Path to Forgiveness
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail does not belong to me. I am merely borrowing Hiro Mashima's awesome characters for my own nefarious deeds!
She could always tell when his eyes were on her.
A conversation with Lucy or her two dogs would be cut short by a slight shiver; a shaky hand brushing the hair from the back of her neck, and a wary side glance towards the darkest corner in the guild. Occasionally their gazes would lock, and she would bristle(think angry kitten) and look away. Not long after, she would excuse herself from whomever she was talking to and leave.
"You need to stop doing that."
He cast Titania a baleful glare but said nothing.
"Is it so hard to make one little apology?" She walked away without waiting for an answer.
Whereas back in Phantom any mage who would dare tell him what to do would likely get an iron bar to the face, in Fairy Tail he was no longer able to react as impulsively as before. It was like a suffocating pressure; he knew without being told that if he set one foot wrong, they would all be on him.
He sighed. It was all part of his condition for joining Fairy Tail-don't harm his guild mates, and get Levy to forgive him within a year.
There were many in the guild that felt he was better off dead, or at least as far from their precious Shadow Gear as possible. Makarov had been too lenient, they said.
Fairy Tail and Phantom were the exact opposites. If a rival guild member had done harm to a Phantom team, Jose would have likely thrashed them himself afterwards and thrown them out. Phantom had no need for shitty members. He'd prized, Gajeel, oh yes. Prized him to the point that casual manipulation was lost on the Iron Dragonslayer.
It was tempting to blame Metallicana for that one. The rust-scaled bastard had never coddled his human charge. It was always training and fighting and doing whatever stupid "task" the dragon had set for him. The few compliments he offered were grudging at best, and were usually followed by scathing criticism. The Iron Dragon, both literally and figuratively, had a barbed tongue. It was likely the reason why Jose had only to say something as mundane as "perfect!" or "good job" that made Gajeel so enthusiastic to fight for his master in the first place.
It hurt like fucking hell when woke up one morning to find the great dragon missing from the mountain cave where they dwelt. It still hurt, thinking about how, for many long weeks afterward, he'd call Metallicana's name over and over again, searching on foot the entirety of the dragon's home range. And then the feelings just built up and before he knew it, the mountain that had made their home has reduced to a pile of rubble. For months afterwards he wandered, arms bruised and bloody and scaled in some places.
Desperation soon got the better of him, and for the first time in his life he turned to his own kind for survival. It wasn't enough to sit and beg, despite the numerous well-meaning citizens in Fiore who would take one look at his condition and cast a hundred jewel piece at his feet. Eventually he made it to the more ugly side of the kingdom, where mages in need of money fought in underground fight rings, or freelanced their abilities to clients of ill repute. He was now an angry young man, quick to lash out at the world, resorting to physical violence to combat the confusion and hurt that ate at his heart.
He'd crippled his enemies, breaking them to the point that they were no longer able to use magic. He'd extorted, tortured, even murdered, if only to ensure his client's satisfaction for a job well done. In the ring his reputation had grown to the point where people began to refuse matches against him. He was barely 13.
That was where Jose came in. He dressed like a damn clown, yet even then Gajeel knew that this guy outclassed him completely. He held an aura of power about him, and was self-assured to the point that the iron dragonslayer felt apprehensive in his presence.
After Metallicana had gone, Jose was the closest thing he had to a parental figure. The older mage was a stunning example of authority-ruling over a huge guild with many branches and with relative ease. His guild master treated him well, unlike the critical Metallicana. He rose rapidly in rank, alongside Juvia, and was slated to be put in charge of one of Phantom's branches.
His unwavering loyalty at that point overruled his conscience, and he found himself doing more and more extra work to keep his master satisfied. It was worth the fearful respect he'd amassed from his guildmates.
Which is why he ended up destroying Fairy Tail's guild hall the first time.
Being a clever, sneaky, manipulative bastard Jose would never directly order him to do something; even a contemplative remark within the dragon slayer's acute hearing was enough for his wishes to be fulfilled.
He'd been a fucking puppet all along. No, worse. He'd been Jose's dog, and an even worse one than the two freaks who drooled after Levy.
Levy...
He stared into his beer mug(it was the cheap watered-down pig swill, and he just knew the demonic barmaid was overcharging dammit) and fought the stiffening the mere thought of her brought on. As if on cue, his ears picked up a muttered whisper from one mage to another. He slowly relaxed his shoulders, then pushed himself roughly from the table and stalked out.
"Levy-chan's been wearing long shirts lately...ever since she was discharged..."
He'd deliberately singled her out-hidden and observed the fairies for some days, noted how the little blue-haired mage was well loved and popular. Saw how well she got on with the Heartfilia girl and Salamander. Realized that she was the sort of person the guild would kill for, if she was harmed in any way.
The notion excited him.
She disgusted him. Team Shadow Gear was a joke, a shitty team led by a weak little girl who more than likely kept her lapdogs around to make herself feel important. Such cockiness, he'd thought upon seeing them walk home that fateful night. It irked him, the sight of her walking between her male teammates as if they were her bodyguards. So spoiled, and so, so...
so happy.
So maybe it was jealousy that gnawed at his little heart. For enemy mages to adopt such a careless, frivolous mood offended him, especially when HE was the reason her guild was on full alert.
It would have been enough to rough the three of them up a bit, but it all went horribly wrong.
He lost control.
He'd teased them at first-lazily blocking Jet's speed-enhanced blows and sawing through Droy's plant magic while their female team mate looked on, disoriented by the very first blow he'd landed on her.
"Levy! We'll hold him off! Go get help!" Droy yelled, before Gajeel's Iron Dragon's Club slammed into his gut. He fell to his knees, coughing up blood and vomit.
Jet hadn't lasted for much longer after that. The Iron Dragonslayer eventually got bored and their game of cat and mouse came to an end-Iron Dragon's Roar was a merciless attack, a long-range move that affected a widespread area. Jet never stood a chance.
Gajeel stood over him, eyeing with satisfaction his visibly mangled leg. He took particular pleasure in taking this one down-mages who relied solely on speed were cowards.
"Solid Script:Storm!"
An mighty burst of air slammed into his back, knocking him through a concrete wall. Cursing himself for allowing himself to be caught off guard, he pushed himself up from the wooden floor(he'd somehow ended up blown over a walkway and fallen into a cellar) and felt his anger spike.
Like a coat of armor, thick iron scales covered his skin. So the little blue fairy wanted to have a go at him?
She had managed to drag her teammates two or three blocks away before he caught up to her. Oh, he'd given her time. Time enough to let her foster some kind of hope that they had escaped, that she had miraculously injured him enough that he wouldn't pursue them.
Keep dreaming, little fairy.
She sensed his presence before he made himself seen. Her chest heaved, betraying how exhausted she was as she stood in front of her downed teammates. The dragonslayer was mildly impressed; that girl probably had more balls than her two lapdogs combined.
He paced towards her, fully aware of the terror he evoked.
A swift movement, and with a flick of her arm a gout of flame shaped in the characters for 'fire' hit him head-on. The attack did little more than singe the front of his shirt.
She threw spell after spell at him, forming spells so rapidly her fingers blurred. He advanced on her, raising a scaled arm and blocking each attack effortlessly. Soon her attacks grew weaker, so when he finally loomed over her, her hands batted uselessly at his hard chest. He tilted her chin up with one hand, pulling her against him with the other as her legs buckled from beneath her.
"Just give it up," he said quietly, forcing their eyes to meet. "Believe me, this will hurt a lot worse if you resist." His hand slid down to trace a pattern on her soft stomach.
"N-no!" Her fingers rapidly formed a sign.
And the world lit up.
Lightning in its purest form flowed from her fingers, engulfing the both of them, sending a painful shock through their bodies. He barely managed to hold back from yelling out as electricity wracked his body. Metal is a superconducter- his body was one, big lightning rod, and since he was wearing his scales, it guaranteed that EVERYWHERE hurt like hell. The dragon slayer barely managed to stay on his feet.
For the four or five seconds the attack lasted, the fairy wailed soundlessly as she was subject to the effect of her own spell. Completely worn out, she slumped in his arms.
He stared down at her, stunned. He'd only been going to tattoo his guild mark on her stomach-leave a mark, to make sure they wouldn't forget him anytime soon. But to pull a bitch move like that?
It did not matter that he'd judged Levy at face value, that he'd taken it upon himself to ambush her team while their backs were turned. It mattered not that he was twice her size and easily outclassed her and her partners ten times over.
He'd been generous enough to give her an easy way out, yet she still screwed him over. He knew his limbs would hurt for days afterward. As for right now...
Panic flared in the girl's eyes as he seized her by the throat, squeezing painfully. Her tiny hands batted feebly at his much larger ones as he dragged her into an alleyway and dumped her on a pile of rotted planks.
"What are you going to do to me?" Her big brown eyes stared up at him in the dark, her voice cracked, broken.
He leaned closer, hearing the hitch in her breath as whispered, mockingly, in her ear.
"The question is...what am I not going to do to you?" He drew a clawed finger down the side of her face, a thin, wet line of red following in its wake. He drew back a fist.
A son of Metallicana was sure to be crude. Rough around the edges, stubborn, grouchy, eager to battle. All qualities of the Iron Dragon himself. But Metallicana was never cruel. At the back of his mind, as he straddled the fairy and punched her in the face, stomach, everywhere over and over again, as her blood began to seep between his fingers, forming a sticky puddle on the cobblestones beneath them, he knew that if Metallicana caught him doing such a thing, to any innocent creature, the dragon would have killed him immediately.
Immediately.
When he was done, and the girl's breathing was nothing more than a shallow intake of air every few seconds, he allowed himself to move away from her still form. He'd gone easy on her, he told himself. If he had struck with his full strength, even once, she'd have been dead by now.
She put up no resistance as he remolded iron around his arm and heated it up(all dragons were capable of producing their own heat) until it glowed red hot. Her breathing remained weak but steady as he pressed the brand onto her creamy stomach, just hard enough so the Phantom Lord symbol would show through without harming her insides.
Levy was past the point of pain.
Her eyes were open, staring sightlessly at what little could be seen of the night sky in the narrow alleyway.
Gajeel turned away. There was still something he needed to do, to draw out the Fairies' anger once and for all. He hadn't forgotten the other two.
"Don't...hurt...my nakama..."
His jaw tightened. Staring stiffly ahead, he growled. "A little too late for that, isn't it...Shorty?" Her eyes closed.
"Monster..."
He managed to drag her and her guildmates to the busiest spot in Magnolia, the market square that was by the town's largest park. It took a while to position the bolts right, but the overall effect satisfied him. Three unwilling sacrifices, crucified to a tree for all of Magnolia to bear witness come morning.
There was a first for everything.
For as long as Levy could remember, Makarov had been a father figure to her. Of course, he had an entire guild with numerous other orphans to manage, but he was always able to make time for each of them. Along with Wakaba and Macao, he had been the one with the biggest hand in raising her.
The day Gajeel joined the guild, Makarov had taken her aside and told her, quietly but firmly, his reasons for allowing him to do so. All valid reasons, she supposed, yet feeling the keen sting of betrayal at the same time. So he believed Gajeel was simply a young man lost in darkness? Had he any idea what he'd done?
"He has a promise to keep," Makarov replied when she voiced her concerns out loud. "Trust me."
For the first time, she felt nothing but hatred for her guild master. And that in itself terrified her. It hurt, knowing that he sought to help the very one that had hurt her in the first place. Was he hoping Gajeel would miraculously turn over a new leaf?
She took a deep breath, stilling her rapidly beating heart as she stepped out of the communal bathing area in Fairy Hill's. Coincidentally, most of the other females mages were out on missions. Erza and Lucy and Juvia had gone off with Natsu Gray and Happy, while Bisca was sharing a mission request with Alzack.
Putting her hair up in a loose tie, she dried herself as best as she could, avoiding her bandaged stomach. Normally, her healing scar would have had to be redressed if it got wet, but fortunately Porlyusica was skilled enough to produce waterproof bandages. Pulling on long bathrobe that reached below her knees, she walked back to her dorm, comforted by the thought of reading a novel Lucy lent her. It was a warm night, so she stepped out on her small balcony for a breather.
Magnolia was a beautiful region, and not for the first time did she thank whatever powers there were that allowed her to live such a good life. Sure, she lost her parents at an early age, and had spent a few years in an orphanage, yet what did she have in return? An amazing Nakama, two team mates for whom she would die, and the fortune of having been brought up in a place full of good, decent people.
Once again her thoughts turned to Gajeel, and she frowned. What happened to him after he lost his father? What could have turned him into the ugly individual he was now?
She sighed and went back inside, failing to notice the pair of blood red eyes gazing up at her from below.
I hope this started out well; R & R would be appreciated! T^T Reviews make me motivated to write more :)
Please note-I may be changing my name in a few months.