting looking as he was, Lucy decided. The only other male in the group was dark haired, and was wearing a white coat over the standard uniform that was mandated by a school. Unlike Natsu, this guy was actually following the school's dress code.

The eldest girl of the group, had long scarlet hair that was pulled into a ponytail. She was wearing the standard uniform for girls which consisted of a white sleeveless cropped blouse that exposed part of her midriff, an aquamarine pleated skirt, and the aquamarine cape jacket which was cropped so that the jacket only reached the elbows. The only area where the girl deviated from the uniform was instead of wearing the black dress shoes, she wore black knee-high boots.

The youngest girl in the group had long dark-blue hair pulled into pigtails and was wearing the same uniform as the eldest girl, except that her outfit was silver, indicating that she was a younger student.

Lucy couldn't catch a glimpse of any of their emblems, but if she'd hazard a guess she'd say that they were all Rank A or above. A Rank A wouldn't hang out with someone in a lower rank. Actually, not many would hang out with someone in a lower rank. Lucy sighed, gazing at the quartet of students for a few more moments before spinning on her heel and heading to check out the book. After having checked the book out from the library, Lucy headed to the courtyard to continue reading it.

~8~

The courtyard was nice and quiet, the only sound coming from the water fountain in the center. Lucy sat down on the grass, leaning against the back of the tree. She crossed her ankles, propping the book on her legs and beginning to read the book, and hoping that there would be no interruptions this time. Let's see, where was I, Lucy wondered, her eyes roving the page as she sought to find where she left off.

Celestial Spirit Magic is a type of Magic in which the user summons Celestial Spirits by opening their gates through the use of Celestial Spirit Gate Keys. These Keys are separated into two classes: the more common Silver Keys and the rarer Gold Keys. Keys for Celestial Spirits are counted in Units (collectively without regard of Gold or Silver), and a Celestial Spirit Mage is noted by how many Units they have obtained.

When a Celestial Spirit Mage receives a Key and opens its Celestial Gate for the first time, they have to set up a contract with the respective Spirit. This contract consists of asking the Spirit which days it can be summoned by its contractor. This simple agreement leads to a dedicated and serious bond between the Spirit and summoner. However, under certain circumstances, i.e. during battle, and a Spirit is summoned for the first time, the making of a contract may be suspended on a later date. Contracts can be broken if the Mage gets arrested, releases the Spirit by themselves, or dies. When a Celestial Spirit Mage summons a Spirit, it appears directly next to them, as that's where the gates to the Spirit world had been opened. It's impossible to summon spirits elsewhere.

Lucy grabbed her keys, taking note of the ten gold keys and five silver keys she had. Aquarius, Leo, Taurus, Virgo, Sagittarius, Aries, Scorpio, Gemini, Capricorn, and Cancer, she thought, staring at her ten golden keys. I'm only missing Pisces and Libra, but I don't need to collect all twelve gold keys. They aren't tools to use or items to collect. They are friends, she thought, even thought it was hard to convince some of them of that. The sound of something splashing in the water fountain made Lucy look up and she groaned as she caught sight of that pink-haired boy Natsu jumping into the fountain and splashing two of his friends with water.

"Natsu," the scarlet-haired girl hissed, crossing her arms over her chest and sending him a stern look. "This isn't time to horse around."

"Why?" He seemingly whined. "It's not like we're doing anything important, Erza."

Lucy's eyes widened at the familiar name. Erza? Could this be Erza Scarlet? Erza Scarlet was the most famous girl in Magnolia Academy not only for her beauty, but because she was also the student body president and she was one of Magnolia Academy's Rank S mages (and one of the only girls to be Rank S).

"Oi, just listen to her Flame-Brain instead of being a hothead," the dark-haired boy with them snapped, sounding annoyed with Natsu.

"What was that Ice Princess?" Natsu hissed, glaring daggers at the dark-haired boy.

"Natsu! Gray!" Erza shouted, glaring at them. "The two of you aren't fighting, are you?"

"N-No ma'am," the two stammered staring at her fearfully.

"Good," Erza stated, with a small, victorious smile that promised death if the two were lying. She tilted her head to the side, and asked in a curious voice, "Who was that girl in the library you were talking to, Natsu?"

Lucy's eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed a little. As much as she wanted him to acknowledge that he had talked to her, and knew her name, she knew he'd probably say something like, "Just some F-Ranked nobody", or something like that. She was an F-Rank, and to practically everyone in Magnolia Academy, she was a nobody because of it. Natsu wouldn't be any different she was sure.

"I think she said her name was Lucy Heart-something," Natsu answered, and Lucy saw him scratch the back of his neck sheepishly. "Heartfilia, maybe?" He laughed a little, "I don't know."

"Natsu," Erza sighed.

"Lucy Heartfilia," the blue-haired girl piped up, and the three older teens turned to look at her. "Her dad is a wealthy businessman, isn't he? He owns Heartfilia Railways and Heartfilia Shipping, I think." The blue-haired girl shifted on her feet, "She's Rank F, isn't she?"
"Yeah," Natsu confirmed with a nod. Lucy watched with trepidation as his eyes roamed the courtyard, passing over her figure underneath the tree before suddenly landing on her again. "There she is," he pointed at her and Lucy flushed, shrinking in on herself as all attention suddenly turned to her.

She had been hoping that they wouldn't walk over, but her hopes had been for naught as the quartet slowly meandered over. Lucy closed her book, rising to her feet and holding it tightly against her chest as if it was some sort of shield.

"Hi," Erza smiled. "I am Erza Scarlet, it's nice to meet you Lucy Heartfilia."

"You too," Lucy replied unsure. The Rank S mage was making her nervous and Lucy shifted on her feet as if she was preparing to bolt.

"Gray Fullbuster," the dark-haired boy introduced himself, gazing at her shrewdly.

Gray Fullbuster, Lucy thought, committing the name to memory as she awkwardly smiled at the dark-haired boy. He's a Rank A, like Natsu, I think.

"Wendy Marvell," the petite blue-haired girl introduced herself, smiling sweetly. "Nice to meet you Lucy Heartfilia."

"L-Likewise," Lucy stammered, her eyes landing on the emblem pinned to Wendy's jacket. Rank B? Of course a kid younger than me would somehow be stronger than me too, Lucy thought. "Um, I have to go. I have to study and practice."

"Practice for what?" Natsu asked, gazing at her curiously.

He reminded her a little bit of a puppy, with his head tilted slightly in confusion and his eyes looking so big and so curious. He was cute, the thought crossed her mind before she could stop it.

"The evaluation exam is coming up in a week," Lucy mumbled. "I need to study and practice for it," her feet shuffled on the ground as she spoke and her cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment.

"Ah you're talking about the Rank F evaluation exam," Natsu said, realization suddenly striking him.

"Yes," Lucy managed to say, though her voice sounded sharper than she had intended it to. "I was talking about the Rank F exam, because I am a Rank F mage. That's why I'm practicing and studying."

"Good luck with the exam," Erza said.

"Thanks," Lucy whispered. "I have to go. It was nice to meet you guys."

"Luigi," Natsu whined.

Lucy glared at him, "My name is Lucy, not Luigi."

Natsu grinned, "Why don't you stay a little while?" He slung an arm around her shoulders, "Taking a break isn't going to hurt, is it?"

"I can't stay," Lucy insisted, wriggling out of his grip. "I have to study. I can't continue to be an F-Ranked mage. It was nice to meet you all, but I have to go."

Then before any of them could say another word, Lucy was running away and heading to her dorm room. She appreciated the offer, but she couldn't stay. She needed to succeed with the evaluation exam. She couldn't bear to be a Rank F mage anymore.

Throughout the rest of the day and into the night Lucy studied and practiced. She read books and books about Celestial Spirit magic and the various spells that a Celestial Spirit mage could use. She meditated, and she summoned her spirits. She trained with Leo the Lion, who preferred to be called Loke, and she also trained with Virgo. The next day, her routine was much the same. She only exited her room, that she shared with her roommate to eat lunch and practice on one of the practice fields.

Kneeling on the soft earthen ground, Lucy took a deep steadying breath and closed her eyes. The wind stirred her blonde tresses, and carressed her skin and the afternoon sun was hot on her skin. Lucy took another deep breath, clearing her mind and focusing on keeping her breath steady and even. This was the first time she was practicing meditation without Capricorn instructing her, and it made her a little nervous but she quickly banished those feelings. Sweat beaded on her skin, and her brow wrinkled a little as her magic began to swirl around her kicking up dust and grass.

Lucy meditated for fifteen minutes, before her eyes slowly opened and she slumped toward the ground, her magic dissipating as if it had never manifested itself in the first place. Lucy pushed herself into a sitting position, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and stood up on slightly shaking legs. She was impressed with herself; since she had begun seriously training she had improved a lot. Before, she could hardly meditate for five minutes before feeling exhausted but she had just meditated for fifteen minutes and while she did feel tired, she didn't feel as tired as she had in the past when she had first begun meditating.

Lucy gripped her keys. Did she dare to try to summon one of the Zodiac? Maybe I should rest a little bit more before I do that, she decided, bending down and picking up her water bottle from where it was lying on the grass.

"Yo Luigi!" a familiar voice shouted.

She groaned, spinning around and found Natsu sprinting toward her, followed more slowly by Erza and Gray. "It's Lucy," she grumbled irritably, before taking another drink of water. "What do you want Natsu?"

"How's your training comin' along?" Natsu asked, sticking his hands into the pockets of the pants he was wearing.

"Fine," she huffed. Natsu stared at her in shock, because her tone had been snappy and she sighed. "Sorry," she apologized. "I'm just tired and hot." She managed a small apologetic smile. "Training is going fine."

"Good," Natsu answered, that easygoing smile appearing on his face. "How are ya trainin' anyways? I didn't see you fighting anyone."

"Training isn't always about fighting," Lucy informed Natsu as Erza and Gray caught up to him, standing by his side. "If you must know, I was trying to increase my magic power through meditation. The stronger I get, the stronger my Celestial Spirits get. At least, that's what one of the books I read says."

"Celestial Spirits?" Natsu questioned, his head tilting to the side like a puppy's would.

"Yeah," Lucy nodded.

"Like Yukino," Erza supplied. "She's a Rank C mage." Erza crossed her arms over the tank top she was wearing, "Yukino has two Zodiac spirits - Pisces and Libra."

"Really?" Lucy questioned. "I have ten."

"Ten?" Erza asked incredulously. "And you're Rank F?"

Lucy nodded shamefully, looking away from the redhead. Was it truly that bad that I have ten Zodiac keys but I'm a Rank F mage? Am I just that weak, Lucy wondered.

"Yukino's part of Sabertooth, though," Natsu argued, and Lucy looked up, blinking away the tears that had unconsciously appeared in her eyes. "Lucy doesn't have a guild and she's relatively new to Magnolia Academy, right?" He looked to Lucy for confirmation and the blonde nodded. "That's probably why she's Rank F and Yukino's Rank C."

"Wow," Erza mumbled.

"I didn't know you were capable of such complex thought Ash Breath," Gray commented, with a condescending smile on his face.

"Say that to my face Ice Fairy," Natsu growled, his eyes narrowing.

"I just did Flame Freak," Gray snarled.

"Boys!" Erza shouted.

"Yes ma'am," they shouted, wrapping their arms around each other as they feigned a friendship for Erza. Although part of Lucy wondered if they were truly faking it.

"I bet if Lucy had a guild, she'd be a lot stronger," Natsu commented, after he and Gray had separated from their embrace. Erza glanced at him curiously and Natsu grinned. "Well Yukino, is a Celestial Spirit mage and she's part of a guild and she's Rank C. While Lucy is not part of a guild and Rank F."

"Correlation does not equal causation, Natsu," Erza said sagely.

"No but joining a guild certainly couldn't hurt," Natsu laughed, smiling sheepishly when Erza seemed to grow a little irritated with his carefree attitude.

"Lucy should only join a guild if she wants to," Erza said, her tone brokering no room for argument.

The two turned to Lucy who stared at them a little stunned, having not expected the conversation to turn out this way. Of course, she knew a little bit about guilds. They were institutions who helped to further a mage's training, and provided shelter and food, and often undertook tasks that the government couldn't or wouldn't do. Guilds offered sanctuaries for people fleeing from war, and they were an integral part of life in Fiore with many guilds having and operating their own restaurant, hotels, or resorts. Guilds were also in charge of hosting most of the festivals that took place around Fiore. Of course, some guilds were of more importance than others.

"I-I can't think about joining a guild right now," Lucy stammered. "I don't even know what guilds there are!"

"Blue Pegasus, Quatro Cerberus, Lamia Scale, Sabertooth, and Fairy Tail are the major guilds," Natsu listed. "We're part of the best guild - Fairy Tail!"

"The other guilds have their merits," Erza insisted sharply. "And those aren't the only guilds in the world, but Natsu is right that they are the major guilds. They have the most resources and members."

"So which guild are ya gonna join, Luce?" Natsu asked, wrapping his arm around Lucy's shoulders, and grinning at her a pleading look in his eyes.

Lucy hesitated, glancing from Natsu to Erza and then back again. But when he gave her these pleading, puppy dog eyes, Lucy knew that she had no hope of saying she needed more time to think or she wouldn't join a guild without feeling supremely guilty.

So she sighed, "I guess I'll join Fairy Tail."

"You guess?" Natsu crowed sounding a little offended. "Don't sound so unsure, Luce! Say it with feeling."

"Natsu," she sighed, looking irritated at him but he just sent her another pleading look. "I'll join Fairy Tail." He squeezed her shoulders, pouting a little. "I want to join Fairy Tail." Surprisingly, she sort of meant those words.

Natsu grinned, "That's better."

"But, I'll only join Fairy Tail after I move up a rank," Lucy said, feeling a little bad when Natsu's smile fell. "I can't join a guild if I'm a Rank F mage. So as soon as my rank goes up, I'll join Fairy Tail."

"Promise?" Natsu asked, extending his pinky.

Lucy linked their pinkies together, "Promise."