Lucy and Levy were walking around town together that weekend, talking and laughing over ice cream as they goofed around and window-shopped. This was another new experience that came with Fairy Tail, window-shopping. She used to spend a ton of money whenever she went out-which, admittedly, was rarely-so not spending any was new and weird.
It was surprisingly fun just to try stuff on with no intention of buying any of it; the two of them tried on outrageous outfits no one in their right minds would ever seriously buy. They paired huge fluffy skirts with clashing, free-flowing shirts and floppy hats and sandals. Afterwards they would pose to each other and take goofy pictures and laugh, harder than Lucy ever thought was possible, to the point of seeing stars and attracting odd glances from all the other shoppers.
Finally, the two girls crashed down onto a bench in a small park area in the middle of town, rubbing their sore feet and giggling tiredly, clutching their already-sore stomachs.
Lucy was grinning uncontrollably. She had never had so much fun in her life. She looked over at Levy, who was groaning and massaging her feet, but still smiling. When she looked over and saw Lucy grinning at her, her smile widened, and they both burst out laughing, leaning against each other for support as they were deprived of oxygen.
Eventually, they got up the strength to walk back to campus, where their dorm rooms were.
They were slowly making their way across the green of the school lawns when Levy stopped dead in her tracks. She frantically checked each of her pockets before turning her frightened eyes to meet Lucy's confused and worried ones. "I think I left my phone on the bench!" She gasped, before turning to head back.
"Do you want me to some with you?" Lucy asked.
"No. You head back to the dorm. It'll only take me a minute."And with that, the blue-haired girl raced off, and Lucy continued ambling back to the girls' dorm.
Lucy fell asleep as soon as she got to Levy's room (she lived off campus and was only sleeping over with Levy), so she wasn't awake to notice that Levy didn't come back, and it wasn't until the next morning that she started to worry.
Lucy woke up the next morning feeling new and refreshed. She had slept well, and the soreness in her feet had all but gone away. Once she had finally finished completely waking up, her brow wrinkled when she realized the room was empty. Levy wouldn't have gone to breakfast without her, would she?
She changed out of yesterdays clothes (she had been too tired to change into pajamas the night before) and into the clothes she had packed for herself. Then, she headed down to breakfast, assuming Levy had left while she was asleep.
She found the others sitting at their table, except Levy didn't seem to be there yet. The five friends had made a routine of meeting for breakfast here on Sundays, and Lucy and Levy had planned to arrive together.
The group at the table looked up when Lucy approached them, and confusion flickered across each of their faces as they each noticed Levy wasn't with her. Natsu noticed last. "Hey. Where's Levy?" he asked, eyes wide as he leaned to peer around Lucy, like the blue-haired girl was hiding behind her.
"I thought she was down here with you guys." Lucy was starting to seriously worry, as were the others. Where was their happy-go-lucky friend?
Lucy led her friends to the bench where she and Levy had sat yesterday. They had skipped breakfast in fear that, in waiting, something awful would happen to Levy.
They fanned out to search in pairs: Lucy and Erza, and Gray and Natsu.
Lucy and Erza were looking around in the park when they spotted familiar blue. They rushed over to find Levy slumped against a tree, beat up. Lucy rushed forward, closely followed by Erza, who was pulling out her phone to call Natsu and let him and Gray know they had found Levy.
The blue-haired bookworm looked terrible. She was covered in bruises and her lip was bleeding. Once Natsu and Gray arrived, the four friends carried Levy back to the campus infirmary, where she was tended to by Kinana, a young, purple-haired girl who was quiet and kind to everybody.
Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Erza waited by their friend's bedside until she woke up. Natsu spent the whole time ranting about how he would crush whoever did this to someone he cared about. Lucy just stared at Levy, all the while thinking that this was her fault; if she had gone looking for Levy's phone with her, none of this would have happened. Gray and Erza worried and, like Natsu, plotted revenge, although they did it silently.
Eventually, Levy woke up with a groan, opened her eyes, and then startled at her friends all gathered around her, pressing too close to her. They had all jumped up and leaned forward once they had noticed she was waking up, and were crowding her.
When the four teenagers noticed their infirmed friend's discomfort, they sat back down, but they were still tense, ready to spring back up if she needed something.
Finally, Natsu spoke. "Who did this to you?" he practically growled, causing Levy's eyes to widen in surprise.
When she responded, her voice was a little hoarse. "Phan..tom," she croaked, and Natsu's eyes narrowed. Phantom Lord was a rival school, with a reputation almost as good as Fairy Tail's. Only thing was, they were known for being brutal, and enjoyed crushing the competition, going far beyond the normal school rivalry. Levy noticed Natsu's rising anger, and rushed to calm him. "It's o..k… Really Natsu.. I'm….fine." Except she wasn't. And Natsu wasn't the only angry one. All four of the Fairy Tail students sitting around her bed were fuming, the anger growing rapidly inside of them.
Phantom Lord was going to regret this.