Fairy High

Chapter 7

Painful Memories

"How on earth did you find my address?" Gajeel snarled from his bed. Levy wasn't exactly scared. It was a week after the incident and Gajeel wasn't up to scaring anything bigger than a fruit fly. Instead of returning his angry look, Levy scanned the room, taking in the chaotic mess that was Gajeel's bedroom. There was stuff everywhere. Most of it literal garbage to Levy's eye.

"Oi, don't ignore me!" Gajeel demanded. "How did you find this place? How did you get in?"

"Juvia told me where you lived. The door wasn't locked." Levy's response was short and to the point, still looking over the mess.

"Goddamnit, dad. I told you to lock the fucking door!" Gajeel yelled at the ceiling. He lowered his head to glare at Levy. At least she was looking much better now, the majority of her injuries having faded away completely. "Why the hell are you here?"

"Because I think you need someone to help look after you. It smells of alcohol in here. You shouldn't be drinking if you want to recover."

Levy yelped in surprise as a pillow hit her in the head. "I don't drink! I'm a fucking athlete when I'm not bedridden! I have no time to waste getting wasted!"

Levy chose not to pick up on his cute choice of words. "So, the alcohol smell…"

"Why do you think I don't invite people around here? My dad's a fucking loser!" Gajeel shouted. "Look at this place! You think I want anyone seeing the shithole I live in?"

"It's about the same as my place just with bad housekeeping," Levy said gently. She giggled slightly. "Well, since you're bedridden, there's nothing you can do while I clean this place up!"

"Hey, don't you dare touch my stuff, Shorty!"

Levy ignored him. She also ignored the constant threats that bombarded her, telling her to leave over and over again as she worked, stuffing old bags of crisps and fast food containers into bin bags. Gajeel made a couple of attempts to stand, but decided the effort wasn't worth it and rolled over to sleep. When he woke up, he rolled back to see his room in a surprising state of cleanliness. It was almost empty with the garbage gone, his meagre possession on shelves, his clothes in cupboards. He made an annoyed noise rather than admit that the space was rather nice.

Then his nose twitched, his stomach growling in empathy. Whatever Shorty was cooking up in the kitchen, it was the most delicious thing to be made in this property for a long time. He was salivating like Pavlov's dogs as she came in with a tray of chicken soup and bread. She set it down on his lap, but to his amazement, she sat down and took a spoonful of soup to feed him like some kind of baby. His expression clearly betrayed his anger.

"Come on, open up!" Levy said cheerily, smiling. He felt a blush creep into his cheeks. Her cuteness and bright personality were like a force of nature. Still, it was more than his masculinity could handle and he took the spoon from her. She didn't seem to mind as he ate, giggling at his bravado.

"It's good for you to eat up. You need to regain your strength," she said offhandedly.

"You said earlier that Juvia told you where I live. How did you talk to her?"

Levy frowned. "Well, we share classes; it wasn't hard to find her."

"Did someone hit you in the head? You go to two different schools; how could you possibly share classes?"

"You haven't heard!?" Levy asked shrilly. "Didn't you get a letter?" Gajeel shook his head and Levy went on. "After your headmaster was charged with several crimes, your school fell apart at the seams. No one was willing to spend the money to restore it, so it was dissolved. Your students have been split amongst the neighbouring schools. Fairy High and Sabre High have taken most of them, I believe."

Gajeel was stunned. Not that he particularly cared for his old school, but this was a massive change. Was he supposed to be going somewhere else? Holy shit, had he been sent to the Fairies' school? They'd hate him there! He looked up, noticing that Levy had gone while he was thinking. She returned, carrying a small pile of envelopes. Trust his dad not to bother opening them while he was laid up.

"Any bills?" He asked warily.

"Um… no, I think you're okay. But look at this one." Levy ripped it open and began reading, completely ignoring his privacy. "We are writing to inform you… blah, blah, blah… that you are now enrolled at Fairy High! That's so great! You can join our team!"

"Whoa! This is all going a bit a fast, Shorty! Maybe it's easy for short people who are so short that no one is going to notice them, but for us non-short-"

"Gajeel, you get too short-oriented when you're being defensive."

"I am not defensive!"

"Sure you are. It'll be fine, you know. Everyone will love you once you shed that thorny exterior and they get to see that creamy centre." Levy squealed as a second pillow hit her that day. It was thrown with enough force to almost push her over. "Gajeel!"

"You're being too familiar. I don't like it," Gajeel snarled.

"Yeah, that's because you're a pig-headed fool," Levy replied, not giving an inch. "Letting someone look after you is not a sign of weakness."

"Leave me alone," Gajeel said sullenly, rolling over, away from her.

"Okay," Levy replied, picking up the tray with the now empty bowl. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

===][===

Levy sang to herself as she washed up the dishes in Gajeel's kitchen. He'd hurled a barrage of expletives at her after her pronouncement, but Levy found it amusing. Poor man, unable to let his guard down. She shivered slightly as she heard the front door slam shut and heavy footsteps approach down the corridor.

"Who the hell are you?"

Levy turned to face the adult Redfox. He stank of alcohol, and he was dishevelled, with a huge black beard sprouting from his face. Her immediate instinct was that he looked like a homeless man. Gajeel's father was an enormous person, broad across his shoulders. It was easy to see where Gajeel got his physique.

"Um…h-hello, Mr Redfox. I'm Levy, a friend of your son's."

He frowned at that information. "You're wrong. That boy has no friends."

"Then it pleases me to be the first, Mr Redfox!" Levy said forcefully, trying not to be intimidated. The man sat down at the table in the kitchen, leaning back lazily.

"That smells good. Any for me?" Levy had left a large pot of soup on the oven so that Gajeel could just reheat it if he needed. She saw no harm in ingratiating herself with his dad at the same time. "And the name is Garren. I hate being called so formally, Rene."

"Um…it's Levy," she responded, setting down a bowl of soup. Was an inability to use names correctly genetic?

"Well, the Levy is delicious, Rene. Tastes just like chicken soup."

"No, I meant… oh, just forget it. Um… your son seems to be recovering well. You must have been so worried when he was injured."

"Of course. I know I look like a bad father, but I'm not such a bastard that I don't care if my son gets shot."

"Of course!" Levy shrilled, worried that she'd offended him. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"It's been hard, you know. Since Valerie passed away. I wasn't always this bum." Levy was silent. She'd known him for about thirty seconds and he was already pouring out his life story to her. Levy was an empathetic person and she felt he probably didn't have many chances to pour his emotions out. Not amongst men, anyway. And of course, the idea of hearing about Gajeel's mother intrigued her. "It was you, wasn't it?"

The sudden question startled Levy. "What was me?"

"Gajeel's been acting differently recently. Better. I didn't realise he'd picked himself up a little cutie of a girlfriend."

"N-no! I'm not his… I mean, I want… I… I'm not his girlfriend!" Levy gabbled, her cheeks betraying her with a bright pink flush. Garren chuckled, a deep sound.

"They say that all men marry their mothers, but you're very different from Valerie. Well, at least on the outside. She was kind hearted, though." He smiled sadly at the thought and withdrew an old photo from his wallet. Levy took it and her eyes boggled. Her eyes and smile were pure Gajeel, like a wild animal. Her hair was ebon, but much shorter than Gajeel's mane. More importantly was the physique. "Yep! Gajeel's a pedigree boxer. Val was an amateur and I was her coach. We got out of it when she fell pregnant."

"S-she looks scary," Levy said lamely, failing to find anything to say. Garren laughed loudly.

"Oh, she was! But I promise you, you wouldn't find a kinder woman in the entire country. She was a lamb dressed in wolf's furs."

"U-um… how did she die?" Levy asked quietly.

"It was two years ago now. She got a tumour in her head. I can never remember the big words the doctors used to call it, but it was just unlucky. Life is not kind sometimes. Smokers live to their nineties, health addicts drop dead at twenty. She was one of the unlucky ones. Then again, our family has always been a bit weak in the head, so maybe it makes sense."

"I'm sorry to pry," Levy said genuinely. She flipped the photo over. On the back, it said 'to me dearest Metalicana'. "Who is Metalicana?"

Garren looked shocked, and then in pain, as if he hadn't expected that jab to his memories. "It's a bit of a long story, but Gajeel believed that his mother was made of iron after watching her fight. She told him that I was the one who made her strong as his coach. The little eight year old he was then made up some story about how in another world I was a dragon of metal, giving out iron powers to anyone who wanted them."

"Other worlds," Levy said with a faint smile at the childlike notion. "I wonder what I'd be like in that world. Did you also coach Gajeel?"

"For a while. But… I couldn't do it. It reminded me too much of her."

Levy didn't quite understand Gajeel's hate for his father. He wasn't a bad man, just a profoundly sad one. "Still, it looks like you also gave Gajeel that body of iron."

"Thank you," Garren replied quietly, small tears in the corners of his eyes.

===][===

Gray peered around the doorway. His life had become so much harder since the influx of Phantom High students had come to this school. Not because of the scary ones like Aria, but rather…

"Gray-sama!" Gray pitched sideways as a warm body slammed into him, arms wrapping around one of his. He sighed deeply. He had no idea what magic Juvia employed to be invisible, but it clearly worked. "How is my lovely Gray-sama today?"

"Well…"

"Then Juvia will make it better! You stay with me and I'll make sure that you have a great day!"

Gray sighed again and looked down at her. She now wore the pink uniform of Fairy High's cheerleaders. She'd been integrating fairly well, although she seemed to dislike Lucy for some reason. "You know, you look much better in our uniform."

"G-gray-sama! Juvia was not expecting such forwardness!" She cried, blushing.

"You're accusing ME of being forward!?" Gray shouted, appalled. Thankfully, the bell for class rang at that moment. As all of the students filed into the classroom, there was some kind of hubbub outside. Eventually, Mira and Macao entered the classroom, dragging in football players and cheerleaders from other classes to group them into one place.

"I think everyone is here," Mira said. "We have a big announcement, and we needed all the sports stars together for this. This morning, the principal received a letter from a student at Cerberus High."

Cana perked up suddenly. Was it Bacchus?

"Those hound dogs?" Natsu asked. "I guess they want to surrender before they even start!"

"Shut it!" Macao rapped. "It's the opposite. They've just declared war with this."

"It's really quite interesting," Mira said airily. "What they want to do is switch the football players and cheerleaders."

"What?" Erza asked, seemingly confused.

"They want the girls to play the football game and the boys to do the cheerleading," Macao clarified.

"WHAT!?" The class cried after a moment's silence as the news sank in.

"The principal likes the idea; he thinks it's fun," Mira said. "We think they want to do this because their football team has had poor results, but they've just taken in an influx of girls from Mermaid High." Mermaid High was a girls only school that shut down last year. It's student body was combined with the boy's school, Cerberus High, forming a co-ed school.

"Wait, this letter. Who was it from?" Erza asked, seeming to know the answer.

"Kagura Mikazuchi," Mira said, confirming her fears.

"Then we cannot back down!" Erza raged, slamming a fist into her desk. "We'll crush them, won't we girls!?"

"Hey, hey," Lucy said, hands held high. "We're not all built like you!" Levy and Lisanna nodded vigourously in agreement.

"Oh? Is love rival a chicken?" Juvia tittered.

"Sounds like it'll be wild to me!" Cana sniggered.

"We accept!" Erza shouted loudly.

"Hey!" Natsu snapped. "I'm not a cheerleader! You expect us boys to dance around with pom-poms!?"

Erza stepped over to him, eyes glaring with anger. "You say something?"

"N-no!?" Natsu squealed. He looked up as Mira was over him a similarly demonic expression.

"You boys will be training with me for a while," the demon promised.

===][===

"…FOUR!"

"WILD…"

"...FOUR!"

"Wild… Hey Bacchus, why aren't you joining in?" Rocker asked. "We have to practise our cheer!"

Bacchus looked up from the grass of the pitch he was lounging on. "There ain't nothing wild about this. We're just a bunch of puppies kicked aside by those Mermaid girls. They're more wild than we are."

"Then you argue with Kagura," Rocker said through gritted teeth. Bacchus had to agree with that. He had no interest in 'explaining' anything to Kagura. Nor did want to explain anything to Cana. He felt frustrated and betrayed by her. She'd been unwilling to look under the surface of the incident, and he thought that she was better than that.

"Oi, you still in trouble with the police?" Novarly asked.

"No, apparently Jose made a full confession. The man's such a fucking coward that he just caved instantly under questioning."

"That was pretty wild of you, saving that Phantom like that!" Seamus shouted.

"Hounds run in packs," Bacchus replied cryptically. "That guy seriously needs a pack of his own."

===][===

"I don't need anyone to look after me!" Gajeel shouted… while quickly tucking into the food Levy had placed before him. They were in his kitchen this time, and Gajeel was up and about now. The trouble was making sure that he didn't move around too much.

"I guess you'll be coming to school again soon," Levy said cheerily. "It'll be so nice to have you there!"

"Why do you care?" Gajeel asked callously. "Don't you have enough friends as it is?"

Levy ignored his brusqueness. "Well, it's good that the football team won't be playing. It means that you'll have to wait for the next game, so you can rest up your injury. Jet too. His leg is fine, by the way."

"Don't care."

"You should," Levy replied with a pout.

"You scared about the next game?" Gajeel asked, changing the subject.

"A football team's eleven players, right? As long as we don't take too many injuries I can just sit on the bench. I have to be the last pick, what with my… um… feminine physique." Gajeel chuckled at her choice of words, but thankfully kept eating rather than offer a short joke. "The point is, I'll be fine."

"If there is a god, surely he'll allow me the pleasure of watching you on the pitch. That will be funny as hell!"

"You're very rude to the person who just cooked you dinner and cleaned your house!" Levy said, finally allowing her annoyance to show. An expression briefly flitted across Gajeel's face, showing that he felt at least somewhat bad, but then it was gone.

"The food is good," he said simply. Levy smiled, taking the small compliment. For Gajeel, it was like gushing praise.

"You scared?" She asked, returning his question. He raised a brow and she elaborated. "I mean, about joining Fairy High. People there still don't like you much, despite me trying to say that you're actually a nice guy."

"Why are you wasting so much time on me?" Gajeel asked. "I'm not worth it."

"Well, I think you are!" Levy responded forcefully. She blushed slightly, as did Gajeel. To cover the moment, she took a book out of her bag. "You'll love this. Our English class just got a new book report. Guess which book?" She threw a copy of Animal Farm on the table.

"Hot damn. I actually have an edge in English Lit," Gajeel said with vague astonishment.

"If you don't get an A, I'll be angry. So let's go through this. I'll wash up and join you in your bedroom."

Gajeel did as he was told, going to wait on his bed. To his surprise, when Levy came in, she had switched to forceful tactics. She sat right next to him with the book and leaned into him. Involuntarily, he moved his left arm around her to support her.

"You can read it from there?" She asked, opening the book, crimson cheeks hidden by the angle.

"Uh… yeah…"

"Good. Then I'll begin."

Yeah, Gajeel's dad is the same concept as my Edo-Metalicana from another fic. I kind of like how AU Fairy Tail stories make some sense, in the idea that there are many universes, like Edolas, to explore! Maybe… the real world is part of it… woah o.O