Alright, Levy. It's your internal voice. We need to talk. I know you were all fired up about going to Phantom Lord for Jet and Droy and the pride of the guild, but maybe you should've thought it through a little better. Why, you may ask? Because making this trip on foot in the dead of night was a dumb enough idea. Making this trip on foot in the dead of night when it's cold and rainy out? Even dumber idea. But what takes the cake? You're alone. You're completely, one hundred percent, alone. Master Makarov yelled at Natsu for doing this when he didn't even do it yet. That should've been your red flag right there.
I had to persevere. For Jet and Droy. For Fairy Tail. For myself. For the sheer pride of being able to say I did it. Although, in hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have done this on my own. Maybe I should've told someone…anyone…that I was making this trip. But if I go in the middle of the night like this, then there's no way they'll see me coming, right? Or maybe this was a massively stupid idea that I should've thought through first. Well, I'm here. And I'm not giving up! If Jet and Droy did this on their own, then I can, too. I just hope I don't end up in the same, sorry state as them.
As I got closer and closer, the rain had stopped being rain and turned into big, beautiful, white snowflakes. Ok. I'd be lying if I said mistakes weren't made. The temperatures kept dropping more and more and my jacket wasn't cutting it anymore. Unfortunately, I didn't have a spell for that. I'm so cold…If I stay out here any longer, I'll freeze to death. Although, in the darkness, I saw a pair of torches lighting up what looked like a big castle. Hopefully, if I ask nice enough, whoever lives there will let me in and let me stay for the night. I don't take up much space and I can be out first thing in the morning. I know the hour is a little unorthodox, but I really don't have much of a choice. Dying of hypothermia is not in the plans.
Knock, knock.
"Hello?" I called out, waiting for an answer. But an answer never came. Things were awfully quiet. Maybe this place was abandoned. Carefully, I pushed the door open. The soft glow of a warm fire drew my attention like a moth. Good. I'm not dying tonight. Immediately, I laid in front of the hearth, doing my best to warm my bones. This is nice. To whoever this castle may belong to, I'm sorry for barging in, but it was either this or death and I have too much I want to do with my life. Death isn't an option.
Thankful for this fire and finally at ease, I shut my eyes for just a brief moment. My legs were sore, my back was in knots, and I just wanted to get a little bit of sleep. Just enough to where I could possibly storm Phantom Lord in the morning. Just a little something to get my energy back up. When I wake up, I can give those jerks what for. I'm sure they'll still be there in the morning and can let a girl get some sleep.
"Hey…" a deep, rumbly voice ran through my body, "HEY! Get up!"
"What…?" I opened my eyes, the sun shooting directly into them, yet a massive shadow looming over me.
"Who do you think you are?!" the voice growled. Given the size of this shadow, I was horrified to turn around, "Do you just walk into anyone's house and make yourself comfortable? This is practically breaking and entering!"
"I'm so sorry," I quivered, keeping my head down, "I got caught in a blizzard last night and…If I didn't find somewhere warm, I would've died."
"That doesn't sound like my problem!" I felt his foot in my back, "The last thing we need are drifters that think it's ok to hole up here! Now, get out!"
"I'm going!" I assured, "But before I go…Can I ask you a question?"
"Ugh…"
"I promise it's just the one," I bit my lip, "Do you know how far the Phantom Lord guild hall is?"
"You're looking for Phantom Lord?" the man scoffed.
"Yes, sir…"
"Well," he chuckled to himself, "You did get lost last night, didn't you? Because you decided to get all nice and cozy in the Phantom Lord guild hall, sweetheart. Now, what would you be doing here all by yourself?"
"Well…" I really didn't think this through, did I? Here I was, in the Phantom Lord guild hall and I was completely frozen. I had no clue what I was going to do when I got here. Did I really expect to take them on all by myself? I couldn't even stand face to face with one of them, let alone the entire guild!
"Look at me when I talk to you!" the man spun me around. Oh, yeah. He's huge. I got a better look at his face…and all the metal rivets in it. He was likely one of the stronger members of the guild, if not the best of the best. But then, he was suddenly taken aback. I wonder what got into him. His angry tone softened, "Why are you looking for Phantom Lord? Are you looking for a wizard?"
"No," I pulled myself together. Come on, Levy. You can do this, "I…I'm here because Phantom Lord hurt my friends. They hurt my team."
"And you thought storming Phantom was the solution?" he laughed a little more, "And all by yourself? Wow…You are just a pretty face, aren't you?"
"Excuse me?" I stopped being scared and started getting angry. It's not often my intelligence is ever questioned. Mostly because I was one of the smartest in the guild.
"If this wasn't catching a fairy in a butterfly net," the man brushed me off, "You know, you are kind of cute. You'll make a good display piece in the guild. The cautionary tale of the little Fairy Tail wizard that thought she could."
"Excuse me?!" Alright. Coming here on my own was a bad idea, "No. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll just be leaving, so I don't have to give you any more trouble."
"I don't think so," he put an arm around my waist and threw me over his shoulder like I was nothing.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" I screeched, my arms and legs flailing as much as they could. Unfortunately, this guy had a good hold on me, "LET ME DOWN!"
"Oh, I'll let you down alright," the man promised, bringing me upstairs, "We just have to take a little walk first."
"PUT ME DOWN!"
"Keep your mouth shut, shrimp," he snapped, "Unless you want to wake the rest of the guild up. That way, it's more than just me dealing with you. And you'll have the entire guild to deal with."
He had a point. I hated that he had a point, but he had a point. Instead of causing more trouble for myself, I internalized my anger. Granted, I wasn't yelling anymore, but that didn't mean I was going to stop trying to kick my way out of his grasp. The fall to the floor would be better than wherever he was taking me. After three sets of stairs, he threw me into a room that looked more like someone's bedroom than a prison. Still, it wasn't anywhere I needed to be. The man threw me down on the bed and shut the door behind him.
"Let me out!" I growled through the little window.
"I don't think so," the man stood his ground, a piercing glare burning through me, "You're going to stay right there until I come back. I'll see what Master Jose wants me to do with the likes of you."
As much as I wanted to scream some more at this guy, it's better for me to deal with one of them than the whole guild. Think, Levy. The door's locked and there's no way you can stay here. You need to get back to Magnolia. Maybe freezing in the blizzard last night would've been better than this. No! That's not the mindset to have. Lucky for me, the drop from the window wasn't too terribly far down. Too far for me to just aimlessly jump out, but like I said…I wasn't sure who this guy was, but maybe I'm not the only one who's just a pretty face. The sheets on the bed seemed awfully sturdy. Especially when they're tied together just right. And they say being a bookworm would never prove useful as a wizard.
All I needed was a tautline hitch knot. The more the knot is pulled on, the tighter it gets. What better for scaling the side of the Phantom Lord guild hall? As soon as I had them tied, I threw my makeshift rope out the window and shimmied my way down. I don't know who that guy thought he was, but it's going to take a little more than a butterfly net to catch me. I needed to get back to the guild hall as soon as possible.
Instead of beating myself up, I can chalk this up as a really big mistake and learn from it. Now, what did I do wrong? If something worse would've happened (that I couldn't have escaped from), no one would've known where I was. The smart thing to do would've been to tell someone. What else? Storming a guild hall that was up in the mountains without proper provisions wasn't a very good idea either. Next time, I'll show up with a warmer jacket. Maybe a blanket. A blanket would be a good idea. And anything that could start a fire, so I didn't have to wander into strange guild halls in the middle of the night.
As much as I didn't want to admit it, that guy was right. I was beyond horribly prepared for something like this. The way I froze up like that…It was like he had some kind of power over me. In my defense, he was rather intimidating. But rest assured, I'll be back soon. And when I come back, I'm going to learn from my mistakes. And I'm not coming alone. I'll be knocking on the front door of the Phantom Lord guild hall with a few friends standing by my side.
Even though my time at the Phantom Lord guild hall didn't end as well as it started, I'm still grateful for the place at their fire for the night. It's not like they knew about it anyway. At least not until this morning. Not only was I grateful for their fire, but for the sheets on the bed, too. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to make my escape. Maybe the big guy was more brawn than brains. Oh, well. Much like me freezing to death last night wasn't his problem, his lack of foresight wasn't mine.
But the thought of returning to the Fairy Tail guild hall made me a bit uneasy. I know I'm going to get an earful. And I completely understand where Master Makarov would be coming from. I'd deserve every bit of it. But I had to. I needed to see what we were up against. I needed to see just who hurt my boys. Call it a mothering instinct in me. On the plus side, I wasn't too terribly banged up. Just a few bumps and bruises. And a scrape on my thigh from the cement floor in the room the guy threw me in. That was better than freezing.
As long as I'm still in the guild and Master Makarov doesn't get too angry with me, I'm in the clear. Before I go home, though, I need to stop at the hospital to check on Jet and Droy. I know I said I wanted a little more adventure in my life, but maybe this was a little more adventure than I was prepared to handle. Regardless, I'll be fine. At least I know now. And when I come back…I'll be ready. We'll be ready. I hope Phantom Lord knows what's coming to them. Because Fairy Tail doesn't exactly have a reputation of rationality. Or subtlety. With three S-class wizards (Although, I'm pretty sure Mystogan just keeps to himself.) and a dragon slayer on our side, there's no way we could possibly lose. As far as I'm concerned, we are the strongest guild Fiore has to offer. And a little drop in morale from Phantom Lord isn't going to keep us down.