Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)
Chapter 2: The Sealed Book
After leaving the Fairy Tail guild on that same day, Lucy had spent the entire night packing her suitcase for the vacation that she was about to embark on. She still didn't know where in the world to go, and she also didn't know where any other guilds besides Fairy Fairy Tail were located in Fiore. This was quite a dilemma, since she didn't even have maps of faraway lands for her to really start a new life.
Lucy didn't know what the other side of Fiore was like, since she had never gone there with Team Natsu, and it would be a pretty stupid move to go there without having any information about it. This meant that she had to show up early in the morning at the Fairy Tail guild for some answers, and she would definitely find out about the other side of Fiore and faraway lands.
She also wanted to have the chance to say goodbye to Cana, Wendy, Erza, and Gray since she wouldn't be coming back to the guild for quite a long time. Lucy didn't know how she was going to do it, but she would show everyone that a few years of training would increase her Celestial Spirit Magic to where it couldn't be stopped. She would be able to summon ten spirits from the golden keys, the same number of keys she currently owned.
Her confidence levels were at a high point, knowing that great things were probably waiting in the future for her, but Lucy also felt nervous about joining a new guild. What would it be like? Would she make any new friends? Could she get along with anyone while healing the pain in her heart? She laid in her bed while sadly looking up at the ceiling in her apartment that was darkened by the night, and Lucy wondered if she was making the right decision.
Speaking of decisions, she still couldn't believe that Natsu kicked her off the team and replaced her with Lisanna. The fact that he was so calm about it certainly irked Lucy, and she had doubt in her brown eyes. She had really loved Natsu, having a crush on him, but he was in love with Lisanna. His heart was out of Lucy's reach, and she really couldn't hide her depression.
"I want to become a stronger mage, but I also want to find that one special guy who will love me. I want to find the guy who won't see only my level of strength, but he loves me for my personality and my many other qualities. I really wonder if there is a guy out there for me, and I really wonder if he would be the one for me." Lucy thought to herself while letting out a depressed sigh, before trying to close her eyes and get some sleep.
The blonde mage quickly drifted off to sleep, becoming engulfed in a dream, and she let her head gently stay on the comfy pillow of her bed. Lucy's thoughts of becoming stronger were still in her head, as she unconsciously muttered something about opening four gates, and she also murmured a few words about having friends who would admire her determined heart.
Lucy blushed in her sleep, imagining a nice guy who would give her roses or chocolate, and he would even take her out on a romantic date. He was her dream guy, but he still lacked a name. This guy was supposedly confident and capable of letting Lucy fight while they took down 100 monsters, and Lucy even sighed happily when she imagined herself sharing a kiss with her make-believe boyfriend.
She loved to go shopping with him, assist him on jobs that they did together, and Lucy would even feed him delicious food in restaurants whenever they came back from missions. The amount of money that they had was incredible, and Lucy loved to be with this guy. However, she never knew who he was. She didn't even know much about him, really.
That's how her dreams of love had always gone, and that always made her depressed when she woke up. Seeing Natsu and Lisanna in the morning wouldn't exactly be the best thing for her, and Lucy had really wished that she had never seen them kiss. That caused her to toss and turn while she was sleeping, and Lucy had to get the negativity out of her head.
As the night hours passed by, Lucy found it a bit more difficult to sleep. She was about to go on a long journey, free from stress, but what would happen? She slowly opened her cocoa brown eyes to see that it was nighttime, and her alarm clock seemed to be saying that the current time was 6:25 in the morning. She had slept for six hours, and Lucy got out of bed.
She really needed to clear her mind, have it free from all of the stressful thoughts, and Lucy didn't even notice that the sun had risen into the sky to signal the start of a new day. Some sunlight shined directly on to her, giving her some warming light, and Lucy smiled happily from the sun's way of giving her some encouragement. She needed to be filled with light and positive energy, after all.
Deciding on her course of action, Lucy walked over to her desk and sat down in the chair. She narrowed her brown eyes while grabbing a pen and two pieces of paper, and Lucy wrote two heartfelt letters. One of them was addressed to her landlady for her to know that she would no longer be paying the monthly rent of 70,000 jewels, and the other letter was addressed to Wendy.
Wendy and Lucy had been like sisters after the young blue-haired girl had joined Fairy Tail, having a great bond of friendship, and Wendy could always help Lucy out with her problems. Leaving Magnolia would certainly be a tough thing to do, but Lucy knew in her heart that she would see Wendy again. The girls would definitely cross paths again one day, but they had to part ways for now. To cushion the blow, Lucy grabbed the letter while putting it in an envelope to put it in the guild's mailbox for Wendy to find it. With her courage now growing, Lucy ran out of her apartment while not even caring that she was in her pink pajamas.
At the Fairy Tail guild...
Arriving at dawn, Lucy noticed that the guild's entrance doors were surprisingly wide open with everyone in the guild sleeping on the floor, in chairs, and even on the tables. They had been celebrating about Lisanna for another night, and now they were all sleeping soundly while snoring. Natsu was even sleeping next to Lisanna with her in his arms at a table in the back of the guildhall, something that Lucy tried to ignore, and she simply walked past everybody with a somewhat calm facial expression.
Gray had been sleeping next to Juvia on the floor, Gajeel and Levy were sleeping at a table together, and Evergreen slept against a wall next to Elfman. Seeing all the couples had certainly made Lucy jealous, but she tried shrugging off the feeling when she noticed something odd upstairs. The door to the library was open, but who could be reading books so early in the morning?
The sounds of a broom sweeping the floor upstairs could be heard, and Lucy was intrigued by the fact that someone was awake. She looked around the guildhall to do a head count, seeing who was in Fairy Tail at the moment, and the only person who appeared to be missing was everyone's favorite white-haired barmaid. Mira must've been cleaning, but why so early?
Lucy went upstairs quickly, making sure the creaks of the stairs wouldn't last long to wake anyone up, and she headed to the library with the letter for Wendy. She wanted to give it to Mira, knowing she would definitely give it to Wendy, and the blonde mage softly giggled at the fact that every single minute of this great plan led her closer to her vacation.
As she peeked her head into the library, Lucy noticed that Mirajane was taking many books off of a bookshelf. They didn't look old, but they were in the section of the library that was restricted and only authorized to S-Class mages and Makarov. These books were forbidden from being read or checked out, knowing that they could cause problems in the wrong hands.
"Good morning, Mira." Lucy whispered while smiling a bit, as she saw the pile of books that Mira had made.
Mirajane replied in a somewhat startled tone, not expecting anyone to be awake or enter the guild at this time in the morning, "Oh my gosh! Hi, Lucy! You frightened me for a moment."
"What's with all the books on the floor? Does Master want them to be moved to Fairy Hills?" Lucy curiously asked while looking at Mira, seeing all the books in perfect condition.
Mira explained with kindness in her blue eyes, seeming happy, "He actually wants them all to be burned because they contain secrets that are known only to our guild, and he's afraid that someone will try getting their hands on something important like Lumen Histoire. Just because we won the Grand Magic Games a few months ago, that doesn't mean we're safe. Fairy Tail's regained fame can attract thieves instead of mages, you know."
As she let out a soft yawn, Mira let Lucy know that she had to go get some coffee from a cafe in Magnolia to keep herself awake for this task. She also kindly requested that Lucy help her out with the task of removing the last few books from the shelf since she was already here, and Lucy seemed happy with such an easy task. She walked past the pile of books, going over to the shelf, and there were only five books on it.
The blonde mage was about about to take one off of the shelf, but the sounds of tables breaking and people yelling downstairs certainly startled her. The Fairy Tail guild was now back in its usual rowdy state with many of the members brawling over nonsense, and Lucy could tell from Natsu's happy yelling that he accidentally breathed out fire and got a certain ice mage angry.
Quickly regaining her focus back, Lucy looked at the bookshelf and saw a mysterious sight. The five books had changed to being only four, and one of them was missing. How was that possible? Lucy hadn't taken one off of the shelf, and no one else was in the library with her. Something seemed amiss, but then Lucy thought that she miscounted.
She smiled a bit from having this simple task of removing four books off the shelf, but the rowdiness of the Fairy Tail guild was enough to shake the building and knock the books right off of that shelf. With her task now done, thanks to that unexpected assistance, Lucy ran out of the library and hastily went downstairs while ignoring all the brawling. Lucy also took a flyer from the request board to help herself get some cash, and she knew that the path to become stronger would reveal itself through hard work.
Since it looked like Wendy and Carla had left the guild to avoid the brawl, Lucy couldn't give the letter to her young friend. She also didn't want to be seen by Natsu and Lisanna right now, so Lucy ran back to her apartment as fast as she could. While she ran back home with a somewhat disappointed facial expression, Lucy unknowingly passed by a beautiful woman who appeared to be around the same age as Erza.
She had silvery-blue hair that fell to her hips, fair skin, and silvery-blue eyes. This woman also wore a yellow top with a pair of white jeans to match, and she also wore some yellow high heels. Her cleavage was ample like Cana's, and the mysterious lady sniffed the air for a moment before smirking a bit about something.
"My, my. What a beautiful blonde young girl, yet she seems so saddened by something. She reminds me of my master in the old days when our plan was nearly finished, until Zeref and Acnologia put a halt to it. However, the scent of strawberries and vanilla with the personality of seeming so innocent... This maiden is quite perfect for my master's return, and something else I noticed earlier will be of great assistance." The mysterious woman thought to herself with a scheming grin, before sinking down into the shadows to secretly follow Lucy.
Back at Lucy's apartment...
The brown-eyed girl had placed the flyer from earlier down on the table, and Lucy was stunned to find out that this job was going to take place in a town that was all the way across the sea from Magnolia. She wasn't really that accustomed to traveling by boat, and Lucy looked even more surprised to discover that the reward for this job was 800,000 jewels. Quite a high amount of money, don't you think?
Taking this job would mean she could be pretty rich for a while on her vacation, making things easier for her when she had to travel and buy many things, but then Lucy read the job description. She had to enter the Castelia Sewers to capture a gang of wanted criminals that hung out down there, and they supposedly used Poison Magic. Lucy knew that none of her spirits could handle poison, and neither could she.
On top of that, she wanted to start her vacation in a place where there wouldn't be any major hardships for her to overcome. She certainly wished that someone could assist her on this job, but Lucy also had the conflicting resolve to become stronger on her own for Natsu to see that she wasn't weak anymore and he made a mistake when he kicked her off the team.
Lucy had opened her mailbox earlier to find many travel brochures inside, each one advertising a different place, and many of these towns were on the other side of Fiore. That would keep the blonde mage far from Natsu while she was on her vacation, and she certainly didn't want to see him again for a while. She was about to read one of the travel brochures, but a soft knock at her apartment door interrupted her thoughts. Had Natsu and Happy decided to knock this time instead of breaking in like they always did?
She definitely wanted to tell off the fire dragon slayer for looking so happy when he announced that she was getting replaced with Lisanna, and Lucy had gone to the kitchen to hit him with a frying pan if he wasn't here to apologize for being rude enough to push her feelings aside and kiss Lisanna like he loved her so much. She wasn't interested in hearing about their relationship, either.
"Natsu, I don't want to hear about how much you love Lisanna! I don't care, and-" Lucy shouted with a stern facial expression, tension in her brown eyes, before noticing that she was talking to the wrong person.
The woman with silvery-blue hair and silvery-blue eyes had appeared in front of her apartment, retrieving a blue book from the shadow of the door before the blonde mage had opened it, and the mysterious lady held it in her hands while smiling a bit to not arouse any suspicion from Lucy. There was also a pink envelope placed on the book, too. What was going on? Had Natsu ordered something from a catalog and put the delivery and payment in Lucy's name?
"Hello, young lady. I am Karen Melancholia, a traveling merchant who sells many items that people would really desire. You seem to be a fairly cute and innocent girl, and I am in quite a predicament." The mysterious woman told Lucy while she calmly smiled and handed the pink envelope to the blonde female.
When Lucy curiously asked what kind of trouble the merchant was in, the woman with silvery-blue hair demonstrated her problem by trying to open the blue spell book in her hands. It wasn't budging one bit, not even opening at all, and Karen gave up after her fifth attempt. She even told Lucy that the mighty Laxus Dreyar couldn't even help her open it, making the blonde mage wonder who would make a book like that.
Lucy told her in a concerned tone, having worry in her brown eyes as she saw Karen's hands looking sore, "That really is a problem for you, but I still don't understand why the book won't open. I mean, you should just get some grease and-"
"The blue book of spells has a magic seal on it that will only be broken for a person with a soul that is pure as silver and they must have a heart of gold, you see. If someone like me tries to open the book, it won't work. You should see if you can open this book, young lady. If you are able to do so, you may have whatever is inside. It would probably be of no use to someone like me." Karen interrupted and explained while still remaining calm, seeing the pureness in Lucy's eyes.
It wouldn't hurt to give it a try to help out a person who nicely made this request, so Lucy gently took the book from Karen's hands and looked at its cerulean blue color for a moment. The book looked beautiful to Lucy, seeing it as some great reading material she could have on her vacation, and the blonde girl smiled a bit while placing her left hand on the blue book's front cover.
Much to her surprise, and to Karen's delight, blue beams of light shined brightly from the book when Lucy had been able to open it. She gasped in awe at the weird writing on the first page, seeing it to be in a possibly olden language because of the characters looking like nothing she had ever seen. The first two lines of words on the first page were in a cerulean blue color while the rest of the page and the pages following it were also in black text. Lucy found herself able to understand the words in blue, but not the words in black, despite never having seen either language before.
Lucy read from the blue book in a happy manner, excitement in her cocoa brown eyes, "First spell of Water Magic, I call upon thee! Aqua Ball!"
In an instant, a blue sphere of energy formed in the palm of Lucy's right hand. It grew to the size of her hand, before propelling itself off her hand and popping like a little water balloon when it hit the building across from her apartment. She thought that spell was a bit cute, and Lucy did it four more times as a little bit of a warm-up for any future jobs that required target practice.
Karen looked a bit happy from this result, and she could see that Lucy was now excited about her new life. The other spells would probably be better than the first one, and Lucy couldn't wait to try them out. She smiled happily at Karen, thanking her for showing up at her doorstep with this life-changing book, and Lucy ran inside quickly to zip up her black suitcase. The ship to Castelia would be leaving in 30 minutes, and Lucy hurriedly ran out of her apartment while thanking Karen as she made her way to the harbor.
Unknown to Lucy, however, her five Aqua Balls from earlier weren't just like little water balloons. They made five miniature blue blasts of energy transpire, destroying the building that was on the other side of the canal, and the sound of the blasts had gotten the attention of many people. Karen quickly went inside and closed the door before Team Natsu showed up, and the devious smile on her face could tell anyone that she was glad about that little spell having an adequate amount of power.
"That went well, and I'm quite glad to have finally found the maiden who is the reader of my master's book. However, it would be wise to keep an eye on her and make sure that nothing goes wrong in this plan. Let's see just how strong she can get." Karen thought to herself, giggling a bit before sinking down into the shadows outside to travel through the darkness.
At the harbor...
Lucy had ran down to Magnolia's harbor as fast as she could, knowing the ship to Castelia always left at 7:00 in the morning, and she could smell the salty air while feeling the calm ocean breeze. She got on to the cruise ship known as the S.S. Aqua, a fast luxury ship that had comfortable accommodations for its passengers, and the smile on Lucy's face could tell anyone that she was enjoying this part of the vacation already.
One of the sailors assisting the passengers had directed Lucy to a room at the end of the hallway, and she admired the blue carpet while admiring the walls that had been painted sapphire blue like the sea. She had also received a cobalt card key that granted her access in and out of her room, and Lucy's brown eyes twinkled when she walked inside to notice how the room was so clean and shiny.
There was also a golden food cart in the room that had many desserts on it, and there was also a coffee machine plugged into one of the outlets. It had dispensers for sugar, cream, and there were buttons for different types of coffee. Lucy also noticed that her cabin had a two-person blue bed, and there was also a porthole for her to have a nice view of the ocean while she saw some seagulls flying over the calm blue sea.
The blonde mage took a white coffee mug off of the food cart, and she put it under the coffee machine's dispenser to start off her vacation with a hot drink. She pressed a blue button with the words "Caramel Coffee" written under the button, and caramel coffee obviously was poured into the white mug. It had a sweet smell to it, not surprising since it was caramel-flavored, and Lucy smiled at the sight of steam rising from the cup.
While she let her coffee cool down to a warm temperature for her to drink it, Lucy also grabbed a white plate with a cherry pie on it to have that as her breakfast. She had also grabbed a silver fork from the food cart, and Lucy sat down on the bed to enjoy her breakfast. She had also placed the blue spell book on the bed, and it really made Lucy curious.
She didn't know how the words in that strange blue text were easy for her to understand, and Lucy also wondered about that Aqua Ball spell. She saw it only as a mediocre prank to play on people, since all it could do was explode like a water balloon, but she had left a few moments too early to really see the spell's true effect. Lucy did hear the explosions and wonder what all the noise was about, though.
Speaking of the book, Lucy remembered the pink envelope that Karen had given her. The envelope seemed to be addressed to Lucy, and she had folded it neatly into the left pocket of her pink pajama pants. She looked curious while pulling it out, wondering what was inside of it, and Lucy thought that it had something to do with the blue book.
She slowly opened the envelope, hoping a bomb of some kind hadn't been planted inside of it, and Lucy surprisingly found a letter within the envelope. It had been written in the same strange blue text that was in Lucy's spell book, and there was only one line of words on this letter. Quite strange to receive a book with an almost forgotten message, right?
"Please know this, new book master. The spells you wield shall require feelings of emotion for them to be used, or they won't come out." Lucy silently read to herself with her brown eyes narrowed at this rule of using the blue spell book.
Meanwhile...
Sting and Rogue had finished a job in the nearby town of Nimbasa, and they were heading back to the guild after getting 90,000 jewels from stopping some mediocre bandits. Well, they were mediocre in Sting's eyes. He had taken them all down with Holy Ray, and the girls in that town were fainting when they saw his grin of confidence and his beautiful blue eyes.
The girls in this region of Fiore had been falling head over heels for Sting, mostly because of his great charisma skills, and his skills with White Dragon Slayer Magic had even allowed him to make his teeth completely white to make any woman be impressed with him. The mages in Castelia Town always got discounts in stores too, since they were so popular.
This town was located near the ocean and it led to a desert route that was leading to a town up ahead, and there was an eastern path leading out of the town towards the train station. This town also had a harbor, and the town's ground was paved smoothly in brick and cobblestone. The stores and cafés really did look extravagant, and the town's houses looked pretty great as well.
It really was the ideal place for people to move to, and the guild was right in the town's center for no one to even miss it. Sting and Rogue were respectively eating a slice of cherry cake and sipping a cup of hot chocolate while they were outside of the café at a white patio table with their Exceeds known as Lector and Frosch, currently all looking pleased at another job being done successfully.
"Man, the bandits these days are really getting to be a bunch of halfwits. I took all those guys down with one move, and the girls loved me like they always do. Around here, I'm the best mage ever." Sting boasted while looking arrogant, holding the plate of cake in his left hand while putting his feet on the table like he was the strongest guy in Fiore.
"Don't get too full of yourself, Sting. After all, you haven't fought everyone around the world. You may be strong, but underestimating an opponent is usually how people manage to beat you down." Rogue responded with a calm facial expression, folding his arms while sighing a bit.
"Oh, please. Losing against Natsu last year was a one-time thing for us, man. This year, things will be different. I have gotten strong, Rogue, and I can definitely show off my new move that's-" Sting responded in a cocky manner while smirking, before his speech was comically censored by the loud foghorn of the S.S. Aqua signaling that the ship had arrived in Castelia.
Sting was about to really curse at that ship for interrupting his prideful story about his strong new moves, but then his nose caught sight of something that seemed eerily familiar. It was the scent of strawberries and vanilla, a sweet scent that could only come from a girl, and Sting could also smell some unusually strong magic. He wondered if it had anything to do with the explosions that people were gossiping about while the dragon slayers had been on a job, claiming the noise came from the town of Magnolia.
Thinking that Natsu must've been showing off in Magnolia and now wanted to come here for a good fight, Sting ran towards the Oceanfront Road where all five piers could be seen. He kept smelling that girl's scent in the air near the Liberty Pier, which was the shortest pier of them all, and Sting wondered if Natsu was hiding behind a feminine scent for a great disguise. Sting ran down towards that pier, and he planned to hit Natsu with a surprise attack when he exited the S.S. Aqua.
The boat came to a complete stop, and the door opened to let out a seemingly familiar girl with blonde hair and brown eyes. She was pulling a wheeled black suitcase behind her by the handle, and she had a happy smile on her face while looking up at the large skyscrapers of Castelia Town. Her brown eyes twinkled from catching sight of the cafés and restaurants on one street, and Lucy could see an entire line of fashion stores on an adjacent streets.
She was passed by many people who appeared to be businessmen carrying black briefcases, as well as musicians carrying their various instruments. Several painters also walked by her without even trying to help her out with where everything was located, making her wonder who in the world she could ask for help in what seemed like a pretty big city.
Suddenly, Lucy found herself having to dodge a white laser beam that came her way and she looked pretty astounded that she was now getting attacked. Were the robbers in this city seriously trying to strike her in broad daylight? Lucy realized that the white light seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn't quite put the type of magic to a face.
"Hey, Blondie! Tell Natsu to get off that ship right now, and I don't care if he has motion sickness!" Sting told her with an arrogant look on his face, cracking his knuckles like he was ready for a fight.
At that moment, Lucy's brown eyes widened in shock from hearing that overconfident voice. It belonged to Sting Eucliffe, the White Dragon Slayer and guild master of the Sabertooth guild, and Lucy wasn't exactly understanding his command. She had come to Castelia by herself for a relaxing vacation, and she certainly didn't want Natsu around her right now.
"I came here on vacation to get away from that dense jerk, and don't call me Blondie! You're blond, too! My name is Lucy Heartfilia!" She replied loudly with a somewhat annoyed facial expression while walking towards Sting.
Sting covered his ears to block out the sound of Lucy's loud voice, and he clearly got the message. Natsu was definitely not with Lucy, and she was only here for a vacation and to handle a job that needed to be taken care of. Sting could see how she looked annoyed by him, and he smirked a bit while not wanting to get on a woman's bad side like he had once done with Minerva.
"Well, today is your lucky day to be vacationing. I'm bored right now, so I can show you around and help you out with anything you need as an apology. Remember, Lucy. The great Sting Eucliffe never fails in negotiation." He replied calmly, not letting her refuse his apology and chance to get recognition from a girl in Fairy Tail.
While Lucy told Sting about the job she had to do in the Castelia Sewers, cringing at the very thought of going into a place filled with putrid sewage, the blue book in her right hand began to emit a cerulean glow to sneakily assure her that she would really have nothing to worry about with Sting and a little new technique at her side.
How was the 2nd chapter? Did you like it? Lucy has left Magnolia to handle a job, and she now has a blue book of spells with her. My OC Karen will have a role in this story, and you'll see what plan she's talking about as the story progresses. Lucy has met Sting, and he has agreed to help her on the job she took. What will happen, though? Standby for the update!
