Author's Note: At long last, here it is! This is why I haven't been updating 'One Wish', if you were wondering XD This is my entry for the Unison Raid Bang event hosted by ash-is-boss over on tumblr! I collabed with the wonderful chikaede for this story, and she did some super great cover art, please go check out her tumblr asap!
Remember to drop a review if you enjoyed! I'll be posting a new chapter every day, but they still mean so much to me!
Heaven Sent
A Fairy Tail Fairy Tale
Chapter One
Once upon a time, in a world far different from our own, was the magical kingdom of Fiore. It was a prosperous place full of happy people, ruled by a good-hearted man known far and wide as 'The Dragon Prince'.
This prince cared a great deal for his kingdom and its people, and did whatever it took to keep them safe and prosperous. In turn, his people loved him, and Fiore was considered one of the happiest places to live in all the world.
Good of heart though he was, the Dragon Prince could be rash and hot-headed, making him prone to rushing into conflict whenever trouble began to brew. Realizing this, he gathered a select group of trustworthy individuals to advise him for the sake of his people. Though he might not have been the wisest person in the kingdom, he was smart enough to rely on those who were.
Besides these wise and knowledgeable people, the Dragon Prince had one particular companion who had been with him since childhood; an Exceed by the name of Happy. Being the very best of friends, wherever the Prince went, so too did the cat.
One day, though, tragedy befell the castle when the little feline was struck by a strange illness. So terrible was it that even the kingdom's Master Healer, Wendy Marvell, was unable to help, despite her formidable power. Watching the Prince's dear friend suffer pained the kindly healer, but all she could do was suggest that he seek help from another quarter.
"Your Majesty, I am sorry," the petite bluenette murmured with a deep, apologetic curtsy, "there is nothing I can do. However," here, the Prince's expression lightened as a ray of hope presented itself in her words "perhaps the Master Librarian could be of more help than I."
Though he was uncertain of how the keeper of his kingdom's vast collection of books and tomes from across the world could help where the Master Healer could not, the Dragon Prince immediately set off to find out.
"Levy!" Natsu bellowed as he pushed the doors to the library open with a bang that made books jump on their shelves, and a fine layer of dust drift down from the lofty peaks of the ceiling far above.
Halfway up a ladder some distance over the Prince's head, the Master Librarian yelped and clung fiercely to the shelf before her to keep from falling. Her effort was for naught, though, when a thunderous sneeze that set books flying and knocked her ladder out from beneath her feet escaped the prince. She dropped with a scream, only to land safely in the Prince's arms before she had a chance to hit the floor.
"There you are," Natsu said, sniffing sharply in an attempt to clear his nose of dust. When he looked ready to sneeze a second time, Levy clambered quickly to her feet and stepped to one side.
To her relief, a second attack never came, so she asked "What may I help you with, Your Highness?"
Rubbing absently at his nose, a frown crossed Natsu's normally cheerful features as he recalled his purpose in being there.
"I need your help finding a way to cure Happy," he explained. Seeing her about to object, he continued before she could speak "Wendy has no idea what's wrong with him, and her magic hasn't even made a dent in whatever it is. She suggested you might be able to help instead."
"Yes, I had heard that Master Happy was quite ill, but I had no idea it was so serious that Wendy couldn't help," Levy said, brow furrowing as she nibbled her lower lip in distress "But I'm not sure what it is I'm meant to be able to do…"
"C'mon, Levy, you're the most knowledgeable person in the kingdom," Natsu insisted desperately as he waved a hand at the vast array of books that surrounded them. There were not many she had not read in her relatively short duration as the Royal Library's Master "haven't you've read about anything that could help Happy?"
"I-" the woman began, only to pause as something in her impressive memory cried out for attention, making her distressed expression turn thoughtful.
Natsu could see the change in her demeanor, and a small, hopeful smile pulled at his thin lips as he said "See, I'm right, aren't I?"
"M-maybe," the girl admitted hesitantly, not wishing to get her Prince's hopes up too high "Give me a moment, your Highness, I just need to find the right book," she said, and quickly disappeared into the stacks.
And so the Prince waited, and waited… and waited some more for Levy to return from her search in the labyrinth that was the royal library. He himself rarely ventured into its depths, and he did not do so now, knowing full well that he would only slow his Librarian down. Still, it was difficult to wait, as the Prince was not a naturally patient man, so he paced until he felt he would wear a tract in the floor.
When Levy finally did return some hours later, it was to find her Prince asleep at one of the Library's many research tables. Some thoughtful servant had tucked a blanket around his shoulders as he rested his head on a stack of books, a quiet snore escaping him every so often.
"Highness?" she ventured quietly as she placed a large, ancient looking book on the table across from him, not wishing to startle the man.
"Huh? Wha-" the man snorted, jerking upright so quickly that the books he had been resting his head on skid wildly across the table, while another fell into his lap "Was just resting my eyes," he insisted as he rubbed fitfully at them, his rose colored hair sticking up in all directions (even more so than usual).
"Of course, your Highness," the Librarian said with a small smile as she opened the large tome she had fetched from the stacks and turned to a marked page.
"You find something?" Natsu asked eagerly when he noticed what she had brought to the table with her "You were gone so long I thought I was gonna have to send out a search party," he joked. It was half-hearted, though, as his attention was fully locked on the book beneath Levy's hands, a certain desperation obvious in the set of his shoulders, and the way his dark eyes followed her every movement.
"I...maybe," Levy answered hesitantly "I have to be honest with you, though, Highness, this could very well be nothing but a myth with no actual basis in reality-"
"Yeah yeah, consider me warned," Natsu replied with an impatient wave of a hand as he leaned over the table in his urgency to hear what she had to say.
Hoping she wasn't dooming the Prince with false hope for his beloved friend, Levy said "Well, for centuries, there have been stories throughout our realm, and others, about the Celestial Kingdom. Have you heard of it?"
"Sure," Natsu replied as he leaned back in his chair and pursed his lips in thought "It's some kingdom that supposedly exists on the moon, right? They're some of Happy's favorite stories," he said, face falling at the mention of his friend.
"Right," Levy said with a nod, hurrying on before the Prince could settle into a grim silence "Stories say that they were an incredibly powerful, highly magical race that left the earth thousands of years ago and settled on the moon when they could no longer stand humanity's growing greed and warmongering."
"And you think they have something that could fix Happy?" Natsu guessed, not bothering to point out that these were fairy stories that had been passed down for generations. At this point, he was desperate enough to try anything.
"How am I supposed to get to the moon to even ask them?" he added, mouth pulling into a frown as his brow creased at the very idea. The moon seemed an awfully long ways away.
"You're not," Levy explained as she turned her attention to the book before her "I remembered this from some time back when Happy came in to see if we had any stories about the Celestial Kingdom that he hadn't heard," she explained with a sad smile "I showed him this one," the librarian continued and tapped a page.
Natsu leaned over in hopes of reading it, only to find that it was in a language he was unfamiliar with. Knowing this, Levy spoke again "It's about the hot springs found in the Phoenix Mountains. According to the story, once every full moon, maidens from the Celestial Kingdom descend from their kingdom and bathe there."
"Now," she continued, pushing on before Natsu could ask another question "The stories are old; old enough, and consistent enough, though, that it's possible there might be some grain of truth to them," Levy explained as she walked over to a map that hung on a nearby wall "After all, the springs themselves do exist," she added as she pointed out their location "They're notoriously difficult to get to, though."
"Okay, so say I get to the springs; then what?" Natsu asked as he came up behind the Librarian to examine the map for a moment, then turned his attention back to her, arms crossed over his chest.
"Well, as we were saying, the people of the Celestial Kingdom are highly magical, and legends say that they store a great deal of this power in some object that they keep constantly on their person. Most myths say that the maidens who bathe at the spring keep their power in their robes."
"What, like a bathrobe?" Natsu asked disbelievingly.
"Um, no," Levy said, doing her best to hide her amusement at the mental picture this painted "A celestial maiden's robe is like a long shawl, or a wrap that loops around her shoulders, and then trails behind her. Or so the pictures always seem to indicate," she explained as she turned back to the table and flipped a few pages in the book before coming to a faded illustration of a woman wearing just such a garment. Rather than actually resting on her shoulders, though, it appeared to float weightlessly around her.
"So this robe is what can cure Happy?" the prince asked as he leaned in for a closer look, and trailed a fingertip across the illustration.
"If it even exists...possibly?" Levy said with a helpless shrug "The robes are said to contain indescribable power that the wielder can use to do whatever they put their mind to. Including healing."
The librarian sighed and closed the book with a quiet thump "I'm sorry that I don't have something more concrete for you, Highness. There was simply nothing else that I could think of that would be able to accomplish what Wendy's healing powers could not. I have to warn you, though-"
The petite woman stopped and looked around as she realized that she was alone in the room.
"Highness?" she called, and hurried to the main door of the library, which had been left ajar "Your Highness?" she called again. As she pulled the door open and stepped out, she could hear a great deal of commotion in the distance.
"Oh dear," she said as she hurried down the hall towards the noise "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."
She kept up this litany as she broke into a run and barreled around a corner, right into someone else coming from the opposite direction.
"Oi," grunted a familiar voice as strong hands grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling.
"Lord Fullbuster!" she exclaimed breathlessly "His Highness, have you seen him? Did he come this way?"
"Yeah," the dark haired man said, brow furrowing in annoyance at the mention of the Prince "He nearly knocked me on my ass too," Gray added as he raised an eyebrow at her and released his grip on her shoulders.
"I'm so sorry, but I have to catch up to him. He left before I could warn him," she said and broke into a run once more, leaving the man staring after her in some confusion.
"Warn him about what?" Gray called after her, but she had already disappeared from sight.
Levy ran along halls, down stairs, and across several vast chambers on her way out to the courtyard. She cursed Natsu silently as she did (though she would regret it later), knowing that the man had likely taken a much shorter route than she was forced to take. No doubt he had jumped off the nearest balcony, or out a window…
Well, one could never say that life under the rule of the Dragon Prince was boring, at least.
Panting heavily and clutching a stitch in her side, the Librarian finally arrived in the main courtyard to find it in utter chaos. Night had long since fallen, but there was a great number of castle staff and soldiers running here and there as a familiar figure bellowed orders at them over the noise.
"Sir Redfox!" Levy called as she pushed her way through the throng of people that surrounded the knight. Clad all in black and silver armor, even at this late hour, Gajeel cut a striking figure as he towered over those around him.
Hearing Levy, but not immediately spotting her, the Iron Knight glanced around until she called his name again and waved a hand to catch his attention.
Levy was relieved when he opted to wade through the crowd to meet her, rather than making her walk a step further "What's going on?" she asked "Is it the Prince? Have you seen him?"
"Yeah I saw him," the knight growled as he stepped subtly to one side to shield the petite librarian from the flow of foot traffic "Jumped out that blasted window and made a run for the stables while I was up on the wall," Gajeel explained, waving a hand absently at the battlement behind them "Next thing you know, he's tearing out of the stable on the fastest damn horse we've got, riding hell for leather into the night without a damn word."
"Oh no," Levy said, groaning at this news as she dragged her delicate hands down her face.
"'Oh no' what?" Gajeel demanded, looking at her sharply with crimson eyes that practically flashed in the dark "What's that damn fool up to now?"
The knight spoke harshly, but Levy knew that it was out of concern. For all he liked to call Natsu a fool (sometimes expanding this to 'sentimental fool' in certain circumstances), Gajeel respected the Prince; liked him even, when the wind was right.
The librarian sighed and quickly explained, wringing her hands anxiously as the knight listened, frown growing deeper by the moment.
"So you think he's gone off to try and get one of these robes to cure Happy," Gajeel summarized.
"Yes," Levy answered "But he left before I could finish explaining," she said, worry returning full force.
"Explaining what?"
Levy told him, and Gajeel swore.
"We've got to stop him," the Iron Knight said, eyes hard as he turned and headed for the stables "Full moon is tomorrow, yeah? No wonder he left so fast. Even he'll be lucky to reach the Phoenix Mountains before nightfall comes again."
"You'll never catch him if you can't stop him before he hits the mountains. The spring is almost impossible to reach for normal people, and that's assuming you can even find the right mountain!" Levy said as she tailed after him and watched the man requisition the castle's second fastest horse.
"You told him where it was, right?" Gajeel asked as he stripped off his armor and tossed it aside, leaving him in a gray shirt, black tunic, and black pants. His armored boots he left on, having no others at hand to change into.
"I...yes?" Levy answered, suddenly very worried as she stared up at Gajeel, who clipped his sword back onto his hip and swung expertly up into the horse's saddle.
"Good. Come on," the knight said, leaning over and extending one calloused hand towards her.
"Excuse me?" the librarian exclaimed, taken aback.
"I need a guide, you know where our idiot prince is going, so get your tiny butt on the horse before I put it there for you so we can go stop him from doing something spectacularly stupid, as per usual."
Levy gaped at him, torn between fury at being spoken to so, and the truth of his words.
Eventually, she grimaced and said "Fine, but make one more comment on the size of my rear and you and the Prince are on your own!"
Gajeel grinned and used her outstretched hand to haul her up into the saddle behind him.