Decay of Agony

Chapter 18

Her father was the easiest to understand. Enough said about her fears of confrontation. Nothing else needs to be said.

Then there's Erza..... She was already confused before. But now she's more confused. Sure Lucy may had caught Erza reading some naughty BL and GL books sometimes, but... was that an indication of anything? Or was it something else entirely? Was it a kiss of affection? A thank you kiss? .... Probably a thank you kiss. What else could've it been?

Lucy slammed the book closed that she was reading in frustration. There was nothing about dreams or visions. Is there something that she had overlooked?

She sighed as she looked at the next book that she checked out. The book of celestials. She stared at the cover of the book and sat in silence, wondering what was the meaning of her keys in her vision. It had to mean something. The bars that separated her and her father, and the choice that he gave her. 

"Lucy? I brought you something."

The blonde turned to see Wendy with a plate of food. It was there that she realized she haven't eaten in a while. 

...Maybe a change of pace is what she needs.

"Thanks." Lucy smiled as she took the plate and set it on the table and slowly stuffed herself with food, as to avoid choking to death.

Wendy shifted side to side before sitting down next to the celestial mage. "You been in here a lot recently." She stated the obvious, trying to strike a conservation with the hungry blonde.

"Just researching."

"About what?"

"Materials for my book." Lucy lied, and wondered if she fooled Wendy or not. Probably not. She haven't been near any paper or pen to write. Hopefully it was good enough of a lie to fool a little kid. 

"Ooo really? What will the book be about?" Wendy asked, a little too excited than Lucy care to admit.

And Lucy was flabbergasted. She didn't expect the kid to take an interest it in. It took her a moment to formulate a solid storyline. "It's about this character that suddenly has dreams and visions of the celestial world. The character didn't know what these visions meant, and went on a long journey to learn what they are before learning that the character was the only one with the power to save the world, and that the celestial dimension had been calling on the character for help for a long time."

"That sounds like an amazing story. Is there any way I can help?"

She was about to say no, but then had an idea. Maybe Wendy could 'help' her. "Sure, but this guild doesn't have enough information about what I need to find."

"Then we can go to the library!"

"That sounds perfect." As devious as this was, she did felt bad for lying. 

 ...

To keep her lie in place, Lucy had to write all of her research about the character and everything else in the empty sketchbook that she bought. It actually proved worthwhile to jot down the things that she know, and the things that she needed to figure out. And she could easily say that it was for her character's dilemma. It was perfect! 

Her friends and her father, she understood the metaphorical messages that it was sending. But Erza and her keys? She's drawing a blank.  

It had been several weeks as Wendy and her visited the library almost everyday and Lucy was no closer to the problem revolving Erza. But the keys started to make sense.

The celestial energy was calling to Lucy? Trying to help? To warn her? That's the only thing that made sense. That or the key was glowing and was about to explode, according to some book that she encountered (Which was full of wrong facts. The book said that Leo was a female celestial spirit with the power of brown flames? It gave Lucy a headache half through the book.)