Fairy Tail: Journeyman

Chapter 22: Faith for Fairies

"I have to admit this all seems to be a little far-fetched." Erza's hand reached to her chin as she stared at the annotated pages that Levy had lain across Grey's dining room table. Her blue plaid shirt which matched seamlessly with her scarlet red hair wrinkled slightly at the movement.

Levy pushed back a strand of blue hair back behind her ear as she fiddled nervously. This was her first meeting with the underground crew, and I couldn't say I didn't blame her if she felt intimidated.

"I... I know how it may seem. But regardless of whether it's true or not, from what I could make out that's what this journal is saying."

Jellal hummed. "From what you could make out?"

Levy bit her lip.

"Well...I mean the words themselves are complicated and there are parts that I-"

Levy halted as a strong arm patted her shoulder. "If she said it's about some weird inter-dimensional travel gate, then it's about some weird interdimensional travel gate. 'Kay?" Gajeel's voice carried across the group as he stood behind Levy, and a small silence fell over the table.

Gajeel had practically invited himself on the escapade as soon as he found out Levy would be joining our midnight meeting. I could almost see the exasperation on Grey's face as the group that crowded his dining room seemed to grow daily.

"Of course. My apologies. I didn't mean to insinuate that your work was unreliable. Perhaps merely just part of the whole." Jellal's tactfulness never ceased to surprise me. But I couldn't help but feel that for him it was all a balancing act. As if at any moment he could lose himself if he wasn't careful.

"No, I understand." Levy fiddled with her hands for a moment, Gajeel's arm still resting on her shoulder. "And I don't mean to say that I've figured it all out yet. But..."

Her words failed her, and I felt it was my duty to contribute. After all, I was the one who had started all of this in the first place.

"But, we can't just sit around and wait until we understand everything. There are lives at stake here." I eyed Erza seriously. "You should know better than anyone that's not something we can take lightly."

A small smile etched itself around her lips.

"Quite." Her hand dropped back to her side. "So, what do you suppose we do? Do we have any leads as to where this gate could be?"

"Like I've said before," Levy continued. "These pages were more of a blueprint, not a guide to location. However, if I'm correct about what I see here." She pointed to the diagram with the small scribbled black numbers. "Then the dimensions of the gate would be rather large."

I heard a groaning as Natsu scratched his head. "So how big are we talking?"

Levy thought for a moment as the electric lights buzzed.

"It would have to be at least 9 feet tall. If not larger."

Grey scoffed. "Something that big would be impossible to hide in a town this small, unless you put it in the woods, and we've already looked there."

The table was silent. We were back at square one.

I let my head rest on the dining room table.

There was a heavy tug on my gut that made me feel like puking when I thought about how many people I had dragged down into this with me. And they all believed me. Had faith that what I saw and knew wasn't just the ramblings of another lunatic. How could they have so much faith in someone who had no faith in themselves?