The most amazing guild in Fiore had always been known to be the noisiest, and on that particular day it held up perfectly to its reputation. Chairs, tables and more or less conscious bodies were joyfully flying through the hall, the usual punching and yelling sounding as cheerful as ever. Everyone was working very hard to maintain this atmosphere, and even Kanna had changed her usual barrel for a handier bottle, to free one of her hands and throw cards around.
To Fairy Tail standards, it was a nice and peaceful day.
Amongst all this chaos and uproar, only one being was still sitting in a rather safe area, unaware of anything happening around her, for she was in the middle of a book - the thickness of which made it hard to believe she could actually lift it.
Yes, truly nothing could distract her, not even the faint smell of powder that started to fill the room, making the three dragon slayers, Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy, freeze on the spot. Feeling something was wrong, the others quieted down as well, but not even that odd and unlikely silence could make her raise her head just one bit.
What she did hear, though, was the deafening explosion that scattered the walls and filled the air with wood, bricks and dust in a mere seconds.
Instinctively, Reby had curled up into a ball, one arm over her head for protection, one arm clutching her book against her chest as she shrieked in terror.
But the pain she was expecting didn't come. At first she thought it was due to the shock, but when she cracked one eye open she was faced with a tall and dark silhouette, much larger than hers, who apparently kept her from getting hurt by taking some damage of his own.
"You okay, Shrimp ?
-Ye... Yeah. Hey, I should be the one asking that !
-Tch, takes more than that to scratch me, ya know !"
As she got up, she saw that Gajeel was indeed unhurt, except for a few grazes, thanks to his steel scales. Relieved, she looked past him to take in the view of what remained of her guild, her home.
Most people had been hurt when the roof collapsed, but she couldn't see any serious injury. A few had the reflex to protect themselves, or sometimes other people, but the state of the building left everyone appalled and shocked.
With only a few bombs, it was now nothing but a huge pile of wreckage.
Rebuilding the guild was not an easy task, nor a quick one. Guildarts had reduced the remains to sand, but past this point, the mages who were famous for their destructive power were feeling a little bit helpless. However, a wooden structure was slowly rising on the ruins.
Reby shot a glance at Gajeel before moving on with storing the archives that had been saved from the bombing. She often saw him lost in thoughts -when he was not crafting and driving nails- and assumed he was reminded of the last time the guild ended up in this state, all because of him. She knew those memories were as painful for him as it was for her, in a twisted way, and she would have liked to cheer him up, but she had absolutely no idea how to. Considering she was definitely not asking Lucy or, even worse, Mira (she wanted to support a friend, not dating advice !), she concluded she would have to man up... er, woman up ? and go talk to him. As soon as she would be done with these archives, if she didn't end up starting to read a book, get caught in it, and pass out in the middle of her half-done work.
In the end, she did come across a book, start to read it, get caught in her reading and pass out in the middle of her half-done work, but she went to the iron dragon slayer immediately after waking up. Nothing can keep a Fairy Tail mage from helping a nakama !
"Hi, Gajeel ! H-How are you ?
Wanting to help didn't mean she knew how to handle the rough dragon, okay ?
- Tired of those freackin' nails, why'd ya want to know, Shrimp ?
Wow, he actually answered ? Reby was impressed. But had no idea what to say next.
- Er, no reason, just figured I'd... I'd...
- Wait a sec', you just came out of that storage room, didn't ya ?
- ...Your point is ? she asked in a sheepish tone.
- ...Don't tell me ya spent your whole night in there ?!"
Reby blushed and tried to stutter an explanation. She vaguely heard Gajeel sigh "Seriously, Bookworm ?", and was rather relieved when she heard Master Makarov call out for them both.
...Wait, them both ? What on Earth did he want ?
The Master actually didn't want anything weird, just for them to go retrieve some stones that had been delivered in the outskirts of Magnolia. Gajeel would, of course, do all the hard work, Reby was there mainly to negotiate a fair price.
"Mainly" ?
Ok, it was a bit weird. Whatever.
The two mages set off to the railway freight where the seller and stones awaited them.
This part of town was quite run-down and shabby. Only very few mages lived there, and it was far from the centre, so almost no shop-owners wanted to settle in this neighbourhood. The blue-haired bookworm was glad she didn't have to go on her own. The death glares Gajeel sent to anyone dumb or suicidal enough to approach them greatly helped her to feel safe. She would have liked to chat with him, especially now that no girl from the guild was there to spy on them, but as the raven-haired dragon seemed comfortable with just walking in silence she didn't dare say anything. Soon, they arrived at the railway, and she began a long discussion to match the ridiculously reasonable price allowed by the Master with the ridiculously high demand of the seller, while her guildmate proceeded to put the huge and heavy building stones on some kind of sled he could pull. "Some strength he has" admired Reby, before shaking of the thought and getting her attention back to the transaction at hand.
Although the magically lightened sled slowed them a little, going back to the construction site would have been quick and easy if only...
"Wahaha, ya sould've been there, pal ! Those idiots were runnin' an' screamin' an' all... Those magic freaks may look big, 'n all, but they're really just a bunch of... idiots ! Haha !"
That nice guy's eloquent speech was abruptly interrupted by the landing of a big, big stone on the table around which he was apparently bragging in front of his "pals". About what sounded a lot like the bombing they just suffered from.
"Too bad, I missed ! Whadya say we do with that asshole, Shrimp ?
-Mmh, ...take him to have a little talk with Master Makarov ?
-Tch, you're really too nice, Shrimp, step back.
-Stop calling me shrimp, and there's no way I'll step back !"
The mage-hating bomber realised what a mess he had put himself in only upon seeing the "solid script : fire" and the steel pillar that were aiming for his very own head. Only a fear-induced reflex allowed him to fall to the ground and live little longer. Gajeel stepped forward to seek revenge on the dumbass who destroyed the guild only he had the right to destroy - for destroying or protecting it was his choice, remember ?
The other got up. With a gun in each hand.
Which was quite threatening now that he had grown another pair of arms out of the blue.
As Reby's eyes widened, Gajeel grinned wildly.
Fun was only beginning.
The iron dragon slayer cursed as he ran through the streets of Magnolia. He really wanted to punch someone hard in the face, and he really wanted that "someone" to be that four-armed bombing bastard. He was also a little angry at the Shrimp for not stepping back when he told her to. And, although he would never ever admit it, he was really angry at himself for letting his Shrimp be taken as a hostage.
So now here he was, tracking her book-like scent across town to the hiding place of that despicable bastard. He jumped on a rooftop, and finally he caught a glimpse of blue locks, through a window. Without a second thought, he jumped...
...And was thanked by a shrieking Jubia, and Grey... tied on the hotel room's bed ? He'd have to figure that out, and possibly help the ice-maker to break free, later. First things first, he jumped out of the window, into the street, ignored the looks of the crowd, and followed the scent into a dark corner, where he found his Bookworm tied and gauged, and the guy with too many arms sweating heavily. And still pointing his guns everywhere. Oh, right, forgot about that detail.
The three of them froze on the spot. Gajeel was thinking hard, but no good strategy came to his mind, so he just took a step forward, to see what would happen.
"D-Don't move, or the girl... I'll shoot !" warned the other. Seeing that his opponent didn't take another step, he seemingly relaxed. Reby took the opportunity without wasting any time, and broke free from her capturer's grip, making him drop one of his guns in the process. Gajeel immediatly jumped on the guy, and pushed pushed aside two guns as he took a bite from the last one. He almost spit it out : it was rusted, low-quality iron, with an awful taste of gunpowder, yuck. That bastard could not even afford an edible weapon ? He'd have enjoyed a long and tasty riffle right now...
...Well, drooling in the middle of a fight was definitely not a good idea. He would have been pushed away if some blazing letters didn't crash on his opponent. Reby had ripped her gag off, and still didn't consider stepping back.
As his opponent lost a few seconds staring at the jaw-shaped piece of metal that was missing from his gun, he was sent flying by an iron pillar from the dragon slayer. He counter-attacked by firing his two remaining weapons, but the attempt was rendered useless by Gajeel's scales. He quickly looked left, towards the Bookworm, to ease the bad feeling that clutched his heart as he worried, a bit too late, about her protection, but the "iron" word she summoned as a shield did well.
"So, Gajeel casually asked his Shrimp, what's up with him ?"
The bluenette sent a "fire" word, and answered while writing another one in mid-air. She didn't understand this sudden question, ...he couldn't be doing something ordinarily stupid like talking to ease worry, right ? That was really not like him, but then again he barely said five words, and he did check on her after the other guy shot at them...
"From what he told to himself while abducting me, (she avoided a projectile) he was captured by a dark guild in his youth. (Gajeel sent the projectile back, plus a few metal daggers of his own) They experimented on him, hence the four-arm thing. And the bombing of our guild, I guess. Revenge desire, plain and simple.
-What a moron" Gajeel summed up, before disappearing. Reby vaguely heard him say "Wait a sec', I'm gonna settle this", and called out a "Hey !" of protest. A mere instant later, he landed behind the guy, from the roof, and knocked him out properly.
"Geez, Shorty, he said as he tied him up with iron cuffs, ya still gotta train if ya can't beat a guy like that !"
Reby was going to reply, or maybe pout a little, but couldn't help giggling instead when her eyes landed on their prisoner's cuffs. Apparently, Gajeel had got impatient when it had came to tying the four arms together, so in the end the complicate iron knot pattern looked like a compacted pile of scrap.
"What are ya... Hey, cut it out !
-Oh yeah ? Else what ?"
The dragon slayer completely surprised her by leaning close to her ear to whisper something. Fortunately, what he actually told her involved enough ripping, clawing, blood-spilling, limbs-shredding, flesh-tearing and general butchering to keep her blood from rushing to her cheeks. As she knew he would never really consider hurting her ever again, she mainly admired her comrade's imagination, but the bomber didn't have that kind of confidence, and the few words he could hear certainly made him pale and eager to escape. A well-placed punch sent him back to Dreamland, and eventually the duo returned to their soon-to-be guild building after retrieving the damn stones that sent them there in the first place.
-And so, that was the story of how your father and me avenged the bombing of our guild. Now, will you please go to sleep ?" concluded the blue-haired woman.
-And how he saved you like a princess
-And how he saved me like a princess, yes.
-Hey, Shrimp, ya forgot the last part..." Gajeel was grinning sadistically.
-Gajeel, now that we're married, would you at least stop calling me Shrimp ?" the dragon slayer shook his head, still grinning. Reby sighed. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you... So, we were on our way home, and I knew I wouldn't have opportunity to be with your father before long, so I... I... I... kind of... wanted to... ehrm, kiss him.
-But she was too short, gihee !"
Reby shot a side-glance at her husband.
"You seriously told that just to call me "too short" ?"
She would have loved to stop Gajeel's sniggering, but the two kids, their two kids, were calling for the end of their bedtime romantic story. Finally their mother yielded.
"I wanted to kiss him," she resumed, "but I was indeed too short", she sent a death glare to the laughing iron mage, "so, well, I kissed what I could reach..."
-Which was ?" enquired the older girl.
-...His arm. Just beneath his guild tatoo."
This final confession earned her an "Aaaaaah" from Lilith and an "Ooooooh" from Anton.
-What did you do then, daddy ?" asked the latter.
-Well, I-
-He'll never tell you the truth," interrupted his wife, "so I will ! He blushed, glared at me for like five whole minutes and kept on walking, still red as a cherry !" she giggled.
-Oi ! I wasn't, cut it out !" protested the cherry. He couldn't help thinking she was cute when she giggled like that, though, Goddamnit.
-Yeah, sure...
-Mommy ?" suddenly asked the blue-haired and red-eyed girl, interrupting the little argument. "You never told us how you and daddy first met ?"
Silence and awkwardness fell upon the black and blue family. Reby seeked her husband's gaze, and read in it what she had to know.
-Another time, Lilith, another time, when you're both older.
The girl's pouting was cut short by her brother's question.
-Mommy, I'm still not sleepy, could you tell us another story ? Pleeaaase ?
The tired mother sighed. Anton had a shy and little voice, but he exhausted her as much as his enthusiastic sister. She looked at the door frame on which Gajeel was leaning a minute ago, hoping for support, but he had disappeared somewhere again. What a temper those three had ! What a family she had !
...But it was that temper that made her fall for him in the first place, after all. And she wouldn't want to change just one second of her life, for it gave her so many stories everyday, and someone to tell them to over and over again, she thought, as she considered yet another story to tell her children.