A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Just to make everything clear, even if the story is set in Edolas, Hibiki and Lucy are not their Edo counterparts; they're still Earthland Lucy and Earthland Hibiki (does Hibiki even have a counterpart in Edolas?) As for Loke, there's no Edo Loke as far as I know so no problem about that. For all other characters other than Mystogan and Erza K., assume that they're their Earthland selves. If not, I'll put it in before the chapter.
He listened to Karen Lilica smugly proclaiming that the king was dying and shook his head. His lips curled into a grim smile hidden behind a long scarf that hid most of his features; everything was going according to plan. He had made a risky gamble by telling Lady Lilica—he refused to address her as familiarly as she did him—the true state the king was in but he knew that this was his best chance to expose the traitors in their midst. As the king's spymaster, he had been privy to information from reliable sources that someone was planning to assassinate His Majesty and that, as a loyal subject to King Ferdinand of Edolas, he could not allow.
Hibiki watched the ladies by the garden pool and couldn't help but wonder whether any of them knew that speaking of the king's death could be construed as treason. A particularly loud burst of giggling and fawning over different gentlemen—him included—told him that these women, no, these girls cared for nothing other than fancy dresses and dashing gentlemen. They didn't even seem to appreciate the magnificently rendered marble figures of Apollo and Daphne positioned in the heart of the pool.
His eyes were drawn to two ladies who didn't seem to be as engrossed in the gossiping as the others. Juvia Loxar looked uncomfortable among her peers, unsure of what to say. Ultear of Ur, however, seemed to be content in simply listening to the conversation with an enigmatic smile on her blood-red lips. Hibiki's expression darkened; he had always felt that there was something not quite right about her. However, he had more pressing matters to tend to tonight like readying safeguards for the king in case any attempts were made on his life.
He sighed, his hand going to the rope and hook dangling at his belt. Hibiki inwardly groaned at the strenuous climb he'd have to make to get over the rear walls and off the Lilica estate. He shifted his weight and prepared to sneak off.
He had scarcely moved a few meters when he detected movement to his right. He instantly tensed, his eyes narrowed in an effort to pierce the darkness and see what—or who, he thought grimly—is hidden in the shadows of the trees. If there was a foreign spy who had heard of the king's deteriorating health, not even Hibiki was confident that he could deflect all attacks on his king. He already had his hands full with the enemies within; if assassins from the neighboring countries struck in order to take advantage of the king's weakness, it could be the end of the royal Renzdeamark line of Edolas.
He moved carefully, years of training in the art of stealth allowing him to get close to the figure crouching behind the rosebushes. He could now see that the figure was slight, dressed in coarse brown trousers and an ill-fitting white shirt that was obviously too big for him. A dark cap was pulled over his head and a blue handkerchief hid his features so that only his eyes were visible. He was still puzzling over the spy's odd dress—the handkerchief looked too delicate, the sort ladies carried around—when the boy moved, cautiously crawling away. Hibiki remained still, deciding to see first where he was headed. When the boy was a few paces away, Hibiki began to follow, careful not to make any noise that would alert the boy he was trailing or the ladies seated around the garden pool to his presence.
Unfortunately, the boy did not seem to be as adept in sneaking around as Hibiki was. A dry branch snapped under the boy's boot-clad foot. Training kicked in and Hibiki scaled the nearest tree in seconds without so much as a rustle. He shook his head. Who was this boy? He was either an inept spy or he wasn't one at all. But if he hadn't come to spy, what had he come for? And if he was a spy, which Hibiki was beginning to doubt, why spy on a bunch of lady aristocrats gossiping? That wouldn't make sense unless this boy's master knew of Hibiki's plan to root out conspirators within the court.
Hibiki heard Lady Ultear call for her driver to investigate. He uttered a silent curse. Lady Ultear had blood ties to their neighboring country of Lyr, and he had reason to believe that her loyalty to Lyr ran deeper than the loyalty she pledged to Edolas upon assuming her late mother's position at court. This wouldn't have posed much of a threat if Lyr was allied to Edolas but relations between the two kingdoms had been strained as of late. Even worse was that Ultear had recently been appointed as part of the diplomatic party formed to help smooth things out between the two kingdoms. This had been what pushed him to get close enough to Karen Lilica to tell her of the king's ill health; he knew he had to make it believable to make sure this information found its way to Lady Ultear. He hoped to provoke her—and whoever she was in league with—into action so that he could capture them all at once. But if he was caught here, Lady Ultear was clever enough to put the pieces together and figure out it was a trap. If his plan failed, the conspirators will most probably have the His Majesty murdered then blame it on the king's ailing health.
His gaze followed the boy's frantic search for a hiding place. His panicked movements confused Hibiki even more. A trained spy—even a novice one—would have known that people rarely look up when looking for something. It was why he had climbed this tree. Besides, there was nowhere to hide on the ground.
After a few moments, the boy realized that. Hibiki's eyes widened fractionally when the boy quickly crept to his tree and began to climb. He arranged his scarf more securely over the lower half of his face, a precaution in case he was discovered. Of all the trees the boy could have chosen, he had to choose this one! He watched the boy's ascent carefully, inching away so as not to betray his presence. The boy stopped on a branch just below him and from his vantage point he could see blonde hair peeking out from under the cap on his head. Hibiki listened to the boy's erratic breathing and hoped that he wouldn't do anything that would give their hiding place away.
Rustling in the rosebushes caught their attention, causing them to stiffen almost simultaneously. Hibiki looked toward the source of the noise and felt his blood run cold.
The man currently searching for them was Zancrow, if Hibiki wasn't mistaken. His spies in Lyr had informed him that this man was one of the mercenaries of Lyr's King Hades. That he was Ultear's supposed driver for tonight was enough proof that Ultear was indeed a threat to the throne.
Zancrow prowled steadily towards their hiding place. The cruel smirk on his face told Hibiki that he was enjoying this, savoring the feel of stalking his prey. The boy shivered and Hibiki felt a stab of pity for him. Foreign spy or not, he looked far too young for this kind of work.
Visibly unaware of their presence, Zancrow moved past their tree. Hibiki waited until the boy had climbed down and was far enough not to notice him. He then nimbly leapt down, bent his knees to absorb the impact, and landed noiselessly on the damp earth. He followed the boy to a gap in the hedges positioned in front of the Lilica estate. This was obviously how he had gotten in.
Hibiki studied the hole and estimated that he should have no problem enlarging it enough for him to crawl through. He decided to wait a few moments after the boy had gone through to make sure he didn't know he was being followed. Hopefully, he would lead Hibiki to whoever it was he served.
But just as the boy was almost out, Zancrow's voice rang out, calling for the boy to stop. By bringing attention to the intruder, Zancrow was probably hoping to enlist the help of any nearby servants.
"Tch," Hibiki gritted his teeth. He couldn't afford to have Zancrow and Ultear capture this boy. The risk that the boy's masters would ally themselves with Lyr if given the chance was too high. He would have to find a way to incapacitate Zancrow and capture the boy himself. He watched Zancrow grab the boy's ankle. Taking this as his cue, he started forward, his gloved hands clenching as he readied himself for a fight.
"Argh!" Zancrow yelled, followed by a flood of curses as he fell to his side on the ground. Hibiki winced; the boy had kicked him where it hurt. Hibiki almost felt sympathy for him.
Almost.
Hibiki saw his chance as Zancrow was still rolling on the ground in agony. The boy, having freed himself from Zancrow's grip, had already slipped away. Hibiki moved swiftly to the gap, unmindful of the fact that Zancrow could see him. He was certain the scarf around his face and his dark undistinguished clothes—his usual guise when he had to do some investigating of his own—would keep Zancrow from identifying him if they ever had incident to meet.
With quick, precise flicks of the hook at his belt, he widened the hole and slipped through it headfirst. Hibiki slid out easily, his eyes picking out the boy's receding figure. He threw out his hands to break his fall, grateful for the gloves protecting his hands from the worst of the impact. In less than a second, he was on his feet and running in pursuit of the fleeing boy. At his back, he could hear Zancrow running after them.
Hibiki, hiding among the numerous shadows of the city, followed the boy into the city's back-alleys. Victory was within his grasp. He had spent most of his boyhood prowling the alleys after dark on errands for his father, the previous spymaster. He knew the windings of these streets like the back of his hand.
The boy ran into a particularly wide alley, occasionally looking over his shoulder to check if he had lost his pursuer. None of his actions suggested that he was aware of Hibiki pursuing him as well.
Hibiki could see that the boy was tiring and that Zancrow would catch up to him soon. In a split-second decision, he darted away and took a route that would allow him to overtake the boy. He emerged in a narrow shadowed alley that connected to the one the boy was running through. Listening to the boy's footfalls, he waited silently for his chance.
The footsteps were getting louder as the boy neared. Hibiki tensed in anticipation. The boy shot past him and he grabbed, immobilized, and silenced him in one smooth, practiced motion.
Zancrow ran past them, his increased pace indicating that he thought he had merely lost sight of his quarry. Hibiki slowed his breathing but didn't relax his hold on his captive. Once Zancrow was out of sight, he let out a small sigh of relief. Now all he had to do was take this boy back to the castle for questioning. He would oversee the boy's interrogation himself to make sure that he wouldn't be subjected to torture; Hibiki refused to condone such barbaric methods. It wasn't effective anyway; more often than not information ripped from tortured victims wasn't reliable.
As he held his captive, he couldn't help but notice a strangeness about this boy, a sense of both softness and strength in the way he tried to mask his fear by containing his trembling. It was oddly familiar, like a dream he'd forgotten in the harsh light of morning. He couldn't quite put a finger on it.
Lost in thought, he didn't realize that he had loosened his grip on his captive. The boy saw an opening and simultaneously stomped furiously on his foot and snapped his head up to smash against his jaw. The boy was just the right height—his head barely came up to Hibiki's shoulder—for the maneuver to be effective. With a cry of pain, Hibiki released the boy who promptly fled and was fast out of sight.
Hibiki nursed his jaw with one hand, the other pressed against the grimy wall behind him. He berated himself for his carelessness which resulted in the boy, a potential danger to the monarchy, getting away.
He spotted a dark blue cloth by his feet; it was the handkerchief that had hidden the boy's face. Hibiki bent over and picked it up. It was fine silk, clearly expensive. No proper spy would carry anything this easily identifiable, which implies that there was more to the boy than he had initially thought.
He examined the embroidered initials—an L and an H, and family crest—a winged heart cupped in a delicate hand—on the cloth. He raised an eyebrow, recognizing both the initials and the crest. No wonder his captive felt familiar; they had met last week at the ball held to celebrate Princess Wendy's birthday.
He loosely folded the handkerchief and tucked it into his pocket. He would return it to its owner soon and find out exactly why Miss Heartphilia had been spying on Karen Lilica.
A/N: Loke was supposed to be in this chappie but I decided to postpone his appearance until the next chapter. Hopefully, he'd have a lot of screentime then :D
R&R guys! I didn't want to have to take the next chapter hostage for reviews but my sister has been trying to convince me to wait for a few more reviews before updating. Since I like having feedback from readers (everyone does, I think), I'll probably wait for at least five reviews for this chapter before posting the next even if it throws me off the weekly schedule I set for my sister for the bad influence ^^
However, I only upload chapters and check my mail on weekends so new chapters will be up only on weekends (GMT +8:00)
Announcement for those also reading Wizard of FT:
No chapter this week, unfortunately. I'm having a bit of writer's block. I know what I want to write but I can't seem to write it properly or in a way that I'm satisfied with :(