AN: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima
Ok, so, thank you so much! I have never had such an amazing response to a first chapter before! I've had reviews in the past saying that a bit starts going too fast, so I have tried to keep this 'slow and steady' :) Hopefully you will enjoy this, I'm actually really proud of it, and I won't be boring you with long ANs for this in future. Thank you again! Hope you enjoy the rest of the story as I update! ^_^
Chapter Two
Levy placed herself at the dining table, sitting opposite her youngest cousin, her best friend to her right and Gray to her left. Her aunt sat at the bottom of the table, the empty chair at the top reserved for her absent uncle. In another week he would return, finally, from his current campaign. She knew they were currently fighting along the border to gain more land from Bosco, but as far as she was concerned, the fighting was completely unnecessary. They had no need of more land, but their ruler apparently thought otherwise. Why were men with power so filled with greed?
"I took Levy out to meet the new servant." Gray's voice cut through her thoughts.
Levy sat up, suddenly remembering where she was, taking her eyes away from the empty chair to look between her cousin and her aunt. He must have realised she had disappeared into her own head once more. She had been doing that for most of the afternoon, and now, apparently, she was letting her soup go cold. She smiled her thanks to her cousin, lifting the spoon to ladle some soup, her attention drifting into its clear depths as she absently listened to her aunt ask him questions. She sighed, remembering that it had been some childish campaign that no-one would talk about that had forced her to sit at this table. She glanced up at her uncle's chair again, sipping the soup on her spoon.
"Levy, are you feeling alright? You seem a little more distracted than usual?" Gray's eldest sister asked quietly, trying not to gain too much attention from her mother.
"I was just thinking about your father, Lucy." Levy smiled back, turning her attention onto her cousin.
Her cousin was tall and beautiful, the kind of girl that could choose either a man of the military or a scholar. She had smooth blonde hair that lay across her shoulder blades like dyed silk, and large brown eyes that shone bright with her emotions, greeting everyone with boundless pools of kindness, echoed by her sweet smile. If a man wanted more to a woman than eyes and a sweet smile, her cousin certainly had more to offer. Both her chest and intelligence were impressive, as well as her ability to run a home. She was only three months younger than Levy, and Levy was sure that her cousin was glad that that made finding her a husband the greater priority, for both Levy and Gray were sure as to who Lucy wished to marry, even if she would not confess.
"He will be back soon, so you really do not need to worry." Lucy replied, a sweet smile hiding her obvious worry concerning her father – no-one could be certain who would in fact return.
"Father is strong, or he would not have managed to send us back that new servant." Gray reassured proudly, grinning at the two of them.
"Where did he find him?" Levy asked, hoping to gain some more information on the silent giant.
"Somewhere along the border, but he was not more specific than that." Gray replied, watching as his youngest sister began to gather the empty bowls while the middle disappeared off to the kitchen.
"Is he Boscan?" Levy inquired, handing the youngest of the family her bowl with a smile.
"If he is, he does not respond to Boscan out of insolence." Gray snorted, clearly annoyed at the idea of the giant ignoring him. "He does seem to understand very basic Fiorian though – he did tell you his name when you asked, and he clearly understood enough of what Mother ordered him to do. Father will be happy when he sees the courtyard."
"That certainly caught me by surprise." Levy laughed, watching as the two girls began laying plates down in front of them. "Goat? I thought we were out of prepared meats?"
"We were – I had the new servant carve up one of the goats for dinner. He cut a leg off for me and began working on the rest of it." Her aunt replied, clearly pleased with herself. "He understood the basic idea of I wanted a goat killed so we could eat it, and I believe he is still butchering the carcass in the kitchen as we speak. There is a strange air of elegance to his work – I was watching him while I prepared this, and he clearly wishes to not waste a single bit of the goat."
"Impressive, but we never use all of the goat, so what exactly does he plan to do with the parts that we do not eat?" Gray replied, watching the kitchen door as he stabbed a piece of goat with his fork.
"I told him he could take what he wants that is not meat or bone." His mother explained, still sounding pleased with herself.
"He is used to not wasting anything, so perhaps he is from a country where resources are sparse?" Levy suggested, happily popping a piece of tender goat into her mouth as she tried to imagine what sort of strange land such a strange man could possibly come from.
"Makes sense." Gray hummed, turning his attention to his plate rather than the man on the other side of the wall. "He chose a good one to slaughter."
"It was my goat." Came a quiet female voice from across the table.
Levy watched as her youngest cousin lifted her head up to meet Gray's eyes, her sweet large brown eyes threatening to water from under her navy blue fringe. It had to have been adorable little Wendy's goat, had not it? She was so sweet and innocent, with her two long bunches reaching from the top of her head to her bottom with no effort at all. Her shy little cousin was but nine years old and doted on the goats, even claiming one as her own. No-one could possibly ever wish to upset such a cute, friendly little girl, but the barbarian had done it without thinking. He had to have not known?
"Wendy, I really am sorry! At least he is taking good care of your goat, as Mother said – nothing is going to waste. He is clearly showing your goat the greatest respect! No other goat has gotten such treatment!" Lucy exclaimed, hoping to cheer Wendy up, earning a small smile and a curt nod from her sister.
"Yes, and you obviously took very good care of it." Gray smiled as he finished emptying his plate, clearly trying to help, but only earning a sniff from Wendy and a glare from Lucy.
"You do take such good care of the goats, Wendy." Levy added, trying to undo some of the damage caused by her eldest cousin. "Are you enjoying having someone to help you?"
"He is really quiet and scary, but I do not think he means to be." Wendy replied shyly, glancing towards the kitchen.
"I am sure he does not." Levy smiled, earning a happy grin from the little girl as she began to eat her vegetables, still a little wary of the goat.
They sat silently as they waited on her to finish, none of them wishing to upset her again by hurrying her. It almost felt cruel to be forcing her to eat her own goat, never mind eat it with the five of them watching her, but they could not leave until she finished. Levy smiled reassuringly as Wendy gently pushed her fork into the meat, earning a small nervous smile in return. She felt Lucy squeeze her knee and turned to look at her, having her cousin nod in the direction of the kitchen. She glanced over to the empty doorway, finding nothing amiss before smiling questioningly back at her blonde cousin.
"Right, as we have now all finished, you are dismissed." Her aunt suddenly announced loudly, standing up from the table, turning her attention to Levy and Lucy. "Make sure to return to your own rooms before I come to check on you."
Levy nodded, her cheeks warming slightly as she remembered being caught in Lucy's room the night before. She had received quite the lecture from her aunt, telling her that sleep was important to both of them, and they should not be up so late reading books. Unfortunately for Levy and Lucy, the book had not been informing, rather more along the lines of a prince coming to rescue a princess from a dragon. They could probably recite the story word for word, but they did enjoy reading the book, even if it was now confiscated like the book from earlier. Levy would definitely find out where her books were being kept.
"Are you coming?" Lucy asked, breaking her train of thought.
Levy nodded and stood up from the dining table, her cousin taking her hand as she began to drag her towards the corridor that led to their bedrooms. The girls' rooms were in one wing of the house, while Gray's was in the other, along with the spare rooms for male guests. Her aunt and uncle's room was situated directly above the dining room. From the dining room, there were four doors; one to the kitchen, another out into the courtyard, and two others, each with a set of gray stone steps leading to the separate wings, while her aunt and uncle could reach their room from a door at the top of either set.
The steps led to a corridor that ran the length of the entire wing along the inside of the outside wall of the building, narrow windows letting in light and fresh air on one side, as well as glimpses of their fields. All the rooms looked down into the large rectangle courtyard which was lined with stables under the men's rooms and storage under the girls', while closed in on the fourth side by a thick stone wall that had a single metal gate just wide enough for a carriage and arched tall enough for a single mounted person. The dirt road on the other side led through their fields, with dirt tracks branching off to further out fields, and over the top of the hill towards the town.
"Did you see him?" Lucy began, shutting Levy's door behind them quietly.
"Who? Gray introduced me to the new servant earlier, if that is what you are asking." Levy replied, turning to look at her cousin in confusion.
"He was watching us from the kitchen while we were waiting on Wendy finishing her dinner." Lucy explained, running her fingertips along a shelf of Levy's bookcase. "I wonder if we seem strange to him?"
"We more than likely do." Levy sighed, falling onto her sofa.
They both stilled, listening to the light footsteps approaching them cautiously along the corridor. Levy slowly turned to look at Lucy, seeing her panic reflected in her cousin's wide eyes. Her aunt was about to catch them. Surely she was early? How was this fair? They had only had a few minutes since dinner, and it was barely dark outside! Levy silently gestured to Lucy to join her on the sofa, sighing with relief as her cousin crept towards her without a book. The last thing she needed was for more of her books to be taken away.
They listened in silence as the footsteps stopped outside Levy's bedroom door. They turned to look at each other, ready to pretend to be discussing politics the second that her aunt opened the door. Levy held her breath as she watched the handle turn, trying to calm herself. The door opened nervously, a head of long black hair falling in through her door, a set of unsure red eyes meeting hers, the giant barbarian leaning into her room.
"H-Hello?" She stammered, her nerves taking hold as the giant stood in her bedroom doorway.
He grunted at her, nodding his head as he rubbed his neck awkwardly, glancing down at his feet.
"Ca-Can I help you?" Levy forced out, Lucy staring wide-eyed at her, not daring to look behind her.
He grunted again and pointed behind her at the open window. Levy looked towards the window, wondering what he could be wanting. She stood up, glancing back over her shoulder nervously as she approached the window. If he wanted to kill them, this would be a perfect opportunity. He could do anything he wanted to them, and he could likely escape before her uncle returned. She looked out of the window, silently admiring his clean courtyard before laughing quietly to herself.
"You are lost." She smiled, turning back to the mildly awkward looking giant as he stood seriously in her doorway. "You are looking for the courtyard." She laughed, gesturing down to the courtyard below them.
Her smile grew as she watched a pleased smirk appear on his lips, suddenly losing all his awkwardness. Levy began to walk towards him, watching as his lizard-like eyes narrowed, the black slits that cut through the burning red following her every movement. She smiled sweetly up at him, trying to reassure him, unaware of her cousin's movements behind her. She heard the bell before she even had any idea what was going on, the sound gaining the servant's full attention, clearly now waiting on some sort of order. Little did he know that the bell meant trouble for him.