Hello dear readers! I just want to say that although I have written quite a few fanfics, this is my first attempt at a Fairy Tail one, so please be gentle. Also I am well aware that the whole Grimm fairy tales theme has been done before, but I had an evil plot bunny running around kicking me in the brain and I figured it would give me no peace until I just wrote it. So hopefully you all enjoy it.

A giant thank you to my lovely and talented Beta, Marie Allen, for editing this chapter without whom this fic would not exist! Thank you so much for the amazing encouragement.

Also I don't own Fairy Tale *sniff* the amazing and talented Hiro Mashima does.

And now, please enjoy!

Chapter 1

Levy glanced over at her best friend as she sat down on the edge of her bed, Lucy pulling out the chair to her desk and looking for a place to put the pile of books that were stacked upon the surface, finally settling on placing the books on the floor before taking a seat.

"So where are Natsu and Happy?" Levy asked curiously, wondering why her best friend had suddenly dropped by unannounced. "Natsu didn't do anything stupid ,did he?" she wondered with concern.

Lucy gave a snort and shook her head. "Natsu's always doing something stupid," she answered wryly, "but nothing stupider than normal." Lucy laughed and Levy joined in. "But the reason I stopped by was that I missed you today when you stopped by the guildhall after you got back from your mission with Shadow Gear. I figured that it's been a while since we hung out; just the two of us."

Levy smiled, pleased with Lucy's words before observing. "Natsu and Gray are destroying the Guild again, huh?"

"So badly!" Lucy admitted. "Erza's away on her own mission which means she isn't there to rein those two idiots in, so I decided to get out of there. And I was telling the truth. I haven't seen you for a few days and I wanted to have some girl time."

"Well, I'm glad you came over, it will be nice to have some female company. Don't get me wrong," she quickly inserted, "I love Jet and Droy, but sometimes they can be…" her mind searched for the correct word.

"Smothering?" Lucy offered with a smile as Levy gave an accepting nod.

"They mean well," Levy said in slight defence of her Shadow Gear cohorts.

"I'm surprised they left you alone tonight," Lucy admitted.

Levy smiled, knowing that Jet and Droy didn't like her leaving their sights, especially after what happened on Tenrou Island and the resulting seven years she spent there, and she was glad Team Shadow Gear was back together, but frankly, all of the adulation could become exhausting at times. "I told them to go home and get some rest. This last mission we were gone for three days and although it wasn't an overly strenuous one…" her words trailed off as Lucy perked up at the pause in her recitation.

"What? Did something happen?" Lucy asked, clearly wanting to know if Shadow Gear had encountered any difficulties on what was supposed to be a routine job involving the translation of some ancient texts.

"Nothing like that," Levy reassured her, "but…the client paid me in books. So Jet and Droy had to help me cart them all the way back here," she admitted with embarrassment.

Lucy threw back her head and laughed. "You're lucky you don't have to pay any rent, and that Mira takes some money out of your missions." She shook her head. "Poor Jet and Droy," she said as she wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye. "I wondered why it seemed like there were even more books in here," Lucy observed as she looked around the small apartment where nearly every surface, including the floor, was stacked with piles and piles of books.

"I think I got about twenty to add to my collection, but I decided to reorganize them, maybe by genre this time, so that's why the place is such a mess," she apologized.

Lucy laughed. "Levy, this place is always a death trap. There are always books everywhere," Lucy exclaimed and Levy had to admit the truth of her friend's words.

"I know," she sighed. "I need more bookcases."

"And a bigger place."

Levy shook her head at this, "That would be great, but I can't afford something bigger. Unlike you and Natsu, Shadow Gear doesn't really go on missions that pay a lot."

"Weeeelll…" Lucy drew out the word, giving her a sly glance, "I bet Gajeel wouldn't protest too much if you asked him to take you on a few of his missions. Maybe once he gets back from the one he's currently on," her friend offered innocently.

Feeling the blush rise up in her cheeks, Levy grabbed her pillow and chucked it at her friend. "Lu!" she complained as Lucy ducked out of the way of the flying missile. "I never should have told you that I-"

"Love Gajeel?" Lucy teased.

Levy sputtered. "I…I do not love Gajeel!" she retorted. "I just kinda…"

"You loooove him," Lucy imitated Happy's famous words and Levy shook her head back and forth in a denial that neither of them were buying.

"I like him," Levy affirmed.

"A lot."

"Fine, I like him a lot!" Levy admitted. "And I still never should have told you," Levy grumbled under her breath.

"You didn't have to," Lucy told her with a smile. "I'm your best friend, Lev. Trust me when I say that I noticed how you always look for him when you enter the Guild, or how you act all offended when he calls you 'Shrimp' and 'Short Stuff' but really, you're pleased that he seeks you out and treats you differently than everyone else."

Levy sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Yeah, but…he probably sees me as…I don't know…a little sister, like Wendy. Or…someone who needs to be protected."

Lucy gave an un-lady-like snort. "With the way he ogles your butt, Gajeel does not see you as a sister. And he became your S-class partner at the trials because he wanted to prove to you that you're stronger than you look."

Levy felt the blush that had begun to fade spread back out across her face. "And he wanted the chance to beat up Natsu, and Erza," Levy murmured loud enough for Lucy to hear her.

"Well, yeah, that too," Lucy agreed with a chuckle. "But, everyone in the guild knows he has feelings for you."

Levy moaned in embarrassment and hid her face in her hands.

"We're all just waiting to see who's going to make the first move," Lucy chirped happily.

Levy groaned, positive that her embarrassment couldn't get any worse.

It had been hard to admit to herself her growing feelings for the Iron Dragon Slayer, but, she had noticed that even when he teased her mercilessly, that she couldn't help the blush that would stain her cheeks and the way that her heart would begin to beat almost painfully against her ribcage.

It was true that at first she had feared him -he had become the thing that had filled her nightmares with wicked claws, flashing fangs, and merciless, pitiless red eyes that bore into her very soul- but she had forgiven him for his actions. He had proved time and time again that he was a member of Fairy Tail and he would die to protect what that stood for.

Though he had never apologized for what he had done to her and Shadow Gear, she knew that his actions spoke louder than any apology he could ever offer: protecting her and those she loved over and over again.

Eventually, the darkness that seemed to haunt his eyes and features began to dissipate, and although he was still gruff and not overly social, she knew that he loved their guild as much as she did, and that he was a better person because of it.

After Tenrou Island, things between them had changed. It wasn't unusual for her to sit with him and Lily at their table, and she felt pleased to have attained a special place in Gajeel's heart where she was one of less than a handful of people he had allowed to get close to him.

Of course, this didn't mean that their friendship had moved past this stage. Levy, not very experienced with relationships, felt that this tentative bond that they had, the type which teetered along the line of friendship and something more, was a fragile and precious thing and she hadn't been brave enough to ruin it if Gajeel didn't have any feeling for her deeper than mere friendship or guild partnership.

Though, according to Lucy, everyone thought he did, but knowing this and acting upon it were still two completely different things.

Giving another despondent sigh, Levy decided that she was tired of being the center of attention and that she needed to have some sort of retribution for the shameless teasing about her love life –or rather, lack thereof. "Okay, enough about me, let's talk about you and Natsu."

"Me and Natsu?" Lucy asked blankly. "There is no 'me and Natsu,'" Lucy quickly defended with a shake of her head.

"Uh-huh," Levy replied completely unconvinced by Lucy's hasty assertion and glad to be able to turn the tables on her friend.

If the guild thought that she and Gajeel were in painful denial, Natsu and Lucy were by far worse.

With Lucy and Natsu being so close, rumours were rife, bets had been placed and in general, everyone was waiting for the two to finally realize their feelings for each other.

At least Levy was fully aware of her feelings for the Iron Dragon Slayer, Lucy was in complete and utter denial of her feelings for her partner, Natsu, the Fire Dragon Slayer.

Though to be completely honest, she was pretty sure that Natsu was unaware of his feelings for the Celestial mage as well.

Once, while she had been sitting beside Gajeel, her nose buried as it usually was in a book, and he apparently believing that she was too occupied by what she was reading to be paying attention to him, he had mumbled under his breath, his nose wrinkled up in distaste 'Bunny-girl reeks like Salamander.'

Levy hadn't thought much of the remark. In her mind the observation made sense as Lucy and Natsu spent so much time together, and half the time Natsu was breaking into Lucy's apartment and sleeping in her bed.

Gajeel's words only came back to her one day when Natsu had shouted across the guild, 'Oi, Iron Breath, if your stink gets any thicker on Lev-' Gajeel's Iron Club had suddenly smashed into Natsu's face, cutting off the rest of Natsu's words and a brawl of epic proportions had broken out, the two scrapping Dragon Slayers dragging half the guild into their fight while they were at it.

Levy wasn't stupid. She knew that Natsu had been referring to her, and for some reason Gajeel didn't want Natsu to finish whatever he was going to say. She had thought about asking Gajeel or even Natsu what it meant, but then the logical portion of her mind had dismissed the idea. If it made sense that Lucy smelled like Natsu, then it made sense that she smelled like Gajeel, at least to a certain degree, given how much time they spent sitting beside each other in the guild.

Not allowing herself to attach any deeper meaning to Natsu or Gajeel's words, she had put them from her mind, only bringing them out to look at every now and then when she fantasized about Gajeel returning her feelings.

"Seriously, Lev," Lucy said, interrupting her thoughts, "just because he's my partner doesn't mean that we have to be a couple," Lucy protested.

"He sleeps in your bed," she pointed out innocently.

"I don't invite him!" Lucy huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Admit it, Lu, you liiiiiike him," Levy threw back in Lucy's face, which earned her the return of the pillow she had lobbed at her friend earlier.

Chuckling as she deftly caught the pillow, Levy observed, "I think Natsu likes you."

"Of course he likes me, we wouldn't spend so much time together if he didn't."

"You know that's not what I mean," Levy said as she hugged the pillow to her chest.

"Natsu is an idiot," Lucy ground out through clenched teeth.

"Fine," Levy relented. "So, since you don't like Natsu, what would your dream guy be like?" she wondered.

"Well, for one, he would respect boundaries and property," Lucy grumbled under her breath.

"So no cuddling or sleeping over?" Levy wondered, trying to keep a grin off her face.

Lucy narrowed her eyes, but didn't rise to her goading. "He'd be loyal and romantic and cute and strong and funny," Lucy affirmed.

"Soooo….someone exactly like Natsu who isn't Natsu?" Levy said, her voice full of mirth.

"Shut up," Lucy growled good-naturedly as she reached for another object to hurl in Levy's direction, her hand grasping a book and heaving it into the air.

"Not the book! I just got it and it's really old!" Levy said as she leaped off the bed, the Celestial mage grinning triumphantly before lowering her arm.

"Calm down, Lev, you know I wouldn't throw a book at you. I'm not that mean. And I know you'd be more worried about the book being damaged than the book damaging you," Lucy mused.

Levy chuckled at the truth of the Celestial mage's words. "True," she admitted as she put her pillow down on the bed and walked over to her friend who placed the book back down on the desk.

"Is this one of the books you got from that job?" Lucy wondered as she studied the cover.

"Yeah," she said, knowing that even though Lucy didn't quite have the obsessive love Levy had for books, she enjoyed reading as well and at least respected Levy's insatiable need to continue collecting books until nearly every available surface of her living quarters were filled with them.

"I was just going to have a look at it before you came over," Levy informed her, her voice full of enthusiasm.

"I can't read the title, do you know what is says?" Lucy asked curiously.

"The book is quite ancient, that's why I'm so excited about it. I was able to translate the runes which are an old dialect of Metic script."

"Annnnd..?" Lucy wondered.

"It's called, Tales of Sleeping Beauties."

"Sooo…it's a book of…fairy tales?"

"I think so," Levy answered with a nod of her head.

"You see the irony of that, right?" Lucy asked with a smile.

Levy chuckled. "I know, a Fairy Tail wizard reading fairy tales."

Lucy joined in her amusement. "I never would have pictured you as a romantic like Erza."

"I don't think anyone is as much of a romantic as Erza," Levy replied.

"Except for Mira," Lucy observed.

Levy laughed. "Yeah, Mira's scary. Especially when she get's that look in her eye, like she's scheming something and she's already planning to be godmother to all the couples' children that she has imagined she has put together in her head."

They both were silent for a moment shaking off the remembered matchmaking glint in Mira's eyes the last time they had seen her.

Levy turned her thoughts away from the white-haired bartender and instead replied to Lucy's observation. "I don't know if I'm really a romantic," she said thoughtfully. "I do like romance stories, but fairy tales are the furthest thing from being romantic."

"How can stories about princes rescuing princesses from evil step-mothers and dragons and curses with true love's true kiss be unromantic?" Lucy asked in confusion. "That's totally romantic."

Levy shook her head in disagreement. "Those are the fairy tales that have been watered down and changed to make them less violent and more kid-friendly."

"Sleeping Beauty, awoken with true love's kiss after being cursed by a wicked fairy. Very romantic," Lucy said.

"Sleeping Beauty is one of the worst ones," Levy informed her friend. "It's right up there with Little Red Riding Hood."

"Okay, well everyone who isn't a kid knows the wolf isn't really a wolf in that one," Lucy admitted.

Levy nodded, "And some versions are pretty graphic."

"Okay, so Little Red Riding Hood is a little messed up, but what's so bad about Sleeping Beauty?" Lucy wondered.

"Well, there are several variations of the same story, but in most of them, it is a piece of flax that is stuck in her finger that causes her to fall into a deep sleep and the prince or lord sees the sleeping beauty, rapes and impregnates her. While sleeping, she gives birth to twins and one of her babies sucks out the splinter which causes the sleeping beauty to awake. The prince or lord is sometimes married and sometimes his mother is part ogre and usually either the wife or the ogre mother in-law tries to get the prince to either unknowingly eat his children or wants to eat the children herself."

"I think I prefer the kid-friendly one," Lucy mumbled dejectedly under her breath.

"Well, even that version isn't even that romantic. Sleeping Beauty gets cursed by the evil fairy to die, but one of the good fairies changes the curse so that she will sleep for one hundred years and be woken with a kiss."

"That's romantic," Lucy rallied.

"Not really," Levy said, "I mean, it isn't like she had a choice of who was going to be the one to kiss her. She didn't know him so it wasn't true love's kiss, it was just a kiss. And she marries this complete stranger anyway. Can you imagine? What if your 'prince' was someone like…like Ichiya?"

Both girls shuddered in disgust.

"Okay, you have officially ruined Sleeping Beauty for me," Lucy grumbled before perking up. "Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves. She was woken up with true love's kiss."

"No," Levy said, "she wasn't."

Lucy groaned with dismay.

"Snow-White is actually a little creepy."

"Creepier than Sleeping Beauty?"

"No, Sleeping Beauty is twisted and wrong. Snow-White is only creepy in that the prince sees the glass coffin that Snow-White has been lying in for a while and instantly falls in love with her and tries to pay the dwarves to so that he can take her home. The dwarves finally relent because the prince is so love-struck over the dead girl, that they load her coffin into a cart and the jostling knocks loose the chunk of poisoned apple that was lodged in her throat and she wakes up. And of course, that's just one version of the story."

"I don't think I want to know the other versions," Lucy commented with a shake of her head. "How about Cinderella? Beauty and the Beast?" Lucy sounded desperate now.

"Cinderella marries a guy she dances with only once to escape her abusive step-mother and step-sisters," Levy informed her grimly. "Beauty and the Beast is a newer tale so it isn't as bad, but in the older versions the Beast dies at the end."

"Lev, you have officially ruined fairy tales for me," Lucy grimaced bleakly.

Levy shrugged. "Love wasn't a big thing back then. You married where you could and hoped that you could improve whatever situation you were in."

"Well that's depressing," Lucy said her shoulders slumping. "I'm just glad that love matters now."

"I would say that love matters more now, but not in every case. You should know that best of all, Lu." Levy said gently recalling that her friend had been part of a high-ranking family whose father had intended to eventually have Lucy marry someone who had the right connections and wealth and it didn't matter what Lucy thought of the chosen suitor.

"Yeah," Lucy agree softly, her face falling for a moment before her face filled with determination. "I wouldn't settle for anything less than true love, and I don't think any of those sleeping princesses or anyone else should have either."

Levy laughed, glad that her observant words hadn't affected her friend for too long. "I agree, true love's kiss or nothing!"

Lucy grinned and nodded in agreement, picking up the heavy tome that was still sitting on her desk. "So what do you hope to find in this thing?" Lucy wondered as Levy took the book from the Celestial mage's hand.

"Hopefully some older or different stories than the ones everyone is familiar with. There are so many fairy tales that have been told and written down and I like gathering the oldest versions and obscure titles. They really say a lot about the people who told them and wrote them down; their way of life, their customs, their values, what was important, that sort of thing."

Lucy gave a nod of understanding. "So does it have any really old stories in it? Maybe a version of Sleeping Beauty and Snow-White that isn't so…depressing?"

"I haven't had a chance to do anything other than translate the title," Levy said as she tried to open the cover of the book and found that she couldn't.

Lucy frowned at her in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"It's like it's stuck closed," Levy said as she strained, trying to pull open the leather ends to reveal the pages within, but was unsuccessful. "Maybe there's a spell on it or a seal of some sort?" she wondered thoughtfully, looking around for her Light Pen, hoping that if there was a spell on the book, that she would be able to re-write the runes allowing her access to the book.

"Let me try," Lucy offered, holding out her hand.

Levy handed over the book as she searched the drawers of her desk while muttering under her breath, wondering where the quill could have gotten to.

"How is this thing so… Ow!" Lucy suddenly exclaimed as the book hit the desktop causing a plume of gold laced dust from the book to float into the air, falling down upon them.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Levy asked in concern.

Lucy shook out her hand. "Paper cut," Lucy complained, looking at her finger in dismay.

"Did you need a bandage?" Levy asked.

"No, it's fine. It isn't that bad, it just really stings."

"Yeah, they do," Levy commiserated, having been on the receiving end of too many paper cuts to count.

"Sorry I dropped your book," Lucy apologized brushing away some of the dust from her clothes.

"It's okay," Levy replied, looking at the book. "It looks like the gilt edging is starting to flake off the pages," she observed.

A bell chimed and Lucy looked towards the clock on Levy's desk. "Oh, wow, I didn't realize how late it was. I should probably get going. Knowing Natsu, he's going to try dragging me out of bed early to go out on a job," she said with a sigh obviously wanting to sleep in, but her partner not giving her that luxury.

"Do you guys have a job picked out from the Request Board yet?" Levy asked.

"Not yet, but my rent needs to be paid soon. And besides, we've been lounging around the guild for almost a week now; Natsu will be itching to go on a mission."

Levy laughed at her friend's words. "Well, when you get back from whatever job you guys go on, we should take some time and have a girl's spa weekend or something. Maybe invite some of the other girls too."

"That would be a lot of fun. I'm in," Lucy said with a smile. "And let me know if you manage to get the book open and tell me if there is anything interesting inside."

Levy smiled. "I will," she promised as she said goodbye to her friend.

Turning her attention back to the book that lay upon her desk, she studied the picture displayed on the front cover. It was of a woman lying in a glass coffin, wearing old-fashioned robes, her face content as a man in rich attire studied the supine figure.

Reaching out and dragging her hands across the cover and the depiction of what was obviously Snow–White, she looked to see if she could find any runes, hidden writing or locks. Not finding any, she picked up the book again and tried to open it.

To her surprise, on this attempt, the leather cover easily parted from the pages and Levy frowned in confusion.

Taking a seat at her desk, her eyes scanned the first page, which was a Table of Contents; the titles of the stories written in several different languages.

Excitement burst through her at this discovery.

Her fingers rushed across the words of the first tale, her mind translating the story about a immortal woman who went against the wishes of her god and was punished to become mortal and sleep in a tower surrounded by a ring of fire.*

Thumbing through a few more pages, Levy realized that the further through the book she went, the newer the fairy tales became. It was like the book was full of stories that were collected over generations and crossed countries and continents.

Marvelling at what a huge undertaking the book would have been, seemingly passed on from hand to hand and added to by multiple authors, she quickly turned the pages until she was nearly at the end of the tome, the language and tales more familiar than the ones at the beginning of the book.

Her fingers again traced the ink of the text before her, the recognizable tale of The Glass Coffin spread out before her.

Turning to the very end of the book, she encountered an unfamiliar title: The Fairy and the Dragon.

Frowning in confusion, she noticed that the only words that had been written on the page were the title, no text followed.

Wondering if the author had never finished the story before the book was lost or passed on she turned the page. The back page was also blank, but the opposite page contained another title: The Lady and Her Dragon.

Again, no text followed and Levy felt her confusion and disappointment grow.

She would have liked to have known those stories. She had never heard them before.

Flipping the page, she licked her fingers to aid in this endeavour as the pages seemed to stick slightly, and she noticed that the tips of her fingers were covered in what looked to be fresh black ink. Frowning slightly at this, her vision wavered, and she wondered how long she had been reading for and if she was just tired.

Turning her head to look at her clock, which showed she had only been reading for a few moments, she felt her lips grow numb followed by her tongue before it spread to her throat. Unable to breathe, she felt only a moment of terror before she her body tumbled from her chair and fell to the floor, the book hitting the ground beside her inert form, an image of Gajeel flashing through her mind before her heart stopped and her world went terrifyingly black.

Lucy made her way from Fairy Hills to her own apartment, which was only a few blocks away.

She thought about her evening with her friend and though she could admit that Levy was right concerning the fairy tales they had talked about, she still couldn't help her attachment to the newer tales; the ones she had grown up reading as a child, and the romance and love that had been woven into them.

Thinking about romance, her mind focused upon her blue-haired friend and her stalled love life.

Lucy wondered if she would be able to enlist Mirajane's help with getting Levy and Gajeel together somehow.

Neither one seemed as if they were going to make a move, which meant that drastic measures and some serious matchmaking schemes would have to be implimented to finally get Levy or Gajeel to admit to the other their feelings.

Levy's insinuations about Natsu suddenly interrupted her matchmaking plots and caused the image of the salmon-haired Fire Dragon Slayer to suddenly invade her mind.

Her mind unwillingly focused on his kindness, his strength, his warmth and especially his toothy grin before she shook her head back and forth as if she could shake the thoughts loose.

She could feel a blush heating her cheeks even as she refused to admit to herself that Natsu might have shifted in her mind and heart from just a friend and partner, to something more.

Grumbling under her breath as she stomped down the darkened street, "I hope the freeloader and his cat haven't decided to break into my apartment to steal all of my food and fall asleep in my bed again." The situation of Natsu being in her bed was getting uncomfortable and embarrassing; especially when she felt his body pressed in next to hers, and still half asleep, reveled in his closeness and the intimacy of it.

Her finger suddenly throbbed painfully, changing the course of her thoughts and she grimaced.

Opening the door to her apartment, she stumbled inside the darkened room, her legs going frighteningly weak.

Feeling the sudden need to sit down, she staggered to her bed, practically collapsing upon on the edge of it.

Not able to even check to see if Natsu and Happy were there, a wave of exhaustion consumed her.

Eyes slipping closed without her permission, she barely even felt it when her head hit the pillow.

*This story is of Brynhild from the Volsunga saga.

Hope everyone enjoyed! XD