Levy's P.O.V.
"So where have you been lately, Levy-chan? It seems like you're gone all the time, but Jet and Droy have been hanging out around the hall." Lucy giggled a little. "They look like lost puppies sometimes." Great. I sighed. "I'm so sorry Lu-chan. I'm such a terrible friend. I've been ignoring everyone because of a new set of books I've been reading." I was telling the truth, but it still felt like lying. I WAS reading a new set of books. I'd never really read teaching books before.
We were currently sitting in the baths at Fairy Hills after our excursion to the bookstore. My muscles were too sore for me to do much else at the moment. I'd told Lucy that I'd been rearranging the bookshelves in my room again, to explain for the stiffness. "Why didn't you say something? I'd have come to help you! And brought Erza! She could probably move the shelves without having to unload all of the books." We laughed then, picturing our scarlet haired friend moving everything without breaking a sweat. "I just, I don't know. It was something I needed to do for myself, Lu-chan. Mostly the shelves ended up back where they'd started anyway, so that wouldn't have been fair to anyone helping me. And it's good for me to not be such a wimp all the time."
I looked up to see Lucy looking at me with concern in her face. "Levy-chan, what's going on? You've been down lately. And when you ARE around, you're exhausted all the time. I know it's not just from moving the bookshelves." I just shook my head, mentally kicking myself again for being such a bad friend. I took a deep breath and smiled brightly at my blonde friend. "Nothing, Lu. Don't worry about it. Shall we finish up and go have Cancer fix our hair? I'm ready for that pedicure!"
Lucy continued to stare at me for a few seconds, then smiled back. "Sure! Let's go!" We both toweled off and got dressed, then headed to my room. I hooked my arm through Lucy's and we started skipping like a couple of children. That soak did wonders for my muscles. I'll have to remember to do that more often. We got to my door, giggling uncontrollably, and I opened it. "Go ahead and call him, I'm just going to grab something out of my room really quick." I went into my dark room to grab a book Lucy and I had been talking about. I knew exactly where it is, so I didn't even turn the lights on.
As I crossed the room, I felt like something was off. I adjusted my course and grabbed the baseball bat that leaned against the wall next to my bed instead. I took a stance ready to swing and looked slowly around my room to figure out what had triggered this paranoia. I noticed my window open, and thought to myself, I'm pretty sure I haven't opened that all day...
As I continued to sweep my room with my gaze, my eyes adjusted to the low light. I could tell no one was in my room, but the bed I was standing next to seemed to have something on it. Still holding the bat ready, I reached one hand over and hit my light switch. As soon as the lights came on I felt dumb, getting worked up for nothing. I sat the bat against my wall again and went to close the window before turning back to the bundle on my bed.
In the middle of the tiny bed was a package, plain brown paper, tied with twine. I could tell from the shape that it was a large book, but who... I reached a hand towards it, but decided against unwrapping it. I'm already ignoring my friends enough. If I open that now Lucy won't be able to get my attention again tonight. I turned and grabbed the book I'd initially came in for and left the room, turning my light off as I went.
The rest of the night the package on my bed lingered in the back of my mind. I felt more and more like my old self as the night went on, and Lucy stopped asking if I was okay by the time we'd gotten our hair done. Cancer put gentle waves in my hair and pinned my bangs back with clips before he told me my hair was "awesome, baby", took a bow and disappeared. Lucy and I laughed about that as we left, arms linked again. Even though it was dark out, with my new defense skills and Lucy's whip on her belt, we walked down the street without any fear. Of course, she didn't know anything about my skills, but the salon we were going to wasn't all that far from Fairy Hills anyway.
We laughed and talked about books and boys while we got our feet done. Lucy told the girl doing my toes that I was super ticklish, so I spent five minutes convulsing with laughter as my foot was trapped and tickled. As revenge I started teasing her, "so, Lu-chan, have you kissed Natsu yet?" Her face was instantly a beet red, "What?! Why would I do that?!" The girls giving us pedicures perked their ears up. One of them squealed, "Natsu? You mean Fairy Tail's Salamander? He's so hot!"
The other girl rolled her eyes, "He may be cute, but I hear he's always destroying things! Wait, you two are with Fairy Tail, right? Is Gray really so cold all the time?" Lucy and I looked at each other and laughed at them calling Natsu and Gray hot and cold. "Not really," I told them. "He's just quiet, and not very good at expressing himself." Lucy and I lapsed into a conversation about the books we'd bought earlier. Well, Lucy bought one. I bought six. Not that I had room for them. When our pedicures were done we left, and started walking back to Fairy Hills.
"Did you want to stay over, Lu-chan? So you don't have to walk all the way home this late?" I really did want to stop being such a terrible friend. Lucy walked with her hands clasped behind her, bouncing a little with each step she took. "No, I'll be fine. Thank you though." She smiled, and the light from a store window we were walking past illuminated a blush crossing her cheeks. "I'd better get home and kick Natsu and Happy out before they destroy the place." I kept my laugh to myself. The girl was hilariously trying to deny that there was anything between her and our hotheaded friend, but most of the rest of the guild knew better.
"Okay, will you send me a message when you're home safe?" I'd figured out a way to enchant a couple of notebooks so we could write messages to each other. If I wrote in mine, the words would show up in hers, and the Fairy Tail emblem on the cover would glow a pale blue. If she wrote in hers it would show in mine, but my emblem glowed a soft yellow. I could enchant them for more than just the two of us, and probably would someday, but it was a new thing we were trying and I wanted to keep it something special for Lucy and I. She's my best friend, after all.
"For sure, Levy-chan!" We stopped outside the door of Fairy Hills and hugged good night, then I watched her for as long as I could see her. I wasn't too worried, her "Lucy kick" worked pretty well against Natsu, so average thugs wouldn't stand a chance. Plus, there weren't any bad neighborhoods between her home and mine. I turned to go inside and realized I had nothing stopping me from tearing that book open tonight, so I raced up the stairs. I wasn't even tired, really, since I was up later than this most nights lately anyway. I took more time than I wanted to making sure I wasn't too loud shutting doors. Just because I didn't want to sleep, it didn't mean Laki and Juvia didn't want to. And Erza... she's really not one I like to disturb.
Finally making it into my room, I dropped my purse on the floor and kicked off my shoes before hopping onto the bed. I reached out tentative hands, turning the huge book over carefully to see if there was a card or any writing to tell me who the gift was from. Finding nothing, I shrugged and pulled the twine apart and let the paper fall off the book. My jaw fell with the paper, and I stared at the tome in my hands.
This book was an old, I mean, really old book I'd been drooling over for months! Every time I was in the bookstore I would skim a page or two before immersing myself in other books. The price tag on it was almost as high as my rent though, so I'd never been able to buy it! Maybe if I'd held off on buying any other books. For two years. Maybe. But now I didn't have too! I searched again for a tag to tell me who to thank for this marvel, but there was still nothing.
I wiped my hands on my skirt to make sure there was nothing on them that would ruin the ancient pages. Grabbing my glasses, a pen, and a notebook, I settled in to start translating the book. It was in at least four different languages, and I hadn't ever been able to decipher more than a line or two before. I didn't even know what the book contained, which was new for me; I just knew I needed to read it.
As I got into the first few chapters, I smiled at my luck. This book is full of different types of magics! Even I know that not everyone can learn magic from a book, but maybe this would help me figure out some techniques to teach the kids different basics. Even if it didn't, it would be fascinating to read. I looked up finally at my clock and realized it'd been over four hours. I whipped my head to look at the notebook on the shelf over the head of my bed and saw a faint yellow emanating from it. I smiled and leaned up to grab the book, rocking to my knees and stretching out all the way. I sat back on my feet, legs crossed, and dropped the notebook in my lap.
~I'm home and safe, and had my bed pre-warmed by a certain pink haired trespasser! Smh! That dumb cat left blue hair everywhere too, I'll have to clean that up tomorrow!~
~Did you see my earlier message? Don't want you worrying about me, and I know this new spell doesn't always come through right away.~
~I'm pretty sure you're probably curled up in bed reading, aren't you? I know that's what I'm doing right now! :) ~
~okay, Levy-chan, you were totally right, this book is amazing! But I really have to sleep. So I'm going to close it, and hate you for giving this to me so late in the day that I couldn't finish it. J/k, hope you get some sleep and don't read all night! Ily!~
I laughed after reading all of the messages from Lucy. I grabbed my pen and wrote back,
~Lu-chan, you know me so well. As soon as you were out of sight I was on my bed reading. Sorry I didn't answer right away, hope you're sleeping well! Talk to you tomorrow... I mean, later today! Ily2!~
I sighed and put all of my books down, standing up and stretching. I clasped my hands together and pushed them up over my head until I heard a satisfying pop. It felt so good, I decided to do some of the stretches Gajeel had taught us, even if I hadn't used any of my muscles. Hmm, I wonder if... No, I'm sure he didn't bring me the book. Why would he? There's no way he'd spend that kind of money on me.
I pulled the sundress I'd been wearing off and grabbed my pajamas, my favorite long loose pants and snug tank top. Before I pulled them on, I stretched my arms up again, then leaned to one side, holding for ten seconds before straightening up. Then I leaned to the other side for another ten seconds. Finally, I bent forward, stretching my arms out and then down, placing my hands flat in front of my feet. My flexibility has improved a bit too!
Standing up straight again, I pulled my pajamas on, then moved my pile of books off the bed and onto my desk. I turned the light off and collapsed on my bed, dreams claiming me in a matter of seconds.
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Woo! This chapter is longer than most, but I just had so much to put in here! As always, let me know if you catch any mistakes or anything, and tell me whatcha think!