One:
"What the hell is everyone so damn hyper about?" Gajeel snapped, looking around the guild hall with a sour look. The guild was a lot louder than normal, and everyone was grinning about something. "What the hell did I miss?"
"I'm not quite sure," Pantherlily said pressing a paw to his chin in thought. He was sitting cross-legged on the table in front of Gajeel's bowl of metal. Gajeel sighed, and bit the end of a screw off.
"I don't know if I really care, but this fuss better be worth the headache it's giving me," he snapped. Lily sighed but said nothing more as his paw dropped to his lap.
Gajeel let his eyes scan the guild hall once more before he decided he really didn't care what was going on. He tossed the screw back into the bowl and stood, earning a curious glance from Lily.
"Are you going home?" the dark furred exceed asked.
"I was hoping it was going to be quitter than this place," he said. Lily chuckled once and nodded.
"Fair enough. I suppose I'll see you later then," he said. Gajeel nodded a little and started for the door, with an unintelligible grumble.
As he had almost reached the door he felt something smack into his side. He let out a growl, and looked at what, or who, had run into him and he cut off mid growl.
The girl next to him had to be no taller than Levy, and at the moment she was biting her lip nervously. She was sickly thin, and pale white, as if she had never seen the sun. Looking at her face she did look sickly, and her blue eyes were nervous and apologetic. Her black hair looked dull and had been cut unevenly short.
Gajeel also noticed bandages on her arms, and on other various visible parts of her body. She wore a simple black dress that barely reached her knees.
"I-I'm s-sorry!" she stuttered, looking at the floor quickly, wringing her hands in front of her. "I-I wasn't w-watching where I was g-going…"
Gajeel almost came back with a smart remark but something about the girl made it impossible for him to. Instead he just looked away and sighed.
"Don't worry about it…" he grumbled. "No harm done…"
That seemed to make her feel a bit better, as she attempted a small smile. As he shifted his gaze back over to her he noticed how much that simple action brightened up her features.
"I'm um…" she looked away nervously as she spoke. "I'm Ravyn," she finally said. "Uh, Ravyn Fullbuster…"
Gajeel raised a studded eyebrow. "Fullbuster? You ice head's little sister or something?" The girl nodded.
"Um yeah," she said, looking at her feet, a small blush coming to her cheeks.
"I thought all his family died," Gajeel said crossing his arms. The girl jumped a bit.
"Um, I was um… Taken from my family when I was five…" she said quietly. That made a bit more sense. "I was um… captive in Raven Tail until a few days ago," she explained. Gajeel sighed a little bit again.
"That guild is full of nothing but morons," he growled. "They'll get theirs one day… How the hell'd you get out?"
"Um… One of the members helped me um… escape…" She said. "I think his name was Jellal or something…" Gajeel seemed surprised.
'Ain't that Titania's little boyfriend or something?' He thought to himself.
"How'd you end up here?" he asked, leaning against a wooden column.
"I was um… wandering through the woods, and um… Gray-nii and his team found me I guess… I don't really remember them finding me… All I really remember is waking up in their camp," Ravyn said, looking away again.
"So I see you found Gajeel," He looked up to see Gray walk up and put a hand on Ravyn's shoulder. She looked up at him and then back at the iron dragon slayer.
"You're Gajeel?" she asked. When he nodded she seemed confused. "You're not as mean as Natsu-san said you would be…"
Gajeel had to laugh at that one.
"Salamander's an idiot," he said, chuckling as he shook his head. Ravyn bit her lip again. "Don't listen to him," Gajeel said before walking out of the guild.
Gray sighed. "Wow…" He shook his head as Ravyn turned to him. "Don't listen to that," Gray said, gently squeezing Ravyn's shoulder. "They're both pretty crazy but…" Gray shrugged. "As long as Gajeel isn't being a jerk you I don't see why you couldn't hang out with him if you wanted," he said. "Same thing with Natsu." Ravyn nodded a little.
"Um… Okay," she said. Gray smiled a little.
"Come on, before Natsu comes after us," he said. She nodded again and followed him back over to the bar.
XxX
"So what do you think of the new girl?" Gajeel looked up from where he sat on his couch to the dark furred exceed that hovered in the air in front of him.
"What do you mean?" he asked confused.
"I saw you talking to her. You actually smiled. Hell, you laughed Gajeel. And you just met her," Pantherlily said. Gajeel chuckled and shook his head.
"She reminds me of Levy," he said. Lily nodded.
"Is that all?" Lily asked as he landed on the couch next to Gajeel.
"What do ya mean is that all?" Gajeel asked, giving his exceed a look.
"Nothing," Lily said with a smirk. Gajeel gave him a warning look.
"Yeah, okay, whatever," he said looking away. His head shot up again as he heard a knock on his door.
"Yeah?" he called.
He heard the door open, and his eyebrow raised until he say blue hair come into view. A small smile came to his face and he sat back.
"Hey," Levy said with a smile, petting Lily as she stopped next to the couch.
"What's up?" Gajeel asked.
"The guild is going to the beach tomorrow, and I wanted to know if you were going too," Levy said, sitting down on the edge of the couch. Gajeel shrugged.
"I dunno why I should," he said.
"Oh, please? Gajeel, come on," Levy pleaded. He sighed. "Gajeel, please?"
He sighed again. "Oh fine, only because you asked," he grumbled. She grinned.
"Yay! Thank you!" She jumped to her feet and clapped her hands in delight. He had to smile a little bit.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't mention it," he said, waving it away. She smiled still.
"Alright. I have to go though. I'm staying at Lu-chan's tonight, so I'll see you tomorrow!" she said, waving and then hurrying out. Gajeel sighed again.
"If you don't want to go, then why did you say yes?" Lily asked. Gajeel sighed.
"Dunno," the iron dragon slayer mumbled. "I just can't tell her no," he said.
Lily smirked a little. "I wonder why?"
Gajeel glared at the dark exceed. "Shut the hell up, Lily," he said. Lily's smirk widened.
"Whatever you say, Gajeel," Lily said.
XxX
"Whatcha reading?" Levy looked up from her book and smiled.
"Took you long enough to get here, Gajeel," she teased. He shook his head and dropped down onto the sand.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," he said. She smiled at him as Wendy ran over to them.
"Hey, what's up Wendy?" Levy asked the forlorn girl.
"Carla and I are trying to build a sand castle, but people keep knocking it down," she whimpered. Gajeel frowned and jumped to his feet.
"Come on," he said, gently taking Wendy's arm and leading her back to where her sand castle lay wrecked.
"Hey!" he barked at the guild members that were screwing around close to where the remains of the castle lay. "Go fuck around somewhere else!" He snapped. They looked at him and hurried away. Wendy grinned.
"Thank you Gajeel!" Wendy said happily. Gajeel smiled a little as well. He looked around the beach and he could see Gray down the beach, teaching Ravyn to swim, while Natsu and Happy splashed around nearby them. He shook his head and sat down across from Wendy as she started to rebuild her castle.
XxX
"God, you swim better than I do," Natsu said, teasing Ravyn yet again. Today she wore a frilly black two piece. Gray shook his head.
"That's because you never tried," he said. Ravyn smiled a little.
"Well, I'm heading in," Natsu said.
"Aye!" Happy cried. Gray sighed a little.
"I actually have to agree, I'm getting kind of hungry," he said, stretching. "You coming Ravyn?" She shook her head a little.
"Can I stay out a little longer?" she asked, biting her lip.
"Just don't go out too far," Gray said. She nodded and smiled a little. He ruffled her hair, before heading to the shore with Natsu and Happy.
Hours went by, and everything seemed alright, until the waves started getting rougher and the sky started to darken.
"Hey! Ravyn!" Gray called, standing at the shore. "You should probably start coming in! It's gonna storm!" he called. She looked up and nodded, slowly starting to come closer to the shore.
Gajeel looked out towards the waves, noticing how much bigger they were getting with every second. And suddenly something hit him.
Ravyn wasn't going to make it.
"Wendy, take Carla and go to the others," he said standing. Wendy looked up worriedly, but nodded and picked Carla up, running farther inland. As Gajeel turned back towards the water he heard Ravyn scream as a wave hit her and pulled her under.
"No!" Gray screamed. He was about to run into the water when Gajeel shoved him back.
"Have Juvia control the waves!" he yelled, running full speed into the water. Gray hesitated just a moment before turning around, just as Gajeel disappeared beneath the waves.
'Don't let him be too late…'