Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and its characters. Mashima Hiro-sama does.
A/N:Took me long enough, but here it is. Hope you like it.
Chapter One
The Mermen Kingdom.
Our story takes place in the sea near the country of Fiore. But that name only applies to the land above the sea. The land inhabited by human kind.
Unknown to most humans, another kingdom could be found in the depths of the sea. The Mermen Kingdom, inhabited by merfolk and different kinds of marine animals.
Mermen are half human half fish in appearance. They live far longer lives then humans do, there were even some who reached the age of 300. Merpeople can understand most living creatures languages. For that reason, they are strictly vegetarian. Their food consists mainly of seaweed.
Merpeople live in the ruins of an old city, a long gone civilization. Some items were still intact, and are used by merpeople. Merfolk like adventures, but only if someone else told about them. They like to collect rare stuff, but only if they found it somewhere near home, or someone else brought it to them.
Basically, they were cowardly and preferred to have a calm life home. They had their own writing system, some mermen collected stories of adventures from different creatures and wrote them down in stone tablets.
Of course, they had a king. A wise old merman, by the name of Makarov, ruled the kingdom. He had no children of his own, but he accepted those poor souls, that, for some reason, lost their parents, as his own.
He raised two girls and a boy. His oldest daughter Juvia, was a kind and quiet girl. She rarely shoved her real emotions to anyone, so the king was very worried about this child. She lost her parents at a very young age. They were eaten by a couple of sharks right before her eyes. It had a huge impact on her character. She was likely afraid to get attached to anyone, in fear of loosing them too.
Next there was his son Loki. Makarov sure wasn't worried about that boys social skills. He was a total ladies' man, to tell the truth. His mother was most likely at fault here. She was constantly surrounded by men. She died from an illness a long time ago. Loki still blamed himself for not being near her, when she passed away. They had an argument at that time, and the boy ran away from home. When he returned, she was already gone. Despite Loki's constant flirting with every pretty mermaid he sees, he had much stronger feelings towards one mermaid in particular. But she refused him every time he asked her out.
And last, but not the least, was Levy. Makarov took her in after her mother passed away from an injury. Her mother was one of those people, who liked collecting and writing down stories. She taught her daughter how to read and write in merman, and even human languages. Levy's mother often visited sunken shipwrecks, to look for items to collect. During one of those visits the woman accidentally got caught in some sort of trap. She barely got out of. Thankfully, there were no sharks nearby and she got home safely. But the injury was too great, and she soon passed away. The whereabouts of Levy's father and his identity were both unknown, so Makarov took the girl in.
She was a very smart girl. Her thirst for knowledge and adventures could not be satisfied. This worried Makarov a bit. The girl had read all of the merpeoples library books. And even some human written books, that she got from, Neptune knows, where. And she loved listening to stories. The king had a feeling, that this girl knew even more, then he did! And he was 120 years old!
But what concerned him more was the fact, that Levy did not like any of the men around. Not even a bit. She rejected any male, who approached her. And she wouldn't even give a reason for that. How was she going to get married? He didn't want his daughter to be alone for the rest of her life!
When he thought about it, none of his kids seemed to have any luck in finding partners. Mermen fell in love only once in their lifetime. Sure, they could have crushes, but only one real partner. That explained why he had no children.
His beloved one had gone missing a long time ago. But now was not the time to become nostalgic.
Today was an unusual day in mermen kingdom. A big celebration was planned due to a special occasion. It was the day, when one of the kings beloved daughters officially became an adult. It was her 18 birthday.
Makarov ordered everyone to prepare for the celebration a week before this, but they still managed to fall behind schedule somehow.
"So hard to find reliable servants these days..."
The king sighed. A serious looking catfish, with long whiskers that looked like a mustache, entered the throne room.
"Your Majesty, the celebration preparations are almost complete. We have only one problem..."
"What is it, Sebastian?"
"Ah, we can't find princess Levy anywhere."
"Children these days! Honestly, I'm getting too old for this! Have you checked the library?"
"Yes, sir."
"Her friends Lucy's house?"
"Yes, Majesty."
"Where in the seven seas could she be?"
Levy was at a most unlikely place for a mermaid to be in. She was at the surface. It was still daytime, so she hid herself behind a big rock. Our young mermaid was busy watching the shore.
There were some humans on the sandy beach. The blue haired mermaid had often watched them, during sneak outs like this one. Those people were so different from her, they walked on land with those weird limbs. They couldn't breath in water and were so clumsy in it too. But on dry land they weren't clumsy at all.
Right now those humans were playing some sort of game. Running and tossing some round object around.
The reason behind this 'spying' wasn't only out of curiosity. One of the humans in particular caught her attention. It was a young and very handsome man. He had short black hair, gorgeous dark eyes, toned and muscular body.
For some odd reason Levy loved black hair. That's why she didn't like any of the mermen. Mermen had hair in most possible colors, except black.
The girl watched the boy she had developed a crush on with dreamy eyes.
"Levy, we found you!"
"Levy, everyone at the palace are looking for you! Makarov is worried!"
Two fish heads showed up on both of mermaids sides. Those were her best friends Jet the angelfish and Droy the parrotfish. She knew them since she was a baby. They always played together, and when she became older, Jet and Droy helped her to fend off unwanted admirers.
"What are you doing here, anyway?"
"N-nothing! Let's hurry to the palace!"
The mermaid casted one last glance at the people on the beach and dived under the water with a 'splash'.
"We noticed, that you seem to go to the surface often lately."
Great, now her friends were prying on her personal life. Not that she actually had a relationship with the guy. She didn't even know his name. But a girl could dream, right?
"I'm just curious, that's all."
That wasn't a lie, but wasn't the whole truth either. She hated lying. But she couldn't tell, that she had a crush on a human. It was an impossible relationship in their eyes. Levy believed there was a way! She just had to find it, that's all.
They finally reached her home. The royal family lived in the mostly intact building from the ruins. It had probably been a glorious temple a long time ago. Now it was a palace to mermen.
Three friends swam towards the throne room. On the way they met Lucy.
Lucy was a beautiful blond haired mermaid with brown eyes. Her long tail was covered in light blue scales. She was the same age as Levy. The blond was the only daughter in her family. Her mother passed away from an illness. Since then her father was acting cold and tended to busy himself with work. But Lucy didn't feel lonely since she met Levy, back when they were kids. She loved stories just as much as her best friend did. She even started to write her own novel.
"Levy, where were you? Everything is ready for the celebration!"
"I..."
The blue haired girl didn't have the chance to finish, when her brother appeared.
"Ah, there you are, sis. And what a pleasant surprise! Lady Lucy, I am so delighted to be blessed with your presence."
"Stop the nonsense, prince Loki. Princess Levy, let's proceed to the throne room."
Lucy tilted her head and swam away with the princess in tow. Loki was left speechless, rooted to the spot.
"Rejected once again, eh?"
"Try harder next time."
Wished the angelfish and the parrotfish and hurried after their beloved Levy.
"Ah, the princess has finally arrived. Let's start the celebration!"
Makarov added in a whisper:
" I'll talk with you later about your constant disappearances, young lady."
The party went on until night time. There were dances, singing, lots of presents, a huge feast and so on. Levy was very happy, but also very tired. After the party, her father confronted her in her room.
"Levy, dear, are you unhappy?"
"I am happy!"
"Then why are you always running off somewhere?"
"I just want to find some adventures, that's all."
"And here I was hoping you finally found a partner."
"Makarov! You know I don't l-like anyone like that! At least, not yet."
Levy blushed lightly and looked away.
"That's exactly why I am worried. You should have had some crushes by now. This is not normal."
"I am not having this conversation on my birthday. Please let me rest, father."
Makarov sighed and left the room. Levy wanted to cry. Nobody would ever understand her. She went straight to bed.
Early the next morning, our blue haired mermaid sneaked out of the palace and swam to the surface. She just didn't want to see anyone at the moment. She hid behind her favorite rock, just in case there were any humans around. But the coast was quiet.
Suddenly, she heard a loud 'splash' somewhere not too far away. Seems like something fell from a cliff. Levy felt excited. It could be something from humans! Like a rare item, or even a book! The mermaid swam to the place where she heard the splash.
There were bubbles on the surface, which meant, that something was sinking. The girl dived under the water. She caught the sinking thing and looked at it. Levy screamed. It was a human! She hurried to the surface. The man wasn't moving. Was he sleeping?
"Oh no, he's probably unconscious! I should get him to the shore."
The mermaid dragged the body on the dry sand. She crawled a bit further away from the sea water.
"He's still not waking up. Maybe I should wait."
Then she finally noticed, just who this human was. It was the guy she had a crush on! A perfect opportunity to take a closer look. The young woman was so engrossed in man's long dark eyelashes, that she didn't notice another fast approaching figure.
"What, the hell, are you doing, mershrimp?"
Levy squeaked. She saw a face of another human right in front of her. He was squatting before her.
His skin was tanned, his body was very muscular. The man had jet-black long hair that reached his waist. What amazed the girl the most was his face. He had dark, almost black eyes, a long nose, thin lips and a strong jawline. And then there were these weird gray accessories all over his face. On the chin, on both sides of his nose, in place of eyebrows and in the ears. She had the urge to touch them, but she was too scared.
"W-who are you?"
"Someone, who shouldn't be seeing you here. Haven't they taught you, that humans are dangerous, shrimp?"
"Stop calling me that! I have a name, you know."
"Now you're ready to give your name to a complete stranger. You really are dumb, shrimp."
"B-but I just saved this man!"
The other man looked at the body.
"And that is why isn't breathing?"
"He's... not? A-a! What do I do? What do I do!"
"Chill it."
The other man began rescue breathing mouth-to-mouth. After a few breaths, the unconscious man finally started coughing up water. Levy's face was beet red.
"W-why did you k-kiss him?"
"Idiot, I was saving his life. He's going to be fine now. As for you, scram, before he sees you."
"But..!"
"Go, or I'll make you."
"Pf, make me."
"You asked for it."
The man stood up and took the stubborn mermaid in his arms. He was very tall, she noted.
"Gi-hi-hi! Off you go!"
And he threw her as far as he could. It was far enough for her not to hit the bottom too hard.
"Why you! I hate you! You barbarian! The nerve!"
The mermaid fumed. She glared at the man a bit longer and swam away.
"No you don't." Smirked the man.
"Yo, prince Gray, you alive?"
He turned his attention back to the almost drowned man. He didn't like saving him, but he couldn't just let him die there. And what the hell was he doing in the water anyway?
A/N:I screwed up the appearance part and the 'saving' too, but oh well... Gajeels eyes are black for a reason, not a mistake. And it isn't Gray/Levy. She doesn't know whats best for her, yet xD And (thanks to a kind reviewer for reminding me) why Gajeel is human here, I will tell later.
Reviews are welcome! Tell me what you think. Good/bad? And big thank you to those who reviewed last time~ Favs warmed my heart too!
Sincerely yours,
whiblarat
