Jealousy, envy, what does it take to have pride in yourself? The weak look up to the strong. The ugly look with desire toward the beautiful. When does the cycle end? People always go unsatisfied with something. If only. That’s the phrase common in many hearts. Well, when given the power to make that conditional phrase a reality, what then?
A night of dancing, singing, being forced into a bunny outfit and made to dance herself. It sure was a night, to say the least. For Levy McGarden it was hard for her not to feel out of place. Everyone kept watching Lucy’s breasts bounce and sway. While Levy had to just dance awkwardly there with barely anyone noticing her.
[Pic here]
Finally, the event concluded, even if it was more of a punishment game. Most people seemed to have fun. Levy had been a little excited that Gajeel asked her to join in, but when everything was done, he had to run off saying he got inspired for a new song. “I can’t believe her…” Levy sighs softly under her breath her words muttering out. She felt so bad like something was eating at her. Sitting down behind the Fairy Tail building she looks out to sea doing her best to sort her thoughts. “Lucy’s my friend… I shouldn’t feel jealous of her, right?” Biting at her lip, Levy really was not sure what to think. She and Lucy had been friends for a long while. Though, how often did she have to watch Lucy do better than her, get more attention than her? “She’s just big… I thought I didn’t mind that stuff.” Picking at her nails sheepishly Levy sighs loudly arching her head back to look at the night sky. “Soon as Wendy came in, I got even less looks. Not grown, even if I’m small I’m not as cute as Wendy. So, what am I? Just… forgotten?” Levy barely even knew what she expected. Just talking to herself alone at night, as some hoots and hollers come from within the guild. “What did I expect?” Looking down at her tight clad legs Levy drags her fingers against the fabric. “I thought maybe Gajeel would at least…” Reaching atop her head Levy grabs the rabbit ear headband right off her head and tosses it to the ground. “I’m nothing special though, am I? Hah, I keep trying to say I’m not the same damsel in distress anymore, but how much can I really even do?”
POP
A few feet in front of Levy a large hole pops right open beside where she had thrown her bunny ears. A pair of white bunny ears come up from the hole. “Hey, hey.” A soft childish-sounding voice comes up from the ears, a pale hand reaching out of the hole to grab onto the black pair of ears. “You shouldn’t go around throwing this stuff! Bunny girls are very important to society!”
Jolting up on her heels Levy jumps back holding her hand to her side defensively. “Who are you?! What do you want?! You’re not trying to attack the guild, are you?” Levy had dealt with too many things lately to assume the person in front of her was just some random passing by bunny person.
The white bunny ears twitch for a moment as if in thought, but then the girl's head finally pops up from the hole. “Wait, wait, I’m not evil or anything.” The girl crawls out of the hole and stands up on her black buckled shoes. Levy thought right away the girl was dressed rather strangely. A blue dress with a white apron over it, the black and white striped thigh-high socks, the girl looked like she was from a far-off traditional town. “My name is Elica!” The bunny girl, apparently named Elica hops up in place smiling happily. Long white hair, bright white teeth the girl was odd but at the very least the same height as Levy. “I’m not here to bully, I’d never do that unless someone makes me mad. I can’t say I’m good, Dad told me to stop saying that, hehe. But I can say I’m not bad!” Levy was not sure what to make of the girl’s bubbly way of speaking. The most she could think is the girl seemed to be a bit of an airhead. Though the few things about her that were the strangest was; the girl had real white bunny ears, and her eyes were a swirling checkerboard black and white color. “Ahaha… I probably startled you, sorry, sorry. I figured, um, that this is a guild and all. I wanted to post a quest.”
Levy sighs with relief, the girl at least seemed harmless for now. “Look.” Levy points to the back door just behind her. “Usually, I would say go in the front… but go inside and just ask for Mirajane, she should be able to help you post a quest if you need to. Rather late for it though… So, you may need to wait till tomorrow.” Even if the girl had some odd features, Levy has met plenty of odd people. Helping the girl along was simple and now Levy could get back to moping outside.
Fasten
Elica though had other ideas, she was standing right in front of Levy now refastening her bunny headband to her head. “There.” The girl smiles warmly at Levy enough to make her feel a bit guilty for wanting to shoo her away. “You’re very pretty Miss. It seemed like you were upset… but you should love who you are.”
The ears were back on her head, the girl was smiling before her. Most would find the scene heartwarming, or even nice. “I just… can’t.” Levy though had dealt with enough disappointment. What reason did she have to love herself if no one would even look her way? Turning her head away from Elica she walks over to a bench and sits down there now instead. “Remember Mirajane, she has white hair like you…”
Standing still for a moment Elica’s eye finally twitches and she runs right over to Levy and grabs onto her hands. “C-come on!” With begging eyes, the bubbly girl now pouts her lip and wags her butt side to side. “D-Don’t be all sad and stuff! What’s got you all in the dumps? A-ah, um, you’re a guild member too, right?!” Elica awkwardly stands on her tiptoes looking over levy’s shoulder at the guild mark on her shoulder blade. “M-maybe you can do the quest I have?!”
With the energetic girl practically on top of her, Levy gives her a gentle nudge to give her some breathing room. “C-calm down… ah… I didn’t think you’d get this worked up. I’m just… I’m just feeling a bit down. A lot happened today. I didn’t mean to make someone start worrying about me.”
Shaking her head Elica holds up several papers and thrusts them into Levy’s arms. “No, no, no, no, when I get sad working usually helps me! You should take my quest. It shouldn’t be too hard. You seem like you’re strong too!”
Levy sighs again, but the papers were already in her hands so she starts to read some of the quest details. “Well… you wrote everything out well… this is a collection quest for ingredients?” Elica nods again this time faster than before her head probably bobbing too much. “C-calm down… anyway, some beasts can be in the areas these items are found in, though usually, it’s safe. I guess I can understand making a quest for it still just in case. Though they aren’t anything that hard. Why exactly did you need these items though?”
Smiling confidently Elica slaps her chest and stands proudly, pride in her voice. “Well! I’ll have you know I’m amazing at creating potions of all kinds! Not just that, poisons, potions that act like poisons and poisons that act like potions!” Jumping back from Levy the bunny girl lifts the side of her dress and quickly pulls out a large oversized black medical bag. “Just look!” Unzipping the bag, she slams down a just as oversized black and white checkered book onto the bench beside levy. “This here is everything I have created over the years! The stuff that I want to be collected is a special kind of poison you could say. If two people come in contact with it in a certain way… they get all jumbled up! The ingredients naturally become magically charged so the effect can seem strange but it just works!”
The whole thing sounded like nonsense, but flipping the quest page over it seemed Elica even wrote how to blend the ingredients. “You even wrote how best to use the poison… Why would the people doing the quest need to know that?”
Sighing Elica shakes her head and points angrily toward the quest papers. “Hey, hey, hey, don’t you get it! Just holding this stuff together could possibly trigger the magical effect. It may not be to the same degree. The plants may seem normal to you…” Elica’s ears droop down and she kicks a small rock over with her foot. “Mmm… how to explain… some of these plants grow a special way. I wrote certain locations for a reason. The plants already have a certain magical charge, just having one could react to the bare skin. Having them all together without protection you could make the natural effect happen. When blended it’s stronger… but this can be risky if you handle things the wrong way. You wouldn’t wanna get all jumbled up with your friend or something hehehe. But um to answer the question I figured to just let whoever the quest taker was know how I intend to use the ingredients.”
Even just hearing the warning, it was hard to not think on. Levy stares at the items, she would not even need to travel that far. The bunny girl was offering a decent amount of jewels for the payment as well. “I’ll… I’ll do the quest.”
Elica claps happily and quickly grabs a pair of gloves and a sack from her black bag. “Okay, okay! Just make sure to pick the plants with these gloves on, and put everything in this sack alright?! It’s a special one to make sure you don’t get hit with a nasty effect. I’ll check in with that Mirajane person in about a week or so to see if you completed it. That sound alright?”
Levy’s eyes linger on the quest details, not even glancing at the gloves and bag. “Yes.” She speaks softly, her eyes not looking back at Elica. “That should be plenty of time. I’ll leave in the morning with a friend. We should be able to handle any of the creatures in that area.”
Clapping again Elica nods her head happily and jumps back into her hole. “Alrighty!” Waving she dives into the hole the ground closing up above her head. “Mmmmhamhahah!” She says something else but Levy just hears mumbles since the girl had already covered up her rabbit hole. But then, she was gone.
Sitting there on the bench, watching the night sky Levy shoves the quest papers into the sack and tosses the gloves in as well. “Well then… I wonder if Lucy will want to come on a quest with me?”
The following day
The road along the mountain path always seemed like a long one. Twisting and turning the path was steeper than actually long, still it was taking a toll on the girls. Lucy and Levy both had set out on their quest in the early morning. Since the mountain path was a tad troublesome for a cart to be brought the girls were stuck hoofing it uphill. Luckily during the summertime, this certain mountain was at least greener rather than snow-covered letting them wear lighter clothes. In the distance, Magnolia could still be seen, but the girls were just far away enough that it was hard to see the sea completely. Traveling so long on foot though the girls now take a small break on the path. The location of the first item in their quest was not far, but there was no need to rush.
“Aaaaah.” Lucy sighs loudly sitting up against a tree in the grass. For once she was regretting wearing her heeled boots. “Levy… hah, I think I didn’t dress very sensible today. You didn’t happen to bring spare shoes, did you?”
Levy today was wearing a simple white dress with sunflowers printed on it, her footwear being just a pair of wedge sandals. Then on her head, she just had her usual yellow headband to keep her bangs out of her eyes. “Lucy… I’m not exactly dressed any better for this.” Sighing herself she could not help but glance over Lucy’s body, wearing some small jean skirt that showed too much leg, and some blacktop showing her belly button. Levy could only think the top would just be a normal shirt if Lucy had smaller breasts. “Still… um, I don’t think we need to worry. Most of these items are along the trail. And I wasn’t really concerned with my outfit. It’s a hotter day, so we’re dressed well enough.” Levy quickly drags her finger across the air to write the word bowl. From the ground then a bowl forms out of the dirt, and Levy then writes water in the air, making it fill the bowl. The dirt was seemingly polished in a way that it did not muddy the water but just contained it like a mudstone. “This mountain will have everything we need… just on different levels.” Levy puts both her hands into the water and quickly splashes her face. “Ah… we have days, and it takes less than a day to walk back. We’ll be fine resting now and again.”
The girls wait for about ten minutes before finally getting back to their feet. Walking back up the mountain path they get closer to their first mark. The first item to collect is a flower that usually grows on the side of mountains against rocks. The flower is known for its dark blue color. Though the special location for this magical infused kind is on the mossy parts of mountain rocks. “I wonder where we should even start looking for this thing.” Lucy groans under her breath but keeps moving forward regardless trying to look over and up the path for any sign of the flower. “Levy do you think we should start climbing along the side of the mountain or something? It’s supposed to embed itself against the rocks or something right?”
Levy looks over Lucy’s shoulder, up the path and down it, then biting at her thumb she stares off over the edge. “Mmmm… I don’t know, moss tends to build where the wind usually blows doesn’t it? It points north and all that. I thought we would have seen something by now. Maybe that’s why this one is the rare version…” Walking to the corner of the path instead of walking up Levy begins to swirl her finger through the air. “Solid Script, path.” The word path in the air the letter become earth and fall in place right in front of Levy. “I think maybe we should try and walk around the edge of the mountain and see if we can see anything else before moving up higher. Your idea it is huh? It should be at this level.”
Lucy stares hesitant at the holey path, but watching Levy move along it she does too. Levy keeps creating more of the path and the girls both keep walking along. Another ten minutes of walking pasts and finally the girls start to see the blue flowers in question growing in a patch together against a rock several feet up. Sadly, these flowers had no moss. “Well…” Lucy gives another groan leaning up against the side of the rocky wall. “Not what we’re looking for, but at least closer than before. You think the one by moss will be near?”
Levy presses herself against the rocky wall and sighs staring up at the blue flowers. “I wouldn’t be able to even reach those myself… I guess I could make a path up.” Trying not to linger on her own comment Levy stands straight up and peeks her head a bit forward to try and look along the rocky wall. “I think it should be around here somewhere… She didn’t exactly give me a detector though. Guess it wouldn’t be a quest without a little effort though.”
CLATTER
Parts of Levy’s pathing begin to fall against the dirt, the spot Lucy’s heel had dug into came loose. “O-oh!” Startled Lucy jumps back and watches the path crumble before her eyes, the earthy bits hitting against the rock. “Well then… haha, that was weird.”
To anyone else such a statement could be true, for Levy though she could only smile at it. “No, no Lucy! This is perfect!” Levy lowers herself against her pathing and stares down at the broken piece. “If this broke off… the rocks may be looser in this area. Like they could possibly create a landslide.”
Lucy’s eye twitches a little very clearly nervous. “U-Um, Levy I don’t think a landslide is something we want though.”
The small girl rolls her eyes and reaches her hand out through the broken piece of the path. “Don’t be silly, I’m not saying we’ll cause a landslide. This part is off the main path anyway! The point is the stone under could be eaten away by water washing over it so much. Moss could have formed.” Pushing her hands against a loose stone Levy digs her fingers between the cracks and pulls the stone straight out watching it clatter against the mountainside falling to the trees below. “See.”
The smug grin was enough to tell Lucy what happened. The blue flower was right there hiding under a rock. The rock under though was indeed mossy, the flower was a bit flat but it still looked rather healthy. “Well… that somehow worked out for us. Let’s just pick the thing, throw it in the bag, and then we can move on to the next one right?”
Levy tries to reach toward the flower, but her arms were not long enough. Sighing she sits back against the path and reaches into the sack Elica had given her. “Yeah… we should just do that. Lucy?” Levy’s hand squeezes against the gloves for a moment, her and Lucy just staring at each other. “I um… I’m too small for this part, do you mind grabbing the flower for me? Your arms are long enough.” Levy’s arm relaxes, she does not even try to give Lucy the gloves. “Just um, when you got it put it in this bag when I open it alright?” Levy tries to smile but her eyes avert Lucy’s gaze, she felt guilty. How would the flower react though? Elica had said it would work on contact, so if Levy could get Lucy to touch all of them. “Just be careful not to slip alright?”
Lucy smiles back and crotches down, of course as she lays against the path her breasts were lifting her a bit off the ground. Luckily, she was still able to reach her hand to the flower. “Cooome on…” Lucy snags the flower and sits back up slowly; a little sweat falling from her brow. “Ah… being up so high makes this more stressful than it should be.” Levy stares at the flower for a good few moments, it did seem like it had a slight magical glow to it. Though beyond that it just looked like the same flower as the rest. Lucy seemed no worse for wear; she was even holding out the flower for Levy. “The bag, right? Let’s get moving along and see where the heck this next one is gonna be.” Maybe the whole thing was curiosity. Levy steps over the path to stand by Lucy, opening up the bag she watches the flower drop right inside. Then, Levy ties the bag back up and puts it to her side. “Oh Levy, can ya help me up quick?” Lucy had no idea what Levy had done or rather the lack of what she did. Both the girls reach their hands toward each other, but Levy stops mid-way hesitating. “Up I go.” Lucy thought nothing of it though, she grabs onto the hand and hops to her feet walking back to the corner section of the original path. “Come on Levy! We don’t wanna slow down, lets get this quest finished up nice and quick! I wanna make sure I have rent for this month.”
Levy lingered in that spot probably too long, Lucy calls out for her again even. “But…” Levy though was too focused on her hand, after another minute she does finally turn around and start walking back. “She touched it, and made contact with me, so… it’ll happen now right…? She said the effects are dulled but still potent enough to work if in contact?” Levy was not sure how to feel, her hand did feel a little odd somehow, she just could not place how. “I guess… maybe it isn’t that drastic or something.”
The girls rejoin at the corner section, their path going further up the mountain now before them once again. Though Levy could not help but stare at Lucy now as they walk together. Something was off, she just still could not place it. Lucy’s butt was normal, her back, her hair, but something was off. “Levy?” The way Lucy’s fingernails were cut seemed different from when they looked at their break earlier. Levy’s nails were different too, she had applied just a clear polish to hers but they did not have it on anymore. “Levy, are you alright?”
Squish
Levy’s face slams right in to Lucy’s breasts squishing into the soft mounds, before Lucy pushes her back out. Finally, Levy was at least paying attention now, her cheeks turning a little red, as well as Lucy’s own. “O-Oh Lucy… s-sorry.” Levy quickly rubs at her eyes and holds her palms against her face. “I’m being stupid! I just, I was thinking about a lot! You know how I can get too lost in thought sometimes! Sorry, sorry, I’ll pay attention.” Saying all of that, Levy could tell for sure now as her palms move away from her face. The hands she had, were a bit bigger than hers, the nails were different. They were still female hands, but not hers, they were Lucy’s hands.
Crossing her arms under her chest Lucy sighs and nudges her head back toward the path. “You’re fine, I just wanted to ask where the next area we’re searching is.”
For whatever reason Lucy did not seem to notice the changes herself. Maybe because it was subtle and Levy was actively looking for it? “O-oh…” Stuttering a little Levy tries to keep her composure, shaking her head she quickly points forward. “There should be an area that’s like a woods up ahead. That’s the next area we have to look in!” Lucy nods and starts her merry strides up the path, at the very least she seemed to be upbeat still. “I don’t know how she does it sometimes… she really didn’t notice how her hands changed though? If I have her pick more of the items… I never told her about the gloves…” Biting at her lip Levy keeps walking slowly behind Lucy, her thoughts were too conflicting.
“Finally!” Lucy stretches out her arms finally reaching a flat section of the mountain. Just as Levy had said it was surrounded by trees clustered together rather densely. Grass, some nuts around, small animals running through trees. It was comfortable for nature at least and a refreshing sight compared to the brown dirt path they had been walking on. “The summit seemed so far up… I’m glad our view can change a bit though.” Lucy spins around on her heel putting her hands on her hips as she watches Levy join her. “I know you’ve been thinking a lot, but if I can help at all. Just let me know alright? For starters though, what exactly are we looking for in this area now?”
Levy takes out her notes on the quest. “The next one is a nightshade. Though it can be eaten… so think of it like a potato. It likes the darkness and it does have an orange flower coming out the top. Though the thing we want is the root from it. So we need to find it and clip the root and toss it in the bag.” Levy flips the paper of her notebook over and nods. “And this special variation we need to look for well… by luck kind of.” Lucy’s smile turns to a frown. “I mean! The patches here are rare in the first place, just we may have to dig up a few… the roots for this one are drastically different. The normal ones have brown roots, the special one has red roots.”
Sighing Lucy grabs her Virgo key from her belt. “Well, I think I’ll just make this easier on both of us then.”
Just before Lucy can go waving the key around Levy pushes her hand down quickly shaking her head. “Wait, wait, wait!” Levy was almost sounding like Elica but she needed to stop such drastic measures. “If you call on her, she may dig up the whole area… we don’t want to cause landslides and deforest the place. It’s not a big deal Lucy. I wanna do this quest with just me and you, we don’t need to count on your spirits today, or any of the boys.”
The words seemed to be like a cheat code, Lucy clips her key back to her ring and nods. “Fine, I guess we don’t spend time alone together too often anyway. Virgo did tell me she had other plans today too… I suppose she may just show up anyway at some point. But, alright.” Lucy gives another smile and starts walking into the woods. “Let’s go find this weird potato on our own!”
All be it reluctant Levy follows not caring to correct Lucy any further. The woods were dense, waking through the brush the girls are forced to lift their legs high and be a bit more careful where they walk. Luckily nothing seemed so overgrown it would cut into their clothing, but Levy was regretting wearing wedge sandals. “I think I saw something up ahead.” With a huff, Levy pushes her foot into a small tree and pushes herself over a shrub landing herself in a small clearing. Lucy beside her both the girls scan over the area. “Here!” Levy is the first to notice the orange flower, the plant was beside a tree in the shade as one would expect. Though it was not a large patch at all. Just five flowers clustered together. “Well, the animals will eat the roots…” Levy nods to herself getting down on her knees before the flowers. “We should be able to just dig them all up without worries. I suppose you can take a few with you to eat later…? I heard they’re decent boiled.”
Getting down to her knees as well Lucy pushes her hair up and readjusts her ponytail into a high one. “Well, I’m ready to dig.” Lucy pauses for a moment then looking at her hands. “You did bring shovels though, right?”
Grabbing from her other bag Levy brings out two garden trowels and passes one to Lucy. “Yeah I least remembered to bring some with me.” Levy thrusts the trowel into the dirt and begins to dig, Lucy following with her. Unrooting several of the plants the girls find nothing but brown roots. Stabbing her trowel into the final root, it luckily was not red either. “I-I’m gonna have to be careful digging the others.” Levy rubs at the back of her head chuckling nervously. Both the girls had stabbed at a few of the roots.
“Me and you both… either way, it isn’t here, we’ll have to keep looking.” Crossing her arms under her chest yet again Lucy slowly cocks her head to the side finally using that brain of hers. “Do you think maybe the mountainside could lead into a cave somewhere around here? With all the plant life here, the soil could be good enough, and the darkness would be better for these plants, right?”
Standing up Levy dusts off the back of her dress and nods in agreement. “That’s true. There could be a small cave at least or even just an indentation against the rock face. Let's move along the wall then.” Levy plops her trowel back into her bag and starts walking back into the woods, Lucy hurridly following behind slips her trowel back into the bag too.
Drip, drip, drip
Lucy was the first to feel the drops of rain. Looking overhead clouds were starting to form. The hot day seemed to lure the rain out. “Levy… looks like it’s going to start raining. We may wanna find someplace to camp. Guess it may not rain long but still.”
Feeling a few drops now herself Levy watches many of the trees around her slowly glisten with moisture. Raindrops beginning to form across their leaves. It was just a light drizzle for now. Both girls were luckily mostly dry from the trees blocking a lot of the water. “Well, I think we’re in luck then.” The entrance was small, but a cave was right in front of the girls. Levy presses her body against the crack and hobbles sideways sliding right through. “There! This really is a cave, Lucy, come on!”
Laughing nervously Lucy looks down at her breasts and then the crack in the wall. “I can probably fit…” Pressing up against the rock Lucy does her best to hobble sideways but right away her breasts start to squish against the side of the wall. “N-ngh, L-Levy I may need some help here.” Sighing Levy grabs onto Lucy’s hand and starts pulling at her, Lucy inches further into the cave her breasts and shirt sliding against the rock wall till finally—
TEAR
Lucy comes into the cave but the front of her top rips completely open. “A-ack! Come on I liked this top too!” Lucy covers her bare chest with her arms, the full shirt was not ripped completely but Levy could see pretty much all of Lucy’s breast past her nipple. “Th-this is not the kind of look I’m going for… Mmm, I’m sorry about this Levy. I didn’t realize how—”
Rolling her eyes Levy crosses her arms under her flat chest. “I get it, you didn’t realize how big you are, compared to me…” Turning around Levy trails her finger through the air writing cloth, and just like that a white blanket falls to the cave floor. “Just use that to cover yourself for now. Unless you wanna swap clothes with me?”
Giving a glance over Levy the much larger girl sighs. “No, it’s fine… I wouldn’t wanna ruin your dress. And I mean, you don’t wanna wear something ripped either. For better or worse… I’m sorta used to this too.” Lucy grabs the white cloth and wraps it over her arms like a poncho. “This’ll at least cover my chest anyway… Come on let’s look for this thing.”
Levy had no reason to argue. Both girls begin to walk the dark cave. The lightning left a bit to be desired so Levy had to make her own makeshift lamp with some of her words. One thing Levy had not expected though was how large the cave actually was, the more the girls walk, the more cave there was. They could still hear the rain, so it had to not be going into the mountain itself but rather looping around it. “This cave system is different than I thought it’d be…” Muttering at herself Levy trips over a root falling right on her face, her lamp clanging against the floor. “O-Ow…”
Lucy stands by her side quickly offering up a hand. “Come on.” Levy accepts and they both stand up, Levy hovering her light over the root. “This looks sort of like the roots we were digging up earlier… do you think one grew really big or something?”
Levy starts walking with the root, noticing a tunnel going left, the paths they had traveled through seemed to curve right. “This… this may lead further into the mountain. It seems like it may have come from some oversized one. The roots still brown though, so I guess this big one isn’t special beyond setting a few local records.”
Lucy keeps quiet and focuses on the path, Levy keeping the lead just muttering now and again about the root system. As the girls had thought, they reach a clearing within the cave, a large oversized orange flower coming from the ground. Besides the plant water drips down from the cave ceiling keeping the soil moist. From what Levy could tell when it would rain harder the water would drip down through the rocks. “Levy!’ Lucy yells grabbing Levy’s attention from the oversized plant. Not too far away from the thing was a grove of orange flowers. The ground was not grass but it was not that muddy either. The soil seemed in a good condition, and the roots of the oversized plant seemed to make the soil retain itself. “This is a lot more than the five we dug up. One of these has to be it right?”
Trowel in hand Levy shoves the spare trowel back into Lucy’s. “Only one way to find out. We may be here a while.”
The girls dig, they dig and dig. Each root they uproot from the ground they see brown, brown, and more brown. The girls become adept at not hurting the root as they dig, though they still keep finding brown ones. Minutes pass, the pile of roots at their sides grow. Levy’s hands and Lucy’s start to get dirty, their knees a little red as they keep pressure on them. Still, they keep digging. “This is taking forever.” Lucy drops her shovel looks at her already dirty hands and just rips one of the things out by hand. “We still can’t find any.”
Levy had to blink a few times just to confirm, but the red root was right in Lucy’s hand. “L-Lucy wait!” Lucy tosses the root into the pile they had been making, just assuming it was not what they needed. Luckily Levy catches it in her palms sighing with relief. “Ah… I don’t know if it would get ruined easily but I rather not take my chances.” Levy did not even have to do anything special this time. Lucy grabbed the item first and then Levy did herself. Pushing it into the special sack she stands herself up and once again makes her bowl with solid script quickly dropping water into it to clean her hands off. “Lucy clean up after me alright.” Lucy had still barely processed she had actually found the thing, she was still panting leaning back on her legs. “Ah… I guess that was a bit tir—” Levy’s words stop, something was wrong, or maybe in her case, right. Just like her hands had changed, her arms were too, they were longer now. She did not need anything special to tell. “It really…” Flinging her hands through the air to get some water off she stands back up and wobbles in place. She was a little taller even as well. “Two of them together further the changes more?” Glancing back quickly at Lucy she could tell she was smaller herself, they looked the same height now which should not have been possible normally. “She keeps not noticing… She would have too now though, right? How do I even explain it?” Taking a step forward Levy’s whole body shivers like a pain was shooting through her. “A-aah…” Levy’s eyes wince and Lucy turns her head to look at her now suddenly taller friend.
“Wh-what?” The reaction was about what Levy would expect. Lucy stands up herself now wobbling in place just as Levy had, but she falls right back into the dirt. “O-Owy… H-Hey what the heck. Levy!” Lucy brushes some of the dirt off her legs her eyes widening telling Levy that she understood now. “L-Levy… why are my legs… Why am I shorter?! Why are you taller!? A-and why does this hurt?!” Lucy tries to stretch out her leg, but just like for Levy it seemed moving was causing her pain. The muscles were in a constant flex like they could barely move without telling all the nerve ends to react. “N-ngh… th-this hurts a lot, my legs stiff… and it hurts to move.”
The easiest excuse that could come to Levy’s mind she blurts out. “I-it must have been the roots! A nightshade is a poison after all! W-we dug up so many of them in this cave and all…” Levy winces her eyes again in pain, even if she was making an excuse the poison part was true. “N-ngh” Trying to take another step forward Levy begins to feel her legs pulsing. It hurt, but at the same time, it seemed she was getting a bit taller. It was like her bones were extending along with the muscles in her legs. That was not all though, her thighs were also getting thicker. She had seen Lucy’s plenty enough to tell she was gaining her legs. The shapely long legs of a grown woman, it was just what Levy wanted though she could do without all the pain! “L-Lucy i-it should stop after a little bit.” Levy falls back down to her butt now just as Lucy had. Looking at her shoes she watches her foot get a tad bigger, Lucy did not have much bigger feet but Levy’s wedge sandals were not fitting properly now. “J-Just come over here alright?”
Groaning under her breath Lucy crawls through the dirt not wanting to make her legs hurt more. Looking at her arms currently though Lucy was starting to notice hers seemed a bit different. Levy almost wanted to shout to her to stop staring but she would notice sooner or later. “L-Levy… I’m starting to look a little more like you.” Lucy sits up beside Levy and looks down at her now loose-fitting skirt and her boots that were sliding off her feet. “My legs… they look a lot like yours. My clothes can barely even fit me now.” Lucy rubs at her legs and slides both her feet from her boots. Then removing her black socks, she cocks her head confused. “L-Levy?”
Levy almost did not want to look, but again she could not escape the situation now. Turning her head toward Lucy she looks at Lucy’s feet. The toenails are painted blue, the same color Levy had painted hers the day before. Though Levy’s toes currently, had no polish on them. “W-well would you look at that.”
Laying back against the ground Lucy sighs loudly. “Levy! My legs look like your legs! Yours look like mine! This is not something to react all calmly about!”
Biting at her lip again Levy keeps searching for the right words. “W-well I mean I’m not reacting calmly… just, it seems some magical effect swapped our body parts… W-we must be feeling pain because well, our bodies are swapping. More or less.”
Sitting back up a little Lucy’s eyes narrow at Levy’s chest. “Swapping? I get your legs, and… and hands and arms? I’ve never heard of anything like this. Are we going to end up just looking like each other?”
Levy twirls her thumbs around each other looking down at her now plumper thighs. “I mean… we shouldn’t just become the other person. I think our heads will be fine. If that’s what you’re worried about. We should only look like each other at worst. And even then, we can ask Mirajane to help us turn back, right? She’s an expert with transformation magic.”
Sighing again Lucy lays back against the ground. “I guess that’s true… I’ve swapped bodies with others already anyway; you were part of that whole dumb book incident years ago too.”
Sheepishly giving a thumbs up Levy quickly looks back down to her legs not wanting to look toward Lucy’s direction. “Exactly, I got us out of that mess too. At least this one was just caused by a plant and not some cursed item. We’ll be fine. We still have a mission to complete too.”
Turning on her side Lucy whines against the dirt. “Leeeevy can you at least clean me off. Can’t you just write clean in the air or something?”
Rolling her eyes Levy trails her finger through the air. “It takes a little more magic power so I try not to use it often, but… I’m the one who brought you on this quest. Solid Script, Clean.” Writing Clean above her head the letters appear over both girls and splash down on them like water. Though it does not make their clothes wet, instead it removes dirt from them making them cleaner than when they had first entered. “There, all clean. Do your legs still hurt?” Levy stretches out her legs a little and wiggles her toes making sure to toss her wedges off. “Mine still sting a little… but I can move them.”
Lucy finally sits back up and stretches her legs. “Mmm… mine don’t seem to hurt now.” Wiggling her toes, she could move her ankle and knee without any resistance. “Though… it seems like I won’t be able to wear my shoes.”
Grabbing her pair of wedges Levy sets them down in front of Lucy and grabs onto Lucy’s boots and socks without a second thought. “Seems like my harmless joke is actually what we have to do then. Let’s swap clothes. Your skirt seems a bit too loose now anyway, right?”
Blushing a little Lucy nods and stands up on her bare feet. “Well at least I can stand now… but… yeah let's change out of these.” Lucy sets the poncho-like cloth down and pulls her top off her chest and then slides her skirt off. Luckily, they were in a cave so she did not have to be worried about exposing herself to Natsu like always. Levy seeing her naked was nothing new, they had seen each other plenty of times at the hot spring. “Here.” Lucy hands the skirt over to Levy and she simply slides it up her legs before even taking off the dress.
“Hey, Lucy.” Levy pulls the dress off over her head, a white sports bra clinging to her small chest. “Why exactly aren’t you wearing a bra… or underwear?”
Lucy freezes up for a moment. “Um…” Pulling the dress on over her head it stops at the mid of her thigh due to her breasts keeping it from falling lower. “I just figured my top was good enough… but it ripped, and well… J-Just don’t worry about it alright!”
Rolling her eyes Levy shrugs and pulls the ripped-up top on over her head. The bottoms of her breast would show, but the sports bra hides them. “Guess I’m glad I wore what I did…” Levy then sits back down and puts on the black socks and slips her feet into the heeled boots, once again standing. To her surprise, the boots felt rather comfortable. She knew Lucy wore heels often though she did not think Lucy’s feet would be so adjusted to them. “I already got a little taller… but this makes me even taller. I’m amazed you walk in heels so much Lucy. Don’t think I could manage it so much.”
Slipping her feet into the sandal wedges Lucy feels the same familiar comfort, a shoe the feet were made for. “Wedges have a different feel to them, I can tell that… they add height but, they feel a bit easier on the heel.” Shaking her head Lucy thrusts her finger once again forward. “But we shouldn’t be rambling about clothes now! We need to find that last item, right?! So, let's get it done with and get off this dumb mountain!”
No complaints Lucy and Levy both start traveling through the cave again. Levy is the first to suggest not going from where they came so they keep walking the circle hoping to find another exit. The easiest reason for this being Levy did not want Lucy to rip her dress. Luckily for the two they find a large exit and leave back out into the woods area of the mountain. “Finally.” Levy wipes her brow of sweat and cocks her head back toward Lucy, they had only been walking for another few minutes but the girl's heights had changed more. “Hmm…” Not wanting to comment Levy grabs at her notes again looking at the last item on the list. “So… the last thing we need to find is a fruit. This one will hopefully be easier to find. I don’t think anything dangerous is in the area of it either, but be careful. We’ll just need to go up a little higher from here. The fruits that grow here are usually yellow, but we want a pink one.”
Lucy slings her arms behind her head walking through the forest close to Levy. “Pink huh.” Lucy was sounding more causal now finally out of the cave, though Levy could tell she was still looking at her legs now and again. “I guess it will be easy to notice at the very least… So, we get this pink one and then get back down the mountain. Sounds good. How about we take an easier way up though?”
Not wanting to beat around the bush Levy starts writing in the air right away. “Alrighty, alright fine. Solid Script, Stairs.” As the letters appear in the air they clamp down against the side of the mountain wall and bend to make stairs going up. A few extra uses of the same spell and the girls were already at the next section of the mountain they needed to reach without having to walk back around to the main path. “I suppose the magic use was worth it.” Levy reaches into the first tree she sees and pulls down one of the yellow fruits. The fruit was indeed yellow but black lines trace through it with no specific design it looked more like it was scribbled on. “Well, at least it seems like the fruits grow in abundance around here. The quest giver told me that we should be able to find this one easily, the hardest part is just going up the mountain.”
Grabbing one of the fruits herself Lucy stares at it and wipes it off a little with the side of her current dress. “Hm, are these things safe to eat?” Levy gives a nod and Lucy takes a bite right out of it. “M-mmm…” Chewing it for a moment Lucy nods and then swallows taking another bite. “It has… a sweet yet sour taste to it… not bad actually.” Munching down on it she tosses the remains to the ground and starts walking under the fruit trees looking for any out-of-place color. “I guess all we can do now is both keep looking right? Yell when you see the thing!”
Levy does start to move, but something was starting to itch at her chest. “N-ngh… why now?” Sighing she lifts the torn shirt she was wearing up a little and uses the hole to scratch easily at her sports bra. “W-wait.” The fabric of the sports bra though felt stretched. Pressing her fingers, a little against the fabric Levy’s breasts seemed to have grown in size. “This… we’re still changing. So what will this one do?” Levy carefully ducks under another fruit tree, they were all around the same size as apple trees so most of them were not very tall. “I can’t believe they actually got bigger…” Levy’s hands rest against her now budding breasts, her eyes glancing back toward Lucy as she appears distraught holding her progressively smaller chest. “Heh… that’s what she deserves. Acting so happy… throwing in comments passively like she’s better than me.” Levy had to say something to herself to justify her actions.
THUD
The pink fruit then hits the girl's head and lands on the ground. Levy could barely believe it, luck seemed to find her somehow. “Maybe the new height let luck find me easier?” Picking up the fruit in her hand, unlike the yellow ones this one did not have the black lines on it. It was simply a solid pink. “Well then… now I just need to have Lucy touch this. Or come in contact with where I touched it I suppose?” Tucking the fruit into the protective sack Levy waves toward Lucy. “Luuucy! I found it! We can start going down now!”
Lucy pivots around on her wedge shoe looking startled. “R-really?!” Lucy runs right over to Levy but before she gets within grabbing range she stops noticing the girl's now much large chest. “Levy?” Lucy’s hand goes to her now rather flattened chest. “Your… your sports bra there seems like it’s going to burst open.”
Wincing her eyes Levy did want to agree, her breasts were starting to actually hurt from the bra binding them back. Within just a few minutes it seemed the girl's breast sizes had fully swapped around. “Y-Yes, that seems to be what’s happening… B-but really I got the item, so come on we can start going down the mountain alright?” Levy holds out her infected hand to Lucy giving a pained little smile. “We should get back to Fairy Tail now. This sports bra is starting to hurt, haha… and well I rather not go exposing your breasts with the ripped shirt and all. I hope you don’t mind me stealing some clothes when we get back.”
Lucy smiles back and reaches out her hand. “Well, we can get you changed out of that first if you want. I should have some dresses you’d probably like, I got some other shoes too. I’m guessing you can throw something together more your style. But, hah we’ll have to get to Mirajane right away to get back to normal. Hopefully, that won’t take too long.” Lucy’s hand and Levy’s just are about to connect when the ground shakes under their feet.
BAM
A hole emerges from the ground and a pale hand slaps Lucy’s palm away and even pushes her back onto her butt. “No, no, no, no, no, no!” Elica emerges from the hole, her shoes slamming against the ground as she lands, dress fluttering around her. “What is all of this going on?!”
Levy tucks the special sack behind herself and takes a small step back. “N-ngh.” Even if she was nervous pain shoots up her sides, her hips were getting a bit wider. Her whole torso was becoming like Lucy. “E-Elica?”
The bunny-eared girl glares at Levy but does not say anything to her. Instead, she turns around and helps Lucy to her feet. “I’m sorry miss are you alright?”
Lucy looks around confused, holding her waist it seemed her changes were already done though. Levy looked in a pain but Lucy no longer was. It was almost like she stopped feeling the pain as soon as Elica had whacked her. Shrinking seemed like it caused less pain than growing anyway, but Lucy had other concerns to worry about. “U-um… yeah, I’m fine. Um. Who are you?”
Taking a step back Elica holds an arm to her chest and bows to Lucy lifting the side of her dress slightly. “Excuse me for my rudeness Miss. I am Elica, I am an energetic bunny-eared girl as you may notice!” Hopping up in place Elica spins around and gives a small tug to her white bunny ears. “But, haha… enough of that. It seems like you’ve been tricked, Miss. I apologize.” Elica quickly bows her head this time. “I never met for something like this to happen.”
With a twitching eye, Lucy looks over Elica’s shoulder toward Levy who was still walking back but holding her sides in pain. “Um… what exactly happened Elica? You didn’t do anything bad to me as far as I know. I’ve gotten pushed over plenty; it isn’t a big deal… you don’t seem like you meant anything bad by it.”
Shaking her head quickly Elica hops forward and grabs Lucy’s hands. “No, no, no! You’re being too nice! Don’t you realize what happened?!” Elica points her accusing finger behind toward Levy. “I sent that girl on a quest to pick up special items for me! She was supposed to be gathering them with protective gloves but look at you!” Elica quickly grabs a large hand mirror from behind her ear and shoves it in Lucy’s face. “You don’t even look like yourself! It looks like your heads on the wrong body now… this, this is a bad jumble!”
A little stunned actually seeing herself Lucy runs her fingers against her neck where the color of skin was slightly different. “I mean… my hands and legs were changing… I didn’t expect it to look like this.” Pausing for a moment Lucy’s eyes look down. “I also don’t really get where you pulled that mirror from. But what do you mean?” Lucy looks toward Levy now; her eyes filled with a begging stare. “Levy, you just forgot the protective gloves or something right? Cause you were overthinking a bit today. That’s all it was right?”
“I-I…” Levy felt her changes were done now but at what cost? Below the neck she was Lucy. The clothing, the body type. She was fully grown now just as she wanted. People would look at her now. But Elica and Lucy were both looking at her in a way that made her stomach turn. “I… I didn’t forget!”
Elica covers her mouth in a gasp despite knowing already. Lucy just lowers her head looking sullen from the confirmation. “Why?” Lucy walks past Elica and gets a little closer to Levy. “Why would you do all of this though? What would have happened if Elica didn’t just get between us now?”
Bouncing forward to Lucy’s side Elica holds her hand up to answer. “Well. The fruit in its unprocessed state would have swapped your bodies completely head and all. Though it not being fully processed you would have become unstable in the changes. Slowly your minds would break, and you would become husks and die.” Elica pauses for a moment and quickly points toward Levy. “If I touch Levy first though it’ll neutralize that at least.”
Levy’s face and Lucy’s both filled with dread. “W-wait!” Levy waves her hands back and forth trying to keep Lucy’s attention. “I never knew that was what would happen I swear! L-Lucy… I, I just thought—”
Lucy stomps her foot down, now with an angry glare. “Just thought what Levy?! You lied to me, you lied to this girl that you’d get the materials how you were told! You lied to us both and now you wanna start trying to make excuses?!” Lucy presses her palm to her face and breathes slowly out. “Even if you didn’t know it could kill us, what could you possibly want from all of this?!”
“You!” Levy breathes out the words heavily her throat feeling a bit dry. Elica cups both her hands now over her mouth in surprise. “I wanted you Lucy…” Lucy stares in confusion, but the tears filling Levy’s odd made it hard for her to want to cut the girl off. “You… you’re amazing Lucy. People love you, look at you, people ask you on quests. My little Shadow Gear fan club? Gajeel… even if I try and say I have things they’re just around sometimes and then ditch me to go spend time with everyone else. And after all the time that’s past my old team just hangs out with each other instead of me!” Panting heavier Levy squeezes at the side of her skirt and quickly wipes some tears out of her eyes. “No one even looked at me for that stupid punishment game! I just felt like a joke! Everyone stared at the big-breasted Lucy! I’m smart, my magic can be useful too! Just because I’m small doesn’t mean people should just stop caring about me completely!”
Biting at her lip Lucy’s eyes shift down looking at her now small body, at Levy’s real body. “You really think that? You really felt that way?” Slowly lifting her head Lucy looks over her original body, Levy’s head placed on the shoulders. “Why didn’t you…” Sucking at her lips a few tears well in Lucy’s eyes and she quickly runs over to Levy. “Why didn’t you just tell any of us that then you idiot?!” Before Lucy can hug Levy the white bunny ears pop up between them. Elica is squished between both girls as Lucy squeezes and squeezes. “Can you honestly say you feel good now with everything?! Is this really what you want Levy?!”
Levy and Lucy both squishing Elica they keep sobbing together. Levy chokes back her words but tries her best to make herself clear. “N-No I don’t feel good at all! I-I want to change, but I don’t want to make my best friend sad!”
BAM
Finally, Elica pushes both the girls back to the ground. “Stop it both of you!” Steam coming from her nose Elica’s swirling checkerboard eyes look back and forth between both girls angrily. “I’m happy you’ve both had this little resolution but what about me!? This blue-haired did the one thing I told her not to do!” Picking Levy up by the collar Elica starts shaking the girl back and forth with surprising strength. “Why didn’t you just listen?! I call myself dumb but this is beyond stupid, aren’t you suppose to read books!” Throwing Levy back to the ground then Elica sighs and sits right down between both the girls. “Normally I’d say you two should be punished… but… you were different than the usual people I deal with.”
Looking sullen Levy slowly pulls the special sack out and thrusts it into Elica’s hands. “H-here. I still collected the items anyway. You don’t have to pay me, but at least pay Lucy here alright?”
Sighing Elica looks at Lucy and then back at Levy. “You two… I don’t know if this magical change can be undone. I’d need to try and make a potion to undo the effects. Transformation magic gets overridden.”
Levy and Lucy both flinch shouting at Elica at the same time. “You mean we’re stuck like this?!”
Bunny ears drooping down Elica nods slowly glaring at both girls. “Yes… you don’t need to be so loud about it. You’re stuck like this unless I can do something. No one else can do… well my dad can. But no one else can use magic like me. Nothing else would be able to undo this effect… these plants were ones my dad planted.” Standing back up Elica dusts off the back of her dress and snaps, a bunny hole forming in front of her. “Still… I’m glad I got to see this. Even though you were kinda bad Levy.” Elica flicks Levy’s leaving a small red mark. “I’m glad you two will still be friends. Um… don’t think of this change as bad, I may be able to undo it! Just think of it as… a new experience!” Elica then jumps into her hole and it shuts leaving both girls to themselves.
“So…” Lucy says sighing into her hands.
“Yeah?” Levy runs her finger across the grass looking down at her now larger breasts.
Lucy narrows her eyes at Levy, but gives a slight smile. “You’re going to help me pay my rent from now on alright.”
Hesitantly Levy grabs at Lucy’s hand squeezing at it and even gets a squeeze back. “That sounds fair to me.”