Luke and Levy made their way back towards the ruins after having lunch at the same little cafe as earlier. Both of them were in a pretty good mood all things considered. The fight with the Bazz and his merry band of jackasses far from their minds.

They did take notice that they weren't there anymore. Levy just hoped they weren't in the ruins themselves, not wanting to deal with them again. But Luke just told her if they tried anything, she could just suplex them.

She did not find that amusing.

The two descended back into the darkness, with Luke offering to guide the way with his magic this time. "It's light magic, it was made for this," he told her, which she rolled her eyes at but didn't argue.

For some reason, the path leading down felt even colder than last time, making Levy very grateful for the oversized jacket she still had draped around her shoulders. It was pretty embarrassing when Penelope, the proprietress of the cafe teased her about it. She tried to return it to him then, but he said he'd just have to give it back to her when they came back here, so he refused, taking great delight in her embarrassed face.

She also asked about the bandages on his face, asking if he got too handsy with her, which he jokingly admitted to, much to her mortification. Penelope at least got a laugh out of it. Honestly, the woman reminded her of Cana. She would have teased her about it too.

The temperature continued to drop the deeper they went, and Levy felt herself shivering even with the jacket. Looking over at Luke, she was surprised to see him relatively unbothered by the frigid air. That, or he was just really good at hiding it.

"Hey Levy. Is it just me, or does something not feel quite right to you?" he asked, a nervous expression on his face, one mirrored by Levy.

"Yeah, it's way too cold. Maybe someone cast a spell to make it colder as a prank?" she suggested, not really believing her own words. But a girl can dream, can't she?

"Yeah, maybe…" Luke responded, trying to see anything through the gloom that would indicate a threat. He sent another ball of light down the path, hoping that he wouldn't spot anything amiss.

To his relief, there was nothing. It was the same old staircase as last time. But if that was the case, why was it so cold? Could it really be someone's idea of a prank?

As the two neared the bottom, unknown to them, a shadowy tendril was lying in wait. As Levy went to take another step, it grabbed her by the ankle, tripping her.

"Ah!" she screamed in surprise, as she started falling down the stairs. Luke, who heard her shout, reacted almost immediately, jumping forwards and wrapping his arms around Levy, shielding her body as they tumbled down the stairs.

Luckily, they weren't too far from the bottom, but that didn't mean it wasn't painful. The two landed with a grunt, with Levy on top of Luke.

"Ow, what happened… Oh my gosh, Luke! Are you ok?" she asked in a panic, staring down at the man. He groaned in response, opening his eyes to see a pair of bright hazel eyes staring at him in concern.

"I wanted you to fall for me, but that's not exactly what I had in mind," he snarked, much to her embarrassment. "What about you? You didn't get hurt, did you?" he asked. She shook her head, blue hair flopping all around her as some of it had escaped the bandana during the fall.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks to you," she said, her eyes displaying gratitude as she gave him a smile, even as the red from his comment faded from her cheeks.

"I'm glad," he said, returning her smile.

The two continued to stare at each other for a while before realizing the compromising position they were in. Luke was on his back, with Levy right on top of him, his arms wrapped around her small waist and their legs intertwined. Levy's face turned scarlet, and it suddenly felt a bit warmer in the ruins.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" she shouted, leaping off of him. Luke just blinked in astonishment. One second she was there and the next she seemingly disappeared. He was a bit disappointed at the loss of contact, as the petite girl was rather warm. And soft. And she smelled good too.

Ok, so maybe he just liked having a pretty girl on top of him! Sue him for it, why don't ya!

Luke sat up, looking at Levy who was turned away from him with her hands on her cheeks. He chuckled at her embarrassment, standing up. "Nothing to apologize for Levy. I'm sorry for getting handsy with you again. But please, don't headbutt me this time," he joked.

She turned to look at him, face still red. "I make no promises," she joked, making them both laugh. "But seriously though, thanks for catching me," she said, giving him a sweet smile.

"Anytime Levy. But what happened?" he asked, making Levy shrug.

"I don't know. Must have tripped on something I guess."

"I see," he mumbled, but with no better explanation, he let it be. "Well whatever. Nobody got hurt and that's what's important. Now, I think you have some work to do," he said, making her eyes widen in realization, a tangible feeling of excitement filling her up and making her forget all about falling down the stairs and the chill that still lingered in the air.

"Right! Come on, let's go! That room isn't going to translate itself," she shouted, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him towards the connected room.

"If it did that, you'd be out of a job," he joked, letting himself once more be dragged by the short girl. As this was happening he couldn't help but give the room a suspicious glance. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something just didn't feel right. Almost like they were being watched.

"Woman…"

Hopefully it was nothing.

Once they were inside, Levy started pulling out book after book from her Requip space, once more making herself a fort. Luke snorted at the scene, before making his way over to the other side of the room, right where he was before.

"Now, how should I play with my magic this time?" he thought, as the two settled in for the next round of translation work.

The hours ticked by, with Luke figuring out how to reshape his magic. He took a ball of light, and managed to stretch it into the form of a staff. The tricky part was getting it to hold its new shape, as it kept wanting to spring back into being a ball.

Once he did that, he mostly just played around with his other exercises, becoming more and more familiar with his magic and the way it behaved. He still had a long way to go, but he was satisfied with what he accomplished in a day.

Levy herself had moved almost all the way around the room by this point, leaving a trail of books on her wake. It was slightly amusing, and he knew how we would lead her into a trap should he ever need it. Like an episode of Family Guy.

"Ooh, a book!"

"Ooh, a book!"

"Ooh, a book!"

Slam, trapped in a cage!

But while she finished up the last of the translating, Luke started to clean up her mess, putting all the books in a pile. He tried reading them, but they were all either in different languages, or they were dictionaries between languages.

Not exactly the most exciting books to read. Maybe he should have asked if she had any good fiction books he could read? Possibly one of the dirty ones that Erza liked.

But with her mess all tidied, he didn't have much to do now, so he thought, "Let's see how many pushups I can do!"

The answer, not nearly as many as he was hoping. While his new body was much stronger than his old one, it was still relatively untrained. But he did manage to get around 120 before he collapsed, so at least he had a benchmark to go on now.

Luke wasn't sure what time it was, but he could feel the familiar rumble of his tummy and figured it had been another several hours since they came down here. He'd spent the last hour throwing a ball of light against the wall and catching it, like it was made of rubber.

Did he accidentally figure out how to change another property of his magic without trying to because he was bored? Yes, yes he did. Did he realize that? No, not really.

He looked over at Levy, seeing that she had almost come full circle around the room. It shouldn't be much longer now until she either had a full translation, or at the very least copied everything down so she could work on it somewhere more comfortable.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Come to think of it, that would have been a good idea. Why didn't she just do that? Maybe she liked being in the ruins? Like it gets her into the right headspace to translate or something.

"I got it! Man, that was fun!" Levy said with a wide grin on her face. She then stood up and stretched, before looking over at an amused Luke.

"What? What's with that grin?" Levy asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Luke adopted an innocent expression, pointing at himself as if to ask, "Who, me?"

"Yes you! Don't try to act all innocent," Levy said, pouting. Luke just chuckled, standing up himself.

"Geez, you act like I was plotting something. I just thought it was cute how much fun you had translating, that's all," he said, making her blush in embarrassment.

"Not to mention the trail of books you left in your wake," he added, smirking.

"Keep that up and I won't tell you what the writing said," Levy threatened, turning around with a huff. Luke shook his head at her antics. For such a bookworm, she sure could be demanding.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. You're not a messy translator at all, and I certainly didn't pick up dozens of books so you wouldn't step on them. Now can you please tell me what was written here?" he asked.

"Geez, what kind of apology was that?" Levy asked, turning back around. She wasn't really upset with him, and was thankful he made sure her books were safe. She was tired of cleaning off her own footprints from them. Some of them were pretty old.

And expensive.

"Well, if you're that curious, I guess I can tell you," Levy said, making a big deal about the reveal, even though it was very clear she was eager to talk about it.

"The whole thing is actually a warning. It tells a tale of the woman from the painting, Anastasia, taking in a pet, one that had the ability to possess people. It was this pet of hers that actually caused the collapse of the ancient kingdom that used to reside here," she said, her face adopting a serious expression.

Luke found himself intrigued by the story, his mind wandering to what kind of animal could do that. "Does it describe what the animal looked like?" he asked, hoping for some more clues.

Levy nodded, happy to see him so interested in the story. "It's described only as being ape like, with long arms and stubby legs."

"Wait, you mean her pet was a Vulcan?" he asked, stunned. Who in their right mind kept a Vulcan as a pet? Let alone a woman?

"That was my first guess too. It speaks of it possessing the king in order to make the woman fall in love with him. When that didn't work, he unleashed his rage on the kingdom, destroying it. The last thing it says is that they sealed it away, but I have no idea how or where," she finished.

"Damn, that's some serious jealousy right there. To destroy a whole kingdom just because of one rejection? Pretty messed up…" Luke said. Not to mention powerful. He didn't remember Vulcans being that big of a threat in the show, and the simulated one he fought wasn't that tough. That king must have been one hell of a wizard.

"I know right? There's also a warning about not releasing it, but seeing as it doesn't say where it is, that's not very helpful," Levy muttered, seemingly annoyed by the lack of information.

Just then his stomach reminded him of the time. Like a sneeze, as soon as his started making a fuss, Levy's joined in as well, singing a pitiful duet together.

"And that's our cue to leave. We can come back tomorrow to make sure you didn't miss anything," Luke suggested, getting a happy smile from Levy. Usually when she was done with a job like this, Jet and Droy were begging her to leave. It was nice having someone willing to spend their time on the things she liked.

"That sounds good to me. I'll just pick up my stuff and we can go," she said, a beaming grin on her face.

"You mean your mess?" Luke asked with a grin.

"Not a mess!"

After Levy finished putting her numerous books away, they made their way out of the room and back into the one with the tapestry. Doing so, however, allowed them to feel just how much colder it was. So cold, they could see the mist from their breaths.

"Ok, what is going on? No way that's normal," Levy said, stepping closer to Luke, looking around the room with a feeling of trepidation. He felt the same way, but as his eyes landed on the tapestry itself, they widened in disbelief.

"Levy, does the tapestry look different to you?" he asked. Her eyes swiveled to it, not quite able to believe what she was seeing.

"That's… but how?" she asked in fear. Where there was once a beautiful blonde woman in a red dress, there was now a woman with auburn hair wearing a very plain shirt and white pants.

"That's the woman you suplexed. The one with the right propper pair of whoppers," Luke whispered, making Levy turn to him with a glare.

"That's the part you remember?" she asked.

"What? How could I not remember it? That's the first time I've ever heard boobs be referred to like that," he said, defending himself. But judging by Levy's deadpan stare, she didn't think much of his so-called defense.

"Uh huh. Sure, whatever you say," she replied, turning away from him.

"Oh come on. If it makes you feel any better, I much prefer your bangers over her whoppers," Luke said, digging himself deeper into a hole.

"Do you think that's some sort of compliment?" she asked, turning around to glare at him again, making him back up with his hands raised in surrender. For someone so tiny, she sure could be scary when she wanted.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you're way more attractive than her, that's all," he tried.

"By comparing our boobs?"

"Should I go with something else? Um, your hair is way prettier than hers, you're way smarter as well, which I happen to find quite sexy, you know. The way your eyes light up when you talk about things you're interested in is just the cutest thing, and-"

"Ok, enough, stop!" Levy yelled, her face turning red from embarrassment. The amount of blushing she's done since meeting him couldn't be good for her health. "Geez, way to lay it on thick…"

"Uh, sorry about that. I'm not exactly used to talking to girls, least of all one as pretty as you," he admitted, somewhat bashfully. Levy thought his embarrassed face looked cute, giving him a smile.

"It's fine. But for the record, girls don't like it when you talk about their boobs like that," she said, wagging her finger while she chided him.

"Really, cause she seemed rather proud about that fact," he responded.

"Ok, most girls."

"Oh, gotcha… Hey, are we forgetting about something?" he asked.

Just as the question left his lips, the doors to the room slammed shut. They both whipped around to look at them, noticing a translucent sheen covering them.

"What's going on? Is that a barrier?" Levy asked nervously, cursing herself for getting so caught up in his comment. She really did have a right proper pair of whoppers. Hell, they were even bigger than Mira's! Which made her feel a little.

And now they were trapped.

This wasn't how she thought today was going to go. But then again, when does it ever? Fairy Tail mages always seem to attract trouble to them, and she was no exception.

"Damn, don't tell me this is a trap?" Luke said, looking around the room that seemed to glow. After that, a voice seemed to whisper something. Something barely audible and vaguely familiar.

"Woman…"

"What the hell was that?" Luke asked, looking around for the source of the voice. That's when his eyes once more fell upon the tapestry. The woman's eyes were now glowing, a lewd smile stretched across her face. But the worst part was…

She was looking right at Levy.

Luck put himself between the tapestry and the short, blue haired girl. "Luke?" Levy asked, confused by his actions. That is until she looked at the tapestry herself. The woman inside of it was frowning, staring at Luke in absolute anger.

"Me no want man… Me want woman!"

Hearing it for the second time, and much more clearly than the first, made him realize exactly what it was that said it. A Vulcan. But how was that possible? Unless…

The story. The one about Anastasia and her pet Vulcan. Could it be that the creature was sealed away in the tapestry? If that was the case, then they were in some serious danger.

"Levy, we need to get out of here. Can you get that door open?" he asked, light shining from his fists as he gathered magic to them, prepared to fight should it come to that.

"Maybe. I need to analyze the barrier first," she said. Luke gave her a nod, and was about to tell her to get started, when the room was surrounded by a black, shadowy fog. Misty tendrils made of darkness nipped at them, making them dodge, not wanting to know what they did.

Glaring at the fog, Luke shined his magic on it, causing it to recoil. Looks like they don't like light. But there was so much of it, a little bit of light wasn't going to do much. Just as he was about to attempt a Solar Flare, the darkness began to converge on them, like hundreds of serpents lashing out to bite them.

Luke cursed, using his magic to form a barrier around the two pf them. It managed to halt their advance, but it didn't prevent them from trying to break through and get them, bashing into it over and over again.

"Any ideas?" Luke shouted over the never ending drum beat.

"Hang on, give me a minute!" she yelled back, looking all around for something to give her an idea. That's when she remembered something. Something that was written on the wall, about how they sealed away the Vulcan the last time.

Levy reached into her Requip space and pulled out her translation notes, desperately searching for the page with the information on it. Luke looked back at her, seeing her doing her best to find a solution. If that was the case, he just needed to hold out long enough for her to do it.

How hard could that be?

He shouldn't have raised that flag. Turns out, holding back an ancient malevolent force dead set on reaching you wasn't an easy task. One might even call it difficult.

One minute went by, then another, and Luke was struggling with all his might to hold up the barrier. It had shrunk at this point, almost by half, and it was getting smaller and smaller by the second. Sweat poured from his brow as he stood on shaky legs, as the shadowy tendrils repeatedly bombarded the barrier.

"Levy, I don't mean to rush you, but do you think you could hurry this up?" he ground out, jaw clenched tight. The blue haired girl didn't answer, simply going through her notes, completely absorbed in her search, Gale-Force Glasses on her head to speed up the process.

Luke wished he could transform into an angel, as that would boost his ability with light magic, but it was taking all of his concentration just to maintain the shrinking protection they had. If he did try to use Take Over, they would be cooked.

"Aha, found it!" Levy shouted in triumph. Luke turned his head towards her, an action that was far more difficult than it should have been. Like someone was trying to twist his head the other way.

"Awesome. So what now?" he asked.

"Let's see… according to this, we need some kind of… orb to seal it away," she muttered, reading the passage in her notes.

"I don't suppose you happen to have that in your pocket dimension, do you?" Luke asked hopefully. He knew the chances were slim, but you never know.

"No, but I swear I've seen something like that. But where…" Levy mumbled, racking her brain for the answer. But even if she could find it, it wouldn't do them much good at the moment.

"Maybe now's not the best time to think about that. How about you put that brain of yours to use and think of a way out of-ah!" Luke yelled in pain. Levy turned towards him, having heard the scream, and saw his bloody cheek and one of the shadowy black tendrils rising up from a crack in the stone.

It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"Luke, are you ok?" she asked, writing out the word Light and sending it towards the wisp, making it recoil back to where it came from.

"I'd be a lot better if we could get out of here. Any ideas?" he asked again, drops of blood falling from his face onto the floor. Levy couldn't help but follow it, watching as it flowed into a crack and disappeared, just like the magic from earlier.

That's when her brain connected some dots. She remembered doing research on this town and the ruins on her way here. And beneath the ruins was an ancient sewer system, one that was still functional. In fact, the town actually still used it to this day. It might not be the most pleasant experience, but it was better than dying.

"I got it! We need to go under!" she shouted, already writing a word in the air.

Hole.

"Under? What are you talking abou-ahhh!" he shouted once more, but not because he was being attacked, but because he suddenly felt himself falling.

Falling into darkness.