Tales of Magnolia: Chapter one.
Once upon a time, there was a rich kingdom called Magnolia.
Magnolia was renowned for its beautiful buildings, splendid gardens, gorgeous ladies and for its wealth. The kingdom had been prosperous for generations, leaving the neighboring countries jealous. Of course, the Kingdom knew of the threats its wealth was causing, but its Army was one of the strongest in the world known as Fiore. The King, Igneel, was very generous, and paid his soldiers with golden coins. He had a son named Natsu, but not much was known about him, as he kept in the Palace most of the time. It was only common knowledge that Natsu Dragneel was nicknamed the "Salamander".
Nobody had ever seen him outside of the Palace.
It was said that he was a fierce fighter, and never lost a battle. The King kept discreet about his son too. However, one day, Igneel disappeared. It was expected that Prince Natsu would take his place, but many were disapproving, as they had never seen the actual Prince, and wondered if he would be as good as his father. On Coronation day, a rumor ran about. Someone believed Prince Natsu wasn't worthy to be King, because he had killed his father and had usurped the throne.
An assassination plan was carefully planned.
In the meantime, Prince Natsu was still recovering from the shock of his father's disappearance. As the hour neared, he took a foolish decision, saving his life in the process. The moment Prince Natsu was expected to step out onto the balcony and greet his people, a poisoned dagger shot from the crowd. Security ran high and tried to find the murderer, when a new problem surfaced. Prince Natsu had disappeared. He had left a note to his Chancellor, saying he had gone to search for his father. The note was never read to the public. The Chancellor, greedy with power and a huge megalomaniac, proclaimed that the Prince had abandoned his Kingdom, and had in fact, killed his father. The Chancellor made himself King-by-interim until his son grew old enough to take the throne. He promised the people to be good and in the confusion and hatred, they believed him. The Chancellor declared Prince Natsu to be exiled, and that whoever saw him were to report it immediately. He sent out flyers with the Prince's Portrait, and they were hung on every street.
But Prince Natsu had been betrothed to someone.
And that had been kept a secret, even from the Chancellor.
Duchess Lucy, daughter of Duke Heartfilia, and him were supposed to be wed after his coronation. The Duke Heartilia was an important man in Magnolia, and the reason his daughter was chosen to be Queen. Lucy however, despised her father, and ran away when he broke the news. The Duchess had lost her mother at a young age and did not believe her father cared about her. He did, in fact break the contract he had made with Igneel (when he learned and believed the rumor) and promised her to the Chancellor's young son. Duchess Lucy slipped away from home during the night. She cut her long, blond hair into a messy mid-long cut and traded her expensive and ridiculously over-decorated dress for a simple white tank top and a blue skirt. With the remaining money she had, she purchased black knee-high boots and a blue ribbon that she tied in her hair. She kept a whip around her waist, making it seem like a belt, when in truth it was really a deadly weapon she had secretly learned to master. Lucy Heartifilia was lost in Magnolia's crowded streets during the summer Festival. She had never stepped out of her mansion and had a hard time going with the population.
That was when she met Magnolia's best dancer.
Juvia Loxar was said to be from a middle-class family, but had been discarded as a child when she had not been born a boy. The young girl had grown on the streets, and mastered the art of dancing. She had refused to be hired, preferring to dance near a water source every night. Juvia Loxar was known to wear a blue bra with delicate golden stitches and a long blue skirt. She would wear a golden loose belt, golden bracelets on her arms, wrists and feet and dance to the sound of her flute. One of the main reason people came to watch her was for her moves. The blue haired beauty seemed to be as light as a feather when she jumped and twirled gracefully.
The reason she always danced near water was because it was part of her act. She would always jump in the fountain, stream or basin and pretend to walk on the water itself. The crowd, mesmerized by the magic of the act would stare in awe. However, Juvia Loxar would always disappear after he act. She gratefully collected flowers, money, jewelry and any present she would be offered, thank the giver and disappear in the night without another word, her long blue hair flowing behind her like a water cascade.
No one would have guessed she was on first name basis with Magnolia's renowned Thief, Gajeel Redfox.
The man was of an important stature and wasn't someone to be messed with. He specialized in jobs where records needed to be stolen and modified, to then be replaced. No one knew how he did it, nor how to contact him. Gajeel Redfox took on his own offers. The falsified records were impossible to tell from the original ones. He was a master thief, thus earning the capitalized letter at the beginning of his title.
Gajeel Redfox could only be found through Gray Fullbuster, the coldest man in Magnolia. He despised everything the King and his family did, never agreeing to their decisions. Gray Fullbuster never made a big deal about himself though. He encountered people as little as possible and kept to himself, in his white mansion. The man had no title, but was not to be taken lightly. He had worked his way up, from a simple weak teen to the strong, powerful and able man he was now. Gray Fullbuster excelled at Sword Fight. He had never lost a fight before, and never refused a challenge.
It was said he had been trained by his personal Body Guard, Erza Scarlet. The woman had been a Royal Guard at the Palace ever since Prince Natsu was born. She started off as a simple girl maid, but rose up to General of the Army in the record time of ten years. She had left her post as soon as Prince Natsu had been accused and never came back. The Chancellor had been happy with this, since she would surely have risen up against him and his plans. Erza Scarlet had then been engaged as Gray Fullbuster's Body Guard. In truth, she was probably going to kill him someday. It was obvious that she had the upper hand over him, much as the black-haired man would hate to admit. Erza had long flowing scarlet hair, and never left her armor, unless at parties. She had a fierce glare in her eye and shook the earth with every step. Erza Scarlet had agreed to Gray's proposition of being his Body Guard since she had last seen an assassin in his mansion. She had grown fond of the younger man, much as she didn't show it and decided to protect him from harm.
Gray's assassin was in fact named Jellal Fernandes, and his goal was to seize Gray's estate. According to rumors, his two best friends were killed by a murderer when they were young, and buried in the ground under Gray's house. Fullbuster knew it wasn't true, but didn't care. Jellal had sworn he would kill Gray for building the house he considered ugly on this ground.
Jellal Fernandes was a professional assassin.
Trained at a young age, he didn't count how many lives he had sacrificed any longer. Jellal lived in a little room of a rundown inn. No one ever came there, he had his peace. His next door neighbor was a petite woman with short messy blue hair.
Her name was Levy McGarden, and she was always in a rush.
Rushing to work, rushing to finish work, rushing to take care of her room, rushing for groceries. Levy didn't live a quiet life. She was an acquaintance of Prince Natsu, and worked in the Royal Library. Levy had a huge memory and she could remember where every single document and/or book was located. Levy was well-paid to do her job, and had even been offered a luxurious room in the Palace, but the petite woman was known to trust no one. She could offer huge grins to anyone, but she wouldn't trust them. There was a cautious look in her eye, and she was always careful not to leave important records of what she did. No one really talked to her much, as she did not start conversations. Levy was one who kept to herself. She loved her work very much, and hated the Kingdom's new leaders. She could sense their was a plot going on, and she had tried to warn Natsu. Levy herself, was looking though the library for a loophole, something that she could show the population to make them see what was happening behind the closed doors (and heavily guarded) of the Palace.
She'd been threatened to keep her mouth shut.
Not like she cared.
But she knew something big was going to happen. Something big, that would shake the whole Kingdom.
~from Tales of Magnolia, Chapter 1.
Hey guys! MP's back with a new story! This time, AU was picked out of the list, and I hope that so far, you are enjoying this story as much as I am! I'm so excited for this! Especially since I promised some people a Valentine's Special from my previous story and it turned out better than I expected. Now on to the disclaimer because I don't want anyone to say I violated copyrights…
EDIT: Sorry about the single, long paragraph! FF apparently did not register my spacing... sorry again! And thank you for signaling it to me!
~I do not own Fairy Tail, and hereby acknowledge any demands of suppression of this story. (And I make it sound so sophisticated…)
Btw, my previous story was Christmas Fairy Special if anyone's interested in reading. It is NOT a prequel to this story however.
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