Levy McGarden was bored… bored of translating papers and books… bored of her routine. Since "the incident" she hadn't been on any dangerous jobs. Team Shadow Gear hadn't done anything as a team since she and Jet had gotten married. Droy wasn't around much anymore—and Jet said he wanted Levy to stay safe and to protect Raven, but as Raven got older that excuse was getting flimsier and flimsier… Raven had finally joined the guild with her friends. She could take reasonably good care of herself. Now Levy was just keeping her nose in the books out of habit and fear.
Levy looked down at the lines of text in front of her. She had been staring at the same few lines of text over and over again… not even taking in their meaning. Her mind was racing with feelings of nothing and everything all at once. Her ability to focus on anything was waning. Blinking and shaking her head, Levy closed the book she had in front of her. This was no time for work…
Levy quickly gathered her work and the books needed to finish them into her bag. She could always work on it later. Walking back out to the guildhall, a few ice shards whizzed past Levy's head, inches from her face. Looking to the source, another much larger ice shard was headed right for her. Instinctively, Levvy grabbed her light pen and quickly wrote the word wall to catch the ice with her solid script magic. The ice fell to the ground, having been stopped cold and the wall dissipated. Looking up, Levy saw the gaggle of teens gapping at her. In a flash, Raven had sped over to her saying, "That was so cool! What was that?!" The other teens followed at a quick but non-magical pace, eager to learn the same.
Levy blinked at her child and friends. "That was my solid script magic. Have I never shown you?"
All of the teens shook their heads.
"I didn't mean to hit anyone with my ice, but it was so cool how you stopped it!" Heather Fullbuster was gushing as she half-heartedly apologized. Her shoulder length navy hair fell over one eye and she brushed it behind her ear.
Layla Dragneel punched Heather in the shoulder, "You know we aren't supposed to use long range attacks inside the guildhall! Otherwise I would have melted that ice!" Layla was by far the shortest of the group, but with the longest hair, her light pink locks tumbling down her back.
"Well you shouldn't be using Raven's speed to run and punch and then run away again!" Heather's voice was rising as the two young mages were getting forehead to forehead.
Cobalt Fullbuster shoved his way between the two and said, "Not now! I wanna hear more about Levy's magic!" Despite being twins, Cobalt had bright blue hair, reminiscent of his mother Juvia, though it was cut pretty short.
Raven nodded in agreement. "I didn't know my mom knew any magic that didn't involve books and reading!" Raven was the tallest of the group… even taller than her mother, but was very lean. She had short ginger hair that was spiked back as if constantly in a wind tunnel.
At that Levy felt a twinge of sadness. She had never even told her daughter she could use magic… Swallowing the feeling for a moment, she smiled at the gathered teens. "You know, I was once nominated for S-class…"
The gathered teens gasped, their eyes growing wide. They could be heard whispering 'No way!'
Continuing, Levy asked, "Would you like a demonstration of solid script magic?"
Right away, all four of the young mages starting hooting and hollering, very excited to see a type of magic they had never seen before.
Out at the training area, a few guild members had decided to watch the demonstration with the young mages. There was about 15-20 people gathered around, and it made Levy a little nervous. She hadn't done much magic at all in years. Not only was she showing her daughter… and her friends' children… there were a bunch of other guild members she could disappoint. Heather
What had she gotten herself into?
Deciding to start easy, Levy shouted "Solid-Script: FIRE!" and the word FIRE appeared in front of her, clearly on fire, but since it wasn't directed at anything, just hung in front of her. After a moment, Layla jumped forward and with mouth wide open, ate the flaming words before her.
"Now I've got a fire in my belly! Fire Dragon ROAR!" Layla directed the attack right at Levvy. Some of the other guild members gasped, worried that the Solid Script mage was about to get toasted.
With quick precision, Levy brandished her light pen and shouted, "Solid-Script: DEFENSE!" The fire that had been heading for Levy dispersed on her defense. Seeing that she wasn't defenseless, the other kids' eyes started going wide with excitement.
Simultaneously, both of the Fullbuster twins released ice spears right towards Levy from both sides. With a quick spin, Levvy ducked both spears and released, "Solid-Script: SMOKE!" A smokescreen was suddenly surrounding the immediate area, leaving Levy unseeable by the fighting teens. Heather and Cobalt looked around wildly for their target before getting pulled out of the way of a "Solid-Script: CHAINS!" by a speeding Raven.
Raven's speed had cleared much of the smoke, and the young teen was looking at her mother with an admiration she never had previously. With a smirk, she glanced at Layla and nodded to her. Layla smiled widely and gathered flames in her hand. Raven quickly sped towards Layla and with a carefully practiced move, Layla was now on Raven's back. Her legs being held in place by her ginger haired friend. A quick turn towards Levy and the pair was charging right towards the older blue haired mage.
Levy was getting ready to respond to their attack when something caught her eye. For a split second, she saw a glint of metal coming from the back of the surrounding crowd. Instead of the regular defense spell she was about to cast, Levy shouted, "Solid-Script: IRON!"
A large slab of iron in the shape of the word IRON appeared right where the teens were running, knocking them both down. The surrounding crowd was clapping and cheering at the mock fight in front of them. Levy looked at the spot in the crowd she had seen the glint of metal, not seeing anything there that would have caused it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a large dark figure walking away from the crowd towards the guildhall. Looking down at the iron she had summoned, she noticed the heart in the letter O and a small blush creeped up her cheeks. Quickly unsummoning the offending magic, she reached her hand out to her daughter to help her up.
Raven looked up at her mom. Levy's hair was falling out of her ponytail, she was a little out of breath, and what really shook Raven to her core was the smile on her mother's face. She had never seen her mother smile with the warmth she was showing right now. Smiling at her mother, Raven grabbed her hand and let her help her to her feet. Raven racked a hand through her short ginger hair and watched her mother attempt to help Layla to her feet as well. The Fullbuster twins jogged over to them as Layla insisted she didn't need help. The whole lot of them were laughing and smiling like never before. Looking to her mother, Raven said, "I never knew you could do stuff like that! How come you never go out on jobs?"
At that simple question, Levy's mood deflated significantly. Her smile vanished and she sighed wistfully.
Raven regretted the question immediately. Layla, Heather, and Cobalt all saw the awkward moment that had started and all made to move the group back to the guildhall. The surrounding crowd started dispersing, chatting away animatedly.
During the walk, Raven looked over to her mother. Levy still looked disheveled from the mock-fight but she was looking wistfully downward as they walked. Layla and Heather were talking about the fight to each other excitedly. Cobalt was walking slightly behind the group, glancing at Layla every time he thought no one was looking.
Walking into the guildhall, Levy was swept up into a whirlwind. Jet had swept up his wife and quickly pecked her on the lips. He was smiling wide until he looked at how disheveled she looked. His brow furrowed. "Levy… why do you look so… tired?"
Levy reached for her hair and tried straightening it out, though it was proving difficult while in her husband's arms. "Well…"
"SHE WAS INCREDIBLE!" Layla was bursting with energy, fire practically emanating from her person.
Heather and Cobalt nodded in unison, agreeing with the young fire dragon slayer. "The way she can summon anything by writing it in the air? It's so much more useful than my ice make magic…" Heather was clearly in awe of the blue haired mage in Jet's arms.
Jet looked at his wife's face with a serious look. "You were fighting? You know how I feel about that…"
Levy looked downward as Jet put her back onto her feet. "I just wanted to…"
Before she could finish her thought, Raven interrupted. "It's our fault dad. We wanted her to show us her magic and it may have gotten a little out of hand…" She had a hand behind her head looking sheepishly at her father. "But… mom was amazing. How come she doesn't go out on jobs with you?" She looked at her father with a quizzical expression. Levy looked at her feet as if they were the most fascinating things in the world.
Jet looked at his daughter and sighed. "Raven sweetie, I just want to keep you both safe. You two are the most important things in my life." He pulled the two girls into a hug. Heather and Layla were fake gagging nearby and Cobalt was chuckling at the embarrassment Raven seemed to be experiencing from this touching family moment.
"Daaaadddd… Not in front of my friends…" Raven was blushing furiously as she struggled to leave the family hug.
"Alright, alright. You kids go along now. Try to not get into too much trouble—or cause too much trouble for everyone else." Jet eyed the teens as they ran off towards their old babysitter, Asuka, who had just entered the guildhall.
Looking back to Levy, Jet's smile faded a little. His wife didn't seem her usual self. She seemed… listless.
Levy was brushing her fingers through her long hair and re-adjusted her ponytail, so that it was no longer a disheveled mess. She was looking anywhere but at Jet's face.
Jet let out a long sigh and spoke in a calm and even tone. "I'm not mad Levy. You aren't in any real danger fighting the kids… they would never seriously hurt you. You know I just worry… that's all."
Levy looked up into Jet's eyes. He was being sincere… but it didn't make Levy feel any better. "I know." Avoiding his face further, Levy walked back to the library, picking up her bag that she had left with Mira before the fight on the way.
Jet watched her go, a twinge of sadness in his face. He knew she wasn't happy... but he didn't know how to bring her spark back while keeping her safe. His brow furrowed further as he thought… This would take time.