===Chapter 9===
My Daughter is Crying
Gajeel is 29, Levis is 26, Tacks is 6 and Aiko is 4
The events of this chapter refer to a character that appeared in chapter 14 of 'Iron Body and Shining Soul'. He is called Kagetachi and was an executioner working for Phantom Lord before its dissolution. He sought to hunt Gajeel down for imaginary crimes.
"She hit poor young Andrew in the head!" The teacher, Mr Fenn said sternly. Gajeel hung his head in shame as he sat before the principal's desk. Aiko simply turned away and pouted.
"Andrew is stupid," she declared.
"Aiko, ya can't just go around hitting people because ya don't like them," Gajeel explained with frayed patience.
"You do," she replied curtly.
"That's different."
"Why?"
"Because…Salamander's stupid," he finished lamely, clearly failing to find an argument. He looked helplessly at the principal.
"Aiko," Mr Fenn began, "do you not see the difference in your father's guild mates fighting when they wish, and attacking someone who had no desire to have a physical confrontation?"
Aiko frowned as if struggling with that one. Eventually, she shrugged, disappointing her father who had been hoping for an epiphany.
"Mr Redfox, I am truly sorry, but if we don't see an improvement soon we are going to have to expel her for the safety of the other students," Mr Fenn said sadly.
"I understand," Gajeel replied sullenly, shoulders drooping. He was beaten. He was all out of ideas. He could beat the most powerful of enemies, but this four year old girl was just too much for him.
Levy and Gajeel tried to alternate when they picked up their kids, so Gajeel picked up Tacks the next day. He was so proud of his son, how he seemed to enjoy learning. Pretty soon, Tacks would be up to start learning magic. Gajeel wasn't really sure if he would or not, but he hoped so. He kept to his vow of not caring how strong his kids were, but he understood magic, knew it well. That's when he'd be able to help his kid learn.
They got home and waited for Levy to return for Aiko. And they kept waiting. Gajeel was beginning to get worried after an hour passed. Lily reassured him that she'd probably just run into Lucy or something, but he seemed uneasy too. A few minutes later, Gajeel's comm-lacryma rang.
It was the hospital.
Gajeel was out of breath as he raced into the ward. His heart sunk to see his wife lying on a gurney. She was so still and grey that for a moment he thought that she was dead. But no, he could just see her chest rising and falling. Tacks ran to her the second his daddy put him down. He looked…shocked. Not sad or scared, but processing information poorly.
"She's stable," a doctor said warily, "but she's been poisoned by some powerful toxin. I'm worried about what will happen if she's like this much longer."
"Lily's gone to find Wendy," Gajeel said with absolutely no emotion. "She'll save her. But…where is my daughter?"
His tone was wavering between extremes of fear and anger and a policeman hurried forward. "Mr Redfox, your wife was attacked while taking your daughter home. She was struck once from behind, which apparently caused the poisoning. Um, I shouldn't be telling you this…"
"What!?" Gajeel snapped, snarling.
"Um…but you're a guild mage and a strong one at that. There…was a note." The policeman handed it to Gajeel and it took him a moment to realise that it'd been written on flesh. Not human flesh, his slayer nose told him, but grotesque nonetheless.
Greetings, my dear Gajeel-kun. I hope you are well, because then I can enjoy making you as miserable as humanly possible. I have taken your little girl hostage. If you want to see her again, meet me at the laboratories. Perhaps you are as surprised as me to find them still intact, but isn't life full of little joys? Oh, and please do come alone; I'd hate for any accidents to befall such an innocent child.
Yours sincerely, Kagetachi.
Gajeel's jaw was working as a thousand curses died half-formed in his throat. He was shaking so violently that he was afraid that he might collapse. How could this be happening? His wife gravely ill and his daughter in the clutches of a madman? Why did his past keep hurting his loved ones?
"Tacks," he said so quietly that his son barely heard him. "Stay with your mother and Uncle Lily. Daddy has to do something."
"Daddy!" Tacks ran over, crying. "What's going on!?"
"Lily will look after ya. I have to go and save ya sister."
"I…I don't understand!" Tacks wailed.
"Let your dad go," Lily said kindly. "Watch his back and remember that your dad will do anything for you two." Gajeel, I'm trusting you on this one, he added silently.
In the seven years of blank time and the years since then, Phantom Lord's original site had gone undisturbed. No one wanted the land of an evil guild, even if that guild had literally gotten up and walked off. What remained was an overgrown wasteland.
Somewhere under there should be the old laboratories, where Phantom Lord's resident madman had gone about his disturbing hobbies.
If he had tried, Gajeel could have probably found the entrance by smell, but that seemed silly. He'd make his own entrance. He leapt into the hair and summoned his spiral drill, slamming into and through the ground.
Hard earth gave way until he hit open space, landing in some nondescript metal corridor. He ripped a panel away and ate it, deciding for a little pick-me-up before the murdering began. Because if this asshole had hurt his only daughter, he was not going to be held responsible for his own actions.
A tannoy system blared into life, carrying Kagetachi's condescending tones. "Gajeel! So glad you could make it! If you would proceed to the end of the corridor and take the third door on your right, I shall be waiting."
Gajeel followed the instructions, limbs twitching with the boiling rage that threatened to consume his every waking moment. He passed through the doorway into a large metal room. Kagetachi awaited on a pedestal at the far end of the room. Gajeel quickly realised that he was standing between two enormous cannons. They looked similar to the Jupiter array, but smaller. This asshole had prepared alright.
"Daddy!" Gajeel's eyes snapped to his daughter. She dangled from the scruff by one of his foe's real arms. His teeth ground to see that she had a few scrapes and bruises. Of course, she wasn't going to be quiet and obedient, but this…this was too much for any father to bear. Every molecule in his body screamed to kill this bastard, but he couldn't lest he hurt her before he could cross that distance.
"Gajeel-kun!" The withered freak gloated. Kagetachi was a monstrosity, like a man who had withered to the point his legs could no longer work, but augmented with insane magical science. A respirator attached to his back had four additional mechanical appendages, and a long spine that carried him aloft like a snake.
"What do you want?" Gajeel ground out, voice thick with fury. "We've been here before, and you lost then. Even at my worst, I was never a vindictive freak like you!"
"Ah, ah, let's watch our manners, yes? I'd hate to accidentally slip!" A mechanical arm pressed a scalpel to Aiko's throat. Kagetachi leered to see Gajeel's pent up fury. "Now, I've prepared a little better this time. You see, all I ask is that you kindly die. And since I can't trust you to commit honourable suicide, the deal is rather simple. I'm going to shoot my cannons here, which will obliterate you, and then I promise to let your daughter go."
"No, you won't," Gajeel spat.
"No, but what choice do you have? Live and see me kill your daughter, or die and not have to suffer that?"
"Daddy! Don't leave me!" Aiko sniffed.
"Oh, how wonderful! What a dilemma the young father has to suffer!" Kagetachi giggled and pulled out a trigger. The cannons began to glow with magical power. "Choose quickly, Gajeel-kun! Why not just choose death?"
"I…I don't know what to do...," Gajeel whispered, tears in his eyes as blinding light erased his form from view.
"No, Daddy!" Aiko wailed. "Daddy, please come back!"
"Hahahahahaha!" Kagetachi gloated. "I did it! I finally killed the bastard! Tell me, brat, do you hate me for this?"
"D…daddy!" Aiko could only cry. She didn't know what else to do.
"My…girl…is…crying…" Kagetachi's eyes bulged as Gajeel appeared from the smoke, arms outstretched. He'd caught both energy beams in his palms after activating dragon force and throwing up every reinforcement spell in his repertoire. And still, he was grievously injured. He dropped to a knee.
"No! Stay back! I'll kill her if you come any closer!" Kagetachi threatened, panicking.
"She's…crying. You…made…her…cry…" Gajeel croaked. He roared, his body wracked by spasms. His right hand suddenly grew in size, talons erupting through flesh. A dragon's claw. He was so far beyond any rational thought, the dragon transformation as gripping him again. The need to kill something was overwhelming.
He screamed as his skull split, horns pushing through, his teeth and jaw enlarging. Onyx feathers began to sprout.
"NO! I said stay back!" Kagetachi screamed. In a single heartbeat Gajeel crossed the ten metre distance between them and slammed an oversized hand into the chest of his hated opponent. With a bloody gurgle, he went down. Gajeel had no idea if he'd killed him or not, and couldn't care less. His girl was still crying.
"It's okay," he stammered in a distorted voice, warped by his swollen jaw. He collapsed to the floor, feeling the weight of his injuries now that she was safe. "Daddies' here."
"Daddy!" She ran to his side, hugging his feathery shoulder. "What's happening?"
"Daddy loves you. He'll…I'll always come to save you," Gajeel mumbled, feeling consciousness drain from him.
"Don't go to sleep! I'm scared!" Aiko bawled. And just like that, Gajeel summoned every last ounce of power he had left. Tucking his daughter under one arm, he roared a hole in the ceiling and leapt up through it.
"It's not funny!" Gajeel pouted as best he could with his enlarged jaw. He was stuck in his this half-dragon state until Levy was well enough to scribe the runes of unbinding as she had done before. Which made him look like a pony ride to his two kids. They kept asking for piggy back rides and what could he say? They'd been through so much.
"You're just like a puppy," Levy replied happily. After extended help from Wendy, she'd recovered her health, but was still quite shaky. That toxin had been some nasty stuff. She'd spent the last two days blaming herself roundly for everything, no matter how much Gajeel pointed out that she'd been literally stabbed in the back in broad daylight. Even he would have been unlikely to dodge that.
He slept on the floor, too heavy for their bed. "Fancy some dragon sex?"
"Gajeel, that one sentence has spawned more fanfictions than I dare imagine," Levy replied drolly. "I am not some kind of deviant! Maybe…I could have a piggyback ride, though?"
"You're too heavy," Gajeel whined.
"You cannot spend your entire life calling me little and then complain that I'm heavy the one time it suits you!" Levy exploded. She frowned suddenly. "Aiko's been quiet recently. She's been playing up less and less."
"She's been through a lot. Who knows, maybe now she's seen real violence, she wants to do it less."
"Maybe. I'm worried, though."
Aiko was thinking unusually hard as she snuggled in her bed. Daddy had asked her to be nicer, and she'd seen firsthand how much he loved her. She felt ashamed that she was always so naughty when he gave everything in return.
She wanted to be strong like Daddy, but his strength was different, wasn't it? She needed to listen to him more, she conceded.
But her mother…Aiko scowled. Because her mother was weak, she'd been captured, hurt. She hated her! So weak it was pathetic! She wanted to be nothing like her.
She'd become a million times stronger.
Please note that Aiko's thoughts are those of a four year old who has just had a traumatic experience, and are not supposed to be subjective in any way. They are also for future plots…
Sorry for the heavy chapter, but I promised emotional turmoil along with the fluff! I promise a fluffier one next!
