(Anime spoilers in the rant)
I loved the idea of Gajeel having a great reputation as a teacher. It just killed me. And another thing, which I forgot to mention last chapter, for everyone that's been watching the anime, how many fangirl moments did you have? I honestly went back and rewatched the scenes where Gajeel was using Levy as a support. Seriously, so cute! And the part where he protected her again *happy*. It almost makes up for the fact that we won't be seeing either of them (except maybe next ep or fillers) until the next arc is over.
But then again, I can't WAIT to see anime Wendy.
And, update for those that read "Me and My Cat," I was bored (work's going a bit slow, being a secretary does that sometimes) so I found myself writing two more shorts for it. Both of which I really love, so I'll be posting one or the other soon^^
Magic Can Be...
By Ice Queen
Chapter 2: Exhausting
"Oh, my," the tiny little man wearing oversized glasses said as he looked up at Gajeel. He shoved his glasses up his nose and glanced hopefully over at Levy. "One of you is Gajeel Redfox?" he asked, clearly showing that he'd prefer it to be the cute little blue haired girl.
"I am," Gajeel said.
"Oh, yes, yes, I did hear you were a very... special mage," the little man said, swallowing loudly. "In fact, I heard from a few of my colleagues that you did marvelous work with their town children. They said twice as many turned out to be magically endowed than they had expected."
"Yeah," Gajeel said.
"But they said you worked alone or with a cat?"
"My cat's getting our supplies," Gajeel said. "This is Levy, she's forced her way into the mission."
Levy gave him a dirty look, but stepped forward, offering the small man her hand. "Levy McGarden," she said. "I'm a solid script mage," she added.
"And you are a-" the tiny man trailed off, looking at Gajeel.
"He's an Iron Dragon Slayer," Levy provided.
"Oh, oh my," the man said, starting to sweat. "But you do have good references as a teacher, and your guild master recommended you for this job specifically, so welcome, Mage Redfox," he went on bravely, holding out his hand to the dragon slayer.
Gajeel looked at it, only to be distracted as a massive bag of items landed on the ground beside him. "Here's the stuff," Lily said, dropping down on the bag that was a good three times larger than he was.
"Oh, a... talking cat," the man said. "How fascinating! The children will just love that! But how do you get him to fly?" he asked Gajeel.
"Usually I threaten to take his blade back," Gajeel said idly as he looked around the field in front of them. All of the little kids in the town were standing around waiting. It was a decent turn out.
"I thought you were just here to teach them," Levy said as she followed his line of sight.
"First we got to find out which ones are teachable," Gajeel told her. "This is just to find out who needs to find a more permanent teacher," he added as he pulled open the bag that Lily had brought, sorting through all their props. "As well as to establish the basics." He pulled out a stack of cones, handing them to Lily. "Go set up the route, I'll get the obstacles ready."
They separated, having done this several times before, and went to work. It was only when he felt a tug on his shirt that Gajeel even remembered that Levy had come along. "I want to help," she said. "What are you doing?"
He looked down at her, then at the set of stairs he was building in the middle of the route. "There's some things in the bag," he muttered, tossing on the ramp, "start setting them up at random intervals between the cones that Lily's laying out."
"So it's just a normal obstacle course?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Okay!" she said, grinning cheerfully as she raced for the bag and got to work. Sooner than usual Gajeel was standing in front of the large group of little kids, his hands on his hips.
"This is an obstacle course," he told them. "I want you to run through it as quickly as you can and try not to kill yourself, got it?" Then he promptly stepped aside from the entrance. "What's taking so long?" he barked. "Run!"
The kids raced away, more to get away from the scary man than because they wanted to play on the obstacle course. Gajeel walked along behind them, casually picking up the ones that fell panting with exhaustion and setting them on the other side of the cones. There were all of five kids that made it out the exit of the course, and that wasn't as big a turn out as Gajeel had hoped for.
"Those of you that didn't make it through can go home," he told the other kids callously, waving them off. The tiny man who had been overseeing the whole thing looked as if to protest, so Gajeel glared at him, effectively silencing him. "The ones that made it, you've got some basic magical abilities. Those cones have a little trick to them. They make normal people tired, understand? They make mages tired, too, but not nearly as fast."
The five left nodded hesitantly, looking from Gajeel to Lily to Levy with worried expressions. Gajeel crouched down in front of them. "That means you guys have the ability to become mages." He stood. "Now," he said, clapping his hands. "Go run through it again!"
The first half of the day was spent watching the kids run through the obstacle course over and over again. Gajeel picked the ones that fell down out of the course one by one, mentally noting who had the most magic and who the least. He stopped by Levy when the final one was done, pointing them out according to ability. She wrote it down. It was shocking, actually, just how well thought out this way of checking their abilities was, considering who was doing it. And while exhausted, none of the kids had been hurt, in fact, they were grinning happily.
"Now," Gajeel said as he stepped in front of the panting kids. "Every mage has a specialty, you know that, right? Course with time they can pick up a few more magic abilities. There's holder types, there's creation types, there's some guys that can use spirit magic. I want you to go home and find out all you can about the different types. Tomorrow I'll be at your school for your first class. Now get going!"
The kids slowly got to their feet, heading off in different ways except for the one that had lasted the longest on the obstacle course. It was a tomboyish female that looked as if she'd been in more street brawls at seven than most kids could count. "Hey, what type are you?" she demanded.
"I'm a dragon slayer," he told her. "But don't bother. There aren't any dragons around to teach you."
"Oh," she said. "Can I at least get the piercings?"
"Sure, why not?" he told her. "Now get!" He watched as she ran off, noting that she still seemed capable of running, and turned to the tiny guy that had greeted them. "Levy's got a list of the kids we'll be dealing with tomorrow. You can tell their teachers," he told him. "Now c'mon, Lily, I'm starving."
"After we clean this stuff up," Lily told him, already stacking cones. Gajeel grunted and went to work, tossing everything into the bag from wherever he stood then tying it up once everyone had cleaned everything up. He looked around for a second then started off, expecting Lily to follow.
"I'm a bit hungry, too," Levy said as she chased after them. "And I want to talk about tomorrow. I don't feel like I really did anything today," she added as she walked double time to keep up with the two males.
"Which is why I don't need a team for a mission," he told her bluntly. "Lily and me do just fine."
Which Lily couldn't argue, but he did glare at the dragon slayer for saying it so bluntly. "Oh, I knew that already," Levy said as Gajeel reached the inn they were staying at and headed inside. "I just wanted to come for the library."
"Nice to know," Gajeel drawled as they grabbed one of the inn tables and waited for a waitress to come. Soon they were eating, which was a bit strange with Levy sitting there with them. Usually the two either ate alone or with another of the dragon slayers in the guild. But unlike the other ten people in the inn's dining room, she didn't even wince as Gajeel pulled out a pile of wrenches and gears for his dessert.
"You aren't planning on destroying any buildings, are you?" Levy asked.
"Not at the moment."
"That's good," she said.
"We haven't been known for destroying many buildings, except for the-" Lily stopped, recalling the host club. "Well, one or two," he finished modestly.
"Then I'm going to the library. You're welcome to join me if you want!"
"No thanks," Gajeel said, earning a kick under the table from Lily. "What?" he asked in an almost silent hiss.
"Go with her to the library."
"Why? It'll be boring as hell."
Lily just looked at him pointedly. Gajeel gave him his most deadly glare, which did nothing at all. "Fine, I'll g-" Levy was already gone, leaving the two to look idiotic all on their own.
"Even if you have a chance against the fishtail and the hat head, you apparently have no chance against a massive library," Lily said finally.
"Brilliant deduction, jackass," Gajeel muttered, making Lily smirk.
