The Difference Between Cakes and Books
Summary: New members always thought that the number one rule in the guild was not to mess with Erza's cake. But there was one rule more important than that, a rule that was actually followed in Fairy Tail. Never mess with Levy's books.
When Gajeel had first joined the Fairy Tail Guild, he had immediately noticed just how… hectic it was. Fights broke out everyday, things were constantly wrecked, people got punched, things were thrown (most of the time through walls), and there were absolutely no limitations in regards to the chaos that ensued within the guild confines (most would argue that there were no limitations outside the guild as well).
It all made sense, he supposed, the guild was filled with ridiculously strong people who would be able to tolerate this kind of chaos (which allowed him to fit in quite easily), but then… then he started noticing the little blue sprite (yes the one he had attacked and yadda yadda, yes he felt bad about it, yes he realizes now that he had made the biggest cluster fuck decision of all time and there was nothing he could do to make up for it but he could try).
He had first noticed her when she had been with her books, when she had managed to undo the spells of a mage that by all rights looked much, much stronger than her, but, Gajeel realized now, was not nearly as smart as her (because his Levy was one smart cookie and he would never get tired of telling everyone he came across that she was the smartest mage in all of Fiore). That memory would never leave him, because he hadn't stopped looking away since.
Which brings us to now. Where Gajeel is sitting beside Levy as another fight breaks out in the guild and someone has foolishly knocked Titania's cake off of her plate and has smashed the sweet to pieces with one misplaced foot and Titania is going all Heaven's Wheel on everyone. But… but Gajeel doesn't even have to lift a finger in order to protect Levy from all the chaos. Which makes sense, because if he suddenly had to protect her now, she would have never survived long enough to meet him in the first place (and although Gajeel regretted how they met, he would never, ever regret that they had met).
But Gajeel is confused as his eye brows scrunch and the chaos escalates, and here he is still sitting with his little bookworm and, still, they are completely untouched by all of the madness ensuing all around them.
This wasn't the first time that he had noticed it. He began noticing it when he had begun seeing her. He had needed to protect her a couple times during the whole Fantasia fiasco after all, so why did she not need protection at these times. It didn't really seem like any of the guild members were being particularly selective in who they were targeting. Gajeel would know; he had been dragged into these battles himself on multiple occasions.
Actually, why was she the leader of Shadow Gear? Although her teammates couldn't be compared to some of the other mages in the guild, by all right they weren't weak mages at all.
All these questions and yet no answers.
There were actually no answers. Gajeel had asked (if asking was the same as threatening) people about it, but most of them had just gone pale and shivered while the others had out right screamed and run away. This, Gajeel knew for a fact, was not the typical response towards the little bookworm. She was as harmless as she looked (most of the time).
Gajeel watched as Titania's swords flew through the guild, the Salamander and the Stripper running for their lives and wondered why an event like this (where Erza loses her shit because of destroyed cake) was more likely to happen than Levy accidently being caught in the cross fires.
Well Gajeel planned to ponder no more.
"Oi, Shorty…" It was basically a ritual at this stage, "Oi, Shrimp…" A couple more times to get her attention, "Oi, Bookworm…" And maybe one more, "Oi! LEVY!" And Gajeel's fist slammed down on the table. However, a pile of something stopped his fist short, before the pile of… something gave and the table broke.
The guild suddenly went deathly quiet as everyone turned to face Gajeel. All weapons stopped flying, all punches stopped in midair and Gajeel watched as Levy's head turned to look at where his hand had landed.
He turned to look at well.
Apparently he had been a little bit too pre-occupied with his puzzle to notice that Levy had slipped a small stack of books in front of him… where his fist was now… though they really couldn't be considered books anymore.
Gajeel looked back at Levy again and reeled back from the look in her eyes. "Gajeel…"
"Everyone run! Every man to himself!" Makarov shouted, as the little old man was the first one out of the door. Mirajane quickly grabbed Lily before he could ponder about what was happening and try to get between the Iron Dragon Slayer and the Solid Script mage. Natsu grabbed Lucy and Gray grabbed Juvia.
Gajeel wasn't even able to take in a breath before the guild had emptied, the large doors swinging to a close behind every last one of them.
"Uh… Lev?"
The whole guild had watched from several blocks away as their precious building had exploded in Solid Script magic, words flying every which way, and the Iron Dragon Slayer had flown through the sky and had disappeared like a star in the morning. Lily flew after Gajeel as fast as he could, completely flabbergasted at what could have possibly happened.
Lily found Gajeel a couple days later, still unconscious in a neighboring country.
The members had all slowly shifted back towards their destroyed building which was slowly being built back up with panels of Solid Script wood. Some of the older guild members had traumatic flashbacks of the time that Natsu had accidentally burnt one of Levy's books. They had all learnt why Levy McGarden was the leader of Shadow Gear then and all of them had known exactly why she had been nominated to be an S-class mage.
When they came back into the guild, Levy was still sitting at her table, mourning the loss of her books. It had been years since the last time she had lost any.
There was a good reason why.
You shouldn't mess with Erza's cake but you definitely don't mess with Levy's books.
Another brawl broke out the day that Gajeel was released from the infirmary and he was a little bit astonished when Jet and Droy had come up to him and had patted him on the back saying how lucky he was that Levy had been easy on him (why had she not used this kind of magic when he had nearly killed her, no one could answer him).
But now he knew why no one touched Levy… well not Levy… but the books that surrounded her. He would be more careful from now on.
I know that the premise is a little bit (really, really) silly, but I just though about writing little stories about how sometimes Levy has the ability to just prove that she isn't always weak. In my mind she never really registers these moments that events like this happen, has no control over it, and that the reason she can do it is that she unintentionally unlocks her second origin or something haha. In these particular events, I believe that since her magic is so intimately connected with books that her magic could activate if source material is damaged.
Ridiculous I know.
But please review and the next one will be up soon!
