As the earth around her quakes and burns, all Levy McGarden can do is close her eyes and wonder how it all went wrong.
It was supposed to be a simple job - an easy one - but then again, that's how it plays out in all the stories, isn't it? What seems simple is suddenly very not, and the world is flipped around without warning.
A warm, heavily calloused hand wraps around her own, and something rights itself within her. She opens her eyes to see Gajeel standing next to her, a dark scowl on his face, pierced brows drawn together in both anger and determination. Small cuts litter his arm; blood oozes down his cheek from a gash on his temple. He's taken the brunt of the hits for her, because his body is built to withstand the attacks she cannot.
She hates it.
"You alright?" he grunts, gaze still fixed ahead.
"Fine," she says, heart pounding in her throat as she watches the mage in front of them. He's smirking, arms crossed and eyebrow raised, but he doesn't move, electing instead to simply watch as they collect themselves. He's toying with them, so confident is he in his victory. Anger boils in Levy's stomach. "We can't let this keep going, we have to stop him now."
Gajeel snorts. "I know that part, shrimp. Whaddaya think I've been doing all this time?"
Unnecessarily worrying about me, she thinks, but instead she says, "I have an idea." It's risky, it's probably foolish, but there aren't many options left. "Do you trust me?"
He sends her a sideways glance, then looks back to their opponent. "Kinda question is that?"
His response unsettles her. His fingers tighten around hers.
"Do it," he says. "I trust you."
The words seem to echo in her ears, growing louder and louder until they drown out the deafening rhythm of her own pulse. She grips his hand tightly and reaches out with her magic, asking quietly, Can I?
His answer is immediate: Yes.
Levy's breath is ripped from her lungs as their magics merge, iron and words and metal and language twining together until she can hardly tell one from the other. They are one, thinking and feeling and acting simultaneously. Suddenly, the tide of the battle is drastically turned.
They turn towards each other, their free hands clasping together and extended towards the enemy. Her script pen begins to glow brightly, burning at the touch. Levy can feel something bubbling up within her, something fed by the magic Gajeel is channeling through her. At the same time her own magic is being siphoned away in a powerful cycle that leaves her breathless.
Her pen is vibrating now, aching to release the combined magic bottled within her. Chests expand as they inhale, and together they shout: Iron Dragon Secret Art: Steel Syntax!
Words she has never before seen in her life - yet somehow inherently understands - erupt from the tip of her pen, curling like ribbons around each other. They act under some invisible command, twining together into strong ropes, shooting forward to catch the limbs of their opponent. Holding fast they anchor him, unyielding against his fruitless struggles. He spits curses but Levy's unfamiliar words hold fast, unmoved against such paltry language.
For Draconian is far older than any human tongue.
Levy wants to stop and stare, to marvel at her newest discovery, but the Unison Raid is demanding and drags her along relentlessly. Her wrist flicks sharply and she only half-remembers telling it to do so as the words tighten even further, leaving their opponent helpless against Gajeel's impending strike. He opens his mouth and roars, but instead of iron shards, what leaves his mouth are symbols and letters and runes that twist into a deadly whirlwind that races forward.
When the smoke finally clears away, the enemy mage before them is unconscious, limbs askew as he sprawls across the ground. The air is strangely quiet, punctuated only by the hum of magic in Levy's veins.
They both fall to their knees, their hands sliding apart as the Unison Raid fades into the air. Levy's heart is racing and her ears ring, but that doesn't matter. They're both alive and they've won.
Slowly she looks up to find Gajeel already staring at her, eyes wide and chest heaving for breath. They've demanded much of each other and it shows.
They don't say anything, but they don't need to. They have tasted each other's magic, fed each other's spells, and that is more powerful than any of the words she'd sent spiraling through the air. The space between them thrums with things unsaid, and as Levy takes them in, she realizes two very important things:
They will never go back to what they once had been.
She doesn't want them to.