Mavis Vermillion Academy of Excellence

Chapter 3

Devil Worship?!


Levy was woken bright and early the next day by Lucy banging on her door. She rubbed her face and groaned at the noise. She finally got up and trudged to the door. When she opened it, she was happy to see that Lucy came bearing gifts – breakfast, two student diaries and her new uniform. She gratefully accepted a cup of coffee and sat back on her bed, pulling the blanket around her shoulders.

Lucy dropped her loot on the desk and sat in the chair, sipping on her own coffee. "So," she said, smiling brightly. "You ready for your first day?"

Levy shrugged, yawning. "I would prefer to sleep a bit more to be honest. I got a really bad night's sleep." She yawned, bringing the hot liquid back up to her lips. Despite how nonchalant she acted, it still was a first day at a new school. Plus, the library of her dreams would be open today. That alone made her too anxious to sleep properly. She could see the beautiful Victorian style building from her window, practically calling her name.

"That's not the way you should speak about your first day," Lucy pouted. "The first day also means the first impression for most people, and as such, you have to look your best!" Her eyes gleamed with the prospect of showing off. She grabbed the student diaries with gusto, flicking to the page she knew would contain their timetables. "So… you have a tech class first up, with Mr Rocko. Hmm, I have tech as well, but in the classroom down the hall. I can still take you. After that is science… we're not together either… hmm. History… nope. Huh. Oh! There's one. We have Latin together in the afternoon."

Levy smiled. "Well, at least there's one class." It gave them both something to look forward to for the day. Until of course, classes were over and she'd be able to explore the library. Upon further inspection, Lucy found that there were two more classes which they had together – Art and Math.

They ate the breakfast Lucy brought up quickly, sparing little time for chat. They still had an hour before classes started, but according to Lucy that was 'barely any time at all'. As soon as she finished the last piece of toast, Lucy grabbed the tray off her and pulled her out of bed. She ripped open the plastic packet containing her new uniform, throwing it to her. "Uniform. Now." This was more of a demand than a request. Levy hastened to pull on the many layers that comprised her uniform: blouse, skirt, vest, blazer, high socks, shoes, and a tie bearing the insignia for Fairy Tail.

Lucy circled her, assessing the outfit. She rolled up the sides of the skirt, effectively making it shorter. "We'll take it to Ms Aries later, she can fix it," she remarked. When Levy attempted to complain, Lucy reminded her that she was quite a bit shorter than the other girls, and because of that the skirt fell well below her knees. She blushed and agreed, accepting the shorter length. The blazer covered up the lumps from the folding, so it didn't really matter too much. What she couldn't really fix immediately was that the sleeves were also too long, making it so only her fingertips poked out. At least she was allowed to remove the blazer in class, so it wouldn't get in the way.

Once uniform assessment was complete, Lucy sat her in the desk chair and pulled open the newly acquired makeup case. Levy noted that Lucy already had perfectly applied makeup. How long had she been awake…?

Lucy applied her makeup with expert precision, teaching her along the way how to do it herself. Levy listened intently. Her mother wasn't very into makeup, nor were her old friends from home, so she had practically no experience. Because she was teaching as she went, the process took longer than expected. By the time she had a perfectly applied face, it was fifteen minutes until the first class started. Seeing as it was a five minute walk up, and they had to be at least five minutes early, that left only five minutes for hair and readying to leave. Levy thanked herself for packing her bag the night before.

Lucy quickly ran a brush through the blue hair, trying to tame the wild curls into some sort of order. Before long she grew frustrated. Giving up, she grabbed a ribbon and tied most of Levy's hair back, leaving two strands to fall by her face. She patted Levy's head. "That'll do." Levy scrunched up her face. As the morning went on, she felt more and more like Lucy's pet.

But as Levy examined herself in the mirror, she had to hand it to the blonde. She looked great. She grinned up at Lucy in the reflection. "You're amazing, you know that?"

Lucy grinned as well. "Yeah, I know."

They collected their gear and walked out the door. As she slung her bag over her shoulder, Levy turned to her friend and asked where hers was.

It was then Lucy realised she had not packed her bag yet. Squeaking, she rushed to her room. "Sorry, Levy, you'll have to go without me." She stopped to look back at Levy and saw something behind her, making her smile mischievously. A wicked gleam shone in her eye, notifying Levy that something was definitely up. "Hey, why don't you take her? You know the way. Thanks!" She ran in her room, slamming the door closed, leaving Levy, and whoever was behind her alone in the hall before either could object.


Gajeel watched Lucy run into her room with disdain. Why should he do anything for the new girl? She wasn't his type at all. He looked down at her. She looked up at him, frozen with shock.

The new hair colour suited her. He noticed it the night before and was charitable enough to remark on it. He always approved of a little rebellion. Besides, after spending so much time with Juvia, he had come to the decision that blue hair did indeed look really good on girls. He hazarded to think it might be his favourite hair colour. Not on dudes though.

"New girl," he stated, continuing to stare at her. Most people couldn't look him in the eyes for very long. He wondered how long she'd last.

She blushed, the colour showing brighter than normal against her hair. "H-Hi… Gajeel," she stammered.

He grinned. She was like a little kid. In stature and personality. Her gaze wavered she didn't look away from him. Most other people would have broken away by now. Hell, most people would have ran. He mentally ticked another box. Even if she did resemble a kid, she had more guts than most of the people in the school. It could be that she was frozen in fear though. That did happen occasionally.

He poked her forehead, breaking her out of her reverie. She jumped away from him, blushing harder. A hand was wrapped around her forehead and a pout on her lips. He noted that only her fingertips poked out of her blazer. She was so tiny. "That hurt," she sulked.

His grin widened. "Well I wouldn't have poked you if you weren't frozen. Am I that scary?" He was taunting her, seeing what she would do next.

She frowned. "I'm not scared of you! I… I was…" she fumbled around for an excuse.

He sighed mockingly and walked past her, placing a hand on her head and messing up her hair, much to her displeasure. "You don't have to lie now. Nearly everyone is scared of the big bad Gajeel. As they should be," he added, nodding to himself.

She swatted at his hand, awkwardness forgotten. He knew he had riled her up now. Another thing he had learned from his time with Juvia: you never mess with a woman's hair. "I am not afraid of you. I was looking at your eyes. I've never met someone with red eyes before."

He looked down at her as she trotted at his side down the hall. She had a reasonably serious expression on her face. He cocked a brow. "They're just brown," he stated matter-of-factly.

"No, they are definitely red," she pouted back.

He sighed. It seemed she had a very stubborn personality. Which didn't exactly mesh with his own stubbornness. But he let this one slide – he had to admit that his eyes did look kinda reddish. "Whatever. So I'm taking you to class?"

Levy sighed, looking back at Lucy's room. They could hear her angry complaining and heavy objects being thrown. She obviously had completely forgotten about unpacking. "Yeah, it seems so. Sorry Gajeel."

He shrugged. "Whatever, we're going the same way. Besides, you're a scholarship student, which means you were chosen especially by the old man. Everything you do reflects directly onto him. I don't want you causing any trouble for him," he grumbled. Master had saved him from that orphanage. He owed the guy.

Levy trained her eyes on the floor. "Seems I'll have to be very careful."

"Yup."

She scowled at him, but the grin he sported made her crack a smile too. He had to admit, she was kinda cute when she smiled.


Levy silently thanked Lucy for forgetting to pack a bag. There was a good chance the blonde had planned this anyway. Now she got to walk to class alone with Gajeel. Surprisingly, the conversation flowed pretty well, at least after he had teased her enough.

They walked out the front doors together, Mira waving them out. The sun was already high in the sky, beating down on them. It was still summer, so they were sweltering in their blazers. At least the main buildings were air-conditioned.

"Oi, shrimp."

His voice broke her out of her thoughts. She snapped up to look at his face. The annoyance there said that she had probably spaced out. She blushed, embarrassed. "Sorry, did you say something?"

"Yeah. What class do you have?" he grumbled.

"Oh, right," she laughed, fishing through her bag for her diary. "Um… let's see… wait. Did you call me shrimp?" she looked back up at him, mildly ticked off.

He grinned. "Yeah, what of it?"

She scowled. "I am not a shrimp," she stated.

He laughed and placed his arm on her head. "Suuuure."

She swatted him off again, gaining her more laughter. He had the strangest laugh. Rather than a 'haha' noise, it more resembled a 'gihi'. She scanned through her book again, ignoring his taunts. "I have a computer class with Mr Rocko."

"Well, that makes my life easier squirt. You're with me."

She whacked him. "I am not a squirt either." While she maintained an air of annoyance on the outside, internally she did a little dance. First class with her crush. She could tolerate all the nicknames in the world for that.

She knew about his penchant for nicknames before that morning anyway. Lucy had told her while putting on her makeup, as well as that it's best to fight back a bit. She knew that Gajeel quite enjoyed playful banter, and would often call her 'bunny girl', after her most recent Halloween costume. The fact that he could tease her and she'd swipe back made him consider her a friend. He hated the whiney girls.

Levy grinned to herself. Everything was going according to plan. They walked together up the path to the teaching building, arguing about her height. She really was tiny in comparison to him. She barely reached his collarbones. She wondered how awkward it would be, should they ever kiss. He'd have to lean down a hell of a long way to get to her lips…

"You're spacing out again shortie." Her hair was ruffled again. It seemed to be his favourite move.

She bumped into his side, hiding her giggle for being able to touch him. she pulled back and focused on fixing her hair. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked why you chose to apply for MVAE. I heard from Juvia you transferred from far away. Couldn't you have found a school closer?"

She blushed. Had Juvia said that on her own, or had Gajeel been interested in her? "Oh, I chose this school for many reasons. But I really fell in love because of its library." She didn't notice him stiffen beside her, and went into gush-mode. "I saw it in the brochure and it was a done deal. Ah…" she sighed happily. "The dark woods, the tall bookshelves, the running ladders, the deep, red coloured seats. It reminds me really strongly of the library described in Beauty and the Beast. I fell in love with that story as a child. Have you ever been in there Gajeel?" She turned up to look at him and finally noticed.

He was very stiff, refusing to look at her. His jaw was clenched. While he didn't stop walking, his movements were now robotic, as if he now had to force himself to remain calm. "G-Gajeel?" she stammered quietly. She reached out a hand to touch him. The contact on his arm made him jump like her hand was ice.

He shook his head, breaking himself out of whatever mental state he was in. His usual smirk spread onto his face and he looked down at her. She could tell it was forced. "Sorry shrimp, I guess I spaced out that time. The library huh?"

She guessed he didn't want to talk about whatever was bothering him, so she moved on. "Yeah… yeah, I really like it. So, um, what about you? You're one of the adopted kids, aren't you?" He nodded assent. "It's fine if you don't want to talk about it," she quickly added, not wanting to force him to talk about anything.

"Nah, it's fine. But it's a long story. I, uh, like libraries too." His segway was terrible. But she let it slide. She grinned at the thought of Gajeel lazing around with a book. Possibly one of the sexiest thoughts she'd had of him yet. She couldn't decide if that was a good thing, or an example that she liked books too much...

The bell rung, signifying the first class would begin in five minutes. He cursed and took off at a jog. She ran after him at full pelt just to match his long strides. They ran inside the main building's front doors and up the stairs to the second floor classrooms. Gajeel grabbed her timetable from her hand and checked which room they were in. She didn't bother objecting. As long as he got her to class on time, it didn't matter.

They finally stopped out the front of a computer lab room, Levy panting heavily. Gajeel looked like he hadn't even broken a sweat. The teacher smiled at them and gestured to two computers near the front of the class. He didn't even ask if they were supposed to be in that class - it was as if already knew. It seemed everyone else was already in. As they sat down, the second bell went for classes to begin.

"Alright," started the teacher, clapping his hands and gaining everyone's attention. "Welcome to Technology class. Some of you will be continuing this class from previous years while others will be starting fresh. As you can imagine, we will be learning all about computers and current technology. We will start the year…"

He dragged on with the speech for fifteen minutes, handing out information for what will be their first assessment. Gajeel already had his head in his hand, dozing next to her. She decided his sleeping face was cute, a nice difference from his usual gruff demeanour. It was very hard to do anything with him that close to her. His shoulder was practically touching hers, every breath shooting nervous electricity through her. Now that he wasn't teasing her and constantly keeping her on her toes, she began to regress into her shyness. Even while he wasn't watching her. She kept sneaking glances at him throughout the class. It seemed that the teacher had no plans to wake him up. She noticed that Mr Rocko also sported a tie emblazoned with the Fairy Tail symbol. Maybe he had known Gajeel for a long time and understood his personality. And maybe she was very obvious in her affection, because he kept smiling at her knowingly.

The bell rung again for the five minutes period to get to the next class. Surprisingly, Gajeel was out of his seat before she was. Or maybe not so surprising, given that he didn't have to close or save anything, nor shut down his computer. It had never been on.

He checked against her timetable again before they walked out and found out that they had the next class together as well. He smirked. "You stalkin' me shrimp?"

She puffed out her cheeks and took back her diary. "How could I possibly be stalking you? Maybe it's you who's stalking me!" she taunted back.

He laughed and ruffled her hair. "Alright, don't get your panties in a knot."

She blushed and crossed her arms, looking away. "Stupid Gajeel," she pouted.

They walked side by side through the school to the sub building where basic science was held. The class had already entered, so they made their way in, sitting at the only bench still available. A small Lamia Scale student was already sitting at the bench. When he saw Gajeel all blood drained from his face and he quickly ran away, sitting on the other side of the room. A Blue Pegasus girl consoled the boy, glaring over at the couple.

Gajeel seemed completely oblivious to all the happenings, instead fishing around for his textbook. He glanced up at Levy. "Oi," he muttered. "Get yer stuff out before the teacher shows up."

Levy tilted her head, confused. "You didn't care at all last class... why such a big change?"

His eyes hardened. "Because last class was easy crap with an easy teacher. This teacher though..."

A loud bang resounded from the front of the lab room. Levy jumped in her seat and faced forward. The sound had come from a hand slamming down on the teacher's desk, the hand belonging to rough looking blonde man. He had a long scar falling across one eye and looked extremely menacing. Everyone was silent. Even Gajeel was at attention. This man was obviously not someone you crossed.

He began his opening speech with a thunderous voice. "I am Laxus Dreyar: grandson of Master Makarov, and potentially the inheritor of Fairy Tail dorm. I am also you science teacher this year. You will refer to me as Laxus or Sir. Never Mr. Dreyar." His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the students. "I expect to be treated with nothing but the highest respect. Got that?!"

"Yes Sir!" resounded the class.

Laxus lectured the students about the curriculum for the year. The current entire semester would be based on electricity. His eyes seemed to gleam when he stated this. If any of the students made any unnecessary noises or movements, chalk would fly through the air to strike them on their foreheads. Laxus had excellent aim and a seemingly unending supply of chalk stubs.

After an agonizing hour of being drilled on what was expected of them as MVAE students, the bell rang to free them. As they scrambled to stuff their belongings back in their bags for the next class, Laxus continued to speak. "The first assessment will be done in pairs, as will most of the course work this year. I expect you to choose your partner and sit next to them next class. Alright, dismissed."

They practically ran out, clearing the room in fifteen seconds flat.

Levy leaned against the wall outside, hand to her head. It pounded with a headache, brought on by Laxus's shouting. "Is he always like that?" she asked exasperated.

Gajeel stood next to her. "Yeah. He's a real hard ass. Scary mother fucker..."

Levy looked up at him. He seemed almost as tired as she was. She gave him a small encouraging smile. "What class do you have next?"

He checked his timetable. "History."

She grinned. "Me too! Are we in the same class again?" They compared timetables and her smile dropped. "Aww, next door."

He laughed. "Miss me already huh?" he taunted.

She elbowed him in the gut, cutting his laughter short. "It's just nice having a friend in my class," she pouted.

"A friend huh?" He grinned down at her.

She smiled back up. "Of course, what else would I call you?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. Sexy beast maybe?"

Another elbow.


History class was rather uneventful to start. Natsu was in her class, but he fell asleep almost as soon as it started.

Halfway through her teacher, a large bald man named Mr Neekis, had to step outside to speak to another teacher. While he was gone, Levy felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to face two guys she vaguely recognised. They both bore Fairy Tail ties and large grins. "Hey, you're Levy right? The new scholarship girl?" one asked. He had bright orange hair, spiked up around his face and a wolfy grin. The other had black hair and tan skin.

She nodded her assent. "I'm Sarusuke. Everyone calls me Jet. This is Droy." He indicated to them both. "We saw you at the introductions last night, and we were in your science class last period."

She smiled. "Ah, of course. I thought I recognised you. You sat behind me."

They nodded. "And you sat with that devil..." They shuddered, not able to finish their sentence.

She tilted her head. "Who? Gajeel?" They nodded again, terrified expressions on their face. She giggled. "Oh, he's harmless."

Jet turned serious, grabbing both her hands between his. "No, he's really not. We've heard rumours about him... they say the girls he goes on dates with never come back the same... If he does anything to you Levy, you have to come to us! We'll deal with him!"

Her face turned brooding, ignoring their last statement. "Dates...?" Lucy had not mentioned anything about him dating people...

Droy piped in. "Yeah, they always come back in a daze. Nobody knows where he takes them, but when they return, it's never the same. I bet he curses them or something. Sells their soul to his devil master."

She couldn't help but laugh. "I highly doubt he has a devil master guys."

Her laugh was infectious to them and they ended up laughing too. Mr Neekis took this moment to return to the classroom and resume the lesson. They quietened down and she returned to facing the front. Despite laughing, she was annoyed at what they said. Did Gajeel really take a lot of girls on dates? Obviously enough for a weird rumour to be made... She mulled over the new information, her aura growing darker and darker throughout the class until by the end, it was practically visible.

Was Gajeel just some idiotic player, only leading her on to get some tail? Why hadn't Lucy told her about this? Why didn't anyone else? Surely they just didn't know. Surely they didn't know, even if he was. And if he was, how did he manage to keep it from her other friends? It was obviously a lie. Right?

There were so many questions she had unanswered. But she knew there was only one way she could find out the truth: go to the source.

The bell rang and she shot out the door to wait beside the next classroom. When the pierced man emerged, she grabbed his arm and yanked him down the hallway. "We need to talk," she stated.

"What the hell shrimp?" he growled, trying to get out of her grip. She was surprisingly steadfast when in need of answers. Though to be fair, he wasn't putting up too much of a resistance.

When she located a reasonably empty hallway, she stopped and released his arm. She crossed her arms and looked up at him angrily. "I heard a rumour about you going on heaps of dates with women."

He scratched his head grumpily. "Yeah, so? That rumour's been flying around for years..."

"They say the girls never come back the same."

"Humph. Are they also still saying I make pacts with the devil?" She opened her mouth but couldn't decide on how to answer. He leaned down so they were eye to eye. "It's all bullshit. They're just scared of me."

Levy was lost for words. His leaning down had brought his face very close to hers. Their noses were practically touching. "Uh, well, I..." she fumbled for words. "Well... m-most rumours have at least some truth to them... and you didn't really seem like the guy to do that stuff. I... I wanted to make sure I wasn't making friends with the wrong kind of guy..."

He tilted his head, not moving away. A large grin spread on to his face. "I don't recall asking you why you wanted to know," he taunted. "Does little Levy perhaps have a crush on me?"

She made the quickest face she could think of to throw him off: a grimace. "Hell no." That'll do.

He laughed and stood back up. She turned on her heel and quickly walked back to the classrooms, dodging the hand that was going to ruffle her hair. She made a mental note to never try and make her hair nice when she would be in the company of Gajeel.

Natsu was waiting at the classroom door, as well as Jet and Droy. Natsu launched at Gajeel with a fist, ready to fight. Jet and Droy eyed him warily.

"We haven't had a fight in a while, Gajeel!" yelled Natsu, his fist connecting with the open palm of the taller man.

"Yeah, because I don't go into fights I know I can win easily," retorted Gajeel. They walked side by side down the hall, bickering while throwing the occasional fist or foot.

Jet and Droy fell into step with Levy. They followed the other two at a safe distance. They asked her what she ran off about, but she waved them off, telling them it was nothing. They reminded her profusely that she should call on them should she get into any trouble. She knew she should probably feel very smothered by the boys if they kept this up, but in the end she didn't mind. Instead she felt an almost brotherly presence from them. As long as she ignored their blatant and obvious want to get into her pants. Already she tried to think of ways she'd be able to turn the two boys down. Probably best to do it soon, before either guy got their hopes up. At the same time, there was certainly a problem with blurting out that sort of anti-confession too early, she didn't want to seem stand-offish or rude. The time would come, just not yet...


A/N: Sorry I cut it at a kinda... crappy part. I'll be jumping on to the next chapter right now! Hopefully up in the next couple of days, now that Easter's all over.

I have this huge chapter plan set out until about chapter 20… but no matter how hard I try I can never stick to it T_T

This chapter was supposed to cover the entire first day but as you can see… that didn't exactly happen. I cut it short so it's not too much longer than the others. I'll be aiming for probably 5,000 a chapter. I suppose it's good for all of you, you get more chapters. And because I'm determined to get up to the good bits, I'll write faster.

I also take requests, if you wish for something in particular to happen in the story. A pairing, an event… I'll certainly consider it. Whatever the fans want, eh? ;D

Another note: I can't decide whether to make Gajeel, Wendy and Natsu all orphaned, or to have them as paying students. If I go that route, I would have the dragons be "The Dragons of the Business world; Metallicana the metalworks CEO, Igneel the coal CEO, and Grandine the alternative energies leader." Or... something like that. I can't decide if it's tacky or not. So yeah, please review with your opinions. If I go CEO route, I'll back pedal and edit my already up chapters. Let me know :3

Thank you, you're awesome!
GSFG