Sons and Fathers

There was only one thought that occurred to Gajeel that day.

Just how weak of a son he'd raised.

Personally, being raised by a dragon himself, Gajeel never really saw himself as crossing a line. Fathers were aggressive. They were slave drivers. They made you work for every thing you had. They hammered home the hard lessons. And if you got a few cuts and bruises along the way, then well, you could only blame yourself. You needed to be stronger. Plain and simple.

That was just the way it was. And, when he had his first kid and found it to be a son, he figured that things would go much the same for him. Why shouldn't they? Did the boy ever want to be a man? Huh? Then he had to go through the same rigorous training and brutal upbringing that his father had gone through. It was that simple.

To him at least. The boy's mother though? Not so much.

There wasn't a damn thing about Levy that annoyed Gajeel more than when she undermined him with the boy. She did it frequently. Let him go play with the other kids when he should have been working on his magic. Allowed him to also train with Wendy to learn healing magic, with Gajeel had forbid. And if Gajeel even so much raised his voice at the boy, she was always right there to defend him. To protect him.

It was annoying.

And, on that very day, as he stood out in his backyard, his son panting heavily while leaning over and glaring down at the ground, it took everything in him not to strike the boy again.

"Gajeel," he heard then from Pantherlily, who had been standing off to the side, watching the two of them spar. "It has been a long day. Perhaps-"

"Shut it, cat," he grumbled ,advancing on the boy then. "Locke! What was that, huh?"

He didn't even lift his eyes and also didn't answer.

"I asked you a question. What? You think that that was-"

"You said," the boy grumbled then, finally raising his head slightly, "to block the attack and I tried, but-"

"And you think that trying will save you, huh? Out in battle?" Gajeel raised a hand then, as if to strike the boy and Locke easily caught it. With his other hand though, his father struck him in the side of his head.

"Hey!" he growled as he stumbled away from his father, holding onto the side of his head.

"You don't pay attention," he told him simply. "You-"

"We've been practicing for hours! And-"

"And? What kind of excuse is that?" The man snorted. "You think that-"

"Gajeel," Lily tried again. "Maybe we should-"

"I don't want to train with you anymore," Locke spat at his father then, backing even further away from him. "No one else's dad-"

"No one else's dad what, huh? You mean they don't train their kids? What are you talkin' about anyhow? Those stupid little girls that you play with?"

"They're not stupid," he told him with a glare. "And that's the Master's daughter your talking about."

"Fuck the Master. What's Laxus gonna do to me, huh?" Gajeel still just shook his head at him. "You think that he doesn't strike that stupid daughter of his from time to time? 'cause he does. She just isn't as much of a brat as you. Doesn't cry about it."

"I don't cry about it!" he said though his eyes were beginning to well up then. They weren't tears those. They weren't. Honest. He just… It made him so mad! When he did good all day, went running with his father, did all his pushups and sit ups, but the man still wasn't satisfied. Because he didn't have the stamina that he wanted. Of course he got tired after awhile!

"You sure look like you're crying now."

"I'm not," Locke insisted. And he wasn't. It was just when he got mad and couldn't let it out that sometimes, well, his eyes would just water was all. His mother told him that it was his adrenaline. That was all. He shouldn't let it bother him or let other people make fun of him.

"It just means that you get passionate about things," Levy would always say. "That's all. So don't worry about it. And don't let the others tease you about it. They can only dream of having this much drive inside of them."

But his father didn't see it that way. Not at all.

He saw it as weakness. He saw nearly everything Locke did as weakness. He said so enough.

Sure, there were times, especially when he would go out on jobs with him, that he'd get happy with him. When he thought that he saw some of himself in the boy. But in the next instance, he'd see him hanging around the other slayers children, all girls, and it'd get him pissed off again.

It wasn't so much that they were girls that bothered him. It was the way that Locke let them treat him. If he wasn't caring for the Master's youngest daughter or goofing off with the Salamander's brat then he was letting the elder Dreyar girl boss him around or kick his ass in a battle.

There was nothing more that got under Gajeel's skin than watching his son get his ass handed to him by a little girl. It was his blood running through the boy's veins, but he'd much rather dwindle his days around, playing with the other children, instead of learning how to lead them. Or just fucking beat them. At everything.

Gajeel liked the latter better.

"You are," Gajeel retorted then before spitting on the ground at his feet. "You wanna be a little kid? Go run to your mother then. Or no, better yet, go run to Wendy. Wanna learn some more damn healing magic? Huh?" Then he snorted. "You'll never be a real mage, will you?"

That was another major point of contusion. Locke showed little interest in learning magic from his father. At all. He'd even told him to his face before that he'd rather learn a support magic than a purely offensive one.

And that pissed Gajeel off too.

The boy looked so much like him. So much. But he had the heart of a woman. He didn't like to see people hurt. He just liked to help people.

Gajeel hated that. With a passion. He wanted his son to want to be like him. No, to actually be him. Done to the very core. He wanted him to take over where Gajeel left off. To be feared. Exalted. Remembered.

But all the brat wanted to do was learn how to heal the sick and weak.

It was despicable.

"Maybe I will," Locke was saying then, glaring right back up at his father. "Your magic sucks anyways. I hate it. And…and…" Staring him dead in the eyes then, the boy said, "I hate you."

Not breaking the stare, Gajeel said right back, "Good. I hate you too. You worthless little runt. Get out of my sight."

He ran away then too, back up to the house, as Gajeel just stood there, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm back down.

"You shouldn't have done that, Gajeel." Lily was coming over to him then. "He-"

"He'll be back," he said simply. "When he's done crying. And he'll apologize and we can get back to-"

"He's going to go-"

"Go where? Huh? Levy's out on a job and-"

"Levy got back, earlier today, while you and Locke were out training," Lily told him simply. "She's been in bed, napping. He is going to go wake her up and tell her that you-"

"Why didn't you say something sooner, cat?" Gajeel growled at him then. "Now I'm in trouble!"

"I tried to warn you," Lily remarked. "And besides, you should be ashamed of yourself regardless. You have been hard on the boy the entire time Levy has been out. He did as fine today as he done every other day. Especially considering you've kept him from his friends all week-"

"I gotta be hard on him," the man retorted. "The woman sure ain't. He's turning into-"

"He has done nothing wrong. You punish him for what? Not being you? Thank the heavens."

"Watch it, Lily," he grumbled. "I like you, but-"

Shaking his hand, Pantherlily said simply, "You want too much. I tell you thins frequently. You cannot force a child to want something they do not. If he rejects your magic, shoving it down his throat won't make him take it. He-"

"All the other slayers' brats-"

"They are all different," Lily said. "Their fathers are different from you and their children are different from Locke. For one, Natsu would never raise a hand to-"

"And he's raised a weak, sniveling daughter because of it."

"Then Master Laxus-"

"Master my ass," Gajeel retorted, not in the mood for anything that day, it seemed. "He inherited that guild due to bloodlines and nothing else! And if Locke doesn't get stronger, his rotten daughter'll do the same. It's sick. She-"

"You know what she does, Gajeel? Trains with her father. Reveres her father. She-"

"She does fucking not," he said. "He can't even control her. All he's done is teach her to shoot lightning bolts at the rest of us so we can all grin and pretend like she's so cute. She's not. And if there isn't a single one of us that can put her in her place, Locke needs to. But does he want to train for it? No. He'd rather learn to be her damn slave and heal her and Natsu's brat when they get wounded. Well, I ain't havin' it! I didn't have a kid so that he could grow up to be a coward."

"You were definitely there to conceive the child," Lily remarked, "but how much you had in deciding to have one or even wanting to care for one has yet to be seen."

Glaring at him then, Gajeel started to speak. "You little-"

"He is your son, Gajeel."

"Damn right he is."

"And not mine."

"No fucking kidding."

"But if your goal is to make him resent you, keep going as you are. Rewarding him little and punishing him heavily. It clearly hasn't worked up till this point. Why continue on a path that you know is not-"

"Shut up, cat." Turning then, Gajeel started back up to the house. "Just shut up."

And what was he expecting then, other than for Levy to be sitting there in the kitchen, waiting for him.

Gajeel, always one to think on his feet, tried to act like nothing was wrong. Even tried to act like he was happy to see her.

"Levy," he greeted. "I didn't know that you-"

"Sit."

"I-"

"Sit, Gajeel. Or stand. I don't care," she said as she glared over at him, her face aberrantly darkened in that moment. "But you are going to listen to me."

"Look," he growled then, dropping the cheerful tone and going back to his usual one. "The brat was-"

"He's your son, Gajeel. Not someone for you to toy with."

"I'm treating him like I would a son. What do you want me to do?" he asked her then. "He was crying again, Levy. Crying. And he-"

"He's not crying, Gajeel. He just gets emotional and-"

"Emotions? Water coming from the eyes? Hmmm. Tell me then, how is that not crying?"

"Gajeel-"

"No." He headed over to the fridge. "He wants to be strong? Then he needs to quit running to you when he-"

"You told him that you hated him, Gajeel."

Snorting as he pulled a drink from the fridge, he said, "Yeah, so? He said the same thing to me."

"He's a little boy. He just said it to hurt you. You know that he doesn't mean it."

"Why do I know that?"

Ignoring that, she said, "He, though, doesn't know that you don't mean that. And now you've upset him and-"

"Good! He needs to be upset," his father said as he turned to face her again. "He's taking jobs now, Levy. That's adult shit. He can't just start crying and come running home to you when somethin' don't go his way. He needs to man the hell up. And fast. When I was his age-"

"Guess what, Gajeel? He's not you. And he's not going to be. You had your chance when you were young. And you blew it. You did." Standing then, she turned to walk out of the room. "So get the hell over it already and stop pinning it all on Locke."

"I don't know why we gotta move," the little girl mumbled as she gathered up her toys and started putting them in the boxes her father had given her. "I like it here."

"We did it before you were born too," Happy told her as he helped her out. It was his room too, after all. "And now that Lucy's having another baby, we need more room."

"We weren't ever supposed to stay here long anyways," Lucy reminded as she walked passed, out in the hall. "You know that, Happy. We were always supposed to move somewhere else. We just got comfortable."

Real comfortable. Especially Natsu. At the moment, he was in his and Lucy's bedroom, stretched out on the bed, refusing to help pack.

"Honestly, Natsu," Lucy complained when she found him there. "You can't fight it. You know as much as I do that-"

"I don't wanna leave. This is our home."

"This is a tiny apartment that we're all already stepping over one another in," she said, going to try and shove him out of the bed. "Get up. You can't honestly think that you're just going to lay here forever, do you?"

"I don't wanna move."

"You never do."

Rolling on his stomach then, he grumbled against the mattress, "Can't we just go live in me and Hap's old house? I still go there, you know. Upkeep and all. It's not that bad."

"Natsu, be serious. Please. Just this once."

"No."

"Nat- Happy! Navi! Get the door, please. One of you."

"Don't do it, guys," Natsu called out to them, lifting his head. "It's probably more change. Resist it!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy responded, though Navi just giggled as they heard her run across the apartment and to the front door.

Not a minute later, she was in her parent's bedroom, staring at them with a grin.

"Can I go play?" she asked.

"Navi," Lucy sighed, giving up on shoving Natsu out of bed then. "We're supposed to be packing, remember?"

"Happy can pack for me."

"No, he can't," the cat called out to them.

"Who's at the door, Nav?" Natsu asked, face still planted firmly in the mattress. "Laxus' kids?"

"No. Ravan."

"Yuck." He lifted his head to say that. "You wanna play with him?"

"He's says that we're gonna go get Haven. And then Locke. I don't wanna miss out."

"Yeah, Luce," Natsu agreed. "She doesn't want to miss out."

Rolling her eyes, Lucy said, "Fine. But be home for dinner, okay? And when you do get home, you have more packing to do."

"Okay!"

As she rushed off to get her shoes, Happy flew into the room.

"Lucy, I want to go out too," he complained. She just rolled her eyes.

"You can't."

"That's not fair," the cat insisted. "What about my friends, huh? What if I'm missing out on something?"

"Natsu's here, sleeping, apparently, so you're not missing anything."

"I have other friends, you know!"

But Navi was out the door then, leaving the cat and her parents behind. Ravan's younger brother, Kai, was with him, and he was the only one that really talked the whole time. Navi wasn't really ever sure her position with either of the boys and, considering Ravan was never interested in holding many conversations, Kai just filled the silence himself.

They stopped off at the guildhall first, to drop Kai off, so he could find something to do by himself or his friend Marin, while also picking up Haven, the Master's oldest daughter. She seemed annoyed with them for coming to get her, but there was also no way she'd let them go somewhere without her. Plus, Navi was pretty sure that deep down, she was glad to have someone to play with.

"What are we gonna do?" Navi asked, feeling a little more comfortable then just from being around Haven. "Ravan?"

He hardly glanced at her. "We're gonna take a job and then go get stupid Locke."

"I," Haven began as she headed over to the request board, "will get us a job."

Ravan shrugged. "Even better. You're the one that has all these rules about where you can go and what you can't do."

That was true. Laxus, after caving and deciding to let Haven take jobs alone, had handed down a strict perimeter for said jobs. And if she took one outside of it, she would find her self in loads of trouble.

Still though, that got a glare from Haven. Not that it affected Ravan much. They had come to a shaky truce recently and Navi was just hoping it would continue on into the next day.

Things didn't seem likely though as they set out to Locke's house. Ravan and Haven were picking at one another from the start, as, without Locke there to call for peace, it rarely came. Navi was usually too nervous to challenge Haven on anything and even after a few months she knew so little about Ravan that she definitely wasn't messing with him.

At Locke's house, they all went up to the porch together, but it was Haven that knocked. And then waited. Then knocked again. Finally, the door opened.

"Hi, Locke," Navi called as he stood there, face rather dark. Noting this, she said, "Are you okay?"

"What's wrong?" Haven asked. Then, sneering, she started to say something rude, but he only shook his head.

"My dad sucks," he told them simply. "And I don't want to play today, so just go away. I don't want to go out on some stupid mission or have some stupid fight or-"

"Alright." Ravan wasn't much up for drama when it wasn't his own. Turning to walk off, he said, "Don't cry about it when we have more money than-"

"I don't cry! So shut up, Ravan!"

"I didn't even mean it like that," he complained, glancing over his shoulder at him. Snorting then, he said, "For someone that actually still has a dad, you sure are a big baby about it."

"Shut up, Ravan. This is why no one likes you."

"No one likes me, Haven? Really? If your stupid father wasn't the guild master, no one in the guild would even want you around. You-"

"Why do we always have to fight?" Navi complained softly. Apparently, Locke wasn't up for being the arbitrator that day. "Can't we just-"

"What are you doing, brat?"

Suddenly, it was Gajeel there, behind Locke at the door. He even popped the boy in the head. "Get back to your room. What? You think that I'm going to let you go with your friends after how you acted today?"

Ravan was retreating even further then. He never rightly trusted Gajeel. He kinda spooked him. While he knew the other Dragon Slayers were harmless (the Master was all bark, Natsu was an idiot, and the chick one was just sweet), Black Steel never sat right with him. Almost like someone playing both sides. He could be good, he could be bad. He could flip depending on his mood.

Navi and Haven though had been raised around the man and his tempers and just stared at him. Err, well, Navi did. Haven though had seen enough.

"Why don't you leave him alone?" she complained, glaring up at the man then. Locke even lost his annoyed face then as it turned more to shock. What was she doing? "You always pick on him for no reason. Just 'cause there's no one else afraid of you. But I'm not afraid of you like him. So just stop being mean to him. Or else."

And wasn't that the worst of all? Locke knew he should be glad that Haven was standing up for him (sort of; It was an improvement, anyhow), but he knew his father wouldn't see it that way. At all. Not only did he let the girls run him, now they had to defend him too? What kind of man was he then, if not one at all?

"Go away, Haven," he growled as her as Gajeel just blinked. "I told you that I didn't want to play with you. And I don't need you sticking up for me. So just…leave me alone!"

Her gaze was about as dark as his father's then as she turned rather swiftly.

"Fine. I hope he beats you to death then, Locke. You stupid boy."

Navi just waved at him before running off after her other friends, not saying anything. Ravan was far down the street then and, with one last glare at Locke, Haven set out after him too.

"There," Locke complained, turning then to head back into the house, slamming the door behind himself. "Are you happy now?"

"Stop talking back to me, brat. You-"

"Then stop talking to me! And stop bothering me! I don't care anymore. Just leave alone. You always come and bother me and then act like it's my fault when we fight. If you don't like me, fine. Just leave me alone."

"I never said that I didn't like you, kid, I- Hey! You're not allowed to walk away from me when I'm talking to you, Locke. You know that."

He wasn't walking. He was running. Right back to his room, shutting the door behind him. As if that would keep his father out.

"Locke," he growled as he headed into the room. The boy had already gone over to his bed to lay down, facing the wall it was pressed up against and refusing to move. "Hey-"

"I said to leave me alone."

"You don't command me. You-"

"What do you want then? Huh? You say that you want me to fight you, but when it's not in the way you want, when it's with words and you know you'll lose, you turn on me. Well, guess what? I don't want to play either way. With magic, fists, or words. You win. I lose. Just be happy with that-"

"I ain't ever gonna be happy with you losing, brat. Why would I want you to lose? I want you to win. That's what I'm trainin' ya for! To always win. To actually be able to do things on your own. And be strong. Not follow around all these damn girls and let them control you."

"I like Navi and Haven," he growled, sitting up then so that he could glare at his father. "And Marin too. They're my friends. My best friends. I don't like other kids as much as them. And it doesn't matter to me if Haven's bossy or likes to fight a lot. I don't care that she's a girl either. Just 'cause you do doesn't mean that I have to."

"Don't you get it by now? Having friends gets you nothing. It-"

"You didn't have friends," he said. "You've told me that before. When you weren't with Fairy Tail. Then you got them when you came and you liked it, so you stayed. So how come I can't like it here? 'cause I do. And I like my friends. A lot. And I don't care what you think. I don't even care if you hate me. I-"

"I don't…hate you," his father said then, almost spitting the word. As if it hadn't been the exact one he'd used only hours before. But the time that had past had allowed his anger to dwindle and fall away. Now he just wanted his boy to stop being so pissed at him and go back to admiring him. He liked that aspect of their relationship a lot more. "I'll never hate you. You're my damn boy. Now stop acting like a child and-"

"I hate you," he told him darkly. "I- Hey!"

Gajeel had struck him in the ear. "Say it again."

"I do. I hate- Stop it!"

He'd hit him once more. "Again?"

Locke just held his ear, shifting away from him. "Leave me alone."

"No, brat. You're not going to say that-"

"Why," he hissed, "do you care?"

"Because, you stupid little... You don't hate me," he told him. "And I don't hate you. And… I don't mean to be so hard on you, alright? But I don't know any other way. I want you to get better and this is the only way I know how to do that. To get you there. I want you to be the strongest-"

"I don't wanna be strongest. I just want to go on jobs and hangout with people and have fun."

"Yeah, now, but later-"

"I don't care about later," he told him. "I'll get better at my magic as I go along. You didn't learn it all at once. And… I like healing magic. I like saving. Not destroying."

"Locke-"

"I don't just wanna learn it though," he told his father then, bowing is head. "I wanna learn your stuff too, but… Not just your stuff. I want to learn all sorts of things. And have lots of spells and stuff."

"Then you'll never master anything," Gajeel argued. "You'll just be mediocre. You-"

"Then I won't master anything," Locke said with a shrug. "And I'll be normal. Like you."

"I'm not normal."

"You are normal," he said. "At least you are now. And I wanna be like you. I wanna just go on jobs and come home. I don't wanna be special. I…I just wanna be you."

"I want you to be me too," he whispered, admitting it. The only problem was that he was so caught up in molding Locke into a person that he wasn't any longer that it never occurred to him that the boy had never met that man. Only the one that he'd been for the past few years. The one that Gajeel tried very hard to pretend like he wasn't. He still wanted to be hardcore. He wanted to be feared. Not loved. Not…soft.

But he was soft. For Levy. And he was loved. By her and the boy. And the cat. And he…he loved them too. They were his family. They were all he had. And to think that Locke wanted to be like that, that he could look at Gajeel and actually not admire his strength, but the life he lived in general, it was a little shocking, to say the least.

When he was young, he wanted to be tough. Powerful. He wanted others to bow to him and worship him and he wanted all the control of everything. He didn't want personal relationships. He didn't want friends or family. He just wanted to be feared. An imposing and daunting figure that made others quiver. Not someone's father.

But he was someone's father. He was Locke's father. And that wouldn't change. Ever.

Even when he was pissing the man off. Or doing things that he knew he'd never do. Like letting a bunch of women walk all over him. Allow himself to be weak for them. Even when they butted heads. And especially when Locke was done with him.

He'd always be his boy. Always.

"How was your job?"

"Stupid."

"You think everything's stupid."

The blonde just shrugged as the boy came to sit down next to her.

"Why are you eating outside?" he asked.

"Because," Haven groaned, glancing back up at her house. "Stupid Laxus is mad at me."

"What else is new?" Reaching over, he moved to grab the other half the sandwich on her plate. When Haven moved to hold it away from him, he just made a face.

"I did walk all the way over here just to talk to you," he pointed out.

"You did not."

"Did too."

"So you're no there for anything else? At all?"

"…My mom wanted me to give yours back a book that she borrowed."

She let him have the sandwich anyways. "See?"

"But I only came 'cause I wanted to see you," he told her before taking a bite.

"Why?"

"Because you were all mad at me," he said. "And…I'm sorry. You were just-"

"Shut up. You're so stupid."

He made a face at her. "Fine. Never mind. I won't apologize then."

"Good, I didn't want you to anyways."

"Good."

"Good."

"Great!"

"Even better!"

They were both silent then, glaring out at the neighborhood surrounding them, neither speaking.

"Don't you have to go home now?" Haven complained. Nodding at the book in his hand, she said, "Leave it. I'll give it to my mom."

"I don't have to go," he said simply. "My dad took my mom out to eat. Alone. I think they were fighting. And Lily's at the guildhall, so I can stay."

"Who wants you too?"

Glaring then, he said, "You know, I could just go play with Navi if you're gonna be such a-"

"Navi's moving. You wanna go pack boxes?"

"Beats sitting here with you."

"I did give you a sandwich, you know."

"I know. And I'm thankful. But-"

"Locke!"

The door behind them opened and, of course, Marin came rushing out, grinning at the sight of the older boy. For all the animosity that usually build up between him and her other sister, he rarely did anything wrong to her.

She wasn't alone though.

"He's here?" Locke remarked as Kai came out on the front porch too, grinning at them.

"What did you think I got in trouble for?" Haven grumbled as the boy came to force his way between them and take a seat.

"Boy am I glad to see you," Kai said, smiling at Locke.

"Why?"

"Because we're friends. Right?"

He just stared at him. "Can't you ever eat somewhere else? Other than with Marin and Haven?"

"I could. And I do. After I eat here, I go back to Erza's and eat there too."

Marin just giggled, coming to sit on the other side of Locke. Haven was full on rolling her eyes then.

"Haven said that you didn't go on the job with them," the younger girl said as she stared up at the boy. "Were you sick?"

"No," he said, taking another bite of his sandwich. "I wasn't."

"Did you have the runs?" Kai offered. With a frown that time, he shook his head.

"Did you-"

"He didn't do anything," Haven complained, glaring at each one of them in turn. "What do you guys want?"

"Just to play with you," Marin told her softly as Kai nodded his head. "We get bored all alone."

"We're alone a lot," the boy agreed.

"That's because you're both annoying," Haven said before jumping up and stomping off. "Laxus! They're bothering me. And I'm gonna tell Mom that you made me eat outside. Like a dog."

"Good. You whiny brat."

Once she was gone, Locke finished his sandwich before moving to hand the book over to Marin.

"Give this to your mom," he said told her. "And I'll play with you guys tomorrow, okay? I promise."

"Where are you gonna go?" Kai asked as Marin just looked down at the book, trying to read the title without stumbling over it. "Locke?"

With a sigh, he stretched out his arms some and jumped around before saying, "I'mma go train. Alone."

"Why?"

"'cause," he said, rolling his neck too, as if to loosen up. "That's how my dad trained. And I'm gonna be just like him."

"Oh." Then, because he felt it was important, Kai said, "My daddy was a fisherman. And I'm one too. So me and you are kinda alike, huh, Locke?"

"Yeah," he sighed before taking off into a sprint. "I guess we are."

"I like him," Kai announced to Marin after he was gone who just giggled.

"You like everybody."

"You don't like him?"

"Of course I do," she said, turning then to head back into the house. "Lots."

"Me too. More than your sister."

Well, that was just a given.

Probably some Natsu and Lucy stuff next for this series as well as some more Erza and Jellal. And yeah, Laxus and Mirajane, but when isn't there some of that?