Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! How many times do I have to say it? Gawsh. XD

Note: Still for Pen Sil :P Also, if you have not been reading "Against Death" you really should because it will explain so much that I can't explain here. Come on... You know you want to... It's a GaLe story. *Fifty people zoom to my profile to find the story* I knew that would get you going.

Alight

Chapter 10

Wendy POV

Inside my head, thoughts were churning at a rapid pace, images of the last few months, all the times Jellal saved me, all the times my stupidity put him in danger. "Papa," I whispered, almost inaudibly. While the two kings started thrashing out an escape plan, Jellal walked over and knelt down in front of me.

"Wendy, what is it?"

"I have an inquiry of my father, though he seems to be quite busy plotting the downfall of his enemies. It seems he's quite good at it. I wonder where he got all the practice."

"Are you sure it's nothing I can't answer? I'm pretty good at figuring out others, you know." He smiled warmly, sending shivers down my spine.

I looked at my lap, a blush rising to my cheeks. "Well, you see...it's about you."

"Oh? Then ask away."

I fidgeted under his gaze. It was so trusting, so kind. I didn't want to ruin it by asking my question. It would sound like I didn't trust him or his choices. Still, he waited patiently for my answer. "Um, well, I wanted to know..." I stopped, not sure how to best continue.

"Yes?" he prompted gently.

"I was wondering," Taking a deep breath I said what was on my mind. "Why would you become my bodyguard? You have a kingdom of your own to worry about, and you still risked your life to protect me. I just... don't understand."

"What are you to going on about?" Papa said, strolling over.

"Wendy is concerned about your mental well-being," Jellal answered. I started spluttering. He let me go on for a few moments before laughing.

I hit him in the arm, and he winched, surprised. "You're terrible," I said.

"You know," Papa said, seeming to ignore the physical abuse going on in front of him. "My mental health might have taken the wrong turn when I was ten. That was the year I nearly died, and, coincidentally, the reason I met your mother, Wendy." I leaned forward in my seat, heart thumping excitedly. "It's true," he continued. "My spirit used to walk around all the time while I slept. Afraid, I tried to explain what was happening to me to my father, but he said I was only dreaming.

"The same night he said that, I fell asleep and found myself in a forest and came across two girls that were living in a hollow tree. They seemed happy, and carefree, so I approached them. One was a little blond girl in an ill fitting white shift, she grew unsteady as I neared and rushed off to find the older girl. I followed, not realizing that I was the reason for her anxiety. I was quite thick as a child. Anyway, the little girl, Lucy, hid behind the skirts of a girl with short pink hair that curled tightly at the ends. 'Cousin Aries,' the girl cried. 'There's a creepy boy that's there and not there.'

"The elder girl laughed quietly and explained to the younger that I was a spirit. 'No I'm not. I am the Crown Prince of Magnolia,' I said. 'Then you are in quite the predicament,' she replied. She walked over to me, Lucy clutching tightly to her brown skirt. She leaned forward and pecked me on the cheek. 'I'll see you again soon,' she promised.

"The next thing I know, I'm in my room and doctors are bustling about. I had been asleep for three days. Everyone thought that I had gone comatose and feared that I would never wake again. My mother came in immediately after she heard that I had woken and told me that her family had a history of special abilities that ran in the bloodline. She herself could jump higher than any horse and come back down unscathed, and you, Wendy, have a strong attachment to the heavens. Whenever you were upset as a child, it would start to rain, and you laughter drove away the clouds to let the sun shine through, but I knew that you would grow into a teenage girl, and have emotional crisis like one. I called for Jellal."

The silence in the room was so deafening that if a pin were dropped, we would all be able to hear it. "Her - her name was Aries?" I stuttered, taking the role of the pin.

Father pulled me into a tight embrace and started stroking my hair. "Yes. Yes it was."

"Thank you," I whispered into his shirt, which smelled like mouldy manure from his time in the dungeon. I pulled away, wiping my tears on my sleeve. "Now go get a bath."

Father started to chuckle.

"Much as I would like that myself," Faust cut in. "We need to figure out our next step."

Papa turned his gaze away from me, green eyes hardening with determination. "We make sure the girls are safe, then we go after the wizards and take them down."

"How is an old man suppose to fight five wizards and a dragon?" An ethereal voice echoed. I spun my head around, searching for the source. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jellal and Faust doing the same. Papa waved them both down and they reluctantly obeyed, settling back into their seats with identical expressions that clearly pegged them as father and son. "You two could be related," the voice said. After the initial shock disappeared, I could tell that the voice was female, and almost imperceptibly tight.

Papa scanned the room until they fell on a slight heat wave in the corner by the ceiling. I couldn't see much, but I could tell that the shimmer had a human silhouette. "Hello, Levy," he said smiling.

I scanned the room, looking for the face that my father had already spotted. Giving up, I said, "Who's Levy?" Lucy skirted the couch and started messing with my hair, simultaneously explaining that Levy was the name of the ghost she mentioned just before Mira came and attacked us.

"Actually," the voice said, "I know how I died. It was the woman that Lucy and the old man-"

"Faust," the old king corrected.

"Faust met when they first arrived. She found the Shadows and attacked us without warning. My head cracked against a rock and I fell unconscious."

"So, you want revenge on this woman?" Faust asked.

"No. I don't care that she killed me, I probably wouldn't have lived much longer considering I had chosen the life of a thief instead of as a duchess. No. I care that she has enslaved someone that I love and he can't do a damn thing about it!" Levy cried out, clearly upset.

From the corner of my eye I saw a flash of blue. At first I thought it was a mirror of my own reflection, then I remembered that my hair had been dyed black. Just as soon as the color appeared, it disappeared again. "Levy," I questioned. "Is your hair blue?"

She was silent for a moment. "Yes," she replied cautiously. "How did you know?"

I shuffled my legs, uncomfortable. "I saw you. Just a second ago, but you're gone again now. I can see a shimmer... almost like a heat wave," I admitted. Jellal rested his hand on my shoulder and my heart stopped racing as fast as it had. Still, the action itself brought red to my cheeks. In the back of my dazed mind I heard my father asking Levy about her emotions. It wasn't till a glass cherub nearly fell off the mantle-place that I zoned back in.

"Sorry," Levy was saying, clearly embarrassed.
"No need to be sorry. Emotions are powerful things in life, are they not? Is it so inconceivable that they become a tool in death?" I nodded slightly, agreeing with him.

"We still have to decide how to get Lucy and Wendy off the grounds," Jellal said, unexpectedly.

My irritation at his words rose easily. I was more than able to help them. From what Father said I could control the weather, so if I got far enough away from Jellal I'd be able to do something. Even if it was something small like rain or lightning. My eyes lit up, remembering my favorite magic trick. I could fly. If necessary, I could carry messages from one group to the next, be an observer to the battle.

Before I could voice any of these thoughts, however, Levy had beaten me to the scolding and was tearing the father-son duo to shreds. That ultimately lead to a discussion about the missing Dragons; the Fire Dragon Natsu Dragneel specifically. It would seem that he and Papa weren't exactly on good terms. I giggled when Papa's face fell at the thought of asking the fugitive for help. In the end, it was decided that Lucy, Levy, and I would search for Dragneel while Father, Jellal, and Faust started attacking the wizards. Personally, I gave us a few hours tops to find the old Dragon.

"Ready to go?" Levy asked. I nodded, determined, while at the same time wishing the boys uncanny amounts of luck.

Review? Pretty pweese!

-LeAcH