Alright, honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing XD I just found this old fanfiction in my draft folder and decided that I actually kind of like it ^^ Sooo, I figured I'd share! If it can make anyone a little happier, that's worth it after all :) So, here you go! It's really short, but I might continue it now I've found it again!

Summary: The clans of Magnolia are having a hard time: the leader of Phatom Lord is dying and the fight for succession is becoming really nasty really fast. While Gajeel Redfox is trying his hardest to escape from the fight and not become the new leader of Phantom Lord, Levy McGarden is having a hard time choosing the team mate she's going to spend the rest of her time with. When the two of them have a fateful meeting, will they unexpectedly be able to help each other?

"No! I won't do it!"

"Levy…"

"No! I refuse to choose! I'm… I'm just going to be a lone wolf!"

The short girl came bursting into the hallway, the door slamming into the wall behind her as she turned back to her godfather with her hands clenched to fists. The even shorter man brought his hand to his face and rubbed over his temples with his thumb and middle finger. "Please, Levy, you know that's not how it works."

"I don't care how it works," she dared him with his eyes as she flipped her short hair back, "I've decided. I'm a lone wolf."

She could tell from the fire in his eyes that his patience was quickly wearing thin now. "Levy, you are a member of Fairy Tail. We are a clan of honour and the streets are already in turmoil because of the situation with Phantom Lord. I cannot afford being told that I can't even keep Fairy Tail under control!"

"And you're going to make me the victim of that?" she asked him indignantly.

"You're not a victim, Levy!" he snapped at her, "You are part of this clan, part of this family, and all we're doing is asking you to keep the honour-"

"Honour, honour, honour, I am sick of this!" Tears now rushed into her eyes and once more she begged him with her eyes. "Please, Master, don't make me do this! I'm not ready to choose a team mate! If I pick now, I'm going to hurt Jet, or Droy, or both of them! I can't pick one of them, but I can't pick anyone else either! I'm absolutely stuck! Please don't make me!"

Makarov sighed once again. "I'm sorry, Levy. You've turned seventeen, according to the tradition it's time. You've had plenty of time to make up your mind."

"But not enough!" Her eyes were absolutely desperate now.

"I can't prolong this, even if I wanted to!" Makarov shouted to the ceiling "Please, Levy, try to understand!"

Levy took some hesitant steps back, as if not yet sure what to do. "I'm trying… I'm trying… But I can't do this, I'm sorry…" With that she turned around and ran.

"Levy!" she heard her godfather call out after her, but there was no way to stop her now. She had to think.

She left the building in a tornado of speed and sadness. At the gate she ran into her best friend, but she ignored the blonde and simply continued her flight. "Levy?" she heard Lucy calling after her, worried, "Where are you going? It's getting dark already!"

Levy hardly heard her and sure did not process the words. She just kept running and running, turning left, right, left, right. She knew every little corner of this town. She passed stray cats, old shops, new shops and finally she found herself in a neighbourhood she would not want to be found. Red lights surrounded her as the women, young and old, stared at her with disdain. It was only when she saw those looks she realised that she couldn't keep on running this way. For a moment she was disorientated and she snuck into a small alley between two brothels. She walked all the way to the back wall and sat down on the dirty ground. With stretched legs and arms next to her body she looked up to the twilight above her head. How did she end up here?

She remembered the look on Master's face and felt tears rushing back into her eyes. She knows he's in a very difficult situation. Jose Porla, the master of Phantom Lord, was dying and every single member of his clan was fighting over the inheritance. Jose Porla had wanted it like this, he'd wanted them to fight over it so that the strongest would become the new clan master. That's why he never pointed out someone. Phantom Lord wasn't exactly a kind guild. Where Fairy Tail was a warm community that didn't kill where it didn't have to, Phantom Lord was the exact opposite. They'd made a sport out of killing as many criminals as possible, without any form of trial. Every citizen feared them, especially the higher-ups, the Element 4 and Redfox. And here she was, defying her master at the time he needed obedience the most. She felt incredibly guilty. But she'd thought about it long and hard and this was the only way. She couldn't choose.

Fairy Tail had a long tradition of choosing their team mates. When the members turned seventeen they teamed up with one other person, often from the other sex. This person became their partner for the rest of their lives, so that most of them also married. Levy had known her time would come soon as well and she'd have to choose someone. But that's just not how she worked! She couldn't pick the person she wanted to eventually marry now, that was insane. She wasn't even in love with anyone. She knew there had been times where partners hadn't married, but she was sure that if she picked either Jet or Droy, her best friends, they would expect her to marry them. Now, she really didn't want to do that. She had no interest in marrying either of them and she was sure she'd really hurt the other person if she picked one of them. In the end, there was nothing she could-

She was abruptly taken from her train of thoughts as an enormous shadow came falling from the sky. She was too shocked to even scream and simply pulled up her knees and pressed herself against the wall behind her. The ground shook as the shadow landed in front of her and her eyes widened at the sight. Then the shadow looked over its shoulder with glowing red eyes. Levy felt her body begin shaking almost uncontrollably and her mouth had fallen open in a perfect 'o'. The shadow then grinned at her, showing her his teeth.

"REDFOX!" she suddenly heard being cried out fiercely. His red eyes shimmered alertly for a moment and he came at her with the speed of a monster. Before she had the chance to yell his hand was over her mouth and he'd pushed her into a corner of the alley. His black figure blocked her entirely and he looked straight in her frightened hazel eyes.

"Keep your mouth closed, shrimp," he whispered in a slightly hoarse voice.

She nodded slowly and her eyes flew across his torso, only to find blood slowly dripping out of an injury on his side. Above their heads the shadows of two more figures jumped from one building to another. "Damn!" she heard one of them curse. Then they were gone.

Her captor glared up at the buildings and released the girl from his grip. For a moment she could still hardly breathe and she just stared up at his profile. "Gajeel Redfox," she then stammered.

The man turned to her again and showed her his grin. "You really have an awful sense of timing, shrimp." He moved away from her and wiped some dirt of his arms. Her eyes widened a bit more at the studs that were pierced through so many parts of his body. She only started to move when he turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait up!" she called after him and she grabbed part of the black cape he was wearing. The difference in their weight caused her to almost immediately fall over as he continued walking. "Woah!" she called out as she fell.

He looked down on her from over his shoulder. "Bugger off, shrimp."

She frowned at him and pulled his cape again. "Sit down."

He blinked in shock. "What?"

"I said sit down!" she repeated irritated as she quickly stood up.

The trump card of Phantom Lord simply stared at her.

"Sit!" she said once more and she pulled his arm to get him down.

Suddenly a little smirk crawled onto his face and he dropped himself onto the ground, almost causing her to fall over with him. She quickly regained her position as he sniggered at her. Levy ignored him and kneeled down next to him, pushing aside his arm to look at the wound on his side.

"What are you-" he now growled.

"Just be still," she cut him off as she got a serious look in her face, "If we don't disinfect this injury now you may get an infection and, trust me, you don't want that."

She pulled out a flacon with a green fluid out of her clothing (let's not go into detail about what part, but let's just say the fearsome Redfox is wondering where the hell it came from) and opened it with her mouth as she applied pressure on the wound with her right hand.

He growled at bit again, this time in very human physical pain. "What's that?" he barked at her.

"Disinfection liquid, what else?" she asked him absent-mindedly as she dropped a bit of the content on the tip of her index finger. She put the flacon away again with one hand as the other started drawing a figure across Gajeel's side. She whispered something's he didn't understand and for a moment he wondered whether this shrimp was trying to poison him, but then the figure on his body became pleasantly cold and he felt his wound closing.

"Magic," he observed.

"Yes," she answered as she stood back up. She knew Makarov would be proud of her if he heard what she'd done. "What were you doing?" she asked him to ban the thought of her master.

"That's none of your business," he replied as he stood up as well.

All of a sudden she had to look up again and she felt very small, but that wouldn't get her down. "Was it about the succession?"

He blinked at her and narrowed his eyes. "Who are you, shrimp?"

"Levy McGarden," she replied professionally "Proud member of Fairy Tail."

He giggled for a bit. "A shrimp like you? Part of Fairy Tail? They really do take everyone available in…" Suddenly his eyes widened and before she knew what was going on he'd grabbed her shoulders. "How old are you?"

"S-seventeen," she replied in confusion, "Why?"

For a moment he blinked in surprise. "You don't look seventeen," he said while he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

She frowned, irritated. "Well, my mother would be able to assure you I was born exactly seventeen years, twenty-one hours and a few minutes ago."

He cursed and looked away from her for a moment.

"Why?" she asked again, more curiously now.

He glared back at her. "There's no chance you still haven't chosen your partner, is there?"

A sharp pain crossed her face and she looked away. "That's none of your business…" she said softly.

"You haven't?" he pressured her, surprised again.

"It's none of your business!" she repeated while looking straight in his eyes again.

"Well, from today on, it will be," he simply told her.

Confusion returned to her. "What?"

He grinned at her again. "Listen up, shrimp, you fairies are all for the blah blah helping people blah, right?"

"That's really not something you want to say to a member of Fairy Tail."

"Whatever, I'm giving you the perfect opportunity to do just that."

"Say such a thing to a member of Fairy Tail?"

He gave her an annoyed look. "No, helping out. You see, I need to get away for a bit. From Phantom Lord."

"Why…?" she asked, ignoring his insults for now, "Isn't the fight for leadership going on?"

"Exactly. That's why."

She laughed at him and shook her head. "Are you telling me you don't want to become the leader of Phantom Lord?"

"I am," he told her with a serious look in his eyes. The red burned through her and she shivered. But she believed him.

She crossed her arms and looked at him in suspicion. "What do you need me for?"

"I need you to marry me," he replied dead-serious.

Her jaw dropped and she stared at him in shock. "Excuse me?!"

"Not for real," he added irritated, "I need you to pretend you married me."

"What? Why? You're making no sense! Why would I pretend to have married you? That's insane!"

"No, it's not," he said, "Because if I married a fairy, I'd become part of the Fairy Tail clan automatically, right?"

"No," she stated sternly, "No way. I'm already an extreme fool for helping out one of the worst people in town, I am not pretending to marry him so he can get into my clan. Never."

"Come on, it's not like I'd burn down the place! I swear."

"I'm not doing this." She shook her head.

His eyes turned a little colder and he came a little closer while his grip around her shoulders tightened. "Are you implying I won't keep my word?"

"I'm implying that I don't want to marry you," she snapped at him poisonously.

He grinned again. "Well, that doesn't surprise me. But you're gonna have to pretend."

She was baffled. For a moment she could only stare at this villainous creature in pure shock and try to process what he was asking, or rather commanding, her. Pretend to marry him… Pretend to… marry him… Slowly something started moving in her head again and all of a sudden she realised this could be the solution to her problem. If she were to pretend she'd married Gajeel Redfox, that would mean he'd get into Fairy Tail. Then she could pick him as her partner and use the time that he was part of the clan to decide on who her real partner would be.

She looked back at the shadow in front of her. He would be using her. But she could use him as well. She crooked her head a little and gave him a thoughtful look. "You give me your word you won't use this opportunity to harm my clan?"

He grinned again. "Really, shrimp, if I wanted to destroy Fairy Tail I wouldn't go about in such a nasty way. I'd walk in and destroy it. Are you in?"

She sighed. "Fine. As long as it doesn't take too long."

"I'll be gone before you know it," he told her softly and he looked at her again with those intense red eyes. She blinked and somehow she felt a little blush run over her cheeks.

Gajeel Redfox reached to his gloves and pulled a little ring from it. Confused Levy McGarden let him take one of her hands and watched as he shoved the delicate little thing around her pink.

"Well then," he said as they looked up to each other. Her blush deepened.

"With this, you're my wife."

—-

When they were but one turn from Fairy Tail's headquarters she turned to him and put her small hand on his chest. He stopped and looked down on her in silence. She gave him a stern look. "Let me do the talking."

He grinned. "Why? You don't trust my acting skills?"

Levy rolled her hazel eyes. "Because I know what they want to hear. Besides, we'll have to keep you as alike to a harmless little bunny as possible. You opening your mouth won't be a big help when it comes to that."

He raised his hands in a nonchalant gesture. "Sure, it's your party."

"Literally," she muttered under her breath as she turned away from him again and turned the last corner.

It may have taken three seconds before her first ally saw her, but three seconds at most. Somehow she'd underestimated how all Hell broke loose.

"LEVY!" yelled one after another and they rushed towards her, katana's out and faces twisted in either anger or concern. Within a moment they'd surrounded her and her companion and she could tell from the looks in their eyes they were ready to take Redfox out that instant. In a reflex she jumped in front of him and spread one of her arms, shielding him. "Don't touch him!" she screamed angrily as her hand reached for her knife.

All around her people froze, their eyes set on either the fierce young girl or the fearsome monster behind her. The absurdness of the situation had broken boundaries. There she was, Levy of Fairy Tail, the small, fragile little thing with the big mouth and even bigger brains, and she was shielding one of the most notorious people in town, a man almost twice her size. The monster was grinning wickedly and his red eyes seemed to glow in the dim evening light. He was more of a shadow, a silhouette, than an actual person. A dark persona, a ghost. A dragon.

"Levy…" Jet uttered as he took a step forward.

The girl held out her other arm in front of her and gestured for him to keep his distance. "Don't come any closer, Jet" she warned him "I'm not going to let anyone touch him."

"What are you doing?" Droy whispered.

She looked at him, straight into his perplexed and frightened eyes. "I'm choosing."

"Levy."

This time the crowd opened up to let Master come through, followed by Mira, Erza and Lucy. The rest of the girls had stayed inside the building, but these three were the only ones that had been fearless enough to come out. It was a strange sight to see. You had this little old man, his hands folded behind his back, walking through the crowd of men with a stern look on his face. Behind him were those three women. The gentle Mira, a smile plastered on her face but her eyes alert, very feminine. Next to her Erza, a warrior of the highest calibre. Her face showed no emotion at all and her clothing was far from feminine. It seemed like she'd been in the middle of her training. Then, on the far right, there was Lucy, dressed the most feminine of all three of them. Her eyes were deep pools of worry and relief at the same time, staring at her best friend. It was only when she looked into those eyes Levy realised how silly she must look, shielding a man that definitely had no use for her protection. Slowly she lowered her arms as her eyes drifted back to her master.

The man stopped right in front of her and pushed his right hand to his forehead for a moment, as to push back a headache. "Levy," he repeated, this time more a sigh than an actual word. He looked up at her. "What have you done now?"

Levy felt herself shrink. Within the span of two seconds she'd turned back into a seventeen-year-old, not fierce or powerful. "I've chosen," she said. But instead of the steady voice she'd been hoping for, nothing but a whimper came out. She cowered at the sound of it in the slumbering evening air.

"You've chosen," Markarov repeated in the clear voice she'd been hoping to have. He crooked his head a bit and his eyes pierced right through her. "And what exactly have you chosen?"

Levy opened her mouth and for a moment she thought she was going to tell him everything. For a moment she feared she was going to tell the truth and say 'I just need more time'. For a moment she truly believed she didn't have it in her to lie to this man, her guardian, her safe haven, her father. But then a miracle happened.

From behind her she felt the touch of an enormous hand taking hers. She felt his rough skin brush against hers and a little startled she looked back at Gajeel Redfox. His grin had somehow turned into a little smile. She looked down at their hands, a strange entanglement of light and dark. Her eye fell onto the little ring he'd put around her finger. Somehow she felt a little smile crawl onto her lips as well, a warm light filling her eyes for a moment. He caught a glance of it and his eyes widened a little at the sight of something so wonderfully fragile and beautiful. It felt like the universe tingled and twisted for a moment and for the very first time in his life he felt he wanted to protect something. He wanted to protect that fragile warmth that lingered in her smile and tingled in his hand.

Levy didn't notice and turned back to her master, the smile still on her face. And with a voice that couldn't have been a lie, with a voice she hadn't ordered to come out, she said: "I've chosen Gajeel Redfox." The wonder of the words hung in the air between the people. It shot through the air and filled every corner between the people, as a whisper in an empty garden at night. Before Gajeel had recovered from the thing that had happened in his chest when she uttered those words, she continued and sealed everything.

"My husband."