Author's note: This one was in my vault of Gajevy stories for quite sometime. I wanted to wait on putting it out but with the war arc coming I felt put it out now! Besides, I've written two stories at the same time before lol. This has to be one of my favorites, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did making it!
I don't own Fairy Tail
Stranded
Chapter 1 :The Storm at Sea.
It was two months; two months since Fairy Tail was revived and boy was buisness booming! Fairy Tail began to recieve more requests than ever since it made it's major return! Levy McGarden, who is Fairy Tail's Solid Script mage and leader of Team Shadow Gear; the backbone team of Fairy Tail was on their way back from a mission on the otherside of the country of Fiore and were on their way to the boating docks.
"I don't understand Levy." Droy groaned "Why do we need to take a ship back to Magnolia?"
"I told you guys." Levy explained "I couldn't get any tickets for the next train to Magnolia. All the train tickets were sold out for today. I can't even rent a magic car because I don't have a driver's license, and I can't get us a carriage because you know me with carriages driven by strangers."
There was a reason all of the train tickets were sold out today. You see, today was Princess Hisui's birthday. Since she is the Crowned Princess and Future Queen of Fiore, her Birthday is considered a National Holiday in the country. Since it is a National Holiday, it's a great excuse for families all over the country to unite for dinner and celebrations, towns to host parades or festivals in the Princess' honor, items with her face and name on it to be sold for big money, it was one of the best days for people in Fiore.
"So we can only get a boat?" Jet asked.
"Afraid so." Levy smiled wearily. They soon reached the dock town of Water Lily, the town was in the middle of celebration of Princess Hisui. The market's selling birthday cakes, special foods and items for little girls to buy and wear or pretend they were her. Shadow Gear made their way through the festival with ease and soon arrived at the docks.
"Excuse me!" Levy would ask some people there "Do you know where I can find a ship heading to Hargeo-" she cut herself off when she realized that no one was listening "Ugh, this is going to take a while."
"OI!" a gruff male voice screamed "Where the hell can I get a fucking ship in this place?!" Levy's eyes widened, she knew that voice. In fact, she knew it very well! Levy looked ahead and found Fairy Tail's Iron Dragon Slayer, Gajeel Redfox along with his Exceed companion Pantherlily speaking with someone who obviously worked at the docks, but Levy noticed something with Gajeel right away; he looked angry.
"S-sir," squeaked the dock worker "I-I'm not sure if any ships are sailing tonight-"
"You sure as hell are gonna figure it out!" Gajeel growled "I need to get back to Magnolia in two days!"
"Gajeel?" Levy called out. Gajeel's ears perked up when he heard that sweet voice. He looked to his right and found Levy along with Shadow Gear walking over to them.
"Good to see you Levy." Lily smiled.
"Shrimp? The hell you doing here?"
"We just got finished with a mission." Jet said for Levy.
"We were going to get train tickets back to Magnolia but all the tickets were sold out." Levy explained "So we came here to get a boat to Hargeon. What about you two? What're you both doing here?"
"Same issue." Gajeel grunted "Problem is, can't find a damn boat."
"I just tried asking around." Levy sighed "No one would listen. I really just want to go home."
"I just need to get back to town..." he looked away for a moment and noticed the dock worker beginning to sneak away "OI! Don't think this means you got the right to run! I want to speak to your captian!"
"I-I'm sorry sir." Squeaked the man. He took his sailor hat off and held it up like a sheild "My Captian isn't anywhere near here!"
"Then how the fuck am I suppose to get back to Magnolia?!"
"You need ta get back teh Magnolia eh?" a gruff voice suddenly called out. Team Shadow Gear, Gajeel and Pantherlily looked to there left and found a middle aged man resting his foot on the side of a barrel. The man was dressed in a Sea Captian's uniform, his beard was black and beginning to gray, he had an eye-patch on his right eye and was missing a few teeth. One of the teeth in his skull was a gold tooth. His left hand was missing but seemed to be haphazardly replaced by a hook while his right leg was haphazardly replace with a peg leg.
"C-Captian Nattojobu!" squeaked the sailor. Captian Nattojobu gave a toothy smirk.
"Aye," he said.
"Oi! Old guy!" Gajeel screamed "You can take us to Hargeon?"
"Indeed. I happen ta be shipping Cargo over to Hargeon's folks. Tobacco, spiced rums, fruits and medicines. Usual for an old sea dog like me. I can give ye and your friends a little lift if ye like?"
"Finally!" Gajeel screamed "A way out of this damn town!" Levy put her arm in front of Gajeel for a moment and looked at the old Sea Captian with all the seriousness she could muster.
"How much do you want per person?" Levy asked. Captian Nattojobu gave her a smirk.
"It would appear to me from the marks on ye," Nattojobu said "Ye are from that Fairy Tail Guild, are ye?" The mages quickly looked at their Guild Marks, Shadow Gear and Pantherlily tried their best though.
"We are." Pantherlily replied "Why do you ask?"
"I always liked ye ban of misfits." the Captian shrugged "Always dremt of joining that Guild in me youth. But I wasn't born with teh Fancy Magic and Teh Sea became my lover; but that never stopped me from liking ya misfits." The Fairy Tail Mages looked at each other for a second; where was this guy going with this?
"So," Captian Nattojobu continued while polishing his hook "I heard ye Guild finally made it's comeback. I knew ye brats weren't going anywhere! So, as my way of Welcoming Ye Back, I'm letting you guys aboard my ship, no charge." The five Fairy Tail Mages eyes widened.
"Thank you!" Droy said.
"Yeah, we owe you one!" Jet smiled.
"Arrgh, no problem." smiled the old Captian "Just keep bein yer crazy selves."
"Captian Nattojobu!" screamed one of the men working the cargo ship "We can't leave port tonight!"
"Arrgh! Why dear boy?"
"There's suppose to be a storm tonight! Any ship going out of Harbor either backed out or can't leave!"
"A-a storm?!" Levy squeaked.
"And not only that," explained the sailor "it's going to be a full moon tonight!"
"Aww crap!" Jet groaned "That just makes it worse!"
"To hell with this storm!" The Captian said "Ye cargo ain't goin to get it's self to Hargeon!"
"But Captian!" screamed the sailor.
"No buts! Ye gonna be yellow bellies, then be that way! I'm taking these mages to Hargeon! Storm or no Storm!" the captian went on the boat followed by the five Fairy Tail Mages. Levy looked behind herself and gave Gajeel a sad smile; it had been awakward for the Iron Dragon Slayer and The Script Mage since Fairy Tail re-united. Levy couldn't put her finger on it, but it seemed that the awkward tension was because of them going back to their old lives. Levy with Shadow Gear and Gajeel with just Lily. Levy admitted it, she was happy to be back in the old grind but Levy did somewhat miss the Magic Council lifestyle.
The afternoon passed with the five mages in the dining quarters. Gajeel's Motion sickness began to get the best of him. Fortunately, Captian Nattojobu had something to cure the DragonSlayer. Some bananas which were known to cure Sea Sickness. After Gajeel ate them and received a hard slap on the back, he felt his stomach was now willing to put up with him. The afternoon drew to an end and finally, the Fairy Tail mages decided to retire for the evening. Captian Nattojobu promised that they will reach Hargeon around 4 PM tomorrow. Each team got their own room where each member got a hammock to sleep in. Unfortunately for Droy, because of his weight, he had to sleep on the floor, but every minute the floor creaked under his weight. Levy slept soundly to the rocking of the ocean and it's waves. Her coos and tiny snores filled the air while she slept and dreamt. Jet and Droy snored away the night until BOOOM! Thunder roared in the night sky. The Shadow Gear mages woke up startled and looked around the ship.
"What was that?" Jet asked groggily.
"I guess it was the storm." Levy replied, a little scared of the dark.
BOOM! all three Shadow Gear members felt the ship tip to the side and hit the opposite wall. Because of Droy's weight, a giant hole formed in the wall which lead all three into Gajeel and Lily's room.
"The fuck is going on?!" Gajeel screamed getting out of his hammock.
"I think the storm is worse than they predicted!" Levy screamed.
"No kidding." Lily said while shaking in fear from the thunder. CRASH! The whole ship shook when they heard the crash, they lost their footing. Unfortunately for Jet, Droy landed on top of him.
"AARRRGHHHH!" screamed a voice from outside "You think you can best me?!"
"I wonder what that was all about?" Levy asked.
"Probably because of my ribs crushing under Droy's weight..." Jet groaned in pain.
"Uhh... Guys..." Lily squeaked while flying up high "Look at your feet!" The mages looked and found water beginning to flow into the ship; the ship was sinking!
The five ran out of the building and tried to reach higher ground of the ship. The storm was horrible; the winds had to be close to 90-100 miles an hour, the rain was pounding on the mages and the waves were crashing against the ship.
"Ye, think you can best me Nature?" screamed Captain NattoJobu "I'm the Captain of this fine vessel. It will take more than one storm to knock me down!" Levy dashed from her spot and ran up the stairs where the the wheel was.
"Captain!" Levy screamed while trying to move him away from the ship's wheel "What're you doing?! We need to get to land!"
"Forget that ya mummblin Chihuahua! Ye getting to Hargeon, even if it means me last breath!" The ship hit a rock that sent the ship tilting upwards; everyone aboard the ship grabbed their best to grab a hold of something to keep them from falling.
"Abandoned Ship!" someone screamed. A few of the men on board let go and fell into the ocean.
"NO!" screamed the Captain "Not until we get to Hargeon!" Gajeel, who used his magic to create spikes protruding from the heels of his feet so he could stay in place,felt horrible. Yes, he really wanted to go home so bad, and because of that, he failed to realize one and only thing about Captain NattoJobu; he was mentally insane.
"Lily!" Gajeel screamed "Get Levy and the rest of Shadow Gear! We gotta find dry land!"
"I would Gajeel." Lily whimpered while holding on for dear life "But if I activate Aera, I could get blown away in this wind; even in Battle Form! Not only that, I can't carry that many people! Especially someone of Droy's weight."
"I heard that!" Droy screamed.
BOOM! Thunder crashed and it scared Lily even more. Gajeel rolled his eyes, leave it to Lily's fear to take place in a time of need.
"Guys!" Droy screamed "I can't hold on much longer!" Droy suddenly felt the piece of wood he was holding onto break, and suddenly fell into the ocean.
"DROY!" Levy screamed.
"There goes a brave man." the Captain said while taking his Captain's hat off in mourning; believing Droy to be dead.
"Old man, you're off your rocker!" Gajeel screamed. He never truly cared much for Droy or Jet but seeing this crazy go to great lengths to do his job, and even let a member of a Guild that this Captain claimed to admire, just made him sick to his stomach. This guy would of been kicked out of Fairy Tail the first moment he did something this crazy had he joined.
"Arrgh." sighed the Captain "The sea is a cruel mistress. She's claimed another, but I won't let her get in the way of our mission." Levy looked at him with pure-blooded anger.
"You're just going to let him die when he could still be alive?!" she screamed "YOU SICK TWISTED FUCK! I THANK GOD YOU'RE NOT A FAIRY TAIL MAGE!" The Captain ignored Levy's words. The ship tilted farther and father into the air before long, Captain Nattojobu lost whatever footing he had and fell into the ocean; never to be seen again.
"ABANDON SHIP!" screamed one of the ship men. Each person began to let go of their hold on the ship and swam away from the sinking ship.
"Gajeel!" Levy screamed "Guys! I-I can't hold on any longer!" Levy felt her fingers beginning to grow numb and fatigued from pain. One by one, each finger slipped before finally, Levy fell into the Ocean.
"SHRIMP!" Gajeel screamed. Without thinking, Gajeel let go of his hold on the boat and fell into the ocean.
"GAJEEL!" Lily screamed he tried to activate his Aera to get his friends back, but because of the wind, Lily was thrown back and into the ocean.
Levy popped up out of the water and felt Gajeel's strong arms around her.
"You ok Shrimp?" he asked.
"Y-yeah." she squeaked. Levy suddenly noticed a large title wave coming their way "Look out!" Gajeel grabbed Levy, covered her mouth, took a deep breath and dove underwater where they felt the force of the wave push them somewhere. When they went up for air, Levy noticed three figures in the distance; it was Lily, Jet and Droy.
"Guys!" she screamed.
"Levy!" they called out. Levy tried to swim over to them but the waves hit her and Gajeel, sending them back farther then they already were.
"GUYS!"
"Levy," Gajeel said sternly to her. Levy looked up at him with concern and confusion "There's no point. I'm sorry Levy; they're gone. We can't reach them no matter how hard we try." Levy felt tears well up in her eyes, she pulled Gajeel closer to her and cried in his already wet shoulder. Gajeel, not knowing what to do, just held her close in his arms and did his best to comfort her.
For the rest of the night, they traveled through the sea. The storm had stopped and the sea had calmed down. Levy and Gajeel, feeling the nights events finally taking their toll on them, fell asleep still in each other's arms. The current took them both south of Fiore and around four in the morning; the wave of the ocean washed them on the shore of an island, where they spent the rest of the night on the beach, unknown of their situation and the story that was to unfold.