Dragon Script
Chapter 7: Mistakes
Gajeel had a difficult time sleeping that night – for many reasons. Despite the rather shocking news about the dragons, there was another matter that held his thoughts captive. Levy. He had been so close – he wanted nothing more in that moment, than to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless. But something stayed him; he wasn't quite sure what it was. She had been trying to comfort him as he tried to digest everything she had told him. She had been first loving, then playful, successfully capturing and holding every facet of his attention. He knew that she cared for him; the last traces of doubt had dissipated into the cool damp air of that basement tonight. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to actually tell her how he felt. Instead, he had just teased her again. He didn't want to lead her along anymore, or make her think that he felt less for her than he did. The timing was just…not right. Gajeel heaved a frustrated sigh, raking his fingers through his tousled hair.
"Then what is the right time?" he demanded; but the darkness in his tent did not answer him.
To make things worse, a few moments ago when he had left her alone, he had lingered outside for a bit – looking for answers in the starry sky above. That had proved to be a mistake, for not a minute later, movement inside Levy's tent drew his attention. He was pleased enough to bear witness to her silhouette undressing, her lamp casting alluring shadows on the fabric of her tent. But the last thing he needed was something else to draw out those lustful feelings that he barely kept at bay every waking moment. It was like the universe was laughing at his misery, dangling the proverbial carrot in front of his face. He had gone inside his tent and prepared for sleep; but it never came, and now he was just lying here, staring up at the centerline of his tent.
His thoughts strayed from Levy to what he had learned tonight about the dragons; it was a lot to take in at once. His dragon and three others were the only dragons left on earth – besides Acnologia – and they had chosen to teach Dragon Slayer magic to himself, Natsu, Wendy, and one other. And how did the Black Dragon fit into all this? Was he a part of the evil brewing among the dragons that the King spoke of? Were there more dragons like him? On the one hand, a lot of questions had just been answered, but so many still remained. Why did all the dragons leave on July 7th, 777? Had the water dragon also left? Where was her human child? When would the dragons return to fight with humans again? Did they care that Zeref was going to destroy everything? If he was one of only four Dragon Slayers, what was their burden going to be in the fight to come? This was beginning to get overwhelming, even for him. Normally, he wouldn't stop to ask himself the big questions. What happened would happen, and he'd be there to fight whatever evil threatened him and – he begrudgingly had to admit – his guild. But this seemed so much bigger than him. Granted, he had Natsu and Wendy, and the rest of Fairy Tail…but what evil was descending on them that would cause even the dragons to fight?
He had lots of questions this time, but no answers. He sighed again, and rolled over onto his side seeking sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and he needed to be ready for the following night. He and the other archaeologists would spread word of the discovery of the strange device, and leak news of it being held in the old shed. He would place a guard there, as before, but keep secret the fact that Pantherlily would be inside. If there was no attempt to steal the artifact, then that would narrow down the possibilities of who the inside man was. If only Henry and James knew the truth about the surprise waiting inside the shed, then it would mean the informant was probably one of them. Granted, the evidence would be circumstantial, so to speak, but it would be enough for him to go on. His money was on James – the guy was way too suspicious. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was trying to put the moves on Levy. Nothing at all, Gajeel told himself as he drifted off to sleep.
Gajeel took over Lily's patrol around three in the morning and kept watch over the ruins from his spot on the hill until daybreak. When the workers began to stir, he went down to meet with Henry and James. Pantherlily joined him as they once again laid out their plan for them.
"Once the news is spread, anyone who would be keeping surveillance on the camp is bound to hear about it," Gajeel told them.
"Do you think they'll take the bait?"
"They've taken the artifacts every time before, right?"
"Yes."
"And always on the very first night we had them," Henry added.
"That reminds me…where did you keep it last night after we gave it to you?"
"Actually, I slept with it," he replied, sounding almost embarrassed.
"No, that was a good idea."
"Yeah, I woke up this morning to find Dad cuddling this stone cylinder like a teddy bear," James said, snickering. "Do you think it's strange that the thieves didn't try to recover it last night?"
"Why?" Gajeel asked. "We only discovered it late last night and the only people who knew about it were myself, Levy, the cook and her husband, and your dad. There's no way they could find out about it unless they were right in the camp with us."
"In which case, Gajeel and I would have sniffed them out," Pantherlily added.
"Unless you think it was an inside job, of course," Gajeel said, looking pointedly at James.
"I doubt that – the thieves just must be watching us closely is all," James said; Gajeel thought he looked nervous. "But back up, what do you mean 'Gajeel and I would have sniffed them out'? Are you saying he can track things like an animal?" James asked Lily.
"Actually, Gajeel's nose is even more sensitive than mine," the cat admitted. "His sense of smell is ten times more powerful than any bloodhound's."
James gulped visibly, "Is that so?"
"So, if for some reason the thieves get past Lily tonight – not that I think they will – you can track them down?" Henry asked Gajeel.
"Of course, the scent trail will be fresh and I'll be waiting. But they won't get past Lily. They would have to be one powerful mage to even have a prayer of standing up to him," Gajeel said, the pride in his voice obvious.
Pantherlily blushed a little, but offered him a sly smile, "Gajeel will run the perimeter as always or stand watch by the ruins. Either way, they will have a clear shot to the shed. We want to draw them in."
"Of course," said James, who seemed to suddenly be deep in thought.
Gajeel could smell fear on him plain as day, and his suspicions took deeper root. Lily seemed to be having similar thoughts, for he eyed the young man closely.
"Well, I suppose we had better get to work, and let everyone know about our discovery. Come James," Henry said, heading for the breakfast line that was beginning to form.
Once they were out of earshot, Lily jumped up and sat on Gajeel's shoulder, "That guy is just too damn suspicious."
"I know," Gajeel agreed. "I'll stay close to the ruins tonight, so that I don't spook him too much. He'll think I'm too far away to do anything if he tries it. But with him knowing you're there, I can't see him making a move tonight."
"Yes, but who's to say he's actually going to be there himself? He could just let the real thieves know where to go and when – and that may be all the part he plays."
"That's true, but either way, if no one comes tonight it's probably because he tipped them off. Just to be sure though, why don't you tail him today? If he makes any attempt to contact someone outside of the camp, then we'll know what he's up to. Make sure he doesn't see you though," Gajeel added.
Lily rolled his eyes as he jumped to the ground, "Please. What do you take me for?"
Gajeel matched his impish grin, "That's my cat."
"I'll see you later tonight."
"Okay, I'm going to go run patrols. If you run into James at any point, you could let it slip that I'm running the perimeter during the day and watching the ruins tonight. We want him as much at ease as possible," Gajeel added.
"Of course," Lily said, slinking down toward the chow line as stealthily as any wild panther.
Gajeel smirked and headed toward the perimeter to run the trails – it was all coming together. Tonight would tell all.
Darkness fell early that night. The clouds covered the waning moon totally, and a cold chill crept through the foothills. To add to the overall effect, a thick fog had settled over the lower regions of the encampment, hiding even the plateau from view from the vantage point of the grassy hill above the ruins. Gajeel stretched out on his belly, trying to peer through the mist below him.
The shed was located on the plateau behind the tents, with its backside almost to the tree line. Why anyone would think that was a good place for a shed was beyond him. He had inspected it carefully that afternoon, and prepared it for Pantherlily as best he could. It was a fairly large building, almost a small barn. One sidewall had racks that held all the shovels, pickaxes, and larger ground breaking tools. The opposite wall had shelves with crates that contained the more delicate tools such as brushes and tiny picks, for unearthing the more fragile or detailed parts of the city. Coils of rope, picket posts and various caution signs took their rest on the back wall of the shed. There were also several barrels of blasting powder on the floor, much to Gajeel's surprise. He wouldn't have expected them to risk any kind of demolition in this area, for fear of causing a cave in on the inside of the castle. But they were there, and they did provide good cover for Lily. He took a canvas he found in the shed and arranged it in an empty crate, forming a makeshift bed for Lily. He left a flap of the canvas out of the crate, so that Lily could pull it over himself, completely hiding him from view.
Satisfied that he had prepared it well, he had grabbed a bite to eat before heading to the ruins for watch. Levy had been there as well, and the two of them had enjoyed a short time together. He hadn't seen her all day, and she informed him that they were beginning to explore the upper parts of the castle. She had used her solid script to form wooden supports as they went, to keep the floor from falling in. Now, more people could go up there at one time. They hadn't found much, as there was a lot of rubble blocking off sections of the hallways up there. They had been doing a lot more excavating that day, but she said she liked the hard work. Gajeel thought she looked adorable, covered head to toe in dirt and dust from what they had cleared. He had wiped a little smudge of mud off her cheek as she was munching on a dinner roll, earning him an even cuter blush. They talked for a while more, and then heading off to finish their jobs.
Lily caught him as he was heading back, informing him that he had indeed seen James sneak away from the camp in the early afternoon. He told Gajeel that he had followed James several miles to a small village, about a half an hour run from the ruins. Gajeel had scene the lights from that village before at night, tucked away in a valley in the foothills. Lily told him it was extremely small – really just a clump of houses, a bar, a post office, and a general store. But James had gone into the post office for a few minutes and emerged again, looking frustrated. Gajeel didn't know what that meant, only that he had probably tried to send a message to someone and failed. Whether that message was to inform someone to come get the artifact or to stay away since it was being guarded, Gajeel had no idea. Either way, they were going to carry out everything tonight as planned.
So now, Gajeel was stationed atop the hill, waiting for a signal from Lily that he had caught the thieves. It would only take him less than half a minute to get to the plateau from here at top speed, but he remained tensed to spring into action. Something that James had told him earlier was beginning to nag at him. James had said that the last time they had lost an artifact, that they had been gassed. Now that in itself did not mean that they were dealing with a magic user, a human could just easily get their hands on some airborne knockout agent – but the more he thought about it, the more he began to wonder if a mage was involved in this. Everything about the castle, all the secrets they had discovered, were all pertaining to magic; the history and the origins of magic to be more precise. If the person behind all of this knew what was hidden here, they were probably tied to magic themselves and would most likely use a mage in recovering the information. A simple sleep spell would have been sufficient to put down James and the other workers with the last stolen artifact, but the use of a physical gas suggested a different kind of magician – a potion's master. The mere thought of it caused the hairs on the back of Gajeel's neck to stand up. Conventional magic he could deal with just fine – his strength and hide could protect him from most anything, and his dragon slayer techniques could break almost any defensive spells. But potions were a problem, particularly the airborne kind. Everyone needs to breathe. Metalicana had warned him about potions masters – 'poison benders' he called them. They were often immersed in dark magic and spent their time making up venomous concoctions and becoming immune to them. He told him that the blood of a potion master was often just as poisoned as the brews they used on others. Apparently, the dragon had bitten one such person and almost died as a result. "Dragons are weak to poison, remember that boy." Gajeel had never forgotten. The one piece of wisdom that the dragon had given him was that potion masters always carried an antidote with them, just in case. No matter what they used, the cure for it was never far from reach. Metalicana told him that a poison bender's greatest fear was that he himself would die in the same way he had caused others to die.
As he pondered all this, a shout echoed up threw the mist. It was Lily – he had found their prey. Gajeel lunged from his place and charged down the hill, the fog around him swirling wildly in his wake. He burst into the clear strip of land between the woods and the tents, almost barreling into Lily when the cat suddenly came into view. Pantherlily was in battle mode now, standing taller and bigger than Gajeel, his immense muscles rippling under his dark fur. His teeth were bared, revealing two rows of razor sharp canines, every one. Gajeel paused for a second, stilled by the sheer awesomeness of his cat. He recovered and followed Lily's gaze, which was directed at a body curled on the ground, groaning in pain. The person slowly stretched himself out of the fetal position, rolling onto his back. It was James. Gajeel thought that having his suspicions confirmed would feel good – instead he felt an all new loathing for this man. He bent down, grabbing the front of James' shirt and hauled him to his feet.
"What the hell, James?" he ground out between his teeth.
The terrified man was entirely focused on Pantherlily though; Gajeel thought he was going to pee his pants any second now. He seemed utterly unable to speak. A few workers had come out of their tents, roused by Lily's feral battle cry. He shook James until the man turned his attention to him.
"It's not what it looks like," he said, finally able to form words.
"Oh, it's not?" Lily countered. "I heard you and another person outside the shed, you knocked out the guard!"
Gajeel had almost forgotten about the poor guy guarding the door. Sure enough, he could just see the guy's feet on the other side of the shed. He tightened his grip, raising his arm so that James' feet barely touched the ground.
"Are you insane? You knew Lily was in there and you still tried to take it?"
The expression on the man's face changed from fear to anger as he glared at Gajeel, "I didn't try to take the artifact, you buffoon. Get your hands off me!"
He struggled, but Gajeel held him firmly. He managed to land a solid kick between Gajeel's legs, but the Dragon Slayer had seen it coming and hardened his skin into cold blue scales. Even so, the fact that the little bastard had tried to kick him in the nuts really pissed him off – and armor or no – it kind of smarted. Furious, he lowered James to the ground and punched him square in the jaw, sending the man reeling backwards and stumbling to the ground. Gajeel was somewhat surprised that he remained conscious; maybe he was tougher than he gave him credit for. No matter, he wasn't finished by a long shot. He reached for James again, his intent written all over his face. Two things happened at that very moment. Gajeel stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Levy call his name. He froze mid grab and turned his head toward her, just as another woman pushed through the other workers who had gathered around them.
"Stop!" she called; maneuvering herself between Gajeel and James. "He's not lying, he really wasn't there to steal anything."
Gajeel stared her down, "Then how do you explain him knocking out the guard?"
"And trying to get into the shed when he knew I was there," Lily added.
"He didn't try to get into the shed…I did," she admitted.
"Wait, you wanted to steal the artifact?" Gajeel asked, totally confused. He let his scales melt back down into normal skin, eyeing her warily.
"No, I didn't even know the artifact was in there – I've been gone for the last two days," she explained. "James was the one who stopped me from going in there."
"Okay," Gajeel said, still keeping the girl pinned under his stare. "Then do you mind explaining why you were trying to get into the shed in the first place? And why the hell did James have to stop you from going in when the guard could have done the same thing?"
"Yes, and what was James doing here in the first place, knocking out the damn guard?" Pantherlily half shouted, bringing Gajeel's attention back on James.
"Yes son, please do explain yourself," Henry said bitterly, emerging from the crowd of workers – the whole camp must have gathered at the commotion by now.
James let out a defeated sigh and stood up, positioning himself behind the curious woman that had defended him, "Because I came here to meet her. She told me yesterday that she'd be back late tonight and we agreed to meet here outside the camp. That was before I knew about the artifact. When I found out this morning that we had found another piece and were going to stage an ambush here tonight, I tried to get word to her not to come to the shed. But I couldn't reach her."
"I got here about ten minutes ago and tried to go in, but James stopped me and told me to go to my tent," she girl explained.
"Then that…thing…came out of the shed and attacked me," James said, pointing at Lily.
Gajeel moved to grab him again, but Lily put a paw on his shoulder and held him still, saying, "Again. Why did you knock out the guard?"
"I didn't want him to see Karin," James said, gesturing at the girl and acting as if that explained everything.
"So let me get this straight," Gajeel said, folding his arms in front of him and putting on his most intimidating expression. "You agreed to come here and rendezvous here with your – girlfriend – and "meet" at this shed. And to keep this little "encounter" secret, you knocked out the guard."
Murmurs and the occasional snicker whispered through the crowd of workers. Henry merely shook his head, clearly embarrassed and disappointed by his son's behavior.
"Why didn't you just let her discover the guard on own? If there was someone there, I'm sure she would have gotten the picture and left," Lily said.
"I didn't want her to be seen."
"You mean, you still wanted to "meet" with her tonight," Gajeel said, making quotations with his fingers for emphasis. "You knocked out the guard so he wouldn't see anything and told her to go back to her tent because you were planning on following her. You just didn't count on Lily coming after you."
"I thought the plan was that once someone was inside the shed, you came after him," James said accusingly to the huge cat.
"Don't you dare blame him for any of this," Gajeel hissed. "Because of your perpetual skirt chasing, this whole operation got blown! Not only did you spring the trap; now we're not any closer in discovering who the real thieves are. They won't try to come after the shed once they get word that he's waiting for them," he said, gesturing to Pantherlily with his chin.
At that, Lily shrank down to his normal size, "We need to regroup and come up with a new plan. There's nothing more we can do tonight. Let's all go back to our respective tents," he paused to glare at James, "and call it a night."
James and Karin took their queue and split up, breaking through the already dispersing group of onlookers. Henry followed James to their tent; no doubt he was going to give his son an earful. The workers thinned quickly, all but disappearing in a matter of moments. Someone stopped to pick up the poor unconscious guard and take him back to his tent. Lily disappeared into the shed and grabbed the stone cylinder – no one was going to bother it tonight, not after all the ruckus. Gajeel turned to head toward their tent when he saw Levy standing in front of him. She didn't look all that pleased.
"Levy," he began, walking to towards her.
"You went overboard, and you know it," she said flatly, then turned to leave.
He stared after her, more than a little surprised at her sharp words. Maybe he had gotten it wrong about James, but she couldn't possibly blame him for making the assumption he did. He called after her to wait, but a little paw on his leg stopped him.
"Don't. I'll talk to her," Lily said.
"I don't understand why she's mad at me…again," his thoughts turning back to their earlier misunderstanding back at Fairy Tail.
"She doesn't either. But it's clear she doesn't want to talk to you right now. She may listen to me though. Why don't you finish up watch by the ruins and I'll relieve you in an hour. Take this," he said, handing him the cylinder.
Gajeel sighed, balling his hands into fists, "Fine. I'll see you later."
He wasn't mad at Lily, but he was still frustrated about this entire situation. First the blown ambush, then James, now Levy was mad at him too. He stalked off into the night, wishing he could be knocking some heads right now instead of keeping watch.
Levy took off her jacket and crawled under the blankets of her tent once more, shivering against the cold night air that seemed to seep into her bones. She was mad at Gajeel for how he handled James and even more mad at herself for how she handled Gajeel. She knew she should have explained herself, but she wasn't quite sure why she was so angry to begin with. The look on Gajeel's face right before he punched James had frightened her. She'd seen that look before. He was livid, and that face scared her. He was unpredictable when he was that angry; there was no telling what he would do. It reminded her of the day he had saved her from Grimoire Heart. But that wasn't quite right – because she had been glad to see that look on his face then. He had been enraged because she was being threatened. No, maybe it didn't remind her of that. Maybe it reminded her of the night he attacked her, the very first night they met. She tried to shut out those memories, closing her eyes against the pain. Why was this coming up now? A sound outside her tent brought her back to present.
"May I come in?" It was Pantherlily.
"Yes, come in Lily," she invited.
No matter how upset she was, she always welcomed the little feline's company. He undid the lower clasp of her tent and crawled in, buttoning it back up behind him. Without a word, he padded across her blankets and curled up on her lap, warming her more than the fleece covers. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close, burying her face in the soft fur on his back.
"I think I messed up tonight," she admitted, her voice muffled by his coat.
"Perhaps, but many of us made mistakes tonight – not without just cause," he added.
"Yeah, everything that happened was really suspicious. I don't blame you for thinking it was James."
"Yes, but you blame Gajeel for hitting him?"
"He didn't have to do that. He hated James from the first moment he saw him…I don't know why. It's like he wanted James to be the one so he'd have a chance to beat him up. He didn't even let James explain himself."
"It's true, he hasn't been fond of the man since he first met him – but he had his reasons for that as well."
"Tell me Lily. What happened between them?" she asked, lifting her head from his fur to look at him.
"Nothing really 'happened' per se…but Gajeel picked up on something the very first night we came her that set him off."
"What?" she encouraged.
"He sensed that James took an instant liking to you, and he didn't approve."
"What's wrong with other people liking me? Lucy likes me, and he doesn't pick fights with her."
Pantherlily sighed and patted her hand, "No child. He doesn't care if other people like you…only if their attention reflects a more – intimate – nature."
"Wait. You mean…he was jealous?"
He nodded at her. That opened up a whole separate train of thought to her. If he was jealous of another guy, then he really must like her a lot, right? Levy had a hard time picturing Gajeel jealous of anyone. It just didn't seem to fit his personality at all. What did he have to be jealous about? It's not like James was able to even really flirt with her with his dad and the twins there. But then again, Gajeel didn't know that. They had been separated most of this trip. It must have been killing him not knowing what was going on down in the lower levels of the castle all day long. Still, just because he was jealous of the guy, didn't give him an excuse to deck him – at least, not before he heard him out anyway. She told Lily as much.
"James had it coming, he shouldn't have tried to kick Gajeel in the…he shouldn't have tried to kick him," the cat corrected himself.
"Wait, James tried to kick him?"
"You didn't see? Actually, James did kick him – but Gajeel put up his armor before he could do any damage."
"Oh, I thought he put it up so that he could punch him harder. Did he really need to armor up to protect himself from a human kick? It doesn't seem like James is strong enough to really hurt him."
Lily fought a blush and explained a little further, "Yes, but even Gajeel needs to protect certain…parts…of his body."
Levy thought about that a moment, then her eyes widened in understanding, "You mean James tried to kick him…there?"
She was blushing furiously.
"Yes. Gajeel may have a short temper already – but any man is likely to get very angry when another man decides to play that card."
Levy nodded her head in understanding, "I get it."
"Gajeel punched him because of that – no other reason."
"I guess I really owe him an apology."
"Just tell him in the morning. For now, you should get some rest. It's late," he said, yawning.
Lily stretched and jumped down from her lap, stopping to pat her leg affectionately.
"Thanks for telling me everything, Lily," Levy said, smiling at him.
"Of course," he replied, pausing as he reached for the flap of the tent. "Gajeel cares for you very much, Levy. I know that if you give him time, he'll find the words to tell you just how much. Be patient with him?"
Levy nodded her head, "I will, I promise. I wasn't completely sure before – but hearing it from you makes me feel better."
"He's a good man, despite all his flaws. Once you earn his affection, you'll have it for as long as he draws breath…believe me."
"Do you think he…loves me?" she asked, unable to look him in the eye when she finished.
He chuckled low in his throat, "Oh, if you only knew how much."
Levy managed to raise her eyes, not even bothering to try and mask the hope and happiness behind them upon hearing those long awaited words.
"I do too," she whispered.
"I know sweetheart, I know. You'll hear it from his own lips soon enough – I'm sure."
She beamed at him, reaching forward to scoop him up in a tight hug. He hugged her back, petting her cheek with his paw. It seemed he liked patting her almost as much as Gajeel did.
"Thank you so much, Lily…for everything. I love you," she said, squeezing him for emphasis and planting a little kiss on the top of his head.
He purred against her shoulder, "I love you too."
She released him and he once again made his way to her tent flap.
"See you in the morning," she said.
"Yes. Goodnight."
"Night."
Levy sank back down beneath the covers.
"He loves me," she quietly told the darkness.
There was really nothing more to say. She thought that she would have a tumult of emotions and thoughts spinning through her head; but instead, she felt only peace and contentment. Knowing that he did love her in the same way that she loved him stripped away all other reflections, leaving her with a strange sense of serenity. It was just her and that one piece of knowledge now. Somehow, it made her whole world complete. She didn't even wonder when he was going to tell her, or what she would say to him when he did. Instead, she fell asleep almost immediately, Lily's words echoing in her dreams, "Oh, if you only knew how much."
K.K.: Okay, I'm sorry this chapter took me soooo long to write - it's been a crazy couple weeks. Anyways, what do you think? It's not James. Surprised? The next chapter is going to reveal a LOT though - trust me (your kiss is coming soon angelovergirl) ;) I shall write it after Thanksgiving, so you don't have to wait too long. Anyways, review as always. I want to thank you all for making this my most reviewed story! I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving. Love to all!
