Fairy Tail: Journeyman

Chapter 16: It's Not Always About You

My hands shook as my sandals fell on the pavement of the College parking lot. There weren't a lot of pleasant memories I had associated with the brick structure. Course after course in creative writing, literary art and composition and I still walked away with nothing.

I looked into the building, a small If not slightly broken wooden chair and table barely visible through the glass.

Well maybe not nothing.

A small smile crept across my lips. I wrote some of my best works here. Maybe not good enough to publish. Maybe nobody would ever read it. But it was still a part of me.

I clutched a hand to my chest.

"Miss Lucy, how good to see you." The cool voice disrupted whatever calm I had accumulated. I stepped back, adjusting my body to address the voice from behind.

"Zeref..." I tried to make my voice cordial, masking any sign of unease that I felt, but I knew it wouldn't work. Not with him. "You as well."

We stood in silence for a moment, his rich black tie flapping with the wind against his neatly pressed white button down, a stack of books wrinkling the side of the fabric only slightly as he carried them rigidly.

"Here, please follow me." He started towards the building ahead, hardly looking back to ensure I was keeping pace.

We climbed three sets of stairs, to which my calves screamed at the abuse.

'Couldn't we have just taken the elevator?'

My thoughts groaned against the injustice as my chest heaved at the strain.

Zeref paused on the last step.

"Sorry, this building was built so long ago that the original design never included any elevators. I guess for authenticity they deemed it inappropriate to add one anywhere."

'Of course...' I whined internally.

He flashed a patronizing smile. "I guess that's fitting for a building that houses the history department."

Turning around he headed for the door to the hallway.

When we reached his office I felt my whole body shout in relief as it sunk into the plush chair on the opposite end of his desk.

The tension wasn't gone for long as Zeref slid himself into the desk chair opposite mine, the air of the room growing more and more quiet as he shifted his weight.

He folded his hands in front of him, a half placating smile plastered on his face as if he was about to discipline a student.

I looked out his window, the sun already beginning its descent.

The window was, taking up at least half of the far wall. It seemed like such a nice office to give up to the newest professor on staff, unless of course all the offices were the same.

It was also a shock to see how quickly Zeref had moved in. The walls were already lined with an unending row of books. Shelves stacked ceiling high with papers and texts. The desk was in fairly neat order. There were only a few papers strung along in random order, but all of them seemed to be written in some sort of odd...

My eyes widened as I stared at the pages, my heart freezing.

I had...seen that writing before. The script was in the same non-sensical format that Jellal had shown us. My mind reeled, jumping across an endless sea of questions and answers.

Zeref's eyes narrowed as he caught me staring at his desk. In a fluid flow of motion he grabbed the notes, the pages crinkling, and shoved them into his desk drawer.

"My apologies, I tend to write notes frequently when I work so it can make my desk space quite unseemly at times."

I shook my hands in front of me politely. "Oh, no please! It is your desk after all! I write notes frequently like that too!"

My heart pounded. So did that mean... the ripped page we found...was Zeref's?

I felt beads of sweat form at my brow, Zeref's intense stare making me wonder if he could read minds. I needed to be careful.

"So... you wanted me to look at something?" I folded my hands neatly in front of me, mainly to keep them from shaking.

Zeref let out a soft and quick sigh. "Quite." He rummaged around in his desk drawer, soft sounds of metal clashing with wood and other oddities reverberating. Eventually he stopped and the clashing was replaced with clinking metal.

"What do you make of this?"

There was a loud clatter as he dropped the item on his desk, and just as the last echo resounded from the contact of metal to metal, I no longer felt that I was breathing.

It was a ring. A beautiful golden ring. And on it were various skeleton keys, a combination of gold and siler. They lacked a certain glow I felt that should be attributed to them, any shine replaced with a dull and lackluster color. But still...

My head ached but I ignored it, the cry of my heart outweighing it. Tears stung at my eyes.

I reached out a hand to the key ring. These keys... they were... they were...

There was a chill as I felt Zeref's hand brush the top of mine.

"My apologies I must insist that you don't touch the artifact. I'm afraid I would never hear the end of it if something was to happen in the care of someone else."

His smile was all but gone now as he eyed me with suspicion.

I retreated my hand.

"Oh, of course I'm sorry." I stared at the keys. It was an odd sensation feeling so attached to something you had never seen before. But I knew that it was important. My breath was unsteady. It was also something I had to protect.

"So, you do recognize them then?" Zeref's words were pointed. The way he stressed the phrase. It made my skin crawl.

I steadied my breath. I forced out a chuckle as I rubbed the back of my head. "No, I'm sorry. I thought I might have but I think I made a mistake. Like I said if a professor couldn't figure it out there's no way I could!"

Zeref's lips thinned into a line, his dark eyes refusing to break contact with mine. How much of me did he know? After a beat of silence he grabbed the keys and threw them into the drawer.

"Very Well. I apologize for taking up so much of your time." He rose from his chair prompting me to do the same. "Can you find your way back out?"

I nodded my head as I left his office.

"Not a problem!"

He bowed his head slightly. "Wonderful. Stay well Lucy, and if you do happen to think of anything..." he paused, the room chilling slightly. "please do let me know."

I gulped, nodding slightly before he clicked the door shut.

I took a deep breath as I walked back out of the building. Thankfully going back down stairs was far easier. But I couldn't help but notice how my heart ached with every step I took.

Did I recognize those keys? Not in any way that made sense. But I needed to trust this part of myself. I clenched my fists. I needed to trust, because this time... it might not just be about me.