sorry for the delay on this chapter guys, got really busy with work and lets just say that i got distracted with something else (cough cough...destiny...cough). anyways hope you all enjoy this latest chapter.
One year, Lucy couldn't help but think of the entire year that she had spent in Underworld as she approached the citadel of Greed. If she was being entirely honest with herself she had been having such fun exploring this strange new world and becoming stronger than she would have ever thought possible that she had almost forgotten the real reason that she was here. Almost.
Abaddon had explained to her in their travels that so long as she did not have a beating heart the scar upon her stomach would forever remain, and that her body would be unable to grow again until that day. They had tried multiple times to find strong demons and replace her stopped heart but each time the demons heart would simply burst before Abaddon could place it within her. After trying a few more times Abaddon simply said that a normal demons heart would simply not be enough for Lucy's level of magic. As such the only choice they apparently had was to take the heart of a dragon, something that most dragons would not be very willing to give up.
It had not been all bad however, over the past year she had managed to obtain two more pacts; the pact with the Mistress of Envy, and a pact with the Lord of Gluttony. The Lord of Gluttony, Gutha, had simply had Lucy eat a massive feast in order to obtain his pact. Gutha was a massive man who looked like a stereotypical head merchant. The man looked like someone had pumped a man full of air because Gutha was as round as inflated ball. Lucy would have been disgusted by his appearance when she first met him if it weren't for the fact that she was so curious how his body was able to move around with so much weight.
Surprisingly, the demon of Gluttony had actually been a decent person. During the entirety of their feast he would crack jokes and slap Lucy merrily upon her back when she would make a joke of her own. and when they had all finished the meal he had merely reached over and tapped her pink mark, granting her the pact of Gluttony. From then on she was able to fully command all of his demons, which were pretty much giant mouths with legs attached that could devour anything, even magic, but were not capable of growing stronger from their food like dragon slayers were capable of.
From there they went to see the Mistress of Envy, a demon going by the name Invia, who was quite the strange looking demon. She looked like a complete shadow that had no real defined shape or looks besides eyes that were entirely white. The moment that someone approached however her shadowy form would take the appearance of said person, only with her voice still coming out from their mouth. This of course led to a moment where a fake Frederick was standing before Lucy and spoke with the voice of a young lady, causing Lucy to lose it and fall to the floor in laughter, much to the dismay of the old warrior.
Invia's challenge had been quite difficult. She had shown Lucy a vision and had told her that she would pass her challenge if she could keep herself under control. At first her vision was of nothing but darkness, but then slowly a city started to form around her. A city that she was quite familiar with. The familiar view of Magnolia surrounded Lucy causing nostalgia to almost overwhelm her but she kept it under wraps. Lucy had sworn to obtain each Pact and she would be damned if she lost one just because she was feeling home sick.
Slowly the vision changed till she was standing just outside of her home, the Fairy Tail guild hall. Lucy subconsciously brought her hand up to her chest and clenched it so tight that it started to hurt. Here she was, at the place that had led to some of her greatest joy and some of her most miserable moments. More than anything she just wanted to walk through those giant wooden doors and shout out that she was home. But deep down she knew that she may never get that chance again.
It was at that moment that a group of people opened those front doors and walked out into the sunlight, a group of people that caused Lucy's breath to literally stop. There, standing before her was Team Natsu exactly as she remembered them. Erza was there with her massive wagon of luggage behind her, a faint smile upon her lips as she watched the others. Gray, already missing his shirt, was staring off into space with a contemplative look on his face. Wendy was there as well smiling as she talked to Happy and Carla who were hovering just over her head.
And walking forward in the middle of the group was a Natsu with his trademarked grin and Lisanna who was giggling at something Natsu had said.
In a second Lucy's mind completely halted. Here she was, fighting against demons and doing everything that she could to return back to Earthland and confront Natsu about what he had done and he had simply moved on? He just replaced her with Lisanna? Was that all that she was to him?
Lucy could feel her fury flood into her mind and for a second she contemplated strolling forward and sending the lot of them to an early grave but just before she lost control she remembered what Invia had told her, what her test really was. After Lucy took a deep breath and closed her eyes she forced herself to think of her new family. She thought of Alva and the young girl's innocent smile, she thought of Frederick and his constant politeness. She even thought about Abaddon's constant infuriating attitude.
When she opened her eyes she was no longer standing in front of her guild hall but was once again faced with the Mistress of Envy. Invia had commented that she had been quite impressed that Lucy had managed to keep her emotions in check and wasted no time in granting her the Pact of Envy, giving her control of yet another type of demons. Invia too had hosted a feast in honor after all was said and done and Lucy found it surprisingly easy to get along with the Mistress of Envy. So long as one could get over her envious stares whenever you did something she was a surprisingly nice person. And since Lucy had long ago adapted to the envious stares of Juvia she had no trouble dealing with Invia
She had discovered from conversations with Abaddon that Envy demons behaved in a similar fashion to Gemini, each demon was able to copy a single spell from their opponent to the point where apparently Invia would be able to copy everything about a person just from the mention of their name, something Lucy was no doubt going to find very useful in the future.
Not all their travels had led their group to just the Lords of Hell. Occasionally Abaddon or Frederick would speak up about a particularly powerful demon that lived in the area, informing Lucy that it would be in her best interest to force them to serve her as well. So far she had found quite a few of what Alva had declared would be called "Arch demons" including one who had the nickname of the King of the Sea, Leviathan. As well as a powerful demon of wrath that went by the name of Azrael.
All of this had led Lucy and her friends to the city of Greed, a city formed of massive towers of what appeared to be pure gold. The city shined brightly in the mid morning sun to the point that Lucy had to squint her eyes to see where she was going. All in all it was a city that Lucy couldn't help but dislike, its seeing obsession with wealth reminding her too much of her father.
Her dislike of the domain of greed only continued to grow as she was introduced to the Lord of Greed; Avirta. Lucy took one look at him on his golden throne and his form, which appeared human but was adorned with golden robes, and couldn't help but think about how quickly she wanted to get this trial done with.
"Welcome to my humble abode, Lord Abaddon and company." The demon said in a voice that was full of mockery. "Now I trust you have a reason for appearing before me, would you care to explain yourself?" the man said as he continued to ignore Lucy."
"Milady and I have appeared before you in order to obtain your pact." Abaddon said with a slight frown upon his face.
It was at this point that the demon finally turned to look down at Lucy, eyeing her up and down until Lucy wanted to shake in disgust. "I see… so this is the one who has been going around and gather our power then?" he said with a tinge of disappointment in his voice.
"Indeed I am, I am known as Lucy and it is a…"pleasure" to meet you." Lucy said as she forced herself to smile as the demon looked at her like she was a piece of meat. But at the very least it was something she had gotten used to over the years at her father's parties.
"Hahh…I guess that I need to come up with a trial for you." The demon said with a with a sigh as he placed his hand to his head in apparent thought, but Lucy could tell by the half smile on his lips that he had already decided on what she would be forced to do. "Ah! I know! I have the perfect thing for you. You see, I have a personal library that has fallen into disorder over the past hundred years and even with a librarian I hired recently it still is in shambles. Within said library is a book that contains the origins of celestial magic along with the three grand celestial spells. I have always been curious about. I would have you retrieve that book and bring it back."
Lucy stared up at the man in confusion; she had expected something along the line of battle or at the very least something challenging but to find a book? There had to be more to this than he was letting on.
"What do you think? This way I get to satisfy my curiosity of your magic while you get to become even stronger. We both benefit." He said with a stereotypical evil grin on his face.
Lucy frowned for a second but in the end her response had been decided before she had even stepped into the demons chambers. "Of course, Lord Avirta, I would be happy to retrieve said book for you." She said with a curtsey and immediately turned around and moved to walk away. She stopped however when she saw that Abaddon had yet to move. "Is something wrong Abaddon?" she questioned tentatively, to which the demon simply smiled at her.
"It is nothing Milady, but I would ask that you and the others retire early for the day, you have quite the task in front of you and you could use every advantage you can get." Abaddon said with a casual wave of his hand.
Lucy found his actions odd, as she had never seen him put on quite so serious of a face, but in the end followed his instructions and left with the others for the hotel rooms they had rented before. When the group had finally shuffled out of the audience chamber Abaddon once again turned to look at Avirta, this time his features were colored by barely contained rage.
"What exactly do you think you're doing, Avirta?" Abaddon spat out as he stared daggers at his fellow Lord.
"Why whatever do you mea-." Avirta started but Abaddon would have none of it.
"You and I both know that she alone has no chance of ever tracking down that book in your collection, you have set her on the path of failure." Abaddon said as he turned to walk away. "But know this; if you ever truly put Milady in danger just to satisfy your own greed I will not hesitate to destroy you. She is far too important to Underworld to fail here." And with that he strolled away.
Avirta sat alone in the room for a moment before smirking to himself. "Say what you want Abaddon, but I refuse to be bound to such a child. I will never allow her to obtain my power."
The next day Lucy and her team had gathered outside of a seemingly unimportant building that stood just within the confines of the Palace of Greed. Lucy had been informed by the staff at the palace that this was the site of Avirta's book collection. While the building was most certainly big, it wasn't so large that the task before her would be considered impossible.
"Milady." Abaddon said with a stern tone. "You have the supplies I prepared for you correct? Since this is your task the rest of us will have to remain outside." Abaddon explained as he stole a quick glance up at the library.
"Ill be fine Abaddon, it's only a book." Lucy waved off his concern as she bent down to give Alva a hug and nodding to Frederick. "I see you guys latter!" she shouted as she ran to the door, waving over her shoulder as she went inside.
It was only after her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting did Lucy become fully aware of what Abaddon had been so cautious of. Before her was something that Lucy could only describe as a world of books spreading out before her. Lucy was standing on a ledge that was overlooking a massive cylinder shaped chamber that both extended far into the sky and deep into the earth that was absolutely covered in books. There were very few lights that illuminated the inside gave the place an almost nighttime feel and the air within was incredibly dry, likely to keep the books in good condition. Lucy looked back to the door she had just come from and found the door the same as she had seen on the other side, meaning she hadn't just been suck into yet another new world.
"What in the hell happened?" Lucy mumbled to herself as she continued to look around. "There's no way all of this fit into that tiny building that I just walked into." Lucy continued to look around in hopes that this was all some elaborate illusion but as time continued to march on and nothing changed she was forced to admit that this was indeed the Library of Avirta. "Well then, I guess I better get to work then." She said with a shrug as she turned to the nearest shelf and started to look at their titles."
Lucy wanted to scream in frustration but surrounded by so many books she felt like it would be just wrong to disturb the peace. It had been close to three days since she had entered into this damn library and while she had seen plenty of interesting books in that time she had yet to find anything relating to Celestial magic. She had started to eat through the food reserves that Abaddon had prepared for her and was so desperate for another voice that she had caught herself talking out loud a few too many times.
It was only after she found her third book about the mating habits of wild envy demons did she finally sigh in frustration. "God this is frustrating, how exactly does anyone find anything in a place like this." She asked to no one in particular.
"I understand completely, not even I wanted to organize those books." A voice sounded off from behind her.
This time Lucy did scream as she jumped up and turned around to face her attacker, or that's what she intended to do but instead she had been so startled she tripped over her own feet and landed face first into a pile of books that had been sitting nearby.
Lucy was mumbling a few curses as she tried to untangle herself from the pile of books when a hand showed up in the side of her vision.
"You all right there?" a clearly masculine voice asked in a bored tone.
Lucy looked up to find a boy about her age staring down at her with a amused expression. He was short compared to most boys she new, only slightly taller than Lucy's own height, and was so pale that he could give Gray a run for his money. His hair was a light blue that was so pale it almost looked to be white instead and was so long that if it weren't for his deep voice Lucy would have assumed he was a woman instead. His eyes on the other hand were an almost ocean blue and the glasses he wore on his face seemed to draw even more attention to his eyes.
"Ya, I guess so, just surprised to hear another voice in here." Lucy explained sheepishly as she grabbed his hand and let him pull her back onto her feet.
"That I can understand, I myself was quite surprised to see you looking over the books when I came up behind you." The young man explained as he pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose. "But nonetheless I must ask what you are doing in here. Are you not aware that this is the private collection of the Lord of Greed?" the young man asked as he glared slightly at Lucy.
"Of course I know, that's exactly why I'm here. I was given a trial to find a specific book." Lucy explained getting somewhat annoyed at the man's half glare. "Anyway what exactly are you doing here?" Lucy questioned as she pointed a finger at his chest.
"Isn't it natural for a librarian to be in a library?" the man questioned as if he was talking to a child.
Lucy blinked in surprise as she recalled Avirta mentioning something about a librarian; she just hadn't expected to actually meet anyone there." Ah…right…now that you mention it I do remember him mentoring you." Lucy explained as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Well then I might as well introduce myself; my names Lucy and I'm here to earn the Pact of Greed. I'm also a celestial mage and it's nice to meet you." Lucy explained as she held out a hand and smiled slightly.
The young man's eyes widened at her introduction and his mouth fell slightly open. "Y-you're a pact holder as well as a celestial mage?!" he asked in a voice filled with wonder, to which Lucy only nodded in response having fully expected this reaction.
What she hadn't expected was for the young man to grab her hands tightly and stare at her in wonder. "We need to talk…right now." He declared and pulled her towards a nearby ledge before she could even cry out in surprise.
"Hey hang on a sec-." Lucy tried to make him stop but he wasn't paying attention. Instead he pulled her off the edge. But at the moment that one would expect gravity to start its pull Lucy instead felt herself accelerate straight into the sky. Lucy looked around in wonder and saw the endless rows of bookshelves speed past as the two of them flew up towards the top of the library. As the wind buffeted her Lucy couldn't help it when a large grin covered her face. She had always enjoyed flying when Happy had been willing to carry her and had sorely missed the feeling of freedom it gave her.
After a few minutes of exhilarating weightlessness the two of them finally arrived at the very top of the massive chamber. There Lucy found what she could only describe as a home built entirely out of books. Lucy cast a curious gaze at the young man who had essentially kidnapped her but he seemed entirely unfazed by the strange abode before them so Lucy decided to just let it pass.
The young man walked through the front door without even inviting her in so Lucy simply decided to follow after him and let herself in as well. Inside she was not even the least bit surprised to find the inside of the house also covered in books, but these were in massive piles the covered the floor rather than being used as architecture. What did surprise her was that there was actually furniture made out of wood dotting the house.
The young man sat at a table and turned to look at Lucy expectantly. "Well, go ahead and start."
Lucy stared at him for a full minute before jumping through the air and placing a "Lucy Kick" straight into his stomach and sending him flying backwards into a pile of books. "First off I have no idea what exactly you mean and secondly you never even introduced yourself before kidnapping me. Even for the company I keep that's a little much."
The man extracted himself from the pile of books with ease and looked at Lucy with a face of realization. "Ah of course, how idiotic of me. My name is Roland and I serve as both the organizer and head librarian for this place." The young man named Roland said as he gave a polite bow. "And as far as what I want from you that is quite simple really, I want you to tell me everything about yourself."
Lucy raised an eyebrow at that. "Everything?" she confirmed and received a simple nod in response. "It's going to take a little bit of time." Lucy explained but Roland simply waved off her concerns. "Well ok then." Lucy said as she took a seat at the table Roland had been sitting at mere moments ago. "Settle in because this might take awhile."
Lucy spoke for what seemed like hours about anything and everything that came to mind while Roland watched and listened like a child listening to a bedtime story. Lucy went over everything she could think of, from her days in the mansion to her days at Fairy Tail. Roland had been particularly interested in Lucy's magic explanation. Lucy had no problem showing him her keys when he had asked and Roland looked at each like a child looked at a new toy.
It was at that moment that Roland decided to show off his own magic, which he introduced as tome magic. While his description had of course been overly long and complex from what Lucy could understand so long as he was able to understand the magical formula of a spell and how exactly it was used he would be able to transcribe it into a book that he kept on his person at all times. It was using this magic that Roland had reversed the flow of gravity on the two and brought them to the top of the building.
"so as long as you can identify and dissect a magic you are able to use it yourself? That seems pretty useful." Lucy commented as he finished explaining.
"Not quite; magic such as yours, which summons beings through the use of a contract is impossible for me to use, as I myself do not have such a contract. I am also unable to recreate most holder type magics without the items that enable the magic." Roland refuted. "But Lucy there is one thing that I am confused about. How exactly did you manage to get to Underworld? The Bifrost, the pathway from this world to all others, was damaged beyond repair almost three hundred years ago. How exactly did you manage to come from this Earthland of yours?"
Lucy's smiled faltered for a second when her mind inevitably returned back to that faithful day. "That would be Abaddon coming to save my life. He was the first to offer a pact to me and I guess he brought me here to save my life."
Roland frowned at that and placed his hand on his chin. "Lord Abaddon? But he was the one who…did he decide to forgive him…?" Roland mumbled to himself seeming to have forgotten about Lucy's presence.
"u-umm…hello?" Lucy asked as she waved a hand in front of Roland's face, startling him and forcing his gaze back upon her.
"Ah I apologize; I was simply not expecting it to have been Lord Abaddon who would come to your rescue." Roland explained. "While I cannot really aid you in your search for this book I can offer you a place to sleep and food to eat." Roland then stood and made his way over to a cupboard in the corner of the room. "Well then would you like something to eat?"
"Sure, living off of just rations has been infuriating." Lucy said with a smile.
It had been almost a month since Lucy had entered the Library and she was finally starting to enjoy her time here. She had been taking more of her time with each section. While Roland so far had been standing by his word of not interfering with the trial he had given her pointers on how to search more effectively. Roland had also suggested that she spend some time simply lightly reading some of the books that interested her, as continuously searching would do nothing but stress her out.
Lucy was currently lightly reading a book that dealt with theories on something it called "The One Magic", something that sounded so familiar to Lucy but she couldn't quite place it. Lucy, growing bored with the book, placed it back among its brethren and felt a slight surge of magic approaching from above her, signaling the fact that Roland was quickly approaching.
Lucy smiled at the thought of getting to spend more time with the inquisitive young man. She had learned over the past weeks that he had an almost insatiable desire for knowledge and it was that desire that brought him here to work as the librarian and brought him almost daily to watch as Lucy worked and occasionally asking her questions about her original world. Lucy had originally been somewhat annoyed at his occasional interruptions but over time she had grown to enjoy the human contact, something that books could never replicate.
"Good evening Lucy; have you had any more luck finding your book?" Roland asked as he landed with the grace of a cat and looked at her with an analytical gaze.
"Evening? I was under the impression it was still early afternoon." Lucy whined as she looked over more book titles with a casual interest. "Ah well, guess I might as well take a nap latter then. But enough about that; was there a particular subject you wanted to talk about today?" Lucy asked, trying to keep her voice neutral despite being quite happy about getting to spend more time with someone her own age.
"Actually there was, I was not sure that you would want to talk about it though." Roland said with a slight frown upon his face.
Lucy stopped what she was doing and stared at the man in surprise. The entire time she had known him Lucy had only seen him express curiosity and a hint of happiness. "Well we'll never know unless you ask so you might as well." Lucy said and placed her hands on her hips.
Roland was quite for what felt like an eternity before he finally asked a question that caused Lucy's blood to freeze. "Lucy…why exactly are you seeking out the powers of the demon lords? From your descriptions of your life someone who shines as brightly as you should have no need to walk into the darkness voluntarily. So why?"
The silence that Lucy had once found comforting now felt so oppressive that she almost wanted to fall to her knees under its weight. But she could not allow herself to do so; to fall here would make everything she had accomplished to that point meaningless. With a trembling voice Lucy slowly explained why Abaddon had come to save her, what had happened to her on that rainy day. Roland's eyes widened noticeably when she came to the part when Natsu stabbed her in the back but he did not interrupt once during her story.
When Lucy finished the silence became even more oppressive to the point that Lucy had started to shake slightly and she could feel the same strange sensation of cold water in her mind that she felt the moment she made a pact. Strangely enough though even after talking about the most painful moment in her life she hadn't fully broken down yet, only the feeling of tears in the corners of her eyes and the trembling that continued to wrack her body.
"I see…while I haven't had anyone in my life betray me like that I can understand your feelings on the matter." Roland finally said as he walked forward and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "But Lucy, there is one thing I want you to think about. From your stories this Fairy Tail place is your true home right?"
Lucy couldn't bring herself to answer with words and could only nod her head in afrimation.
"So if you really do think that what will you do after, after you've had your vengeance were will you go that can make you feel at home?"
Lucy sharply sucked in a breath at Roland's question. Now that she thought about it in the past year she had never once thought about what she was going to do after confronting Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail. Sure they had talked about getting her a new heart but in the end that was just a method to live on, not a reason to live.
In the end, Lucy couldn't say anything to Roland's question and the silence continued for a moment more before Roland finally sighed and stepped back. "You know Lucy, I remember reading in a book once about how tomes written by famous and powerful mages always carries a hint of the magic of the one who wrote them." Roland said matter-of-factly and so out of the blue that Lucy could only whip her head up to stare at him in confusion, to which Roland simply ignored. "if this book you're looking for contains the most powerful spells of Celestial magic then I can only imagine how strong the mage who wrote the book was." For a moment neither of them moved, with Roland looking at Lucy expectantly and Lucy simply blinking back at him in confusion. "Well anyway, I have to go organize another history section today so I'm afraid we'll have to put a stop to our conversation here. Until next time Lucy." and with that Roland once again flew into the air and disappeared into the gloom of the ceiling.
Lucy stared at the spot Roland had been standing her eyes as wide as saucers and her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. What the hell was he talking about in the end there? She thought to herself with all thoughts about his question fading from her mind with the exception of his strange statement.
Turning back to the bookshelf before her Lucy couldn't help but muse over what he had said at the end. It was only after about ten minutes or so of thinking it over did she finally realize what his seemingly random information meant to her.
After making a very unladylike choking noise and turning around to look out over the abyss with a wide smile on her face. "I can use my magic to find it!" she shouted to no one in particular but she was so happy she didn't even care.
Lucy smile brightened even more as she dropped to the ground and folded her legs underneath her. She closed her eyes and began to release a torrent of magical energy. For a few minutes Lucy felt no reaction as her magical energy continued to fill up the library. But just when she started to feel like maybe it wouldn't work she could see a tiny pinpoint of light behind her eyes.
Jumping up with a giddy laugh, Lucy quickly lashed Fleuve d'étoiles around a nearby bookshelf and quickly ran forward and jumped off the ledge falling down into the depths where she felt the faint spark of celestial magic. After a few moments of weightlessness Lucy decreased her speed until she was just slowly repelling down the side of the wall.
Not much latter she finally reached the bottom of the library, which turned out to be an absolutely massive pile of books. It was here that she could still faintly feel the spark of celestial magic. Lucy couldn't help but feel impatient as she started tossing books aside in her attempt to dig out the source of the magic.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she picked up a plainly bound and titles book that appeared no different than any of the others. But Lucy could faintly feel a presence so similar to her own magic emanating from the book, giving her an almost nostalgic feeling. Slowly she opened the book to find a note written in a sloppy handwriting just behind the front cover.
"To whoever finds this tome. Within I have recorded all the knowledge I was granted by the king of the stars. I do not know who you are nor what you have sought this knowledge for but I know that if you have found this book you're love for the stars must rival my own. I pray that you use this power for the benefit of our friends who live in a time far removed from our own. May the stars forever guide you." Lucy tried to read the name of the person who left this tome but unfortunately the name had faded too much to be read.
Lucy held the book close to her chest and felt tears come to her eyes, though she couldn't think of any reason for them. There was just something about this book that made her homesick.
"Is that it then?" the voice of Roland sounded off somewhere over her head. Lucy looked up and smiled at the man who was hovering just over her head and nodded.
"Yep, I'm now only one step away from finally returning home. I don't think I would have ever found it without your words so thank you, thank you so much."
"You're very welcome, but if you want to repay me I do have something in mind. Allow me to accompany you on your journey, no matter where it shall lead." Roland asked as he landed just in front of her. "I can tell that fate has more in store for you than either of us could possibly know and I wish to see what secrets will be revealed once your fate becomes known."
Lucy smiled and held out her hand. "Of course, it would be my honor to have you come with Me." and the two shook their hands with smiles plastered on both faces. "Now if you would be so kind would you mind getting us out of here? I don't want to think about how many stairs there are between here and the exit."
Roland nodded once and held his hands out, to which Lucy instantly jumped into and the second she did the two of them shot up into the air. As the wind rushed past her face and whipped her hair around her head she couldn't help but smile widely. Just you wait Earthland, only one last pact and I'm coming back for you and I won't stop until I get what I deserve.