So I guess I answer reviews here. ^^ (haha, ok I'll do my best.)
So thanks for the sweet reviews, kurisu313, ashleynormanann, piranha-pk and SakuraIchigoDark. I appreciate it so much. ^^

And to all my other readers, I will do my best to not disappoint you. *laughs* That can be a challenge. ^^;

And I do not own fairy tail!
Bet everyone already knows that. ^^
Hiro Mashima (c)

_

The amazing adventures of
Princess Levy!

Chapter 3.

The amazing bittersweet freedom.

Levy had never expected this. Of course, she knew that running away wouldn't exactly be a child's play, but this was over the top. Right now, she had just been thrown harshly over the shoulder of a big, black-haired brute who only helped her because of the pay.
And he didn't exactly run in a smooth movement. He dashed over the bumpy ground in a way that caused Levy to make small jumps up and down. That again, caused his shoulder to repeatedly hit her tummy.

She had never in her life been handled this way before. Back home, they would gently lift her in a bridal-fashion to make sure she was always comfortable. The first minutes of her so-called freedom wasn't what she had been hoping for. Actually, it was the exact opposite. But as a royal representative for the people, going back on her words was no opinion. If an escape had been the resolve, then she would go through with it. No matter what. Instead; she decided to make the best out of it.

"Can't you carry me a bit nicer?" she pleaded through gritted teeth. Each strike sent a wave of pain through her belly.

"Why should I? You're no fucking princess!" he yelled back, seemingly annoyed about the complaining. After all; he, of all people, had been so kind as to lend a hand! Levy almost shout back that she actually is a princess, and a darn important one! But she bit her lip and suppressed the urge. To reveal her identity after five minutes would definitely be a bummer. Instead, she tried a different approach.

"But I paid you! You are required to handle me properly!" the bluenette declared. Gajeel's eyes widened at her choice of words. If the situation hadn't been like this, one could believe that they were bargaining about job salaries. Who the hell is this girl? Her way of speaking was way to royal for being a bloody burglar! And not to mention the fancy dress she showed up in as she came raining down from the sky. Something was completely off with this whole concept, and it made him ponder for a while; which was, extremely weird for him to do.

He fanned away the thought. Like she was of any worthy status. The girl had probably stolen the dress when she raided the place anyway. And who in their righteous mind would run away from a regal place if they actually were welcome there? The punches and kicks lashed out against his body made him snap out of his oh-so-unusual brainstorming.

"Don't! carry! me! this! way!" she shrieked, each word followed by another strike. A vein popped in his forehead, and if it wasn't for the solid pile of bucks she literally had shoved into his hands; then an uppercut against her haughty little head would have been his ultimate pleasure. Instead, Gajeel slowly turned his head around, giving her one of his special death-glares.

"You want to be dragged along the ground instead, shrimp?" he hissed. Levy immediately stopped the kicks and punches. His dark blood-red eyes made goose pumps prickle all over her skin. they were like bottomless pits of pure hatred. Seriously, that guy was immensely scary when he wanted to. She used her common sense to shut her mouth and let him sprint along with her over his shoulder. A glance down verified her worries. The road was covered with dirt and rocks. Pebbles were scattered around, and the roots that stuck out from the mud looked anything but comfortable.
Compared to the ground; shoulder-slamming wasn't so bad after all.

[...]

Lucy stared out the window of the horse-driven carriage. Her mind constantly wandering off to possible ways of Levy-reactions. As she had always been a passionate writer, constant worries about her a bit too colorful-imagination had been passed on to her, with regards and tips about somebody to talk to. Screw those people she mentally cursed. It wasn't like she was insane or anything. She gave herself a quick scolding for the inappropriate way of thinking.

She was aware of her little problem. But it didn't stop her from worrying about her best friend's mental state. Pictures of Levy shutting herself inside her closet and live the rest of her life locked inside except for receiving a cookie through a tiny gap in the door now and then, kept popping up in her mind.

She shook her head like she was trying to get rid of a giant mosquito, not allowing such depressive thoughts. Everything will work out for sure, we just need to carry out the plan to gain some time. The blonde clenched the tiny scrap of paper in her fist. There, heaps of names were scribbled down (with a very shaky and barely read-able handwriting), all belonging to different sons from great families clans all over the great kingdom of Fiore. The purpose of the plan was to give Levy's parents some other candidates, so they would have enough time to consider a way to get out of this mess.

But for now, she only hoped that Levy was okay.

"We're here, miss Heartfilia." the driver called out, as the wagon slowed down it's pace and finally stopped by the enormous gate. Lucy got out of the carriage, quickly bowed to the driver and hurried towards the massive entrance of the Mcgarden castle. Gaining access was as usual a piece of cake, since she had been there countless of times before, and all the guards knew her. The gates creaked in protest as they were forced open. The guards waved cheerfully in her direction as she passed the entrance, giving a hasty nod in reply. Due to the hurry she was in, a proper greeting was out of the question.

The castle had a weird feeling to it. The air was heavy, and the usually bustling courtyards were now ominous silent. A maid hurried now and then past her, but apart from that, the place was deserted. Lucy scooted through the creepy hallways. Distant cries of wolves of birds filled the lonely night. Light poured out from the windows, and the towers were decorated with star-like dots.

The blonde reached the grand hall after a couple of minutes. Several doors and archways connected with the rest of the castle, and poor souls could end up wandering lost if they weren't familiar with this maze of a castle. Lucy, however, had been spending days here playing hide and seek with Levy and Gray. The inside of her friends home were as familiar as her own pocket.
She crossed the room and started climbing up a winding staircase. The second door to the left led into the main hallway. Going right would lead directly towards the king's office.

A nauseatic feeling kept growing in her tummy for every step she drew closer to the King's office. Bright red carpets ran along the floor, and paintings filled all empty space on the walls. Portraits of great rulers stared down at her, lighted up by the suspended lamps in the roof.

She carefully leaned her ear against the sign that read 'Claude Mcgarden'. muffled sounds could be heard from the other end, but it was almost impossible to catch what was said. The blonde pressed her head closer to the door, feeling the cold wood push against her skin. However, eavesdropping led to nowhere, so it was with a slow motion, she put her hand at the doorhandle, turned it around and peeked through the tiny opening in the door gap.

The room was dimly lit, and the only light source was a fireplace at the east wall. The white brick chimney shot through the roof, and a metal grate prevented sparks to fly and lit up the royal-red carpet that covered the floor. large bookcases cast eerie shadows along the purple walls. Lucy bet that each of those contained at least a hundreds of books. The only person that owned more books than the king himself, was his only daughter. In the far end below the huge mosaic window, sat the king, the queen and the lieutenant of the military security service at the desk, having conversations that were now and then interrupted by the queen's sobs.

Claude's eyes were depressed, but a blazing anger shone in them. He seemed more agitated than sad, compared to his wife.
Miranda's eyes were poufy and red, dark lines ran below her eyes. A handkerchief rested in her right hand, and was now and then brought up to her face to wipe the corner of her emerald eyes. The lieutenant was as intimidating as ever, as his presence filled the entire office with a sense of superiority.

Lucy drew closer with cautious steps. They had not yet noticed her, as they continued to mumble to each other in a dull voice. She coughed a bit to gain their attention, suddenly feeling a bit awkward. They all snapped out of the discussion and stared at her with surprised gestures. It was obvious that they had just noticed her presence.

Lucy let her eyes wander from each one of them, pondering on what the cause of the distress was. Her thoughts immediately snapped back at Levy locked inside her closet. A shiver went down her spine. If the king's eyes were so serious, then what had she done? And what did Claude plan to do? And why was the lieutenant here? Military punishment would be to go too far.

With a quick movement with his right hand, the king gestured for her to come closer. It was with nervous steps that she drew closer, not knowing whether to regret her action. Claude examined her with a mind-blowing stare. Lucy knew better than anyone, except Levy and Gray, that keeping calm while being watched with these eyes was anything but easy. She squirmed a bit due to the unwanted attention. His eyes stayed locked at her as he started to speak in a monotone voice.

"Did Levy contact you before midnight?" he asked, still torturing her with his gaze. The blonde flashbacked at the events that had happened that day, but she had no memory of getting a call from Levy. So she simply shook her head, eyes looking down. Suddenly, she regretted coming here. The only thing that kept her from sprinting out the door as soon as she had the possibility was the fact that all this was about her very best friend. When she turned her gaze up again, determination flashed through her chocolate eyes.

"What happened to her?" she whispered. "Please tell me."

The queen glanced up at the king with bright red, tear stained eyes. Her look was slightly questioning. He gave a hasty nod in approval, and she then moved her eyes back to Lucy, clearing her throat.

"Levy has..." she was interrupted by a huge sob, and took a quick pause to calm down. She then continued with a muffled voice.

"Levy has been kidnapped."

[...]

They had been fleeing for about ten minutes, and Levy was growing tired of the tummy-ache. The black-haired brute didn't seem to break a sweat, even if he had been running full throttle all the time. But finally, he seemed to slow down, and the wild sprint turned into an average, jogging movement. Thus, the shoulder-slamming stopped. The bluenette sighed in relief and turned over to the back of the black, spiky head.

"Are we soon there?" she asked while nudging his shoulder lightly. He immediately stopped jogging and Levy felt a sudden motion as he grabbed her tiny frame and lifted her roughly of his shoulder. He then held her in front of him so their eyes were at the same level. The bluenette felt her feet dangling through the air, searching for solid ground. However, that was pointless. He just kept holding her above the ground.

"I forgot I brought you!" he snapped. Levy's eyes widened. What? He forgot he carried a teenager on his shoulder? What's with this guy? She scowled. She shrieked in surprise as he suddenly let go of her, causing her to fall with her butt to the ground for the second time that day. She shot daggers with her eyes at the guy who had just dropped her like that. The glare that met her caused her to flinch, and she crawled backwards. Gajeel snorted, and turned his back on her. Levy felt her heart drop as he started to walk away from her, and got to her feet in a hurry. The place they had stopped happened to be a dark forest, and a forest wasn't actually the ideal place for her to spend the night.

"Wait! Where are you going?" she screamed at him. He didn't turn around this time, just kept on walking.

"Home." he explained simply, as he kept on walking.

"But what about me? Are you just going to leave me here?" the poor princess blurted out. He didn't slow down his pace, just kept on moving. Levy started to follow him, frightened to loose his back.

"Yes." he answered. "I don't owe you anything."

"But I paid you!" she countered.

"To get out of there." he pointed out. "Now you're out of there."
Levy bit her lip, looking for a valid reason for bringing her with him. She couldn't just pay him for letting her stay at his place. She would run out of money sooner or later, and when that time arrived, he would probably kick her out. Alone in a forest with no money, even if it were hardly needed there, would be suicide. That much she knew.

"You have to take me with you! I got no other place to go!" she cried out in frustration. He turned around so they faced each other. Levy sweatdropped as his expression were totally straight.

"I don't care." he snarled back at her. "Just beat it. I have no intention of letting you into my home!"

With that, he dashed away and disappeared into the forest. The princess had no chance of keeping up, and she was soon all alone.
The bluenette shuffled over to a lone three and sat down by the trunk. The air was chilly, but at least the sky was clear. Thousands of stars were scattered around the sky that was visible through the branches. They gleamed like diamonds, and a part of her calmed down a bit by the sight. A sudden gust of cold wind made her curl together, hugging her knees for a bit more warmth. She already missed her comfy bed back home. When she was young, her mother would always come to her if she was cold or scared. Then she would wrap her arms around her daughter and whisper sweet fairy tales to soothe her. It always worked, and normally it didn't take a long time before she fell asleep in her mother's embrace.

A stray tear trickled down her cheek. Why did she run away? She could have just talked it out instead! But here she was, lost in a dark forest in the middle of the night, already on her way to freeze to death. More tears welled up in her eyes.
She missed her mom. She missed the warmth of her home. She missed the safety of her family. All she wanted to do now was to go home. But she couldn't. She already knew when she ran away, that there were no way back. And now she would die all alone in the darkness.

Her eyelids slid close, as the escape had been really tiring. The world faded into a black pit as she dozed off. Her fate was sealed, and she couldn't do anything but accept it. That was the last thought that crossed her mind before she fell asleep under the starry sky.

[...]

Lucy hurried to the western part of the castle, following the king that were walking in front of her. Their footsteps were hasty, and none of them said a word. They just kept walking through the hallways in silence. After a while, the king finally spoke.

"Here it is." he said with a monotone voice, gesturing for the door in front of him. It had the same design as his own, a wooden one with a dark brown color. However, the golden sign on the door read 'Levy Mcgarden' instead. The blonde slowly approached the door. The sound of her heartbeat was reverberating through her head, and her palms were sweating as she grabbed the doorknob and turned it carefully around.
The moment her eyes trailed over the princess' room, her breath got caught in her throat.

The room was completely devastated. Drawers were pulled out and the content were scattered around the floor. Dresses had been dragged out of the closet and all of them were ripped to shreds. A long silk rope hung out from the window, pointing out what the dresses had been destroyed for. It was almost as she didn't feel her feet as she made her way through the rubble on the floor. Someone had been searching for something, and on top of that, Levy was gone too. Lucy moved to the middle of the room, looking around with a terrified expression. Her vision got blurry all of a sudden, and she didn't realize what it was until something wet dripped down her cheek. The king moved slowly over to the place she was standing, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We will find Levy, no matter what." he whispered. A tad of grief was clear in his voice. "I promise."

Lucy nodded slowly, drying her tears off with the sleeve on her dress.

"Yeah. We will." she breathed.

[...]

When the princess regained consciousness , something big and soft covered her body, wrapped so tight around her so she barely could move. It was incredibly warm, and a feeling of safety rushed through her body. the bluenette's eyes were still closed, but she could her birds singing in a cheerful voice. According to the feeling in the air, and the bright sun that had just emerged in the horizon, it was morning.

She rolled over and slowly opened her eyes. It took a moment to adjust her eyes to the brightness, but after a moment of blinking and squinting, the scenery came into focus. She was still lying in the forest, but now a huge quilt were wrapped around her body. Despite the several patches and ripped ends, it was like a gift from God. With a grunt of pain, she slowly forced her body to sit in upright position. As her head started to clear up, several questions started to make their way into her head. The first one was the most relevant, and it really didn't make any sense at all.

Who had given her this quilt?

She smiled at herself. Whoever it was had anyway just saved her life. She made a mental note to thank her savior if she ever found him/her.

It took some time for Levy to completely wake up. So she sat for a long time by the tree trunk, rubbing her eyes and yawning loudly. It definitely was something else than waking up in a castle. There, maids would always come in with breakfast in the morning. Her tummy really missed the platter of eggs, bacon and cereal. It was giving away loud grumbling, and Levy caressed her belly.

"Sorry pal." she laughed ironically. It really was lonely there. All she had to talk to was her empty belly. The bluenette laughed a bit at her own pity, admitting the fact that she was about to go insane. She had never been to a forest. Of course, as the castle-library was chock-full of books; reading was one of her spare-time activities, and she was sure that she had blattered through a book about the topic at least once. She searched through her memory for some valuable information about basic survival-skills.

First, you need to find a water source.

A river trickled past at her left side, so she guessed that was one point down. She managed to worm her way to the riverbank in a klutzy fashion. Goosebumps prickled up her skin as she scooped up the cold water with her hands, throwing it in her face. The thought of not washing her face in the morning freaked her out, no matter if she was in a deserted forest or not. The feeling of cool water in her face gave her a reminder on how thirsty she was; and she managed, with a bit of effort, to preserve a handful of water in her palms long enough to bring it to her lips and shove it into her mouth.

The fresh water cooled down her dry throat, and quenched the thirst that had lingered since the escape that night. With a sigh of relief; the princess fell back on the grass covered ground, letting the grass tickle her cheeks and the summer breeze caress her skin. Even if the situation was somewhat critical, it wasn't a bad place to be for the time being. A sense of freedom cursed through her veins and made her squeal a bit in joy. She was free. She was finally free!

Crack

Levy shot up in a sitting position, eyes darting around in the forest. Up to now, she had been certain that her sorry self had been the only human in this place.
Another branch snapped under a strangers foot. The bluenette quickly got to her feet, scooting over to a huge, green bush below an old oak. The leaves provided a decent shelter from preying eyes, and her own brown ones trailed along the trees. As another branch cracked, she remembered one of the most important facts about surviving in the forest. Her heartbeat raced in her chest and her pulse were pounding in her temples while her face turned white as a sheet.

The forest is a home for many predators and man-eating monsters.

_
(For the first time:) Author's note!

Cliffhanger! *dumdum* I like to do it that way, since I (hopefully) get to surprise you in the next chapter.
(Oh yeah.)

And who manage to guess what the cause of the sound is?

But on to the basic:
I'm okay with how it turned out I guess, trying to get more awesome words, so I constantly have to use the dictionary. And I think this one is a bit longer than the others (almost 4K words!), so yeah. I'm on my way! Lol.

Please leave a review, I love them all! Especially the constructive ones. ;)