Updated with minor edits and changes - 2/15/2019

-vVv-

Lucy felt she was settling in pretty well. She had a little trouble finding an apartment, but luckily her new guild mates were more than happy to help. She found a place that was close to the hall, cheap, and more than satisfactory! She was just lucky she had enough savings to put down the deposit and make the payment for the first month. I'm gonna have to starting working soon. 70,000 jewel a month is a steal, but there's the guild dues to be payed, as well as my groceries and wardrobe... She could already see her carefully hoarded savings dwindle in her mind's eyes.

"Hey Fae, let's have a story!" The Dance Mage called. What's his name again...Vijeeter? I think? "I'm dying to know what the deal is with that Skyloft place!"

"Yeah! You haven't even told us why all the people are living on those dinky little islands!"

Stories...? Lucy recalled a new article on Fairy Tail's latest activity in Sorcerer Weekly. A storytelling hour, with illusionary complements and audio. They were the biggest thing in Magnolia and people were coming by all the time to try and get seats.

Figures Fae's the one who tells them. It's probably the guild's way of helping her practice her magic without straining her or putting her in danger.

The girl gave a crooked half smile as she paused in her writing. It seemed to be really normal for her to be writing. The table that was her bunker for when the guild got crazy was known to the entire guild as 'Fae's Table'. It was usually covered with books, papers and writing materials.

"I think I haven't gotten the scale across properly." She said teasingly. "We're talking a significant portion of the human race. There's a lot more land than just the few islands that the story takes place on."

"So get on with it!" This yell was backed by about 2 dozen different voices of encouragement.

"No can do." Fae replied, shutting the celebration down cold. "I'll resume tonight when everyone is back from their jobs." Nothing that was said could sway the resolute girl in this matter so people reluctantly let it go.

"Fae's storytelling is that popular?" Lucy wondered aloud.

"It's not just her storytelling." The Solid Script Mage, Levy interjected with a big smile. "Fae makes all of her stories up! Even if you've heard the fairy tales she bases them off of, you're in for a surprise at almost every turn! They're pretty much originals!"

"All original stories!?" Lucy gasped. And she's willing to just tell them?! The thought of letting someone else read her stories made Lucy cringe a little inside.

"You betcha!" Levy said with a wink. "Fae reads like lightning, and once she's read it, it takes a lot for her to forget it. I'm just amazed we haven't all gotten sucked in by her black hole of a brain."

"Wow..." Lucy looked around again, listening as several people enthusiastically recounted their favorite parts of Fae's previously shared narratives. "Hard to imagine a bunch of grown up, experienced wizards acting like toddlers at story time..."

"That's Fairy Tail for ya!" Jet said with a grin. Droy came in right behind him.

"You'll see why everyone's so eager tonight. You've never seen or heard anything like what Fae can do!"

-vVv-

Later that evening, the guild hall was crammed to maximum capacity, with dozens of townspeople and other visitors seeming to have filled the whole place to the roof.

"Come on Lucy!" Happy fluttered nearby with a big, somewhat vacant grin that was his signature as he towed Lucy through the crowd. "We want to be right up front when she starts!"

"Is it always such a big production?" The blonde asked as she picked her way carefully.

"Aye! This is the biggest crowd we've had in a while since Fae says that this story's gonna take a long time and those are the best kinds!"

The stage was Fae's table, which had been moved to the front of the hall. The girl's greenish hair fell in messy tousled strands around her face as her gleaming blue eyes passed over the crowd. She wasn't beaming with the attention, but she wasn't shying away from it either. She sat on the edge of her table, looking out through the crowd. Several people had moved forward to talk to her, behaving rather as if they were addressing a celebrity.

"Oi, Happy, Lucy!" Natsu waved from one table near the front that was loaded with food. "Bout time you guys showed up!"

"Natsu?!" Lucy was stunned. "You're here too?" I wouldn't have pegged him to be the type for listening to a little girl talk...

"You betcha!" Natsu said with a grin that showed off his impressive incisors. "I'll never miss out on one of Fae's stories if I can help it!"

"She might not look it right now, but Fae doesn't actually like being the center of attention." Happy explained, settling on the table and grabbing a fish. "She used to get all embarrassed and flustered whenever she noticed someone listening to her telling Romeo a story."

So Natsu's here to support Fae and cheer her on in case she gets nervous. The thought made Lucy smile as the pink haired wizard waved cheerfully at Fae who returned the gesture with a bright smile that seemed to light up the room. That's actually kinda sweet and thoughtful of him. Who'd have thought Natsu had it in him?

Many other wizards settled at the table Natsu had commandeered. Gray, Mirajane who was letting the other waitress handle the food and drinks so she could listen to Fae, Elfman, Levy, Jet and Droy. Even Makarov was sitting cross legged on the table, funny hat and all. This one looked like a pair of cat ears. It seemed to have some significance to them since Fae was clearly fighting to restrain laughter when she saw it.

But finally, everyone was seated and the chatter was dying into whispers.

Fae lifted a hand and tapped her lips, her amber magic circle appearing. Lucy was close enough to hear her whisper:

"Sonorus mediocus." Fae cleared her throat, and her voice suddenly resonated throughout the hall, amplified by her magic. "Can you all hear me?" There came a chorus of assent and cheers in answer.

Fae took a deep breath, closing her eyes...

"Then...let's begin." Lucy went still as a quiet filled the air. Not the stillness of anticipation, but the blank promise of an empty canvas. "As you know, in the beginning, there was nothing until the Three Goddess of Creation descended. Spreading her great arms, Din, the Goddess of Power, created the red earth and all things within it." There was darkness, then there came a flash of red. Then bare, naked ground lay in the emptiness. Mountains reached to the dark sky, void of any life. It was majestic and powerful...but empty. Lucy's breath caught as Fae's childish voice changed, becoming ethereal and distant. Not at all sounding like a girl before reaching puberty.

"After came her sister, Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom. And she gifted the world Din had begun with her wisdom, giving it law and order." A blue flash darted across the image. There was a blue sky filled with clouds overhead now. Wind rustled over the bare ground, kicking up small dust devils. But Naryu wasn't finished because in another blitz of soft light, water poured out of nowhere to form oceans and rivers, breaking up the bare earth and stone with the cool lapping of waves and the kiss of sea spray.

"Last came Farore, Goddess of Courage. And it was she who filled the world of her sister's making with life. They would wield the power of the earth Din had forged for them, and live by the laws Nayru had set." A wave of green light moved over the world, bringing in its wake plants and other life. Rolling plains, trees coating the mountain sides like emerald moss. Birds soared through the sky and horses charged across the plains, some of them bearing riders.

"Their task completed, the goddess saw that their world was whole and departed the realm, leaving a portion of their power in the hands of their handmaiden, Hylia." The three colored lights came together into one point and vanished. The image pulled back to reveal a white clad figure watching over the place where the Goddesses had departed.

"But you already know that story. This is about what happens next." The feeling of anticipation could have been cut with a knife. Lucy forced herself to keep breathing.

This is intense... She thought, exhaling and reaching for a cup of something to drink. Her mouth had been hanging open and was feeling quite dry. This is awesome!

"Chaos did not rest easy as portions of him were tamed by the life Farore created, fenced into pattern and order by Nayru's law, and kept from rampaging as it had before by the power Din had left in the bones of the world. The Three Golden Goddesses had encroached on its domain in their creation of the realm that was now under Hylia's watchful gaze. Furious with the insult, it spawned a creature to devour all that was orderly and good." Lucy couldn't quite see what now being shown, but it was big, red and black, and had a mouth that seemed big enough to swallow the world in one bite and had a lot of sharp teeth. She felt a shiver go up her spine as it's jaws gaped wide and she heard the faintest echo of a ravenous roar. An inhuman, deep sound fit to make the world shake apart at the seams.

"This hungry darkness burst free from the earth. And how it feasted... Scores fell to him, whole races of people were forced into the shadows, never to be seen as friends again. For everything that was consumed was changed and warped by chaos." There were unheard screams bursting through the images of chaos, confusion and darkness, marring the bright, beautiful world that had been made what seemed like only moments earlier. "Hylia was not ready to let the work of her kin and friends go to waste, or let the life she had watched over for so long be undone. So, gathering what was left of mankind together, Hylia lifted them up, far into the sky where they could not come to any harm, and cast a thick barrier of cloud between them and the surface world they had left behind.
In time, man would forget that they had ever lived on the surface, secure and well on their islands miles above the ground, guarded by spirit companions that Hylia had created for their safety. And there they stayed for who knows how long, their lives completely adjusted to living in the air.

One day though, a boy was born. And he was blessed, because he would be the first, after eons of time, to set foot on and explore the surface world.

His name was Link."

Lucy was riveted as she listened, leaning forward eagerly, because she could just tell: This was going to be fantastic!

-vVv-

So damn close!

I grumbled as the piece of paper I had been working on burst into flames. I flicked it off the table into a waiting bin, seeing as that Natsu wasn't there to eat it. He had gone off on a job with Lucy and Happy.

"I'm telling you Fae, you're stretching a little ways beyond what is reasonable." Nab told me, looking somewhat concerned. "You don't have Requip magic. Trying and make use of actual space before you go trying to make extradimensional stuff."

"I'm not trying to recreate Requip magic." I grumbled. "I'm just trying to find a way to cut back on space for my notebooks without leaving any behind." My biggest problem in progressing in my magic was trying to find some way to carry all the stories that gave my magic it's power and credibility without loading up a massive backpack. I wasn't Freed, I couldn't just whip out some runes wherever I place my gaze. I wasn't Levy, who could produce physical objects with her Solid Script. I had different magic and that equated to different needs and tools.

My first choice to handle the need would be Archive Magic, but I wasn't sure if it would be wise to put all that information, the heart of my magic, out into the general cloud. There were many other people who could use Archive. But their primary power didn't rely on the information they stored on it!

No, I wasn't going to touch on Archive magic, even though I probably could learn to use it right now. Not until I could create and sustain my personal cloud of data that didn't run the risk of being hacked.

Thus, the need for extra-dimensional space. If I could copy everything I wanted to be able to use by hand in notebooks, then all I had to do was find some way to carry it all around with me at once. It would be close enough to me so that I could pick and choose whatever I would want.

And because being able to employ hammer space would be freaking amazing. Space Magic? Badass. The possibilities were endless and entertaining. Just the thought of what I could do if I ever learned how to store kinetic energy was enough to make me giggle like a maniac! (I tried not to do that too often since it made people walk on eggshells around me for days afterward.)

I took another piece of paper and tried again. The last attempt had been describing an area in which space didn't exist, while still being usable and accessible.

Several smoldering ashes let me know that this angle clearly wasn't going to get me very far.

Alright. Back to square one. Think about what you want... I closed my eyes, clasped my hands before my face and began to hum, drowning out the sounds of the guild around me. Waitresses talking to guest, the clink of glasses and dishes, laughter, and chatter.

I want a place where I can store stories, the basis of my magic.

Why? I had dozens of stories in my head and it was already working out beautifully for my wizarding Latin knockoff spells.

That story has built in shortcuts. Words that I have already attached a very specific meaning to without needing to create something for them.

Were there similar stories that I could explore to the same effect?

As I dug through my mind, I found that, yes, there were several. But it would take a lot of meditation for some of them to gain any sort of magical effect for me. They were ordinary words that were the cues for magic spells, they didn't sound all that impressive. Or some of them didn't anyway. Spells like 'Esuna' worked because they didn't sound like things you would say in regular conversation.

I'm not gonna have to make names for my spells, am I? Or was there something to that beyond bragging points?

-vVv-

"Calling your spells as you cast them?" Makarov was sitting cross legged on the bar and eyed me, scratching his head beneath his hat. "Well, just naming the spell has a tremendous effect on a wizard's ability to cast it. It helps a wizard focus."

"But wouldn't that be-?" He interrupted my question and gave me a look. I was momentarily confused...then I got what he wanted and sighed.

"Create a black and red cat eared hat." The temporary construction settled onto my head in a warm snug weight and Makarov beamed at me.

"Continue Fae-chan!" Why the hell does it matter if I'm wearing a hat or not?!

"Wouldn't it be a liability in combat to have to say the name of your spell aloud? It seems as though it would give your opponent a pretty distinct advantage." The little old man happily patted my head.

"Against particularly adaptable opponents, perhaps. I imagine that if your power continues to grow at the rate that it is, hearing others name their spells would indeed give you a tremendous advantage against anyone that you end up facing. After all, you might be able to tap into the story behind their magic." That...isn't something I had ever considered. The possibilities were intriguing... Focus!

"That aside, why would someone do that?"

"In the heat of battle, Fae, who can say what goes through a person's mind? I'm sure you've already noticed that some of our own guild members have different habits when it comes to how they use magic and whether or not they speak in conjunction with it." I considered this then.

Erza hardly ever said anything beyond 'Requip' as far as I could tell. She only made a declaration of any kind when she was pulling out a set of armor or a weapon that she didn't use as often.

Conversely, Gray almost always said what he was going to do.

And stuck right in the middle was Natsu. Sometimes he shouted his spells' name, other times he was too-

"That's it?" I asked as I realized it. "It's just a matter of being centered in your magic?" The guild master smiled.

"Correctamundo, Fae-chan! A wizard who needs to exert a fine amount of control over their magic, or doing something that is less familiar to them, would need the extra focusing power that comes from hearing the name of their spell in their own ears. Gray and other elemental molding wizards like him find tremendous benefit in stating what they desire. On the other hand, wizards whose magic relies less on that kind of focused power, Gildarts for example, have much less need of it."

I contemplated this for a bit.

That meant that I could probably mix and match just about anything that I saw my guildmates do since I had their own stories to draw on for strength. It wouldn't be as strong, and it would probably cost me more magic power, but it would be extremely versatile.

So, going by that route...my issue would be holding enough magic power to be a viable part of a pitched battle.

You can store magic in some lacrima...Could I make a rune that functions the same way? Or better yet, model it after a human wizard so that it's self replenishing? Like getting your second wind...

The bland, factual voice spoke in my mind.

A wizard already possesses a natural secondary source of power that is not usually tapped known as their Second Origin. I waved the information aside for perusal later. I had another project to research and work on.

Between this new idea and developing easy access hammerspace, I probably wasn't going to be getting much else done.

"Aw, cheer up Fae-chan! You've got years before you should be looking like an old sourpuss." I blinked up at the master before I noticed that my ears were responding to my emotions and were currently laid back in irritated resignation.

Damn it! They snapped upright with alertness. I felt someone stroke them.

"You are too cute, Fae." I didn't have the heart to snap at Mira's coo. So I settled for burying my face in my arms and trying to melt into the floor with embarrassment. This just made it worse since it attracted more attention, turning me into a spectacle.

"C'mon Fae, don't pout, you're adorable!"

"You said it buddy!"

"Cutest little wizard ever!"

You all suck and Mystogan is my favorite.

-vVv-

Far away, completing an S-class quest with Laxus and the rest of the Thunder Legion, Freed felt the sudden irrational desire to curl up and cry. He couldn't understand it. Why did he suddenly feel this desolate and despairing?

It has been a while since we've been back... He mused. It's probably just homesickness. He could hardly wait to see what new progress Fae had ready to show him. He already had a present to slip to her.

Bickslow said he was spoiling her.

Evergreen agreed.

Laxus didn't say anything for or against. But Freed would swear that he saw a glimmer of fondness whenever the Lightning Wizard looked at the adorable little imp.

-vVv-

Erza was coming back!

She had called ahead on the communications lacrima to inform the master of her imminent arrival.

I couldn't wait to see her. Big, scary and intimidating as she could be, I liked Erza. I was also fully aware that this opinion might change as soon as I became old enough to be seen as punishable in her eyes. But for now, I liked her.

I was currently interrogating Cana to try and get some pointers on how to increase my magic power without resorting to giving myself alcohol poisoning. The boozer was more interested in he bottom of her mug.

I glared at her...then I got an evil idea.

"But why is the rum gone?" There came a sucking sound for a split second after I had spoken, then Cana jerked.

"What the hell?" Her mug was suddenly empty and all booze within ten feet had disappeared.

"I'm trying to ask you something, Cana. You'll get your booze back after I get an answer." The older girl glared down at me. I stared back, completely unrepentant. She caved after a few tense moments, sighing.

"Fine, you little brat. It's just like exercising your body. You'll need to cast some bigger spells if you want to get some extra growing in."

"Now was that so hard?" I asked, satisfied. "Weddings! I love weddings, drinks all around!" Cana examined the alcohol in her mug with a raised brow.

"Never heard that one before. Gonna make a show out of it sometime?"

"Maybe!" I hopped off my stool and ran outside.

"Fae-chan, where are you going in such a hurry?"

"I've got an idea to try out!"

-vVv-

The idea involved the illusions that accompanied my stories. If I could describe something and make it seem real, then could I describe something and make it be real? Or real enough that people interacting with it believed it was real, and have their belief and power support my own?

I was testing small scale at first, hiding out in and around the park and fabricating various objects and seeing how passer's by interacted with them. First it was a flower in a bed somewhere, then an extra branch on a tree. I'd worked my way up to a reasonably solid bench before I ran out of paper. Each time someone touched my illusion, it only lasted for as long as they were interacting with it. Then the paper I was writing on fizzled up and I had to start over.

I was magically drained but triumphant when I returned to the guild to help Mira with the dinner rush.

It wasn't everyday that you learned you could literally rewrite reality.

I'll have to try and find some way to increase the durability of my creations, and extend the amount of time that they're effective. Having to redo everything over and over again was kinda tiring. Magical stamps? Same problem as writing out by hand. Too much bulky material. A good guild wizard has to be easily portable... Hmm...

"Heavy thoughts, Fae-chan?" Levy asked as I came through the crowd picking up dirty dishes with a few quick summoning charms.

"Just a couple new ideas." I replied, levitating the dish bin behind me.

"Well, do you have a moment? I've got this translation that I can't seem to get through..." I almost expected Jet and Droy to appear and start cheering for her. Cheering her on whenever she tries to translate something...Dumbasses. The thought wasn't without its affection. For all that they sometimes talked themselves up a little too much, they were still guildmates. Their infatuation was either unnoticed by Levy, or noticed and simply not returned. I was more inclined to think the latter.

"Let me finish this up, and I'll get back to you." If something was designed with concealment in mind, it would take more than a passing touch to get the whole story out of the thing.

After dropping off the dishes, I went back to Levy. "You already checked for invisible ink, or code?" I asked, examining the painstakingly preserved document that her client had given her to translate.

"First thing I did." She said, pushing over what she had managed to translate thus far. "But none of this is making any sense..." I brushed my fingers gently over the covered paper, peering at it intently...It was beautiful piece, an old, handbound book of aged leather less than an inch thick with elegant calligraphy from the early days of wizardry and hidden artwork layered within the pages. According to Levy's client, it was almost three hundred years old.

It feels innocent...like a collection of fairytales, but there's more to it...Theories of how humans acquired magic? I instantly got a little excited and bent even closer, feeling my eyes glitter eagerly as I focused still further. I was getting somewhere...I thought I was anyway. But then I ran into a blockade. I was missing bits and pieces of the text. I had gotten this far on context, but I needed more...

Hmm...A spell for revealing what is hidden in text... I came up with several options from Harry Potter, specifically the 'Reveilo' chain, but that didn't feel quite right...

Ah ha! Gotcha! I snatched the spell from out of my vast, seemingly endless pool of knowledge.

"Aparecium." I commanded, staring down at the paper. I didn't see the words change, but something had appeared right at the bottom corner of the last page...There you are. "Differo finis." Instantly, a slight pressure lifted from my mind as a formerly hidden section of the story now became visible.

"Got it." I said, smiling at Levy who flashed a delighted grin at me in answer.

"You're awesome, Fae-chan! What did I miss?"

"There was a distraction rune right here." I pointed to it. "Protected by an invisibility rune worked into the picture." I pressed my finger over where I had spotted it. "And underneath that was a confidentiality outlay inside the binding." I rested my hand on the book's cover for a moment longer... "It's very old, a lot older than the owner thought. He's off by more than a century. Closer to two or three actually."

Levy was almost vibrating with excitement. Jet and Droy seemed to materialize in the background to gaze in infatuated awe at their crush. Apparently they had bickered and fought constantly when they were younger. Like Erza/Mira levels of antagonism. Such a thing seemed impossible nowadays. They might be self declared rivals for Levy's attention, but they were the best of friends and everyone knew it. Kinda like Gray and Natsu, only with less potential for destruction.

"Hold on! I want to get all this down!" Levy began to write furiously. I paused until she had caught up with me.

"What does your client want to know?" I asked. "I can be a lot more effective if I know what to look for. About 700 years of time is no joke, even if it's already finished..."

"Right. The book's author, any details about them, and then where and why it was written." I perused the book's history for a moment...

"The author was named Mikale Surewyrd. He was a talented Rune Wizard, from Bosco and a minor noble, around the year 47 BM. Anyone with magic was still very strongly ostracized and persecuted. It was a tremendous shame to any family to birth a wizard, so most everyone kept their powers constantly hidden and disguised as normal, everyday things. Lord Mikale suspected that his daughter had inherited some magic from him, so he made her this book. As a way of subtly assuring her that her magic, if she had any, was not a curse and something that made her special and unique." I felt my lips curve upward as I felt the outpouring of love and adoration that worried father had felt for his daughter. "He filled it with codes that he told her as part of her bedtimes stories. He was eventually discovered to have magic and arrested and executed, but she still had the book. He was right, she did have magic and she learned how to use runes like he had..." My eyes widened with interest. "She didn't want to stay in Bosco after her father was killed, so she moved west towards Fiore, in spite of the dragons that lived there..."

"What was her name? Does it say?" Levy pressed eagerly.

"...Justija." My eyes suddenly didn't see the guild hall anymore.

A tired young woman glared at the chimeras that circled her, their fangs gleaming and serpent's tails hissing in frustration. Her hand curved up in a familiar gesture and she slashed her hand through the air, her eyes ablaze with power, lips curved in a fierce snarl. Fire leapt from nowhere, scorching her adversaries' eyes and causing them to cower and shriek in pain.

Her green hair had been cropped short recently, and she had the look of a hunted animal. But there was still an air of controlled nobility around her that drew the eye...

I was back in an instant, wondering if it was even possible...

Freed...?

-vVv-

When I saw Lucy and Natsu again, I got the same glowy, pink sparkling thing that informed me that Lucy had grown attached to Natsu in spite of his... everything.

"You luuuuv him~!" Happy sang grinning at the infuriated female.

"No I don't you stupid cat!" Lucy growled back at him. But she was blushing slightly.

She is fond of him and admires his power. So cute...! The giggling voice informed me. I waved it off.

Shut up and go away. I told it irritably.

It just figured. There were romance stories everywhere, so why should it be any surprise that I could see and read that aspect of life too?! I'm starting to feel like a voyeur... I almost dreaded when Bisca and Alzack would come back. Everyone knew that they liked each other. Cana was running the betting pool on how long it would take for Alzack to finally fess up. I personally think Bisca's gonna be the one to propose. I thought about it... Then nodded. It would just fit the gun toting Requip Wizard to be the one to decide to stop dancing around and just get on with it.

I wonder if Cana will let me place that bet...

"Fae, you wouldn't believe what I got to do on this job!" Lucy all but sang, eyes sparkling. "I got to read the last work of Zekua Melon! A book nobody knew he had ever written! It was easily his best ever!" Zekua Melon had been a well known novelist almost forty years back. But he had died...

He committed suicide. I flinched.

This is why I don't like my magic sometimes!

"That's great Lucy. You sound like a really big fan of his." The Celestial Spirit Mage beamed.

"I am! I've read all of his books! They're amazing!" That I would grant. It was kinda nice to read something of good quality without having to write it myself...

"You've got good taste then." Levy said grinning as she slid in beside me. "Check it out, Fae-chan! We're not the only bookworms anymore! I swear, I sometimes wonder if anyone else even can read in this guild!"

I left the other girls to their gripping chatter. Erza was due back sometime tomorrow. The master was getting ready to leave to go to conference with some other Guild Masters to discuss stuff. Concerns about the Balam Alliance, a trinity of powerful dark guilds that have subjugated or killed off all others. But I don't think any of the adults wanted me to know about that. At the very least, they didn't want me to go spreading rumors about it.

Another reason I had a love-hate relationship with that aspect of my magic power. I sighed, leaning forward on my table and thinking...

No nine year old should know even a fraction of what I can learn at a glance...I made jokes about preserving my innocence whenever Gray lost more than his shirt, but I honestly wondered sometimes...

No use moping. Sit up, get back to work. And move on. You can't help what power you're born with. Your family doesn't judge you for it, so don't you start now.

...Right. I sat up and started to toy around with some more ideas I had to created hammer space...

-vVv-

Lucy and Levy kept talking about books well into the evening, with Fae sitting quietly nearby. Lucy was thrilled to hear that she wouldn't be the only book enthusiast in the rowdy guild she had joined. And after the insult to all bibliophiles that was Duke Everlue, she needed this conversation!

"Oh! I almost forgot! You've read The Lord of the Rings, right? The first book just came out a few months back and Fairy Tail patroned it!" Lucy had been hooked at the first blurb that was published to stir up publicity for the novel and had splurged her limited funds to snag a copy as soon as she could. Partly because it was related to Fairy Tail, she would admit. But as soon as she had gotten more than few pages in, she was hooked. She had stayed awake for several days reading the tale, enraptured in the world that it described...

"We financed the first publishing! Of course we heard of it!" Lucy leaned forward and snatched Levy's hands, gazing into her eyes pleadingly.

"Where's Bella Phantasia? Can you please introduce me to her? I'd die if I could get my book signed by her! A whole bunch of journalists have been trying to get an interview with her for weeks!" For some reason, this made Levy burst out laughing. And Fae... That's weird... Fae looked like she was trying to sink down into her chair and vanish into the floor, her face bright red...

"Sure thing, Lu! She's all but a guild member, I'm sure she'd be happy to sign your copy for you!" Lucy almost jumped up to run home and get it, but Levy hadn't let go of her hands, her smile broadening. "But before anything else...You probably ought to know a little guild secret..." Eh? Lucy had gotten the impression that there weren't that many secrets between Fairy Tail members.

"What?" She asked curiously, distracted for the moment.

"Bella Phantasia is the author's pen name. She didn't want all the attention she thought the book would bring. And damn if she wasn't right!"

"What's her real name then?" Levy pulled her hands back and slapped Fae on the back, who was still blushing.

"Why don't you tell her, Fae-chan?"

"You're evil, Levy..." She muttered at the blunette, only to receive a brilliant smile in answer. "I should start calling you the She-devil..."

"What's wrong Fae?" Lucy was confused as the aqua haired girl finally turned towards her.

"Levy's secretly an evil troll, that's what." She said blandly, the blush receding somewhat, though she still looked supremely uncomfortable. "I'm Bella Phantasia, Lucy."

The Celestial Spirit Mage's world didn't crack, so much as shatter.

A little girl wrote that book!? People were already starting to call it a definer of what fantasy writing was. Fae wrote The Fellowship!?

"I figured using a pen name would make it easier on me once I started to take wizarding jobs. I didn't want any of the work I might have to do to interfere with my ability to take requests."

Lucy was still trying to reorient her fractured mind...

Why is it so surprising? She finally asked herself. Fae's already proved herself to be a brilliant storyteller. Her magic's literally made for it! And just listen to what she's been telling us lately about Hylia's Sky Islands and the Loftwings... It actually wasn't that big of a stretch to connect the masterful minstrel of a girl who enraptured half the city with her stories to the brilliant author who had fabricated such a detailed and complex world as Arda. That's...

"That's amazing, Fae!" Lucy grinned. "You're so talented! Would you sign my copy, please?" Fae blinked, seeming to be somewhat surprised.

"Uh...yeah, sure..." Another thing occurred to Lucy and she battled with herself.

Want...to know more...! But...No spoilers!

"Saaaay..." Lucy fidgeted slightly... "How many books are you planning on writing?" It did say that The Fellowship was just the first part of the story...

"Two more in that story, plus prequel work." Lucy couldn't help herself, she hugged Fae tightly.

"Please tell me what happens to Merry and Pippin, I have to know!"

-vVv-

Getting Lucy to calm down was a job and a half. I reminded myself to thank Natsu for starting a fight that made her lay off as we all took cover in my bunker until the fighting had blown over. I promised to sign her copy of The Fellowship when she had it with her.

Still, that went better than I feared...

Lucy wasn't pushy about her pleas for details after her initial frenzy and her empty wallet didn't let her devote a lot of time to it either.

She was investigating the job request board, trying to pick something that she could do by herself and still get a good net return of cash for her rent payment. Meanwhile, Loke had three different girls hanging off of him this time...

For crying out loud... I bemoaned mentally, wanting to bang my head against the table top. Please, try and find something less self destructive...

If he's dying, then what does it matter if his behavior is self destructive or not?

That was really starting to worry me. Loke wasn't looking so good. He'd been growing paler and paler, degree by degree over the last two years. He still persisted in calling me the Fairy Princess, and he was always very kind and considerate towards me. I sometimes caught inklings that he thought I wasn't an ordinary kid. But since I knew he wasn't human, I didn't think much of it.

He's running out of time.

If Loke had been a sun when he came to the guild, he was now a dying campfire. No...a dying star. Still bright, still warm and beautiful, but weak. So very weak...

I didn't want to think of what it would feel like if Loke died.

I still felt the empty place in the cast of people that formed my family and my life where Lisanna had once been. It still hadn't filled in. It still hasn't healed. Just barely scarred over...

I didn't want Loke to disappear as well.