The Laughing Man

by Nine By Two

Something from a short story has jumped out of the pages of its book without anyone knowing. But why does it have to terrorize an innocent household? Upon reminding Levy that she owes him a favor, Gajeel takes her and Lily along on a job to find out what exactly it was that got into the house. Suspicion and confusion grow as they try to figure it out. (Rating may or may not change)

1. Introduction

I can't smell him… Gajeel thought as he grew anxious. The rustling of the grass and the breaking of twigs under his pursuer's feet were audible from Gajeel's hiding spot in the dark forest.

What does he want?

Gajeel could hear slightly echoing chuckles from a good forty meters away; ones that he had heard before. The faint chortles sounded like those of an energetic maniac who couldn't wait to twist a knife into the mage's vulnerable stomach again. The iron dragon slayer at the moment was holding his breath and praying that he wouldn't be found. His rapid heartbeat sent waves of nervousness all throughout his body, and for the first time in years, he was scared. Did Levy manage to get any information out of their hostage, though? Hopefully she was still safe and sound back at the-

"Gajeel?"

His heart stopped. That's Levy's voice…

"Gajeel, answer me! Where are you?" she called out. He was so nervous that he couldn't even smell her. He was about to get up from the shrub he was hiding in to look for her until he saw her standing just a few meters in front of him. The two made eye contact for a brief moment as Gajeel motioned for her to be quiet, because something was following them.

Then everything became quiet. The wind no longer blew, the birds no longer stirred. Levy no longer talked and the stalker was no longer heard. Gajeel reached his hand out for Levy to pull her into the shrub with him. He extended his arms out to her. She then looked straight into his eyes with a sudden realization:

Something was behind her.

Everything after that went by much faster as Gajeel saw a maniac's wide-eyed, yet masked face just behind the girl that he wanted to keep away from harm.

"No…"

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A/N: I start off with a preview because 1: I need to get myself motivated to write more (although I have the entire story already planned out), and 2: to give you guys a heads up on what this story is about.

You don't have to, but I strongly recommend you read the short story called The Laughing Man by J.D. Salinger. It's only about 5k words so it's not too bad!

If you need help finding it online, search "The Laughing Man Online Text" into Google, and click on the link from ae-lib; it should be the first link to show. This story is originally from the book called Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger.

I know it sounds annoying to look up another story just to read this fanfic, but I hope you guys stay in touch! I will update soon :)