Chapter One
AN: This story came to me while I was at work the other night. I loved the idea so decided to run with it. :)
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Gajeel stood just inside the school yard, waiting. His long, spiked, black hair pulled back in a ponytail and his trademark black bandanna with a red zigzag tied around his head, the senior at Mavis Vermilion High School was fuming as he scanned the crowd of students for the moron that trashed his bike last week. That flame brain, Natsu, wasn't going to forget this day anytime soon. He would make sure of that, then he'd get his hands on the ice princess, Gray. That damned rain woman would be visiting him in the hospital. It was his fault Natsu ruined the limited edition, fully customized Harley. In less that two weeks, the gift his father gave him for his eighteenth birthday was totaled.
The morning the bike was totaled, Gajeel had been in the school counselor's office discussing his chances of getting into Zeref Dragneel University. The bike had been parked, legally, mind you, in a parking spot in the lot outside. Natsu and Gray just happened to be pulling into the parking lot at the same time. Natsu swerved to miss Gray and slammed into the bike. The accident totaled Gajeel's Harley and put Natsu's Camaro in the shop for three days. Gray's vehicle, a Dodge Ram, was left unscathed, but his pregnant and overly possessive girlfriend went into labor just as he parked and had to be rushed to the hospital.
Gajeel was the big bad of Mavis Vermilion, he was the bully in the hallways, the bad kid in class, and king of detention. In his high school career, the black haired teen held the record for most suspensions without expulsion at twenty three two day suspensions and four three day suspensions, adding up to fifty-eight suspended days in total. He also held the record for most days spent in detention. A total of two hundred ninety seven days of detention. Makarov, the principle, was often lecturing Gajeel on his behavior and tendency to bully other students. As the large man stood glaring through the same faces he'd seen every day, a new one appeared. A new target for him to torture.
Her blue hair fluttered as she ran, obviously trying not to be late on her first day at the new school. A red messenger bag slapped against her thigh as her bright yellow sundress whipped around her legs. Red sandals wrapped around her feet and up her ankles accenting her creamy skin. A yellow bandanna with a red zigzag wrapped around her head keeping her wild waves back from her face. The most eye catching part of her, however, were her large brown eyes that glistened with gentle curiosity and her adorable shortness. She had to be four foot, six inches tops. The girl barely looked old enough for high school.
Gajeel grinned a venomous smile as he made his way towards the small blunette. Students parted to let him through, recognizing the evil smirk on the large teen's face. His pierced eyebrows arched in a menacing as the sun glinted off the piercings that lined his arms, nose and down his chin. The light flashed over his deep gash scars on his arm, creating a scary image. Dressed in a tight black tee, ripped up blue jeans, and finger-less gloves, Gajeel grabbed the back of the girl's sundress, pulling her to a stop.
"Oh, hello there," the girl turned a warm trusting smile on him.
"Ya must be new here." Gajeel growled in laughter. "If not, ya would know to be afraid right now."
"I don't scare easy," the girl laughed, "And you look like a total teddy bear."
"Gajeel is hardly a teddy bear, girly." A blonde headed senior with a scar over his right eye draped an arm over the small blunette. "You're taunting Magnolia's scariest teenager and this school's worst bully."
"Laxus, ya hairy assed gorilla, yer late." Gajeel's snarled words left the blonde laughing. "And this shrimpy bitch will learn fast enough to fear me."
"Excuse me, Mr. Fear the Reaper, Big and Bad, but as I already stated, you and your back woods nightmare speech do not scare me." The blunette cocked out her hip in such a way that it had Gajeel's mouth watering. Damn she had a nice ass. "If anything scares me, its how naked that boy over there is."
Gajeel and Laxus turned to see where the short girl had pointed. Gray Fulbuster stood in nothing more then a pair of boxers just outside the school parking lot. His girlfriend of the last five years stood beside him holding a baby in one arm and Gray's clothes in the other. They were discussing Gray's tendency to strip when an energizer bunny with spiked pink hair slammed into the near naked man knocking the raven haired teen to the ground. A blonde in a short skirt and large luscious breasts chased the pinkette screaming something about her diary as a blue kitten clung tight to her shoulder.
Laughing at the morons across the lot, Gajeel turned back to the girl only to find that she had vanished into the crowd while he was distracted. "God damn Shrimp. Where the hell did she go?"
"Haha, looks like the tiny creature has outsmarted the legendary Gajeel Redfox of Mavis Vermilion High. Maybe you'll succeed in making the small girl quiver in her tiny red sandals in terror the next time you meet."
"Shut yer mouth ya Harry Potter reject." Gajeel grunted as he made his way to class.
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The final bell rang, dismissing class for the day, and Gajeel was eager to find the little brat from that morning. He exited the building first and stood watching for those wild blue locks and little yellow sundress. The sun above him burnt his skin as the hot Magnolia wind formed beads of sweat on the back of his neck, when a rush of color to his right caught his attention. Turning towards the blur, he found himself staring into the large brown eyes of the girl he'd been searching for.
"Looking for me?" Her voice rose and fell like a song as she spoke, "Would you mind holding my books for a second so I can rearrange the contents of my bag and then we can get back to you being Mr. Scary?"
Shaking his head at the strange girl, Gajeel took the large stack of books from her hands. As he did so, he noticed the girl wore long detached sleeves the same color as her sundress. What an odd thing to wear in this heat. As the girl moved to unzip her bag, her sleeves slid up her arm ever so slightly to reveal long, dark lines. The scarred flesh stood slightly risen from her creamy white arm. The sight of those thin lines shook Gajeel to the core. How could such a bright ray of sunshine have such a dark habit? This woman was more of a mystery than the whereabouts of Gajeel's mother.
"Oi, what's that?" The words were out before he could stop them. The blunette glanced down to the focal point of his gaze, jerked the sleeve down over the scars and snagged her books from his arms before he could grasp what was happening.
"I guess we'll have to reschedule our session on how I should fear you. I'll be leaving now." Her words barely registered with the mountainous man before she disappeared around the corner leaving him staring after her.
"What was that?" A gentle feminine voice breached Gajeel's stunned mind, bringing him back to his body. A silver haired beauty by the name of Mira stood beside him watching the same spot he'd been, the spot the blunette had disappeared from.
"Mira, tell Laxus we'll have to reschedule band practice." With that, Gajeel turned the corner to chase down the small girl with the mysterious life.
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"Dammit, Levy! Can't you do anything right?" The angry voice of a large blue haired man caught Gajeel's attention as he looked for where the girl from school had disappeared.
"Apparently not, I never do." The familiar voice drew his red eyes directly to the girl he'd been looking for.
She had shed the detachable sleeves and lay in the front yard of a large Victorian styled home the shade of gloomy gray the sky gets just before it storms. The window panes, trim, door, and porch were all painted an equally gloomy shade of green. Unkempt grass, bushes and weeds sprouted all around the girl as she glanced up from the book in her hands. The white picket fence in front of the yard was missing boards and appeared to be barely standing. A busted up black mailbox stood just outside the sagging gate that lead to a crumbling walk way. There was a driveway to the right of the house that held a dilapidated red pickup and a beat up impala within its gravely grip.
"You're as worthless as your mother. I truly despise the day you were born. Get in this house before I burn the rest of those moldy books you love so much. I should have left you behind with the rest of the trash." the man growled as he chucked a flower pot at the girl's head.
"It's a wonder Mom stayed with you long enough to have a kid," Levy grumbled.
"Get the fucking mail and get your stupid ass in here," Her father yelled as he slammed the door behind him.
The girl turned towards the street and caught sight of Gajeel standing beside her mailbox. Sighing in frustration, she made her way to the box, pausing only to open the poor excuse of a gate. "You followed me?"
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Levy stared at the man before her. Gajeel, a bully and a jerk, stood just outside her yard, watching as her father belittled and threatened her. The monstrous man had followed her with the intent of bullying her and hurting her. His crimson eyes told her that he wasn't expecting her to live like this. Like a caged animal, abused and neglected.
"Ya left before I was done with ya." That deep, raspy growl spread goosebumps over her skin as she stared at him.
"Well, unfortunately, you'll have to either make this quick or come back another time. I don't really have the option of standing around all day waiting for you to give me a reason to fear you. I have chores to do, a toddler to keep out of the old man's hair, and homework I need to start before I make dinner." Levy sighed impatiently.
"Answer a question and I'll leave." Gajeel held his hands out in surrender. "The scars, why'd ya go down that path?"
"Simple. It felt good to be in control of something in my life." Levy replied as she opened the mailbox and pulled out a handful of bills. Growling, she slammed the box shut and turned to leave. Gajeel's hand wrapped around her wrist to stop her. "I answered your question. Let go."
"Shrimp, I'll be waiting first thing tomorrow morning to put the fear in ya." Crimson eyes met brown ones, Levy nodded and walked away to deal with her father once again.
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Rave screamed as Mars, Garth McGarden's blood hound, knocked her into the coffee table. Garth curled his lip, kicking the two year old away from him. The child screamed again as she collided with the floor and bruised her shoulder. The large blue haired man lumbered to his feet just as his daughter, Levy, came through the door. The screaming, raven haired toddler wrapped around the small blunette's leg as she closed the door.
"What the fuck took you so long, you little whore?" Garth spit his words at Levy like bullets. "I told you to hurry. Get that fucking trash away from me or I'll drown it in the river."
"We're going. Drink another beer, Garth. You're not drunk enough to be a father, yet." Levy bent down to pick up the small child. "And stop hurting her or you'll regret it."
"What did you say, bitch?"
"I said there's more beer in the fridge and dinner will be ready at eight. I'm taking Rave to the park for some exercise and some fresh air. We'll be back about six to start the laundry." Levy said pulling the toddler's coat and diaper bag from the closet in the hallway. Turning the game on and grabbing her phone, the sixteen year old left the house and placed the child in her stroller. Once the little girl was situated, Levy pushed the stroller down the walkway and made her way to a park a few blocks over.
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Gajeel sat under the shade of the old willow tree to the left of the swings in Acnologia Park. A dog-eared copy of Homer's The Odessy sat in his lap as he drank from his water bottle. Placing the bottle on the ground beside his leg, the boy noticed a small shadow fall over the ground in front of him. Looking up, he found a small child standing just in front of his long legs.
The child wore her long black hair up in a ponytail much like his own. Her little white dress was stained in several places and looked to be almost to small for the toddler. Bare foot and holding an old sippy cup, the girl looked at him with oddly familiar brown eyes. Laughing, she walked closer only to trip over his boot and fall.
Gajeel reached out to catch the small child almost instinctively. Sighing, he got to his feet and began to look around for the child's mother. "Damn. Who lets their child run off like that?"
"RAVE?! RAVE, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Levy's voice echoed through the park like a haunting song. "RAVE LILITH MCGARDEN, YOU COME HERE NOW!"
"Mommy's mad," The child said as she began to struggle against Gajeel's arms.
"That's yer mommy?" Gajeel asked surprised.
"Yep." The little girl, Rave, replied.
"Well, let's go see her." Gajeel started walking towards the sound of Levy's frantic yelling.
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Levy panic as she tried to find her daughter. She had just been sitting next to Levy in the grass a minute ago. When Levy's phone beeped with a new text, the teen didn't think checking it would be a problem, but as she read the message from her father telling her she had to come home and walk Mars her child had ran off somewhere out of sight. "RAVE?!"
"I didn't know you had a kid, Shrimp." Gajeel's deep voice made levy jump as she spun towards him, only to find her grinning two year old safely tucked within his arms. "Ya don't come off as the teen mom type."
"Yea, well unwanted advances in a dark alley don't really allow you to choose your fate." Levy snapped. "Give me my child, Gajeel."
"Not until ya agree to meet me before school. We need to talk, Shorty."
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AN: I am super happy with this chapter, but a lot more happened in it than I originally wanted. Let me know what you think.