Fiore, a prosperous land filled with laughter and the wonder of magic. The royal family was loved by all the subjects for King Akio and his wife Queen Hitomi were kind and fair, their son,Jellal aged 3, would play in the streets with knights watching over him. However the kings younger brother Takeshi wasn't happy about his place in the hierarchy for now a small blue haired prince was higher in command then he was. One the day King Akio and Queen Hitomi gave birth to a blue haired baby girl with large dark green eyes was the day that Takeshi decided he hated his brother and the royal family that came with him. The new princess was given the name Levy, during the celebration of her birth Takeshi voiced him opinions about how the McGarden castle was corrupt.
"This so-called royal family tends to the needs of their own before that of the people's!" Takeshi stood on a wooden table, pointing at King Akio. Guards surrounded Takeshi as Akio stood.
"I believe my brother has had enough ale to last him all week" Akio laughed "Escort him to his room please"
As the guards took hold of Takeshi's arms he pulled away from them "I have not touched the ale! You don't deserve the crown" rising his arms, black smoke surrounded him and he disappeared. The startled king pulled his family closer to him, Hitomi was holding their tiny baby girl and Jellal was hugging his fathers leg. Takeshi reappeared behind them and before the guards could do anything Takeshi had pulled the crying new-born from her mothers arms, holding her hostage.
"Put her down Takeshi!" Akio pleaded his brother
"As you wish" A twisted grin etched onto his face, Takeshi threw baby Levy towards Queen Hitomi and while everyone was distracted by watch her catch the tiny child Takeshi used his magic. Summoning an orb of dark energy in his hands he shot it at Hitomi and Levy. As if in slow motion Akio watched his only love hold his daughter close as she fell to the ground. Thud. Akio ran towards Hitomi as guards ran towards Takeshi but he faded into smoke again, an evil grin spreading ear to ear. Silence as King Akio picked up the still almost breathing Levy and handing her to the royal nurse to look at. He pulled his wife's head onto his lap, stroking her wavy hair away from her face to see a peaceful expression, eyes closed. Jellal slowly walked over to his parents.
"Mummy?" He questioned, tears in his eyes. Jellal knelt beside them "Mummy are you sleeping?" He asked
"N-no" Akio choked, holding back tears "Mummy has gone to see the angels"
"Why?!" Jellal burst into tears "Tell the angels to bring mummy back!" He took his mothers cold hand and pressed his face against it "It's not fair!" He cried
"No, it's not fair at all" Akio kissed Hitomi's forehead, stroking her hair. "From now on magic is forbidden. Anyone caught using magic will be punished" he told his knights.
A festive night of joy celebrating life soon became an emotional funeral for the kind Queen, Hitomi.
~~ 18 years later ~~
Levy Mcgarden sat at her dressing table brushing her long blue hair, she wore a royal yellow gown. A knock echoed from her bedroom door.
"Come on Levy. Dad's waiting for us" Jellal sighed
"Don't rush me! I'm almost ready" Levy began pinning up her hair and using a fancy hair band she pushed her bangs out of her face. Before joining Jellal in the hallway.
"You got dressed up for a meeting about damage control?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow
"A princess must always look her best" She huffed
"So it has nothing to do with the captain of the guard, Laxus?" Jellal teased as the two walked down huge marble stairs
"No way!" Levy blushed brightly, quickly turning to punch him made her unsteady on her feet causing her to almost fall off the last step. Two stong hands took a hold of her waist to prevent injury.
"Be careful your highness, I'd hate to see you hurt yourself" A muscular blonde man looked down at the delicate frame in his hands
"L-laxus?!" Levy quickly jumped back onto her feet and blushed bright red "thank you" She shuffled nervously
Laxus smiled at her before walked into a different room. Levy turned to look at her brother who was grinning like an idiot. "Oh shut up!" She stormed off into the same room as Laxus. Her father was sitting on a tall wooden chair, he glanced as Levy and Jellal as they entered.
"The dragon attack yesterday has left us with multiple injured civilians, low food stock and homes that need re-building!" one of the knights was stood and yelling at the king
"The royal knights are for protection. Not to run silly errands the towns people are too lazy to do themselves" Akio sighed calmly
"With all do respect sir, the knights are here to help the people of your kingdom. I'll happily split my knights into groups. One to collect food from nearby towns, another to help any injured people and re-build homes and the last group to stay guard in the castle" Laxus spoke up causing king Akio to glare at him for a moment.
"Indeed. Make it so" Akio then dismissed the knights, nodded politely as his children then left. Levy glanced at Laxus before her two bodyguards, Jet and Droy came bounding up to her like lost puppies.
"Princess!" They chorused and bowed to her, she smiled at them.
"Are you ready for the daily routine?" Jet grinned at her as Droy nodded egerly
"Of course I am" Levy laughed as the three of them walked to the royal library. This was Levy's favorite place in the castle she'd come here to read for hours everyday. Books covered every wall, all the way to the top so four levels were built along with silver metal stairs decorated with small silver flowers to each level also ladders on every level so the books from the higher shelves could be reached. The marble floors were shining white and silver tables, decorated to look like silver trees, laid in a symmetrical pattern on the floor.
Levy pushed open one of the huge silver doors which had, branches and leaves carved into them. Taking in a deep breath she smelled a familiar scent of old pages crying out to burn turned.
This was the only place Levy felt safe. A wonderland that allows her to leave her boring life in the castle walls and go on amazing adventures. This was her forest of dreams. She took a slow walk towards the stairs, gliding up them to the top level she sighed at the lack of books on this level. Since all the books about magic and spells were burnt years ago, she never got a chance to read them and even though her father was trying to fill the empty spaces in the library, Levy wished he'd hurry up with it. Picking up one her favorite books, The Princess Bride,
that she must have read so much she could probably recite it all from memory. She took a seat at one of the tables on the bottom floor and began reading while Jet and Droy hovered not too far away, not wanting to disturb her for she would become grumpy for the rest of the day if her reading was interrupted.
Hours passed as Levy read book after book, she glanced at the clock on the wall to see it was almost mid-day and that means soon she would have to sit with father and brother for lunch. Sighing, she closed the last book and placed it back on the shelf. She sorted out her hair and dress before smiling at Jet and Droy.
"Shall we go then?" She asked, the two nodded at her and escorted her to the dinning hall. It was just about as large as the library but it was dark and cold with little decoration. Levy didn't like this room. Akio was sat at the end of a large brown table, Jellal was on his right side and Levy was to sit on the left.
"You're late" Akio scolded
"Sorry, I got caught up in a book" Levy smiled, taking her seat
"I see" Akio sighed, he looked at Levy worryingly "You really should stop reading silly stories, you might forget reality"
"That's nonsense" Levy frowned at her father
"Levy .. don't" Jellal warned but she continued
"What do you expect me to do all day, father? I'm forbidden to leave to castle walls and I don't have any responsibilities. All I can I choose to do is read, out of everyone's way"
Levy frown deepened, She would have said a lot more but the timid girl never said what she wanted but instead voiced her opinion quietly and politely. Akio just looked away from her. The meal was eaten in silence, like most of the time. Levy didn't blame her father for his actions, she knew that when her mother died so did a part of him. After the awkward meal Levy, followed by Jet and Droy went out for her daily walk in the castle gardens, She saw the smoke and destroyed houses from the dragon attack yesterday through the castle gates.
The three of them would sit under the willow tree and talk or just watched the clouds. Levy was glad of their company with her father always so quiet, Jellal training with the knights and Laxus out on missions for the king she need at least someone to talk too.
Another silent meal with the family in the evening and Levy was ready to go to her room. Jet and Droy stood guard outside her door as she pulled on an orange silk night-dress, clipped her bangs back instead of the hair band and plaited her long hair, it annoyed her to have hair as long as her waist because that put with being locked in a castle made her feel like the helpless Rapunzel.
Sighing she got on her knees, clasped her hands together and closed her eyes listening to the rain hit her window.
"Hey mum, I hope you're okay" She said, feeling stupid like always because she didn't really believe in angels or higher power as such yet she didn't want to think her mother was just ... gone. "There's nothing new to report from here. Dad's still heartbroken, Jellal's still growing up too fast and I still waste my life dreaming of something, anything to happen." She paused. Kissed her finger tips and held them in the air. "I love you and I wish you were here" She stood up slowly, quickly looks around her almost empty room before pulling an old book from under her pillow. This was the only magic book her father didn't burn, it was her mothers and Levy found it when she was eight. One a day that she decided to explore the castle she found a chest with her name on it however the box was looked with a form of puzzle and after three days of constant guessing she got it unlocked to find more puzzles, pens, a few small books then the large book entitled "Solid Script Secrets".
And ever since that day she loved to read, work out puzzles and when no one was around teach herself Solid Script. Levy gently ran her fingers down the book's spine and opened it. It was only the basics yet it was a huge book and once she knew the basics she experiment with other words and runes. Just as she began to read she heard loud noises coming from outside her room.
"Is everything okay?" She called out. No reply. "Jet? Droy?" She walked over to the door opened it slowly and peeked out to see, nothing. Opening it fully she stepped out into the hallway glancing around she heard another loud noise coming from the west with no sign of Jet or Droy anywhere. Her natural curiosity overpowered her fear as she cautiously shuffled in the direction of the noise. She tip toed quietly through the empty hallways when she eventually came to the library. The door was open with the light from the inside casting shadows of at least four figures inside. Slowly and carefully she walked over to the doors, staying in hidden in the dark she began watching the people inside. She began remembering details of the intruders. A man with black and white hair tied in a pony tail had a black line tattooed over his face under his eyes, he stood with his arms folded watching the rain was also a small skinny man with green spiked hair and a moustache who wore a monical and a brown suite who seemed to be dancing from side to side while throwing books around. A huge man with a blind fold and a green top hat stood on the second floor throwing books down the stairs while crying. The last member of this strange group was a blue haired woman walked across the bookshelves muttering what seemed like "drip drip drop" to herself. After taking a good look at each of them Levy knew she'd have no problem remembering a group of weirdos like this. Levy started backing away quietly so she could warn the guards, when she suddenly hit something with her back.
"Where'd ya think you're goin'?" A deep voice huffed behind her. Levy turned around to see a man twice her size glaring down at her. He had long raven black hair, wore dark clothes and metal studs pierced his grinning face.
He was holding the bloody broken bodies of Jet and Droy. She gasped and tried to run but the dark man dropped his cargo to grip her long plaited hair and pulled her close, her dark green eyes filled with fear met his bright red eyes filled with blood screamed and tried to get away.
"Scream all ya want girl! Aria here used air void to make this area sound proof" The stranger laughed darkly
"Well I heard you from my room" Levy distracted him so she could get to the hidden knife strapped to her thigh.
"Guess you were in hearing range, unlucky for you shrimp" His smile was twisted it struck fear into Levy. Nevertheless she pulled out her tiny knife and held it up to him, he burst out laughing but stopped when she cut his hand.
"You little bitch!" He yelled, throwing Levy into the wall causing her to drop the knife and kicking her stomach, hard. Levy let out a cry of pain as he placed his heavy knee onto her back. She struggled but wasn't going to get anywhere. He smirked at her resistance pulling her hair back again. "You got yourself some lovely locks here, don't ya?" He pulled harder to hear Levy yelp before taking the knife and roughly cutting her hair to shoulder length.
He then began to turn her around, resting the knife on her cheek and grinning sadistically "Shame if that pretty face of yours got cut" he chuckled. The other four began leaving the library to see what was happening.
"Gajeel, stop messing around" The tattooed man sighed, he didn't care what happened to the girl but they weren't sent here to hurt people.
"Juvia agrees. We need to leave now" The woman said
"Aww things were just getting fun" Gajeel stood up, dragging Levy to her feet also "Can't we take her? I need a new toy" he smirked at Levy, she glared back at him.
"No. Lets go. Leave her here" the tattooed man said
"You're no fun Totomaru!" Gajeel let go of Levy's arm "Did we find that damn book?" He asked, Totomaru shook his head. Gajeel growled, he hated a wasted journey. As the strange criminals began to leave, Gajeel turned to Levy and with one quick flick of his hand he cut her cheek slightly before disappearing with the others. Levy stood in shock, holding her face before running to Jet and Droy, screaming for help.