. Shattered Reality .
Levy nibbled at the roll she'd been given to eat, her eyes thoughtful as she stared at the flickering flames. Lily was curled up in her lap, munching on his own dinner, and Gajeel was grumpily chowing down on some iron he'd brought with him, his red eyes darting to glare angrily at the slumbering dragon that had dozed off. Metalicana had taken up residence between them and the entrance to the cave, claiming that it was better than leaving it open to people or creatures that might decide to spy.
Her mind racing, Levy went over the information they'd learned, churning over ideas that might be usable for their plans later on when they were ready to move.
The demon was protected by a group of dark mages that were known for worshipping Zeref - not something that surprised Levy. What concerned her, however, was that they didn't have a single clue as to what they were walking into in regards to their magic. Which meant it was going to be dangerous. Gajeel was all for leaving her behind - he'd voiced that opinion out loud, and she'd been furious with the idea, threatening to throw away the remainder of the iron he'd brought.
Metalicana had made a snide comment about fairies that could bite, and that had earned the iron dragon a dirty look from Levy.
Lily had settled it by reminding Gajeel that someone needed to make sure Levy was safe, and he wasn't sitting back. And neither was Metalicana, who needed to be there to deal with the demon.
Mavis had informed them of the location of the demon and the dark mages. Apparently, they were occupying a building they'd built for themselves. Not all that difficult to deal with - if it wasn't surrounded by a labyrinth filled with traps of dark magic.
And naturally, they couldn't just ride in on a dragon. There were sensors of some sort surrounding the entire place. If they set one off, the place would disappear, as if never there, only to reappear in a completely new location who knew where.
Thank the heavens for the noses of dragons and their adopted children.
Levy took another bite, furrowing her brow in thought, studying the notes she'd taken throughout their discussion with Mavis. The blonde girl had run off, disappearing to who knew where to see if Lucy was doing okay. She'd been fine with it.
Gajeel? Not too much. "Take the old lump o' iron with ya, why don't you? We don't need help. Perfectly capable of taking a demon down myself."
Gajeel supported a rather large bruise on his chest from where a large iron-scaled tail had slammed him into the ground. She glanced his way, frowning to herself at the dark look on his face. She cleared her throat to capture his attention. "Gajeel?" she said, voice soft, echoing in the cave. "Can I talk to you? Alone?"
His eyes studied her for a moment before he grunted, swallowing his mouthful of iron and standing. He didn't bother to wait for Levy to come to him, instead saying bluntly, "Oi. Old man. Move it. The shrimp wants to have a little chat."
"Gajeel," Levy whined in exasperation.
Metalicana's massive body shifted without a word, tail sweeping - and knocking Gajeel's feet out from under him in a single movement. Levy had to stifle her giggles at the look on his face. "Taught ya to be polite, brat. Ask. Don't demand."
"Fuck off," he growled in response as he climbed to his feet, shoving Levy past the iron dragon. Metalicana watched them go with one eye, his teeth bared unintentionally as he grinned nastily at Gajeel, as if he was enjoying his son's attitude.
Levy hugged her arms, tilting her head as they walked a decent ways away - to get out of a dragon's hearing range, anyways. It was further than she had to walk when she wanted to talk to Lucy in private and Natsu was around…
Gajeel finally stopped, glancing at the small solid-script mage. She smiled up at him without hesitation, then demanded, "What's your problem with Metalicana? I would have thought you'd be happy...why are you being a jerk?"
The iron dragon slayer blinked at her sudden change of attitude. Finally, he scowled and grumbled out, "Look. Just 'cause he came back doesn't mean I have to be happy, Levy." She blinked at the use of her name. "Bastard abandoned me, jus' like the other dragons abandoned their kids. You'd be pissed off, too. Left behind with no reason...huh." He sneered, crossing his arms. "And he's only here to help Bunny Girl. That supposed to make me happy?"
Levy's gaze softened considerably as she said gently, "Maybe not, but he's still here, isn't he?" The iron dragon slayer shrugged, jaw working furiously as he gritted his teeth. She leaned back on her heels, thoughtful. "Maybe if you were a bit nicer, he'd answer your questions."
Gajeel made a sound of annoyance, his eyes glaring at her. "Like hell he will. He's a pile of junk metal, shrimp." Levy had to fight back her snicker at his supposed insult before he suddenly grabbed her chin in a grip that made her wince, forcing her to tilt her head back so that a calloused finger could roughly trace a rather nasty looking scar under her chin. "He is the reason you have these."
He released her chin, and she rubbed it with a grimace before glancing down at the equally bad scars on her arms and legs, the ones that stood out on her chest, back, and hips, and even thought about the ache she still got in her lower back when the weather changed. The memories of how she'd gotten them came, running through her mind, and rather then shuddering in fear, she smiled warmly at the iron dragon slayer, who looked furious with himself.
"Gajeel," she said sharply. "I've moved on from that - I moved on long ago. And you've proved yourself thousands of times. Look what you're doing now! You're helping me. Besides." She beamed. "I trust you. Maybe even more than anyone else in the guild."
He ignored her, slamming the bottom of his iron-studded boot against a tree, watching as it toppled over beneath the force. "If he hadn't left," Gajeel snarled, red eyes blazing with fury. "I wouldn't have turned into a monster. I wouldn't have agreed to work with Jose." She fell silent, letting him have his moment of rage. "I wouldn't have nearly killed you."
His gaze suddenly turned on her and she gave an involuntary shiver. Even if she knew he wouldn't hurt her, there was a glint in that gaze that admittedly frightened her. "Do ya even know what I did?" he said suddenly, voice low. "I nailed you to a fucking tree, Levy. I beat the hell out of you, nearly killed ya. Would have killed you willingly and enjoyed myself."
Another tree fell beneath Gajeel's anger and he was suddenly tugging viciously at his dark hair, as if ready to rip it from its roots. "I don't care what I've done to make up for it, woman. Doesn't matter what I do. Gave myself the same wounds I gave you, made 'em even worse than yours, and it didn't do anything. Nothin' will ever fix what I did, and it's because of that fucking bastard that it happened!"
Levy's brow drew downward as she listened, her attention locking onto one thing in particular.
"Gave myself the same wounds I gave you, made 'em even worse than your's, and it didn't do anything."
"Gajeel," she said softly, reaching over to gently grab his arm, stopping his small rampage in its tracks. His eyes snapped to hers, studying her face carefully. "What do you mean you gave yourself the same wounds?" He clamped his mouth shut, looking away. "Gajeel!"
Grumbling under his breath, Gajeel shook her hand off, then ripped one of the gloves from his hand, letting the iron cuff that was usually wrapped around his wrist fall off with it with a simple flick of his fingers. He shoved his hand near her face, and Levy gently grabbed it, lowering it so she could see better.
Her eyes widened.
His fingers were clear of damage except for the occasional wound that came with fighting. His knuckles held heavy scarring, the skin thick and calloused from fighting. Clearly, he was rough when it came to the force behind those punches of his, even with the iron he wore over them to protect them. It was his palm and the back of his hand that caught her attention, however, and held it. There were several circular scars, as if something sharp had been slammed through his hand multiple times, and she could see the nasty scarring left by something that had carved the Phantom Lord symbol into his palm. Levy shuddered; it would have had to be carved multiple times to leave an impression like the one she was looking at.
He kept his gaze averted. "Like I said," the iron dragon slayer muttered. "Made 'em worse. Didn't want to forget what I did. Not that I would have anyways," he added under his breath.
Levy gently ran her fingers over the Phantom Lord emblem. "Gajeel," she murmured, "You didn't have to go this far...is your other hand like this?" He gave a curt nod. "This is...you…" She was speechless, unable to come up with something to say about this discovery.
He took his hand back, slipping his fingerless glove back on, snapping the iron cuff back around his scarred wrist. "Made ya suffer. Needed to make up for it."
She looked up at him, and he blinked when he realized there were tears sparkling in her eyes. His own snapped wide. "Are you...damn it, woman, don't cry! The fuck are you crying for!?"
"You're an idiot," Levy sniffled. She held her hands over her mouth, tears rolling down her cheeks.. "Y-you shouldn't have d-done that t-to yourself."
Gajeel rolled his eyes and muttered, "No big deal, woman. Doesn't hurt now. Point is: it's his fault. And I'm not gonna forgive him for it." He shifted, looking uncomfortable at the sight of her tears when she didn't stop. Finally, he demanded, looking flustered and frustrated, "Stop crying!"
"S-sorry," she managed to get out, swiping at her eyes. She took a deep breath, then released it in a shaking sigh. "But...you really...you really should stop being so angry. M-Metalicana has his reasons for disappearing, I'm sure. He wouldn't have left for no reason. And I think he'd tell you why he left if he could."
"Yeah, whatever." Gajeel scowled, not looking the least bit amused as he glanced around, popping his neck. "Time to head back, bookworm. Before that heap of scrap metal comes looking for us."
"Okay," Levy agreed. She fixed her headband, tucking a stray lock of wild blue hair beneath it and tugging on one of the pieces that hung on each side of her face before studying his face for a moment. A studded brow rose in curiosity at the look on her face.
"Whatcha lookin' at, shorty?" he demanded.
"Nothing," she answered. Levy smiled at him slightly, and then quickly moved closer, rising onto her tiptoes and pulling him down slightly to gently press her lips against his cheek. He sputtered in surprise and confusion, uncertain of how to respond, and Levy gave another laugh before heading back in the direction of the cave, her cheeks tinted a slight pink.
Gajeel took a moment to gather his thoughts before stomping after her, swearing under his breath.
Metalicana wore a sly look when they got back, but neither of them said anything. Levy only bid everyone goodnight, and then went to sleep.
The next morning found Levy tired yet refreshed after a full night's rest. While sleeping on the floor of a cave wasn't all that nice, Lily had been kind enough to lend her a sleeping bag he'd packed. "Just in case," he'd told her firmly when she'd asked about it during their travels. In gratitude, she'd let him snuggle up with her in it, and she'd been grateful for his warm little self. A cave wasn't the warmest of places, even with a dragon keeping most of the chilly wind out.
Gajeel, on the other hand, had decided against sleep. Not that it seemed to bother him. The iron dragon slayer was still giving Metalicana, who'd returned to a humanoid shape with a great amount of effort, dirty looks, as if he was mistrustful of the dragon.
Levy couldn't really blame him. Who wanted to believe that a dragon had come back after so long?
Munching on some of their provisions, she scanned the information a final time. "Okay," she murmured after a few moments of this. Her eyes darted up, locking only briefly with two sets of red eyes before returning to her paper. "We'll have one shot at getting the demon taken care of, alongside handling the mages. Metalicana, we've already decided you're going to handle the demon...or I should say that you decided that. Gajeel, you and I will deal with the mages. Lily," she continued, addressing the Exceed. "I want you in the sky, looking for anything that might catch us off guard."
"Understood," Lily murmured from his place beside her.
Metalicana suddenly spat, and Levy jumped when a piece of metal slammed into the ground beside her feet at high speeds, sending sparks up. Gajeel shot him a glare for that, but Metalicana didn't seem concerned, instead growling, "There will be more than just a few black mages...even if my brat is a dragon slayer, are you capable of such strength?" Metalicana rolled his eyes...and then grinned when Gajeel snapped.
The iron dragon slayer was attempting to slam a fist into his jaw in an instant, growling under his breath. Metalicana merely caught his fist with ease, red eyes glowing dangerously. "Don't start fights you certainly can't finish, brat. If you cannot defeat me, then how do you plan to survive this?"
"Gajeel." The dragon slayer glanced back at Levy. "Enough."
Levy's voice had lost any of its previous warmth, her face flushed in a furious red. Gajeel took one look at her face, then grinned, a chuckle escaping him as he pulled back, eagerly awaiting what his shrimp was going to say. Lily, wary, retreated to stand beside him.
Levy did not disappoint.
She stalked up to the exceptionally tall dragon, jabbing him in the chest sharply with her finger, cheeks puffed up as she hissed, "You know nothing of what we Fairy Tail mages are capable of. We have survived what you can't possibly even dream of. Where were you when we survived Acnologia's assault?" She glowered, jabbing him again. Metalicana's grin only grew, as if he was amused with the small woman's anger. "We have come back from the brink of death on several occasions. We survived the Eclipse Portal, when we had to fight your kind. All three of us have fought dragons, and we were able to keep them at bay until the Eclipse Gates were closed. Others of our guild have defeated some of Zeref's demons, and a few of them have even confronted Zeref himself! So to hell with your doubt, because we are capable of strength not even you have."
Silence.
Then-
Metalicana threw his head back and howled with laughter, the sound biting to their ears. "Damn, so the little fairy's got some serious bark, then." His eyes flashed. "So how well does she bite, brat? I'm sure you'd know. You do share your nest with her, right?"
The look on Gajeel's face was one Levy would never forget. Embarrassment and annoyance battled on his expression before it finally turned into flustered anger. "Shut it, you shitty pile of scrap metal!"
Metalicana only smirked broadly at his adopted son. "Look who's talking, you fucking brat."
"Okay, enough with the bad language!" Levy wailed, shooting Lily a look of desperation. Why wasn't he helping her in this? He only held up his paws.
There was no way in hell he was getting into the middle of this.
As Levy pouted at Lily, the Exceed snorted and said, "So are we still going with Levy's plan then? If not, we need to come up with a new one. I'm sure she wants to get this done quickly so we can go home and see how Lucy is."
Levy hurriedly nodded her agreement. "Yes. So now that certain dragons and their slayers are done being jerks," she said sharply, shooting furious looks at both. They looked remarkably alike as they cast their gazes downward. "Are we going with my plan are not?"
"Not a bad one," Metalicana mused, cracking a massive yawn. "I was serious though, little fairy." Red eyes flashed with darkness. "Have you fought a demon before? You claim your friends have, but your friends aren't you."
Levy pressed her lips into a hard line. "We haven't," she admitted.
"A demon is different than a dragon. Particularly this one." Metalicana shook his head, iron cloak fluttering around him. "Dragons are large creatures, rarely able to attain a humanoid figure...demons...there's far more of them that have large amounts of power and can do what I can." The iron dragon waved at himself. "The sucker's gonna be fast, little fairy. You'll have to be faster. Especially if ya don't want to end up like Bunny Girl."
Levy bit her lip thoughtfully for a moment, then asked hesitantly, "You...you know a lot about what happened to Lucy, right?" The dragon nodded carefully. "How did you find out about this? I want to know more about how you and the other dragons are involved, why you're involved…and I want to know what you know about the curse placed on her. I want to know everything you know." Mavis had explained a lot to them in regards to the demon and the dark mages they were to face. But she hadn't explained a lot of things that Levy thought necessary to know.
Metalicana's red eyes flashed with surprise. "Are you serious?"
"Just answer her questions, old man," Gajeel muttered.
"I must admit," Lily agreed, his gaze serious as he looked up at the two Fairy Tail mages and the iron dragon. "I would like to know as well. It could be good for us to know such information. It might help us in some way in the nearby future."
"It could take all day," he warned. "We may have to go through with the plan tomorrow if I explain what I know."
"Then so be it." Levy settled herself back onto the ground, forcefully dragging Gajeel down alongside her. He grumbled, and she quietly scolded him as Lily moved to sit beside his friends. Metalicana gaped at them all, looking astonished as she looked up at him expectantly. "Explain."
Metalicana scrubbed his hand down his face, exasperated. Finally, he just carefully knelt down in front of them, curling a lip in annoyance. "Fine, you brats, I'll talk. I'll start off with how we came to know.
"Mavis is the founder of Fairy Tail," the iron dragon began. "She is also a guardian of some sorts. She guards and protects each of you fairies. So, she is aware of whenever one of you is in life-threatening danger. Sometimes, like situations with that one girl in your guild, the little white-haired one, she can't do anything. Some deaths must happen. But in situations like Tenrou, or now, when you need to be alive, she will interfere.
"Mavis sensed that something was wrong, and did not have the power herself to do much." Metalicana rubbed the back of his head, his pierced brows drawing downward. "Almondine...she's already been out and about, hiding herself from the dragon slayers we left behind. Her daughter has some...we'll leave it at issues. She has issues. So she's been watching over her. So Mavis contacted Almondine, explained what had happened, and Almondine contacted Igneel. Don't ask how, don't ask where the other dragons are hiding or where I was, I won't tell you. It is not for you three to be aware of just yet. In due time, you'll learn. Igneel is powerful, even more so than I. I will admit this. But he wouldn't come out his hiding hole to help her. Instead, he said he'd work from the inside.
"So Mavis came to me. She needed someone to help her. Igneel needed his strength for other reasons. I lent her some of my power, and she used it to discover the location of the demon that had attacked the blondie. She then requested I help her in destroying it and ensuring her guild's and the celestial mage's safety.
"The problem, we discovered, is that the demon's curse can only be broken if the person affected realizes that they are under a curse. I have been working around this area, learning as much as I can about the demon and the black mages that protect it, and I only recently learned why Igneel refused to come out of hiding.
"Where Igneel is hiding is a place that I can't even consider because it would mean the death of someone I care for." Metalicana's voice grew rough, as if he was irritated to say so. "But for Igneel...it is possible, and only because of a strength that not even the person he is affecting is aware of. I won't tell you more than this warning: beware the strongest of Zeref's demons, brat." Metalicana's gaze was fiercely angry, his gaze dangerously lit. "No matter what you do, you won't be prepared for what happens."
Gajeel only snorted, resting his elbow on Levy's head and leaning heavily on her with a smug look. "Like anything can take me by surprise."
"I'm serious," Metalicana warned, then moved on. "Anyhow… I won't tell you where Igneel is, or where the rest of the dragons are hiding, but if he hadn't been able to switch the blondie's soul into another body for a few moments, she would have died. The demon would have won.
"Moving on, after we were sure the demon could be killed, I had Mavis post the job you found. There won't be any money involved, I'm afraid, but I'm sure you're not too concerned about such a thing, little fairy. I was sure that someone would notice, and you did. That is how I became involved. Mavis will be needing more of my power soon. She wants to speak with Bunny Girl in person, and doesn't have enough power to cross the curse on her own.
"As for why I chose to get involved…" Metalicana gave a grin, showing off his fangs, red eyes dancing with amusement. "I agreed 'cause I didn't feel like seeing my brat's chosen mate suffer when her friend perished."
Gajeel's look of horror was nothing in comparison to the flustered and shocked look Levy wore. Her face turned the color of Erza's scarlet hair, her brown eyes immediately dropping to her lap as she fiddled with her hands, her small form drawn up tensely. "Ignore him," Gajeel growled, then scowled darkly when Lily chuckled, amused.
"I'm sorry," the Exceed mumbled, still smirking slyly. "But the looks on your faces...it's quite hilarious to look at."
"You're supposed to be on our side," Levy whined, burying her face in her hands.
"Nonsense," Lily told her, "I'm on no one's side. I'm just enjoying myself."
Metalicana roared his laughter, the sound grating on all of their ears. "Ha! The looks on your faces! This is great!" He doubled over, still laughing loudly, his eyes gleaming with amusement. "Igneel's gonna love this!"
"Shut up old man!" Gajeel demanded, his face turning nearly as red as Levy's.
"The curse!" Levy wailed, "Tell us about the curse so we can pretend this didn't happen!"
Metalicana wiped the tears from his eyes, grinning broadly as he said, "Sure, sure." He gave a final chuckle, then turned serious almost immediately after. "The demon, as stated before, is one of Zeref's demons. It's not one of the more important ones, but it's one of his nonetheless. It specializes in curse magic, just like any other demon, but it uses an archaic form that comes from before even the dragons.
"The demon carved a mark upon the blonde's back." Metalicana began to draw in the dirt with care, making a detailed replica of the mark all had already seen. "It's the demon's mark and the center of the curse. Besides the mark itself, there is no physical evidence of anything happening besides the coma your friend now finds herself in.
"But mentally...it delves into your mind. The magic drags out your worst fears, twists them to make them even worse than before, and sets to work. It creates a nightmare that you live. You can't tell reality from dream, and you believe the nightmare is real. And the second you give up? You die. The mark fills in as you go along, playing with you. It doesn't really have anything to do with when you die, but it messes with your mind. If you know something's happening with it, if you worry that you'll perish when it's completed, then you're more likely to give up and die, simple as that.
"For Bunny Girl, her worst nightmare is being alone again. She doesn't want to lose the guild she now calls her family. And she doesn't want to lose Igneel's brat particularly. Even as we speak, she's fighting to keep that little fiery bastard alive - and she won't succeed." His gaze darkened. "I believe she's lost everyone but the little fire dragon slayer at this point. You two perished before Grandeeney's little one."
"How?" Gajeel demanded, looking annoyed by this. "Can't have possibly keeled over before Wendy. What about my cat?" He glanced down at Levy, no longer leaning on her after the embarrassing moment from a few minutes before. "And I wouldn't have let shrimp here get herself killed."
"In this nightmare, there are these creatures that have been labeled as the Marked." Metalicana's gaze became dulled, almost blank. "They spread these Marks by touch...the water mage managed to catch them and turned on you all. In the process, both of you were touched by the water. The Marks spread quicker when you used the ability you acquired throughout your fight with the shadow dragon slayer, and it wasn't long after that you killed your fairy before being taken down by Bunny Girl's Celestial Spirits and Igneel's runt. Pantherlily was killed quite a while before."
Silence filled the air, and there was a stunned look on the iron dragon slayer's face. Levy looked as equally startled, her brown eyes wide and her face as white as a sheet. "He...killed me?"
"The disease twisted his mind, little one" Metalicana murmured. His voice was surprisingly gentle, nearly soothing. "He was no longer Gajeel."
Gajeel's gaze snapped to Metalicana in surprise. For the first time since meeting with the iron dragon, Metalicana had used his name. His gaze darted back to Levy when the solid-script mage gave a soft sound, and panic flashed through him when she shakily hurried to swipe at her eyes. Lily gently patted her knee in reassurance, and Levy pulled him into her lap as she murmured, "I'm alright. Sorry. It's just...why did they have to…"
"I am aware," Metalicana said slowly, "Of how you first met my brat, little fairy. Perhaps this curse drew on the nightmares of the others around Lucy Heartfilia as well as her own."
"I would never hurt Levy," Gajeel snarled, looking furious with everyone at the moment - particularly himself. His hands clenched into fists, his fingers digging into his glove-clad palms. He gritted his fangs, especially when Lily quietly spoke up.
"I was not here when you were a member of Phantom Lord, Gajeel," Lily murmured. He glanced up at the angry iron dragon slayer. "But I know of what you did. And we all know such a thing will never again happen."
Levy reached over with hesitant fingers, gently grabbing Gajeel's hand. She pried his fingers away from his palm, smoothing it until his hand lay limply in hers, her touch gentle. She smiled faintly without looking up at him, noticing the way his tensed form relaxed beside her. "Continue, please. I'd rather not linger on this."
Metalicana pressed his lips together, hesitating before continuing again. "As said, the curse twists your worst fears. At a point where she nearly gave up, Igneel was able to shift her soul into another body for a short amount of time. It saved her life.
"There's something else." Metalicana leaned forward. "Those of another realm are not affected. When Bunny Girl summons a Celestial Spirit from their realm, it is not a copy that she is seeing, but the real thing. The curse has seemed to realize this and twisted it further. If she summons a Spirit, it gives them limited time before forcing them out, taking away the items she uses to summon them. At this point, she has no Celestial Spirits left to summon. A few of them tried to warn her, I think, particularly that weird lion one, but…" The dragon shook his head.
"She'll be fine." Levy's voice was soft, but her words were firm. "I believe in Lucy. And now that we know all of this, I think we'll be able to avoid getting ourselves into unnecessary trouble when we leap into this battle head first." Her dark eyes raised to lock with Gajeel's. "There's one thing we need to make sure doesn't happen though."
Do not let the demon sneak up behind you!
Whew! Chapter Three is just brimming with information, yes? :D Anyhow, the bit about Gajeel's hands is something my lovely editor came up with and I loved it, so it was put in. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks to reviewers (KaUiA, Ayrmed, and ilftnatsu), along with those who favorited and followed! :)
