The Thief and the Fairy

Chapter One

As a nasty storm began to loom over the magic kingdom of Fiore, the Royal Army ensued a chase deep into the forest to catch a criminal on the run. Thunder cackled as rain pounded on the brooding man holding a mysterious sack over his shoulder. He ran until the thick mud made him trip and he tumbled down a hill hitting several fallen branches on the way down.

When he finally stopped at the bottom of the hill, he held his bag tightly making sure nothing fell out.

Then he turned seeing the mob of soldiers gaining on him. He clenched his jaw and struggled to get up before he sprinted away until he met a dead end.

"Damn it I gotta hide!" Gajeel said as he frantically looked for shelter. His breath quickened when he realized he was too big to hide behind any of the small boulders in the mountainous forest.

At the last second, he found a small cave hidden behind a wall of vines and ducked inside. He held his breath and waited to be found, but instead he heard shouts and galloping horses head in the opposite direction.

He sighed and collapsed to the ground, his pulse rapid from all the running. He reached over and grabbed the burlap bag he held in front of him. Gajeel dumped out the contents of the day's loot and glittering jewels fell to the ground. He couldn't believe his luck today, gold, sapphires, and a rainbow of other jewels piled up on the cave floor.

As Gajeel busied himself in his new treasures, he felt something tickle his ear.

"Stupid bug," he muttered. He noticed what he thought was a firefly and started whacking it away from him.

"Ouch!" A tiny voice squealed. "that was rude!" Gajeel looked around to find what made that squeaky noise. "Over here dummy," the voice huffed.

"The hell?!" He said. He tried to scoot away but lost his balance and fell over.  What he thought was a pesky bug was actually a tiny blue haired girl, a fairy. Her iridescent wings fluttered angrily as she flew closer to his face. She pushed her wavy locks out of her face and began to scold Gajeel in a very angry, high pitched voice.

"What are ya doin here?" Gajeel said. He sat frozen trying to convince himself he was hallucinating."I've never seen a fairy before."

Gajeel had heard myths of fairies living in Fiore before but had dismissed them as childrens' tales.

"I should ask the same thing, this is my house!" She said. He noticed what looked like dollhouse furniture made with sticks and grasses throughout the cramped cave. "You've tracked in all this mud too, this will take ages to clean!"

" Oh, uh sorry" Gajeel said. Usually he wouldn't think twice about breaking in someone's home, but he actually felt bad he barged into this helpless fairy's cave.

"It's okay, " she said. She leaned forward and smiled slightly, "It's actually kinda nice to have a guest, it's gotten a bit lonely here!"

"I thought fairies were supposed to travel in packs, where's the rest of yer family?" Gajeel asked.

The girl's face fell and she curled up on the tiny makeshift bed by Gajeel's foot. "I'm the only fairy left around here," she said.

Gajeel didn't know why, but he actually felt sorry for the girl. He picked her up in his palm and smirked.

"How'd ya like to come with me?" He said."I bet ya being so shrimpy would make ya great at pickpocketing,"

She looked over at the jewels with wide eyes and said, "You bet I am! Fairies are known for their thievery and tricks," she tried to pick up one of the sapphires almost as big as her head, "Plus, I've always wanted to go on an adventure!"

Gajeel picked her up before she could drop the jewel and lifted her up to his eye level.

"Gihi well bein a jewelry thief ain't all fun and games, but do ya wanna?" Gajeel chuckled.

"Of course!" she fluttered up to give Gajeel a kiss on the cheek.
Gajeel flushed and looked away as the fairy skipped happily around the cave.

"Well let's get goin we don't got all day!" Gajeel said as he scooped up his loot into the bag.

"One condition though,"She said trying to block the doorway with her minuscule body. "No calling me shrimpy, my name is Levy!"

"Good luck with that Shrimp," he laughed as they ventured out into the woods.

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