Title: A Dragon's Requiem
Word Count: 1,995
Rating: T
Genre: Comfort
Pairing(s): So... Gajeel-Levy, obviously. The others aren't really named, but I'll tell you anyway because I like them(in order of appearance); Sting-Rogue, Laxus-Freed, Natsu-Lucy.
Summary: Gajeel died, breaking the bond between Levy and himself. But this is really just focusing on how dragons go about comforting one another.
A/N: It's my first PUBLISHED fanfiction(I feel I should stress this)so please don't hate just to hate. Please R&R and all that jazz. However, be warned. This was written in an hour, at midnight, from an idea I got in the shower. It's not perfect, it might not even be great, and I know for a fact there are enough grammatical errors to fill a truck, but just pretend not to notice all that and read it anyway. Or don't. It's really up to you!
I don't own Fairy Tail, nor do I want to. It's more fun reading what Hiro Mashima slaps down, and then spinning magical fanfic fantasies from it.
When a dragon mates, there is no instant connection. No switch is suddenly flicked that magically allows them to feel one another. No, all that comes later as the pair spends their years with one another. There is only a promise. A promise to protect, to love, to cherish. To never stray. To never fade. "Till death do we part" is only an illusion, fleeting words whispered by mortals who can never grasp what it means to have a mate. Because there is no parting, no way out of a mating. Even when one dies, they are tied together. Reborn again so they might seek out their mate in another life.
Yet there is some truth to the connection a dragon and their mate holds. A cross-over of emotions and powers that constantly flows from one body to the other until there is not two souls, but one separated only by physical shells. And those physical shells change over time as the mates grow closer. It is never noticeable at first, unless you look hard enough. The teeth grow sharper, the nails grow tougher, the body just a bit more lean than before, the magical power increases only just. But the real change, the one never realized until a critical moment, is the ability to roar. To call out ones mate; to sing out in joy; or if the impossible should happen, to make the world tremble with pain.
Story actually starting-
He had promised, and a dragon never breaks a promise.
The words repeated in Levy's head like a mantra, over and over until she was sure they were etched into the very cavern of her skull. They had begun repeating themselves the first day her mate, her dragon, had been late coming home from the latest mission. That itself wasn't entirely unusual as Gajeel was often known for letting Levy fret with worry before returning to their small home. He liked to claim that he had a habit of getting lost, but Levy knew better. He just thought her worry was "funny", and her anger was "hilarious", because who'd ever seen a shrimp steam itself?
Yet this time was different. Something was nagging at her conscious, like a fly that was in the other room that could be heard regardless of the wall between. When she reached for it there was a thick mental wall, something she'd never felt before. Levy pegged it down to another annoying hamper caused by her impending motherhood. Yes, Levy was pregnant. Close to do as well if one trusted Porlyusica's word for it. The thought crossed her mind that perhaps this was the real reason for her worry. It seemed unlikely that Gajeel would be late coming back from his latest money gathering venture. About as unlikely as why he would have to leave at all, really.
Levy leaned heavy on her hand as her exhaustion caught up with her from pacing. But she didn't fall asleep, instead she chose to stare at the door with her wide chocolate eyes that refused to blink. Expecting any minute that Gajeel would come sauntering through the door with his usual smug expression. Yelling out I'm home, Shrimp! for all the world to hear.
A cursory glance to her wristwatch told her that it was sometime after one in the morning, but the exact time she didn't catch. Nor did she care to, for that matter. A week. He was a week late and yet no one had bothered to search for him. Levy felt a growl rise up in her throat as worry was overrun by anger. Just as quickly as it had come, though, it faded and her steady mantra began to repeat in her skull.
He had promised, and a dragon never breaks a promise.
He had promised, and a dragon never breaks a promise.
He had promised, and a-
LEVY!
The single, solitary word battered against her mind with a force that left her gasping for breath. In that moment the walls that had confused her broke, mental glass shattering to reveal what was hidden behind it. Pain. So much pain.
Pain that outweighed the force in her mind.
Pain that made the room spin and her vision darken.
Pain that wasn't hers.
Desperately she grasped to something, anything to hold onto as her mind raced to figure out what had happened. Gajeel was hurt. Hurt in a way she wasn't sure she could fix.
LEVY!
The voice was quieter this time, less focused. Fear swamped her, battling for dominance with the pain that was overriding her senses. She tried to think, to breath, to reach out for the mate that wasn't there. "G-gajeel..."
I love you, Levy.
Then darkness overtook her vision and she fell from reality, deep into an unconscious state fueled only by the deep scar that ran down her very soul.
When she finally woke, it was later. How much later she couldn't guess. The sun wasn't up though, so she'd either been out for a few moments- or a day. A tear ran down her cheek, quickly wiped away with a trembling hand. Why was she crying? She couldn't remember that, couldn't remember why she was out, why it was important she did, or why her being felt so hollow inside. So Levy reached for the answers, feeling for her memories of last night.
...Levy.
The word was barely a whisper but it was enough. Enough to bring her back to the feelings of pain. The feeling of the overwhelming presence in her mind fading away for her. Running from their promise. From his promise.
This time, when the tears came she didn't stop them and instead looked up towards the battered ceiling of their small home. Her heart twisted painfully in her chest and each beat felt like agony, yet no matter how thick the flow of tears nothing seemed to ease her pain.
A small spark, a flicker of an impulse shook her body. Her mouth opened on reflex and a low keen filled the room. It wasn't like the roar of battles, that shook even air with its power. Or the siren's call of the mating. It was a long call, gradually building as it continued, that echoed off the stars and the moon in hopes the mates might hear each other. It was a call of longing, of demanding, of begging and pleading for the return of her mate. Her Gajeel.
Every cell in her body demanded his return, even those not fully her own. They called, and called, and sang out from pain in hopes that would draw him again.
When nothing responded her call grew louder, her voice burning with the unfamiliar action. She knew, or at least what was of human of her did, that he would never answer but the dominating part of her, the one that was born from his strength, said otherwise. That a miracle could occur and all would be well.
Instead, across the city, another dragon stirred. Not the one she wanted. But one that would answer her call regardless to offer comfort in this one time, though when daylight came he would never admit it out loud. Not to anyone. It wasn't like they were real friends. But there was a bond regardless, a bond of dragon and their kin. His head fell back and a beam of moon light revealed a solitary scar cutting through his eyebrow before he was once again hidden. His mouth opened and a low growl filled the air, joining with the now high keening sound of her call. It rattled in his chest before it tore through the air, it's purpose only to be louder so she would know she was never alone.
Beside him there was movement, a form of black moving in the darkness before a second voice joined his own. The accompanying growl held a heavy baritone, one that was similar enough to the lost mate that as it echoed through the city, Levy's heart squeezed tighter in her chest. A pair of red eyes peered out into the night as the two dragon slayers, as well as Levy, filled the air with their calls. Two pale hands found one another amongst the covers and held on tightly, stinging with the knowledge it could have been them.
A third voice, cracking slightly with immaturity joined in with the strangers as she too was woken from her slumber. The young blue haired dragon's voice was soft and harmonic, heard only by during the pauses of the older males. She knew Levy. Loved Levy. Loved Gajeel. There was nothing purely instinctual about her call. It was only comfort, and a promise. A promise that when daylight came no matter how far she had to fly, she'd find Levy and heal her broken heart.
Levy's call continued, broken only by the need to breath around the water flowing opening down her face. Even as voices joined her, she continued. She thought she might never stop calling for him, that her voice would continue ringing out un-interrupted. Yet when a deep rumble filled the night sky, she skipped. Wavered just some as her mind registered the new voices.
Spiky blond hair crackled in the empty night sky, the thick body of the dragon slayer half out the window with his need to consol his guide mate. She was his responsibility, his charge, and in some cases, his guilt. No, never to the extent of Gajeel- he would never dream to take the dragon's place- but to the point he could remember lashing out at her, and laughing. As he did to every other member. So his voice carried into the sky, desperate in its call for comfort, for approval, for forgiveness from all the fairies woken by their song. It was a deep sound. Deeper than the males before it, deeper than the males after it. A sound that echoed in the chest of his mate, who moved to stand beside him. Green spilled over his shoulders, temporarily hiding them from the word before a soft call joined. Similar only to the small girl, miles away, in its sincerity and gentle comfort.
It had been only an hour since Levy began her call, an hour since she had begun to release the pain within. Yet the one voice she expected had yet to join in. The one voice she was sure would have been louder than them all. But he did join in, even if it was well after she had expected.
The wild, untamed roar rattled above all the other calls. A brash voice that promised blood, revenge, vengeance, and above all- promised the girl the enemies would burn for taking her mate. It tampered off quickly when a call akin to a howl filled the air, originating from the same area as the roar. The two voices fell into harmony with the rest, though one was quite obviously more controlled. Their owners had walked onto the patio of their home, not caring who saw the brightly burning dragon or his blond vixen of a mate.
Their voices continued throughout the long night, not one ever faltering or fading. They woke the town with their calls, the citizens for once silent over the intrusion. There was an understanding in the grief filled voices that surpassed all logic and reason. Yet the dragonkin did not care for they supported one of their own, they raised her up when she was weak so she could rise again, and as the moon began to lower in the sky and the first rays of the sun were visible- they still called out as though they might just be able to put the small blue Shrimp back together.