"Writing became such a process of discoverythat I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say." ~Sharon O'Brien

As always, I own nothing.

Bickslow stood behind Lucy as she practically vibrated with excitement. It didn't help that her Boscan outfit left little to the imagination. It was a light grey, translucent sarong over blue shorts and a blue bra. She'd been propositioned three times already. One, she'd actually put in her contacts because she didn't have time at the moment.

"You've taken to Bosco well," Bickslow commented.

"Hm? Oh, thanks. It's not hard. Do what you enjoy and don't be an asshole about it."

He chuckled. "That's a good way of looking at it."

She glanced up at him and started to respond but noticed the commercial skyship beginning to make its descent. "That's the right one, right? Come on."

He was almost disappointed that she was dragging him behind her though he shot a few glares at men that were appreciating her bouncing chest. A view that he would've liked to see.

They saw Gajeel first which wasn't surprising. The sun reflected off the studs in his face and he seemed to be carrying both bags.

"Levy!"

"Lulu!"

The two women ran to each other and clasped hands.

"Am I the only one that sees the glitter and flowers and shit around them when they do that?" Bickslow asked Gajeel.

"Nope. Every single time. I don't even get a greeting."

"Hi, Gaj," Lucy said, popping up next to him.

"Hey, Bunny Girl. Somewhere around here there's another asshole that got dragged along."

"It was this or he was likely to get arrested," Levy whispered.

"Shudup, Bookworm," another, cranky voice said. Lucy glanced at the familiar dragon slayer. She arched an eyebrow at him and he grudgingly opened his arms up so that she could hung him. "Hey, Tink. Is that Carmen?"

"Yup." She was thinking about one of the few more pleasant memories with her father. He'd insisted that they go to the opera. It had been more about rubbing elbows with the who's who, but it had been a nice time. Followed by a fancy dinner.

Cobra snorted as he caught the memory as if shifted to her splashing wine in the face of a baron that tried groping her under the table. Her father had not been pleased.

"That's priceless."

"No. According to Father, that was 500j glass of Minstrellan wine."

"You don't mind him being in your head, but you mind Bro," Bickslow commented.

"He's earned the right to be there. Besides, he has less control over the matter."

"Ouch," Cobra said, placing his hand on his heart and pretending to be wounded.

"Where's Lily?" Lucy asked, looking around.

"He decided to visit the Exceeds," Gajeel said.

"He doesn't like flying in the airships," Levy whispered. "We had to catch one to Minstrel to pick up some books. He was not a fan."

"He has wings. He doesn't need to fly on those death traps," Gajeel said, crossing his arms.

"We didn't find out until this trip that they have motion sickness bracelets."

Lucy giggled but changed the subject. "So, the plan is for Levy to go with me and for Gajeel to go with Bixy. We'll meet at a restaurant that Ever wanted to try for dinner. Cobra, you weren't really part of the plan, so you can decide where you want to go."

"I'll stick with the men. I'm not getting stuck with girl talk."

"Whatever. Bixy, you tell him, and I'll cut off your penis and feed it to you." Cobra choked. "Same goes for you. Actually, I'll feed you charcoal."

Cobra flinched away from Lucy. "I forgot how scary she could be when she wants to be."

"Bye, Love," Levy said kissing Gajeel goodbye.

"Did you try to talk them into lunch?" Bickslow asked as they started walking towards the Pelerno branch of White Sea.

"And get between them and research for an hour? She looked appalled that I'd even consider it."

"Yeah. That's what Lucy did too."

"You said you'd been staying in a house in Pelerno. You didn't say it was a fucking mansion." Levy was trailing behind Lucy and gawking at the Pradesh home.

"Hi, Arman," Lucy greeted as he was headed out of his office and the two women were headed to the Ganier's study. "This is my friend, Levy. She was a member of Fairy Tail, too."

"Hello. Lucy was very excited to announce that you were coming."

"Thank you." Levy gripped Lucy's arm. "And thank you for taking such good care of her. She's my best friend. And my fiancée's kin."

"She was mine first though," Lucy muttered, and they shared a giggle of a discussion they'd had many times.

"What's that?" Arman asked, glancing at the books that Levy clutched.

"Copies of Tamia Heartfilia's journals. I work as an archivist for the Magic Council and it took forever to find these. They're written in the Boscan language of the Star People tribe, so it had been miscategorized. I think I've got most of the book translated though."

"Impressive. I see why you've brought in the big guns. I'll send Mr. Elan your way with some snacks."

"That would be appreciated. Thank you."

"I was not expecting him to be that attractive," Levy gushed as soon the door was closed. The room was much messier than how Lucy had found it. There were notes filled with Lucy loopy script and Freed's blocky handwriting scattered over the table. Books were stacked in seemingly haphazard piles. Many had pieces of colored papers tucked into them.

"One, he's a sound mage and can hear everything. Two, you're engaged."

"So? I'm not blind. Nor do I expect Gajeel to be. Though, I did give him a rundown on what being propositioned in Bosco looked like."

"If you think he's hot, wait 'til you see the rest of them. Farron's claimed by Freed though."

"I'm pretty thoroughly claimed myself," she said, shrugging off the white shawl she was wearing. Looping around the back of her neck and down into her burnt orange dress was a dragon.

"You're mated," Lucy breathed.

"Yeah. Gajeel didn't tell me 'til recently that he wanted to. I think he was waiting for a good time since Natsu-" Levy froze. She watched her friend to see if she'd stepped on a landmine.

"I know Natsu didn't mate me. That I probably wasn't his mate."

"Actually, Gajeel thinks you might've been. Since it's about how the dragon reacts to a person and their magic, I think there's certain types of people and magic that can be universally mated because they're versatile. Like my script magic. Your magic is flexible with your-"

"I have something I've been waiting to tell you. Open, gate of the dragon, Draco."

Most everything stayed the same except the Draco was wrapped around her wrist instead. Levy's jaw dropped as she gawked, and Lucy smiled so that she could see the familiar canines.

"You're a dragon slayer…"

"The celestial dragon slayer." Levy didn't say anything but took out her pen and wrote 'STAR'. Lucy took a hesitant bite before finding it delicious and eating the word rapidly. "If fire tastes half as good as that, I officially understand why Natsu goes crazy."

She had just dropped the transformation when Levy began bombarding her with questions. Yeah, she ate a lot after the transformation. No, she hadn't started hoarding. No, she didn't have a mate.

"You told Sting and Rogue about being a dragon slayer first?" Levy asked, sounding hurt after Lucy had recounted everything about training with Draco.

"No. Yukino's team is just as nosy as mine is. Was."

Levy frowned and pain flashed in her eyes. It reminded Lucy that Levy had grown up within Fairy Tail. That her father had died only a few years before Lucy had joined during a mission and her mother taught literature in Minstrel.

"Have you talked to Jet or Droy?"

"You know, let's get to work."

Lucy gave her a quick, tight hug. The two men were still sore subjects. Neither liked that Levy chose to follow Gajeel. With the intention of using Lucy as a buffer, she'd invited them to brunch.

Brunch turned into an argument between Jet and Levy where Jet implied that he had seniority over Gajeel and deserved her love. That made both Lucy and Levy snap. They ended up banned from that café and having to listen to Gajeel laugh at them.

"Are Gajeel and I the only mates?"

"Outside of the Twins, yeah."

"Sting and Rogue are mated?"

"Yup," Lucy said, popping the 'p' and waiting for the reaction she knew was about to happen.

"To who?"

"Each other." Levy gawked at her. "Yup. After I first found out about the whole mating thing, I called Yukino to ask. Which she was not happy about 'cause I woke her and the Twins up." Lucy wasn't sure that Levy's jaw was meant to gape that much. Like one of her tutors used to do to her, she used her finger to lift her jaw and close her mouth. "You'll catch flies like that.

"When Sting and Rogue went through their first heat, they didn't know what to do with themselves. Their dragons recognized each other as potential mates and they mated each other. By the time Yukino joined, they'd started getting curious about what sex with a woman would be like. There weren't many women that interested them and ones like Minerva couldn't be submissive."

"Are they all mated?"

"Nope. They just like to have threesomes occasionally." Lucy watched with a small smile as Levy blinked owlishly. She was pretty sure she just broke the brain of the smartest person she knew.

"Um we should- uh work. That's why I'm here and not in Akane," Levy said finally.

Lucy chucked. "I have a few of Valenca K.'s journals and some letters. You?"

"Tamia Heartfilia's journals. What's left of them anyways. The archivist that accepted them knew their importance but since they couldn't read them, they didn't fully appreciate it. Not enough to ensure there was no degradation. Add in the fact they were misfiled…" Levy sighed. The idea that someone wouldn't take care of a book pained her.

"Okay. According to Valenca's journal, there were two big fights between her and Tamia. The first concerned one of Anna's student whom she'd passed one of the gold keys to."

"Yeah, I've got that one too. It's the second one that was badly degraded. What's Valenca's version?"

Lucy flipped to wear she'd made a note of it on a sticky note. "She says they were trying to convince one of Anna's students to stay in Cellis despite part of the condition in getting the Zodiac key was to leave Cellis. It's really vague. Freed thinks she did that deliberately. Knowing that her journals would be saved for posterity."

"Makes sense. Tamia's was scathing. According to her, the first dean of the Acadame threatened the student's family. His whole family were celestial mages and his sister was amongst the first students. They were threatened with being exiled and the sister prevented from getting any keys. It's ultimately the reason why Tamia left."

"Damn. Valenca doesn't write about the second fight but there's part of a letter." Lucy reached for a different book. "'I may not have any contracts, but I swear that I will never step into Bosco again. And when you fail, for I have no doubt that you will, I will laugh. You and Keigel's delusions of grandeur will be your downfall for you cannot succeed without my help. Tamia Heartfilia.'"

"Damn," Levy echoed. "A lot of the few weeks when that happened is missing, but her house in Fiore was broken into. Her daughter, who had the Heartfilia keys, was with another celestial mage on a training trip. At first, she's grateful and thinks that's what they were looking for."

"But?"

"But she notices that some journals are missing. She doesn't say- or it's in the illegible bits- what the journals are but she's pissed."

"I think I know what they were," Lucy breathed. "They were Anna's journals. And probably the only place she ever wrote the location of the Ptolemaic keys."

Lucy stood and walked over to the bookshelf. She scanned for the first of a collection of thick books. When she found it, she dropped it onto the table with a dull thud and started flipping through it.

"Here, he is."

Levy moved to stand next to her. The sketch was of a man named Kiegel Straner. He was traditionally appealing with the hint of his clan tattoos, a series of stars going up his neck. More important than that was the chapter header: first dean of Acadame Celestine.

Holy shit! 41 reviews, 93 favorites, 157 follows! You guys are amazing!

I had aspirations of posting a large chapter… That's not gonna happen. I might try to post what was the second part of this chapter tonight or tomorrow.