Disclaimer: I (sadly) don't own Fairy Tail. If I owned it, Levy and Gajeel would have already kissed...
Deep in the forbidden forest, an evil witch lived in a castle made of pure black stones that always seemed to suck all the light and color out of the once beautiful trees surrounding it. The witch had a grudge against the neighboring kingdom. He held onto that grudge for thousands of years, his face showing no evidence of the many years that have passed. The king of that kingdom was one of grace and kindness, he bravely lead his people, never hiding in his castle when war broke out. He would be out there along side his soldiers and making his blade red with the life of those who threatened his people. Now this king had a beautiful daughter, her birth announced only a month before. She was said to have blue hair deeper blue than any ocean, more shiny than any pearl, and as soft as the most expensive silk. This king named his daughter 'Juvia' which meant 'maiden of gentle rain' in the Ancient Language. The king loved his daughter dearly so when she disappeared on her very first birthday, he fell ill. Unable to join in searching for his daughter, the king fell even more ill. Many years passed as the king continued to be bedridden most days. The queen did her best to rule the kingdom in her husband's stead.
Now, 17 years later, a young archer wandered the kingdom. He heard of the forbidden forest and so he traveled to the kingdom who was missing it's heir. The Fairy Tail Kingdom was one of magnificence, only the forest at it's edge marred the surreal archer, known as Gray, came from the Ice kingdom of Fiore. Fiore was one that thrived high in the cold mountains. After Gray's long journey, he finally stood at the edge of the forest he was incredibly curious about. With a look of determination, the poor young lad entered the danger-filled forest. He had been in the forest for about a day before Gray meet his first challenge. He had stopped at a swift-moving stream, discovering the water was fresh, he greedily drank. He closed his eyes to splash water on his face and then opened his eyes to see a ferocious black wolf glowering at him. Gray hurriedly notched an arrow and aimed it at the beast. Yet he couldn't shoot as he heard a voice cold enough to freeze him in place. The voice spoke in Gray's head, quiet and forceful at the same time. 'Leave this forest immediately, if not you will perish as a pile of bones picked clean by my minions. That only made Gray more curious as he decided to head deeper into the mystery. The rest of that day, Gray could have sworn that the branches reached out to him, trying to hurt him. At night rain started so Gray was unable to light a fire. in the morning, the mosquitoes, stirred by the rain the night before, swarmed and bit into skin greedily. Gray felt he was being watched every second he walked deeper. He encountered rats, bold enough to bite the boy, and other small predators who had no qualms with attacking the adventurer. By the 7th day in the forest, wolves as black as night were a common occurrence. In the middle of the night, Gray awoke to find three walking towards him, their eyes locked onto their human prey. Grey got up and ran for his life, thinking he was heading out of the forest when instead he was only going in further. Gray was about to give in, pray for himself before the wolves were upon him, when he found himself at the base of a tall black tower, the castle surrounding in ruins. With nowhere left to go, Grey used two of his arrows to climb the tower, one in each hand and the sharp point being thrust into the ridges between the blocks of stone. Climbing into the lone window at the top, Gray collapsed in exhaustion, his black hair sticking to his forehead and his breathing heavy. Catching his breath, the archer stood up and surveyed the room. There was nothing in it except a small bathing area, a bed, and a nightstand. On the bed was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had vibrant blue hair that wound around the room, it had obviously been grown out for an extremely long time as it was long enough to go around the room multiple times. Gray was awestruck at the beauty of it and wondered who this mysterious girl was. Stepping forward, the boy flinched as he heard the floorboard beneath his shoe squeak. It was very loud in the quiet room and the noise made the girl begin to stir. She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw Gray by her window, bathed in moonlight. She was surprised by the man being in her tower and her breath caught as she saw how handsome he was. "My apologies, I hadn't meant to disturb your slumber, I was merely climbing your tower to escape some beasts." With a bow, the young man captivated the heart of the girl trapped in the tower. "Who?..." "Oh, excuse my manners for not introducing myself earlier, I am Gray Fulbuster. Pleasure to meet you." "I'm Juvia, pleasure's all mine." The two of them just looked at each other until a noise was heard below them. Juvia gasped, "That is the witch Lyon coming, you must hurry! He mustn't know you're here. He would kill you at once. Come tomorrow night and throw something through the window. If I let down my hair that means it's safe to come. If I don't then you must run away as fast as you can." Juvia said as she pushed Gray towards the window. He got out and climbed down before running into the woods to wait until the next night. Juvia stood at the window and gazed at the spot where Gray disappeared into the trees. The door to Juvia's room creaked open as her captor walked in. "Unable to sleep my prey?" Juvia shivered at his voice, "No, the nightmares are getting worse." came the monotonous reply. Juvia barely reacted as she was pushed onto her bed. Lyon looked at her with a predatory look in his eyes. Roughly grabbing the princess by the chin, the witch leaned in closer to the girl before him. He smiled down at the fear in the girl's face before he let her go, smirking in satisfaction at her look of fear. Satisfied with knowing she still feared him, Lyon walked out of the tower and into the night.
The next night, the princess awoke to the sound of an arrow striking stone. She looked to her wall to see the shaft still quivering. 'Gray!' She ran to her window and immediately dropped her hair through her window. Only a few minutes later, the archer stood before Juvia, tired and sweating. Gray then surprised Juvia when he grabbed her hand and lead her close up to the window in the tower. "Let's go while we have the chance." Juvia, happy beyond anything she ever felt before, hugged Gray excitedly. He smile down at her, grabbed her waist and started the decent down the tower's side. At the bottom, Juvia ran around joyously as she explored outside of her tower. Gray allowed her to run around for a short time before reminding her that they had to run away as quickly as possible. They held hands as they ran through the forest. It took them very little time to reach halfway to their destination. Gray had taken much longer because he was always stopping and exploring or taking notes on animals and plants he saw. They both stopped to catch their breath before finishing their escape. That's when they heard a very low growl. Gray turned around to find a wolf much bigger than possible and pure white. The wolf morphed into a white haired man with black and blue robes and a long black staff that radiated hate and darkness. 'That must be the witch and captor of Juvia but...' "Why are you a dude? Wouldn't you be called a warlock and not a witch?" Lyon growled at that comment. "Witches and Warlocks are NOT the same. YES i know witches are generally female but that's because witches nearly always give birth to girls. My mom gave birth to a boy, me, which is extremely rare, only happening to 1 out of 1000 births." The white haired boy was obviously enraged. "Anyways, I want that girl back. I captured her from the kingdom fair and square Romeo. If you want your own princess then go find one that is already kidnapped. That girl will not be your Juliet." Gray smirked, "Yours? Juliet? No, this girl belongs to no one and she isn't named... wait, princess?" Gray suddenly remembered the story of the missing princess causing king Natsu to be ill with worry and Queen Lucy having to lead a kingdom with her husband in bed. "Yes, I took her to end the royal lineage of the kingdom I hate the most." Eyes wide in shock, Gray grabs an arrow, notches it in place, and fires faster than Lyon's eyes could follow but he felt it coming and with his amazing reflexes was able too grab it and break it in half. An arrow made of ice flew back at Grey, barely missing. "That is what you get when you deal with a witch, you get magic. Mine happens to be ice type. It's incredibly rare and was taught to my by my mother." An ice bird swooped down to attack Gray but before it hit, an ice shield formed around him and blocked the bird. Gray watched it shatter on the ground then looked up at the ice shield in amazement. He did that? Him? How was that possible? Lyon was equally surprised. He knew exactly what Gray had just done. It's the Royal Fiore Ice Magic! The mist divine ice magic out there! Lyon stumbled back away from him in awe. Gray's look of shock turned into a smirk, "Looks like my magic is back, thought it would've taken longer to regenerate after using up so much. Shall we continue this fight?" Gray radiated confidence and power which made Lyon shrink back before he regained his cocky attitude and charged Gray. Ice flew back and forth and coated a whole acre of the forest by the time the battle had ended. Lyon had withered and turned to ash after having used too much magical energy to keep up his magical immortality.
Gray and Juvia married 3 years afterwards and Gray gave up the throne of Fiore to his younger sister Ultear so he could rule the Fairy Tail Kingdom with his wife Juvia. Natsu became healthy again after regaining his daughter and lived a long and fulfilling life before passing away in his sleep. His daughter and grandson wept at his funeral until they were able to stand and walk to where Gray stood patiently waiting on his wife and son. Four months afterwards, their son turned 6.
This royal family lived happily ever after. The END!
Was the whole 'Lyon is the witch' thing surprising at all? I hope so because it surprised me. I normally let my stories happen without planning. Thanks for your suggestions and I am looking forward to more. I was given the suggestion of doing a modern theme in high school. I will not include that story in this series of one shots but I will write it with the name 'Modern Princess' for the person who suggested it and I will probably make it a three-shot. Please look forward to the next chapter and to my new story!