Chapter one

"Velkomin að Lokpa," a soft voice greeted at the base of the dock, a kind woman bundled from head to toe in fur and wool smiling and inclining her head slightly towards each person, respectful towards each person. "Velkomin að Lokpa." She found herself choked up for half a second as a strange man with deep spice hair and lazy azure eyes passed her, a strength coming off him in waves and sending her skittering back half a step before she continued on with her greetings, each a little shakier as she kept glancing behind her, as if to reassure herself that the strange man was truly gone. "Velkomin að Lokpa." The man, completely oblivious to the terror he induced in those aware enough to sense magic- some with and some without the knowledge to recognize it for what it truly was- continued to wander aimlessly through the building, listening in on any conversation within earshot for a single clue as to where he was, or even someone who spoke Fiorean to help him understand where he had gone. He remembers traveling to Isvan, though he was pretty sure the woman who had promised to help him had actually just finessed money out of him while buying him the next ticket to wherever- it had been a suspiciously short waiting period.

"Man, I really shoulda took Levy up on those language lessons," he grumbled irritably, running his fingers through his greasy hair and cringing as he thought back on how long it had been since he had took a shower. He stepped out into the icy streets of the port town, snorting good naturedly as he kicked a bank of snow, the flakes of ice delicately falling back to the ground, looking to not have been disturbed at all.

"Þú ert að grínast!" a shrill voice cried out from before the man, the pair of women hardly sparing him a glance as they wandered into the building he had just exited, only wrinkling their nose when a small tuft of snow landed on the toes of their boots. "Micha sagði mér að hann væri að fara í Enca."

"Við ættum að kenna að ljúga rassleiki," her companion chortled out wickedly, a devious gleam in her dark eyes that had the man sidestepping them. He quickly decided that he still would rather fight a monster than deal with the sharp wit of a scorned woman, so he scanned his surroundings as he began into the small town, looking for anything that would help him- because, despite understanding Enca, he had been to the tropical island enough to know that the snowy wasteland he found himself in was definitely not Enca.

"Lyra, stop that," a silvery voice scolded, the man's eyes snapping up to find a young teenager, not old enough to be out on her own, pulling a glaring woman away from a cowering man. "Even if I said I didn't want to stay in Iceberg long, you could at least leave me the option on when to leave. I'd rather not be thrown out this close to the border with the Pergrande Kingdom." She shuddered- in distaste or cold, the man wasn't sure- and the woman smiled apologetically as she curled an arm around the younger blonde.

"You're right," she hummed out slowly, frowning when she realized just how cold the younger girl was. "Lucy, when was the last time you renewed that heat spell?" The teenager waved off her concerns, readjusting the fur lined cloak she wore with gloved hands, and the strawberry blonde haired woman inflated her cheeks in annoyance. "Lucy, don't make me rat on you to Aquarius! You renew that spell right now, or so help me, not even the Celestial Spirit King will save you from her wrath."

"Alright! Alright!" the golden haired teenager, Lucy, huffed out, swatting away at the older woman's fretting hands. "If I had known you were going to be such a nuisance, I might have called out Taurus instead." Lyra gasped, horrified by the words that held no value to the eavesdropping man just trying to make sense of their conversation. "Heimahjúkrun. There. Are you happy?" The moment magic washed over the blonde, there was a slur to her words and a stagger to her gait. She seemed surprised to turn and find her companion had disappeared, a slight shimmer to the snow behind her leaving Lucy to let out a heavy sigh. "That's why I wanted to wait a little bit, Lyra."

"Woah, what the fuck happened to her?" the man choked out suddenly, his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open in shock.

The blonde startled, scuttling back a few steps and holding the palm of her hand out, not thinking long before crying out, "Xiūkè!" A spark of electricity shot out towards the man, who winced as it collided with his chest- he almost laughed at how much it hurt since he thought he was all but immune to being electrocuted. "Who are you and what do you want? Fiorean isn't commonly spoken in Iceberg."

"Iceberg? Shit, that bitch really fucked up my job," he grumbled out, still trying to rub away the small shock that jumped through his muscles. "Why're you so jumpy anyways, kid?" When she held her hand up again, threateningly narrowing her eyes, he raised his own hands in a placating gesture and quirked an eyebrow at the silken skirt he could seen peeking out from her cloak. "Oi, hang on. I'm from a Fiorean guild, Fairy Tail. I'm on a job and someone back in Isvan jipped me of my money and sent me here." He yanked the collar of his shirt down a little, wincing as it ripped, and showed off the guild mark proudly stamped on his left pectoral, returning his hands to their position in the air. "Name's Gildarts Clive. I'm just lookin' for a way to get to Giritina."

"And you came from Fiore?" the blonde hummed out, sounding skeptical. "You do realize that you'll have to head to Carmada, right? They're the closest country to Ishgar that trades with Giritina."

"Holy shit, yer a lifesaver. Is there anythin' I can do to help you out?" he breathed out excitedly, blue eyes shining with childish joy that lowered Lucy's defenses for a moment- she always had a soft spot for people who retained the things she could not, and that look was definitely not one she wore often.

So a soft smile curled over her lips as she allowed her muscles to grow lax, head jerking off to the left as she mumbled, "Buy me something to eat." When the man followed after her, eager to agree with a wolfish look on his face, she sent a spark back to knock the breath out of him, a stern look in her stony eyes. "Don't push your luck, old man. You may be powerful, but I'll be damned if you get the upper hand on me."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he wheezed out, wincing as he trailed after her.

"Hang on," she demanded, setting her mocha down silently as her eyebrows knitted together. "This job that your taking was so dangerous that you couldn't even ask this linguistic master at your guild to write you out directions, but you decided that it was alright to tell several strangers you've met in passing?"

"I don't know what sausage has to do with anything," he grumbled, a look of confusion on his face, but he nodded nonetheless, "but yes."

"Linguistic, not linguiça. It means she studies languages," Lucy corrected, an exasperated sigh on her lips.

"Well you see," he started, ignoring the new word in favor of talking about the kid he'd grown fond of over the past few years, "there's this kid at the guild, a destructive little shithead who tries to fight everyone all the time. He's been through some rough shit, but he's got all this enthusiasm, all this excitement for life. He's got the hearing of a fuckin' dog though, maybe even better actually. Swear, I was talkin' about a birthday present for the fucker to a couple friends and this kid comes barrelin' outta nowhere, tellin' me to get him on a S-class job instead. Nearly broke his nose I punched him so hard."

"I see," she hummed out, taking a long sip of her coffee before a smile quirked on her lips. "Why didn't you put sound enchantments around you?" At the blank look she received, she let out a sigh and shook her head, fishing a book out of the tiny backpack she kept under her cloak and passing it across the table to him. "Here, take this. It's full of sound enchantments, silencing spells, and ways to magically enhance both sounds and silence. I already know the material in it, and if that kid really has the hearing you say, you'll definitely need it."

"Holy shit, ya serious?" he asked, cautiously picking up the book by the back cover and watching the pages flare open. The blonde cringed as she watched the book fall open, nodding with a gentle hum despite herself, and the man shot her a dazzling grin as he went to tuck it away in his backpack, glad it appeared to be in Fiorean. "Anyways, are ya willing to write down whatever I'll need to get to Giritana?"

"Giritina," she corrected once more with a sigh, though she nodded and pulled out a couple pieces of paper and a pen, setting to work on scrawling out neat notes in various languages- one in Icebergic, two in Carmadian, and one in Giritinish, though she wasn't too familiar with the third language. "These two are for your trip there. Put them in the front of the book," she ordered, sliding them across the table in order. "These two should get you back to Fiore. Put them in the back of your book so you don't lose them."

"Thanks kid," Gildarts hummed, following her instructions before tucking the book away a final time. "Ya need money to get anywhere?"

"No thank you. I prefer travelling on foot," she stated, finishing off the lukewarm drink before smiling and standing. "That being said, I should get going. I've got quite a ways to travel. You should go, too. Iceberg citizens are kind towards mages and all, but they aren't very fond of outsiders."

"Here," he said, sliding a wad of jewels- a large wad of jewels- towards her as he stood himself. "Take it as payment and call this your first job. Ya did great, kid. I hope we run into each other again, though I can't say for sure I'll remember ya if we do. Smack me on the head and cuss me out, though, and I'll know we met." Despite herself and the fact that even thinking of cussing him out made her cringe, she smiled and pocketed the cash, bowing her head in gratitude.

"I'll definitely remember you, Gildarts Clive," she hummed, her smile bright enough to shock the man. "I, too, hope we meet again. Stay out of trouble." Without another word, she disappeared, dark cloak lost in the blizzard that was beginning to pick up, and the man clicked his tongue as he headed out himself, leaving a generous tip for the young waiter that had earned quite a scolding from the blonde after his initial rudeness.

Five months, she realized with a start the moment she had the Stellan newspaper in her hands, the young spirit at her side shifting uncomfortably at the almost dead look that appeared in her topaz doe eyes. He didn't say anything, merely wrapping his fingers around her free hand in a quiet show of comfort, and she tore her gaze from the date that told her she had been walking across Ishgar for more than five months- something both her slowly deteriorating clothes and pained feet could have definitely told her- and had only just reached Stella. She was at least a month behind schedule, something she blamed on the ragtag jobs she was forced into for whatever money she could earn. She still had the money from Gildarts, the beginning of her savings that she was stowing away for when she finally decided to settle down somewhere and required a residence, and the extra money she had saved from both her jobs and selling her expensive clothing had left her with a rather hefty sum in her pocket dimension. "Let's go," she hummed out, smiling sweetly towards the cashier that had let her see the newspaper as she passed the paper back to him. "We should only have three or four more months before we reach Fiore, depending on how much work we take."

"You do realize you still have a bunch of money, right?" Leo Minor asked with a quirked eyebrow, the young spirit she had acquired nearly a month beforehand rather sassy all things considered. For a moment, she wondered how unbearable Leo Major would be, quickly dismissing the thought when she allowed the child spirit to tug her along- he wasn't unbearable so much as he was cocky, and she treasured his willingness to come out despite how often it ended with the pair of them running from trouble or fighting it off. "You should just rent a magic vehicle and drive through Stella, or call Lyra out to rent it."

"Leo, you and I both know renting a magic vehicle requires identification, which leaves behind a paper trail. I'm not so willing to be tracked by either my father nor the Perde King, so walking suits me just fine. If you'd like, I could ask someone else to accompany me."

"No way!" Leo argued, furrowing his eyebrows for a second before tacking on, "unless you want to ask Monoceros to give you a ride, but you know he doesn't like being ridden." At the thought of the unicorn- who looked more like something from a nightmare with his dark coat and ethereal appendages- the pair shuddered and continued on their way.

"I was thinking Pyxis," she challenged with a teasing gleam in her eyes. "He uses less magic than you do and he'll be helpful in finding both the quickest way to Fiore as well as my next job instead of questioning my financial decisions."

"Don't be mean," Leo scolded childishly, pouting at the laughter that spilled through the air.

She had made a mistake, Lucy realized with a horrified gasp for air, her shattered ribs screaming in protest as she dragged her limp body away from the lake, fringe soaked from when the dark mage had attempted to drown her. Aquarius was still back there, the man caught in a vortex of scalding water that- for once- refused to even brush past the blonde who was far too injured to deal with the thrashing, the keys in her hand heating almost uncomfortably as they all fought for her attention, wanting to be sure she was alright despite how exhausted she was. She could hardly feel the drain the water spirit had on her magic, the pain in her body drowning it out, perhaps, and she made a snap decision as her broken leg knocked against a rock, making the blonde scream in agony. "Aquarius," she pleaded through her sobs, the mermaid by her side in an instant. "Will you get me to the nearest town? I have to heal." Despite her worry, the cerulean haired spirit nodded, scooping up the blonde as carefully as she could- no matter how often she snapped at or injured the girl, she was so fond of the mage that had become something of a niece to her- and hurrying off in search of civilization. The moment they were there and the blonde was once more on the ground, a hand pressed against her chest while the other found her leg- both areas screaming in agony- and she pushed her magic from her hands back into her body. "Naosu." Pain like no other raced through her, bones grinding as her magic rushed through her, using her knowledge on anatomy to redesign the fragments of bones and arteries, her body reshaping under the care of her own magic, draining her so suddenly that Aquarius disappeared with a shocked gasp. Everything grew still for a single moment before the spirit returned once more, glaring towards the heavens when a deep voice chided her.

"Oh, screw off. Damn you if you think I'm gonna leave my brat alone like this," she snapped, irritable. Not even the Celestial Spirit King dared anger her further, deciding to allow her passage through the gate this once, his own heart aching as he watched over the mage from the heavens- the same mage that grew into a woman reminiscent of her mother, his old friend, each day- a woman they were all proud to protect, even him.

When she awoke three days later, on her birthday no less, she was alone save the new key clasped in her hands- she nearly scoffed at how princessly she had been positioned, only a spirit's key in her grasp instead of a bouquet. When she had summoned the spirit, she was surprised to find a silver dragon the size of her forearm with a fiery temper and fierce protective streak- one that became a near constant companion.

"Finally!" a soft voice cooed out, joyous laughter bubbling from her lips as she stretched her arms over her head as she stood on the ledge of the ravine that encircled Clover Town, which could only mean one thing. "We made it, Nyra! We're back in Fiore!"

"And it only took a year," the dragon spirit scoffed, grouchy from being out for so long despite lounging lazily across the blonde's shoulder. "Find somewhere to stay now. You need at least a week of rest, understood?"

"Sure thing!" the blonde chirped out, obviously distracted. When the dragon nipped at her shoulder, she jumped and nodded eagerly, "Okay, alright! A week's rest! But I will be looking for jobs and magic stores. Physical rest I can do, but I can also use this time to grow magically. Just after a nice warm bath or something." She grinned excitedly, squealing as she hugged her keys to her chest. "We made it. We actually made it!" Despite herself, Nyra smiled and swung her tail back and forth lazily, allowing the mage a moment to celebrate. It cost her nearly ten months and years off her life, but Lucy made it back to Fiore with more than a few new spirits to help her survive in the new reality she had, one full of danger she couldn't even begin to fathom and joys she hadn't felt since the loss of her mother.

There was a brief moment in which the air grew still near the base of the stairs, several rowdy mages further away from the bar ignoring the rosy haired teenager as he stopped in front of the steps to the second floor, as if expecting that massive hand to descend upon him as he took the first step slowly- as it so often had. It didn't, however, and so the male continued upward, pride lighting up his eyes even as his mouth remained in a grim line. He reached the second floor, pausing to stare at the snowy haired female curled up on one of the benches, her sapphire eyes showing so much pain that he had to look away, his heart constricting as he became aware of the tear stains decorating her face- he had been able to hear her sobbing whenever he'd been near the second floor, and yet she had always remained hidden, until now. Instead of comforting her as his instincts screamed to, he moved to the corkboard along the back wall, plucking the paper with the lowest number on it and storming back out of the building, onyx eyes blazing dangerously as he attempted to reign in his emotions, his only companion a quiet cerulean cat that hovered by his head.

Hey there! I would like to begin this by saying thank you everyone for your support and understanding. I know this isn't quite what I promised, I definitely had other things I wanted to include, but I literally wrote this entire chapter within the past few hours and I've been trying to write it for literal months. Also, I'm insanely sick, so I'll try to knock out some chapters before I go back to working all the time, but I won't make any promises. Hopefully I can update once a week, but again, no promises. Other than that, let me know what you guys think! Also, if you like my writing style and not just the story, I have a couple ideas you guys could vote on. Let me know if you want to do that! If you have anything to say, you can PM me or review. If you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them! If you just want to catch up or talk, let's talk!

Okay, that's it for me! See ya later!

Cafe Passionne