Education was the most important thing to Lucy's parents, from a very young age. Even when her mother died of natural causes, that was never put in question. Jude Heartfilia vetted every school, contacting alumni and confiding in close business friends before finally relenting to her godmother's demands to enrol her at a posh boarding school in Magnolia. Out of sight. Out of mind.
Lucy's fathers biggest mistake was probably going to be sending her to this school.
She's positive that if someone were to knock on their manors door at this very moment and inform him of everything she's learnt at school in these past 3 years, she would immediately be withdrawn and locked back in her room. Possibly never to see the outside world again until she was finally released into the slimy clutches of whomever the richest suitor deemed her good enough to be his pretty little wife. She shivers at the thought of what her father would truly do if he knew what her school actually stood for.
The very thought of the possibility gives her hives. It was nearly impossible but she couldn't control her sudden spike in panic. Placing a hand over her chest, she takes a calming breath to ground herself. It's a damn good thing he's never going to find out. The school's too good to allow a civilian to know of the operations that run here.
Before Lucy can get stuck in her head anymore, she becomes alert when her chauffeur suddenly begins speaking to her. "We have arrived at the outer premises, Lady Lucy."
Heart still beating overtime, she looks up to see familiar cinder block walls and iron gates weaving like vines. A grin breaks out at the sight. "Thank you, Capricorn."
They drive to the open passage, only to be stopped by security. The usual song and dance of checking the vehicle and passenger commences and takes the usual 4 and a half minutes. Swift and painless, they are allowed to enter the ground being warned that checkout is expected in 10 minutes.
Lucy is used to this, but still feels the need to huff at the ridiculousness of it all. "What do they think you're here to do? You drop me off every year since I started."
A breath hinting at a lugh exhales from Capricorn, and he makes eye contact with her through the rearview mirror. "I do not mind, Lucy. Anything that gives you an extra ounce of protection is always better in my personal opinion." She opens her mouth to complain but is cut off, "Besides, for an all female school, I do believe that this is necessary." And he lowly says, "And there are a lot of dangerous people in this world."
If only she could tell him how miniscule this piece of protection is. Lucy wants to tell Capricorn that this is all a hoax, a show for the parents dropping off their children. But she knows she can't, so Lucy keeps her mouth shut.
Minutes fly by on the paved dirt road and before she knows it, they've finally reached the entrance. A line of cars ahead of them show girls milling out of luxury cars and rushing up the steps. Capricorn parks the car and she turns to make eye contact with him through the rearview mirror and is met with the usual image of solid black sunglasses. Smiling politely at him, she opens the car door and huffs as she twists to pull her carry on to the edge of the car.
Capricorn turns to face her. "Do you need assistance with your bags?"
Lucy feels her fragile heart thump once again in anxiety and her hands move to grip her bag. God she needs to get out of this car before she spills something out of pure anxiety. She waves her hands frantically in front of her. "Aha! It's okay. My other bags are already in my dorm so I only have this smaller one." Seeing him contemplating ignoring her answer, amping up the acting and rolls her eyes. "Honestly, I will be fine! Do you think I can't carry this small bag for 5 minutes?"
Despite her sound reasoning, he tries once more, "It would simply be more efficient-" only to sigh at being cut off by a loud thunk hitting the ground. Lucy can't help but smile with the victory. Why lift something heavy when one can just shove?
"Thank you so much Capricorn!" She says as she slowly gets out of the car. Her black mary janes crunch on the gravel, and she grips the handle of her now dusty bag. "See ya! Tell everyone that I'll miss them and that I'll see them when school's done!"
She shuts the door before Capricorn can respond and can feel the reluctance oozing from the car as it slugglishy pulls away. Lucy frantically waves her arm until she sees the car disappear from sight, and instantly slumps over her bag as a sigh of relief escapes her. Capricorn would have definitely asked questions if he felt how heavy her bag was.
Finally free of prying eyes, she can turn to face the building lording over her. She stands in the shadow of its grandeur; 6 stories in height and English classical architecture. She takes a moment to soak it all in, to acknowledge the school that has taught her more about herself than she ever knew. She sees the engraved name plaque on the side of the building as she walks through the door.
Mavis' Board House for Exceptional Young Ladies. Established X686.
The moment Lucy walks through the door, lugging her heavy bag with her she is suddenly assaulted with an arm full of girl and blue hair and orange bandana.
Lucy knows only one person that could be and grips her back whilst laughing loudly. "Levy McGarden! What a surprise!"
Pushing herself back, Lucy can finally see Levy in all her 5'2 glory. With her gentle hazel eyes, short demeanour and love of books, people typically assumed that she was the weakesy of their group.
They were terribly, horribly, horrifically wrong.
For someone who would never want to hurt a fly, Lucy knew from personal experience never to mess with her for fear of embarrassing photos making the rounds of the class's group chat.
That was a consequence that Cana had to learn the hard way. At least they know what happened to their school flag…
Lucy shudders.
"You would not believe the summer that I've had Lu! I never imagined learning what the national space defence plantation would use computer science to further certain research and the amount of-"
Lucy clapped a hand to her friend's mouth, and laughed. "Levy, I'm so glad you had fun, but you do realise it's only you that would understand any of the information you plan on giving me, don't you?"
Despite being cut off, Levy giggled at her friend, "Well, duh Lu. That's the reason they hired me."
"And how are your parents?"
Levy brushed off her question with a shrug. "Oh you know how they are. One gets a grant and we follow whatever lab has assigned it to. I spent most of my time at the plantation so it wasn't too bad. My folks were more than happy to let me do whatever I wanted since my scholarship got renewed until we graduate."
"It did? Oh my gosh that's so exciting Levy!" Lucy can't help but pull her friend into another hug to celebrate the news. For years Levy had been pushing to be the best at their school, to earn her place and Lucy knew that this took such a massive burden off her friend.
Laughing in Lucy's embrace, she manages to free herself to continue speaking. "I know! I wanted to tell you earlier but, well, with your dad and all…"
The mood instantly soured at the mention of him. Lucy's Dad had decided to cut off all contact with her friends from school the past summer break to force her to focus on establishing relationships with the children of his business associates. Which had been pure torture as Lucy had to deal with all those pretentious snobs. The only things Lucy learnt was how to politely dismiss conversation and laugh enough not to seem fake. Lucy decided to focus on the positive outcome of the terrible situation and was pleased that she got to practice some manoeuvres before the school year started up.
A practised smile landed on Lucy's face as she tried to move the conversation along. They begin walking past the check in area and as Lucy looks around she can't help but feel decor is missing from the hallways, "Have you heard anything about this year's dorm situation yet?"
"Well we're obviously still dorming together, and we still have our old room, thank Mavis." Their old room had been the jackpot for both of the bookworms when they first arrived on Campus. A rare room with an ensuite shared with their neighbours as well as a gorgeous window ledge seat and a busted window that could open fully to allow fresh air to come into their room. It was a safe haven for the both of them.
They rounded the corner of the residential wing's staircase."And - oh! You're never going to believe it!" The glasses on her face couldn't hide her excitement as she said "The west wing's staircase has been blocked off - you can't get past level 4!" The glint in her eyes could only mean trouble for Future Lucy.
"What?" Lucy says, stopping mid step and moves over to the end of the bannister to look up. And indeed, there is almost a whole block of wood covering the top of the staircase. Turning back to Levy, Lucy see's her friend practically vibrating in excitement. "Do you know anything about it?"
"No!" Levy exclaims happily and Lucy begins to fear her involvement in one of her crazy schemes. Lucy and Levy continue up the stairs. "But both of us will shortly - I assure you." At this, she pushes her glasses further up her nose. "I already have a plan."
Of course Levy McGarden already had a plan. Typical. Finally getting to the third floor, Lucy can see up close the wall of timber covering. Time to back track carefully before Levy becomes obsessed with this new mystery, "I'm sure it's for something stupid…Like renovations or maintenence or-"
Levy stops her mid sentence, eyes going wide as she loudly begins to speak."- Oh my Mavis! Is that-?"
Lucy turns her head to see what had caused Levy to suddenly drop their conversation and can't help but drop her jaw at the scene. Before them they see Juvia out of her dorm room, which was not an unusual sight in the slightest, if it weren't for the fact that Juvia had clearly not dyed her hair her usual brown colour. Before them, Juvia's locks of hair were as blue as a clear ocean. While blue hair wasn't unusual to Lucy, the fact that Juvia 'daughter-of-the-most-influential-politician-of-the-year' Lockster had decided to keep her natural hair shocked her.
Juvia had apparently heard Levy's exclamation and beamed at them as she rushed down the hallway beaming at them as she ran. Juvia jumps up in front of them, announcing loudly, "Juvia didn't dye her hair!"
"Wow" Lucy says, stunned.
"We certainly can see that. Definitely wow." Levy said to her friend, accepting the hug she got from her. Once greeting hugs are over, Juvia begins to tell them about her time with her adoptive parents.
A small frown was one her face as she began. "Juvia was forced to go to all these high society functions as Dad was campaigning, and the other children around we're ignoring Juvia, saying Juvia was too weird and depressing to be around." Fiddling with her thumbs, she continues. "So during the last week of holidays, Juvia decided that she wanted to be herself! And not disguising Juvia's hair made her feel better."
With Juvia's resolute expression on her face, she dares them to say anything bad about it, but both Lucy and Levy share a proud look. Lucy can't control her smile at her friend, "Well I'm just happy that you're happy. Blue really suits you!" Everyone whipped their heads around to look at her, and Lucy's eyes went wide. Realising how her words could be taken, Lucy frantically tries to explain with hands waving wildly, "Not in a bad way- not because you're sad but because you look good in blue! I mean-"
Juvia laughing at her cuts her off, "Juvia knows Lucy. Juvia's friends at school are nothing like the civilians."
Once they finished their greeting with Juvia, Lucy parts ways to go locate her new quarters telling her friends she'll see them at the commencement assembly. She walks slowly down the long hallway with her carry on lagging behind, admiring the passing doors decorated to excess. Signs hang on the outside of every door, names written in differing hands and pictures as far as the eye can see. Finally, she finds a blank door at the end of the hall.
Standing before the door makes this all real once more. Every break when she goes back to Heartfilia Manor makes it feel like everything she's learnt here is just a dream but seeing the familiar room grounds Lucy. Walking inside, she sees two bare beds in each corner of the large room, a bookshelf to either side and desks along the wall. Dressers stand tall next to the door and she sees from the boxes of books in front of her that Levy has claimed the right side of the room. To the right of the room there's a door that leads to an ensuite and in the centre of their room sits a large window with a cushioned ledge, large enough to fit two teenage girls comfortably.
"It's good to be back." Lucy murmurs to the room. Checking her phone, the time lets her know there's about 30 minutes until the commencement assembly. That gives her enough time to check everything made it through the journey okay. From the safety of her room, Lucy cautiously peaks out of the hallway to be greeted by silence. She hastily ducks back inside and bends to lift her bag to the bed. There's a lock on it, and she clicks the numbers into place. Practises and nimble fingers gently nudge the code to 5829.
Unzipping it reveals dozens of old books, clearly worn and loved but that's not what she's after. Her fingers gently brush against the lining of the case and run smoothly until she feels a snag in the fabric. After double checking the room, she pulls on the cool material and reveals 3 golden keys. Each one is uniquely designed, with different handles and different key locks. What unites them is that each of them has a star sign engraved into the handles. Lucy thumbs them over carefully. Capricorn, Cancer and Aquarius.
"What were you doing with these Mother?" she whispers to no one, "and why didn't you tell anyone you had them?"
"Lucy? What on earth are you still doing back here? You're going to be late for the assembly."
Lucy lets out a yelp, shoving her keys into her skirt waistband before spinning to see Erza's figure by the door. Erza Scarlet was a powerhouse of a teenager, with an aura that could intimidate even the strongest of foes. Even with her standing in a pleated skirt and dress top did nothing to soften her fierce personality.
"Erza!" Lucy cries, placing a completely non-suspicious smile on her face. She moves towards her to try and keep her from coming into her room any further but fails miserably. Giving up, she goes for a distraction. Speaking cheerily, "It's so good to see you! How was your summer?"
Erza merely cocks her eyebrow at her, clearly unimpressed, "I didn't leave the ground except for missions but you know that." She walks into the room, "While it is good to see you and I have missed our friendship dearly, what are you doing here?" She asks again, peering over Lucy's shoulder.
She fights the urge to smack her head. Erza is one of the many wards of the state who are under guardianship of the school - literally everyone knows that. Kicking into recovery mode, Lucy sputters, "Oops, silly me! Well you know how it is with Levy and books." she says, gesturing to the case of books on her bed, "I just wanted to set these up on my shelf before she had the chance to take over both our shelves again."
When Erza just nods silently, she figures that she's accepted the excuse. Finishing with a laugh, Lucy silently pats herself on the back for such a good cover. It doesn't hurt that the bookshelf thing actually did happen last year.
It is said that the best lies are the ones with truth sprinkled throughout them.
Now out of the ballpark, Lucy figures it safe to turn the questions away from her. "Why are you here then Erza?" Lucy asks. It's not like Erza to ever be late to a school event either.
Erza's eye twitches at the sudden reverse of the spotlight but answers nonetheless. "I was sent by Mavis to help settle a new student."
Well that's odd, Lucy thought. Why would Mavis send an older student to help a new student? Usually any new students need to be brought to a particular check in point that their parents could see them off at and then a trusted member of staff would supervise them until it was deemed safe.
Seeing Lucy's confusion, she lets out a sigh and starts explaining. "The school has had an orphaned girl in their care for a number of years now. Now that she's of age she can start her schooling here and I have been tasked to help her settle."
"Who's the new student?" Lucy asks.
"Wendy Marvell - she's setting up her stuff in her room. She's just across the hall from you." At this Erza turns a very serious eye to her, "And I expect you and Levy to be very helpful with her. This is going to be a big change after all."
Lucy hums in agreement. Her face looks thoughtful before asking quietly, "Does that mean that she hasn't been told what the school… specialises in?"
"She will learn the same way we did - so no, no one has mentioned it to her yet." She straightens her posture and looks at her watch before continuing. "Now we really do need to get a move on. Missing this assembly would be a terrible way for Wendy to start her education here."
Lucy can't help but nod. First years tend to take a while to adapt and all information is crucial here. Seeing this as confirmation, Erza leaves the hall of her room and enters the one across. Finally safe from prying eyes again, Lucy grabs a small pouch to attach to her belt and places her keys inside them before covering it with a soft zip hoodie.
She looks around her room before nodding and reaches for the door. The dread of being late finally kicks in and she quickly exits her room only to almost fall to the ground after running straight into something.
"I'm so sorry!" Something squeaks. Wait, Lucy stops, head reeling. Objects don't- Oh!
"Oh my gosh, no! I'm sorry!" Lucy says hastily, looking slightly down to see a short girl with dark blue hair in pigtails looking up at her, near tears. Putting on her friendliest face, she blurts out "You must be Wendy! Erza just told me about you."
Wendy seems to deflate like a balloon with the sigh she releases. She takes a deep breath before continuing to speak, smiling up at her while offering her hand, "Nice to meet you! I hope we can be friends!"
Lucy takes her hand and smiles at her, "If friends are what you're after, you've come to the right place," She sees Erza come out of Wendy's new room and gives Lucy a fond smile, "We're all pretty close here after all."
"Like sisters." Erza states. "But now is not the time for such talk - we have 10 minutes to get across the entire school."
With Erza at the front, by the time the group gets to the entrance to the dining hall, Lucy feels like she's damaged her lungs by the way she's gasping for breath. Wendy wasn't faring much better, hands on her knees as she tried to steady herself. The only one of their group unaffected was Erza, who was already moving ahead to open the large double doors.
She nods with a satisfied gleam in her eyes, "We arrived just in time - the speech hasn't started yet."
With that, Erza marches into the room. Lucy takes a step towards Erza but stops when she sees that Wendy hasn't moved from where she was. Lucy speaks as she turns. "Wendy, we need to get to our table-"
But when she saw Wendy, words left her. Wendy is stock still, with eyes as wide as saucers looking into the busy hall, amazed with the room. Lucy softens at the sight. She remembers her first assembly like it was yesterday.
Deciding to let the young girl have a moment to absorb it all, Lucy leans against the door to give her some privacy. The dining hall was pretty average compared to the rest of the school, especially after having most of her meals in it for the past 3 years, but she can understand the overwhelming nature. The hall's almost ancient style of architecture made the feeling of grandeur overwhelming at first look. Two long tables run the room, with a buffet-like section tucked in the corner. Girls of all ages are spread across each table and from the front Lucy can see Erza greeting Levy and Juvia.
Looking past them, she can see empty seats at the staff table at the very end of the room. When the lights start to dim in the hall, she knows that it's about to start. She calls out, "Wendy! We've got to go!"
"Coming!" She chimes, and the two of them enter the hall. Levy spots them and waves them over. Levy doesn't wait for the two to sit down before she starts talking excitedly. "Hi! You must be the new student Erza was sent to help! I suppose I should introduce myself - I'm Levy; a third year!"
Wendy beams. "It's nice to meet you!"
Clearly thinking the conversation is over, Wendy turns to greet Juvia but Levy stops her before she can. "Is it true that you came from foster care? I heard that you're the ward of Porlyusica."
Sliding into her seat next to Levy, Lucy scolds her friend before sending an apologetic look to Wendy, "I'm sorry about her - she always wants to know everything." glaring at her friend she continues, "She doesn't mean anything by it. Don't answer if you don't want to."
"Oh it's fine! I'm happy to answer." Wendy says, "I am being fostered by Miss Porlyusica - she's the reason I got into this school! Her job as a nurse made it hard for her to care for me, so it's good that I can stay here now!" She looks down before continuing, "My mum went missing a couple of years ago, so Miss Porlyusica took me in as a favour to her."
"Juvia understands,"Juvia gently pats her back, "Juvia was adopted - so you're not alone."
Wendy seems to brighten at Juvia's words and they begin discussing something. Lucy opens her mouth, joining the conversation before Levy waves her hand in front of Lucy's face.
Levy leans over to whisper to Lucy. "What's the bet that the staff cuts have something to do with the closed floor?"
"Why would they need to close a floor because we have less teachers?" Lucy challenges. At this, Levy shrugs looking thoughtful.
Juvia cuts in, declaring with a dreamy look on her face, "Maybe we're finally going to enrol boys in the school." Both Lucy and Levy laugh, causing Juvia to pout at them, "Juvia's serious!" she pouts.
Even Erza lets out a quiet chuckle. "Why would you think that? Why would we have boys at an all female academy?"
Juvia has a serious look on her face now, speaking with a resolute face, "We never hear about our brother school anymore - not even about their mission results. Isn't that suspicious?"
The table goes quiet, thinking about it. Lucy looks in her memories, but can't remember when the last time the other school was mentioned. Normally they'd hear about them at least once a fortnight to hear of different mission results.
"What are mission results?" Wendy asked hesitantly.
The mood at the table immediately becomes tense and all eyes shift around the room uncomfortably, but before anyone else can try and cover their mistake, a loud voice echoes over the room.
The voice immediately sets Lucy on edge. "Students to your seats! The welcoming address will commence shortly."
chills running up her spine at the commanding voice. Hoping that she heard wrong, she looks to see where the voice came from, locating her near the staff table. At the right of the middle chair now sits the Vice Principal of the academy. Aquarius. Her gaze flows around the room to challenge anyone to disagree before landing on Lucy. Eyes narrowing, she huffs and looks away and Lucy feels her eyebrow twitch in irritation.
Her godmother has always been a character, ever since she was a child. Always somewhat irritated at her, like seeing her around school put her in a rotten mood. Which in turn makes Lucy want to strangle the woman. She's the one who got her enrolled at the school, for Mavis' sake!
Lucy is about to stand up just to spite her, but Levy's firm grip latches on first. "Lucy, not now!" She hisses. Aquarius' smug expression at the exchange does nothing to cool her temper, but she sits stiffly. Everyone in the dining hall is now silent, the staff shuffling towards their seats quickly, however once they all sit Lucy realises that there is only half of the usual teachers present. Weird.
Just as Lucy is about to complain to Levy, her friend shoves a painfully boney elbow into her side, pointing her to look to the front.
In the middle of the table now sits Mavis, who had managed to slip into her chair without a single student noticing. Hair long and free sits past her shoulders and her usual get up of a light white dress swallows her as she sits in the comically large chair in the middle of the staff table. Wendy gasped in shock and pointed her out to Erza. She murmured calming words to their newest addition to the group, assuring her she somehow always manages to surprise students with her arrival.
"There's a running conspiracy going around the school that Mavis is a ghost." Juvia whispers to her, making the table snicker. Possibly the most ridiculous class rumour that had ever gone around the school, Lucy thought.
Talking around the hall turns to hushed whispers as students take notice of their tiny principal. It takes about a minute for the girls to calm down enough for Mavis to start speaking.
Mavis clears her throat before she begins. "We have the pleasure of welcoming in a new year together, as a family." She says, voice soft yet carries warmth over the whole room looking over all her students, "We here at this school hone our minds and bodies to keep peace and maintain the safety of our home." In the crowd of students confused mumbles can be heard under the loud cheers of the older students. Mavis chuckles and continues, "Most of you know what you are capable of, what this school has taught you to understand and practise in a safe environment." More giggles broke out and clearly Aquarius had had enough.
"Quiet brats!" She barked out.
A devious look breaks out on Mavis' face, and she stands from her seat as she spreads her hands out, "This is a school for Spies." She announces with bright green eyes gleaming, "Where women have and will be taught to use each other as our greatest support and how to support themselves in the best possible way. Never to be a damsel and never to let the suffering of others go overlooked."
Wendy's mouth was hanging open and Lucy couldn't hold back her laugh, causing all their friends around them to giggle too. Wendy goes red while the others laugh, sluttering as she tried to form a sentence.
Before the new students begin to bombard others with questions, Mavis continues with a firm but gentle voice. "First years, do not be frightened of this school." She says, "for you can choose whatever you wish to specalise in. We do not limit you - what you want to focus on is completely up to you; whether it be stealth and reconnaissance, combat and evasion or technology and support. You will learn the basics of everything, of course, so don't worry about knowing what you want quite yet."
Lucy smiles at the memory of her first assembly, the shine of amazement in Wendys eyes taking her back to a time where she had first been brought into the amazing school. She owed the school so much; her freedom, her education and most importantly something she doesn't think she could live without.
Her friends.
The usual address continued, about rules and expectations, all mostly for the younger years, Lucy came back into the present after the usual welcoming address, her attention snapped back when she noticed Mavid had finished what she would have normally said.
"This year there will be changes. As some of you may have noticed when settling, the fourth floor of the residential wing will now be off limits for all ladies of this college. The classrooms that were once there will be moved."
"I will not be giving a reason for this just yet, as some specifications are still being finalised. Should any of you go up there without explicit permission from either myself or Vice Principal Aquarius, there will be consequences."
Lucy had a bad feeling about that, and when she looked over to Levy and saw a manic gleam in her eye she felt even worse about it.
"Please let this just be a normal year." She murmured to herself.
