Chapter Text
Lady Lucy Heartifllia was a rich heiress, she had everything she could ever want, servants waiting on her hand and foot, the most quality food and clothes money could buy, dozens of men desperate to marry her.
But none of that fulfilled her.
Her servants were the eyes and ears of her father, behaving more like robots than people she could actually trust. The food was always eaten alone and it tasted like char in her mouth. The clothes were tight and uncomfortable, made to show her off like a prized doll. And the men were vile and far older than her, looking at her like she was nothing more than an object with a particularly high price tag.
Lucy was lonely.
She once tried to play with the noble kids at her Father’s parties but they were cold and harsh, only looking at her as the Princess of the Heartfillia family.
And some people looked at her like she was something to be taken, and oh boy did people try to take her…
It was her Spirits that saved her that day.
After a man far older than her managed to pull her away from a party and tried to take advantage of her.
He got thrown through the wall and Lucy developed a new fear.
Anthropophobia, the fear of people.
Every party made her heart beat fast, her palms grew sweaty and her breathing became shallow. She dismissed all her servants from her care and isolated herself, her Father couldn't care less as long as her tests came back with all full marks- it didn’t matter if she attended the lessons with the governess or not.
The only friends she had weren’t humans.
The precious spirits left to her by her Mama were her only friends, the people who saved her from that man and continued protecting her.
They didn’t care that Lucy was scared of people, they were more than happy to take care of her in the servants’ absence. Cancer took care of her the most, always helping her get ready and guiding her to the library and making sure the halls were empty of all people. Aquarius was less openly caring, she was blunt, intelligent and independent- she pretended like she didn’t but she did love Lucy. If she didn’t she would have asked them to break their contract already, she also responded negatively the first time Lucy asked if she wanted to break it.
“Foolish little girl, you are mine just as much as I am yours.”
She was kinder after that, still firm and incredibly independent- but she took over for Cancer some days, telling her stories of various dates gone wrong between her and Scorpio.
When she made a promise to one day get her hands on Scorpio’s key when Aquarius said something that gave her an idea.
“How are you supposed to find his key if you stay in this manor forever?”
Lucy was only ten at the time, but she was more mature than most children her age. She knew how money worked, she knew how to cook and how to clean, and she had multiple powerful spirits to protect her.
Even if people scared her, she could have her spirits pose as her guardians and have them do the talking for her- they could stay at inns and take jobs that weren’t designated to magical guilds, they could wander anywhere they wanted and hunt down all of the Golden Zodiac Keys!
With her family’s spirit’s support, they lent her a small wallet that could fit the entirety of the allowance she saved up -- about 10,000,000 jewel -- and a bag that was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. Apparently it was unlike the ones made by humans as it was tied to the Spirit World instead of a pocket dimension made and preserved by a human- it meant that Lucy didn’t have to expend her own magic to have it!
It was useful considering the cost of Celestial Spirit Magic.
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“Celestial Spirit Mages cannot typically use other types of Magic Lucy.” Aquarius dropped the unfortunate bomb on her one day after she caught her reading a book she had found buried in her Mama’s belongings- it was about healing magic and to say Lucy was interested would be an understatement. Aquarius sighed at the sight of the girl’s confused expression, sliding over to lay on the divan and inviting Lucy to sit in the coils of her long tail- she took the form of a Naga when she planned to stay for long, Lucy had read the name somewhere about the Naga being an enchanting beast with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a snake, they brought good fortune when treated well and misfortune when disrespected.
Lucy thought that the form suited her.
She clambered into the offered spot in her coils and curled into the water spirit’s cool body, “Why can’t I?” Aquarius wrapped her arms around the young girl, six at the time, and let her trace the scales that were splattered on her arms, “Do you remember what is required to be a Celestial Spirit Mage?” Lucy nodded as she recounted the lessons her Mama gave her, “A Gatekey, a contract, kindness, and magic.” Aquarius huffed but nodded in approval, “That’s- an idealistic approach but you’ve got most of it. Trust between the Spirit and the Holder is important of course - can’t get a spirit to agree to a contract if they don’t like you - but wanna know what's most important to be able to make and sustain a contract?”
“Magic, a shitload of magic.”
“The Gatekey only acts as a door, your magic has to be the one to make the connection to the Spirit World and to maintain it a bit of your magic has to be in constant use, it then takes more magic to summon spirits and keep them there.” She gestured to Lucy’s key ring, two gold keys and three silver ones, “Most humans barely have enough magic to hold a single gate, your average spirit mage will at most have a few silver keys and maybe a golden key.”
“You’re bloodline is unique,” Aquarius threaded her sharp fingers through her gold strands, “Your nearly all your maternal ancestors have been Celestial Spirit Mages and your natural magic has adapted with each generation, the Heartfilia Family is singular in their large magical reserves.” A light of pride flourished in Lucy’s stomach, her family was incredible. But she sensed that Aquarius wasn’t done so she stayed quiet, “However that does not excuse them from the sheer magic required to maintain the several keys they hold. It’s not worth risking the harm magical exhaustion could cause them.”
“If you plan to collect more keys, then you will be no exception.”
Lucy frowned -- not pouted, she didn’t pout -- and leaned into Aquarius’ hand while thinking about the restriction. Don’t get her wrong, she would never want to stop being a Celestial Spirit Mage and she would never give up her goal of collecting as many keys as she could- but other forms of magic were so useful and so interesting! Surely there had to be a way to make sure she had some way to put aside magic for other uses.
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And there was, but first Lucy had to expand her magical reserves.
And she couldn’t do that at the manor.