Chapter Twelve - Levy, Part Three

"What do you mean you can't take the reward?" the mayor shouted.

"I mean, we can't take it," I said. "We didn't accept the mission; hell, we didn't even know that there was a mission to take out your bandit problem."

"But you took care of all of them!" the mayor said, aghast. "Literally, and the Rune Knights had trouble hacking them out of those weird vines."

I smirked, and I could hear Cana and Juvia giggling behind us.

"Look, I'm sorry, but we can't accept the reward," I told him.

"I need to give you something," the mayor said.

"If you have any gate keys, we'll take those," Laxus piped up.

"Laxus!" I shouted at him.

He shrugged. "What? I know you're looking for them, and I also know you won't turn them down."

I glared at him, but said nothing.

"There actually is something. It's a town treasure, but it is a Celestial Gate Key, and we're not quite sure what to do with it," the mayor said. "But I would like to give it to you. That is the type of keys you're speaking of, yes?"

Seriously, are there any other types of gate keys? I thought.

"Yes," I said.

The man opened up his desk and withdrew a box. Slowly, he handed it to me.

I opened it, and gasped.

"Ophiuchus," I breathed.

"You know what this is?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Then take it. Please."

"Yeah, Elle, take it!" Laxus said.

I glared at him, before sighing. "Fine. Thank you for this token, it will be treasured forever, and I promise this spirit will be treated like a friend, and not a tool."

The mayor relaxed. "That's more than I could even ask for. Thank you, Fairy Tail."

We nodded and left the building, Cana and Juvia cheering.

I sighed as we walked, shaking my head at their antics.

"Onee-sama?" Juvia asked. "Why do you want gate keys?"

"A friend of mine is a Celestial Wizard," I told her. "She's going to join Fairy Tail someday, too, but for now, she's busy practicing and training. Her mother is a Celestial Wizard, too, so she's been tutoring her."

We walked toward the hospital, to say goodbye to Levy, when I spotted her.

"Levy?" I asked her. "Shouldn't you be visiting your Grandma?"

She burst into tears and ran forward, hugging me. Sobbing, she got out, "Gran-Grandma pass-ss-ssed away las-st nigh-ght."

I hugged her back. "I'm sorry, Levy." Cana and Juvia joined our hug, and I glared at Laxus until he sighed and joined us.

I continued to glare at him. He's eleven. How is he already a fucking tsundere? He doesn't even have a rep to protect, or anything!

Is this because he's surrounded by girls? He needs to act more manly to counteract us, or something stupid like that?

Actually, for all I know, that thought might actually be running through his mind.

I will never understand boys.

"Co-Could I j-join Fairy Tai-il?" she sobbed out.

I let go of the hug and got down on my knees, so I was level with her. I was only four years older, but Levy was tiny. "Listen Levy, Fairy Tail is a wizard's guild. You can join, but you'd have to be a mage. And you'd have to train with us. While your shelter, food, water, and other basic needs will be taken care of, it's still hard work being a mage, and then afterwards, when you start going on missions, you need to pay for yourself. Do you think you can do that?"

She nodded, wiping away her tears. "Yeah! And I'll take a bunch of jobs stopping bandits so this doesn't happen to anyone else."

I smiled and hugged her. "That's the spirit. Come on, let's go to your house. We'll pack up all your stuff, and then sell anything you don't want, so you have extra Jewel."

"Really?" she asked.

I nodded. "In fact, why don't you guys go help her pack up. I'm gonna talk to the mayor real quickly."

They nodded and followed Levy, who walked to her house. I turned and ran back to the mayor's office and knocked on the door.

He answered, "Yes?" He looked at me in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Levy McGarden's grandmother has passed," I told him. "She wants to join Fairy Tail, and become a mage. I was hoping that you could get in contact with Fairy Tail when someone wants to buy or rent her house, we're putting it on the market."

He nodded. "I can easily do that. I'll do it for free, too, for what you did to this town, and for what the poor girl has suffered. I also suggest you put their magical shop up for sale, and check it for any interesting magical items you want. You can take the rest back to your guild."

I smiled at him and bowed. "Thank you very much, sir."

He laughed. "Thank you, little lady. This bandit problem has plagued us for generations."

I smiled at him. "If you ever get bandit problems again, just put in a call to Fairy Tail. Even if our team in specific doesn't come to stop them, I'll make sure to send someone to take on the job!"

He laughed and waved me off as I ran in the direction of Levy's house.

Following directions, I discovered that their house was quite close to their shop, and knocked on the door. Juvia let me in, leading me to Levy's room as Laxus ranted about her books.

"Seriously, why do you have so much, are you trying to drown in books?" he yelled.

Cana and Juvia giggled while Levy crossed her arms. "I'm not leaving any of them behind!"

"We can't carry all of these to Magnolia!" he shouted.

I laughed out loud. "Don't worry, Levy, I have plenty of extra room in my requip space, so I ought to be able to hold it."

I looked around her room, and gestured for them to put most of her extra stuff on her bed. After wrapping her mattress and things tight in a blanket, and putting tape across the front of her book shelves so the books don't fall out, I requipped them into my storage space, which was now the size of a large room. That being said, even with all of Levy's stuff, I still had over two-thirds of the room left.

I turned to Levy. "Levy, the mayor is going to put the house up for sale or rent, and contact Fairy Tail when we get an offer. You alright with that?"

She nodded. "We can leave the furniture here, right?"

I nodded. "Is there anything else you want?"

She shook her head.

"Alright, I need you to hold onto all of your house keys, I'll drop them off at the mayor's before we get on the train. Other than that, we also need to stop at the magic shop. We're putting that up, too, and the mayor said we could go through the shop and take what we want."

"Yay!" Juvia yelled, jumping up and down. "Treasure!"

"Treasure?" Levy asked, as we left the house and locked it behind us.

"Elle tends to find treasure," Cana explained.

Laxus sighed. "Everything from jewelry to magical items, so the fact that we get to find some ourselves makes them happy."

"It makes you happy, too, you damn tsundere," I muttered under my breath.

We entered the shop, and I turned to them. "Guys, we're going to take everything that's here. Anything we (and the guild) don't want, we can sell to another magic shop. So clear everything off the shelves, and put them in bags over there." I pointed at the checkout counter, which held bags. "I'll put as much as I can in my requip space, but we'll probably have to carry some. We'll leave the shelves. Try to keep them organized by magical item."

The girls couldn't help 'ooh'ing and 'ahh'ing over the different magical items as they packed them. I couldn't help laughing as I went over to the gate keys, looking through them. I didn't recognize any of them (at least not immediately) so I could assume Lucy didn't have them. I requipped them into my special space for keys.

Walking around the room, I packed up a bunch of the bags, while Cana held aside a bag with a sample of each main product. "No, I want to play with this stuff on the train," she said.

I laughed. "Alright."

Levy was looking at the magical books, and I pulled them down from the shelf and requipped all except one. "I promise you get first pick of all the books, Levy. Any you don't want, the guild library can have, and if you want them all, then so be it. This was your parents shop; you deserve to take what you want."

Her eyes got tears in them, and she hugged me. "Thank you Elle-chan."

"Hey, don't cry," I told her, wiping away her tears. "We're a family now. And this book," I held up the last book on the shelf, "is for you."

She took it from me and looked at the cover. "An Instruction in Solid Script," she read. "What's that?"

"That," I said, "is what I believe your magic will be. I think it fits you perfectly."

"She's right," Laxus said. "We've got a solid script mage at the guild. He's a bit old, and will probably retire soon, but until then I'm sure he'll help train you."

She smiled, teary eyed again, and she held her book to her chest. "Thank you," she whispered.

I smiled, and looked at the shop, which was cleared out. "Alright guys, let's lock up. You guys go to the station and I'll give the keys to the mayor."

They nodded and we split ways as I locked the door behind us.

I jogged over to the Mayor's house and handed him the keys. As I left the house, I measured the amount of magical power I had, and realized that I'd be able to teleport just fine now, which was good. I had been worried about how much energy I had left after using my Earth Magic, and then requipping so much.

I teleported to the station and appeared right next to the rest of the group.

"Ahhhhh!" Cana yelled, before calming down. "Ah, I forgot you could do that," she admitted.

Juvia giggled.

"You can teleport, too?" Levy asked.

I smiled at her. "Mmmhmmm. Now, Laxus, did you get the tickets?"

"Kinda," he said.

"What do you mean, 'kinda'?" I asked.

"I mean that I have no Jewel on me so I can't pay for them, but I managed to get the ticket guy to put them aside."

I nodded and walked up to the ticket guy, asking about the five tickets and gesturing back at the rest of the group. Quickly handing them over, I paid the Jewel, and we got on the train.

I turned to Levy. "Levy, on the way there, we're going to try to unlock your magic. Once you find it, you should be able to meditate easily enough."

She nodded.

"Alright, first, breathe," I told her. "Control your breathing. Magic is everywhere. It's in the air, it's in the water, it's in our bodies. Just breathing it in circulates the magic. It is quite literally flowing through your veins. You should feel a bit empty inside, and that's your magical container. Once you activate your magic, that will start to fill, and meditating expands it. Can you feel the magic?"

She shook her head. Her eyes were squinted shut.

"Alright, well, Laxus, Juvia, and Cana are going to start meditating," I told her, before giving them a meaningful glance. They got into positions.

"I want you to concentrate on the air; the way it smells, tastes, and feels. Breathe it in, breathe it out. Do you feel their magic building? Do you feel it resonating? All you have to do it get on the right frequency."

The train started moving, but Levy didn't notice. She breathed in, and out, in, and out, and she slowly began to glow a blue color, the same as her hair.

"Congratulations, Levy," I told her softly. "Keep ahold of what you are doing, and open your eyes."

She opened her eyes and gasped, looking at her body. "Wow," she breathed.

I smiled. "I know the feeling. Concentrate on that, try to manipulate the energy. That is what magic is."

We spent the rest of the time meditating.