May 19th, X524 (7 AM)
LeafSpring Forest, Goldace town (after four days of travel from Iceflask City)

      The sun rose gradually with the rays illuminating the entire forest. The gentle breeze was stirring the green leaves, the atmosphere was also filled with a slightly damp forest smell; it was very comfortable for a beautiful morning. A pink-headed girl, clad in a deep-pink dress, was walking along the forest path happily. In her hand was a wooden basket which she bought in the town a day ago. It was Meredy who was collecting the herbs in LeafSpring. As the sole healer of the group, she shouldn't lack herbal healing potions just in case they might encounter other enemies on the way back to Magnolia. Sure, she could buy the healing potions from local shops, but Meredy preferred her potion more.

      The group didn't travel in a rush like they came to IceFlask at their full speed. Besides, they were accompanied by the escort guards of Iceflask City, the captured Oracion Seis members, and two injured young ladies. Currently, they were staying in Goldace town.

       Taking this peaceful time as an opportunity, Meredy decided to wander the forest partly for the herbs and partly for the sightseeing. Angel was recovering steadily, and Kinana started learning new things that she had missed for a decade although they didn't tell her about the blood curse.

       LeafSpring forest was a connecting zone between the two cities, thus the forest path was wide enough for the vehicles to pass through. Along the path were varieties of forest trees, which the pinkette enjoyed the significant scene. This forest was a treasure to Goldace citizens. What she focused more on was small plants that grew on the ground or the big trees.

       She didn't go into the deep, for a reason that she had to return to the town immediately in case of emergency. After twenty minutes of spending time in the forest and collecting the useful herbs, Meredy had a faint cry. It wasn't from a human, maybe it was from one of the forest animals. She followed the noise, then her steps stopped in front of an oak tree.

       Inside the small tree hollow, was a small, white hedgehog-like animal with green grass-like fur on its back and a purple flower on each side of its head. The small creature was lying on its abdomen, but this couldn't hide the fact that it was injured as Meredy saw some trail of blood on the dry leaves nearby.

"Come on, cutie. Let me help you," Meredy knelt, saying in a soft voice, before picking up the injured animal and lay it sitting on her gently. She was right, its foreleg was bleeding. She rapidly cast her weakest healing spell so that this baby animal won't have any other side effects. Then she bandaged its leg to stop further bleeding.

"What happened?" A familiar voice asked her from behind. The sensory mage looked around and saw the white-haired ice mage standing behind her. "Lyon-sama, what are you doing here?"

"It's dangerous for a girl to wander around the forest alone," Lyon replied simply, "What's it?" He saw the green baby animal.

"I found it earlier, I've already healed its injury," Meredy replied him quickly. No, she couldn't talk more. Because Lyon also knelt beside her, and all his attention was on the small pet that she was patting. She was kneeling on her right knee, which she let the bicolor baby hedgedog rest on, and her balance was entirely focused on her left knee. Realizing that he was very close to Lyon-sama, her cute face rose to pink color. She was kinda nervous that she would lose her balance in the next split second. Without hesitation, Meredy stood up suddenly at the same time she retreated a step, afraid that Lyon might hear her loud heartbeats.

      Lyon looked up at her before the realization hit him that the younger girl wasn't used to this closeness. Ever since their previous battle against Oracion Seis, the atmosphere around them was gradually changing. Their arguments became less and less that their friends could notice their changes. Within these few days, they would spend time talking peacefully rather than arguing when they had time alone in which Gray and Juvia left them alone.

      He couldn't deny his secret glances toward a certain pinkette. He liked her... she was different from other girls he had flirted with in his past. His new feeling for Meredy was genuinely sincere. Unlike how he felt for Ultear which was admiration and the immature crush of a teenager.

"It's a magical beast," the white-haired guy answered, only to ease the awkwardness between them.

"Lyon-sama, are you saying 'Magical pets' that are raised, trained, and sold by humans?"

"No, it's not a magical pet. Magical beasts are more powerful than magical pets. Magical beasts live in another realm. When they make contact with a mage, their owner can summon them for help. They are like celestial spirits of the spirit world, the only difference was magical beasts are living creatures, and the celestial spirits are spirits."

"How can we send it back?"

"Magical beasts are very rare in the human world, but they occasionally appear in random places to look for the kind mages. My Ur-sensei has one. Just ask the little thing in your arms if it wants to make contact with you. If not, returning to the beast realm would be hard for it." Lyon smiled after he had seen the baby magical beast growl in delight in agreement. "Look like it wants to be your contracted magical beast."

"Really?" Meredy asked the hedgedog-like baby beast in surprise. The magical beast nodded happily before slightly scratching the pinkette's right palm with its claw in a circular pattern. A small green-colored magic rune appeared on a scratch, and then slowly faded away. With joy, the baby magical beast kissed the girl's hand and returned to its world.

"Wait, your wound-"

"Don't worry. Its wound will be healed in the magical beast realm," Lyon said, then he chuckled, "That beast likes you."

      Meredy smiled, with enthusiasm, "We still have time, Lyon-sama, I want to collect more herbs, can we go together?"

"Of course, my lady," Lyon replied immediately as if he adored her. This girl was really something... daring. She didn't care if she made a move first or not, she just asked what she wanted. But, when he made a flirtatious move first, she would blush deeply and run away from him. Thus, he decided to slow down his intention because he didn't want to scare her off.

Could he consider this a date? He didn't know exactly. However, he was glad that Gray woke him up and told him that Meredy was going to the woods. Nevertheless, he did owe a thank you to his best friend, didn't he? A gentle smile crept on his handsome face.

• • • • •

7:30 AM
Garden, Goldace Inn, Goldace town

       The golden rays of the morning sun brightened the surrounding. Standing in the middle of the small garden situated beside the Goldace Inn was a golden-haired young woman in a white blouse and blue maxi skirt. She was facing the sun with her eyes closed as if she enjoyed the warmth of the sunlight. A golden key was gripped tightly in her hand... the golden key with the crest of the Ram.

       A brief moment later, her eyes opened, revealing her sparkling brown eyes. "Here we go," she waved her hand, "I'm connected with the path to the celestial spirit world! Heed my call! Pass through the gate! Open the Gate of the Ram! I summon thee! ARIES!"

      The pink-haired young woman wearing a white fluffy dress appeared in front of her. The ram spirit looked at the blonde shyly, "Master!"

"Don't address me Master, please call me Lucy," Lucy smiled.

      How could she explain to Aries, Gemini, and Scorpio, that 'She wasn't the girl whom their former master was looking for'... that 'she was not the real Lucelia'? She couldn't tell them the whole story.

Luckily, it was a pure coincidence that her name 'Lucy' was the same as Princess Lucelia's childhood name 'Lucy Heartfilia.' Let her be selfish for one time... she was hurt, for being unable to explain the truth whenever Virgo called her 'Princess'. That was why, the best way to avoid discomfort was to tell her newly contracted spirits to call her 'Lucy'.

"Aries, let's go along with each other from now on. Please treat me as your friend." Lucy knew that three new spirits might need time to adjust to her spirits. Even though Angel ended her contracts for the sake of them and gave their keys willingly to her, Lucy wanted to gain their trust first. She cared about how they felt.

"Lucy-sama, it is my honor to be your spirit."

     The celestial spirit mage nodded, "On which days I can summon you, Aries?"

"You can summon me at any time, Lucy-sama," Aries answered, "But - except the thirtieth day of each month."

       Lucy smiled, memorizing what the pink-haired spirit said, "Thank you, Aries."

"Then, Lucy-sama, I'll take a leave," the ram spirit said, knowing that her new master should save her magic to summon Gemini and Scorpio-san for the next contracts.

"Okay, Aries, Bye," Lucy waved her hand happily. This first encounter was better than she imagined. She took another golden key... this time, it was the gate key of the Scorpion.

"I'm connected with the path to the celestial spirit world! Heed my call! Pass through the gate! Open the Gate of the Scorpion! I summon thee! Scorpio!"

• • • • •

Celestial Spirit World

       After leaving the human world, the ram spirit appeared in front of the large door isolated in the bright white surrounding. This door led to a large room where Lucy-sama's spirits hang out together.

       Aries opened the door and entered the room slowly. The room was very large, and the decorations could be described in one word 'white.' The white walls, white windows, white curtains, white tables and chairs, white floor.. everything in the room was white. She looked around to search for other zodiac spirits, but she didn't see a single sight. 'Maybe they're in their residences.'

"Oh, you're here," a very icy voice, obviously not welcoming her, echoed throughout the room, as the familiar pink-haired spirit in a maid outfit emerged from a blue magic circle.

       Virgo walked towards Aries with an angry face. The moment they stood face-to-face, the maiden pushed the ram spirit very hard, resulting in the latter falling to the ground, "What a surprise, you dare to show up in front of me? Do you know that Princess almost died because of you? Because you fought me under your crazy master's command." A whip appeared in Virgo's hand, "I'll never forgive you, you shameless sheep."

        Aries stood up quickly, "This is not my fault."

      Virgo glared at Aries, "You served Aguria Family for many years. Your stupid master worshiped the wrong person and helped him to kill my Princess. You, as her spirit, never stopped her. You let her fight my Princess. Why don't you tell her that the Agurias are born to sacrifice themselves for Heartfilia Family? Because you sealed your mouth, your stupid Angel did something stupid," she stretched her whip out to strike the latter.

"Don't say bad about Angel-sama in front of me," Aries caught the rope with her right hand, "And being a celestial spirit, you should respect every celestial spirit mage." Just because she was shy didn't mean others could bully her easily. She wasn't wrong after all, and she couldn't stand Virgo slandering her previous master.

"Ha, look at your boldness. Don't forget that Princess is your current master."

"But it doesn't mean you can bad-mouth my previous master or bully me as you want. Moreover, you can't blame me for fighting you. I was doing my duty."

"SHUT UP," Virgo yelled, waving her whip to attack Aries again.

"You're the one who should shut your mouth," a cold tone said calmly, Leo the lion stepped in, as he caught the whip mid-way, "Aries is your comrade. Attacking her is against our rules." Taurus, Sagittarius, Horologium, Lyra, and Aquarius, appeared behind Leo.

"I'm the leader of Zodiacs," Leo said, "If you don't want to obey me then please go back to your house." In the celestial spirit world, Virgo was the obsessed girl who always made trouble for them. Ordering them what to do, calling them weak, blaming them how they couldn't protect Lucy.... they endured so much to that arrogant girl because of Lucy. Now, she wanted to beat a fellow spirit. 'That's enough.'

      Virgo clenched her fists. In a one-against-all situation, she couldn't do anything. She glared at other spirits before disappearing from their sight.

"I'll help you connect your gates," the orange-haired guy offered his help, solely thinking that it was his duty to help his fellow spirit.

     Aries nodded, accepting Leo's help. They walked in the northwest direction of the room. The ram spirit gather her magic and created a magic circle with her symbol crest. "Thank you, Leo-kun," she said after the magic circle had completed.

"You're welcome," Leo said, "You can go to your place. Don't worry. I'll personally welcome Gemini and Scorpio," he retreated.

      Aries nodded, ignoring the awkward feeling of how strange Leo treated her, "Leo-kun," she called him.

"Yeah?"

"I want to know if -" she paused for a moment, "If you remembered what you told me the last time you met?"

     The guy turned around to look at her, a look of uncertainty was clear on his face, "I'm sorry, Aries. I don't know if we have met in the past... Because I lost my memories."

     Her eyes widened, staring at the orange-haired guy in front of her. All she could think was 'What is going on?' She turned around to look for someone, a certain crab spirit was sitting on a chair, engaging in the talk with the golden bull and the mermaid. She changed her facial expression to hold a smile, "You were my close friend, Leo-kun," she whispered softly, before she stepped into the magic circle, leaving the stunned guy behind.

• • • • •

Moments later

      A magic circle appeared on the shore, where the giant crab spirit resided. The young woman with pink curly hair, the red-haired scorpion spirit, and two little blue spirits came out of the gate. The beach in the spirit world was more beautiful than the Human world. Crystal clear blue water was glittering on the surface and colorful particles as the sand along the shore.

       They saw their old friend Cancer sitting on one of the purple lounge chairs. "Cancer," the scorpion spirit called him.

"I never imagined we would have the same master," Cancer smiled, "Maybe it is fate."

"How did Leo-kun lose his memories? What happened?" Aries asked impatiently, probably because she was worried for the lion spirit.

"So many things happened," Cancer sighed, "I'll tell you what I know." With three listeners listening to the storyteller, time seemed flying so fast, and at the end of the story, they couldn't help but gasp.

^_^