I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. As my personal Christmas gift to all of you, I have updated every single one of my stories today. I hope this makes up for my hectic schedule of updates. I know it's not actually on the correct date like I wanted but I had such a busy day with relatives that I couldn't wrap everything up and so maybe you can consider this as a late gift. Things are getting busy and I have exams after winter break (sigh). But I hope you enjoy all of my stories and if you're strictly reading only one of them, why not open up your surroundings and check them out if your interested. If not that's totally fine, I'm thrilled I'm already getting so much support but I always love hearing more. I wish you all happiness and jolliness and hope you enjoy the stories. And, as always, please review!
Also for this particular story it's a quicker update this time ya'll! I felt badly because the last chapter took way too long for me to add to it. Not to mention I changed the summary for the story because I really didn't know how to describe it when I posted the first chapter but now I know how to.I'm really excited about this series; to be honest it started off as just something I could do when I wasn't busy with the other series but now it's becoming so much fun to write. It's great to see so much support from you guys. I'm pretty self-conscious about my writing and always feel like I need to do better even if people say it's good. I kinda think it's a good morale to live by: if someone says it good, make it great. If someone says it's great, make it spectacular. If you have questions, comments, or ways on making the story better, than please leave a review. I love hearing what you guys have to say and would love to hear more of your voices!
Please enjoy!
I am not worthy of claiming that I own Fairy Tail or any of its breathtakingly beautiful characters, Hiro Mashima has that great honor.
"Dead?" she echoed, eyes wide with mute disbelief. She shook her head and glared back at him, eyes shining with incredulity "That's not possible," she hissed through her teeth, but despite all of her determination her voice broke at the end of the sentence.
Jose shook his head, hat still clasped in his gloved hand and held to his chest. "I'm afraid not, my dear, there's been a successful assassination on your uncle. He died this morning. We're searching for the murderer." His voice dripped with sympathy, but Levy could tell it was all halfhearted; he and her uncle had never gotten along, but Makarov had tolerated him because he usually spent his days in the musty gloominess of the dungeons. Even in the rain she could see Jose was slightly squinting his ashy eyes, uncomfortable in even the slightest amount of light.
Levy throat tightened painfully but she managed to rasp out the next words, fearing the answer like an insect feared a spider. "Is Laxus-"
Jose shook his head. "The boy died with his grandfather; they're both gone."
Levy felt the world tilt as her knees buckled; her hand searched frantically for the wooden door handle to keep herself from falling. "No," she choked out. "There's no way; this has to be a mistake." She desperately searched Jose's cold eyes, praying to everything good that this was somehow untrue, but found to her horror there was nothing deceptive in his gaze.
"I'm truly sorry, dear," his bony hand reached out to stroke her the pale skin on her arm which was now covered in gooseflesh, but she shrank away before it could brush against her skin.
"I-I need some time to think if you don't mind, Jose." Her voice barely exceeding that of a whisper; her heart felt as if someone had taken it in their hand and squeezed it until her chest was on the brink of exploding. "Please."
"Of course, my dear." Jose slightly bowed to her before leaving. He jumped off the edge of the birdhouse and landed quietly on the soft forest floor. She had almost forgotten that he had no wings of his own.
Levy backed into the house, closed the door and pressed her back against it; sobbing uncontrollably into her hands. She slid to the floor and buried her face in between her knees, curling into herself. They couldn't be gone. There was no way…..
Old memories flooded her mind: her uncle showing her how to fly even when she was afraid of falling, Laxus' strong hands lifting her up onto his shoulders, laughing at Makarov's stories with her friends as he spun tales of fairy princesses and dragons into their minds.
With each flashback came a wave of uncontrollably powerful sobs, shaking her entire body until she thought she would crack open. It made no sense, her uncle was one of the most beloved fairy kings; who would ever want to kill him? What could possibly be gained by any of this? A dark, tall figure appeared in her mind. Wings black as night growing from his shoulders like the wings of a raven. A rugged, black beard outlining a cruel sneer. Cold eyes piercing into her heart.
Ivan Dreyar.
She shook her head at the thought. Ivan was long gone. The last she'd heard of him he had retreated to a rocky wasteland far away from Magnolia.
She choked back a sob at her next thought: who was going to tell Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen?
The four of them had knit a bond so tight it rivaled that of a family's; they were rarely not seen together, the other day being the only exception that she could think of. Everyone else would be beyond heartbroken as well. Sure, they were her relatives, but Levy knew that all of her friends and many others looked to her uncle as far more than just a king; he was their friend, their family.
She didn't even hear Lucy open the door when she came back from Cana's. She had managed to move herself into a chair and her head rested on the table while her arms covered it. She had managed to stop the majority of her sobbing, but once in awhile one tore itself from her throat and left her chest throbbing painfully.
"Levy?" her friend was at her side in an instant. "What's wrong? Tell me what happened!" Lucy took her by the shoulders to help her sit up. Levy tried to answer, but only another sob escaped before she collapsed into her arms.
"They're gone. Both of them are gone," she finally managed to whisper into her Lucy's hair. Fresh tears spilled onto her cheeks and slid down to her chin before falling like raindrops to the forest floor.
"Gone? Who's gone?" Levy couldn't have said the words even if she had wanted to. Instead she cried into her shoulder while Lucy's arms tightened around her in an attempt to comfort her.
It felt like hours of weeping and soothing words had passed before Levy had managed to explain to Lucy what Jose had told her. Lucy's response had been much like her own: complete shock, hopeful denial, and followed by another onslaught of tears as the two of them went back to holding each other.
It rained the next day, but no fairy stayed shut away inside of their homes. Instead they all gathered outside of Mavis's statue; Levy among them. Her wings, shielded by a thick cloak of leaves she had pulled over her shoulders, trembled in the cold but she kept both of her feet planted firmly on the ground. The magnolia and cherry blossoms shed their petals in the wind and the drifted silently to the ground. It felt as if even the trees were mourning the loss of their prince and king.
She stood at the very front of the crowd just outside the caskets, a place reserved for family and dear friends of the lost ones. Her fingers intertwined with Evergreen's, who had cried for the first time Levy had ever witnessed several minutes after the funeral began. Her other hand hung limp at her side, trembling fingers clutching the stems of two pale blue blossoms. It was an ancient custom that was performed long before Magnolia was ever founded; those attending the funeral would bring a flower and lay it into the casket along with a silent message of anything that fairy wished to say before they had to bid them goodbye forever.
She hadn't been able to bring herself to look inside the caskets, which had been tightly woven out of light stips of bark. Baby's breath spilled out of the caskets and onto the ground. She knew laying on top of those flowers would be her two family members. Family members that she would never speak to or see again after today.
At the base of the statue the head guards and royal counsel resided, Jose among them. Their heads bowed respectively in silent mourning. At the very front was Makarov's regent, and the fairy who Levy knew would replace her uncle since he had no other heirs to claim his throne, Alexei. Levy knew very little about him, not even his face. He had been appointed several years after Ivan's exile, and he wore a golden mask and armor to cover up his face and body. Apparently, he had come in contact with iron at a very young age and it burned him so horribly it disfigured his face; so he wore a mask to protect it. She had only heard him speak a few times, but his voice always sounded like gravel was grating against his throat, and Levy had assumed it was because of his burns. He also he permanently wore a dark cloak of animal fur that covered his wings. Nevertheless, she had discovered he was very smart and seemed to have much knowledge when it came to running a kingdom, but there was something about the dark aura he emanated that made her more uneasy than Jose ever could. Her uncle may have forgiven him in the end, but Levy had never forgotten the few incidents where Alexie had taken charge without Makarov's authority.
A tight squeeze from Evergreen signaled it was time for the ceremony to start. Being the last living relative of the royal family meant Levy would take her turn first; followed by Freed, Evergreen, Bickslow, and so on until every fairy had delivered a flower. Trying desperately not to shake, she began to make her way towards the caskets. She bit down on her lip and tried to halt her tears as she peered inside. It was possible to mistake her family members for asleep inside their beds of white flowers; there eyes were shut and it almost looked like they were breathing. Her great-uncle, who had raised her for most of her life, was clothed in fine dark green Crocus silks and his small golden wings were spread out underneath him. His tail was buried somewhere underneath the flowers and Levy felt her heart ache a little more; she had wanted to look at it one more time, have a little reminder of him. His smile and voice filled her heart like tears in her eyes as she placed the first blossom by his neck, 'I love you,' was her final thought before she moved onto the next casket. Laxus was laid out like his grandfather, dressed in deep purple instead of green. He looked strangely younger like this, his handsome face looked so at peace and parts of his hair clung to his forehead in the rain. His tail, too, was buried. Levy placed the flower in the same position as she did her uncle's. 'I love you,' she thought before hurrying back down into Evergreen's arms as more tears overtook her.
The funeral continued in that manner until flowers flooded out of the caskets and decorated the Mavis's pedestal. After Alexie himself had delivered the last flowers he signaled with his hands to have the ceremony completed. Two pairs of guards came forward and each took a side of both caskets, lifting them up above the fairies' heads to be carried away for burial. Usually, fairies would follow to witness this but Alexie motioned for all the fairies to remain. Levy bit her lip as she watched them leave, trails flowers from the ceremony raining down in their midst.
"We are all deeply saddened on his day of mourning," he began, his hoarse voice carrying out through the crowds of fae. "And it is of utmost importance that we take action against the cowards who have taken our leaders from us. I have had guards block all entrances and exits to Magnolia so the assassinators may very well still be among us. That is why it is mandatory that all fae be inside their homes at dark while my head guards and I conduct our investigation."
'So he's already invoking a curfew,' she thought bitterly.
Levy took a moment to survey the 'head guards' which he had mentioned; all six stood behind him silence, eyes glazed over as they regarded the crowd cooly. They were spriggans. She could tell by the sickly paleness of their skin and darkness of their eyes, not to mention their leathery looking black wings were a complete giveaway. They were all male, except for one female who wore her scarlet hair in two braids that looped around her midsection. Her eyes passed from her, to the the scrawny man with black hair and lips to match, a light purple one who looked more troll than fairy, and a blue one with a strangely long nose and a hat that slightly resembled Jose's. Her eyes stopped at the last one. He was, well, definitely no spriggan. A muscular chest strained the dark leaves he wore as a vest and equally chiseled looking arms folded over them. His angular face made him undeniably handsome and hair blacker than the darkest night hung down to nearly his waist. The pale scars that decorated one of his bronzed arms and the piece of cloth he wore to keep his hair away from his eyes only added to his mysterious aura, and blood red eyes that seemed rather sharp compared to the glossiness of the other spriggans peered out from under the cloth. Huge, black wings almost dragged at his feet, resembling dark shadows as they slightly moved in the wind. If the circumstances were different Levy would've undeniably swooned at the sight of this fairy, and even now she felt her cheeks slightly redden as he gazed at him. She didn't recognize him at all; she had a brief recollection of seeing the others with Alexie but he was completely unfamiliar. Perhaps he was new and she simply hadn't seen him yet?
His eyes met hers for the briefest of moments and Levy snapped her head in a different direction; handsome or not she wasn't going to be caught gawking at him during a funeral. Alexie's speech continued in a slow drawl that seemed to last for hours on end until he finally dismissed the fairies to their homes.
As she drifted home with Lucy at her side, Levy couldn't shake the feeling of blood red eyes staring at her own.
Several days had passed and it seemed that things were finally getting back to normal. There was no report on the assassination and Levy was starting to feel hope slip away like water through her fingers. It had been a slow day of delivering; the packages they received from other kingdoms still flooded in even if the ones the received from inside of Magnolia had almost come to a halt. It had been dark for what felt like a long time now and Levy had assumed she would get underpaid because of how long it had taken, but fairies still paid her the exact same as they would've any other day. It seemed no one was completely over Makarov's death yet.
Levy sighed as her wings slowly carried her home. They still felt sore despite the few days of rest she had given them and slowed her down considerably.
A brief gust of wind was the only warning she received before a scrawny, but incredibly strong, hand gripped her arm and fingers dug into her flesh.
Levy let out a cry of surprise as that same hand dragged her towards the owner so they could hiss into her ear and she immediately recognized the voice to be one of Alexie's spriggans.
"You're skipping curfew, little girl."