Natsu POV
Happy, Lisanna, Carla and I all sat there for a few minutes talking to each other about random things, but we mostly talked about what was happening currently. Now though, we were just sitting in silence.
Geez...it's so quiet in here that I bet even a deaf person could hear a pin drop... I thought to myself, my arms crossed over my chest.
"Natsu..." Carla finally broke the stretch of silence.
"Yeah?" I glanced over at the exceed.
"Could you go check on Levy and see if she's alright?"
"Doesn't she have metal breath and what's-his-face with her?"
"All the same, I still want you to go check on her. You never know what could be happening right now."
"Carla's right, Natsu," Lisanna spoke up. "Levy and Gajeel could be sleeping right now and we might not even know it."
"Alright then, I'll go check on them," I said, finally giving into them. Hopping off the edge of the bed, my feet touched the floor with a soft thump. "Stay here, Happy."
"Aye, sir!" the blue cat responded in his usual enthusiastic gusto.
Walking out of the room, I headed to the guild's library. I didn't hesitate in swinging open the door and marching inside.
"Oi, Levy! Are you sleeping?" I called out, cupping my hands over my mouth.
"No, I'm wide awake," Levy responded, waving at me from behind a bookcase.
"What about iron head and what's-his-name?" I asked her. "Are they sleeping?"
"Right here, asshole, and Pantherlily's helping shrimp look for some books," Gajeel was sitting on the floor cross-legged by a bookshelf, a look of irritation on his face due to my entry. "What are you here for, anyways?"
"Carla wanted me to come check on you guys," I answered.
"Well, we're fine, so you can leave," Gajeel grunted, crossing his muscular arms over his chest.
"Have you found anything about what's going on, Levy?" ignoring the iron dragon slayer, I reverted my attention to blue haired girl.
"Pantherlily did find an old book that might explain what's going on, but a lot of the text is too faded to read," Levy answered. "What about you guys? Has anything new happened?"
"Other than the fact that Lucy and Mira are asleep now, too," I responded. "No, nothing new has happened."
"Are you lying?" Gajeel asked suspiciously, narrowing his scarlet eyes in my direction.
"Why the hell would I lie about something like that?" I shot back.
"So what's happening might be infectious," Levy mumbled to herself, a thoughtful expression on her face. "I'll have to remember that."
"Anyways...is there anything you want me to do while I'm here, Levy?" I asked the solid script mage.
"Could you bring the old book I told you about to the infirmary so we don't accidentally lose it?" Levy requested, looking up at me.
"Sure...where is it?"
"It's over on that table by a mirror," she answered, pointing at it from behind the bookcase.
"Why do we have a mirror in here?" I questioned as I walked over to where she pointed.
"It's for when there's backwards text in a book," she responded. "It comes in handy quite a lot, actually."
I went over to the table and picked up the old book. It was a thick volume of tattered pages, with worn leather binding encasing it.
"Mythical Creatures: Ancient Edition," I read aloud the dulled words on the cover of the ancient-looking tome.
Curiously, I flipped through the pages of the book. I looked more at the pictures rather than reading the crumbling text, which allowed me to get through the book very quickly.
Wow...I wonder if those things still exist...
"What are you waiting for?" Gajeel asked, his tone clearly annoyed. "Take the book and leave already."
"Don't tell me what to do," I growled at him.
I left the guild's library after that with the book tucked under my arm, and went back into the infirmary where the others were waiting for me.
"So, how are they?" Carla asked when she noticed I had returned.
"They're fine," I answered, heading over to the bed that Lucy was in and sitting back down.
"What's that book you're holding, Natsu?" the female exceed inquired, taking note of the battered item under my arm.
"Levy asked me to bring this to the infirmary so she didn't accidentally lose it."
"Can I see it?"
"Sure," I stood up, the bed creaking as my weight was removed and handed it to the her. I then returned to my seat on the brink of Lucy's bedside. "A lot of the text is too faded to read, though," I explained.
"It must be a really old book then," Lisanna commented. "I wonder how old it is..."
"It's probably older than Master Makarov," Happy guessed.
Carla looked through the pages with care, inspecting all of the pictures in the book closely. While she did so, I struck up friendly conversation with Lisanna.
"Excuse me, Lisanna," Carla interrupted us. The takeover mage turned her head to look at the feline.
"Hm? What is it Carla?"
"What did the Lucy in your dream look like again?" Carla asked.
"The sleeping one or the awake one?"
"The awake one," Carla answered. "And be as descriptive as possible."
"Well, its left eye was a dark turquoise and was glowing slightly, and it had razor-like teeth that looked like they belonged more to a shark rather than a human. Parts of its body were completely black, too. Like Gray's demon slayer markings," she described.
"And what were these parts of her body?" Carla asked, a hint of uneasiness tinting her voice.
"Her left leg, her right hand, the upper right half of her face making her right eye into a small greenish blue dot rather than an actual eye, and the right half of her belly," Lisanna answered. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because your description matches the picture in this book," Carla told her as she spun the book around.
We all stared at the slightly tarnished picture. It depicted a person sleeping in a bed, with an identical copy of said person perched at the head of the bed. But the perched person had sharp teeth, parts of their body were completely black and if the picture wasn't in black and white then I'm sure the eyes would be green-blue.
"So it's a monster that's keeping everyone asleep?" Lisanna asked. "How do we defeat it?"
"I don't know," Carla answered with a sigh, turning the book back around to herself. "The words on this page are even more faded than any of the others."
"What's it called, then?" Happy asked, hopping onto the bed and peering at it with her.
"I don't know that either," Carla repeated. "The name is just as worn-out as the rest of the writing."
"So what are we supposed to do if we can't read the book?" I asked, somewhat exasperated.
"Lisanna, I want you to go and give this book back to Levy," Carla said, handing it over to the short-haired girl. "If anyone can figure out what the writing says, it's her."
"Got it," Lisanna replied with a nod. She then left the infirmary to go give the book to Levy. My eyes followed her retreating figure, only turning back around when I heard my name.
"Natsu, I want you to take Happy and go find some help," Carla told me, and I frowned at her.
"Why?" I asked. If I was gonna do anything, it would be to stay here and look after Lucy.
"If we end up having to fight that thing then we're going to need the help," the exceed answered. "It's an ancient creature after all, so it's most likely going to be really strong."
"Okay," I agreed reluctantly to go looking for help. "Who do you want me to look for?"
"I want you to find Erza and Gray," Carla told me. "If you find anyone else that could help us then bring them here, too."
"But popsicle pants isn't going to believe me when I tell him about what's going on!" I protested instantly.
"Then get Erza first," the cat sighed. "If Gray won't listen to you, then he'll without a doubt listen to her."
"She's right, Natsu!" Happy agreed with her. "Gray will definitely listen to Erza! She's a scary lady!"
"I know...anyways, come on Happy," I responded. "Let's get going."
"Aye, sir!"
Happy and I left the guild after that and went to go look for the scarlet-haired mage.
Levy POV
Pantherlily and I were looking through all of the books in the guild's library for any answers as to what was happening, while Gajeel was sitting on the floor.
"You know, you could help," I spoke up finally.
"I am helping," he responded.
"You're helping by sitting there and doing nothing?" I asked.
"No, I'm helping by making sure that neither of you fall asleep and don't wake up."
"Pantherlily's already doing that," I told him. "So either get up and help us look through the books or don't do anything."
"I'll go with the latter."
That caused me to groan in annoyance.
Why is he so lazy...
A few seconds later, there was a knock on the door.
"You don't have to knock," Pantherlily called to the person on the other side of the door. "Just come in."
I heard the door open and close as they entered into the room.
"Hi guys," the voice belonged to Lisanna.
"Hello, Lisanna," Pantherlily greeted her. "Is there something you need?"
"No, but we found something in the book Levy gave to Natsu."
"Really? What is it?" I asked as Pantherlily and I came out to take a look at what they had found.
"Check it out," she replied. Lisanna opened the book and skimmed through the pages until she found the one that she was looking for. She then proceeded to hand it to me.
"What's so important about this picture?" Pantherlily asked, flying up to get a look at the page.
"The creature in the picture fits the description of the Lucy I saw in my dream," the Strauss girl answered. "Sharp teeth, some of the body being completely black, and if the picture was in color then I'm sure it would have turquoise eyes, too."
"So that means this page could have the answers that we're looking for!" I said excitedly, before frowning as I looked further at the page. "We just have to figure out a way to read what's written in here."
"How are you gonna do that?" Gajeel asked from his spot on the floor. "That book is probably older than the old man."
"Maybe if we use a magnifying glass?" Pantherlily suggested.
"It wouldn't hurt to try," I said hopefully, heading over to the table where I had put the book down earlier.
Lisanna left the room and I picked up the magnifying glass that was lying on the table. I was about to use it to try and read the faded writing in the book, when I glanced up at the mirror. Catching sight of my reflection, I frowned. My eyes had faint shadows under them, and I looked like I hadn't slept in a while.
Geez, I look tired. I thought, my hand drifting up to lightly graze my cheek. I haven't been awake long enough for me to be tired, though...what's going on?
"What's the matter, Levy?" Pantherlily's concerned voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Huh?" I asked, blinking as I tried to register his words.
"You were staring at yourself in the mirror," the exceed pointed out. "Are you alright?"
"Oh yeah, I'm fine," I reassured him. "I just got lost in my thoughts for a second there."
"If you say so," he sounded a bit skeptical, but seemed to believe me for the moment.
I began to use the magnifying glass to read the crumbling text on the page.
"Is it working?" Gajeel asked.
"It's hard to tell what a lot of the words are, but it's kind of working," I answered, still peering at the text.
I slowly made my way through the entire page, learning a lot about the creature mentioned, but once I got to the end of the page and finished the final sentence, I couldn't stop myself from gasping.
"What's the matter, shorty?" Gajeel asked. "What's it say?"
I found myself unable to respond, shock grasping me like a vice-tight clamp.
"Levy? What does it say?" Gajeel asked again, finally getting up off the floor.
"I-it says..." I tried to speak, but my voice shuddered to a stop.
"It says what?" Pantherlily persisted.
"It says...that the creature doesn't allow th-the body to feel like its slept s-so that way, the victim will sleep more a-and more," I answered him shakily.
"What's so shocking about that?"
"After a while of being in a deep sleep, the victim dies," I explained. "If we don't do something, then Wendy, Lucy and Mirajane are all going to die."
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