FILE I: RED EYES
Two stories was the height of Fiore's number one wizard run police and investigation bureau, and it never slept. Inside was buzzing about, hundreds of conversations mixing together with the clacking of diverse footsteps and ringing phones. The lights were low, perfect for the late-night workers to relax at least a smidge during a 24-hour shift.
Floor one was spacious-decorated with a field of separated cubicles and desks, not one short of being cluttered with papers and coffee stains. Most were occupied, some were empty, and the rest were stolen by colleagues who needed to get a quick call in. Dark columns held up the arena shaped first floor, the tiling dark and the walls a neutral navy blue to fit the intense atmosphere.
A large pair of half circle stairs connected at the top towards the back of floor one, elevators elsewhere in some hidden hallway. Floor two had a large gap in the centre where flooring should have been to have a viewing of the entangled mess of littered cubicles, one single walkway with finished wooden rails rounding in a large circle, and then many hallways spreading throughout the walls on floor two. The ceiling was high to a point, in thick plates of glass.
The moonlight and stars rayed through their large blue logo in stained glass in the centre.
The glasses frames glide away from her pupils and she closes the loaded file folder, a well-deserved sigh of exhaustion leaving her throat as she threw her back into that uncomfortable plastic chair. Levy McGarden, top in the intelligence department, blue hair a sleep-deprived rats nest. She ran her fingers through the thick tangles. She imagined a comfortable bed-secluded from hundreds of equally tired and hard working wizards. When she wanted a nap, it was not in a company provided sleeping bag on the office floors.
"Make copies of notes," she collected the file folders, hitting the fallen papers back into place against the stone counter, "hand them to Erza, turn in the rest to investigation department," she stood, staggering towards the door, "bed."
Her lithe frame dragged in a pair of work heels, a navy blue pencil skirt and a matching uniform blazer. Not often did she show up in work in a formal uniform, and she was too exhausted to remember why she was even wearing it. Her hand reached for the door handle-she had snagged this empty forensic room for peace and tranquility, leaving the lights dim to ease her headache when painkillers couldn't and healing magic wasn't accessible due to a busy schedule.
Levy hear a running shower. She could feel the cleanliness on her skin, a full stomach, and the warmth of herself snuggled in pajamas wrapped in a thick comforter.
It was just on the other side of this door.
Click.
But the person standing on the other side was not in this hopeful vision of her future. A field of bright golden locks pulled into a cut side-tail and perky brown eyes blinked down at Levy. Her hand was turned over and knuckles held out, looking as if she was just about to knock.
She smiled. Levy did her best to return the sentiment.
"Good evening, Lu." Her voice tottered. It followed up with a squeaky yawn. "Or should I say night?"
"Morning, actually." her comrade giggle, folding a pair of gloved hands behind her waist. "I was just going to check on you." Then she blinked in surprise at the compilation of folders within the bluenette's grasp.
"Holy cow, you finished those reports?"
Levy snorted. She wasn't going to try and cover up her bedside delirium anymore. "Yeah. Gonna' do a couple a' more things n' then head to my mattress."
"Wow, you look really tired." Lucy chuckled.
"Same to you. I thought you were out."
"I was-our team just got back from patrol." Lucy placed her hands on her curves, an expression of displeasure very recognizable to her best friend rising on her face. Here we go. "Stupid drunk teenagers abusing the emergency line… We have important work to do and we shove it aside to check on punks like them only to find out they were intoxicated and pulling a prank on us."
"Did you detain em'?"
A loud bang followed by mind sweltering screams bursted from below their feet.
Levy nodded. Erza. "That answers that."
Lucy smiled, holding her hands out. Levy raised her tired brows and then traced those eyes to her friend's. "Huh? Do you want a hug? My hands are full-"
"I know that, silly. I'm asking you to hand them to me."
Levy's browns widened. She fought the urge to rub her eyes. "Oh, no, I can do this much."
"C'mon, you look so tired." Her hand motioned for the folders. "I'm working on those case files, and Erza is kind of…"
More shouts were heard. The two tensed up at the familiar scolding voice. It was almost instinctive at this point.
"... She isn't ready for them yet. I can hand them to her."
"Okay, I'll give them to you after I copy em'."
Levy attempted a side-step. Lucy mirrored the motion.
"Oh, you need to copy them? I can do that as well."
Levy paused. "... Okay but I need to get the originals to archives-"
Lucy placed her fingers on the top of the neatly squeezed file folders. "Levy, you've been cracking this for a couple of weeks now. This is the first time I've seen you since this morning. Let me handle them, okay?"
Something inside of her didn't want to let them go. Lucy was right, Levy had spent ungodly hours finishing and processing these documents. In fact the result of her hard work enabled such an amount of exhaustion within her that she couldn't even render herself a tiny celebration for the new cracks of discovered info in her hands. She lived on the happiness of her coworkers from the fruits of her labor.
But because of that work, these documents were precious-and she was a tad nervous to hand over the rest of it, but…
Again, a fog of fatigue removed that unease and she handed them right over. "Each page needs to be copied. Give them to Captain Scarlet when she's simmered down a bit." An attempt at a joke-it fell flat, but she giggled anyway.
Giggling. That wasn't a good sign.
Lucy only smirked, holding the folders protectively in an attempt to comfort her blue-haired friend. "You worked really hard. Want me to get one of the boys to walk you home?"
Levy waved it off, then placed that very hand to her hip. In the holster was a stun-gun. "I'm good."
The blonde wrapped a gentle arm around Levy's small shoulders. Carefully, she helped her down the staircase. Levy blocked out the swarming crowds of people. She watched her feet to make sure no one was taking a cat-nap by their desk. Shower, food, sleep. No constant noise.
Soon.
"-Heartfilia!"
A door opened to their right. They both turned to a man with an unbuttoned shirt and raven-black hair. Lucy groaned at his general direction.
"Yes, Detective Fullstripper?" She sighed, not even shocked anymore. "Why is your shirt open and what happened to your tie?"
He moved his lips to the side. "It's cold-shouldn't a guy be comfortable at least a little?"
"It's the middle of-" She stopped and gave Levy a reassuring pat on the back. "Actually Gray, do you have a few minutes to kill?"
He quirked a brow. Levy quirked both and took a step away. She knew this tone of voice.
"Lucy, really, I can walk home myself."
And that earned her a worried pout from the blonde. "Really? But you can barely keep yourself up."
"The Captain wants to speak to you." He sidestepped to review a red-haired woman, arms folded and legs apart. She was as official as ever.
Levy took this cue to pull out of her friend's grasp and head towards the entrance. "Thanks for all of this. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Ah," Lucy whipped her head around, at a loss for words and stood there frozen, "stay safe! Call me if anything happens!"
"In the office, Heartfilia." Demanded the redhead. Lucy swallowed and rushed over.
"Y-Yes, Captain!"
The golden-haired rushed herself in, doing a double take before closing the door and standing at attention in front of their superior. To the side were the three drunks, almost wiped out, yet not a single scratch was on them.
Impressive. In a terrifying way.
"Did you need me, Captain?"
Erza stood proud, her uniform fine pressed and her silken locks wrapped into a tight bun. She folded her hands behind her back with a smile of satisfaction.
"The one in the far left chair says he has something to offer us."
"More like you dragged it out of him…" Gray mumbled. Lucy elbowed him in the ribs when Ezra turned for a mere second.
"Captain, you aren't considering letting him off, are you?"
"Certainly not." He lips curled into a smile. "Not after what we just heard."
She faced her subordinates. "He knows the Iron Dragon."
Lucy's lips parted, a feeling of shock striking her. The two turn to each other.
Then to the three drunks in disbelief.
The sky was plentiful with twinkling constellations, and her breath crystallized into vanishing white puffs. The night was freezing, as it should have been in the middle of Autumn. She felt completed-light hearted with lids she could barely keep open. She kept repeating those three things into her head.
'Shower, food, sleep.'
It was encouraging, but somehow it didn't help her stay any more awake.
Maybe she shouldn't have said no to that eight cup of coffee.
'Shower, sleep.' It cut down to two. There wasn't even a lingering trace of hunger in her stomach at this point, and with her nose pointed to the sky, she'd close her eyes for seconds at a time only to see her own scribbled writing on white documents come and go constantly.
'Sleep.'
She stopped, almost pass a corner needed for her apartment complex. Levy was smart, and she was the best in her division. It didn't mean it paid well. So her neighborhood was a bit of a far walk on a downhill slope. Road lights flickered. She saw her three story apartment complex, and that single word boomed into her mind again.
'Sleep, sleep.'
There was no recollection between walking to the apartment and heading to her front door on the second level. As if on instinct, her hand pulled out her key and already unlocked the door.
"I'm home." She welcomed herself to an empty house. Yes-empty, quiet, no paperwork and loud coworkers.
She flicked on the light-
-A hand crashed against her mouth, lights turned off in that instant, throwing her back into the wall. She screamed. Okay.
Levy was awake now.
Her hand reached for the taser on her hip. It was smacked across the room.
"Quiet." A husky voice commanded. "Listen to me-"
She bit the skin on his palm and threw a blind knee into him. Whatever it landed on worked. The man groaned, stepping back. Levy darted for the taser. He grabbed her wrist and put her in an armlock, throwing her against the kitchen counter.
What was this? What was happening?
She didn't know, so she went to scream again, but that too was silenced.
"I said listen," he cursed in her ear. His breath was warm. Warmth was not good in this instance. She should have had Gray walk her home. "Stop squirmin', alright? Keep it down."
She aimed her heels for his toes. He barely scraped them away from the toe breaker, giving her a good shake. "I don't want to do this the hard way, so put a lid on it or you'll have to make friends with duct tape and some rope."
She resisted his grip, being allowed some leeway to move. She was ready to bite, to kick, but something compelled her to stop when she turned to face him.
A flash of light reflected his eyes into view, the intensity of those ruby droplets catching the breath in her throat.
Police sirens ran in the distance.
A/N: HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TO MY AMAZING FRIEND JESSE. Give me all of your reviews if you think this is good or could be better!
I'M IN NEED OF SLEEP.
GOODNIGHT, BABES.