Disclaimer : I do not own Fairy Tail and any of its characters.
Part 3 : Arrived, Exhausted
Story So Far : During the trip to their destination, Ferraria Town, Levy saw Gajeel acting unusual. Her curious mind wanted to ask him, but she didn't want to cause any awkward situation on day one of their training, so she didn't say anything (for now).Now, they had arrived at their destination…
"Guide, miss! Need someone to to give you a little tour through this historical place? Only for 50 golds!"
First thing she saw stepping out of the train with Lily was a men with worn-out clothing, persistently offering guidance service to them.
"If you want a thoroughly tour to every corner of this town, you would pick me as your guide, miss!"
And another one.
"Don't listen to these frauds, miss! My tour is the best you can find here!"
And another. Before they knew it, a pack of guider had gathered before them, boasting their own tour packets and mocking their rivals'.
"We don't need any guide," Lily spoke while floating beside Levy, stopping the pack from shouting their offers for a few seconds. Perhaps they were not used to see a talking and flying cat. Not like Exceed is a common sight though, so she understood their confusion.
"I'd give your pet a bath, too!"
One of the guider threw a new proposal to broke the silence, only to be followed by various new offerings (pet food, walk on the park, etc.) from the other Guiders, a chuckle from Levy, and a slightly angry Lily whom immediately turned to his Battle form, effectively baffling the pack once again.
"Which pet?" He threw these words with a slight grimace (resembling Gajeel's) that made the guides gulped simultaneously.
She knew Lily was just messing around with them, he would never start a fight over such a trivial matters. But she felt she should stop him before these guides went running and call local security to capture them. So she nudged Lily's side, and he turned back to his exceed form, grin still plastered on his face.
"Sorry, but we really don't need guide. We're not here for vacation, we're here for our training,"
"Still, you need a guide to accompany you through this town, miss! Even moreso at time as this!" The guider pointed to the setting sun, signaling the night is crawling.
"What kind of training you are doing here, anyway, miss?"
"What do you bastards care for?" Gajeel stepped out of the train with a heavy stomp. Every single guider looked up to the source of the voice. Upon seeing his figure, their expression changed to that of fear, and they backed two steps from their original position.
"She's with me. No need for any of you guide-shits. Scram,"
And with that said, they all walked off to different directions, away from Gajeel.
"Aren't you being too harsh on them?" She protested to his method of shunning those guider. They might be a little annoying, but he doesn't have to scare them that way, she thought.
"You're too soft. They shows innocence right now, but when you're not paying attention, they'll rob anything they can from you. Trust me, I know these kind of scums," He replied to her.
"Take your stuff. We'll walk to our camping spot," He pointed to a pathway leading to a forest.
"Walk? Why don't we take a ride?" Levy inquired.
"No rides around this clock. Besides, you can consider this as a warm-up for tomorrow's training,"
"Then why must we go camping? And walk through the forest, even more so. Isn't there any path near the town?"
"Like I said," He grinned, "Consider this a warm-up,"
- An Hour of Walking Later–
"Here we are," Gajeel said to his two companions behind him, one with a few sweat, and one who looked like she could collapse any time.
"A cave?" Lily's first words after seeing the place Gajeel had brought them to.
The cave's entrance was pretty big. It was comparable the size of Doromu Anima, the giant machine used by the king of Edolas during the battler of Edolas. From a glance, the exterior of the cave looked craggy.
'It seemed we're in for a bumpy sleep' Lily thought.
"A mine, actually," Gajeel confirmed, "I figure this place would suffice,"
"Can…we…go inside…now?" Levy surprisingly managed to let out some words, considering how exhausted she was.
"Didn't expect you to be awake, bookworm. I thought you would've fainted halfway here," That was meant to be a compliment for being able to pass the forest, but as far as Gajeel's ability to convey his thoughts to words, that was his best take on a praise.
"Come on, let's go inside,"
Inside, the mine was bigger. The interior was rather different from both Lily and Levy's expectations. The floor's contour was pretty smooth; there was no large bumps or cracks that threatens to scar their sleep. On the top of the mine was a decently sized hole, exposing the light of the moon right into the mine, giving a clearer sight for what's inside.
There was a really large space on the deep left part of the mine. The area was covered with dried leaves, which make it as a suitable place to sleep. Conveniently, there was also a rather smaller space surrounded by pillars of rocks on the right side. It resembled a small room, with bed made of rock covered with dried leaves. The Room doesn't have the luxury of being exposed to the moonlight's glow, though. Luckily, Gajeel had brought a lantern for lightning purpose.
On a further inspection, Lily saw a large pile of rocks blocking what appeared to be a giant hole on the deeper part of the mine's wall. It seemed like the mine was digged, but the diggers had abandoned the place.
"You can sleep there," Gajeel told to Levy while pointing to the small room. It was thoughtful of him , Levy thought. Girls needs privacy when they sleep, and she was relieved when he gave her the room.
"Lily and I will sleep there," He gestured to the pile of dried leaves on the left side of the mine. "If you need anything, just call me or Lily out, we'd hear you,"
"Now hit the bed. You'll need your energy for tomorrow's training," And with that, Gajeel closed the room's door.
She wanted to thanks him for giving her the only room, but she was too tired for anything. She put her stuff beside her bed, changed to her pajamas, wrote magical scripts of 'Pillow', and dozed off right away.
Meanwhile, Lily who was inspecting the mines stroked his chin. He was curious, how come Gajeel could coincidentally find such a perfect camping place. He had asked him, but his 'I followed my dragonslayer's instinct' answer didn't actually helped his curiousity. He yawned, all this trip and thinking had tire him. He just have to find out things by himself tomorrow, when all his gears is on the right places.
Author's Notes : Thanks for all the reviews so far, I really appreciate it, it drives me to continue this story. This chapter might appear a little rushed, but this is the best I can do at the moment. Truth is, my notebook went bluescreen :( and I promised to myself I would finish a chapter the day I can fix it. And guess what? I watched some tutorials and managed to fix it! So in order to fulfill my promise, I finished this chapter today. Hehe :)