"Please… I'm begging you… if you kill me… people will come searching for me!" Levy pleaded to the dark centaur. Gajeel smirked to himself, and after a minute began to laugh loudly. He released his grip on her wrists, causing her to fall back down to the ground. The centaur took his spear back as he held his arms out to his sides.

"You think I'm afraid of humans?! Besides, I like seeing the fear in your eyes." Gajeel watched as Levy rubbed her wrists as she held them close to her chest. Her gaze stuck on his blood stained face. Both centaur and human looked up suddenly as the second centaur came into view, rubbing his stomach lightly as he smiled. "Hey! I told you to wait by that soldier back there! Why are you over here?!"

The red centaur rubbed the back of his pink hair as he spoke. "I got bored and told him to get out of here. Not to mention we need to get back. Erza told us to just come out here and patrol for a few hours. And I'm getting hungry again."

Gajeel growled and clenched his fist towards the second centaur as he yelled. "You never listen to what I have to say and yet you'd listen to that red headed mare?!"

The centaur beside Gajeel looked back at the large creature, fear clear as day over his face. "Uh, yeah, caz it's Erza! You remember what happened last time we didn't listen to her?!"

Levy saw Gajeel step back slightly, seeing that the memory was clearly running through the centaurs' head. Gajeel growled in frustration. The red centaur beside him looked over to Levy, a blank expression over his face as he looked down at the scared girl.

"Who's this?" He asked. Gajeel looked back at Levy as he stuck his spear into the ground.

"Just someone else from the castle. She threw a book at my face so I went after her."

The red centaur burst out in laughter as he pointed at Gajeel. "You mean to tell me a small human like her got the best of the great and powerful Black Steel himself!? Oh man you've got to be kidding me!"

"Shut up!" Gajeel's crimson eyes turned back onto Levy who jumped slightly, holding her arms closer to her chest. "I still need to figure out what I'm gonna do with her."

The centaur beside him pawed at the ground with his hoof out of boredom as he moved his hands behind his head. "Why don't we just take her back with us?" Levy took a chance and looked over to the second centaur. He dawned spiky pink hair and dark eyes. He was a bit leaner than the one called Gajeel, but from what Levy could tell, he was still muscular. His wore a scarf around his neck along with a sleeveless black waistcoat with golden trim. The second centaurs' coat was completely red with black hooves. His centaur frame also looked leaner than Gajeel's' large form as Levy looked over the two centaurs' standing before her. Levy could hear Gajeel let out a low growl as he looked back at her.

"I aint putting no stinky human on my back." Gajeel said in disgust as he looked down at Levy, crossing his arms over his chest. Something in Levy began to bubble as she heard the words flow out of the centaurs' mouth. Her eyes grew angry as she stood up straight, standing on the tip of her toes to get closer to Gajeel.

"I'm not a stinky human! I have a name! And if anyone here is stinky, it's the two of you! I mean do you guys even bathe where you live? No wonder humans and centaurs don't get along anymore."

Gajeel gritted his teeth as he reached out for the girl, grabbing her arm forcefully, causing fear to flood back into her eyes. "You think that's why we don't come around you filthy, untrustworthy humans anymore?" Gajeel looked up and down at Levy once more, shoving her back to the tree. "You know nothing, Shrimp. Go home."

Levy stared at Gajeel, a surprised look over her face. "Wait… you know why we don't live together anymore?"

Gajeel raised a studded brow as the red centaur looked at Levy now in surprise. "You mean to tell me you don't know the legend? But you're a human. Don't they have school for your kind anymore? Man, human society really has gone downhill ever since we left em."

Gajeel grabbed his spear and turned his whole body around without another word. The second centaur looked to Gajeel then back to Levy. She looked up into his black eyes, confused and still slightly scared. "So what are you going to do?"

Levy looked away from him. "I.. I don't know. I need.. no… I want to know more about centaurs..."

The centaur in front of her smiled brightly as he held out a hand to her. "So then come with us!"

Levy looked at his hand, hesitant to take it with her own. The centaur holding his hand out to her continued to smile as he spoke. "You wanna know more about us right?"

"Yes…" Levy replied.

"So then let's go!" Without her consent, the red centaur quickly grabbed Levy's arm, pulling her up onto his back without much trouble. Levy nearly fell off the other side of the centaur as he lifted her up with his arm and before she could say anything, the centaur was off, trailing behind Gajeel at a slow trot. Levy struggled to stay on the centaurs back as he trotted through the forest. She quickly found her arms wrapped around the centaurs human half of his body as she bounced lightly on his back. The centaur glanced back at Levy as he trotted, smirking at her. "Haven't you ever ridden a horse before?"

"Believe it or not, no I haven't! Just because I live in the castle doesn't mean I get to ride horses in my spare time!"

Gajeel scoffed as he rolled his eyes. "Big surprise. A castle brat that doesn't know how to ride a horse. Probably too busy learning how to dance and learning to be a proper young lady."

Levy glared at the black centaur now just a few steps before her and the second centaur. "How would you know what I learn back there?!"

Gajeel turned his body towards the second centaur who had caught up to him, stomping his large hoof into the ground. "Would you prefer me to say that you rich, lazy asses kill us and our friends for fun?! Or how you enslaved us over the years after the Great War?! Betraying our trust and using us to get further in this world. What else am I to expect from a bookworm like you?"

The red centaur put his hands up towards Gajeel. "Hey calm down Gajeel. We don't even know if she was part of that or not."

Levy looked at the centaur carrying her in confusion. "What are you guys talking about? I've never heard of anyone in the castle enslaving any of you."

Gajeel crossed his arms over his chest as he scoffed again, looking away from the two of them. "Just like a brat to lie like that to save her own skin."

Levy could feel anger bubbling up inside of her as the one called Gajeel spoke. "At least I'm not some arrogant killing machine! You say that we're the ones killing you and your friends off, why don't you take a good look in the mirror!"

Gajeel growled as he moved beside the red centaur, leaning in close to Levy. "Watch your mouth little girl. I'm not against killing smart mouthed brats." Levy felt her fear wash over her body once more as the centaur stared hard into her with his red eyes. Gajeel moved away and started walking through the forest once more, grumbling to himself. Levy let out a breath she held in as Gajeel leaned in close to her, clenching her vest tightly. The red centaur turned his head as he started walking once more.

"Don't take it too much to heart… he has his reasons why he hates humans so much."

Levy crossed her arms over her chest as she sent darts towards the back of Gajeel's head. "Yeah? Like what?"

The red centaur looked back to the front, silence taken over him for a moment before he spoke. "Humans… took away our closest friends. Ones who we have grown up with since we were young. They were killed in front of us."

Levy's eyes grew wide at the words she just heard. Levy's head went downward as her eyes softened. "I'm.. so sorry. I didn't know."

The centaur looked back with a soft smile on his face. "It's ok… it happened a long time ago."

Gajeel stopped suddenly in front of the other two, his head looking around intently. The second centaur behind him stopped as well. "Gajeel… is it them?"

Gajeel growled to himself as he reached down on his dark tunic, tearing off a long piece of it and walking back over to Levy. The girl moved away from Gajeel as he raised his hands towards her face.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Just shut up and hold still. I'm blindfolding you." Gajeel said as he quickly wrapped the dirty and blood stained fabric around Levy's eyes, making her shudder at the thought of the soldiers blood stained on the fabric covering her eyes now. The large centaur looked to the second in seriousness. "We need to leave here now. I can hear the dogs. Sounds like Bolts is back."

Levy could hear the red centaur groan. "Oh man… that guy is so annoying. And his stupid dogs are meaner than hell. If Happy were here, he'd help me show them a thing or two!"

Gajeel grabbed Levy's arm lightly as he leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "You may want to hold on tight, Shrimp. And I mean tight."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?!" Levy asked as she turned her head back and forth. The next thing she knew was the centaur carrying her had gone from a standstill to a full on gallop through the forest. She could hear their hoof beats hitting the ground with such ferocity as they ran. All she could do was keep her head close to the pink haired centaur with her arms wrapped around his torso tightly. 'What are they running from? And who is this bolts guy? More importantly… where are they taking me?!'

"We stayed out here too long Gajeel! I warned you before we left we shouldn't have gotten mixed up with those guys." Levy heard the centaur carrying her shout out in front of him. She could hear Gajeel in front shouting back as they ran.

"Will you shut up? We've got more important things to worry about right now. And I'm not the one who wasted my time bringing back a girl from the castle."

"Yeah but it was you who went after her. Had you just let her go, we wouldn't have to deal with this problem."

"Says the one carrying the stinkin' human on his back! Why did you agree to bring her back with us anyway? You know what's gonna happen right?"

"She wanted to learn more about us. And I'm sure everyone else is going to be excited to have her. She's different than the others."

Gajeel growled under his breath. "They're all the same. Every filthy human is the same."

Levy wondered what the two were talking about as they sprinted through the forest, she couldn't see a thing through the fabric around her eyes but she could feel the atmosphere around her starting to change. "What's going on?"

Before the red centaur had time to respond to her, he had stopped suddenly and rose straight up into the air, causing Levy to fall back onto the ground with a thud. Levy could hear a loud clash just in front of them as she fell, along with the two centaurs groaning from the sudden bright light before them. The blue haired girl grabbed the blindfold and quickly pulled it down. Her eyes widened as she saw a man standing before the two centaurs. He was the general from the castle, someone who she had known her whole life and one she was not too happy to see.

"I see you centaurs have something of ours. Hand her over and no one will have to get hurt."

Levy watched as the red centaur cracked his knuckles, flames appearing over them. "She's not going back with ya, you jerk."

The black centaur stepped in front of the second and held his spear outward. "Take the girl to Erza. I'll deal with this guy."

"You sure you can handle him?"

Gajeel raised his voice as he charged towards the man standing across from them. "Get her out of here you idiot!"

The red centaur growled as he turned around to pick up Levy. As he pulled her up, her red bag strap got caught on a nearby tree branch, ripping it off her shoulders. Levy looked down as she was thrown onto the centaurs' back once more.

"My bag!" She yelled as she extended her hand out towards the bag on the ground. The centaur started galloping away from Gajeel and the general, racing through the trees.

"We don't have time to stick around here! We'll get caught up in their fight if we stay around for much longer!"

Levy looked over her shoulder as she held on tight to the centaur as he ran. "Is he going to be ok by himself? Laxus has lightning magic."

"Trust me, if anyone can take on Laxus by themselves, Gajeel is one of the best." As the centaur ran, all Levy could make out was the sounds of lightning clashing and the yells of pain from both blue haired girl shut her eyes tight, trying to drone out the sounds of pain and lightning coming from the two fighting in the distance.

'Why am I so concerned if Gajeel lives or not? He's an arrogant jerk who wanted to have his way with me and then kill me! He clearly made his opinion about humans a long time ago, and he hates me for no reason… but still… I don't want him to die because of me. I don't want that guilt.'


"Hey! You awake?"

Levy opened her eyes slowly, seeing the pink haired centaur close up in her face as he looked her over. She looked around at her surroundings as her vision came into better focus. "Where… where are we?"

The red centaur grinned as he moved back a bit, letting the small girl get some air into her lungs. "Well right now we're in my tent back in Fairy Tail."

"Fairy… Tail?"

"Yeah that's what Mavis called this part of the forest when she was alive. She always had an infatuation with fairies for some reason…." The centaur said as he rubbed his chin. Levy continued to glance around the large tent as the centaur continued to talk to her. It was quite a large tent filled with all sorts of things. It had looked like the centaur collected different items over the years and left them scattered all over the place. Nothing was organized at all in this place as it looked like a storm had passed right through and no one bothered to clean up afterwards. Levy could see dirty plates and half eaten bits of food all over the center table that had been raised high enough for the centaur to eat off of. Shirts were draped and scattered across the room, mostly the same color and style of vest he wore at the moment. His furniture consisted of some pillows piled up in a circle along with a small hammock hanging in between the wall and a tree that had been growing inside the large tent. Large, brown chests were scattered around the area as well, overflowing with hidden items the centaur threw into them. The blue haired girl looked to the other side of the tent and saw painted pictures hanging up on the wall. Many were of the red centaur and another creature she had never seen before.

It was a smaller form of creature, one that had half a body of a young looking boy and the other half that looked like one of a goat. He was a young looking thing, a rectangular shaped head with big black eyes and thin eyebrows. He had a blush over his face as he smiled brightly along with the centaur in the picture beside him. He had blue goat ears, legs and tail with a white tip at the very end of it. Two little light blue horns dawned over his head as well. Levy stood slowly, wavering slightly as she held her head. "What happened?"

The pink haired centaur rubbed his head as he spoke. "Well… while we were escaping, some of that jerks dogs caught up to us and well… I kinda let you fall backwards and you hit your head on a rock. So… sorry about that."

Levy felt around her head and winced slightly as she found the bump the centaur had been referring to. Her gaze looked down over the centaurs' body as he stood in front of her and his extra-large bed. He had white bandage wraps around his back legs, blood staining them slightly. Levy's eyes shot back up the centaur. "Your legs! Are you alright?"

The centaur looked at her blankly, then stared back at his own legs, lifting one up to look at it for a moment as he balanced his weight on the other three. "Yeah I'll be fine. Just a few scratches from those damn dogs."

Levy's eyes widened as she realized someone else was missing from this picture. "Wait, Gajeel…. Has he come back yet?"

The red centaur looked away as his arms fell to his sides. "He hasn't come back yet."

"Oh… I see." Levy said sadly as she looked down worriedly. The centaur leaned over and placed his hand over her shoulder.

"He'll be back so don't worry."

'How can I not worry?! This is all my fault… I should have never gone out of the castle. But had I stayed there… that soldier would have probably been murdered. But now I may have gotten Gajeel killed…'

"Natsu! Thank goodness you're back! I was so worried!"

Both the girl and centaur turned their attention to the voice entering the tent behind them. It was another centaur, a young girl centaur by the looks of it. She had shoulder length blonde hair with a single, red ponytail tied on the right side of her head. Levy noticed the large breasts the centaur girl had along with a somewhat curvy centaur body. It wasn't muscular like Gajeel or Natsu, and looked more feminine to Levy. She wore an orange tank top with white trim around it, with a white stripe running down the middle, splitting the tank top at the bottom. Her centaur body was a golden color with a blonde tail flowing behind her. Her hooves were a lighter shade that seemed to almost match the color of her golden coat. Her big brown eyes were bright and full of relief as she saw the centaur she called Natsu before her.

The girl centaur made her way to Natsu and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm so glad you got back here safely. Wendy told me you ran into some trouble, are you ok?"

Natsu grinned as he hugged the girl back. "Yeah it was nothin'. Just a few scratches. But I got a few kicks in myself. It'll be a long time before those dogs show their ugly faces around centaurs again." As the two finished their embrace, the new centaur looked down at Levy, pointing a finger at her as she looked at Natsu.

"Who's this?"

Natsu looked at Levy and tilted his head as his arms came over his chest. "You know what… I never caught her name. I think its Shrimp… that's what Gajeel called her…."

Levy looked up at the two centaurs, annoyed by the name "Shrimp." The blonde centaur looked at Natsu as she put her hands on her sides. "You mean to tell me you didn't ask for her name? You just picked up a random human and brought her here?!"

Natsu turned to the golden centaur and made a fist with one hand as he pointed at Levy with the other. "Hey it wasn't my fault this girl is here right now! I mean it kinda is, but Gajeel was the one who found her! He told me to bring her back here. Plus she wanted to learn more about us so I figured, hey why not?" The centaur standing beside Natsu let out a sigh as she placed a hand to her head.

"Sometimes I wonder about you Natsu." The female centaur turned to face Levy and leaned over slightly, extending her hand with a smile on her face. "Hi, I'm Lucy. I see you've already met the idiot beside me, Natsu."

"Hey!" Natsu said, beginning to protest.

Levy stuck her hand out and took Lucy's into her own. "Levy."

Lucy stood back up with her back straight as she put her hands on her sides again. "So you wanted to learn more about us, huh? Don't you humans have a school that teaches you all about us? Maybe some books in your libraries?" Lucy asked kindly. Natsu raised his shoulders as he held out his hands in front of him.

"That's what I asked!"

Lucy glared at Natsu as she snapped at him. "Will you be quiet? I'm talking to Levy!"

Levy looked up at the two centaurs as she spoke clearly. "We do have some teachings and a few books describing centaurs and certain tales… but they seem to depict you all differently than what I've seen so far. Granite I've only seen three of you, but from what I can tell, you two are nothing like what my books said you'd be like. Gajeel might be a close depiction of what I read."

Lucy looked at Natsu and then back at Levy. "How were we described?"

"Beasts who are considered to be brutal, violent creatures. Highly known for their drunkenness and lawless behavior." Levy looked away from the two who seemed deeply confused by what she had just said. "There's more to it… but I wanted to know what you guys were truly like. I also tried to find out what happened at the Great War between humans and centaurs and most of it is how Mavis, the first centaur to make contact with humans, came into the picture and then our books just end right before the war started up." Levy rubbed her arm lightly. "I just wanted to know more about centaurs… it's my fault Natsu got hurt and Gajeel…"

Lucy smiled as she spoke to Levy. "Don't worry about these guys. They are tough as nails and can handle most situations." Lucy looked back to Natsu who was munching on something that was left out on the table nearby. Lucy shook her head in disgust. "Did you tell Erza there was a human here?"

Natsu nearly choked on his food at the mention of Erza. The pink haired centaur shook his head as his mouth was full with food. Lucy let out a sigh as she shook her head once more. "Go get Erza, I'm going to take Levy to Wendy so she can check her over for any other wounds."

As Natsu headed for the front of his tent, he mumbled under his breath. "Why do I have to be the one to go get Erza?"

Lucy's head snapped back towards Natsu as he exited the tent. "You were the one who brought her here! Ugh I swear he can be such a pain sometimes. Come on, I'll take you to Wendy so she can check you over." Levy nodded as she followed Lucy outside of Natsu's' tent.

Levy covered her eyes slightly as the sunlight shining in through the open space hit her face. Once they had a chance to adjust, she looked around the large area she had been taken to. Acres upon acres of grassy land with large trees growing all around, was surrounded by forest, hiding this place quite well. There were tents scattered all around the area with centaurs entering and exiting them. A small lake could be seen in the distance along with a wooden building next to it. Levy walked closely to Lucy as they walked along the dirt path, other centaurs passing them, glancing down at Levy with wide eyes.

Levy could see that most of the centaurs here were older with just a few younger, child looking centaurs, pointing in her direction as they looked up at their parents excitedly. 'They've probably never seen a human before… am I the first one to ever come here?'

Levy turned her attention back to Lucy who had entered a tent, motioning her to join her inside. As they stepped inside, Levy saw the new tent she ventured into was much more organized and clean. It had bookshelves full with books, along with a small desk on one side. There were multiple large beds set up in the front, most likely for any centaur that may be injured to lay on. Levy's eyes moved towards the back and saw a blue curtain hiding another part of the tent.

"Hey Wendy! You in here?" Lucy called out as she placed a hand to her mouth. A second later, a young voice responded from behind the curtain.

"I'll be right out Lucy!"

Lucy looked at Levy and smiled, motioning towards one of the beds next to her. "You can sit up here."

Levy looked at the bed before her and wondered if she was even able to get into it herself. The blue haired girl placed her hands on either side of her body and pushed herself up with her feet onto the bed. As she turned her body around and adjusted where she sat, a small centaur came into view from the back. She was definitely younger than Lucy with her fair skin and petite size. Her hair was long and a dark blue color with two bangs that framed her tiny face. She wore a white loose fitting top with a red bow tied around her neck. Her arms were mostly covered by the same material with red trim to match her bow, as her shoulders remained exposed. The girls' centaur coat was a lighter shade of blue than her hair, and her tail seemed shorter than everyone else's.

The young centaur put her hands together excitedly as she saw Levy sitting on the bed. "Are you the human I've been heard about?! Oh my gosh! It's such an honor to meet you finally!" Wendy said happily as she made her way to Levy, shaking her hand almost immediately.

Levy looked up to Lucy who smiled back at her. "Wendy has always had an interest with humans and the way they live. She's never met one before so I guess this means a lot to her."

Wendy stepped back and smiled brightly. "It does! I've always wanted to come see a human in person but we aren't really allowed to leave without permission or if we need something specific that we can't get here."

"So… are you guys being held here against your will?" Levy asked as Wendy looked Levy over. The young centaur placed her hands over Levy's head wound and began to use her healing magic on her.

"No not at all. It's just that I'm the only healer here so I can't really leave. If they lose me, who else is going to be here to heal the centaurs who get hurt?" Wendy said with a smile. Lucy leaned in to Levy as she placed her hands behind her back.

"Not to mention, it's super peaceful here. We're hidden by the trees that surround this area of the forest and Mavis placed a cloaking spell over Fairy Tail before she died. That way if humans tried to find this place, it would just look like an animal's den that no man would venture into."

"But this place is so huge… how is the spell able to cover this whole land?"

"Well Mavis was quite powerful you know. She was the one who taught some of us the magic that we use in our daily lives."

Levy's face lit up as she heard Lucy speak of Mavis. "You mean to tell me you knew Mavis?! But that would make you…"

"Really old? Yeah I know. We centaurs age differently from humans. Kind of a weird concept to grasp, I know."

Levy began to wonder how the aging of a centaur worked when she heard a commotion coming from outside. Lucy looked to the front of the tent, worry over her face. "Stay here for a minute. I'll go check it out."

Wendy brought her hands back down to her own body as she watched Lucy make her way back outside of the tent. Levy rubbed her head where the bump seemed to go down some.

"Is everything ok out there?" She asked. Wendy looked to her and smiled.

"I'm not sure… wait here, I'll be right back."

Levy's hazel eyes watched the small centaur leave her to herself in the large tent. Minutes later she could hear other centaurs coming closer to the tent she was in. Part of her wanted to jump off the bed and hide, not knowing how other centaurs would react to her presence. Just as she was about to jump down, the blue haired girl looked up to the tent opening, her eyes widening at the sight she saw.

Lucy along with three other centaurs were helping Gajeel into the room, setting him down on the nearby circle of pillows on the ground. His body was covered in burns as other parts of his centaur body was badly injured and bleeding uncontrollably. Levy could tell Laxus had used his magic against the large centaur, allowing his dogs to get at Gajeel as well.

'He's such a monster… getting his dogs to distract Gajeel while he uses his magic on him…. And it's all my fault.'

Levy's' thoughts were interrupted by a centaur who had caught sight of Levy sitting on the bed.

"Does anyone else see the human sitting on the bed over there? Or am I going crazy?"


AN: ok so I threw in the part with Levy almost falling off the other side of Natsu because that actually happened to me while I was in college. I had to take my horse back down to the pasture and we were able to ride them down to the field bareback. So I asked my instructor for a leg up to help me get on my horses back. As soon as I was up in the air, my instructor kept tossing me over to the other side where I almost fell off. Luckily he caught my leg and laughed at me as I yelled at him. It was kinda funny, not at the time, but I can laugh about it now.

Also I decided to call the part of the forest they are in, Fairy Tail, because 1. I couldn't think of anything else at the time, if I do I'll go back and change it. 2. It will kinda fit in with what I have planned for other things in the story. 3. I didn't want to end up using magnolia or hargeon etc. since I'm using them in my other stories atm. And 4. Who doesn't want to go to Fairy Tail?! I mean, come on…. If given the chance, would you pass it down?