A/N: This is my contribution to Fairy Tail week. Day 7: Mashima
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is not mine, it belongs to the man I'm trying to playfully pay tribute to here.
It was a well-known fact that both Lucy Heartfilia and Levy McGarden of Fairy Tail love books. When together, the pair could often be seen discussing the latest hit novel or an ancient tome they had recently discovered.
So it should be no surprise that with their voracious appetite for literature and their frequent use of gale-force reading glasses, they were in a very real danger (a danger hopefully set in the far future) of someday running out of books to read.
This is how, in order to lengthen that time, both of these mages found themselves on their next day off together perusing a section of the library that they had rarely been in before: the comic books and graphic novels.
Lucy put down the ninth and last volume of the series she had chosen, smiling as she did so. She hadn't read a book with pictures in it in several years, thinking such things were meant for young children. How wrong she had been! This comic book had everything that she'd find in one of her usual favorite novels—adventure, mystery, humor, friendship, and even love. How could she have thought that just because there were drawings to accompany the dialogue, it wasn't a worthwhile thing to read? Heck, in her opinion, she had just read a piece of art. And considering how much she had read over the years (some of it very good, but a lot more of it classifying as crap), that was saying something.
It was funny that she had only picked this one because the main character vaguely reminded her of her celestial pet, Plue. They were both a cute, short, bald, and white something-or-other. There were differences, of course. Plue's nose horn and his inability to talk (or at least her inability to understand him) being the main ones. As she read though, she found the main character had things in common with her as well—like a shared love of literature, a shy nature, and an annoyance at (and at the same time an easy forgiveness of) the people that brought chaos and mayhem into their lives.
The story had so much more to recommend it too. There was a blonde sword-wielding princess with special powers and a special destiny, a mysterious and ancient red dragon that often saved the day, two trouble-making cousins of the main character—one goofy and lazy and the other greedy and conniving—both adding a lot of humor and crazy shenanigans to the story overall. Not to mention a whole supporting cast of other characters that she had quickly become attached to.
"Levy-chan, you have to read this one!" Lucy enthused to her companion.
Levy, who had picked a more typical-looking comic book displaying a gun and sword-wielding man wearing tight red and black spandex over his prominent muscles, was sitting very still in her chair, her book closed, apparently silently contemplating something. Which was odd, because previously when they had both been reading, Levy had often laughed loud and long over something she had just read in the book.
"Levy-chan?" Lucy prompted again, poking her on the arm after Levy didn't respond.
Levy shook herself out of her reverie, looking questioningly at Lucy.
"Lu-chan? What is it?"
"I was just going to say that you should read the one I just finished." Lucy looked over at the assortment of covers of Levy's choice of book. Some of them were very typical of that genre, while others were amusing or even rather strange. "Did you...err...like the one you picked?"
Levy's face lit up. "Oh yes! It was very funny." Levy then quickly got a serious look about her. "To be honest, it wasn't what I was expecting at first. This guy," Here she pointed to the character adorning the comic, "can be a bit of an ass. He's definitely not a hero, although he sometimes tries to be. He's not really a villain either, although he's definitely done some seriously bad stuff." Levy shrugged, smiling. "It was a really fun read though; he's very funny. In a completely insane way."
"Is that what you were thinking so seriously about? His hero status? And enjoying the story despite it?" Lucy asked.
"Oh! Actually no." Levy replied. "What I was thinking about is something that happened occasionally in the comic. I've seen it done elsewhere on rare occasions, but the main character is one of those few that can break the fourth wall. He knows he's starring in a comic book."
"Really?" This piqued Lucy's interest. Maybe she'd have to check out Levy's book too.
Levy nodded. "And it got me thinking. What if we were actually characters in some other reality's comic book?"
This made Lucy pause. "That would be..." Actually, she didn't know what that would be. Impossible? Strange? Crazy?
"Actually, Levy-chan. The thought makes me feel weird and uncomfortable, for some reason."
"I know, right? To only exist as the figment of someone else's imagination? For every private scene of your life to possibly be shown as backstory to millions of readers?"
Lucy shivered involuntarily, not liking thinking about her private time being watched by complete strangers.
"You do have to admit, our lives would make a very good story though." Levy added.
Lucy had to give her that. Ever since she had met Natsu and joined Fairy Tail, her life had consisted of going from one adventure to the next. Looking back, it struck her how insane some of it was. How had she ever got caught up in fighting dark guilds and demons and trying to get rid of evil forces from hundreds of years ago? She had to admit it would make very interesting reading material though.
"I suppose if we were fictional characters, I would have a bone to pick with the author. I really would have preferred not getting beat up by Gajeel, thank you very much." Levy stated with a huff. "And what's up with me being the only one our age in the whole guild with a small chest, y'know?"
Soon Lucy was lost among her own memories of things that she wouldn't want others to see. There were, of course, far too many times that she had gotten beaten up herself when she would rather have not. However, it was memories of a different kind that were plaguing her now.
The dreadfully embarrassing ones.
Like the time the whole team went to help a theater owner in Onibas and she ended up with her clothes on fire and then cut off of her for the whole audience to see. Or the time during Wendy's party after the young dragaon-slayer had first joined the guild when Natsu burned her dress, allowing her guildmates to see all of her assets. And how could she ever forget being stripped naked by a dragon, then flying through the air only to collide with Natsu, and then tumble down a hill while trapped together in a bell. Her face burned to think of that one specifically.
Not to mention all the times her clothes were practically falling off her after a particularly dangerous mission or when Natsu or another guildmate unexpectedly visited her while she was changing or taking a bath.
Now that she looked at it, her life recently was filled to the brim with these embarrassing 'caught in the nude' moments. And the thought wasn't making her happy.
"Lu-chan? What's wrong?" Levy asked, concerned about the frown on her friend's face.
"If we're fictional characters, then there's one thing I know about the author."
"Oh, and what's that Lu-chan?"
"He's a big ol' pervert."
A/N: Give yourself points if you recognize the comic books that Lucy and Levy were reading. And by the way, I am in no way complaining about the nudity in Fairy Tail; I'm actually quite fond of fanservice and think that Hiro Mashima is a master at drawing the nude female (and male—Thank you Mashima for nearly nude drawings of Natsu and Gray!) form.