Fairy Tail: Journeyman

Chapter 17: I-Spy

The soil crunched beneath my feet, with the night air still spreading its muted warmth along my skin. The cicadas dull roar echoed as the moon started to rise.

I couldn't help but replay the entire afternoon over and over again in my head.

Everything about it was odd.

What small connection I had with the keys. Zeref's cold and calculating attitude, and the fact that he had asked for my help at all. And even more so...

I tried to recall images of the scrawled notes I had seen strewn about his desk.

"All I see is dead leaves and weird looking bugs."

Natsu kicked the dirt underneath him, my ears picking up the scattering of rocks across the dirt path.

My eyes trailed the varying colors of brown and green on the forest floor looking for all the things I knew I wouldn't find there.

The others had spread out along the tree line in an attempt to find anything in the area where Jellal had made his first memory.

"Yea..." My voice came out distant, only half listening to his comments, my mind still trying to understand all the things I had experienced with Zeref.

Even thinking his name made me shudder.

"Talk about the worst game of I-Spy ever." Natsu's body sagged, his head cocking slightly when I didn't respond.

His eyes narrowed. "You haven't yelled at me once." My head still remained bowed as I tracked the dark colors of the earth.

"Yea..." I gave out a half-hearted response.

"Earth to Lucy!" I jumped slightly as Natsu leaped in front of me waving his arms.

"Oh, sorry..." I let out a chuckle, rubbing my hand against my forehead. "What were you saying?"

Natsu's brow furrowed as he crossed his arms. "You've been weird all day. What's going on?"

I let my gaze fall back to the ground as I bit my lip.

"I'm sorry, it's just been... weird."

Natsu steeled his expression, his muscles tightening across his chest. "Tell me."

I fiddled with my hands, a breeze rushing through the trees with a whisper.

"I...met with your brother today."

As the words left my lips I saw a darkness cloud Natsu's expression. It was a cold but ferocious type of fury that I couldn't explain.

"He came to the diner before you got there asked me to meet him in his office. He said he wanted my opinion on an artifact, but it wasn't... normal."

Natsu shuffled slightly but continued to listen.

"I mean in general it was odd he asked for my help at all, considering I'm just a waitress. But more than that, I felt... attached to those keys."

Natsu's head perked.

"Keys? Like the key Jellal has?"

I shook my head.

"No. I don't think so. At least not fully." My mouth thinned into a line. "These were more..."

I contemplated my words trying to understand myself how I felt. In the end there was only one word that seemed to fit.

"Alive."

Natsu hummed.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I cocked my head slightly. "What do you mean?"