A/N: This is a fun little mystery involving my two favorite FT characters. The story itself is finished, but I decided to break it up into four chapters-don't worry that the first two are pretty short! The last two more than make up for it ;)
Disclaimer: So I said to my little sister just now, "So I need to come up with a creative way to say that I don't own Fairy Tail". I guess that works, right?
Levy hummed contentedly to herself as she strolled along the path that lead back to Fairy Hills. Although the ladies' dormitory was not too far from the guild hall, it was pleasantly secluded. Levy loved this, and she loved the scenic tree-lined path to the winged building. Today she was cheerfully swinging a small sack of books and had a bounce in her step-typical of the days she went to the bookstore or the library. This particular bundle came from the latter, and was for the express purpose of aiding in some research she had taken on. The pay was average but this was the kind of work she loved; a mystery, a puzzle, her kind of adventure!
As she entered the Fairy Hills clearing, she spied a familiar figure leaning against the front gate. He appeared to have been waiting for someone, although his demeanor was relaxed.
"Looking for me, Gajeel?" she smiled brightly.
"Nah!" he grumbled in a surly tone. "It's so boring, there's nothin' going on!"
Levy smiled to herself as Gajeel followed her through the gate. It was clear that despite his words, he had indeed been waiting for her.
"Well, come on up—I'll make some tea," she said. Then she added, "Where's Pantherlily?"
"He said he was going on a job with the blue cat and Windy's cat." Gajeel couldn't resist a good nickname when he found one—and in this case, it wasn't even really offensive. Levy was somewhat envious—surely he could have found something more flattering than "Shrimp" for her!
She let them into her room and set her new books down on the unmade bed, before shifting another large stack from the desk chair onto the already-laden table. The wooden legs groaned under the added weight. This wasn't Gajeel's first visit to her room, but usually his kiwi-loving Exceed accompanied him to keep him out of trouble. Without the supervision, Gajeel began poking through the stacks of papers on her desk while Levy busied herself with an electric tea kettle.
"You sure do got a lotta stuff, Shrimp," he commented as he paged through one of the slimmer volumes.
"They're mostly books—and at least I know exactly where everything is!" Using Solid Script: Water she filled the kettle and pressed the button to start. Then she set about finding clean mugs.
Gajeel had moved on to a sheaf of paper that looked older than some of the others. He didn't immediately recognize the figures on the pages, but the longer he looked the more he thought he could make out. He began mumbling the meanings to himself absentmindedly.
"Gajeel, what kind of tea would you like?" Levy called over the sound of the now boiling water, as she rummaged through a wooden box. She couldn't hear his reply. "I have ginger, hibiscus, darjee—Gajeel, no!" She looked up in time to see him holding the ancient vellum pages she was supposed to be investigating, mouth moving as he stared at the symbols, before he disappeared in a cloud of glittering ash.
A/N: Don't forget! Lots more to come! R&R 3