Starbucks is cold... Outside is burning. I never know what to wear, so here I sit freezing in a tank top lol. Anyway here's the next chapter!
Disclaimer: Mashima is amazing and I own the rights to nothing, I cry.
Levy and Gajeel left the same morning they got the note. Even doing that still left them with a three day trip in a rocking carriage. Levy was better prepared to take care of him this time and had a bucket, water and a cloth tucked beside her on the seat. As soon as the carriage started moving she helped Gajeel down to his side and put a pillow under his head.
"Careful shrimp," He said weakly. "I may start to think you like me."
"I just don't want you to puke on me again." She said as she settled back in her seat.
Gajeel grinned, but didn't say anything. His eyes were closed, allowing Levy to study him. The lines of his face were sharp, everything about it hard. Yet there was a softness too, only seen when he relaxed, or slept; how many had seen it she wondered. Her eyes wandered downward, to the hard muscles of his arms. Built in battle, scars marring his skin, but somehow those only added to his looks. He was squished into the seat, his body so large he seemed to take up most of the carriage. Good thing she was a small woman, otherwise it would be an uncomfortable ride. She didn't mind though, at least he seemed to be comfortable.
The trip was mostly spent in silence, Levy read while Gajeel slept, but it didn't seem as long as other times they had traveled. Something had changed between them, she just wasn't sure what.
When they arrived at the inn Lucy had told them to meet her at, it was no surprise to see her standing outside. Levy wondered how many times in the last three days the blonde had waited for sight of them. As soon as she and Gajeel got out of the carriage Lucy was rushing over.
"Finally! I was beginning to think you guys would never get here. I've got a map of the area and marked the most likely places for him to be, if we leave now we should be able to check out at least three before dark."
Gajeel held up a hand, "Slow down bunny girl, we just got here and it was an exhausting trip; Natsu can wait until morning. I know you're anxious to get going, but I'm in no condition to protect either of you right now." He still looked a little green.
Lucy huffed and looked like she was about to say something, but after glancing at Levy she seemed to change her mind. With a deflating sigh, she nodded. "Okay, we go in the morning."
That night at dinner, Lucy told them everything she had found out about Natsu and how he'd been selling fish to the village for a little while before disappearing altogether. Gajeel agreed this was the best place to start looking for him.
"He's likely still near, unfortunately, it's just as likely that he stopped showing up because the beast has taken over." He looked over at Lucy. "What we worried about has happened. Are you prepared for the fact that... you may have lost him?"
Lucy shook her head. "I don't believe I've lost him, I won't. We just have to bring him home, where his family is."
Gajeel and Levy shared a look, they both hoped it was true.
After a good nights rest and a quick breakfast they were all ready to go and find the wayward dragon slayer.
"The man in town, Hershel, said he'd been fishing, so the best place to check would be around the river, right?" Lucy looked at them both for confirmation, she was anxious, and it showed.
Gajeel nodded, "Yes that's the best place to start. It's still a viable food source for the beast as well so it's likely he hasn't strayed too far from it."
Levy reached for Lucy's hand and squeezed it. "Don't worry, we're going to find him, we're going to help him. Even if the beast has taken over."
Lucy gave her a small smile. "Thanks Lev, I'm glad you guys are here."
The first two caves held nothing, but the third showed definite signs of something living there. A bed of leaves and grass sat against one wall, along with a bowl full of water. Those seemed normal enough, nothing to be concerned about, but what else was in the cave definitely was. Bones littered the floor, ranging in size from as small as a rabbit, to as large as a deerling and Hodras. Thankfully, none of the bones were human.
Lucy and Gajeel shared a look, his face held grim lines. Levy knew they were all thinking the same thing; this was where Natsu had been staying, and it looked like the beast had taken over. The only comfort was, once again, the lack of a human skeleton.
Natsu wasn't there at the moment, so the three of them took the time to look around, to assess just how far gone Natsu might be, but before they got very far, a growling started from the entrance and Gajeel's voice sounded quietly from the shadowed part of the cave.
"Lucy, move away from the opening, come back towards my voice. We have no idea what's coming."
Lucy did as he instructed, Levy was already gripping Gajeel's arm. She had yet to see any sort of beastly animal in this world and she was not looking forward to it. The growling was starting to get louder as whatever was at the mouth of the cave began to enter. Lucy backed away quickly, but she was too close to it.
Levy's nails dug into Gajeel's arm as Lucy was suddenly tackled, pushed flat on her back with both arms pinned to the ground above her head, A figure that looked very much human, but every bit dangerous had her at his mercy. Lucy screamed out in panic, but the one on top of her did something unexpected. The growling had stopped, and they all heard a breath being drawn in instead. The next thing that was heard could only be called a purr.
They watched as Lucy's eyes snapped open and she stared into the eyes of the beast. She broke out into a smile as the beast leaned its head against hers and kept up the purring sound. "I found you." She whispered.
The beast moved its head down to nuzzle Lucy as his hold on her wrists loosened, its fingers gently soothing away the pressure marks. It breathed in deeply once more and a sound of satisfaction left its lips.
One of them must have made a noise noise because the beast had Lucy behind him in a protective gesture so fast it was dizzying. It was growling again but this time it was more of a snarl. Lucy moved forward and took the beasts hand, saying in a comforting voice "It's okay, it's just my friends, your friends. They're here to help you, just like I am alright? Do not hurt them." Lucy said firmly, taking the advice of the translated book she had read countless times over the last two weeks. The beast would listen to the trusted one, and that was Lucy. It growled as Gajeel and Levy came out of the shadowed part of the cave, but he made no move towards them.
"Why don't you guys wait outside? We'll be out shortly." Lucy suggested, her eyes never leaving the face of the man she loved.
"No way Luce, Natsu would kill me if anything happened to you." Gajeel protested, but he was cut off by the snapping of the beasts jaw.
"Just go!" Lucy said harshly, "I'm safer here than either of you, we'll be out soon!"
Gajeel muttered the whole way out of the cave, while Levy said nothing, but she looked terrified.
As soon as they were outside the cave Levy released her death grip on Gajeel's arm and spun to look at the cave entrance, she was trembling.
"Will he hurt her?" She asked in a shaking voice.
Gajeel shook his head, "I doubt it, but I don't trust the beast, we'll just have to wait and see The only thing that is certain is that it would have hurt us if we had stayed."
Levy nodded and sat down on a nearby rock. "The beast... that's not what Natsu is really like right?"
Gajeel leaned against the tree beside the rock. "No, usually he's a hyperactive, destructive, a little on the clueless side, goofy, but overall harmless harmless dragon slayer. Well unless he's on a job or someone harms someone in the guild. Then he... well he and the beast have a lot in common if that happens. Then again so do I, everyone in the guild will do anything we can to protect our family."
"He's good for her?" Levy asked as she stared at the mouth of the cave.
"Yes, more importantly, she's good for him. Bunny girl is the only one who can save him now." He looked down, a little surprised to find his hand had been taken by a very small one.
"Don't let the beast hurt her okay? She's my best friend." Levy sounded vulnerable.
Gajeel paused as he studied her face, there was more to this... "I won't shrimp, count on it." He tugged her up off the rock and hugged her. Surprisingly she didn't protest, she simply leaned her head on his chest as they both watched the cave entrance.
When Lucy and Natsu appeared, Levy broke out of Gajeel's hold and came over to hug Lucy, the blonde was surprised to see tears in the blue haired girls eyes.
"Don't scare me like that okay?" She admonished.
Lucy hugged her friend tightly and smiled, "While I'm glad you were worried about me, you knew as well as I did that I wasn't in any danger. You're the one who translated the book after all."
"Yeah but I wasn't expecting him to look so... feral." She said quietly.
Natsu stepped forward and spoke to Levy, "I'm sorry if I scared you. To be honest, the beast scares me too."
Levy looked up at Natsu and then pulled away from Lucy to offer her hand to him. "I'm Levy McGarden, Lucy's best friend."
Natsu smiled and took her hand. "I'm Natsu Dragneel, Lucy's boyfriend."
The two of them shared a smile and then Gajeel finally spoke, "Nothing to say to me Salamander? You did try to kill me last time we were together." He was standing with his arms over his chest, a scowl on his face, body tense as if waiting for the beast to reappear.
Natsu gave a half smile and rubbed his hand along the back of his head. "Sorry for that, I tried to control the beast, but I'd already used my pull with him to get us the hell out of the poison cloud the dragon had let loose. How I'm even still alive right now, I don't have any idea."
"Yeah well, we don't either. Come on, we need to get back to the inn, and no offense, but you need a bath. That stench is enough to wilt flowers." His arms dropped to his sides as he turned and headed back for the town.
Natsu's half smile turned full blown now as he hurried to catch up with his guild mate. Lucy and Levy followed behind them a short ways and Lucy turned to her friend. "He really is a wonderful man, I'm sorry the first time you met him was when the beast was in control."
Levy shook her head, "I should have expected it, but I didn't. It won't surprise me again."
When they got back to the inn they all agreed the conversation about everything that had been discovered over the past couple months should be in private between Natsu and Lucy. Gajeel and Levy went back to his room and ordered food, it would take a while to have it made ready for four people, two of them hungry dragon slayers. At least he had enough food on hand.
"You guys eat like this all the time?" Levy raised a brow as the man left to help make the dinner.
"Hey, we're large, hungry men. We eat a lot." Gajeel defended themselves.
She rolled her eyes, "Just how much food does the guild have to have on hand at any one time I wonder?"
"No idea, you'd have to ask Mira, she always has enough though. I can imagine the food bill is quite high, good thing we're the best guild around." He boasted.
Levy laughed, "No self esteem issues at all huh?"
"We're the best, everyone knows it." Gajeel defended.
They bickered back and forth about nothing until the food began to arrive, Smoked fish and rice tossed in soy sauce, Hodras meat and steamed veggies covered in teriyaki. For dessert there was rich chocolate cake covered in strawberry sauce with a few whole ones resting on the side of each slice.
Natsu and Lucy arrived just as the last of it was brought in and the man ate like he was starving, He looked to be in absolute pleasure as he ate the food. Levy imagined it was nice to eat something that wasn't raw. The food was gone all too quickly, and Natsu pouted, but insisted that he could wait until morning to eat anything else.
For a while after dinner they sat around the table and talked, first it was decided how they were going to deal with Natsu and his beast forging a partnership. Tomorrow morning the carriage would leave for the same town they had stayed in the first time and all four of them would be on it, but upon arriving, Gajeel and Levy would stay to help Wendy with her investigation, while Natsu and Lucy headed back to Magnolia and the places he was most familiar with.
Next they spoke about Levy and Lucy's home since Natsu hadn't been around for the other conversations concerning it. They answered all the questions he had and then began telling them about how they met. Levy had become Lucy's publicist early on, seeing something in her that others hadn't, and now she and her stories were world famous.
The look in Natsu's eyes was one of pride as he hugged Lucy.
"Well, it's an early morning tomorrow, the carriage leaves just after sunrise so I'm going to head to bed." Levy rose and hugged Lucy, then waved at Natsu, though she all but ignored Gajeel. "Night everyone."
She went back to the room she now had all to herself and thought about the days events. She was glad they had found Natsu, glad that he hadn't hurt any of them as the beast and that the man was now back in control. It would be a lot of work in coming days for the two of them to get the beast under control and working together with the dragon slayer. If they could do that, they could do anything.
She thought about how soon she wouldn't have the buffer of Lucy or even Natsu between her and Gajeel. It made her... uncomfortable. She liked the man but, the way he made her feel scared her. She was afraid of it becoming just like... before. Gajeel didn't seem the same type, but then again, he hadn't either. Not until it was too late. Putting those thoughts from her mind, Levy crawled into bed and slept.
Gajeel seemed to be tired and in a bad mood when Levy came out of the inn the next morning. It was confirmed when he saw Lucy and Natsu and he said.
"I don't want to see any of that lovey dovey shit on the trip back, I'm already going to be sick and I don't need the added nausea." He growled.
Levy had just sat down on the bench when she heard Lucy's sarcastic reply.
"Don't worry, we'll keep the lovey dovey shit to a minimum. He'll be sick too remember?" The woman made a face only Levy could see and it made her giggle.
The day and a half journey was exhausting for everyone, Natsu hadn't traveled in a while and seemed to be even more nauseous than normal. Meanwhile Gajeel was sick and surly, so when he did speak it was usually to snap something at Levy, who snapped right back. When they finally arrived at their destination, everyone seemed to split up and go their separate ways with no real plan to get back together. Natsu and Lucy would be leaving the next morning, but Gajeel and Levy needed to ensure they had rooms for the next week or so.
It wasn't until that evening that they convened once again, the food laid out by the innkeeper was a powerful draw. This one was well aware of the dragon slayers appetites and therefore had made sure so much food was on hand it looked like he'd be feeding the entire town. The meal was mostly silent, except for Lucy and Levy speaking to each other every so often. Partway through the meal, Happy suddenly appeared and landed on top of Natsu's head.
"Happy!" The pinkette cried, grabbing hold of the cat and dancing around in a circle while the sound of endless purring filled the dining room.
"How..?" Lucy wondered.
"He came with us." A quiet voice sounded from behind them. Everyone turned to see a blue haired girl of about 13 standing there with her own flying cat, but unlike Happy, this one was white.
"Wendy!" Natsu cried and went to greet the girl too. She was immediately squished in his arms as he laughed in his joy.
"It's good to see you Natsu-san, but you're squishing me." She managed to get out.
Natsu let her go, but dragged her to sit down at the table. "When did you get here?"
"I've been in this town for a while now, apparently I missed Gajeel and Levy by a matter of hours when I first arrived. I knew you'd all be back soon though so I started searching on my own. I haven't found anything so far, but now that I'll have help it shouldn't take too long." She smiled at them all.
"Well Salamander and bunny-girl are leaving for Magnolia in the morning, but you'll have me and Levy to help you out." Gajeel said, being surprisingly nice considering his mood the past couple days.
The younger girl smiled, "That sounds perfect, for now though do you think I could have some of those berry tarts?"
Levy handed the girl the plate and she smiled her thanks. The rest of the night went smoother and everyone's mood had lightened by the time they all went to bed.
The morning brought another round of goodbyes as Natsu and Lucy headed for home. Levy squeezed Lucy and promised she'd see her soon, then awkwardly hugged Natsu, a man she trusted with her friend, but didn't quite know yet. Gajeel said something to Lucy as he helped her into the carriage that made her smile. The two dragon slayers shared a handshake that was really more of an armshake before Natsu climbed in the carriage too and it began to roll away.
Once it was out of sight Levy turned to look at the little blue haired girl.
"I don't think we ever really met did we? I'm Levy." She held out her hand to the girl.
She smiled and took her hand. "I'm Wendy, I'm the sky dragon slayer."
Levy seemed a little surprised at that and Gajeel nudged her, "Careful, she's more vicious than the beast when she's angry."
That made Wendy laugh, "You know very well I'm better at healing than fighting! It's why I'm working with Porlyusica and am here to help you guys find out how the people here are immune to the poison cloud. You guys don't have any ideas?"
Levy shook her head. "I've been thinking about it, but I haven't come up with anything yet. Which, if you knew me, you would know how utterly frustrating that it."
Gajeel nodded and leaned down towards Wendy, whispering as if the information he was imparting was confidential; but Levy could still hear it. "I've seen her frustrated, she yells a lot, throws things."
"It was a pencil, it's not like it hurt you." Levy rolled her eyes at the dramatics.
Wendy smiled as she listened to them talk, her own cat flew over and landed in her arms. "Oh! This is Carla, she's an exceed just like Happy."
Levy reached over to pet the cat, who let her, but grumbled about it the whole time.
"She's not a very social cat, but she's been with me longer than I've been in the guild and I love her." Wendy said as she stroked the cat, eliciting a purr.
"She's cute, I'm glad you have that kind of companionship. I've got a cat at home too, his name is..." She flushed, the name was a bit... different. "Pantherlilly, I tend to call him Lilly though."
"That's a weird name shrimp." Gajeel commented.
"I know, but at least it's not Princess fuzzy mittens the wise or something. Some people go way too far." She protested.
"Who the hell would name an animal that?" He seemed bewildered.
"Trust me, people do. Crazy cat people." She nodded sagely.
Gajeel shook his head and turned back to Wendy. "So where should we start?"
Wendy suggested speaking to some of the people in the town about the morning of the attack, then to speak with the family of those who had died. She wanted to see if there was some sort of common denominator. She also walked around the town and took samples of the poison where it had stayed against walls or parts of the ground. No one in town thought anything of these spots since they were immune to it.
The small girl was amazingly competent with extracting the poison from the brick or wood and creating a beaker of it. They could use it to test against different things to try and find what kept these people immune.
It was a long process, there were so many people to talk to, so many things to try. The water, the type of fabric they used for clothing, the soap they used. Wendy even tried a swab of DNA from the innkeepers cheek. Though he seemed a little weirded out when Wendy asked him for it.
All of this spanned nearly a month and a half before Wendy finally declared the only thing left to try was food. She hadn't started with it because everything eaten here was eaten elsewhere. Gajeel was quick to correct her.
"The berries aren't, when we first came here they held some sort of festival for them. This mountain this village sits next to is the only place they grow." He told her.
Wendy looked surprised and to their surprise she pinched his arm. The big man jumped at the unexpected, but hardly terrifying assault. "What was that for?" He asked.
"That information could have saved us a lot of time and effort if you had given it sooner." She disappeared from the room they were in and when she came back she held a bowl of the berries. "This is the most likely reason these people are still alive. While I set up this experiment, go back and ask the families of those who died why they didn't eat the berries."
Levy and Gajeel did as she asked, visiting the few homes needed. The answers were usually one of two, they didn't like the berries or they were allergic. Upon their return they told Wendy what they had learned. The girl nodded, her pigtails swinging.
"That makes sense, well here it goes." She had crushed the berries into a liquid and added it to one of the vials of poison. At first it just sat on top of it, but slowly they could see the berry juice eating away at the poison, until none was left."
"What does that mean?" Levy asked.
Wendy smiled, "It means, eating these berries has given not only them, but those who visit an immunity to the poison. As soon as the poison enters the body it's killed by the enzymes in the berries, rendering it harmless."
Levy and Gajeel shared a look and then they smiled.
Wendy was nearly bouncing now. "We found it guys, we found the way to help Elfman and Evergreen. We found the cure!"
Yay! They found the cure! I'm sorry if this chapter was a little shorter and it really did have a lot of content from BTP but it was just at that point where they were all together and the conversations were still important to this one. I really hope you guys are still enjoying this one. :)
Anyway we're nearing the end of BTP and we'll be on to all original stuff soon! So I can plan ahead of time, what are some things you guys would like to see Gajeel experience in the "real world?" I'll do my best to incorporate as many as possible.
Piranha PK: Lol you can come out of your corner now. Did you enjoy this one? I'm trying to make it so their relationship slowly develops but there's still that... edge. Am I doing this right?
Crimsonlink310: Again, trying to make it so their relationship develops but there's still a... tenseness... I really hope I'm accomplishing a good dynamic between the two of them. I'm so glad that you're still here and still reviewing, still loving what I write. The next chapter is the pivotal one.
UserM24: I'm sorry I didn't mean to embarrass you! Teasing is honestly one of my favourite things to write. It's so much fun and it's great to know one character is enjoying it while the other is being driven mad. For me in real life it's so awesome lol. The next chapter we finally get to the end battle with Alphonse (Erik) I'm excited to finally get to where I have free reign again and I'm not constantly checking BTP to make sure it all lines up. Still enjoying it so much though!
sassykitten1701: You can quit crying for the duration of this chapter and then go back to it. lol I will try to get the next one up soon too.
RelentlessFlames: Who screwed up Levy... That's the mystery isn't it? I guess we'll have to wait and find out ;) I'm glad you're enjoying it, that makes writing so much more fun and less like work, knowing you guys are waiting and loving it.