~Taking a third of the chapter to see what they are doing in the guild~
~Three days after Lucy's disappearance~
Mirajane's P.O.V.
It is five past three by the time Levy shows up in the guild and makes her way straight to the bar.
"What's wrong, Levy?" I ask as I place the clean mug back on the shelf. She looks distressed, and ready to cry from all the worry that seems to be building up inside her.
"It's nothing. There's nothing we can do about it," answers Levy, who then crosses her arms on the table, and puts her head down. She sighs, "I really want to do something about it."
"Well, I hope your problem will be solved soon." I tell her. I am about to ask what is wrong but I note that she is not comfortable talking with me about it, so I leave Levy to serve my guildmates. About a minute or so after I leave Levy, something crosses my mind.
'There's something wrong in the guild,' I note to myself. I look around and know in my gut that I am right. I pick up the empty mugs from the table and walk straight to the bar where Levy is. 'It can't be,' I keep thinking. I reach the bar and place the mugs down, then go to Levy.
"Levy, I want you to listen to me. I know that this might sound crazy but I really hope you would think about it." I am quite surprised by my own reaction in this situation.
"This is only a hunch but I think something has happened to Lucy." Levy slowly sits up straight as her eyes widen. "She hasn't been here in almost three days and I know she's not on a mission." She starts to fidget, her hands begin fiddling with each other, and she avoids eye contact. "Do you know something about this?"
"Sh-she…" she stutters. I make myself calm down for a bit, hoping she would too. I am not even angry to begin with, although my tone is a bit irate from all that has happened and is happening. I suppose she misinterpreted my tone for an angry one.
"Okay, I'm sorry by how I reacted. I am just worried that something has happened to Lucy. I mean, we have a lot of enemies and I know that someone might just hurt one of us; and when that time comes, prepared or not, I will fight." She places her head down but I see her smile.
She looks up at me still smiling, and speaks.
"Lucy's not in any danger. I'm the one who should apologize for being so scared. I thought no one would notice since you guys were celebrating. Don't worry about Lucy. She's taking care of her relative who is ill." I straighten my back since I have been leaning forwards a little towards Levy.
"Why didn't she tell us?"
"After we got to her apartment, the landlady gave her a letter from her relative. When she finished reading the whole letter, she immediately packed her bags and told me not to tell anyone about it. I am not sure why she told me that, because I wasn't able to read or get to know what the contents are; but I did what I was told and told no one about it, until you noticed." Levy pauses.
"I began to feel afraid because I was not sure whether to tell you or not. I knew that it would break Lucy's heart if I break her promise but I wasn't able to find a reasonable excuse and I ended up telling you about it." Silence overcomes the whole guild since a lot of them have gone on missions. "I'm really sorry I wasn't able to tell it to you straight away."
"It's alright, Levy. At least now I know that Lucy is not in any danger." I smile and she smiles back.
"Well I got to leave now. I haven't told Master Makarov about it since I wasn't sure if Lucy would be okay with it. Nonetheless, I probably should tell him since I already told you about it. See you tomorrow, Mirajane." We bid each oother farewell and I continue my work.
Levy's P.O.V.
As I leave the bar and make my way to Master Makarov's office, I keep thinking of how close I have come to telling her the truth.
"I'm sorry Mirajane. It's best that you don't know anything for the present." I say to myself. No matter how hard I try to conceal it, someone will always be there to notice what's wrong. I don't even realize that most of them have gone on missions since I have been too busy searching for clues as to what might happened to Lucy after they take her to the Celestial Spirit World.
When I reach the front door of Master Makarov's office, I take a deep breath and tell myself, "You have got to make it as believable as possible, Levy. You can do it!" I then knock on the door.
"Come in." I open the door and am invited to sit at the other end of the table.
"Levy? What brings you here?" His mood seems happy although his tone has a bit of worry mix into it. I try to be confident and to not look scared and anxious.
"Master Makarov, Lucy is currently taking care of her relative who is ill. She left three days ago." He looks at me seriously.
"Why are you telling me this and not her?" He begans to be suspicious.
"Well, as soon as she received the letter from her relative, she immediately packed her bags and left."
"And you are sure it's her real relative?" I know what he meant by 'real' relative. Lucy has always getting fooled by people which puts her in danger. I sometimes think that her happy self is going away since she always get fooled; but I doubt that, since her friends are there for her.
"Yes, it's real. I've seen them in pictures with her as a child." I nod as I say those words to make sure he believes it.
"Very well then. I hope Lucy gets there safely." Although he still looks unsure of what I have said, he lets me go and I go straight home.
Levy's House
Wendy's P.O.V.
I am reading one of Levy's books in her mini library when she comes home. I place the book down on the table and go to greet her.
"Welcome back, Levy. How are those in the guild?" We sit in the living room.
"Most of them are on missions so they are only a few people left, such as Mirajane and Master Makarov." I look at Levy and notice that she looks a bit tired.
"Are you alright, Levy? You seem tired." I ask.
"Yes, I am well. I'm just tired from having all that knowledge thrown at me earlier."
"Is it about Lucy?"
"Yes. The thing is, I don't know when she will return. A day in the Celestial Spirit World is 3 months here. I'm really worried that people will start to ask questions about her long disappearance because I have no excuse whatsoever. I told Mirajane and Master Makarov that she left to take care of a sick relative but I don't know how long it will take for Lucy to return just in time for people not to notice her disappearing."
"I believe that people will not question about Lucy since they are on missions although I don't know how long it will take them to return. Plus, I know Lucy will come back as soon as she is well."
Present Time
Narrator's P.O.V.
"Rise and shine, Lucy!" Levy jumps on the bed to wake Lucy up. It works, as proven by Lucy opening her eyes wide at the sudden loud noise and disturbance on her bed.
"Is Loke calling us already?" asks Lucy in a sleepy tone, sitting up between Levy and Wendy.
"We just came by to wake you up. Plus, Aries said it's time for breakfast," says Wendy.
"Is that so? Well, I better get ready then," Lucy stands up and grabs her things
"You guys go on ahead," she says, before going to the bathroom while Levy and Wendy do as they are told and go down to help cook breakfast. When Lucy is finished taking her bath, she goes down just as they are beginning to eat. After eating, they proceed to discuss how they are going to train in the living room.
Loke sets up a cube with tiny buttons on one side on the table and begins explaining. "Here's what you're going to do," he presses a red button, which causes a screen to appear in mid-air. The screen has an illustration of a forest covering two thirds of the screen with their house at the top of it. Levy, Lucy, and Wendy's face are on the gap between the house and the forest.
"You three are going to have to go to the forest which will act as a maze. Since I haven't been to the Celestial King's room, I don't know what the layout is. Thus, with the help of Freed, we created a maze for you to solve." He presses the blue button which leads to the current picture to be covered by a smaller picture. The picture shows of a blue teardrop-shaped zircon crystal with a silver cable link chain.
"Your mission is to find the replica of the crystal necklace. If you find it, then we don't have to train anymore and we can go to the Celestial Spirit World to get the real crystal necklace. Some of the Celestial Spirits, as well as Freed, helped create the maze that, I think, will have as many traps and riddles as the Celestial King has in his room. I think that it will be very difficult for you guys to solve in a day." He pulls something out of his inner pocket and gave them anklets with a ruby on the centre and a silver cable link chain.
Loke gives it to the three of them and says, "Wear that and protect it at all costs. It is hard to break but once the ruby or the chain breaks then I will not know where you are located but it will send us a signal. Tap on the ruby if ever you guys need help. Whether it's food, water, or anything else, Virgo will show up and get you what you need. If one of you gets heavily injured or when it is nightfall then safely unlock it from your ankle, grab the ruby out of the chain and hold it up high. Once it absorbs enough light, the ruby will light up until the shade of red can't be seen. That is when all you three are transported back to the house, separated or not."
"What do you mean separated?" asks Levy with concern in her voice.
"You three will not get separated until needed. We did plenty in the maze's creation. I don't know what the others did on their part in an entirety, thus I don't know if you guys will get separated or not," replies Loke.
He stands up and adds, "Tell me if you guys are ready to solve the maze. I'll be in the Library searching about the Celestial Spirit World's case." Loke leaves with Aries and Virgo.
"Should we go now?" asks Wendy.
"Not yet," answers Levy. "We have to have a plan so we don't get lost."
Levy presses the red button which shows the map again. She touches her symbolic head which is in the middle of the three on the screen and begins dragging it to the centre of the forest, alongside with Lucy and Wendy's symbolic heads.
"We start in the middle up then we just go straight forward until we encounter an obstacle. If we have to separate then we each will leave a mark for the others to find." Levy starts
"I doubt that that would work," says Freed. The three girls jump in surprise. They don't notice Freed because he has been leaning against a wall behind them.
"My suggestion is that you do not separate at all costs because of you do, you will certainly regret it."
Freed then leaves. Levy presses the red button again which turns the cube off.
"There goes my plan," says Levy who then sighs loudly.
"I think we should just hope for the best," says Lucy. "It may seem difficult but we have each other. Levy can decode Freed's barriers. Wendy has her magic and I can summon my Celestial Spirits to help even if some of them did help create the maze."
"My question is, why is Freed not coming with us? He helped with setting the maze but is he not going to go with us on the Celestial Spirit World? I mean, he helps with the maze but not going us?" asks Wendy.
"Only one way to find out," says Levy as she stands up. Seeing Levy stand up, Lucy and Wendy also stand up.
"Are you guys ready to go?" They both nod and proceed to the Library.
En route, Lucy stops walking and suddenly exclaims, "I forgot my keys. I'll be back, you guys go on ahead." She then left. Steps away to the front door, Levy stops walking which causes Wendy to stop walking as well. Levy makes a gesture for Wendy to be quiet, Wendy nods.
Levy then makes another gesture for Wendy to lean closer to the door so they can listen to what Loke is saying.
"It's not that I'm opposed to your plan, I just need time to get something done before we proceed," says Loke.
"You better do it quickly or else I'm taking care of it myself." They heard a "beep" and hurriedly walk away from the front door. When they hear the door knob turn, they turned their backs around and saw Loke come out.
"How long have you guys been standing there?" ask Loke.
"We just arrived; we were surprised when you opened the door quickly," replies Levy. A pregnant silence follows until Levy asks a question.
"Where're Aries and Virgo?"
"I sent them to the Celestial Spirit World to check for any news. Where's Lucy?"
"She just went to her room to get her Celestial Keys," replies Wendy.
"Guys, I'm back!" Levy and Wendy turn around to see Lucy running towards them while waving her hand.
"Sorry for having to make you wait." She stops and stands between Levy and Wendy, who turn around again so the three of them are facing Loke.
"Are you guys ready?" ask Loke.
"Wait, I forgot to bring my books and glasses. I'll be back. You guys can go ahead." Levy leaves to go to her room.
After they finally gather up outside the house; with Lucy and her Celestial Keys and whip at her side, Levy with her books and glasses in her backpack and Wendy with her body bag, which contains water and flashlight. The three of them are wearing sun hats since the weather is a quite sunny and also just in case it becomes hot later.
"Quick reminder. If you're thirsty or hungry, just tap on the button and Virgo will come for you. And we will not know what you guys are doing; we only know where you are based on the illustration on the screen earlier, and your anklets that give us your location, not specifically where you are, but the approximate area of the forest that you are currently in." Loke said to the three of them.
"You don't need to worry," said Lucy "I'm sure we can solve this in a short period of time." She looks around and sees that Freed isn't there.
"Where's Freed, by the way? Is he not going to say goodbye?"
"I think he's in his room," replies Levy. "To begin with, he does not socialize unless needed to anyway, and I doubt that he will even say goodbye to the three of us when we're going to see each other later."
"Still… he should at least see us off." Wendy pouts.
"Freed will be watching the screen while I investigate a little more," says Loke. He looks at his wristwatch and adds "You guys better go now since you have limited daylight." The three of them bid each other goodbye and walk quickly into the forest.
Hallo everyone! Truly sorry for the delay. I was actually procrastinating since it is the first time I have had a long summer break for the first time. The school changed their system a little bit that affected the schedule of the school year XD
This was actually done but I didn't have time to post it and sometimes I forgot to post this and it lead to three months of absolute silence coming from me. The first paragraph was before the school started and now the second quarter is here since I finish exams the day before yesterday.
If you have time, please check their profiles: cmjfire14 and lilithjae. They are lovely people who are helping me with the story to make it better. I also accept suggestions from people and opinions as to what they felt about in this chapter. Please don't forgot to leave a review as they will help greatly. :)