Hello!
This is my firs fanfic ever, so please be kind :-)
It will be three or four chapters long, first one GaLe then NaLu and Bixanna.
I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does (but sometimes I wish he did not). Nor do I own the book that Levy reads, which if anyone is interested, is "Man meets Dog" by K. Lorenz.
It was a beautiful day in Magnolia, with "beautiful" being somewhat of an understatement.
A warm and inviting sun was shining in a perfectly clear sky that was an impossible shade of bright blue and spotted with just a few fluffy white clouds.
Despite the late September, the temperature was quite mild so that in the flowerbeds several plants were still in full bloom.
Some trees still sported a lush green crown while others were softening their colours into warmer and autumnal tones, making the park of Magnolia look like a painting created by a particularly gifted artist.
A good part of the city's entire population had decided to make the most of the almost-perfect weather and had flocked in the park.
Birds were chirping, children were laughing and shouting, street performers were singing or playing, couples were flirting and Life in general was happening and trying to look at its busiest.
Sitting on a bench shaded by a large oak, a duffel bag full of books by her feet, a petite blunette was completely absorbed in her reading, happily unaware of the ruckus Life was making.
For Levy, that was a really beautiful day. Her boys were away on a mission on their own, the rent was paid and she had spent the entire morning hopping from a bookshop to another, skimming through countless books until she deemed one of them an item she totally must have. By midday her bag contained twelve new books of the most varied sizes and with topics that ranged from the last best-selling romance novel to a manual of magic recipes.
Then, vaguely aware of the good weather, she had bought a couple of sandwiches and decided to eat them in the park: she was halfway through one of them when she started reading one of her purchases.
The book was a rather old essay written by a famous ethologist. It contained his speculations about the nature and evolution of dogs and reflections about the relationship they had established with humans. Despite the scientific topic, it was a rather easy read because the author described everything, from the origins of those animals to advice for owners and breeders, in a light-hearted and personal yet always deeply insightful way, illustrating his points with anecdotes of dogs he himself owned or knew.
Levy loved all animal in general, but she had a soft spot for dogs (not that she was going to admit it to Lily or to any of the other Exceed), maybe because she could easily relate with them. She was aware that cat personalities were as versatile as human ones, but she was also convinced that dogs on average were more sociable, interactive and accepting, all traits she felt she had in common with the animals.
She smiled, gazing up dreamily at the sky and blushing slightly while she thought that, on the other hand, he was totally a cat person. It was not so much about the partner he had chosen, but rather his personality: his way of being introverted, aloof, independent as well as his alarming low rate of social interaction were all things that inclined more towards a certain kind of "catness".
She sighed. If only he could be as open about his feelings as a dog was... maybe she could finally understand what he thought about her. He was so difficult to figure out. Or maybe she was the one who should have tried to be more like a dog and tell him clearly the feelings she was harbouring towards him.
Looking down to resume her reading she startled, letting out a little yelp: there was something resting lightly on the open pages.
It was a tiny thing, no more than a couple of inches long. It had a tapering and flattened body whose colour was a mixture of silvery and pale blue, with dark blue stripes going from the small head to the long tail.
From the body extend four legs (or where they fins?) each of which branched out into six rayed, finger-like appendages. It stood a bit like a seal, with its head raised and two big and completely black eyes fixed on her.
She had absolutely no idea of what the thing was. She stayed still, unsure of what to do, simply staring wide-eyed at it.
It stared back.
"Uhm..." she said cautiously after a long lull "...he-hello? And who you might be, little... ehm... fellow?" she finished, uncertainty clear in her voice.
The strange thing blinked. However, admittedly, in a very friendly way.
Levy frowned. "You are rather peculiar, you know? I have never seen anything like you before..." she said leaning forward to have a better look at it. Having got over the initial shock her natural curiosity had been aroused and she was finding the animal more fascinating with every passing seconds.
The thing was still quiet, not moving, and she was about to raise a hand to try touching it when a shadow appeared over the book and its little occupant.
"Oi, Shrimp" a gruff voice said.
She jerked her head up and found herself looking at the imposing form of the shadow's owner. "G-Gajeel!" she exclaimed surprised. He crossed his arms over his chest and raised a studded eyebrow questioningly.
"What the heck are ya doing?" he asked in a tone that suggested that the answer he was expecting was bound to be either crazy or disturbing. Or both.
"I'm not doing anything creepy, thank you very much!" she rebuffed, slightly offended "I was just trying to figure out what this strange creature was..."
"What creature?"
"This one!"
She held up the open book for him and pointed at the little blue thing still calmly sitting (could one call that sitting?) on its pages and which had now turned its head to look at the newcomer.
Gajeel leaned down.
"Isn't it just a caterpillar? Ya better squash it" he said, frowning and squinting his eyes to look at the thing.
"It's not a caterpillar and I'm definitely not going to harm it!" she protested indignantly "And even if it was I would not simply squash a living being for no reason. Look, can't you see that..."
She was cut off when the tiny creature unexpectedly leaped from the book onto Gajeel's face.
Then bit him on the nose.
Lily was sitting on a stool by the guild's bar counter, unhappily munching on a kiwi. Not that he was especially dissatisfied with his kiwi, not at all. He loved kiwis, but he was eating his seventh one and was starting to feel that you can only eat so much when waiting for someone to show up. And he had been waiting long enough.
Gajeel was late. Excessively late. Lily had learned that he could not expect anything remotely close the words "on time" from his dragonslayer partner, but now he was surpassing himself.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he is ok" Lisanna said, smiling sweetly from behind the counter. She was substituting her sister, who was away in the capital with Erza and the Master to deal with some council-related business. She had evidently misunderstood his frequent glances toward the main entrance.
"Thank you Lisanna, but sincerely I'm not so much concerned than annoyed. Gajeel is a nasty fellow, perfectly capable of taking care of himself but, apparently, not of sticking to the schedules" Lily sighed, earning an amused giggle from the girl.
"Juvia thinks that Gajeel is not the type of man to leave a friend waiting without a good reason" said the blue haired girl. She was sitting two stool away from the black cat, sipping on a colourful cocktail. On her other side a bare chested Gray was being forced in a drinking contest by Cana. "Any minute now and he'll be crossing those doors, Juvia is sure about it".
Lily offered her a thankful but sceptical smile.
Two second later the doors pretty much exploded, making everyone nearly fall off their chairs (or, in some cases, tables) when a very upset Levy burst into the guildhall with a large dog in tow.
Well, actually it was more the other way round, with Levy being dragged effortlessly and almost absent-mindedly by the animal. Moreover the dog was not large, it was HUGE.
The beast's muscular and massive body was giving off an aura of strength and power. Its short, hard and thick coat was raven black with rust-coloured markings on the cheeks, muzzle and legs. It had a broad and rounded head, triangular ears and ruby almond-shaped eyes that were glistening with pure, unadulterated malice.
Every guild member instantly and unconsciously took a step (or rolled) backwards. Lily's fur stood up automatically and he let out a low and menacing hiss.
Lucy was the first one to recover from the astonishment the apparition had caused.
"Levy! My goodness, what happened to you?!" she cried, standing from the table she was sitting at with Natsu and Happy (who was now clinging, shivering, on Natsu's face) and running towards her friend...only to stop a few steps away from Levy's panting self when the dog turned its head to cast an evil glance at the blonde mage.
The blunette was bent double, one hand on her right knee the other holding onto the dog's leash like her life depended on it. She looked worse for wear: her trademark bandanna had glided down around the neck, tufts of her blue hair were standing dishevelled in every direction and she was sweating profusely.
"I...almost...couldn't keep...up...with...him" she answered between gasps, trying to catch her breath.
"That I can see...but who is this...ehm, new friend of yours?"
"Ga-Gajeel..."
"You named your pet like that?" Lucy asked with a frown, still keeping a safety distance. She knew about her friend's feeling towards the iron dragonslayer, heck the whole guild knew by now, but that was going way overboard.
"No!" Levy replied, waving a hand frantically to dismiss the idea "Of course not! What I mean is... This is Gajeel! He's been turned into a dog".
"What?! Hey, Metalbrain, how the hell did you managed to end up like this?" mocked Natsu approaching. He sported several scratches on his face from Happy's previous "face hug" and said Exceed was now cowering under the table.
As Levy began to describe what had happened in the park all the other guildmembers started to slowly inching closer to the group, not noticing the dog's head moving slowly but deliberately to scan the crowd.
"...and then I managed to stop panicking long enough to cast a "solid script: leash", put it on him and take him here. It took me a half an hour to convince him to move from the park, and when he did he broke into a run up until here!" she finished, casting an angry glance to the animal.
"Gajeel being stubborn and not helpful? That's a first" joked Lucy "But, really, I don't think I have ever seen or heard about the animal you described".
"Should we try to lift the spell? Or is it better if, for the moment, we simply try to find out something about the mysterious creature?" Lily said. He had joined the group and was sitting on Lisanna's shoulder, still a little wary. He was engaged in a staring contest with his partner.
Levy felt the dog's body stiffen and twitch imperceptibly at the sound of the Exceed's voice, but she was not quick enough to release her hold on the leash before the dog-Gajeel jumped, his jaws snapping shut where Lily was seconds before (having flown away in the nick of time). Missing his target, he landed with his full body weight on Lisanna, knocking her over.
"Men don't do this to ladies!" cried Elfman outraged, rushing to help his little sister.
Meanwhile Levy, unable to contain the dog's momentum, lost her balance and landed face first on the floor with a shriek.
Chaos erupted.
Some mages ran away, others tried to launch themselves on the dog to contain or trap it, but were caught in one of Natsu's attack ("what you're doing, idiot Flamebrain?! Want to pick a fight?"), resulting in the start of another Ft brawl.
The usual choir of battle cries and curses this time was accompanied with the furious barks and howls of dog-Gajeel, who was still debating whether to go after the flying cat or biting into the brawling crowd.
"Whatever we decide to do" Lucy said helping Levy getting up from the floor "We better be quick".
"I wish the Raijinshū were here, we could have used Freed's help" groaned Levy. She was sitting cross legged on the guild's library floor, surrounded by piles and piles of the books that she and Lucy had picked out from the shelves, quickly scanning trough them with her Gale Force reading glasses.
From a nearby table, where she was similarly looking for clues with her own pair of magical reading glasses, the blonde mage snorted "Well, at least Evergreen could have turned that wretched thing into a nice garden ornament"
"Hey!"
"Sorry sorry..."
They remained in silence for several minutes, absorbed in their tasks. The room was quiet, save for some faint noises coming from the guildhall. It seemed that the brawl was still going on.
"Oh, that's it, I found it! I found something!" Levy suddenly cried. She rose from the floor excitedly and joined Lucy at the table to let her see the book she was examining. The spread open pages were showing a drawing of a very peculiar blue creature.
"Glaucus Caelestis Majorem" the blond read underneath the picture "This is what you saw?! Levy this is one of the most powerful and rare magical creatures that exist on Earthland! No one has seen them up close for centuries so that it was thought that they were extinct by now..."
Levy stared shocked at the pages: she knew about those creatures, she had read about them somewhere, but she did not know they looked like this. She could not believe it, they were almost mythical and she had had one of them mere inches away from her nose!
However, something wasn't right.
"It doesn't make any sense, though" she said puzzled "Glaucus are very shy, how come it was in one of the most crowded places of all Magnolia? Also, they don't like to interact with humans but when they do it's usually with good intentions: helpful beings don't randomly turn people into dogs".
"Well, maybe it misunderstood the situation, thought that Gajeel was threatening you and helped you in its own way..." suggested Lucy.
"Umm I don't think that's a plausible reason. Gajeel may look scary, but in that moment he wasn't being aggressive towards me. Ok, to be fair, he mistook the Glaucus for a caterpillar and wanted to squash it, so this may have counted as "aggressive". But still he couldn't have managed to do it even he had tried to...no mage could...and the Glaucus must have known it too".
There was a knock on the door and both girls looked up to see Lisanna enter the room.
"Hey girls, how is your research going? Did you find any clues?"
"Well, we might just have found something but..." started the blond mage.
"Oh, that's great!" the white haired one cut her off in a fake cheerful tone. One of the veins in her head was pulsing. "Listen, Levy, I think it's better if you come to the hall, like, right now or blood may start to flow" she finished menacingly, effectively silencing the blunette who was about to complain.
When the trio reached the hall, everything was in shambles, which was not anything out of the ordinary in its own. Members of Fairy Tail were used to the sight of broken pieces of furniture scattered all over the place and bodies lying unconscious in the most absurd positions. (Natsu and Elfman had managed to knock each other out while pummelling each other in the face and were now tangled in an awkward hug, still standing even though they had already fainted)
This time, however, the scene had some significant additions.
Cana was by the counter holding her deck of cards with two fingers and looking at it disgustedly as a thick thread of drool dripped from it.
Lily and Happy were holding into one of the ceiling beams, were they had taken refuge, with their claws unsheathed and fur standing.
In a corner by the main entrance, Juvia was a black mass of rage, crouching by an unconscious and naked Gray who sported red teeth marks on one of his butt-cheeks. She was looking with eyes that glowed with vengeful intent towards the centre of the room, were dog-Gajeel was lying down amidst all the rubble, smugly munching on something.
Lucy and Levy were staring at the scene speechless with their mouths hanging open.
"He has to go. Levy you have to take him somewhere else, even the kennel, but he can't stay here any longer" Lisanna said.
"But...but...I can't take him there, he's human! He's one of our nakama, that would be too cruel" the blunette protested "Look, just leave him be until I find something to..."
"He's not human, he's a monster!" screamed a crying Max, suddenly showing up. He waved a short stick in front of her nose "He killed her!"
It took her several seconds to actually understand what he was saying, but finally she realized what the stick was: the upper half of a broom's broken handle...and the lower part...
She looked disbelieving at the large dog still shredding his "prey" and she could have sworn he smirked back.
Ok, so this chapter is actually split into two parts and that was the first one...I hope you liked it!
All kinds of feedbacks are highly appreciated: reviews, comments, constructive criticism about the story so far or my writing...anything!
English is not my mother tongue so this fic is bound to be filled with errors, both in the grammar and the way I used some words. I'm sorry! I'm here to improve so, please, point everything out, it will only make me happy.
Just, please, try to be polite. Nobody likes haters ;-D
P.S.
I really really hope that this story offended no cat-lovers or dog-lovers. If you are one of them and feel that I have trash talked about your favourite animal, please do know it was not intended, I like both cats and dogs (I owned both).
P.P.S.
The tiny magical creature is based on an animal that actually exist. Prices will be given to those who can guess its identity ;-D
Sooo...until the next chapter!