The Windowless Tower
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the masterpiece of Hiro Mashima. The legends used in this story are not mine either for they belong to ages long past (definitely in common domain by now). But they will become clearer as the story progresses and for now I will not reveal them as they would undoubtedly spoil the ending of this story.
Chapter 1: Prologue to a fairy tale
Once upon a time there was a windowless tower in the dark of a forest hidden away from all light. It had been deserted for as long as anyone could remember, an old abandoned tower spiraling up from the ruins of an old castle, a testament to an age long past suspended in time.
But then the rumors had started. Rumors of strange lights and unearthly wails coming from the castle. Villagers who swore to the existence of young women who would be seen walking through the village asking about the castle, women who would be seen approaching the castle, women who would never be seen again. And there were whispers of a cloaked man who lived within the castle, a man with blue hair.
It was rumors of this kind that she had sought. She had been searching, searching for the past five years for some sign that pointed to his continued existence. She had feared-but no, she had never given up hope that he was out there somewhere, waiting for her to find him.
Erza had spent the day in the village collecting as much information as she could about the castle, barely visible on the mountainside overlooking the village from miles away. She had been brought to this village by a job actually, a low-ranking mission flyer posted in a tavern requesting an investigation on the disappearing women rumored to be connected in some way to the existence of the old castle on the mountainside. The job description had been vague, but it was the kind of job she now took quite a lot of, anything pointing to unsolved mysteries of missing people. For years she had been searching for any lead, anything that could lead her to rumors of him.
She had waited into the night to meet her client. He finally deigned to appear in the village's dingy pub at around eleven, but it had been worth the wait. She hadn't been able to believe her luck when he had mentioned that one of the women who disappeared had mentioned a cloaked blue-haired man.
She had not seen him since that day on the riverbank, that day when he had told her that he would walk the path of darkness, waiting for the day when their paths would meet again, the day when her light would shine bright enough to erase his existence. But the next day she had learned of Fairy Tail disbanding. And so she had resolved to find him, to join his guild even, to just to be around him, to save him from his path of darkness. But she had not been able to find him. For the first year or so, she had heard rumors of his guild's doings. She had followed these rumors, but had never been able to find them. Then the rumors had ceased-it was almost as if they had never existed. No new traces of where they had been or of what they had done could be found.
No traces until tonight. The whispers of a hidden blue-haired man seemed almost too good to be true. She would see about those rumors. With that, she resolved to go to the castle that very night-it couldn't be more than five miles away.
As she made to leave the bar, the client called out to her, "Beware the man within the castle. You would not be the first woman to seek him. Pray that you do not share their fate."
It was an odd warning, Erza thought as she left the bar. If it truly was Jellal in that castle, Erza couldn't imagine him being the reason for the disappearing women, even though he might be able to give her some information. She could investigate that problem later, even though it was technically her mission. Her priority was in finding him and verifying his existence.
It was well past midnight when Erza reached the castle. It was too dark for her to make out much of it, all she could discern was a tower rising from what looked to be the ruins of an old castle.
The main door was not hard to find. It was a big, imposing wooden door that looked to be bolted shut from the inside. Erza stood before the door, collecting her thoughts, and she hesitated. Then she raised her fist and pounded on the door. She waited.
After a few minutes, she heard the door being unbarred from the inside. With a loud and ominous creak, the door swung inward into total darkness.
A ball of pale blue light slowly grew, illuminating a hand, then a torso, then a face hooded by a cloak. As the light reached his eyes, illuminating the markings across his cheek and the wisps of blue hair falling into his face, Erza's eyes widened.
"Erza." Jellal rasped, his voice laden with hidden emotions she could not fathom. "Are you coming inside?"
A/N: This story is based on an old fairy tale. I was inspired to write this story after seeing a performance of an adaptation of this fairy tale. I am being deliberately vague because it would not do to reveal exactly which fairy tale this is based on just yet. I am going to be following the plot of a specific version of a specific fairy tale fairly closely, all while making the necessary adaptations and additions to fit it into the FT universe. Props to the first one who guesses which fairy tale, but until the end of this story, I do not intend to reveal which fairy tale I follow as it would spoil the ending for everyone. Amuse yourselves guessing which version and which ending of which fairy tale I'm using until then, if you'd like. And because this is going to be following a specific fairy tale pretty closely, characters may get a bit OOC to fit with my twisted plot, but I'll try not to take too many liberties.
And a warning. This story will be rated T for the first few chapters, nothing too objectionable yet. After a certain point though, the rating will go up. Warnings will appear as I get to those chapters. But do not plan on this being a happy fluffy story. There will be elements of that, yes, and maybe even lemons later (if I get enough people requesting that), but expect it to be not such a warm and fuzzy story throughout.
Please let me know what you think about where this story is heading. I value your feedback. And thank you for reading.
Until next chapter mina-san.