The God of War and The Bookworm

Chapter 4: Argonaut

Mythology AU: After Levy knocked down a bookshelf at the library, she reads the title of a book she's never seen before and finds herself transported to Olympus. She quickly finds herself stuck with the loud god of war, Gajeel. How the hell is she supposed to get home when her only hope is always fighting! Gajevy

X

Ichiya skimmed quietly through the incomplete contents of the book Levy was growing more and more frustrated with. Mixed with his occasional hum of thought or understanding, the man would sometimes murmur the word "men" to himself.

They were inside his home, a place even more extravagant than the rest of the city of Delphi. Several walls were covered in vines with beautiful flowers. There was a fountain in the main living area in the shape of Ichiya and his muses with clear water streaming out. His library was immense and the most attractive place in the entire home. The walls were lines with scrolls that towered high up into the ceiling.

Hibiki, who took on several titles—Calliope the muse of epic poetry, Euterpe the muse of lyric poetry and music, Clio who inspired historians, and Urania who inspired astronomy—was in charge of the library's archives. As soon as Ichiya set the book down on a desk Hibiki conjured ten different scrolls for possible reference.

At times, the god's nose would twitch and he'd look up quickly to stare at Levy before looking back down with a nod. It was during these times that Levy felt her body burn bright from embarrassment. She hadn't looked at what was written in a bit, but she hoped Gajeel—the book—wasn't still referring to her as the 'fairy-like woman.'

Wait!

"Ichiya," she said boldly. The man looked up and struck a pose. His finger was under his chin in what looked like a forced thoughtful expression, so she assumed it was a safe guess that she had his attention. "You understand the writing?"

He smirked and closed his eyes. "As a god known for inspiring others, I am an expert in languages." The correlation between the two things was weak, at best, but she let him continue. "It seems like this is our dear Gajeel's story. Mennn."

Natsu scoffed from where he and Happy were building a castle made of scrolls. "We already knew all that!"

Lucy rolled her eyes and nudged a scroll toward him with her foot. "Only because Levy had already figured that out and told us."

"Ah!" The desk shook with the weight of the older man's weight as he hopped on top with an air of victory. "Then she must have also realized that the story is writing itself as we live through each moment. What an intelligent parfum."

Another shiver shook Levy at the compliment. So creepy. Also, he once again didn't make any sense. How could a smell be intelligent? "Y-yes," she answered.

"And!" he exclaimed, pointing a finger right at the girl. His shout shook the room. The scroll castle toppled over, Erza looked up from a sweet pastry she'd been happily munching on from a long futon, the muses all rushed over to the desk waiting for their leader's next statement, and Gajeel and Pantherlily stood up straight from their spots beside Levy in front of the desk. "You must have also realized that the first few pages are blank!"

Levy blinked confused. Blank? "What?" She rushed around the desk, grimacing at Ichiya's wiggling behind above her book. Carefully, she pulled the book by the edges off the desk and onto the floor.

She flipped through the pages slowly, scanning the top of each for a timeline. It wasn't until she nearly reached the beginning that she realized the words stopped. Halfway down the right-side page, the story began.

~ The glowing slowly disappeared and revealed a small woman, with hair as blue as a peacock's feathers and as delicate as a dragonfly's wings. Her eyes were closed and once they opened she looked at the earth, the mountain, the sky with cautious wonder. She was small and beautiful, like a fairy. And for that, Gajeel knew she was weak.

She frowned at that last bit.

~ The girl jumped when he called to her. Her appearance was strange and foreign. Though her eyes betrayed a fear he had grown accustomed to in his role, her lack of formal...~

Her fingers trailed up the page in disbelief, no longer reading what was written. Where was the rest?

"Why's it blank?" Gajeel's gruff voice made her jump and turn her head. He was crouching down right next to her, staring at the page with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

The story started the moment he saw her, something Levy had known happened for a fact before he called out to her. This was Gajeel's story, but the book was tied to her. It bonded them. Maybe the blank pages were there for a reason. "Gajeel, what were you doing right before you saw me?" she asked him abruptly, pointing a finger at him.

His wide red eyes locked on her for a second before he looked off to the side in thought. "Not much. I just took down one of Poseidon's horses before it got too far from Hephaestus' workshop." The page glowed and the rest of the page's words appeared.

She only looked at the first few words.

~ The spear flew forward, faster than Poseidon's monster. It struck the beast in the neck, making it topple forward. Ares sprinted forward, clenched… ~

This proved her theory. Levy looked back up at him, "Why?"

He narrowed his eyes, obviously unwilling to divulge that information. "Not my place to say."

Natsu appeared out of nowhere, placing a hand on Gajeel's shoulder. "I think we can trust her." He said simply, in a serious voice Levy wasn't familiar with.

The hoplite's jaw ticked. "Fine, but it's your fault if Gray doesn't agree." The pink haired god shrugged. With an annoyed sigh, Gajeel turned to look back at her. "Juvia. Seems like fish-breath was having her followed. The stupid horse saw Juvia giving Gray information but I caught 'im before he could get that information back to Poseidon." Again, as he spoke, new information wrote itself in the book.

The page eventually flipped and in decorative letters the words ~ Chapter 1 ~ appeared at the top. There were still four pages left empty at the beginning of the book, but it didn't seem like they would write themselves anytime soon.

"Hmm," Ichiya, who somehow managed to push his face uncomfortably close to Levy from his perch on the desk, hummed. "It seems this text is about you both. Mennn. It can only be completed if Levy know or witness Gajeel's story."

"Ichiya-san!" the muses shouted together. "You are so wise!" Eve added. He told Levy as they walked to Ichiya's home that he held three titles, one less than Hibiki: Terpsichore muse to dancers, Thalia muse to comedians, and Polyhymnia muse of song and playing the lyre.

Levy couldn't help but feel a bit excited at the new information she and Ichiya worked out. This book was the greatest piece of research she'd ever been gifted in her life. It was literally a way for her to learn about a different world—a different reality—and go on a real life adventure.

Before she could gush about this, though, Gajeel started to roughly flip through each page looking desperately for something else. "That's great and all, but how do we get her home," he grunted, progressively speeding up as he flipped the pages.

Her hands shot out and tried to shove his away. "No! You'll damage the pages!"

"Here," Hibiki's soft voice said as the muse knelt down beside her. "Let me." With a wave of his hand over the pages, they began to flip of their own accord at a steady pace. Eventually, he reached the blank pages, and they all looked for any sign of more writing.

There was none.

"Dammit," the god of war groaned.

With a small apologetic smile, Hibiki shut the book for her. "I'm sorry."

"Levy," Lucy said from somewhere else in the room.

Obviously, this should all mean Levy should feel miserable and depressed. Home was not a near future just yet. After all, the book's empty pages far outweighed the written ones. Still, as much as Levy wanted to search for feelings of despair she couldn't reach them past the fluttering in her stomach. Which was how she found herself saying, "It's fine."

The room was silent for a long moment, and she was aware that everyone was staring at her as she pulled the book close to her chest and stood up looking happy.

The silence wasn't broken until Ren, who had the titles of Melpmene (tragedy in drama) and Erato (amorous poetry), said, "She's insane."

The blue-haired girl ignored him and looked down at Ares, who still sat on the ground gaping at her. "I think I know what I'm supposed to do." Finally, his jaw shut and his confused expression turned soft and serious. "It's probably not what you bargained for when you agreed to help me, but I need to stay with you. I need to be with you until the end of this story."

Even though a few of the gods were starting to tell Levy why that was a foolish idea, she only paid attention to the man she had met not a full day before. He said nothing, just stared at her, as if gauging whether she was sure about what she was saying.

Pantherlily flew up to her level, and out of ingrained manners she looked away from Gajeel to face the exceed. "We are currently undergoing a dangerous quest. It's not a normal war," the black exceed said. "This is a fight between gods for better power. You would more likely die before reaching the end of your book."

It was strange he used the words 'better power,' rather than 'greater power,' but she ignored it for the moment. Instead her eyes drifted back to the red ones that were still judging her. "I won't get in your way." His frown loosened. "I promise," Levy added.

He stood up at that point with a smirk as he looked down at her. His large form was intimidating, but Levy kept his gaze—holding her ground. The god of war must respect her decision if she showed him she was serious.

"Gihihihi," his body shook with his weird laugh. "First," Levy clenched her fists ready for whatever he would lay down for her as a stipulation. Like before, he dropped a large hand on top of her head. "We gotta make you big, shortie."

Of course.

Levy pouted briefly before grinning brightly.

With one decisive command on Gajeel's part, Natsu went about making round rings of fire that morphed into steel cuffs for Levy. For the first time, Levy got to see Gajeel act like a general as he gave the other gods, muses, and exceeds orders. "Erza, figure out what would be a good weapon for her. Bunnygirl, call that creepy maid chick of yours. We're gonna need one of your fancy packs. Ichiya, use one of your weird perfume things on the cuffs so she won't be so helpless." And so on.

For a moment, she got lost in the hustle around her. Knowing she must look like a giddy child, Levy jumped toward him grabbing him by the shoulder. "Really?"

A bit of pink dusted his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, Natsu isn't that great on his own. So we'll get you fully suited up once we get back to Gray. After that I'll send the old man a message and just tell him you're one my followers or something so you don't have to hang around the workshop."

Her heart was thrumming in a mixture of fear, anticipation, and excitement. "You're really letting me come with you?" she asked again, still amazed.

He smirked and laughed again. "You asked me, didn't you?"

Holding back the urge to hug him in gratitude, she squeezed the book even closer. "Thanks."

He rolled his eyes and gave her a much gentler shove in a different direction. "Go ask the library weirdo for stuff you might need. We're heading out as soon as Apollo's done with those cuffs."

As she spoke to Hibiki, her shoulder felt warm where he touched her. Heart still racing, Levy couldn't help but feel excited that even if this was Gajeel's story she'd be there for the ride. If he were Jason, she'd be an Argonaut. If he were Theseus, she'd be Ariadne. Even if she didn't exist in the stories she knew, it was obvious she'd have her own here.

In that moment, she loved him a little for it.

X

AN:/

Ahhhhhhh! Taken so long! So sorry! I accidentally took a long hiatus due to work, home, and other personal problems. Hopefully, this makes up for it. Next chapter, something huge happens so stay tuned.