A man sat by the river that ran through town, wearing tattered clothing that was a far cry from fit for the coming autumn season. The water reflected his scary facial features back at him, complete with piercings in place of eyebrows, on his pointed ears, and even metal studs in a row on his nose. Due to the setting sun, there were streaks of red and orange off the surface of the smooth flowing surface. This man looked up and took in the dying light of the day with a frown creasing his brow.
He suddenly growled kicked back to lay against the hill sloping towards the river bank. "Damn luck of mine." he mumbled. "Looks like I ain't eating tonight." He turned his sharp, red eyes to the sky and continued to watch it turn a deeper shade of crimson. "I guess this is what you get for being nobody special." He narrowed his stare so he wouldn't be blinded by the sun. "It's what I get for being a useless, good for nothing."
His mind took a one eighty all at once. He thought back to the days where he had a roof over his head, food to eat, and a bed to sleep in at the end of a long day. There was also the memory of chazuke, his favorite dish that he would whip up from what he had found laying around. It usually consisted of chopped seaweed he found on the shoreline near the orphanage. The seaweed was laid on pickled plums and leftover chicken from the day before. All of that on a bed of partially boiled rice and floating in hot water. If he really wanted to spice things up, he would go out past the tidepools and pick kelp out of their beds, salt them, and use it as a garnish.
The man's stomach rumbled thinking about the dish and it's lengthy prep time. He laid his hand over the source of the noise in a lazy attempt to cover it up. Of course it didn't work, but at least he could say he tried.
"I'm going to die of hunger."
As he lay there on the coarse grass beginning to crinkle from the dryness of an ending summer, he scowled at his own pathetic situation. "I'm Gajeel Redfox. I've been kicked out of the orphanage I called my home all because I was deemed unfit for their resources." He pushed himself off his behind and stood on shaky legs. "I can't work anywhere or get a job with my ugly mug and stupid clothes."
Gajeel ran a hand through his untamable hair. He could still hear the voices of the people who had thrown him out echoing in his head. Their sickening words twisting and turning in his mind as if he were still sixteen and afraid to stick up for himself.
Useless.
Die in a ditch.
We don't need someone like you.
He clenched his teeth and his fists, but refused to yell to the clouds about his troubles. "Fuck you guys, I ain't gonna die today." he snarled under his breath. He stared straight across the river and snickered to himself. "I don't care who I have to steal from to do it, but I'm gonna take all they have and run like hell!"
Suddenly, Gajeel sensed the presence of someone coming towards him. He smirked and tensed up his muscles to attack. He turned around to see a man much scrawnier than himself and looked well-to-do. It was like watching a thanksgiving turkey walk into the crosshairs of a rifle with a broken leg. The situation was almost comical on Gajeel's part. He took one step forward up the hill and mentally prepared himself to make his move. "Their ass is mine!"
But as he was about to turn to creep up the hill to attack his prey, he heard something splash into the river. While part of Gajeel told himself to keep going forward, another half of him told his feet to stop moving and set his sights back to the river. His legs did so much to Gajeel's dismay.
When he turned around, he saw a pair of legs sticking out of the water. They were making circles with the current as if the person was dead or dying. Gajeel swore he saw one of the feet twitch like in the cartoons he used watch once a week after breakfest. In fact, the whole situation was something straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon.
Gajeel watched for a minute as the legs floated past him. He didn't have any words to say or a response to a person floating down the river upside down and in circles. It was just too bizarre for his tastes. He couldn't think of anything else but to rub the back of his neck and raise his studded eyebrows. "Okay, that's just weird." He tapped his chin for a moment of thought. "Maybe the person needs a han-"
He stopped himself before he could finish his sentence and mentally slapped himself in the face. "Why should I help an idiot like that! Who the fuck gets in a situation like that!"
Even though he resolved to walk away and catch up with the man who was now far ahead, he couldn't tear his eyes from the ridiculous sight. Some crows even decided to make a new perch out of the person, landing on their shoes. Bubbles came up to the surface for a few moments, but ceased after all of them had completely popped away.
Gajeel smack himself on the forehead and removed his thin jack. "Bloody hell, you owe after this!" Before he could stop himself from making any rash decisions, he lept into the water and tried to swim against the current to save the poor soul.
Gajeel had forgotten what happened as soon as his body hit the water, but soon enough he was back where he started. He was coughing up river water with the person he had rescued laying unmoving beside him. On that day he swore to never save anyone from drowning in a river ever again. Unless that person was a child then he could make the exception.
The tried rescuer glanced over at the rescued while still trying to catch his breath. In the heat of the moment, he didn't get a good look at the person who he had jumped into a freezing river for. What he saw made him choke on his own spit.
He had assumed by the white slacks that were poking out of the water that the person was a man. Instead, it was a petite woman. She wore a tan trench coat that reached halfway down her calves with a black vest and white button down. She was obviously flat chest as evident by how her coat and shirt were all in the masculine style, fit for a person with little to no cleavage. Her shoes were the type that businessmen would prance around in during board meetings. One of the stranger details were the bandages that wrapped around her neck and arms. It made Gajeel wonder if she was seriously injured and fell off one of the bridges upstream by accident. Perhaps she wore them just for show?
Gajeel sat down, crossed his legs, and inspected her facial features after collecting his nonexistent composure. She looked fairly young for someone dressed so maturely. Her soft looking cheeks and tiny nose were tinged with a red blush. Her hair was a striking blue that rivaled the sky's own natural hue. To top it all off, there was certain air about her that spoke of mystery and awe struck wonder that the raven haired male couldn't comprehend.
This woman was an enigma.
Suddenly her eyes opened up halfway and she sat up quickly. Gajeel jumped back and uncrossed his legs with a small curse. The blunette swung her head around aloofly, regarding Gajeel for only a split second, then proceeding to ring out her sopping wet hair.
Gajeel didn't know what to say about the situation. He could just say goodbye and see if he could catch up to the man from before. On the other hand, he didn't know what to say to the water logged female as she righted her clothing and made a feeble attempt to dry out.
"Excuse me."
She turned around and set her full attention on Gajeel. When she did, Gajeel was soon lost in a pair of amber eyes that only seemed brighter in the light of the sunset. They were a stark contrast to the blue of her hair, adding to the strange charm she possessed; it was starting to freak Gajeel out.
He cleared his throat and fought back against his awkwardness. "Are you okay?"
The girl deadpanned and broke her gaze from his own. "You saved me from the river, correct?"
Gajeel was taken aback by her condescending tone. Most people who saw him took a good ten steps away because of his unsightly appearance. Being homeless and starving added to his little predicament with life and human speech. But the girl in front of him now seemed more disappointed than anything else. Then again, it was strange enough that she didn't try to swim and save herself.
"Yeah, why?"
The girl clicked her tongue as if he were a child who had done something stupid without him knowing. She placed one hand in the grass to keep herself upright as she glared at Gajeel with her golden eyes. "You were interrupting my drowning."
Gajeel felt a few brain cells pop in his brain at her odd response. "I was...what?"
His new companion waved her hand in a matter-of-factly sort of way as she continued to talk down to the taller of the two. "You know, drowning. I've read it's one of the common types of suicide among young people today." She gave her hair one last twist and the final drops of water dripped into the dirt. Gajeel stared at her with a slack mouth and almost frustrated look as she continued. "If you don't understand that, I'll make it easy for you. I was trying to commit suicide and you got in my way."
Gajeel had met many people in his six years on the street. He had butted heads with schizophrenic drug lords, up and coming gangsters who were only nine to ten years old, and he even punched a politician in the face and was thanked for it. Then there was the girl in front of him who had an actual death wish and thought that trying to accomplish it in the evening with people around would be a great idea. Not to mention she was scolding the one who had saved her life.
He took a deep breath before trying to make his comeback. Gajeel pulled himself off the ground and dusted his ratty clothes to seem less frustrated than he actually was. "First off, I know what suicide is, shrimp. Second, why in the hell would you want to commit suicide and be happy about it?"
The shrimp scrunched up her nose and picked herself off the ground. She dusted off her coat and stuffed her hands in her pockets. "Well, if you must know, I have a dream!" She rubbed her chin with a proud smile on her face. "My goal is to attempt a clean suicide that won't be a bother to anyone else." Her face went sullen as she threw another half assed stare in his direction. "But it seems I've caused you some trouble, Mister tall, dark and handsome."
Gajeel was stunned by his new title to the point of almost biting his own tongue. Sure, he was taller than the average man and always carried a dark aura around him for his own self defense. It was being called handsome that made his brain take a U-turn into "Holy Shitville", population: one.
As if lady luck was adding on to his misfortune, his stomach made a loud growling sound. The girl took notice and for the first time since they met, and to further surprise Gajeel, she smiled at him. It may have been more of a means to tease him about his previous problem, it was something of a miracle that he got to be in it's warm presence.
She turned to face him with her cat like grin and positioned her hand under her chin in the shape of a check-mark. "I see you're a little hungry. Care to explain?"
Gajeel grumbled and looked away with a small pout. "I haven't eaten in two days. I don't have a job to pay for food." he admitted shamefully.
The suicidal shrimp had softened her smirk into a more genuine beam of hope. She rested her tiny hand in his shoulder and gave it a small pat. "Don't worry, I actually haven't eaten in awhile either." She took her hand away and started to pace back and forth. "I also lost my wallet in the river, so I can't pay for a meal." She threw arms into the air and chuckled a tiny bit. "Since you can't pay for food either, I guess we'll just starve together!" She clapped both hands together and stuck her thumbs up toward Gajeel. "A double suicide!"
Gajeel scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Here I thought you'd treat me to dinner for saving your sorry ass."
The girl gave him a funny look as if he was crazy. However, Gajeel didn't find it all that amusing, causing him to snap a little and throw a tantrum. "Don't give me that look! I saved you out of the goodness of my heart! The least I deserve is some kind of reward for-!"
"Hey!"
Both of them turned at the sound of someone shouting at them. Standing across the river from them was another female, but this time with far more womanly features. Instead of the lack of weight on the top side, she was well endowed with a set of boobs that would make any man go crazy. Even her light blonde hair was blowing Gajeel away. Her black dress shirt and tan vest did nothing to hide the fact she was big chested, but only accented it to the max. Her height was at about above average, but not by much. Around her neck was a red bow tied with a thin string acting in place of a regular office tie. Her dress pants matched her vest as well and made the black pop out even more. Lastly, she was clutching a note in her hand that had some kind of character on the front.
This newcomer was frowning slightly with her hip popped out. She carried herself with a sassy bit a flare in her every move. "So this is where you wondered off to!" the blonde shouted. Meanwhile, her supposed partner waved back from the other side of the river. "Lucy! I thought I lost you! Thank you for finding me!"
The woman, Lucy lost her will to be angry and cracked into a smile. "Seriously! Sometimes you are just crazy! Let me guess, another suicide attempt?"
The blunette nodded and motioned to Gajeel. "Yep, and I met someone new!"
"I can see that!" Lucy confirmed. The smaller of the two turned to Gajeel and tapped the side of her head. "How about my partner and I treat you to dinner after all?"
"Sounds fine."
"Good!" the tiny woman said. She turned on her heel and started walking along the river bank. She side cupped one of her hands and yelled back to Lucy. "We'll be right over, Lu! We're taking a break for dinner!"
Lucy waved back in confirmation. "Just hurry it up! I'm about to start eating my book, Levy!"
Gajeel raised an eyebrow as he walked behind her. "So your name is Levy?"
Levy twirled on her toe and faced Gajeel head on. She stuck out her hand and cocked her head to the side.
"The pen name is Dazai Osamu." She winked and stuffed her free hand into her pocket. "But my friends and moody hero's call me Levy!"
Gajeel rolled his eyes and accepted the handshake.
"I'm Gajeel Redfox."
Gajeel chowed down for the first time in days. Never before had he been so glad to jump into a river only to save a suicidal maniac who was sour with her rescuer. Nonetheless, he at least got to eat his favorite on more time: chazuke
His newfound companions sat on the other side of their table, munching on their food and talking back and forth. Levy had even ditched her trenchcoat and hung it over the back of her chair.
"You need to stop wandering off Lev. I know about your tendencies, but could you at least dial it down a thousand?" Lucy asked, writing down some notes in her book. Levy shrugged and gave a nervous chuckle. "What can I say? I'm hung on suicide about as much as you are with your notebook." She leaned over to read what her blonde partner was jotting on the page. "By the way, did you find anything else after I took a little detour?"
Lucy sighed and closed her notebook. "Unfortunately, all I get are sporadic dots on the map. There's not pattern where it strikes and that leaves us at a dead end." She took the notebook and stuffed it in her back pocket. "All we know is that it tends to stay on the bad side of town and comes out at night."
Gajeel paused at their conversation. Now that he thought about the two and their reasons for coming to the underbelly of the city, it didn't make sense to him. Women who came to the bad side of town were one of two things: whores or stupid. Neither seemed like the type to just aimlessly walk through their possible doom all willy nilly. While the blonde had the body and the sass, he couldn't say they were call-girls.
No, it had to be something else.
Levy noticed that Gajeel was now watching her and Lucy intently. She turned in her seat to place her full attention on him.
"So, Gajeel. If you don't mind me asking, why don't you have a job?"
He fliched at the question. It was never something he liked to talk about in front of other people. For one thing, it was his life and he had the right to his own business. On the other hand, this was also the first time anyone had ever taken concern for his personal life.
He just chose to tell half the truth.
"I was kicked out of the orphanage I had been living in my whole life about six years back. I came to the city to find a job, but I wasn't that lucky." He took a sip from his cup of water and let out a sigh. "I've been living on the streets ever since."
Levy gave a sympathetic look. "That's a shame." She leaned on the table and rest her chin on the palm of her hand. "But I think I want to ask you some questions."
Gajeel steeled himself up. Something about the whole situation was strange. One minute he was eating his dinner in peace and the next he was being interrogated. He wasn't going to run away though, he wanted to at least get some answers to his questions.
Levy didn't waste any time and jumped right in. "Are you familiar with the Armed Detective Agency? If you want, the ADA for short."
He thought for a moment. Of course he had heard of the whispers in the shadows about the detective agency before. All of the stories came from different people and it was never clear to anyone on what exactly went down, but there was one thing that was always the same. The cases they took on were of the strange and almost supernatural.
Looking at the two women, he assumed by their dress that they were potential clients or info brooker business partners.
The red eyed man narrowed his gaze until they were just paper thin slits. If he was going to be answering their questions, he may as well look somewhat intimidating. He also crossed his arms just to make sure that the shrimp got the message that he wasn't going to be an easy pedestrian that day. "I heard they're a bunch of people who are pretty damn scary if you cross them."
Levy leaned farther over the table, the gleam in her eyes growing brighter. "I know that's not all that you know. I can see it in your eyes."
Gajeel felt a lump in his throat. She knew all along that he was trying to keep the information he gave out as limited as possible. He may be able to physically overpower her in a fist fight, but in this duel of minds, she held all the cards in her hand.
He gulped and tried his best to brush off the uneasy feeling he was getting. "Um, I also heard that they handle sensitive cases. Cases that normal military police don't wanna get their hands dirty on."
Her smile grew twisted, possibly satisfied by his answer. "That's one way I've been informed about the ADA. You wouldn't happen to know anyone in the agency, would you?"
The tension in the room thickened immensely as her words coiled in midair to make the sentence come to life. Her verbal hits were starting to get more and more aggressive as he went along.
"Or perhaps," she cocked her head to the side and flashed an all too innocent smile, "You may have seen their 'dirty' line of work in practice, Mr. Redfox?" Levy dropped her facial expression entirely and opted for a more serious look. "You certainly seem like the person to know about the ins and outs of underworld rumours. Surely you know a lot more than you're letting us believe."
Lucy laid a hand on her partner's shoulder with discomfort in her pupils. "That's enough, there's no reason for treating him like a suspect, Dazai."
He had so many questions himself at that point. What were a pair of professional looking, young women want with an infamously shifty detective agency? Sure, one had a death wish, but the other seemed like a pretty sound minded person. There was a missing piece to the puzzle at hand that he couldn't quite figure out just yet. The whole set just didn't make any sense to him.
All of a sudden, the thought hit him. He chuckled under his breath and let his arms rest on the table top. "I know what you mean. You're apart of the ADA, aren't ya?"
Levy smiled and got her chin off of the palm of her hand. She proceeded to clap and give a small sitting ovation to the man. "Took you long enough to guess! I congratulate your powers of deduction, good sir!" Lucy nodded as well and pointed to herself with her notebook in hand. "My pen name is Kunikida Doppo." She reached her hand across the table to initiate a formal greeting. "But you can call me by my real name, Lucy."
Gajeel accepted the greeting and leaned back in his seat. "So what's with the pen names and all that. Shouldn't your real names be kept under lock and key?"
Levy smirked and made the check mark with her fingers and positioned the hand under her chin. "Because we feel like we can trust you." She narrowed her gaze and her lips morphed into a mysterious grin. "You won't go telling anyone we were here, will you?"
Gajeel could feel his skin crawl under her eyes. He tried not to show it as he pressed on with his numerous questions. "What do I have to lose? Besides," he matched her expression just to annoy her, "I have a few questions to ask myself."
Lucy sat up and opened her notebook, pen at the ready for any notes she may need to take for later use. "We'd be happy to take any questions you may have, Mr. Redfox." She played with her pen as she waited expectantly for him to begin. "And don't mind me, I just want to make sure that this will go on the records for later."
He nodded and turned directly to Levy. Unfortunately, she was looking past him to something hanging over his head. Gajeel followed her eyes and found that she was pondering a wooden beam above the back of his chair. There was a shimmer of curiosity in her eyes that kept her from answering any of Gajeel's questions.
The other detective noticed the other's visage and shook her head. "Come on, Levy. We don't have time for you to scout out possible places to commit suicide!"
The blunette feigned a scowl and placed a hand over her heart. "Oh Kunikida! Must you stop me from at least daydreaming about the day I can finally be rid of this cruel world?"
Gajeel couldn't believe anything he was hearing. "The shrimp even daydreams about committing suicide? What kind of place is the ADA?" He thought while taking another drink of his water. He decided to not dwell on the personalities that made up the detective agency and to just roll with the punches.
Levy snapped out of her funk and then turned back to the task at hand. "Sorry about that, but you know how these things are." She picked up her fork and began to play with it. "But like Lu said, let's get back to the case at hand! Please, ask us anything within reason."
The man huffed and began to dig into his brain for the questions he wanted answers for. "First off, are the rumors on the street true that the ADA deals with 'unusual' cases?"
Lucy glanced up and raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow. Levy noticed the subtle change in the joking tone from before and intertwined her fingers together as if she were a mob boss in the old movies. "It depends what you mean by 'unusual'." Her snake-like guise returned with a vengeance. "You could mean unsolvable, too heinous for public eyes, or perhaps..."
Her pause had caused a pregnant pause at the table. Even Lucy squirmed in her seat a bit at the unease that Levy was creating. Despite that, the shrimp continued.
"Or maybe you're talking about the supernatural?"
Gajeel hadn't felt this uneasy since beginning the conversation. Sure, he may have been confused and lost about the whole situation, but this was different. The way she composed herself made him seem more like the one getting asked questions rather than him being in control. Something in the back of his mind told him that there was an underlying story to their little encounter.
As quickly as he could, he changed the subject on a dime. "Secondly, what were you two investigating in the slums?"
The smaller of the two women stuck up her pointer finger, letting him know to give her a second to prepare. She fished into her pocket and pulled out a picture of some sorts that was protected by a plastic bag. "Good thing I preserved the evidence, right?" she commented to Lucy who had began to jot down some notes. Once she had smoothed out some of wrinkles on the photo, she slide the picture across the table.
Gajeel picked up the photo and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. It was the picture of a dark creature bunched as if about to attack. It was roughly the size of full grown tiger, maybe even a little more than that. From the lighting of the scene, he could tell the creature had black, metallic scales covering its whole body from nose to the lizard-like tail. To top it all off, the thing seemed to have wings tucked into its body, hinting that it was about to escape from the camera by air if possible.
His mind went in overdrive as he stood up and slammed both hands on the table. "Where the hell did you get this picture?" he snarled. Lucy stopped writing and flinched away from the table slightly. Levy on the other hand had held her ground and kept her all knowing smugness.
"That is what we are investigating, Mr. Redfox." Her smile grew wider. "We're Dragon Hunting."
Gajeel gulped and let his hands curl into fists. The beast's red eyes stared back as if to taunt him through some kind of unknown force. He could feel his blood start to boil over at the very sight on the thing.
He snapped his own red eyes up and continued his questioning, taking a detour from his previous intentions. Much to his dislike, Levy hand gotten up from her seat and was standing almost toe to toe with the far taller man. Gajeel had to stumble just to avoid elbowing her in the face and getting into more trouble than he was already in.
"About six years ago, strange reports of this beast have come from all around this area. They all tell the same story: a black lizard with wings and scales made of what we assume from observation is iron." She turned her amber eyes on him and let her smile drop. "But the military police only started to involve us up until four weeks ago when the supposed dragon attacked a member of the Rosso gang that ran that territory. The one who was attacked had his cellphone with him and shot this photo."
Gajeel backed away but ended up tripping and falling straight on his butt. He cursed gravity before Levy stuck her face a little too close to his. If her eyes weren't burning before, they had gone ablaze by now.
"My turn to ask a question." she said in almost a whisper. "What do you know about this dragon?"
There Gajeel sat on the ground, at the mercy of a suicidal detective that had a case to solve and nothing to lose. His every street instinct told him to run away and see if he could find someplace safe for the night. He would forget all about the ADA and return to his life of thievery without skipping a single beat. All he had to do was push her back, sweep her legs, and run before Lucy came to her partners aid.
But then he looked her directly in the eyes. Despite her odd disposition and one track mind full of delusions of suicide, there was something else there. Looking at her face up close, he could see resolve. It was unwavering, determined, and above all: strong. He couldn't deny that it was admirable that a girl half his size was interrogating him with the certainty of a mafia boss.
He wouldn't admit it outloud, but he held a small respect for her.
In light of this, he relaxed and gently pushed her face away so he could sit up. "Sorry I yelled...I'll tell you what I know..."
Levy beamed and reached out her arm to help him up. "I'm sorry, too. I was a little blunt in laying all this pressure on you." Gajeel accepted the gesture and took her hand. Together, they heaved him to his feet and went back to the table. Lucy was still confused as to what just happened, but instead choose to trust that Levy had the situation under her control.
Lucy picked the conversation back up by pointing to the picture and taking up the role of interrogator. "Can you please tell us everything you know about this thing? Even rumours may have some use in our investigation."
Gajeel settled into his chair and began everything from the beginning.
"It began back at the orphanage." He watched the ice in his glass bob in the water, trying their best to stay afloat. "That thing was attacking the chickens we raised for food."
A picture of mutilated animal parts strew across a field of snow came to mind. He hated the smell of blood then, especially since their carcasses were left to rot out in the open. Not even the falling snow could cleanse the earth of the horrible act that had been committed. "Those chickens were a main source of food for the other kids at the place. So when they were mostly slaughtered, there wasn't enough food for everyone to support the children living at the place."
The image of stained windows had darkened the scene. People stood all around him with disapprovement etched in their faces like stone. Everywhere he looked, all he saw was hatred filling the adults hearts to the brim. As a child, he still couldn't understand why.
"To make ends meet, they kicked me to the curb."
Gajeel looked back up at the woman with a new emotion in his expressions. "But that damn dragon kept on following me." He clenched his jaw and recalled the pair of red eyes always following him in the night. "It won't leave me the fuck alone!" He looked up to face Levy and laid his fist on the table. "I even saw him on the night you're talking about and didn't say anything."
Levy grinned and stood up from her seat once more. She hummed softly to herself, grabbed her coat and slipped it on. "Gajeel, you seem like the perfect assistant that we've been looking for!"
Lucy gave her partner a bewildered look. "What do you mean?" The blunette didn't answer back and instead fiddled with one of the pockets of her coat. She produced a pen and grabbed a napkin from the center of the table. She wrote something down while Lucy and Gajeel watched her with perplexed eyes.
Once she was done, the maniac folded up her napkin and handed it over to Lucy. "Take this to the chief as fast as you can." Lucy gave her a prudent frown, but left with the napkin tucked away in her notebook for safekeeping.
Levy bowed her head as Lucy was leaving in a hurry and whispered "Auf Wiedersehen, meine Freundin" under her breath. Gajeel stopped for a moment to process what she had just done. It was the first time that day he saw a small side of her that proved her to be a caring human being. The concern was hard to see past her crazy antics and strange tendencies, but still was genuine. She truly cared for her partner deeply.
That notion was quickly wiped away when she flipped up her collar and pointed to Gajeel.
"You're coming with me."
Gajeel sat on a crate while watching his new ally with a discreet eye. She also sat on a crate while holding a book in one hand and playing with a knife in the other. There was never a time she ever needed to look up and restrict herself from dropping her weapon. It made her current accomplice feel unnerved by her lax attitude.
When he had agreed to come to their current location, an abandoned warehouse not far from where the gang member was attacked, the last thing he expected was all the waiting they had to do.
He finally swung his legs off the side of his perch and turned to her. "Why am I supposed to be the bait, again?" Levy hummed in response to his question. "You're not the bait. You're just here because I feel lonely sometimes."
Gajeel wasn't pleased with the answer and sat up even straighter. "I don't mean to be rude you, but that's a load of bullshit." He picked up the knife she had supplied him just incase they ran into the dragon. "Why else would we be in this shitty warehouse in the middle of the night? You're just using me to attract the dragon."
"Not true." she alleged with more authority behind her voice. Gajeel flinched at her harsher tone of voice. She shut her book with a snap and slipped it into an inner pocket on her coat. Without a lot of effort, she jumped off her crate. "If I were going to use you as bait, why should I throw myself into the line of fire as well?" She stretched from side to side while she continued. "I would've made you walk down the street until the dragon attacked you. I doubt the dragon would come indoors considering all its prey was caught outside."
Levy stood with the confidence of a ten foot tall giant. "Besides, if it does come in here, it would be no match for me.
The red eyed man opened his mouth to protest, but when he tried to say something, he couldn't say a single word. Levy could tell that he had screwed up and strolled over to him. "I can tell that there's something else about that orphanage that made you this way." She turned around so she was leaning against the wood near Gajeel's legs. "I'm not one to pry, but I'm a very curious person. I want to know why you're so untrusting of people."
Gajeel watched her as she stuffed her hands in her pockets and let herself loosen up. "Or we can sit in silence. That's okay too."
"Nah," he replied, twirling the knife around, "I'll talk."
He took a deep breath and let himself lay back on the crate, his long black hair splayed out behind him like a pillow. "I'm not the best person in the world. I admit that all the time."
"I know how that feels."
"Yeah, well I guess we all got problems." He scratched one of his piercings on his nose and went on. "I've always taken care of business with my fists. 'You have to kill to survive' was what I was always taught. I just practice it in a less murderous way, but it was still not completed untouched by blood." Gajeel set the knife he was holding to the side. "Those people who ran the orphanage, they also liked to follow this rule religiously."
Gajeel could hear Levy shifting, but he also still felt her presence still standing beside the box. "They would call me useless and unworthy to live another day. They would always look down their noses at me as if I was a fucking moron."
He grit his teeth as their shaded faces mirrored back in his head. To keep the thoughts at bay, he placed his arm over his eyes so he could stare at something other than the ceiling. "Maybe they're right. I haven't done a single good thing for someone else before. I just mind my own bee's wax and fight when I think it's right."
Gajeel paused once more. He had no idea he had gone off on a tangent without thinking. While it was good and he felt a bit lighter on the inside, part of him still felt hollow at his childhood memories full of nothing but shadows and black.
"Hmph, that isn't true."
The pulled his arm off his face and looked up to see Levy standing over his resting body. Her face was outlined with the light of the moon and her hair appeared to glow as if she was from another world. Every tiny feature had been illuminated with light. The woman he saw wasn't the shrimp he had fished from the river that afternoon.
But the most striking factor of them all was her amber eyes that seemed to be speckled with itty, bitty golden stars. They danced around her pupils as if they themselves were alive.
"You rescued me from the river."
Gajeel dead panned and hoisted his body up. "That doesn't count. You wanted to die and I ruined your chances like the fuck up I am." He lept off the box and walked to the center of the warehouse floor. The window bathed him as well in the moon's ghostly light. "You said it yourself, I was just in the way."
Levy jumped off the box and landed neatly without a sound. "Do you know what else I said?"
"I forgot."
"Liar. Now turn and face the window."
Gajeel was addled by the order, but did as he was told and looked out the window at the moon hanging in the sky. Something about it gave him a homespun feeling, as if he had done it a billion times before. Deep in his chest, there was something stirring inside him.
"I said that I had been a burden on you." The detective turned around so that her back was to the man. "I have inconvenienced you even now. For that I am sorry."
Soon, Gajeel found that he was struggling to breath. The light was giving him goosebumps that felt like razor blades on his skin. He tried to look away from the object of his problem, but his eyes were plastered to it and refused to obey him.
"I'm deeply sorry for deceiving you, but I made a promise to two old friends that I would never die at another's hands but my own." Levy mumbled. "You came to the city six years ago and suddenly these attacks began cropping up."
Gajeel knees buckled under him as he gasped for air. He tried to dig his fingernails into the floor as if they would transform into claws. His body tingled and burned for relief of the pain he was going through, but again it wouldn't adhere his wishes.
"You were in the area that Rosso lad was mutilated and killed. Funny thing is, that same man had shot and killed a woman right before he was attacked. A witness reported seeing someone that looked very similar to you arriving on the scene only to be replaced by a lizard with iron scales and wings."
He began to snarl and cry out like an animal ready to hunt down its vulnerable prey. All he could think about was destroying the evidence that he was there. Gajeel was losing his mind, and as much as he pleaded with it, there was no escaping from the monster inside of his soul.
Gajeel's skin became black and metallic. His hands morphed until they were in the shape of a lizard's foot, claws scraping the concrete. The once flat face extended into a snout that matched the proportions of his enlarging body that was taking the shape of something knew. From his back sprouted wings that could grant him flight beyond the city and to somewhere far away.
"There was another reason that those people threw you out of the orphanage. They knew something you didn't."
Instead of Gajeel standing at the center of the room, there was only the monster from the picture, covered in black scales.
Levy turned around to see the beast staring back at her with its glowing red eyes. Even if he had changed his entire body, the eyes remained the only proof that he was Gajeel Redfox in the facade of a dragon. In the end though, she still had a job to do and she wasn't going to ruin the perfect streak with pity.
The detective clapped her hands and matched the fearsome looks of the beast. "The real dragon was you all along." Levy cracked her knuckles and flipped her unruly blue hair. "And I was hired to bring you in dead or alive. So what say you?"
Instead of his almost gravely voice, she was met with a roar that shook the very foundation of the warehouse. Levy rolled up her sleeves to her elbows while he threw his small temper tantrum. Her bandages made her seem far more pale than she actually was as they gave off a distinctly supernatural glow. Once she had secured her clothing, she bent her knees and started bouncing back and forth on her toes.
"Let's dance with death once more today, shall we?"
The dragon made his move. He snaked forward with speed far greater than any normal animal of its size. The best drew closer, bearing its fangs that seemed longer than the crates, but just not as thick. Even to the woman, this was something of a relief. The way it moved made Levy wonder if she was even there and not dreaming of something interesting to finally happen.
Much to her enjoyment, this wasn't a dream.
The beast was on top of her now, leaping at her from above in hopes to pin her to the floor and make his move. Levy wasn't impressed and slipped to the side under the monster's claws without much trouble. Gajeel in dragon form crash landed because he overshot his goal. His footing was off from the miscalculation of where his prey was going to move and caused him to slip and smash into a cluster of boxes. Said crates were broken immediately under his new weight.
Levy regained her footing right away and faced the wreckage head on with a focused expression plastered on her face. She let her hands slip into her pockets so that she could wait for her opponent.
"You're very agile in this form." she commented while rocking on the balls of her feet. "Even if you're the size of a truck, you move as if you're a only a bug in the wind."
The dragon growled and lifted itself from the mess that it made. It let out another snarl once it d stood back on steady feet, leaping back at Levy for another reckless tackle. His body flung across the distance that separated them without much effort.
Levy was ready though and once again dodged the attack promptly. Gajeel was ready this time and landed deftly behind her. The detective turned around swiftly and grinned. "You're starting to learn that my size also gives me an advantage." She pulled one hand out of her pocket and waved him on to make another move. "Show me what you can do, you overgrown iguana."
Back and forth the two went around the warehouse. Levy lept around Gajeel's feet while he gave chase to her. Whenever he got close enough, he would pounce at her in a feeble attempt to capture her in his claws. Levy just used her slim form to slip beneath him and take cover somewhere else. Every failed chance to catch her made the beast more agitated, making him attack more frequently and with much more power behind his jumps.
Finally, Levy had dodged him one last time. Her feet slide across the floor when she landed after jumping off a stack of crates. Suddenly, the side of her foot hit a wall. She turned around to find that she had been backed into a corner with no hope of escape. All she could do to ensure that it wasn't a joke was to place her hand on the cold stone. Her hand felt the rough surface through and through, it was no joke.
It was the end of their chase.
She paused for a moment before turning to see the dragon inching towards her, his tail swishing back and forth from anger. His blood red eyes were ablaze from frustration of losing his prey, but now he was taking his time to approach. He knew that she had nowhere to run.
Levy chuckled and locked her eyes with the dragon in front of her. "I guess this may be the end for me, huh big guy?"
The thing that was once her rescuer gave one last growl before flinging his full body at her. Levy could feel the breeze it created from its overpowering size hit her full on. It was enough to get time to stop moving forward normally.
"Death by getting eaten up by a dragon doesn't sound bad."
The dragon reached out its massive claws and opened its mouth to swallow her in one, decisive comp of his jaws. Crouched down in a jumping position with her arm held out to the side, she closed her eyes with a soft sigh.
"But I have no intentions of dying today."
When the dragon was only a few meters away, Levy flung herself forward and upward with her arm outstretched in front of her. She could see a flash of panic in the red eyes of her former ally as she reached out her arm mid air to touch him on his snout.
Under her hand, she felt his metallic scales as they flared with his breathing. If they weren't fighting one another, she would've been intrigued about why his body was covered in nothing but iron. It wasn't everyday that someone got to fight a dragon after all. Even as up close as she was, his eyes burned just as bright from when she saw him at the restaurant. They were full of something that went beyond what he wanted others to see.
They were the eyes of a broken man.
"No Longer Human." Levy hummed as her hand began to glow. Characters of all kinds floated in circles of blue and green in between her fingers, through her hair, and around her arms. The scales under her hand receded immediately as she floated gently back to the ground. The once frightening claws were disappearing as well and started to resemble a more human shape rather than an animal's. Even the snout shrank and took the form of a man's face in no time all.
By the time Levy had touched to floor with her toes, the dragon shell had melted away leaving only Gajeel on unsteady feet. His eyes went back and forth from barely open to closed before he settled with keeping them shut. He wobbled from foot to foot before leaning too far forward and began to fall.
Levy was quick and got under him before he had fallen face first on the concrete. She sucked in a breath and struggled to hold his massive weight with her petite frame as an anchoring point. "You could at least try to not be a total beefcake!" she whined while balancing his body with her slender shoulders. "Lay off the muscles, will ya!"
In the end, she laid him on the ground as gently as she could without hurting him. Once he was laying peacefully, she collapsed dramatically by his side. She leaned back on her palms and willed herself to breath easy again.
"Among other things I've done in my life, I never thought I would meet another one of your kind."
Levy pushed back a bit of stray hair smiled down at Gajeel's unconscious form. "You're tough for a man who thinks he's useless. Not to mention you're built like an ox."
She was met with silence. Her smile dropped from the lack of having someone to talk to. She hugged her knees to her chest and looked up at the full moon glaring at the two from the window. Part of her had always loved the idea of the moon always being in the sky, all big, bright, and beautiful.
Another part of her wanted a giant cloud to roll in from the east.
"Dazai Osamu!" a distinctly male voice yelled from across the warehouse. Levy stopped staring at the night and looked up at who was yelling for her.
A pink haired young man was running towards her, his boots making heavy thudding noises across the floor. Behind him was Lucy with her hair pulled up into a ponytail that kept her golden locks from getting over her shoulders and into her face.
Levy grinned and stood up to met them. "Well if it isn't the dynamic duo, Lee and Kunikida."
The blonde giggled into her fist as her and the young man stopped in front of her. The one who had yelled for her huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You know you don't have to use my alias here." He pointed over Levy's shoulder at Gajeel. "Besides, you knocked out the bait for catching the dragon, so he won't hear us."
Lucy laid a hand on Lee's shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Natsu, he knows about the ADA and our real names."
Natsu deadpanned for a moment before scrunching up his face like a child. He even stomped his foot on the ground and turned his head away from the women. "No fair! You guys didn't tell me your real names until I was fully hired at the agency!" he whined with puckered lips. Lucy rolled her eyes and leaned in to give Natsu a peck on the cheek. "Five years and a girlfriend, yet you still act like that sixteen year old Igneel recommended to us."
Natsu loosened his arms and looked back at Lucy with a mischievous smirk. "Isn't that how you like me? Especially in the bed-"
Levy hopped up and slapped Natsu on the back of the head. He cried out in pain and scowled at his co-worker. "What the hell was that for, Dazai!"
The attacker shrugged and started to amble back over to Gajeel. "No sex life while on the job, okay Lee Child?" Said man pouted once more before following Levy to the sleeping Gajeel's side. Lucy came with him, reaching his side and linking their hands together like puzzle pieces. Levy said nothing even when she caught them in the act.
Natsu leaned over to get a good look at the beast of a man. "Why is he out cold?" He straightened up and looked over to Levy. "More importantly, did you take care of the dragon?" Lucy inspected the body for signs of injury, but found none. She too looked over to her short best friend. "Yeah, because saying that the dragon would show up here was kinda cryptic. Did Gajeel get hurt acting as the bait."
The blunette nodded and stretched her arms over her head. "I did take care of the dragon, but you're both wrong about Gajeel being bait." She brought her hands back down to her sides and shoved them in her pockets. "In fact I think you'll find that the real problem wasn't a wild animal, but a gifted person."
The couple tilted their heads to the side and gave her a confused frown. "What do you mean?" they said at the same time.
Levy then launched into her story starting from when she arrived at the warehouse, her and Gajeel's fight to the death, and then to her subduing him and being laid to rest for the time being. She even sprinkled in her suspicions and parts of his background, but she kept some things under wraps for the sake of his dignity. Lucy had gotten angry once or twice because of her concern for Levy's health and safety. Her boyfriend on the other hand couldn't have cared less and was upset that he couldn't have been around to see the fight.
Once she was finished with her report, Natsu tapped his chin while watching Gajeel very closely. "So you're saying that this guy is the dragon we've been chasing, not only that but he even forced you to use your ability in self-defense?"
Levy nodded and turned sullen on a dime. "Yes, and I was shocked myself at his unimaginable power." She glanced down to Gajeel who slept quietly throughout the whole ordeal. "In the wrong hands and with the wrong people, he could become an even greater threat than he was before this hoopla."
Lucy was writing down their mission report the whole time Levy told her story. After hearing the uncertainty in her partner's voice, she put away her pen and notebook to stand beside her. "We have to kill him while he's vulnerable. The military police will only treat him worse when they find out his has a gift."
The one deemed the title Kunikida laid her hand in comfort on Dazai's shoulder. "It's for the best. I'll even do it myself with Lone Poet."
Levy flinched at Lucy's touch. She knew in her head that the only way to end the man's suffering was to take his life permanently. Gangs would surely learn about him as well and try to recruit him to do work for food and money. From what little she learned about him in the short time that they shared, he may even agree with their empty promises if it meant not dying in a ditch. Besides, it would make sure he would never have to worry about his troubles any longer, leaving him free to fate's hands.
On the other hand, she saw a part of herself in his eyes. She remembered earlier that day when she saw him on the river bank, there was something strange. He looked determined to keep living even when others thought he was just the dirt beneath their shoes. Gajeel had even risked his own life in order to save her from drowning, as if he subconsciously saw something in Levy as well.
They were the traits of a good person who deserved a second chance.
"No." Levy affirmed. She kneeled beside Gajeel and proceeded to poke him in the face. Lucy and Natsu stood back, bewildered by her answer and her current actions. She stepped up and took a spot right next to Levy.
"What do you mean no?"
Levy stopped trying to wake Gajeel and instead turned to Lucy with a proud smirk on her soft face. "There's another reason why I jumped into the river today. I saw him before I decided to take the plunge." She turned back to her current delamia with a sparkle in her bright eyes. "I saw something in him the moment I had him in my sights. He needs a second chance."
She went back to her rousing duties promptly and with a bit more force. "And let's not forget the fact that in the process of attacking that man a few days ago, Gajeel also avenged a murdered woman without giving much thought to his own personal safety. That in and of itself is the qualities of a good person with a good sense of justice."
Lucy and Natsu glanced at one another and turned back to their co-worker. "But, Levy! What if we can't control him? What if he runs off and joins the Port Mafia?" the taller woman cried out to reach the ears of her friend. "We can't afford to put innocent lives in danger just because you have a hunch he'll get better."
Levy giggled at Lucy's worry as she now resorted to pinching Gajeel's studded nose shut in order to get him up. "That's just the risk we have to take. We already have Natsu on staff so how hard could it be?"
"Hey!" Natsu exclaimed. "I'm not the difficult!"
"Not anymore." Levy mumbled as she waited for something to happen.
Only after a few more seconds of waiting, Gajeel started to fidget from the lack of air he was getting into his body and began to shift under the hold on his nose. He shifted with a groan before groggily opening his eyes to see the trio standing over him. The pinching on his face was gone and replaced by a slightly throbbing sniffer.
The blunette hovered her face over his and gave him a wide grin. "Good evening, slugbug! Have a nice nap?"
Gajeel scrunched up his face and sat up. Levy gave him some room and decided to stand up and offer her hand. The ex-sleeper stared at her with a weird look. "What happened?" He swept his eyes around the damaged warehouse that had been completely and utterly destroyed. Crates were scattered around in millions of pieces, the floor had scratch marks spread out in multiple areas, and even some of the walls were scarred by something he had no idea about.
He looked up at Levy and rubbed his aching nose. "What the hell is going on?" The woman grabbed onto the sitter's arm and yanked him onto his feet. "You kinda trashed the place in a fit of unbridled rage while trying to kill me than eat me up as dessert."
Gajeel narrowed his thing gaze at her. "I did-" he stuttered and gestured to the whole inner building, "I couldn't have done all this by myself!"
Levy shrugged and slapped him on the back. "You sell yourself way too short my, my friend." She tapped her chin and observed the massive damage as well. "But the dragon did help you completely waste our repairs budget."
"Huh?" Gajeel went slack jaw at the sentence. Levy snapped her fingers as her face had jumped to realization. "Oh, I forgot! You don't remember that you turned into a dragon!"
Gajeel gave her a confounded look before breaking out into hysterical cackling. His laughter sounded as if he were going "gihi" over and over rather than a usual one that everyone seemed to use. The trio watched him as he descended in his own world of madness, staring at one of his arms with careful gazes. Once he had calmed down a little, he clutched his stomach and wiped away tears forming in the edge of his eyes.
"You're hilarious shrimp, but there's no such thing as dragons." He pointed over to Natsu and Lucy while trying to hold his composure together. "I bet you and your friends were joshing me the whole time."
Levy shrugged and stepped to his side with a smile. "I guess you got us, we did trick you."
Gajeel stood triumphant over the woman with smug written clear across his face. "Gihi~! I thought so-"
"Oh, your arm didn't change completely back." Levy interrupted while pointing to one of Gajeel's arms. She shrugged with a smirk playing upon her lips. "My mistake~!" she almost purred out of pure hilarity.
Gajeel chuckled nervously. He brought up the arm that Levy had gestured to in order to see what she meant by "didn't change back."
In place of his regular arm, there was a dragon's arm with three branch claws and one hind claw just above the wrist in the back. Metallic scales glittered in the light of the moon and reflected onto his face in a spectacle of brightness. There was no way that he could look away from what he had summoned up without his full control.
"What!" he yelled and stumbled backwards. He slapped himself on the forehead with his normal hand and started to breath heavily. "I swear this is a nightmare. I just got drunk off of some cheap booze I bought with that one guy's money." Gajeel nodded in agreement with his lie, the three detectives watching him. Levy tried her best to hold in her laughs as she watched his panic settle in like a fever he couldn't break.
Gajeel tried to remain stable, but failed to catch his breath that was running wild. He wanted to run someplace far away and find out that everything that had happened was just a figment of his imagination. No matter how hard he tried to command his body to move though, it refused against him. His feet stayed rooted to his spot, his eyes glued to his torn up shoes.
He swung his head from side to side, observing the damage he had caused. "This isn't a nightmare." he admitted, more to himself rather than the group. He started to shake under the pressure that was building on his shoulder. The fear of falling prey to his anxiety was looming over his head and threatened to crush him like a bug.
"I-I killed people, didn't I?"
Useless.
"Go away!"
People like you should die in a ditch.
"I hate you!"
We don't need someone like you.
"That's ENOUGH!" Gajeel screamed so loud, his voice rang in the air over and over, bouncing off the walls. Guilt and anger clawed within him and soon became deadly to his own well being.
He was spiraling back into madness.
Levy cut herself off after seeing that Gajeel was in major distress. She saw how he was about to lose himself to the dragon again and resolved to once again provide intervention. She stepped forward, hand beginning to glow like before. "I may have tricked you into somewhere you couldn't escape, but I didn't deceive you about destroying this warehouse."
Gajeel shook his head and started moving backwards. "Get back, I'll hurt you." he snarled in warning. Levy kept coming forward, ready for anything. Lucy and Natsu stood by with their arm raised incase they needed to come to their partner's aide.
"I know you're afraid, I was too when I first got my gift."
He looked up from his panic attack to see a warm light engulfing his vision. Levy stood before him with her hand on the dragon's skin. Her eyes were aflame as characters circled her and Gajeel's arms in the blinding shades of blues and greens. He swore that if he hadn't met her hours before, he would've mistaken the little woman for an angel come to take his soul far from the mortal world.
"But there are others just like you who are confused about where their paths may lie." She met his blood red eyes and melted away his pain with a single grin. "Du hast keine Angst, meinen Freund."
The light disappeared, but Levy's hand remained on Gajeel's arm. In place of the scales was real skin, tan from days in the sun and rough around the edges. It was still his skin that he had been longing for. The warmth from the shrimp's own fingers brushed over the surface and put Gajeel at ease for the first time in a long time.
Something inside him had broken away at that moment of contact. He hadn't noticed the initial impact of it at first glance, the process being slow going and all. Even so, he could feel a pang of something new catching fire in his gut.
The thing that baffled him was that he couldn't name what he was feeling.
The detective pulled her hand away, leaving behind a spot that felt empty. Gajeel snapped out of his trance and retracted his arm to his chest. The skin that had been touched still buzzed under the gentle touch of the blunette.
Levy stepped back and let her hands rest behind her back. "You have nothing to fear," She beamed as much as she could, "You're not alone anymore!"
Gajeel stared at her then looked back to his arm. New questions raced through his head, but he couldn't choose the right words to compensate for everything that Levy had done to ease his troubles, if only for a moment. All that came out was a grumble.
Levy cupped a hand to her ear and leaned a little closer. "What did you say?"
The man cleared his throat and looked away. His heart was still pounding from his episode, but it was beginning to calm down. "Thanks for the hand."
Levy smiled and gave Gajeel a thumbs up. "Glad to help." She turned on her heel and started walking towards her co-workers. Gajeel was confused and jogged on shaky legs to catch up with her surprisingly fast strides.
"Where are we going?"
The woman threw back a quick glance and motioned with her hand. Natsu and Lucy fell into step with the blunette and the four made their way to the exit of the warehouse.
"You're starting a new life with the Armed Detective Agency."
Que "Trash Candy" with Levy play the role of Dazai, Gajeel as Atsushi, Lucy as Kunikida, and Natsu as an add on, Lee Child!
For future reference, any extra characters will also be named after famous authors of various time periods.
Fanfact: Natsu's pen name was inspired by Lee Child. Lee writes action novels including the various adventures of Jack Reacher. It just fit!
Thanks to my good friend KB for giving me the idea for writing this fic. I hope to do more chapters in the future.