Chapter 9

Gajeel pushed the small girl into one of Jura's cellar rooms. They weren't cells but they resembled them enough. Down here was were most of the alcohol, food and supplies were kept and since there were few of them living in the house many of the supply rooms were empty. The cellar was made entirely of stone to keep everything cool and the individual storage rooms had bars in order for one to see what was in each of them. Pretty damn close to a cell, he thought.

She begrudgingly walked into the small area and turned to look at him. He had left it up to the twins to take Laxus to Jura while he took care of the girl. Once he had placed the chain and lock on the door he turned to leave before she stopped him.

"Excuse me! Please, wait," she said.

"What?"

"Um, I know I'm not in any position to- will I be able to speak to someone? I am certain Cobra must have explained why I am here," she looked at him.

She was tiny, a shrimp, probably barely reaching his chest. He turned and left without saying a word. Levy almost thought a whimper escaped her lips. A tingling of claustrophobia started to surface contemplating staying locked down here. Levy gasped suddenly remembering she had left the communication lacrima tucked into the hem of her pants. She could contact Mest!

With her hands handcuffed she fumbled trying to make it work but eventually figured she would lay it on the ground to be able to use her hands more freely. As she placed it on the ground and began to active it, the lacrima began melting and sinking into the shadow on the floor. Levy reached out to it before it disappeared and screamed as she saw a hand emerge from the shadows pulling her under.

Levy was panting and her knees were trembling when she opened her eyes to see that she was in a room. How had she gotten here? Levy was sure she had been pulled into the shadows. She saw Laxus, Cobra, the man that had locked her up, two other men and a woman she didn't recognize standing at the far end. Finally and much to Levy's surprise, was a massive feline. It was on both legs next to the man who locked her up. Could that possibly be an exceed? From behind her a fifth man appeared and walked towards them.

"She had this lacrima with her," he said placing it on the desk. "There's no way she can't be a spy Jura."

Jura? Jura Neekis? Is that were she was?

"I can explain that," she muttered.

"I'm sure you can," in the darkness of before she hadn't been able to see the real length of the man's hair.

"I can. Cobra or at least Laxus must have explained why and how I acquired that," she defended herself.

"I don't know how a shrimp like you managed to convince those two idiots that you were helping them but you won't be-"

"Gajeel." Jura warned. "Why don't you explain then."

"I needed it to contact my friend. I am part of the Inner Coup in the East. The thought was that if I could contact him and ensure him that I was safe, he could buy me some time to get in contact with the council of the West in order to be a sort of… liaison," she said. Did he call her shrimp? Where were all these pet names coming from?

"Yes, we were told that by Cobra," even from the other end of the room Levy could see the man towered over Laxus and the others in the room. "Unfortunately and I am sure you understand. It really isn't reassuring. There had been rumors of the Inner Coup as far as Fiore so coming up with a tale like that wouldn't have been hard given the situation you were in. You could have used it to contact you friend yes, but only to inform them of you whereabouts and bring a colossal problem to our door."

"I can absolutely see why you would think that," Levy had taken a deep breath, retrieving her strategic persona. The one that for years had to act like a rock, manipulating and pretending, all those years. Acting diplomatically, walking on eggshells around the Eastern lords to gain their trust and all the while trying not to lose her uncle's. "I am prepared to answer your questions to prove that I have no intention of placing, not only your efforts but ours, in jeopardy by contacting those loyal to the King. What do you need to know?"

"I am afraid very little could prove that. We are unattached from them Inner Coup so there is very little about it that you could use to corroborate your position. From what Cobra has shared it seems you have gained a bit too much information on their… personal details. That isn't something we take lightly, Miss…"

"Connell. My name is Levy Connell," she said absent-mindedly.

"Miss Connell. So, you can see our predicament," Jura said.

"Then kill me," she said causing everyone to look at her. "I mean that is what you're getting at right? There's no real way for me to prove who I am and I not only know about your involvement in the resistance of the west Jura Neekis but I am also aware that there are at least three dragon-slayers in the room. Your most obvious choice is to kill me."

Jura turned and sat at his desk. She knew who he was, which wasn't wholly too unusual. However, her knowledge of the dragon-slayers was extremely worrying the ample time she had to divulge the information. Well, if she were a sort of spy the information would have been given away a long time ago, Jura pondered. The fact that dragon-slayers still existed would have been something any of Jude's spies would have immediately reported. The small girl was right, at the moment she was better to them dead but she seemed rather… zealous and could provided them valuable information.

Levy hoped they killed her because the other alternatives would be interrogation and possibly torture. Although, she had no real reason to undergo torture, they were working towards the same goal. Any information she revealed would only be towards helping them, she had no reason to withhold it.

"Connell, you said," Jura finally spoke.

"Yes."

"I knew a Connell family in the East. Our connection has dwindled since but I didn't know they had a daughter."

"I am sure there is more than one Connell family in all of the east," there were alarms going off in her head. Walking down the family and background path was perilous. She had a back-up story for the back-up story for the back-up story but she wasn't sure how well it would hold up to Lord Neekis' questions.

"Hm, yes I am sure. Laxus alerted me to a fragment of your family history. A cousin to Erza Scarlet, he said."

"That is correct," she gulped. She had to take control of the conversation by throwing a bone for him to latch on. "Growing up at Pergrande court is where I met the man who introduced me to the Inner Coup. Mest Gryder from Enca, he is a member of the King's council and the one that guided me towards the resistance."

It was never her intention to shed light on Mest's involvement but the situation was not in Levy's favor.

"Mest Gryder," he pondered. Are names all this man can say? "You're lying, Lady Levy."

Levy felt the blood drain form her face. What had she said?

"I knew it," the man with piercings said.

"Gajeel, I believe you don't," Jura replied, helping Levy finally put a name to the gruff man. "Lady Levy, who are you?"


Oh no! Will Levy decide it's time they know who she is? If so, how could that change things? Please review and thanks for reading!