Gajeel gasped for breaths as he stared at his shaking hands. Raking them through his hair, he clenched his mouth tight. Another one. Another fucking nightmare. This was the fifth one this week. Though he still had them frequently in the past, he never woke up screaming. Was this some sort of bad omen or somethin'? Some sort of premonition? A vision?
Lily slowly got up from his crouching position on the floor, his body shrinking back to its small and travel size. Gajeel sighed and clenched his shaking fists, shaking his head to get rid of the memories once more. Seeing his obvious effort at doing so, Lily held his arms out in a welcoming embrace to cuddle, and Gajeel snorted once before granting the little feline's wish.
Settling back under the covers, he buried his face in the little cat's side, cradling the tiny body in his studded arms. He'd never admit it to anyone else but his cat, but he was truly frightened at night. Nighttime was a time for darkness inside one's heart to creep up on them. Nighttime was when your dreams were invaded by past mistakes and past terrors and humiliations. He was truly, honestly frightened of this time, and it didn't see him getting any rest from it.
Lily, sensing his partner's unease, started humming an Edolas tune for him, one he'd heard many times before from the cat. Hearing it now relaxed him a bit, and he sighed while closing his eyes and holding his cat closer. This made Pantherlily smile. And slowly, they both drifted to sleep once more, only a few hours separating them from dawn.
When Lily woke up, Gajeel was gone once more, the other side of the bed slight warm from the earlier presence of the Iron Dragon. Frowning, Lily made his way to the medium sized kitchen to see a piece of half eaten scrap metal on the dining room table. So he barely ate.
Huh.
Throwing the metal into the cardboard box that held Gajeel's personal favorites, he made his way through the house full of the Dragon's hoarded objects and out of the door, making his way to the Guild.
As he spotted the door, he smelled the alcohol and happy spirits, but a particular scent made him wince as the memories of the night before swirled through his mind. Walking into the Guild, he immediately spotted the sulking Dragon-Slayer sitting in a secluded corner. His eyes were sunken into his face and he seemed pale, the darks bags prominent on his skin. Personally, he thought the man looked like death, and that only made him worry all the more.
Walking swiftly to the I'll man with a concerned frown on his face, he caught Natsu sending his fellow Dragon confused and worried looks, Lucy watching her teammate curiously. Deciding to let the matter be, he walked right up to his own partner, plopping a chunk of gold laced iron on the table, Gajeel's personal favorite.
"You only ate half of your breakfast," the Exceed said in explanation to the Dragon's furrowed brow sent his way. But the man grunted instead, picking it up and swirling it in his grasp, which annoyed the cat greatly. "Gajeel, stop playing with your food and eat it. You need your strength."
The Dragon growled at him, setting the metal down, his fangs bared. The Exceed stared back at him unflinchingly. "I ain't hungry."
The Exeed's frown deepened, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Salamander get up and walk toward them, Lucy and Gray following with questioning gazes. Happy was staring at Gajeel with a pitying expression, and Lily had no doubts in his mind that he could smell the distress.
"OK, Metal-Head," Natsu said as greeting Gajeel growled lowly, his lip curling upward in a snarl. Natsu's frown deepened. Gajeel usually answered back with a type of insult and a cocky smirk to boot, not this. "You gonna tell me what's wrong?"
"And why the fuck would I do that?" Gajeel hissed, shoulders bunching and fists clenching. Every instinct in Lily told him to move, and so he did, flying to the other group. Sensing the danger in the air, other Guild members stopped what they were doing to watch and move away. It was unusual to see the Iron Dragon like this, even when he was the enemy. He always had that smirk. But this was scary, and it was completely unnatural.
Natsu bristled easily, put off by the older man's harshness. He narrowed his green eyes at the red eyes man, taking in his appearance. He sniffed the air, and his head tilted to the side. "They've gotten worse, haven't they?" he asked softly.
Gajeel snarled as he leapt to his feet. Natsu crouched, instinct taking over. Sensing the domineering aura, he took to steps back and Gajeel relaxed a hair, but it didn't make him any less dangerous.
"Don't bother," the older Dragon hissed. Natsu glared at him and took a step forward, only to have Gajeel growl lowly at him. of course the Salamander could tell.
Sarcasm.
"I can smell it, Gajeel, and my nose doesn't lie. Don't bother denying it. They're going to get worse if you just keep suppressing them. I'm just trying to help." And that's when he snapped. Natsu mentally facepalmed. Of course he just had to say the thing the Dragon hated hearing the most: he had to get help.
Gajeel roared and leaped over the table to ram into Natsu, who snarled. He was vaguely aware of Lily transforming and herding the Guild members away from the fight. He told someone to get the Master.
Taking advantage of the Flame Dragon's distraction, Gajeel socked him in the face, snarling in rage. Natsu growled and engulfed himself in flames, putting energy into his kick that only sent the iron clad dragon back a few feet. If this kept going, he was going to lose at this rate.
"Listen to me!" Natsu yelled over the growling snarls that emptied themselves out of the other's mouth. "Igneel warned me of this! Didn't Metalicana?!"
And, when the name of Gajeel's father was mentioned, the Flame Dragon saw something he never thought he would. Gajeel collapsed onto his knees, producing the most depressing howl he'd ever heard. It was full of pain and agony and loss, and Natsu finally understood. He understood why the Iron Dragon was acting this way.
Collapsing onto his knees as well, Natsu buried his face into his hands. His shoulders shook, but he couldn't produce the tears. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." he kept whispering over and over. Wendy, one of the only one's who didn't back away in fear, ran over to Gajeel and tackled him in a hug. She started bawling on his shoulder, her fists clenched in the clothing on his back.
"G-Gajeel," she sobbed. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
The Iron Dragon wrapped his studded arms around the girl, burying his face in her hair. Lily walked forward cautiously, the other Exeed's following to run to their partners. Slowly, the Master walked forward, caution on his face as he studied the Dragon-Slayers. He didn't know the half of the epiphany that was the Dragon's, but he could only guess it was something horrible if it brought even the Great Gajeel to his knees.
Hearing the mumbled apologies from the other two, he furrowed his eyebrows. Sensing a presence behind him, he saw Lily at his full size. "I think it's about time you and I talked about you-know-what," the Exceed said, his voice deep and grating with concern. Makarov's face changed instantly.
"That's what this is about?"
"No, but you-know-what is just extra stress that's adding on. You don't know the gist of it," Lily said in a lower voice, the only ones that could hear him the other Dragons and the other Exeeds. Natsu choked on his apologies, bringing his eyes to the pink haired boy. He motioned that it was safe to proceed to the others, and immediately Lucy and their friends rushed to the fallen Dragon.
"I believe that we can't talk about this in here." Makarov walked back to his office, glancing at the raven-haired Dragon before moving on.
Lily walk eds back to Gajeel's side, transforming back to the smaller cat size as he did. He glanced back to Natsu to see his red eyes locked on Gajeel. Slowly, the Flame Dragon stood up and shook off his team, ignoring their incredulous and hurt looks. "Gajeel," he said simply.
The Iron Dragon looked up, and Lily admitted to himself that the man couldn't have looked more pathetic. The whites of his eyes nearly matched the red coloring of his irises, and his cheeks had tear tracks. But the look he was giving Natsu was so unguarded and vulnerable, he almost choked on his spit.
Natsu lifted his hand, and getting the gist of what he wanted, Gajeel reached out and clasped it. Wendy stood with him, never letting go of his other arm. "He would be proud," Natsu said softly, squeezing his hand before dropping it.
Gajeel's face tightened, and he closed his eyes. Opening them he nodded and wiped his eyes, the guard on his emotions coming back on full force. Lily never realized before how necessary the mask was to the man, and couldn't help the relieved sigh that escaped him.
He glared at the members of the Guild, a ghost of a smirk forming on his lips as they flinched and took a few steps back. No matter the show of weakness, Gajeel was still Gajeel, and he'd always be scary.
Deciding it was alright to leave him for a moment, Lily walked to Makarov's office, determination in his steps. He had a little request to make, and he'd be damned if KT wasn't made.
Hope you liked it! Don't worry, there'll be some Levy in the next chapter and a little more explanation of what's going on with the Iron Boy and why Wendy and Natsu are saying 'sorry' to him. Please leave a review! I'd appreciate it!