Chapter Text
Before Lucy could even open her eyes, she could smell the rotting smell of trash. It was all around her, all encompassing, and something that most definitely should not have been there—she should not be surrounded by rotting trash. She should be in her bed in her apartment, waking up to Happy or Natsu barging in to join her in bed or Erza making herself something in her kitchen, not surrounded by this pungent smell.
This was her first acknowledgment that something was inherently wrong.
The second was that she could feel cold, brisk wind against her skin, something her nicely heated apartment should not have her feel, even when Natsu is bursting through the window.
And finally, what made her eyes shoot open in a panic is the realization that she shouldn’t be sleeping right now. She doesn’t remember exactly why or how, but she shouldn’t be sleeping. She should be doing something. What exactly it is she’s supposed to be doing she doesn’t remember, but she knows it's not sleeping.
Which, all added together, makes her realize that something is very wrong.
Wherever she is, it’s during the night, her lack of ability to see more than five feet in front of her proof of that. She’s also lying dangerously close to a dumpster, most likely where she was getting that smell from, and everything around her just looked wrong.
She can’t explain it, but it's nothing like she’s ever seen anywhere in Fiore or even in Edolas; there are dim lights not being powered by lacrama, there are strange wires hanging everywhere she can see and the noise, god the noise is unlike anything she’s ever heard. It all sounds so angry, so impatient, and so loud. Wherever she is, she can tell it’s not a very pleasant place.
The Guild, she suddenly remembers, staggering her way out of the piles of trash she was on top of. If she can find Fairy Tail, or Saber Tooth, or Blue Pegasus, or any guild that knows of Fairy Tail, she should be able to figure out where she is.
With hesitant steps forward, she gripped onto the wall closest to her, briefly noticing how covered in different colors it is, but otherwise ignoring it.
Once out of the alley, Lucy looked around again, trying to see if anything else looked familiar or would give her a hint as to where she was. It didn’t. All it did was make her even more confused, as there were large cars that looked different from what she’s come to expect from them, all much more boring than she remembers them looking.
Lucy straightened her shoulders once she saw a few people eyeing her, refusing to seem like she was struggling to stand, not sure what would happen to her if someone thought she was an easy target. Now standing in the middle of a somewhat busy area, she took this as her chance to observe those around her. Most looked to be very guarded and unfriendly looking, scowling when they even briefly made eye contact with each other and though she already felt this way initially, now, after seeing swarms of people, she can confidently say that everyone looks sad—and there’s nobody with guild marks around.
The closest thing Lucy can see to a guild marks are the matching insignias on a few different people, but unless she really needs to, she would rather just avoid those people (she doubts they would be willing to give her directions towards the nearest guild without demanding some kind of payment that she doesn’t have with her).
Making her way down the streets, Lucy made sure to observe those around her, to follow what they are doing and to blend in, taking in all the flashing lights and miserable decor all around her. Eventually, after her feet had begun to ache, she decided to give up on finding any guild she would know of here, instead directing her focus on finding information about where she is, and what better place to do that than a library?
With a new goal in mind, Lucy kept an open eye out for any place that had books inside of it (which was barely any of the places around her) and walked into the first promising building she saw, the Gotham Public City Library, however, once inside, she had no idea where to go from there and before she could decide to do the sensible thing and ask for help, she found she didn’t need to. “Hey there,” the librarian said to her, calling her over, “is there something I can help you with?”
Lucy grimaced internally, realizing how confused she must have looked if the librarian was going out of her way to help her. “Yeah, actually,” she replied, “I was wondering if you had books on any guilds?” She asked curiously, not quite wanting to ask exactly what she was looking for, still suspicious of where she was.
“Oh, like the merchant and craftsmen guild from sixteenth century Europe? I mean, we won’t have a lot on it but we definitely have something.” Without another word, she rolled her wheelchair out from behind the desk and over to a section labeled World History. Lucy, following closely behind her, didn’t mention how what she was talking about were mage guilds, not merchant or craftsmen guilds, but still hoped she would be able to find something useful there—who knows, she might even be able to find some things about the Love & Lucky guild that her father never told her about.
Lucy isn’t quite sure what Europe is or how there already is the sixteenth century since this is x792 right now, but her current running theory is that she somehow has gone to the future, something she’s going to try to confirm with history books.
“Here we go! It’s not much, but this is the only book about guilds we have right now.” The librarian handed her a decently thick book, “if you would like, I can order some more with our next shipment, though those won’t arrive until mid next week.” The librarian smiled at her, noticing that this book isn’t really what she was looking for.
“Thank you so much,” Lucy thanked profusely, “and please do, I’d love to learn more about guilds from that time.” She doesn’t know how long she’s going to be here for but this library still is her best bet for getting home and she’s off to a pretty good start.
“Though,” she trailed off, pondering in thought, “do you happen to have anything from the years x700 to x800?”
The librarian stopped to think before rolling back to the counter where she quickly typed up some words then flipped the screen to show Lucy the results. “Within our current catalog, the earliest books we have on history are from the fourteenth century, though if you want, again, I can add some books to the next order.”
“Really? That would be wonderful!” Lucy clapped her hands together.
“Of course, though I have to say, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. Again, only if you would like, I can help set you up for a completely free library card, just so you would be able to take all the books that are being specially ordered for you with you.”
Having a library card does seem like a good idea, though it might be more of a commitment than what she would like to have in this world.
But—
Ah, screw it. Desperate times call for desperate measures and right now, this is her best bet at getting information that she can use to get back.
“That’s probably because I just moved here,” Lucy said quickly, “though I would love to sign up for a library card.”
The librarian smiled at her again. “You just moved to Gotham? I can’t see I’ve seen many people do that, but that’s great. All I need to know is your first and last name as well as your current place of address.”
“My first name is Lucy and my last name is Heartfilia, spelled H-E-A-R-T-F-I-L-I-A, and my current address is,” she doubts her actual address would work, “shoot, I forgot what it was. My friend told me how to get there but I can’t seem to remember where exactly it is, could you possibly just leave it blank—or I could come back later after I confirm it?” She hopes this excuse works, she doesn’t really have any other options.
“Of course, that’s no problem.” The librarian gave her a quick look at her somewhat obvious relief but didn’t comment on it, making Lucy wonder just what kinds of things happen in this place for an adult not knowing their own address to not be so strange. Though she will find out soon, she supposes, assuming she’s stuck here at the very least until the books come in.
She typed away for a bit longer before rummaging through a few items and then finally presenting Lucy with a card. “Here, one brand new library card for Lucy Heartfilia.”
Said Heartfilia beamed at her, gratefully taking the card and stashing it in her pouch, inadvertently drawing the librarian’s attention towards her attire.
“That’s such a cute shirt,” she said with a small glance up and down at what (little) Lucy was wearing, not commenting at all on how little skin any of her clothes cover, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it before.”
To Lucy, showing this much skin was normal; Gray strips all the time and Natsu doesn’t even wear a shirt underneath his vest, but so far, Lucy hasn’t really seen many people wearing as revealing clothes as she does and it dawns on her that she may be the strange one here.
“Thanks, it’s one of my favorites, and I have to say, your nails are looking wonderful.” She complimented back, barely needing to take more than a second to find something to compliment her on.
The librarian smiled back at her before realizing something, “oh! I don’t think I’ve properly introduced myself yet.” She raised her hand to shake Lucy’s. “My name is Barbara and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Lucy eagerly returned the hand shake. “I’m sure you know this by now, but I’m Lucy.”
Barbara grinned, “I haven’t had someone request books in such a long time—I can’t wait to have you back here.”
“Don’t worry,” Lucy reassured, “if I had it my way, I would never leave the library. But since I can’t, the next best thing is for me to come back here as often as I possibly can.”
Barbara laughed, light and good hearted.
“I’m looking forward to it.” She said, waving Lucy a warm goodbye as she left the library and made her way down the streets of Gotham, wherever on Earthland (if she even is in Earthland anymore) that is.