I own neither the Fairy Tail characters or Desna's Boscans.
"Dean Kaperdean," Lucy said with a large smile. "Thank you for seeing us on such short notice."
"Miss Heartfilia, it's a pleasure to see you again. I was surprised to hear that you'd left a few days ago. Please, come in."
She gave him a sheepish smile as she and Levy followed him into his office. When she'd first arrived, the two had met in the room. Unlike her father's, or even Arman's office, there was a noticeable lack of books. There was only a single bookshelf that was admittedly stuffed full. The layout of the room was strange. He had his desk situated so that he could look out the window at the Grass Sea while the other looked out on the grounds.
The two women settled onto the couch while Dean Kaperdean sat in a chair across from them.
"This is Miss McGarden. She's a friend of mine from Fiore. She knows at least a little bit about just about everything," Lucy introduced.
"A pleasure. What can I do for you today?"
"Miss McGarden came here from Fiore. She works as an archivist and brought me the journal of Tamia Heartfilia."
"I'm familiar of the name. She was the last Heartfilia born in Bosco. I must admit, I was rather looking forward to gloating in the afterlife that I'd managed to secure a Heartfilia."
Lucy's eyes widened. "As a student?"
"Yes. After all, no one's held as many zodiac keys as you have since Anna Heartfilia."
"Speaking of, I was not entirely honest about what I was researching. I-"
"You are looking for the Ptolemaic Royals, aren't you?" Lucy knew she was gaping like a fish and was slightly grateful for the indulgent smile that the dean gave her. "Every so often, a celestial mage will come around trying to find information. One of our professors has Cetus if you think that'll help."
"No, thank you. I mean no offense but according to Tamia's journals, we believe that the first dean stole the journals of Anna Heartfilia from her home. Or, more likely, had someone else do it."
"No offense taken. Some of the biographers are not particularly kind to him."
"Dean Kaperdean, does the dean of Acadame Celestine have a private library?"
He smiled, stood, and opened the wall. Lucy vaguely remembered thinking the dimensions of the room seemed weird the first time. The hallway wasn't the best lit and she was memorizing it for a scene in a novel at a later point. The stone walls were rough but magically protected from any moisture that might have gotten in from the sea. The steps down seemed carved directly from the stone.
They hadn't reached the bottom when the ceiling above the staircase opened up and the expanse of the underground library was visible. Next to her, Levy made a sound of awe.
"There aren't many things that I think Dean Straner did right," Kaperdean said as he led the two women through a maze of empty bookshelves, "but this library is not one of them. He believed that the school would be open for generations and wanted future deans to add to the library, so he ensured that this space would be large enough.
"I haven't spent as much time as I probably should this far into the library as I probably should," he mused as he stroked the leather of one of the books. When he turned, Lucy and Levy were already dawning their wind-reader glasses. "Can you read the writing of the Star Gazers?"
"She can. She taught me a few words to look for," Lucy answered.
The dean chuckled. "All right. I'll leave you to it."
The two women spent the next couple of hours going through books. Levy was a bit slower since she could actually read the books and would pause to absorb the book.
"Found it!" Levy squealed and did a slight dance.
"Great." Lucy rushed over to her. "Does it say where?"
"Kinda."
"What does 'kinda' mean?"
Levy showed her the journal. Most of the writing was gibberish but a cluster of lettering had obviously been done overlarge and carefully sketched out. There were lighter lines as if made by a pencil where Anna had sketched the straight lines or angles carefully.
"The writing isn't explicit but it's pretty apparent that this is supposed to say where the keys are. 'I just returned from hiding the royals. They were not pleased but accepted that what I did was in everyone's best interest. C is grateful that they are merely committing penance compared to death.' It sounds like she's talking about hiding the keys."
"Yeah. Any other clues?"
"No. She just says that she provided directions since eventually, someone would need to find them. It's only a punishment if there's an eventual reprieve."
"Hm…I wonder what she would've said about Loke's punishment," Lucy muttered. She used her tablet to take a picture of the unfamiliar script. "Come on. We should get going. If we leave now, we should make I back in time for dinner."
"Yeah. Okay." Levy looked around longingly. Even she knew that the book couldn't be safely removed. As they left, she dragged her feet. A few times, Lucy glanced behind her only to realize that she'd lost Levy who had stopped to read through a book. Lucy almost wondered if the mating process went two ways because Levy growled at her when she tried to pull her away.
Cristoff was waiting for them when they reentered the dean's office.
"How'd you fare?" he asked. Both men were stared expectantly at them.
"Found it. Sorta." Lucy showed them the picture but both men shook their head. "Yeah. I'll have to send it to Farron and see if he has any idea. Thank you, Dean Kaperdean."
"My pleasure. Good luck and I hope you'll at least consider a guest lecturer position."
"I will consider the seminar series."
They were halfway out of the school when someone called for Cristoff. They stopped and turned. The man approaching was tall with ash blond hair and ice blue eyes. His button-down shirt was left open enough that the wing of his clan tattoo was just barely visible.
"Hello, Hestor," Cristoff greeted.
"New members? I thought Kaleb-" His gaze had quickly left Cristoff before moving onto Lucy and Levy.
"They're not members," Cristoff interjected. "They're friends of the family and doing some research here."
"Interesting. I thought Dean Kaperdean- Never mind." His eyes widened when he noticed Lucy's keys then narrowed as he studied her.
Uncomfortable under his scrutiny, Lucy shifted backwards slightly so that she pressed into Cristoff's chest. His arm instinctively wrapped around her middle. She resisted the urge to shudder as she felt magic reverberate between them. His fingers drummed slightly on her stomach, as if to acknowledge that he'd felt the magic as well.
"Hestor, this is Lucy, a celestial spirit mage. She may become a new White Sea mage. Her friend, Levy, a script mage. Hestor is a White Sea mage. He uses the asteroidic keys."
Cristoff didn't know much about Hestor's magic. The man was based out of the main guildhall or as a recruiter at the Acadame. However, he felt Lucy flinch at the mention of his keys.
"I have a few celestial contracts as well. Of course, none as impressive as yours."
Lucy smiled painfully. Something about the man made it hard for her to summon her aristocratic background. It took everything in her not to shield her keys from his gaze. As repulsed as she would have felt by a lecherous gaze, she'd have preferred that to his scrutinizing one
"We should get going if we want to get to Pelerno by dinner," Cristoff said, guiding the two women away.
"Did you feel that?" Levy asked. "His magic felt- I dunno- predatory."
"Probably because the asteroidic keys are evil. Mama used to tell me she'd feed me to one when I was bad," Lucy said. "They were the first keys created. Back when the Star Gazers were first learning to create keys. Their power is different from celestial spirits. It takes a dozen copies of the same key to be equal in strength to a silver." She shuddered.
"It's not that they're evil," Cristoff scolded lightly. "They're a bit like imps."
"Aren't imps a subspecies of demons?" Levy asked drily.
"Well…" Cristoff said as the piled into the small airship.
"That's what I thought."
-oOo-
It would take two days for Farron to get back to Lucy. He didn't recognize the symbols and then spent the two days obsessing over them. None of his books had them though he swore that there were many similarities.
Like Farron, Lucy spent the next few days obsessing while sightseeing with Levy and Gajeel. They didn't comment nor did it stop Lucy from laughing at Bickslow and his babies. The seith mage served as their tour guide.
Cobra often joined them as well. It amused Lucy to watch them pretend that they weren't flirting. They forgot that Lucy was a dragon slayer and could hear Gajeel comment about the bedroom eyes the two kept sharing. Or the way that Cobra released pheromones every time that Bickslow made a pass at him.
Both Levy and Gajeel got a lot of unwanted attention. Some of it, Lucy was able to divert. However, around the third time Levy was propositioned, Bickslow decided to buy them promise rings. Only the woman that had come up to her hadn't been growled at by the territorial dragon slayer. Levy had protested that it was too extravagant and Bickslow responded, 'Maybe, but it's a lot less work than getting him out of jail.'
At night, Lucy stayed with Cristoff. They never had sex again resulting in both visiting the bathes a lot. The thrumming of their magic urging them to be intimate again made them needy. However, both acknowledged that driving back and forth from the Pradesh house was a waste of time.
The two dragon slayers spent the evenings meditating. While she still couldn't hear her dragon soul, she could feel the tattoo. She could feel it as it shifted against her skin. While her goal had been to create less interest, the sight of it moving from breast, where it perched when she was around Cristoff, to her neck seemed to have the opposite effect.
Gajeel had merely raised an eyebrow when he'd smelt Cristoff on her that first night. Unfortunately, the varying scents from the bath attendants, as well as Lucy's raised pheromones when around Cristoff, had her kin fussy and cranky. After Levy told him about Cristoff potentially being her knight and that Lucy didn't want that, he'd backed off a bit. He wouldn't acknowledge it, but Lucy suspected that some of his annoyance came from the fact that he wasn't her knight. About three days in, he suddenly made his trademark laugh. When Lucy asked about it, he said, 'This is gonna piss Salamander off.'
-oOo-
Lucy, Levy, and Gajeel were sitting at a café near the skyport waiting for their respective flights. Lucy was headed to White Sea, the city named after the guild, while her friends were headed back to Fiore. Bickslow would be joining her.
"We've been tracking movement on a potential dark guild of Zeref worshippers," Gajeel told her. Lucy's eyes widened and then she glanced at Levy, who nodded slightly. That was her way of confirming that Levy had asked him to wait before saying anything.
"Are you sure?"
"We're sure it's a dark guild. We're still working on their motives," Gajeel said.
Lucy let out a puff of air. "Any word on Natsu?"
"Not really. There was a large fire on the border of Fiore and Seven," Gajeel said.
"That's pretty far for Natsu to have gotten on foot," Levy said.
Lucy nodded. That was on the opposite side of Fiore from Magnolia and there was no way that Natsu would have gotten onto a train. It wasn't impossible though.
"He's going to try to find you," Gajeel said.
"Most likely."
"Lu, have you considered that your reticence to start a life here is because you're waiting for him?"
"Maybe…" she admitted after a minute. "I-"
"Hey. It's almost time to head over," Bickslow interrupted. He tried to drape himself over Lucy before deciding that it hurt his back too much.
"Yup," she said, smacking him lightly as she bounced up. She giggled when Popo nudged her cheek. However, the whiplash of her mood change didn't escape him and looked at Levy.
'Natsu,' she mouthed silently, and he nodded that he understood.
Levy and Lucy had a tearful farewell while the two men rolled their eyes.
"How many books are in there?" Bickslow asked as they watched Gajeel struggle to carry one of the bags.
"No idea, but I heard them arguing that she'd blown their budget on books. And she had to cast a spell that made the bag bigger on the inside."
Bickslow had included the main White Sea headquarters on his tour of Bosco but that didn't stop the awe Lucy felt walking up to the building. It was a massive building made of white stone that had small bits crystal that glistened in the sunlight. There were multiple bathhouses, a school with its own training ground, as well as multiple training grounds of various sizes. Bickslow made a point of showing her the apartments for White Sea members as part of his attempts to convince her to join.
She'd admit that it was tempting but joked that she wasn't ready to leave Mr. Elan's cooking. The last time she'd been at the Pradesh home, Arman told her to bring all her stuff to Cristoff's apartment. 'The next step in your adventure will be at White Sea,' he'd told her with a wide smile that made Lucy nervous.
As soon as they entered the guildhall, Bickslow left her to go to the bar. It was just after lunch, so she wasn't especially surprised to see so many people sitting at tables, hanging out, and eating. What did surprise her was the fact that Kaleb was sitting at a table tucked into the corner.
My office gets too quiet sometimes. I needed the excuse for a distraction.
What have I said about being in my head? Lucy shot back as she walked over to join him. There were more than a few envious looks at the ease which she slid into the booth next to him and looked at the screen.
I know, but I tend to train myself to pay attention to people's thoughts about me.
Even when those thoughts are just about how nicely you fill out those pants? She sent him her memory of his ass from one of the nights at the Pradesh home.
His mouth quirked to side. He could hear the jealousy and had been attempting to pretend that he was nonplussed by her at his side. Instead, the thoughts seemed to consider her being intrusive.
I'm glad you think so.
Are you stuck? she asked, looking at the screen.
His smile widened slightly. He'd been focused on her words and the images that danced just below them, but she'd been studying the code on his screen. Out of respect, he'd been trying to stay within her superficial thoughts.
Yes.
Try this. Instead of the numbers that he was expecting, she sent him a song. Almost as soon as he recognized it as Danse Macabre, she'd started stripping out the other instruments until only the flute was heard. He knew that music could be rewritten numerically, but he'd never heard or seen someone do it. More importantly, he realized as he converted the music back into numbers, it worked.
Marry me?
Lucy giggled. We'll revisit that later. I need a favor.
What?
She sent him the image of the strange writing from Anna Heartfilia's journal. He'd already heard about it courtesy of Farron calling him to rant. It wasn't often that something frustrated him as much as not knowing what that writing was.
I don't know what it is, he told her.
I know, but could you create a program that will cycle through all known languages? I don't need to know what it says but if I can figure out the language, I can translate it.
Do you realize how many languages that is? Kaleb asked. There are around 7,000 languages spoken on Earthland. At least 1,000 dead languages and over 100 strictly written magical languages.
Sounds about right. Please. Unless it's too difficult for you.
One condition. Lucy gave him an unabashed once over. That's not the condition though it can definitely be arranged.
Fine, she replied with a pout.
Join White Sea.
Lucy nearly fell off the booth. "What?"
"Join White Sea. You're a capable mage. I saw your fight with your friend. I already reached out to Dean Kaperdean. He has no problem signing off on an S-Class ranking for you. This will take some time, so it'll give you a chance to earn some money. That's my condition. Besides, you might need the guild's help retrieving the keys when you find them."
She nodded slightly. "Okay." Then her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Did your father put you up to this?"
"He told me to find an excuse to get you to join," Kaleb acknowledged as he stood.
Well damn, she thought, staring at his ass as she followed him to his office.
He didn't know how to react to her commentary about his ass. Though, he could hear her internal cackling as well.
Almost as soon as Bickslow sat down, Vander had popped up next to him and ordered a beer.
"What are you doing here?" Bickslow asked.
"Need a partner for a job."
"Presca?"
"Not well-suited for it. Shame Starfire isn't guilded. She'd be perfect," Vander mused as he followed Bickslow's gaze to where Lucy and Kaleb were sitting. "Do you think they realize that they're not using their words?"
"No idea, but she's asking Kaleb for a favor so I'm willing to bet that she'll end up guilded."
"Good. Any ideas on what exactly is going on between her and Cris?"
"Weird dragon shit." Bickslow turned slowly with narrowed eyes. "Why so curious?"
"She's a beautiful, unattached woman. Why wouldn't I be curious?"
"Because Laxus would fry your ass? And I have no fucking idea of what exactly is going on between her and Cris. Em might not mind cheering you on."
"I'll take my chances. What about your team?"
"Ever has money on Cris and Freed has money on Kaleb."
"And you?"
"I'd prefer not to risk my life over it."
They watched as Kaleb and Lucy stood.
"Think they're going to go have sex?" Vander asked.
"Probably going to deal with her induction paperwork."
"Why do you insist on the boring, practical answers?"
"I'm not boring," Bickslow grumbled as his babies started lightly hitting Vander who swatted them away.
I'll okay Lucy for this mission. Also, I'm going to win the bet, Kaleb told them.
You know, it's only The Bachelorette if Lucy spends time with all of them.