Hello dear Reader!
This is the first chapter! I hope that you like it. I actually had to stop myself from writing too much and ended up splitting this chapter into three other ones to not rush the story… anyways, enjoy!
Disclaimer : I do not own Fairy Tail
Fourteen years had passed since Makarov had brought Levy, Jet and Droy to Magnolia, the city were the mage's guild Fairy Tail stood tall and proud. They had received a warm welcome at their arrival and, at the guildhall, had met with other children that had also been picked up by Makarov after the destruction of their towns by dragons. The guild members quickly became her new family, and before she knew it, Levy celebrated her 16th birthday and became an official Fairy Tail member.
As three more years passed, Levy McGarden became an energetic and cheerful young woman, a bit clumsy at times, but always smiling. Being the caring person that she was, Levy was known as a kind spirited soul that could easily forgive when she saw the good in people, even if anger still boiled inside her when she was reminded of the dark scaled dragon that had destroyed her family, and whom still haunted her nightmares.
Physically, Levy wasn't very tall for a 19 year old. You could even say that she had a slender and petite figure, to her great despair. She wore short dresses in hopes that it would empathize the curve of her hips, the only curve her body really had, while making her legs seem longer. She already found herself flat chested, and the fact that she was pretty short was also frustrating at times, so she didn't need to look any younger than how she already did.
She had never let her hair grow out, usually keeping her wavy royal blue locks shoulder length, held back with a colorful bandana. But what she liked the most about herself were her hazel eyes that seemed to take on a darker shade when she was upset by something.
Of course, she didn't get upset much, and took on each problem as a challenge, a puzzle that she needed to crack. She had always been very mature for her age, being a curious and smart child; she was always the most levelheaded one during a crisis. Makarov had always thought it sad that she had grown so fast, having practically lost her childhood with the death of her parents. But ever since she had arrived at Fairy Tail, she had always been happy and cheerful, so hadn't said anything, and was even relieved to have at least one more serious person in his boisterous guild full of brats.
Levy had always loved books. She read them all. Let it be novels, magic manuals, tour guides, history books, poems,… whatever book could catch her eye, and boy did a lot of books catch her eye, she would read it. But her main reads were usually parchments about the History of Dragons. Unfortunately, these documents were usually very old, having been written before the end of the Dark Ages, and also very rare since most scrolls had been lost or destroyed during the Last Battle.
Her studies had taught her that dragons seemed to have appeared long before the humans, when Magic came out of Earthland itself and fused with the elements, giving birth to the strongest magic wielders known to this day; Dragons. That is why dragons are protected by a single element, and possess great quantities of magic, making them formidable foes.
But they were also very proud and greedy creatures, and would fight one another for lands and riches. The destructive power of these flying giants was such that the lands started dying and the sky clouded over into an eternal darkness. And it is said that out of the night and despair that reigned over Earthland, Acnologia was born. Known as the King of dragons, Acnologia stopped the war between dragons, allowing the earth to heal. Thousands of years later, humans appeared and started taking over their lands, waging war against one another, just like the dragons had eons before. Seeing this, the ruler of dragons rallied his kind and started a war against the humans, to take back their domains.
The humans, seeing that they were going to lose against the giant magic-wielding reptiles, brought their forces together, uniting the continent of Fiore, and learned how to control magic for themselves. This event marked the end of the Dark Ages five hundred years ago, but also the beginning of great wars between Dragons and Humans. After over a century of fighting, the Last Battle occurred, where large numbers of dragons and mages were slain. It was such a devastating battle that some records say that the dragon and human populations were reduced to half by the end of the three days of conflict. Both weakened parties secluded themselves after that; the humans organized themselves into guilds where mages would gather, and train together, in order to hunt and kill dragons. The dragons, with their king gone feral after the wars, scattered across the continent, destroying towns along the way.
With time, guilds were established all over Fiore, and about a hundred years ago, in Magnolia, Fairy Tail was founded by a certain Mavis Vermillion. In Fiore, the more dragons a guild slays, or even wounds, the more prestige the guild earns. But up to this day, Fairy Tail has never killed, wounded or even started a fight with a dragon, and thus was considered the weakest guild in all the lands. Of course, they were still a very famous guild with very strong mages, since hunting dragons was not the only way to earn money. A guild can receive jobs from anyone, and the value of reward received depends on the difficulties of the job. The dragon hunting jobs were always S ranked, and were considered the hardest and most dangerous of missions, but paid very well.
Levy had once asked the Third Guild Master, Makarov, why the guild didn't actively hunt down dragons, or even accept the jobs to kill them. He had shrugged at the question, saying that it was too dangerous for his children. But that never discouraged Levy from trying to find the dragon that had attacked her hometown.
Her second books of interest were the ones that taught her how to effectively track down, and ultimately kill, the scaly bastards. This time, the books depicting the weak points of certain type of elemental dragons were way more numerous and easier to acquire, compared to the ones about the history of dragons. So she had been training all those years in secret, creating her own spells, and perfecting the ones that she found, in order to one day be able to face a dragon.
Levy is a solid script mage, meaning that she can bring to life any word of her choosing. For example, she would write out the word "FIRE" in the air in front of her and that word would appear there, the letters formed by blazing red flames. With all her reading, she also had great knowledge of spells and could easily decipher them, or even rewrite them if ever she found herself trapped in one.
With her small body, she wasn't built for brute strength, but that didn't really bother her, for her best weapon was her mind. She was the leader of team Shadow-Gear, and her quick thinking had gotten her, and her teammates, out of troubling situations more than once. The two other members of Fairy Tail's Shadow-Gear were Jet and Droy. All three had been from the same village, and had become very close after their arrival in Magnolia.
Jet is a tall and slim redhead that likes to wear purple shirts, and keeps his hair up into a messy ponytail. He's also the fastest mage in Fairy Tail, his magic being Speed Magic, and usually serves as a distraction on dangerous missions. He could land a hit or two, but was mostly keeping the enemy busy, while Droy caught or knocked out the opponents with his Plant Magic, and Levy thought up the tactics to win. Droy had short black hair and was as tall as Jet, but much more over overweight than his counterpart. His big figure, covered by a long olive colored coat, could always be found eating or snacking on something.
The two boys, whom were two years older than Levy, loved their female teammate a lot, and could always be found following the blue haired mage, gushing at how cute she was. Even if she found them a little overbearing from time to time, she wouldn't have it any other way. Levy loved her two boys to bits. They were her best friends and brothers, even if they seemed to want more than that from her, but she always brushed it off as them being overprotective of her.
But today, the small Solid script mage was walking around the guild alone, her two usual guard-dogs nowhere in sight. They had arrived at the guild two nights ago, from a job that mostly consisted of her having to transcribe writings that had been found inside an old wooden temple. This shouldn't of had taken her more than a day, but the two young men had been bored with just watching her work, and had gone exploring. The building was old, over two hundred years old, and had been abandoned a long time ago. The wood that hadn't been eaten away by termites was either rotting away or was bloated from the humid air of the mountains. Not minding their steps, the two Shadow-Gear members had passed right through the floor, the parquet crumbling under their weight, taking a support beam with them. They had ended their fall in the basement, on top of a pile of debris, covered in dust and woodchips. Jet had broken his right leg while Droy his left arm, and both were marred with cuts, bruises and splinters. It had taken Levy the rest of the day to help them get out, and bring them to the hospital that was located in the village at the foot of the mountain.
The team had came back two days later, and Jet and Droy had been bedridden in the guild's infirmary ever since. Normally Levy would have been at their bedside until they both got better, but when she had finally arrived at Fairy Hills, Fairy Tail's girl dormitory, she had received a letter that threw those plans out the window. She decided that she would leave the next day for a solo mission while her two boys recovered.
She didn't usually take on solo mission, even if most of the jobs she took ended up with her translating an ancient book for a client while Jet and Droy slept somewhere in the library they were at. It wasn't that she was the only one who chose the jobs, but it was the only kind of jobs that gave lots of jewels and that she was really good at because, let's face it, even if team Shadow-Gear was the team that brought the most money in, they weren't the strongest mages in the guild. So they took on easier missions, leaving the fighting to the other members. But this was different, she wasn't really going for the mission, nor did she really need any jewels for now, no. She was going on a hunt. Her guild mates, especially her two boys, didn't need to know that, so she left for the guildhall bright and early that morning.
That was how she found herself walking towards the back of the guild, next to the bar, where the job request board was, her traveling bag heavy with a week worth of stuffs. Pausing in front of the board, she faced the other girl that was practically glaring a hole through the billboard. Levy smile seeing her friend who still hadn't noticed her, and shook her out of her thoughts with a cheerful greeting.
"Morning Lu-chan! Going on a job today?"
The busty blond, going by the name of Lucy Heartfilia, turned towards Levy, giving her a bright smile before answering sheepishly:
"Hey Levy! Yeah, I need to find a quest fast, my apartment is great, but every month it's the same thing. I'm always a few jewels short for the rent."
She laughed lightly, a tint of pink coloring her cheeks a bit, embarrassed, before looking back at the board.
"What about you?"
Levy took a few seconds, eyes scanning the requests, a thin smile creeping up on her lips as she spotted a job in the village she was aiming for. Not really reading what it consisted in doing, she quickly tore the paper from the board, not letting Lucy see what she had chosen, before answering.
"I'm going on a solo mission while Jet and Droy rest. I'll be able to take my time and go book shopping!"
"Great! I'll see you when you come back then. I've finished the next chapter for my latest story, I think you'll enjoy the plot twist."
"Can't wait to read it then!"
Levy then gave Lucy a bright smile, feeling a bit guilty for having lied to her best friend. Waving goodbye as she checked the job in the guild's registry, Levy quickly left for the train station.
The letter that she had received while away on her mission was from a little librarian she had met a few years back. The old lady was very kind, and had posted a job request saying that she needed help reorganizing the town's new public library after a flood had damaged the old one. The blue hair mage and the old lady had gotten along very well, and still wrote to one another from time to time, but the letter she had received wasn't one with their usual pleasant conversations, no. It was a letter telling Levy that there had been rumors of a dragon having been spotted in a cave that could be found near a village a few towns over from where the old lived. A dragon with dark scales.
It wasn't much to go by, but she still had to go and check it out before other guilds got wind of it and started hunting the beast down. To see if it was the monster that had been plaguing her nightmares for all those years.
He had been spotted, and now she was going to hunt him down.
I would like to give a big thank you to cecebeek, Sakura-Fiction, Libiky, Nitebreaker, AnonymousStalkerFriend, tfandanimefan, The Siege, hisuichanxx, brittneyangel, Bluewater7, TheYetiChild, era scarlet, , nikkiw67, and thedesinja for the Fav./Follow/Review!
It doesn't seem like much, but it's always nice to know that someone else likes the stories that you write down, or is willing to spare a few moments to offer their points of view, feelings, reactions and criticisms.
So thank you, and I know that the beginning is a bit slow to start, but I promise that there will be more action in the next chapter when it comes out :)