"Good morning, Levy!" Jet and Droy chimed in unison as Levy skipped into the guild.
"Hey guys," she smiled back, "Want to go on a mission today?"
"Sure!"
It had been a few weeks since the day she'd bandaged Gajeel up in his house. The days had passed by in a blur with the parade and Laxus getting kicked out of the guild. It all almost seemed unreal. She hadn't seen much of the Iron Mage during the last few days. It seemed he was always out on missions and so he was never at the guild when she was.
"I saw one that was perfect, earlier today," she smiled at her two teammates, "It had to do with deciphering some cave runes,"
"I know what you're talking about," Jet piped, fiddling with his hair as they approached the board, "I think there's another one in the same area. Maybe we can grab them both?"
They scanned the board, grabbing the Cave Rune Flier and heading towards Mirajane.
"Actually, I'm pretty sure the other one was taken this morning," she murmured, writing their names and job down on her clipboard, "Maybe if you run into who took it and help them out, you could split the job?"
"Darn, if only we'd been earlier," Droy sighed as they walked towards the doors.
"At least we got the one," Levy smiled at the two, immediately getting their spirits back up, "And at least this way we'll be home before the day's over,"
"You're always so optimistic, Levy!" the two gushed.
A few short hours later they were in a small village called Shadowsage. Levy immediately fell in love with the almost gothic appearance of the place. Even the cottages had brilliant architecture and she was sure the place had a rich history. She made a mental note to visit the local library before they left.
The job didn't seem of a difficult sort and their employer immediately pointed them towards some slopes looming in the distance just south of the small town. It seemed there were many caves on the cliffs and several of them had once been home to an ancient people that had inhabited the area several hundred years ago. Their religion and culture was something of a mystery, and the aristocrat had recently become interested in the whole phenomenon. Whoever could decipher the glyphs in three marked caves, received a substantial reward… of approximately 4 million jewels.
"Wow, Levy, you seem pretty excited about this job," Droy smiled as she led the way up the sloping pathway towards the caves.
"It's an ancient culture no one knows anything about! How could I not be excited?" she hummed.
"Don't you think it's strange, though?" Jet sighed, looking into the surrounding forest, "That no one has even tried to investigate this place before? What if there are booby traps or something?"
"I doubt there will be booby traps after such a long time," Levy mused, "Most of them have probably been set off by now… well, whatever happens, I'm sure you guys will be able to help me out, right?"
"Of course, Levy!" the two chimed, immediately forgetting their previous worries.
After hiking for another hour, they came across the gaping entrance of one of the caves, mark with a red flag at the mouth. Using Levy's Solid Script to light the way, they made their way into the cave, quickly finding several tunnels branching out in different directions.
Levy quickly picked a spot and started making notes. Symbols covered the walls along with depictions of creatures and beings from the past. Her curiosity was peaked and she began eating through the words at a fast pace. Three hours, four tops, and she'd have the alphabet figured out. Before the sun set on the horizon she'd have the tunnels translated and they'd be ready to collect their reward.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Jet and Droy's shuffling.
"Levy?"
"Mmh?" she muttered, trying to find her place from the intrusion.
"Is there anything you need us to do?" Jet sighed, already bored with waiting.
"Not really…" she sighed, keeping the agitation out of her voice, "Why don't you two go look around? Maybe you can find something out while I'm translating,"
"Ok!" the two sounded, relief at having something to do evident in their tone.
"Those two…" she murmured, setting her mind back to the task at hand.
She wasn't sure how long she'd been there when she finally finished, but she was sure it hadn't been more than two hours. She smiled happily down at the pages in her hands. She turned her head towards the depths of the cavern, watching the shadows expectantly for Jet and Droy to appear.
"Where have those two gotten off to?" she sighed, standing up and brushing dust off her skirt. Calling forth some more light, she walked deeper into the earth. Cool and damp caused gooseflesh to rise on her skin and she started to get an eerie feeling as she continued.
"Jet! Droy!" she called, listening to her voice echo off of the dank walls, "C'mon! We have to get going if we want to get done today!"
No response.
She strained her ears to catch any noises, but found none besides the hushed trickle of water against the stone. She sighed, continuing despite the uneasy feeling she was starting to get that made her heart start to crawl up to her throat. Her mind started to think about their conversation earlier about traps, which she quickly brushed from her thoughts. There was no way something like that could still be-
Her foot caught on something and she heard something spring loose from its perch. Her foot was pulled out from under her and she hit her head against the stone floor, causing the light of her spell to evaporate before she was hoisted into the air as a rock smashed against the ground. When she halted, her head was throbbing and adrenaline mixed with fear had her stomach in turns. A faint ringing in her ears made her nose curl as she winced, bringing her hands up to feel the spot where he head had hit the ground. She hissed as her fingers brushed past a sticky patch of hair and she could feel the hot liquid starting to seep over her scalp to drip to the ground.
"Solid Script, Light!" she voiced weakly, but her mind was too fuzzy to conjure the magic needed to finish the spell and she whimpered as darkness descended far too quickly around her once more.
