The Fairytail Maid Club!

Chapter 5!!!

"Yeah, well, the princes have always liked horses since they were little. They've been taking horseback riding lessons from Freed, and he's just now teaching them jousting. Do you enjoy riding?"

I shuffled my feet.

"Well, ummm.... I haven't actually been horseback riding before. Where I come from, we ride carriages drawn by Oxen. Horses are for the wealthy."

Lyon smiled, and this time, it was a true smile. His chestnut eyes brightened, and merriment replaced his distant, harsh expression.

"If you'd like, I could take you right now. I don't mind watching over you. It really is fun, I promise you."

Lyon took my hand, pulling me gently towards the barn. I hesitantly followed.

Lyon opened the barn doors and we slipped into the brightly lit stables where whinnying and hooves clumping on wood could be heard. Curious, I approached the closest stall, where a majestic white horse with a spotted grey underside watched me with large eyes.

"That one's Appleseed."

I barely heard Lyon; I was too busy looking at the beauties, in a dream-like trance.

There were 9 horses in all; Appleseed, Banjo, Ozzie, Maple, TinCan, Bullet, Dusky, and Bull.

Dusky was Lyon's. It was exactly like him! With a haughty stride, and icy gaze, it seemed to be making fun of me, swishing its tail in my face. Lyon just laughed, one hand on the wall for support. I glared at the two of them and moved to the next stall.

The next few seconds were a blur.

I had approached the stall as I did the other six and then all I saw was a charging streak of tan and brown heading towards me.

I couldn't move. A shriek galloped out of my mouth and my eye sight turned red in terror.

I vaguely heard Lyon scream "NO! JUVIA!" In the background and then I felt arms wrap around my waist and yank me back. I fell, landing on something warm and hard. Then, the air turned sheer cold and all the heat was sucked out of my body. A neigh of triumph and a stream of curses was all I heard before I closed my eyes.

~*~

"Damn... my head hurts..."

"Juvia, you're awake!"

"I... guess."

A sigh of relief, and I smelled mint off his breath.

Lyon. Lyon Vastia? Yes. The... the fencing instructor! That's right. I sighed in relief as well. My brain hadn't been damaged. But... somehow... I felt like something was.... missing.

"Juvia? Are you alright?"

"Shall I get some tea?" A deeper voice. Silky.

"No, Freed. Go fetch some... water. Our tea is too bitter."

"Of course, Lyon."

I heard the slam of the barn door and I opened my eyes. It was still dark, and I could only see a faint outline of Lyon, slightly leaning over me, his eyes reflecting concern, pity, anger, and, yes, fear. His eyes scanned my face.

"Morning. It's 3 in the morning. You were only out for 5 hours, ya know. But... you scared me. Just lying there, your face was so... pale."

I shivered, but it was quite humid in the barn.

"It got really cold really fast before I was knocked out. I don't know why," I whined, expecting him to laugh at my silliness.

Instead, he stiffened and averted my eyes. He ran his hand through his hair, taking a deep breath in, then letting a big gust out.

"Yeah... weird, wasn't it?", he said finally.

I stared at him.

"What exactly happened?"

I cringed at the sound of my own voice. It was cracking and dry. I hoped Freed came with the water soon. But a part of me thought, it's nice here, just me and Lyon. I shook my head.

He locked eyes with me fiercely. His words came out hot and vehemently.

"You got too close to the... creature. Bull got its name by his violent, tempered attitude. He charges everyone. He once gave King Laxus a piece of his own mind.... The King broke all his bones in his arm. They're both fighters. The two of em."

My eyes widened.

"So he's... he's dangerous?" I asked stupidly.

Lyon gave me a hard look, no humour left on his face.

"Yeah. Yeah. They're planning on selling him to the rodeo. He's too wild. Freed says he wants to keep on trying to tame him, but once the Lady hears of this, she won't give him another chance."

I played with a rock beside me.

"I suppose, that's for the best."

Lyon gave me an odd expression.

"I thought you'd be relieved and happy to hear this. But anyways, I'm just glad you're okay. If you died, it would be long and tiring paperwork, and I would have to hire an attorney and... it would be quite stressful, wouldn't you think?"

I pursed my lips, biting back spiteful comments.

So he doesn't actually care about YOU. Just the consequences of your corpse. Even worse, why did you even think anything else? All he is is a cold, calculating jerk.

I lifted my chin and stared daggers at him. Lyon, in response, looked down at the ground. The oddest thing was, he looked hurt and confused. Like he knew exactly what he had said and felt bad for saying it. Ashamed. Almost like he had meant to say it, instead of it slipping out. Pre-meditated. After turning this around in my head a few times, I decided to ask him.

"Lyon----"

"You're water, Lyon. And yours, madam."

In my peripheral, I saw Lyon's eyes glitter in amusement at my title.

Perhaps all was not lost with Lyon Vastia.

*CURTAINS CLOSE*

End of this loooong chapter!!! I'm so happy and pleased with this one! I liked it a lot and I hoped you did too :))))

I'm so sorry it took this long to spit out this chapter; school just started, lots of HW, blah blah blah.

BUT THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE FOR A WRITER.

And so, I will try to do better.

Gomen... :(

And so, I bid you, my dear audience, farewell, until next time!

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Signing off,

Levy-chaaaaaan!!!
~omnipotent_shrimp~

^_^