Chapter 2:

27 Days

It has been four whole days… Five thousand seven hundred and sixty whole hours since Lucy had last talked to Natsu. She made a promise! But so far she's been locked up in the mansion planning on what to do instead of actually doing anything. It's been four entire days! 345,600 seconds!-

"Lu, I really think you need to calm down." The blue-haired librarian finally took her fingers off of her keyboard, leaning back in her chair with a loud yawn.

"Calm down!?" Lucy stopped chewing on her nails, snapping her neck towards the girl as her eye twitched in frustration. The blond straightened her back, twiddling her fingers in a feigned interest.

She cleared her throat. "What are you talking about, Levy? I am calm."

Levy raised a brow in suspicion.

"What!? I am! Calm as a bird, as a bee, as a calm ocean breeze!"

"Lu. Your go-to panic mechanism is poetry." The girl deadpanned, stopping her friend in the middle of intimidating a 'calm ocean breeze'. "Obviously something has got you this fidgety."

Then, under her breath, "Or someone. "

Lucy sighed, dropping her arms in another form of silent frustration. But could you blame her? Ever since she was just a small naive child, the blond has kept it in her moral to always tell the truth, never break a promise. It's been a rule that she's followed since- well, since forever!

So how could she just idly sit by for the rest of the week, giggling and laughing in her mansion's library with her best friend Levy while she had a promise to keep!

"I made a promise, Levy! Now how am I supposed to fulfill it if I can only get out of this stupid house on Saturdays ?"

Levy shrugged, eyeing the girl in confusion. "Why didn't you like… ask for his number or something?"

"Levy!" Lucy gasped dramatically, holding her arm to her chest like she just got burned. "I couldn't do that! It'd just look like I was h-hitting on him or something!" A light blush overtook her pale cheeks.

"Did you want to hit on him?" Levy once again raised a teasing brow. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Of course not!"

"Then why won't you stop bringing him up in every conversation we have!?" The girl sighed in exasperation.

… Well now Lucy felt bad. Has she really mentioned him that much?

"I told you! I made a pro-"

"A promise, I know." Levy boredly interrupted.

The blond pouted, plopping down on the chair next to her friend with a dissatisfied huff. Levy sighed, shutting her computer with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Look, if it means that much to you, Natsu goes to school."

"Yes. That's why I can only see him on Saturdays ." Lucy spelled it out as if talking to a child.

"You didn't let me finish!" Levy snapped. "Natsu goes to school, Lu. My school."

Lucy's eyes widened as Levy continued. "Maybe I could talk to him about you or something so that by the end of the month he'll still know you like 'the back of his hand' or whatever-"

"Levy, you beautiful genius! That's it!"

"Well I am pretty smart." Levy preened.

"I'm going to school!" Lucy announced, standing with a prideful smile stuck on her face. The blue-haired girl watched in exasperation for a moment, waiting for her friend to realize the implications of her statement. After a while she sighed, pushing her red glasses above her nose tiredly.

After collecting herself, she firmly stated, "How."

Now that stupid grin was really frozen on Lucy's face. Finally the implications came flooding in. "By… asking my father." Her voice wavered.

Levy raised a brow.

"Oh, stop doing that!" The blond kicked her foot in annoyance. "I'll ask him!" She shouted, running out of the room in an attempt to save her stubborn pride. Levy sighed, staring at the spot that Lucy once resided in with a frown.

"Good luck." she whispered.

Light brown boots stomped across the finely decorated marble floors, clearly in a hurry to get to their destination. Lucy curled her fist, breathing slowly as she approached a large wooden door. A sign spelled out clearly in large letters, "Do not disturb me while I am working."

She rolled her eyes like she does every time she stepped foot outside of this door. Which wasn't much… at least not willingly .

"Oh, Miss Lucy, what brings you here?" Kairos, (or Horologium as she liked to call him) her fathers assistant bowed respectfully, a short strand of gelled gray hair falling out of place and catching Lucy's attention.

"Horologium!" The girl chirped, obviously avoiding an inevitable topic. The man tilted his head in question. "Is um… I'd like to schedule an appointment with my father please."

The man made a noise of acknowledgment, feeling his mustache as he checked the clipboard in his hands. "It seems the next time he'll be free is…" He scanned lower. "Tonight at 6:30pm which is about 7 hours and thirty minutes from now. However, estimating from the way the clouds are moving it seems the meeting may be a few minutes late due to-"

"Thank you, that's fine!" Lucy interrupted, breathing out a relieved sigh as he blinked back unfazed. And he wonders why her and half of the staff called him Horologium. The man was practically a walking pendulum clock.

The man wore a soft smile as he asked, "What is it that you'd like to speak to your father about?"

"Well I was hoping to address the topic of… um school with him."

Horologium made a noise of understanding, glancing back at the door behind him. "I'm assuming the reason behind that would be to become more friendly with the children of some of Master Jude's business partners?"

"Uhh," Lucy laughed nervously, having not even thought about what points to bring up. "Yep. That's the main reason!"

Horologium nodded his head, stroking his beard. "Which means you're hoping to attend Fairy Tail private school… Am I correct?"

The blond cursed under her breath. She forgot to ask Levy what school she went to! Although, going off of the symbol Lucy often saw her friend wearing on her clothes, she decided to go with it. "Uhm… yes of course."

"I see." He nodded once again, leaving Lucy in her mild panic state and cracking open the door behind him.

He peeked his head inside. "What do you say, Sir?"

Lucy froze, the nervousness from before hitting her once again like a flood. Had her father been listening in this whole time!?

She heard him sigh from behind the door. "That should be fine as long as she actively participates in my gatherings from now on."

Horologium hadn't even bothered to look back at her, simply saying, "She understands completely, Sir."

"Good." Her fathers tired voice boomed from inside of his office. "You're excused, I have a lot to do."

Horologium bowed, backing up and shutting the door behind him.

Had… Had Horologium been helping Lucy during their entire conversation!?

(And how thin exactly were the walls of the Heartfilia mansion? Suddenly the way her Father knew about everything she did seemed to make more sense.)

Lucy shook her head. "Horologium," She whispered, gesturing for him to come closer. He did, although not without the questioning look he sent her way.

"Thank you…" She said, The man sent her a knowing smile and a wink before sending her on her way.

Lucy couldn't contain her grin as she went back to the library to tell Levy the good news (and confirm that she got the right school of course). Even that night, sleep was hard to come by as she imagined her very first day of school. And if most of her scenarios involved her "unintentionally" running into Natsu well… that was for her to know.