Hey all thanks for everything!
Everything aside, Levy didn't mind the Lords company, Sting talked the most, Levy actually found him endearing.
"So what are you all doing in Magnolia?" she asks.
"Well have you heard what happened?"
"No sorry, Magnolia doesn't get news quickly" Levy says vaguely.
"Well the Princess was kidnapped by bandits" Sting says.
"Oh dear" she says hoping she had the right look of shock and horror on her face.
"Yeah so Zeref, Rouge and I with Zancrow and another bodyguard Cobra set out with Jellal and his partner Lyon to find who did it and return the Princess, we've been tracking them all the way here and we've hopefully now caught them in Magnolia"
"What makes you think they are there?" she asks.
"We caught some of their compatriots, they are with our other two companions" Zeref says.
"I see" Levy says and she did but she could only wonder who it was who was captured.
"So you'll return the Princess and then what?" Levy asks.
"Um" Sting suddenly falters.
"Well we're kind of, confusingly, almost betrothed?" he says.
"How so?" she asks confused along with him.
"Well um…Rouge help me out"
"We're her suitors" he says easily.
"So she will choose one of you to marry?" she asks.
"More or less" Zeref says, Levy swallows.
"And the bandits?" she asks making sure not to say their name, since they hadn't mentioned it.
"They'll be executed" Zancrow says with a laugh, shaking a jar with something in it.
"Getting off that topic, now you know us are you going to tell us who you are?" Sting asks bringing the mood around.
"Nope" she says with a smile Sting laughs enjoying the game but Levy wondered how much longer she could keep it up.
When they arrived at the outskirts of Magnolia, Levy gasped as the sun rose, she recognised the group that where tied up to spikes in a row, in the path of the sun, if they stayed there during the day they'd burn.
"Ah sorry, our companions seem to have found a way to keep our prisoners from escaping" Jellal says.
"Why have they done this?" she asks.
"It'll lure out their friends" Rouge says, Levy noticed he was not looking at the people on the spikes, Erza, Mira, Yukino, Hibiki and Jet all looked up at the approaching figures and their eyes widened seeing Levy. Sting helped her down again.
"We're here, so where do you live? I'll walk you" he says, Levy smiles fleetingly.
"That's not necessary, I'm close by, thank you for escorting me kind strangers, bye" she waves taking her camel with her she gives a sad look to the five held captive, Erza tells her with her eyes to get out and Levy walks quickly away.
"Hold up!" someone yelled, Levy turned, Cobra had appeared with Lyon, Cobra was looking at something on Levy, she looked down, her anklet was glaring in the sunlight and somehow Cobra had very good eyes and could see what was on it, the two of them locked eyes and Levy bolted.
"She's with Fairy Tail!" Cobra yelled racing after her, Zancrow on his heels, Levy ducked down a corner seeing Sting, Rouge and Jellal also chasing after her, Levy cursed herself for not getting rid of them sooner. She turns almost every corner she can before opening a random door and getting in, closing it after her she ducks down and prays they didn't see her. She hears them yelling, and Levy looks were she is, it's a storage house, Levy leaves the door and goes further in, ladders lead to a second floor and Levy climbed up ignoring the sting of her feet.
She goes to a window taking care not to be seen, the five members of Fairy Tail can clearly be seen, Lyon was still standing guard, Zeref had also gone, Levy couldn't see the others searching so she hid in the corner, making herself as small as possible, she pulled a barrel in front of her to hide behind it and the hay that was stored.
Levy clearly heard the door being kicked open and she put her hand over her mouth to avoid making a sound.
"Come out little fairy" Zancrow crows.
"We're going to find you" he sings, kicking something over, Levy hears the boards creak under his weight.
"Is she here?" Rouge asks.
"I don't know yet" Zancrow says,
"I'll check upstairs" Rouge says, she hears him climbs up and Levy tries to not even breathe, she hears Rouge search and suddenly stop, his steps get closer, Levy tries to prepare herself as Rouge rips the barrel away exposing her, Levy grabs a fist full of hay and throws it at him, it distracts him enough for her to jump out the window! She lands on the roof glad it was still early morning so the tiles weren't burning her feet, she races across the roof top and jumps to the next building, she's seen by Sting who climbs up the side of one house to go after her, Zeref too spies the blunette girl and suddenly has a good idea who she really is. Sting practically tackles Levy on the roof and traps her under him.
"Let me go!" she screams.
"Can't do that sorry" he says, she could hear in his voice he truly was.
"How did someone like you ended up like this?" she asks, he looks down at her.
"I can ask you the same"
"I was born" Levy says, tears reaching her eyes, his mouth opens slightly.
"You're…Princess Levy" he realises, she nods mutely, he pulls her up and they stare at each other.
"Zeref was right…you are beautiful" is all he says, Rouge reaches them, seeing their odd stance, he throws a silent question at Sting.
"Rouge, meet Princess Levy" Sting says, Rouges eyes widen at her and he bows to her solemnly, Levy looks back to Sting.
"I will not be sold for gold" she says.
"You're not being sold" he says.
"Then tell me what you would call paying my uncle to marry me" she glares, Sting swallows he hadn't thought of it like that, Levy turns from him and lets herself down from the roof, Rouge and Sting go with her, they walk her back to the entrance of Magnolia, Zeref stands there, Cobra and Zancrow on either side of him a few steps back, Jellal and Lyon stood up the embankment with the captured Fairy Tail members.
"Princess Levy, it's an honour to meet you" Zeref says with a bow.
"Let Fairy Tail go" is all Levy says, Zeref's eyes crinkle.
"I'm afraid they kidnapped the Princess…"
"No they didn't I ordered them to make it look like I was kidnapped, so I wouldn't have to marry you or any lord"
"Levy don't!" Erza yells.
"I'll apologise to my uncle and amend my mistake, but Fairy Tail is to be left alone" Levy says, her head high.
"We will discuss this with the Sultan when we return" Zeref decides.
"Cut them loose" she says directly at Jellal.
"I don't know what my uncle is paying you but I'll double it, let them go" Lyon and
Jellal look at each other and Jellal nods to Levy, he cuts Hibiki free.
"You can untie the others when we're gone, here's the key to the chains" Jellal says handing it over, Hibiki had fallen, who knows how long he had been standing and he had been roughed up.
"Princess Levy don't!" Jet called, she ignored him.
"Shall we go?" she asks, Zeref nods, Levy takes Sting's hand who was on his own camel and gets up behind them, Rouge gets on his own with Froshe and Lector, once everyone is on their camels, Levy looks back to her friends.
"Tell Lucy I'm sorry and to be safe" she calls to them, Mira nods crying, Levy turns back and holds on to Sting as he pushes them into a trot.
"You lied" he says so only she can hear.
"About?" she questions she'd lost count of her lies.
"You didn't organise for yourself to be taken to avoid us, they did kidnap you"
"My uncle will kill them if he believes that, he may still but I've given them a few days to disappear"
"What were you really doing at that oasis?" he asks.
"Chasing a dream" she says, she lay her head on his back and held on as they thundered through the desert back to the palace.
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