AN: Nothing special. Just a oneshot I wrote back in May last year and recently re-found, re-edited and as such, decided to share.

I enjoy writing Gajeel/Levy AUs set in medieval-like times as seen by my other oneshot 'First Impressions' - shameless advertisement to go read that one as well - so don't be surprised if you see a few others in the future.

Revised: 18/05/14

"They were found snooping near the borders."

The tall and lanky man dropped the young women upon the floor unceremoniously, both landing with a small 'oof' as their bodies collided against the stone slab flooring. Meanwhile, the figure seated in the large and elaborately decorated throne upon an elevated floor - an evident sign of who was in charge here - arched an eyebrow in curiosity. Staring at the new arrivals, his eyes remained on them as he spoke. "And, who are they?"

Taking the cue, the dark haired man walked forward and crouched down behind the pair. Grabbing both girls roughly by the hair, he violently yanked them up to display their faces to the King. The young women let out painful gasps, grimaces marring their faces as they were presented to the evil monarch in such a humiliating fashion.

"They were on Magnolia soil when we caught them. Both have Fairy Tail marks on their bodies."

At the latter piece of information, the man leaned forward with peaked intrigue. "Oh?" He grinned maliciously, lips inching upwards. "We have a couple of fairies in our midst." Black eyes wandered over the girls who continued to wince in pain, beady eyes focusing on the pink mark displayed upon the blonde's hand. Solid evidence that both worked within the palace of Fairy Tail where the King of Magnolia resided.

A King who he wished to savagely destroy to pieces one day by his own hand.

A King who he had betrayed many years ago and left behind to establish his own Kingdom.

A King, who just so happened, to be his own father.

Oh, this would be fun.

"Release them, Kurohebi."

With a nod, the man Kurohebi allowed the duo to fall forward once again, stepping backwards with a bow to his ruler and retreating to melt into the shadows at a corner of the room. Meanwhile, King Ivan Dreyar, tyrant ruler of the desolate lands bordering Magnolia, leaned forward in his throne, eyeing the young women with a predatory stare. The petite girl was the first to lift her head, shrinking when her eyes met his but defiantly refusing to look away.

Makarov's fairies always were known for being annoyingly stubborn.

"Let us go." The blonde suddenly spat through gritted teeth, looking up to meet his eyes with a vehement glare. "If you don't, you'll have to answer to the whole of Magnolia." A confident smile appeared on her face. "They'll put you through hell."

Ivan only laughed at her words, the young woman's eyes narrowing at his reaction to her threat. "All the more fun!" His lips quirked into a feral grin. "I do enjoy war."

"We weren't even on your land!" The other cried, wild locks of blue hair falling out of its bind and around her face. Ivan spared her one glance before dismissing her words, instead turning his gaze onto one of the many figures hidden in the shadows watching the spectacle. "Gajeel?"

Both girls froze.

"Do come forward."

A second passed. Then, an intimidating and tall man stepped out of the darkness, scarlet eyes set into a glare and expression stoic. When ruby eyes flickered towards the women, they both gasped.

"Ga… jeel?" The small girl whispered, eyes wide.

"You… You traitor!" The blonde yelled, glaring at him with utmost hatred. "You have the mark of Fairy Tail on your arm, how could you betray us!?"

"Because he was never loyal to you." Ivan drawled, watching the 'reunion' with amusement dancing in his eyes. "Gajeel is, and always has been, a spy of mine." An eerie smile. "Isn't that right Gajeel-kun?"

The man remained silent.

"You... You bastard!" The blonde shouted, standing up suddenly. A woman quickly appeared to restrain her by the arms when she showed signs of running forward. "We trusted you! L-Levy trusted you!" Tears welled in her eyes as she screamed at him, Gajeel remaining unresponsive to her words and the rest of the room watching in silence.

As she continued to yell insults and threats, Ivan watched on with a mild frown until sighing and slowly massaging the temples of his forehead. "The banshee is giving me a headache. Flare, please."

The woman restraining her nodded with an eager grin. And a second later, the energetic blonde was cut off as the redhead delivered a swift blow to her head, brown eyes falling shut as she fell limp in her arms.

The bluenette gasped, body moving in reaction but freezing upon noting the many men ready to restrain her too if she made the wrong step.

"I take it you know the two?" Ivan went on towards Gajeel before the other girl could begin yelling as well, propping up an elbow to cradle his face in the palm of his hand. He cast a glance at the younger man. "Are either of them of importance?"

Before Gajeel could open his mouth to reply, Kurohebi interrupted beforehand, voice slithering from out of the darker parts of the room. "I heard one of them say 'Lucy' whilst I was sneaking up on them."

The change in Ivan's expression was immediate: eyes widening as he sat upright and stared at both girls with surprise. "Lucy?" A second passed and his lips rose into a leer. "Lucy Heartfilia, is it?" He laughed raucously, eyes glancing gleefully between the blonde and the bluenette. "Which one?" His delight was too much to contain.

Again, Gajeel was cut off from speaking.

"I am."

"Hm?" Ivan glanced at the small girl with a frown. "You?" He raised an eyebrow as he studied her before smirking, she was small that was for sure, but he knew not to underestimate her given the legacy of her name so far. "I've heard a lot about you Miss. Heartfilia, your adventures with that boisterous group have earned you many successes in bringing multiple enemies down." Indeed, he had heard of the group made up of two men and two women - and in some stories, mentions of a young boy by the ridiculous name of 'Happy' were included. "You and your friends names are widely known throughout the land already."

The girl simply glared at him.

As his eyes swept to the blonde, "Lucy" added. "That's Layla. A maid of mine… She's no use to you, so you should release her."

"Hm? And why would I do that? If she's no use, I should just kill her."

Alarm engulfed brown eyes. "No!" When Ivan stared back at her with a cheshire-like grin, she swallowed and went on. "Y-You need somebody to go back and tell King Makarov that I'm actually here, right? You want a war after all." She licked her lips nervously, palms sweaty as she wiped them on her knees. "This way you don't have to go to the trouble of having one of your own men go..." Her voice faded into silence.

When the tyrant King said nothing, the young woman thought he would refuse her. But after several torturous seconds, he finally nodded. "Fine." A dismissive wave of the hand. "Flare, drop the girl off where you found her."

Despite seeming rather disappointed with the decision, the redhead gave a respectful nod. "Yes, My Lord."

Watching as her friend was carried out of the room, the bluenette glanced back at the King with a nervous expression. "You won't kill her, right?"

"Not this time, no."

A sigh of relief.

"Now…"

The tense look returned.

Ivan grinned down at her. "What should I do with the ever lovely noble, Miss. Heartfilia?" He smirked. "I must say, tales of your talent and beauty have reached even here." Though the tales of her bust size had been considerably over-exaggerated now he saw her before him… Oh well, such is the thing with gossip being spread about.

The girl swallowed nervously at his words.

After a moment of consideration, he smirked. "My men work quite hard you know, and as such they deserve a reward." Flashing his teeth in a leer, he added: "Why don't I send you their way and have you entertain them for a while?"

The look of dread that swept the girls face was imminent, eyes widening in pure horror and face draining of colour. She'd heard all too much of the nasty rumours surrounding Ivan Dreyar's palace and the unspeakable things he did to intruders - as well as any of his own people who dared to cross him.

Ivan watched her reaction with glee.

...Only for his grin to suddenly vanish, eyes snapping towards the right. "Yes, Gajeel-kun?"

Both King and girl glanced at the knight who remained impassive, though Ivan's eyes flickered towards the man's right foot which had moved forward a few inches.

Clearing his throat, Gajeel met the ruler's gaze. "If you don't mind… My Lord, I think I'd like to try my hand at that."

Ivan blinked at his subordinate, taking in what he had said before breaking out into raucous laughter. "I wouldn't have thought her to be your type, Gajeel."

The man grinned wickedly, blood-like eyes gleaming. "The smaller ones are fun to break."

Still chuckling, the King nodded. "Fine, take the wench and have your fun with her to relieve your stress - although do try to keep it down, others will be sleeping."

A leer. "Of course."

Before she knew it, the young women found herself being lifted and slung over the Knight's shoulders like a sack of potatoes before he carried her out of the throne room. As she glanced up, the last thing she saw before the doors closed was the triumphant smirk on King Ivan's face.

"Get off me!"

"Will you just-"

"No!"

"Look, I-"

SLAP

"FUCK!" Pulling away from the petite girl, Gajeel placed a hand over his reddening cheek - damn, she sure knew how to put power into that hand (he was proud). As the girl scrabbled up the bed and sent him a glare, he yelled on. "Levy, will you just shut up yelling for a second and listen!?"

"How could you?"

"But I-"

"Why didn't you trust me?"

"I couldn't, I-"

Wait.

What?

He stared at her with a suddenly confused frown, all words dying on his tongue. "Huh?"

With tears prickling in the corners of her eyes, the blue haired female stared at him with a burning gaze. "You could have told me…" She whispered.

Gajeel watched the girl with more confusion. "Wait… Are you saying you know I'm not really a spy?"

"Well of course." She replied as if it was obvious. "I know you wouldn't betray us."

Levy said it with such confidence and conviction as she folded her arms, that Gajeel couldn't help but smirk a little. "You trust me that much, huh?"

She shot him a look. "Of course. We are getting married." A pause as she narrowed her eyes. "Or, we were going to…" Her head dropped down, gaze retreating to the sheets beneath them.

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, glancing off to the side. "Ah… You still um, grumpy about that?"

"You ran off on our wedding day."

He grimaced.

"Because you apparently had a mission you just 'had to do' you said." She stated flatly, sending him a sharp look.

Running a hand through his hair, he cleared his throat nervously at the expression she sent him. "It was Ivan… He called me away that day and unless I wanted to break my cover, I had to go."

Levy continued to frown. "Then all those times you went away for long periods of time… Was that because you were here also?"

"Yeah…"

"How long have you been keeping this spy charade thing up?"

"Hm, about three years. Makarov asked me to do it shortly after I joined the palace."

She glanced down, expression dim. "And you couldn't tell even me?"

"No."

"Oh…"

"Look." A frustrated sigh. "I couldn't tell anybody alright? Not even my best pal Lily! Only me and Makarov knew about it." A pause. "And, well, you too now I guess." When she continued to hold a downcast expression, Gajeel's expression softened and he leaned forward, adopting a gentle tone. "Hey..." Hand pressing against her cheek as he lifted her head to glance at him, the older man stared at her with nothing but affection and honesty - a look he only bestowed upon her.

"I wouldn't want to tell you even if I could." He grumbled softly, meeting her gaze as the pad of his thumb brushed against her skin. "I didn't want..." He sighed. "I didn't want ya to get involved."

"It's a bit late for that now." Levy whispered in turn, cracking a small smile which made him more at ease. Though he couldn't help but mutter in agreement - Levy couldn't be any more involved right now even if she tried. Before he could speak on, she beat him to it. "Are you… going to give it up now, then? The double-spy job?"

"I'll have to."

"Eh? Why?"

"Because I'm guessing the moment they see me running off with the so called prisoner, they'll catch on to my ruse. Ivan's a bit nuts, but he ain't stupid."

She blinked at him. "Oh." A soft smile. "We're breaking out of here tonight then?"

"Duh." He shot her a look. "I'm not letting you stay here any longer than necessary and risking some other guy having his dirty fucking paws on you."

Chuckling, Levy faded into a warm smile as she moved to sit beside him, nudging his shoulder with her own. "At least Lu-chan got away."

He frowned. "You shouldn't have pretended you were Bunny Girl, Ivan would have killed ya had he figured it out."

"But he didn't." She replied lightly with a beaming smile, ignoring the nickname he had given her best friend after that one incident a few years ago. "So this way the real Lucy Heartfilia gets away, and I'm able to reunite with you!"

He grumbled as she gave him a side-way hug though he still returned it, obviously still unhappy about the situation but unable to argue any more. And he did feel more relaxed knowing he'd be by her side in escaping, rather than leaving her in the hands of somebody like Flare to get back home.

Giggling, Levy moved onto her knees and lifted both hands, fingers brushing his cheeks as she relaxed into a gentle smile. His frustration faded beneath her touch, eyes closing involuntarily as she stroked his skin. She always did have a calming affect on him.

"I missed you." She whispered.

A beat passed before ruby eyes cracked open, gracing her with a lazy stare alongside a crooked smirk. "Me too, shrimp."

She pouted at the nickname, earning a chuckle from his lips at the sight. "Are we going to go now then?" She asked.

Before Gajeel could reply, a knock sounded at the door. "Sir Gajeel, I just wanted to check-"

"Sorry about this." Gajeel whispered.

"Eh?" Before Levy could ask anything further, the older man pounced, catching her by surprise and barely allowing time for her gasp as his lips crushed against hers and his body pinned her to the bed. Coarse hands enveloped her small wrists, her brown eyes widening in surprise at the sudden action before a moment passed and she then relaxed, eyes drifting shut. It was only when the door opened and a voice trailed off that she realised the ruse they were trying to keep. Quickly kicking her legs in an appearance of struggle, she made muffled protests against his lips, heart beating erratically whilst all too aware of the prying eyes watching them.

Was it terrible that despite the situation, she was still finding herself aroused by his body against her?

Lips tearing away from hers without warning, Gajeel stared down intensely, Levy breathing heavily beneath him as they locked gazes.

"What is it?" He growled, eyes never leaving hers.

"Oh!" The figure – a young man – blubbered for a bit. "I-I'm sorry to intrude but I was wondering about the letters and-"

"I'm busy."

"But-"

"You have five seconds to get out or I'm throwing you through the window."

"R-Right away, sir!"

"And don't have anybody entering this room for the next two hours." A pause, as his gaze wandered down her body. "Actually, make that three."

Why was she getting thrilled at the comment despite the situation?

"Of course!"

As the door came to a close, Levy allowed her lips to quirk upwards. "Aren't you going to get off me?"

He grinned, leaning closer to press his forehead against hers whilst hands tightened around her wrists. "I dunno, I kinda like this position." He pressed his lips to hers briefly again. "Giving me a lot of ideas."

"We're not married yet, you know." She laughed.

"Good as."

"Are you trying to make dishonest woman out of me, Gajeel?" She asked wryly. "Jumping under the sheets with a man who I'm yet to marry?"

He merely grumbled.

Smiling at his attitude, she pried one hand free and flicked his forehead with her fingers. "Need I remind you that we're still in Ivan's castle? Don't you think we should be going?"

With a reluctant sigh, he pulled away. "Tch, fine." As she sat up, and he went to grab a sheathed sword resting against the wall, he glanced over his shoulder. "But when we get back, we're tying the knot first thing alright? I'll pull the priest out of bed the second we get back and have him marry us."

"Sure, sure." She chimed, unable to hide her grin.

As she sat on the end of the bed, he walked over, offering her a hand. "You coming then?"

Smiling brightly, her entire face lit up at the prospect of reuniting with everyone, and finally marrying her boyfriend of two years. Together, Fairy Tail would pay Ivan back hundred fold for his deeds and finally bring to a close this entire situation.

She took his hand.

"Let's go home."