Notes: If anyone is still looking for the next chapter in "The Soul Eater," that story no longer exists. I deleted it because I have absolutely run out of steam for that story, no inspiration what so ever. I do, however, have plenty of inspiration for this story so settle in; this is going to be a bumpy ride.
Disclaimer: I have not yet stolen the rights for Fairy Tail from Hiro
Chapter 4 edited
Natsu gasped as he regained control of his senses, forcing down the images by will alone. He sat there on the lake's shore, struggling to contain all the emotions flowing forth from his past. Why now of all times would he remember those days, the final moments he spent with his father? He had gone on living without thinking of such things, but here he was, gasping for breath as he drowned in pain and sorrow.
He slowly uncurled from his crouched position and stretched his weary muscles. He was exhausted, completely emotionally spent. A slight twinge of pain resounded down the muscles of his back and down to his tail bone. He rubbed the ginger areas as he began the trek back home.
He reached his home in the woods just as dawn began to break, and the first light of day began to drive away the dark. He shuffled silently into the house, not wanting to disturb Happy, and climbed into his hammock. Slowly, his eyes closed, and he quickly gave in to the beckoning calls of sleep. He would risk more nightmares if it meant he could sleep for just a few hours.
FT
When Happy finally returned to the house, Natsu was passed out in his hammock, gently swinging back and forth. Happy smiled softly as he watched Natsu; this was the most sleep that the dragon slayer had probably had in days. He flew up to the rafters and settled down on the pillow he kept there and silently drifted off to sleep.
FT
Lucy sneezed and a huge cloud of dust flew up into her face, sending her into a coughing fit. Levy swished her hand through the air to clear the stifling cloud, not looking up from the book she was reading.
"I think someone is talking about me," Lucy moaned, shuffling through the huge piles of books surrounding her on all sides.
"That's just a myth Lucy. If people sneezed every time someone talked about them, then all of Fairy Tail would be sneezing twenty-four-seven," Levy said, glancing up at the blond mage for a moment.
Lucy hopped into the air, trying to see over the huge mountain of books. She knew that the library had an excess of books, but this was ridiculous. Books stretched infinitely towards the ceiling in every direction, jutting out like jagged mountain peaks.
Lucy spotted several of her spirits helping in the moving effort. Taurus was pulling a wagon full of books back and forth between the two libraries, and Virgo was sorting them into piles of fiction and non-fiction. Levy and Lucy would come in and sort the books into their respectable subject piles once they had been transported. She quickly gave up trying to see past the enormous stacks and sat down quietly next to Levy.
Suddenly, Levy jumped up into the air, shoving the book she had been reading into Lucy's face.
"Look Lucy," she said excitedly. "I think I found a permanent Troia spell! We could use this on Natsu and Gajeel so they don't get motion sickness!"
Lucy took the book from the solid-script mage's hands and quickly glanced over the spell, trying to translate the ancient symbols. She wasn't too sure it was a Troia spell.
"Are you sure Levy, that doesn't seem right? I think you confused the word for motion with the word for sound."
Levy huffed, snatching the book away from Lucy. "Who's the solid-script mage here?"
Lucy rolled her eyes as Levy scanned back over the script, a determined look on her face.
"I'm sure this is a spell that invokes Troia, but why don't we test it just to be sure."
Lucy gaped, she couldn't be serious. "W-we can't just test a spell that you're not completely certain about, what if it's like a death spell or something?"
"I'm sure it's not. Come on Lucy, I just want to try it out, use me as the guinea pig, if nothing happens, then we know it worked. Please do it."
A bead of sweat rolled down Lucy's head as she took the book from Levy, earning an excited fist bump from the bluenett. Lucy scanned the text again, pronouncing each syllable in her head before she said it aloud. Finally, she spoke the aloud and a tiny bit of magic floated from the book and towards Levy's body, who tensed up in anticipation. When Lucy finished, she watched Levy for a moment, sure that she would explode or something; but there was nothing.
She smiled triumphantly and began to laugh, but then her face contorted in horror as she realized that something was horribly wrong.
She had no voice.
Lucy couldn't help but laugh as Levy flailed about, knocking over piles of books as she threw a tantrum. Her eyes shot daggers at Lucy and she snatched the book from her hands. She frantically flipped through its pages, not finding anything that could , she calmed down and sullenly plopped down on the pile of books that was her seat.
Lucy took the book from Levy and tried to find the unmuting spell, but there was no such luck. She sat down next to Levy who was silently crying her eyes out, her sobs unheard by the world.
"It'll be okay Levy, when we get back to Fairy Tail we can ask Wendy to fix this. Hopefully she knows some spells that can help. Levy nodded but continued to sulk, so Lucy let her be. She deftly pulled several books from the massive piles around her, prompting levy to pick one up as well. The solid-script mage smiled as Lucy sat down next to her. Lucy was sure that Wendy would have something, the little dragon slayer always did. She cracked open the book in her hands and began to read, and was soon lost in the world written on the books pages.
-Two Hours later-
"Don't kill her," Dancer said, stepping into the light that leaked onto the path from the street. "We need to find out why she did it and who she's working for."
Her? Han slumped back against the wall, his knife dangling loosely, his head spinning. This is a dream, he thought.
Dancer knelt next to the prone larcener and relieved her of her knife. He gently turned the body over.
It was-
"Princess."
Lucy squealed, tossing her book in the air as she fell from her pile of books. Virgo stood over her, un-phased by Lucy's reaction. "Is it time for punishment?"
Lucy sighed as she lifted herself from the floor, dusting herself off as she went.
"No Virgo, just don't scare me like that, you nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Yes, Princess. I came to inform you that we are halfway finished, but Taurus has been running on his own magical energy for quite some time and he is very tired."
Lucy noticed for the first time that the mountain of books that had once surrounded them on all sides had been reduced dramatically, it only reached past her chest now, yet more books loomed in the distance.
"I must have unconsciously released my magic, sorry Virgo."
"No need for apologies Princess, although I would like to rest as well."
Lucy nodded as Virgo faded back into the spirit world. The white puddle of cow goop that was once Taurus also returned, leaving the two girls and a lonely wagon in the Library.
Levy seemed to have moved in the past few hours and was now on the other side of the library, removing the last few books from their shelves. She was perched high up on the shelf's ladder, a large pile of books next to her. Lucy glanced at her watch and frowned when she saw how late it was. She grabbed the book she had been reading and walked over to Levy, ogling at the vast space that now filled the once cramped library.
Levy quickly descended from the shelf's ladder and smiled at Lucy, several books pressed protectively to her chest.
Lucy smiled back then commented, "I guess you're staying up late tonight?"
Levy nodded, a determined gleam in her eye. Lucy sighed and took one last look around the huge library and made for the exit, Levy happily walking beside her. She seemed to almost have forgotten about the muting spell that was cast on her just a few hours ago.
The two quickly disappeared into the darkness of the streets of Hargeon, unaware of the intense magical presence that had been watching them since they arrived at the port city.
FT
A man silently followed the two Fairy Tail mages to their apartment. He smirked as he watched the blue haired girl communicate with the busty blond with her hands, making her laugh. This had to be some sort of joke. Fairy Tail mages were considered the strongest in Fiore, there was no way these fruity girls could be members. The blond seemed to be at least mildly powerful with her keys and spell recitation, but the bluenett was far too weak to spend much effort on.
He stopped following the two women, slinking into the shadows as he backtracked to the library. Stepping into an alleyway, he pulled out a communication Lachrima and quickly called his employer. The man's huffy face appeared, his eyes squinting in concentration as they tried to center in on the tiny orb.
"Did you find the Fire mage?"
"One of my comrades has located him, but he is too powerful to attack directly. I've tracked a few of his friends to Hargeon, they seem rather weak so it will be easy to capture them and use them as bait to lure him to you."
His employer huffed, obviously put off by the change in their original plans. "This could cause disastrous problems for my schedule; I am busy you know!"
"Of course sir, but my master and I preferred actually capturing the Salamander rather than losing all our men."
His employer smirked. "So you admit that your guild is weaker then that slayer."
"Yes, but I am not."
His employer nodded and waved his hand, ready to end the Lachrima connection. "I don't care what you do, as long as the Salamander is brought to me by the end of the week."
With that, the connection ended and the man was left staring at a dark orb. He stowed the Lachrima in his coat pocket and stepped out of the alley. He turned down the empty street, heading towards the grand Hargeon library.
FT
Notes: Here's the chapter! I wanted to finish the whole story with Bard but I figured I'd leave you hanging. By the way, the lines from the book that Lucy was reading is the second book of The Seven Realms series, The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima, It's a very good series. Please leave the reviews, they may just make the next chapter come out faster! Also, please check out my new fanfic, That Day, X777. Please leave me some chocolate cookie reviews!