AN: I wrote this ages ago for FT Angst Week and I uploaded it to tumblr so if any of you follow me you may have already seen it but, I really like this story and I haven't updated here in awhile (I will work on that I swear) so I hope some of you enjoy this too! :)
He was laughing at her. She couldn't believe it, in the midst of battle he had the audacity to laugh at her. Oh his iron supply was so going to be cut off if he wasn't careful. And then where would he be? Out of magic because he stupidly wastes energy on big, high power attacks just to prove how strong he was because Mavis forbid anyone assumed Natsu Dragneel was still stronger than the great Black Steel Gajeel.
"Oi you don't laugh at your pregnant girlfriend," Levy scolded as she landed a solid kick to her opponent's stomach followed up by a healthy dose of bees to the face. Nothing kept people down quite like bees to the face.
Gajeel lifted his opponent by the collar and gave him an iron fist to the face before her words registered. "What do you mean pregnant!?" He yelled.
"Oh no!" Levy ducked under her opponent's punch and spun round him landing four kick succession punches down his spine that left him crumbling to the ground. "I was waiting for the right time to tell you, this wasn't what I had planned at all."
"You're serious?" Gajeel pushed two oncoming mages away with his extending iron arm, "I'm going to be a dad?"
"And I'm going to be a mum!" Levy wished she had taken any other moment to tell him just so she could fully appreciate the way her stoic boyfriend was smiling, and was that a tear? She'd have to appreciate this moment before the teasing set in. He already made enough jokes about her size just wait until she was blown up like a balloon he'd have a field day. She needed some ammunition to throw back at him, although she wasn't sure she could tease him about crying over the news it was too precious.
Gajeel's warning came just a split second too late. Levy screamed and stared in horror at the knife jutting out of her thigh.
"Try yer fancy dancy fighting now bitch," the mage who spoke held two more knives between his fingers and a lethal looking staff was strapped to his back. From his muscle tone, the confidence in his stance and the knife embedded in her leg, he knew how to use them.
"I don't need to hit you to fight you," with two quick swipes of her hand the mage was engulfed in flames.
Gajeel took out one more mage with his sword. He looked around and saw the fallen mages around them. Thankfully it was over. He loved a good fight but he wanted Levy far away from any fighting from now on, he wasn't putting their child at risk. Once he became a father he was going to have to calm down as well, he knew the pain of growing up without a father and he would be sure not to put his kid through the same thing. That wouldn't stop him from beating up the Salamander though.
He moved towards Levy hoping to gauge the severity of her stab wound. Knowing how dangerous a wound in her thigh may be. The look on her face told him that she was in severe pain despite the way she'd fought bravely. That was his girl, she would always push on in the face of the greatest pain. She had taken to training with him and with Erza working on her endurance, her strength, her fighting style so that she wouldn't feel a hindrance to him. He was so proud of her.
The way that Levy screamed his name chilled him to his core. There was no time, no time to tell her that it was OK that the danger had passed. If only for once, he had been right and she wrong. She was always so much smarter than him.
He stared at the sword poking through his stomach. It took a few seconds before the pain set in, and even then it was a strangely abstract feeling. It was more that he knew he should be feeling pain. He stared as the blade was drawn back out of him. His legs gave out first. One moment he was up the next he was down, he couldn't pinpoint the moment that his strength left him. He saw a spear go flying over his head and heard it find its mark in his attacker's chest. At least Levy was still fighting. If only he could just stand to help her.
Levy dragged herself to Gajeel's side just seconds after he fell. He lay on his back staring at the sky, blood pooling around him. Immediately she pressed her hands to his wound, pressure, he needed pressure to stop the bleeding. If she could stop the bleeding then he wouldn't die. He would not die. She had to be able to fix it. Everyone always looked to her for the answers, she could solve any problem she had to do this she had to save him. She'd read countless medical books what was she supposed to do? How could she fix him? What did she have to do? How could she fix him?
"I can't…I need you Gajeel," Levy kissed his nose, her hands pressed tightly too his cheeks. There was so much blood, it was everywhere, on her hands, on his face, his chest, all through his hair.
"You don't…need me…you can be big…all on your own," Gajeel panted. His arm wavered as he tried to bring it up to her face but she caught his large hand in her own and held it there. There were so many things he wished he could tell her. That despite Makarov's words he never thought he'd find redemption until she forgave him. That no other opinion mattered, so long as she forgave him he could do anything. That until she told him she loved him he felt so small and insignificant. It was her that made him big. And if he had been given the chance he would've gone to the end of the Earth to prove to her how much she loved him.
"No Gajeel. You'll be OK, I can fix this. I'll fix it I promise. I won't lose you. You're going to be a Dad. You can't die Gajeel, please, please Oh Mavis please. I'll do anything. I can fix this. You have to meet your son. Or your daughter. You'll be the best dad in the world. Please Gajeel, please I can't do this without you."
When his last breath came shakily out of him, Levy felt all the strength leave her. She leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. His warmth was already fading.
"I don't know how to be big." Levy admitted, her forehead pressed against his. "You were the only person to believe that I was strong. Please Gajeel, please come back to me. You can't leave me."
She lifted herself back up slowly and stroked his hair from his face, her fingers slick with blood. She knelt there for a moment before it finally hit her that he was really gone. He wasn't waking up. Wendy could work wonders but she couldn't bring anyone back from the dead. Gajeel was gone. She would never hear him sing again, she would never hear him laugh. She would never again hear him say that he loved her. Looking to the sky she screamed, a wail that she bet could rival any grieving dragon.