AN: I had this random idea for a fanfiction one day when I was going to sleep. And my mind couldn't stop thinking up ideas. Let's see how well this goes. Decided this is going to be a couple of chapter long, anywhere between 3-5. Haven't fully decided how to end it. That's how I write, I write as I go. Always, reviews are helpful! Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or it's characters, Hiro Mashima does.
Levy decided to take a mission by herself for once. There was a perfect mission asking for someone to decipher some ruins in the far regions of Fiore; specifically a script mage, which must have meant they were magic ruins, even better! Luckily she grabbed it before Reid could (he was on a mission with the Laxus gang anyways, not like he could). It paid pretty handsomely, so she didn't want to miss out on this chance on doing something she loved. She broke it to Shadow Gear, and of course they were like the boys she knew, trying to convince her to take them along. She didn't waver in her decision though. She loved her boys like brothers, but there were some times where she wanted to do a mission by herself and this was one of those times. They picked up a mission themselves and decided if she was going on a mission then they would too. The hugged and said their goodbyes and that they would meet the next day (theirs was a two day mission). Levy wasn't sure how long her mission was going to be, but she figured it would be at least a day up to 3 days. She packed for 4 days just in case.
She left shortly after she packed her stuff and it was about an hour and half train ride. She got out and met the person who was in charge of the post for help.
She put out her hand to the young woman with dark green hair, maybe slightly older than Levy herself. "Hello! I'm Levy from Fairy Tail! I heard you needed a script mage for deciphering some ruins?"
The lady smiled in response. "Yes! We are trying to figure out what they are saying and can't seem to decipher it. They are magic ruins, which no one has had any luck deciphering it. I hope you can be of some help!"
Levy smiled in response, "I will try my best!"
"The trail is from here about a 20 minute walk. It leads to the cave were the ruins are. You can't miss it!"
"You aren't coming?"
"I can't really be of much help. Just come back here if you need anything!"
Levy nodded and set out. She got the place to herself! Even better! It didn't take her long to get to the cave. She could already see some ruins at the side of cave. Well this must be it. Before she went in, she dug out a flashlight and turned it on. She walked in to the cave marveling at all the ancient language and carvings on the walls. This was paradise! She found the magic ruin towards the back of the cave and set her backpack down grabbing a book out. She went to deciphering, losing track of time. Once she got it half way done, already 4 hours had passed and the sun was starting to set. Well, she probably should pack up before it got too dark. She started to put her books back in her backpack when all of a sudden the earth starting shaking. She covered her head in case of any falling debris and heard a loud roaring crash. Luckily it was only dust that hit her, but when she could finally see through the smoke. She found the entrance blocked. No! She would not be stuck in here! She started grabbing at the rocks trying to dislodge them. She made a small hole luckily, as she tried to widen it to get out, the rocks fell on her hands crushing them. She cried out in pain. "Solid Script: Slice!" She managed to slice the rocks up, but not before her hands was cut up bleeding. She realized then that there was no way she could get out of here. She all of sudden started smelling mustard gas and knew that she couldn't be in the gas for long or she would die. "Solid Script: Air Bubble!" An air bubble appeared around her head.
She sat down, staring at her bleeding hands. "Think Levy, think!"
She remembered something all of a sudden. Cana gave her a card that if anything should happen, emergency wise, to call her using it. She dug in her bag, cringing because of her hurt hands, and called her quickly. She answered swiftly, "What's up doll?"
"Hey Cana! I need some help! I'm stuck in a cave outside of Fiore. I took the mission posted recently on the board asking for a script mage. You should find the location in the saved documents. There is mustard gas in here and I'm using my magic to create an air bubble, but I don't know how long I can keep this up. Please hurry!" she spewed out quickly, trying to reserve all her energy.
"Stay right there doll, we are coming now!"
She hung up before Levy could respond. She kind of laughed slightly. It wasn't like she could go anywhere. All she could do was wait and hope that they got here quickly. She was running out of strength and fast.
Gajeel was sitting at his usual spot at the bar watching the fairy's banter. Natsu and Gray were at it again like usual. Lucy and Wendy where laughing on about their fighting and Erza was eating her cake ignoring them for the time. A couple of stools away was the card mage drinking a barrel of beer like usual. All of a sudden a weird ringing noise caught his attention coming from the mage's way. It was coming from one of her cards which intrigued Gajeel. She answered it swiftly. He could make out the Shrimp's voice on the other end. It sounded like she needed help and fast, from what his hearing picked up. "Stay right there doll, we are coming now!" He was already behind her by the time she got off the card. She turned around and jumped when she saw him right behind her.
"Where is she?!"
"Gajeel, we need a team and a plan. We are going to do this quickly, but I need you to work with me," she said seriously, all her drunk stupor gone.
He growled in response. "Tell me where she is now!"
She sighed in response. She gave him the address. He knew were that was, it was about a 30 minute run for him. He bolted out of the guild. He heard Lily coming in, but ignored him as he ran. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew that it sounded like Shorty was in trouble, and she didn't have time for a 'plan' as the card mage put it.
It had been 25 minutes since she called Cana, and her strength was going. How much longer will they be? She felt her air bubble start to give out. No, she couldn't stop now! Just a little longer! She put her remaining energy in to trying to keep the air from going, but to no luck. She held her breath then. She would not breathe if that's what it took. She held it for a minute, but couldn't hold it any more. She breathed in the gas, and could feel her head get light headed. A minute later, she was trying to focus her mind on to not blacking out. She all of a sudden heard Gajeel's voice yell Shorty, it sounded close yet far away. She tried to yell back, but not sure if her voice came out. That was the last thing she remembered before everything went black.
Gajeel got to the location and could see what was supposed to be a cave, but was covered in rocks.
"Shorty!" Gajeel yelled loudly through the little hole he found gaping through the rocks. He heard her voice very faintly. "Gajeel?" It sounded like she was having trouble breathing. He needed to get in there and fast. He pinpointed that she was far enough away from the entrance he could break it open without any rocks hitting her.
"Iron Fist!"
The rocks came down around him, and he adjusted his eyes to the dust and dim light. He saw her sprawled against the wall, passed out. He went over to her, and saw her breaths come out raggedly. He smelt the gas, and realized that it was a very harmful gas, especially to normal humans. He needed to get her out of here and quick. He carried her out of the cave into the moonlight. She all of a sudden gave a huge gulp of air before her breathing turned to normal. He peered at her hands then and realized they were bloody, probably because of her trying to get out of there. He grabbed at his coat then, tearing it to make it in to temporary bandages. As he tried to gently wrap it around her hand, she stirred. He didn't want to wake her. She sat upright all of a sudden, a confused look on her face? "Gajeel?!"
"Oy, you had the whole guild worrying, Shorty."
She hissed as he continued putting the bandage around her hand, trying to pull it away.
"Dammit, I didn't mean to hurt you. You need to bandage them though. At least until the Shortcake gets here."
She nodded in response and kept her hands out. As he wrapped them, she couldn't stop the tears coming from her eyes from the pain.
"Levy!"
She recognized Lucy's voice pretty easily! "Luce!" She could see her coming up the trail along with half of Fairy Tail. She smiled, she knew she could count on them!
Her smile faltered though when the ground started shaking again. She all of a sudden felt the ground go out from underneath her. She was falling! She tried to grab for something anything! She felt a warm muscular arm grab her then. Gajeel was falling too! He had grabbed her and had her head against his chest, one arm around her waist and the other around her head. She noticed he turned himself so that he would take the brunt of the fall. He had used his magic then making him as hard as metal. She didn't know how long they fell but it felt like forever until they hit the bottom. And the bottom they hit.
"Levy!"
She could hear Lucy's voice, but it sounded like it was miles away. She opened her eyes and trying to adjust her eyes to the little light.
"Dammit, that was one hell of a fall," Gajeel said rubbing his head.
She realized she was still lying on top of Gajeel and blushed scrambling hurriedly off of him.
He shook his head from the dirt, and glanced at her then. "You alright?"
She nodded, still blushing because of the previous close proximity. "Are you okay? You took most of the fall!"
"Gihihihi, that was nothing!" he smirked.
"LEVY, Gajeel, are ya'll okay?!" she realized then that she never responded to Lucy.
"Oy, we're fine!" Gajeel yelled back before Levy could respond.
They all of a sudden heard Lily's voice from above. "I'm flying down to help ya'll!"
All of a sudden they heard a barrier like sound as Lily tried to come down. "What the hell?!" Lily tried to cut it with his sword in big size with no luck. "I'm sorry guys, but there seems to be some sort of barrier, do you think you can climb up?" he yelled down.
Gajeel got up and pulled at a vine hanging down. It would work. "Yeah, I can do that!" He yelled back up!
"We'll be up here for you if you need anything," Lucy yelled back.
Gajeel went back to where Levy was sitting and squatted down, his back to her. She blushed. "It's fine! I can climb up myself!"
He glared at her, "Like hell you can with those hands." That's right, Levy completely forgot about her hands. She really didn't have much of a choice did she? She put her arms around his neck and rested her head against his shoulder, wrapping her legs around his waist. She tried not to think of the close proximity. She could feel her face already heating up.
He started to climb up the vine pretty swiftly, but as Levy looked up, she knew they had a long way to go. "I'm sorry, Gajeel.." she whispered. She hated that he had to do all this extra work for her. If she didn't hurt hands, she could climb up herself.
"Oy, Shrimp, this is nothing. Your tiny ass self weighs nothing. So I don't need a wimpy sorry from you," he answered gruffly as he continued climbing.
Levy smiled against him.
It took them about a minute to near the top. Levy looked up and could make Lucy's, Natsu's, Lily's, and pretty much half of Fairy Tail's excited happy faces to see them. She smiled back. "Almost there!" she yelled out. They were so close!
That's when the Earthland started to shake again. No! Not again! All of a sudden she heard a snap and the vine broke on them. She could feel herself falling and latched on to Gajeel tighter. She heard Gajeel yell out as he made his arm in to a steel sword and punched it in to the side of the wall to stop the fall. They were okay for now. At least that's what she thought.
"What the fuck?!" she heard Gajeel yell out and all of sudden the wall became soft dirt and would not hold them. They started to fall again. Gajeel kept trying to punch the wall, with the same effect happening. Levy knew that they were going back down and latched on to him for dear life and closed her eyes, waiting for the fall. When she felt herself not falling anymore, she opened them. She didn't feel an impact, was she dead? She looked and realized she was still on Gajeel's back, and Gajeel had fully turned into steel to take the brunt of the fall, landing on his feet, causing a huge indignation on the dirt floor. She scrambled off him then, "Gajeel? Are you okay?"
He turned himself back in to normal form and was breathing heavily. He smirked, "I think this place wants to give me a challenge, then so be it. I'll take it on!"
She attempted a smile, but it was more of a forced one. Just like Gajeel. Although for her, she was done with being stuck in small spaces. She imagined for Gajeel, he'd probably be used to it, living in a dragon cave when he was younger.
"Oy, Metalhead, Lev! You guys alive down there!?" she heard Natsu yell down.
"Yeah, we're alive, not thanks to you Fire Mouth!" Gajeel yelled back.
She could hear the smile in Salamander's voice. "Well, I would knock your head in to the wall if I could!" he yelled back.
"Gihihi, I'd like to see you try!" Gajeel yelled back.
Of course it would be Natsu and Gajeel to make light of a situation like this. She shook her head and smiled.
"Alright, you two!" Erza responded. "Gajeel, we know that it is no use climbing up. Is there a path that leads further underground? You might be able to find an exit that way."
Gajeel and Levy looked around, and saw an opening wide enough for both of them. "Yeah, there's a path," Gajeel yelled back.
"Take that. Levy, you still have the card Cana gave you?"
Levy dug around her pocket. She lucked out by putting it in her pocked before she passed out. "I do!" she yelled up happily.
"Good! You can call us if you need anything! We are going to try all our resources on trying to break this barrier. Gajeel! Keep her safe!"
"Oy, you don't have to tell me twice!" he yelled up.
"Come back safe Lev, Gajeel!" she heard Lucy as they started to head to the entrance to the underground cave.
"I will Luce!" she yelled back.
She cringed as they entered the darknes..