Dragon Script
Chapter 9: Collapse
Levy fell into step beside Gajeel, the by now familiar flutter in her stomach returning. She glanced up at him as they wove their way through the throng of tents toward the clearing where everyone ate. His expression suggested he was as pleased as she was – in fact, she couldn't recall a time when he looked so happy. An odd feeling of satisfaction settled on her. She made him happy.
They arrived at the open picnic area where Leah was still serving stew to the workers. Some of them had been working on the lower walls below the castle, but most showed no evidence of having labored that morning.
"Good morning Leah…or, I guess it's really afternoon now," Levy greeted the older woman.
Leah smiled at her, "Hello, you two. The day does seem to be getting away from us, doesn't it? Perhaps it's for the better if we all took it easy for a bit."
"Where you there last night?" Levy asked her, dropping her voice slightly.
Leah's expression darkened as she ladled stew into Levy's bowl, "Yes, I was there – our tent is quite close to the shed. We heard Pantherlily and came to investigate. Even though it all turned out to be a mistake, I can't really say I'm surprised."
"About what?" Gajeel asked, his mood now sour.
"James has always had a single track mind. Although why he chose that dirty old shed to meet her, I have no idea."
Levy shuddered, "Gross."
"I am sorry that your plan was spoiled, Gajeel," Leah offered.
"We'll figure something else out," he growled.
"We promise, we will find the people who have been stealing from the site," Levy assured her, trying to sound optimistic.
"I know you will. Do you want a big bowl, hun?" Leah asked Gajeel.
He managed a small smile, "Yeah, I'm starving."
As she was handing him his lunch, Nero bounded up to them and pulled Levy into a bear hug. She gasped for breath as he squeezed her, then planted a little kiss on her cheek. Levy shot a wary glance at Gajeel, who looked like he was about to smash his bowl of stew over Nero's head at any moment. Fortunately, the next words out of the young man's mouth stayed his hand.
"Thank you so much Levy! Everything that you told me to do with Elaina worked! She and I are dating now, as of this morning!"
Levy grinned at him, "I told you it would work. We're all suckers for a thoughtful boy, right?"
"Mmhmm, your father had me with the first bouquet of flowers he gave me," Leah said with a thoughtful smile on her face. "He wrote a little love poem and tied it to them."
"Dad…my father…wrote you poetry?" Nero asked dubiously.
"Yep. And you know what?"
"What?"
"It was awful," she said, laughing. "It barely rhymed, and the stanzas were so cheesy. But he poured his heart into those sappy lines and I loved him for it."
Levy giggled and peeked at Gajeel, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was at that moment.
"Well, anyways – I'm glad everything worked out for you two," she said, patting Nero's arm affectionately. "Where is Elaina anyways?"
"She's getting ready for an excursion into the upper levels. They're gonna head up around 1:30. Do you want to join us…or do you have plans?" he asked, looking sideways at Gajeel as if he had just noticed him.
"No plans, I would love to go. Gajeel and Lily have some new strategies to work on anyway."
"Oh right," he cringed. "Sorry about the mess last night man. By the way," he voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper as he leaned close to Gajeel, "…way to go, decking James like that. I've been wanting to do that for years."
Gajeel grinned at him, his fangs gleaming, "He had it coming."
"Well, I better eat and get my stuff together," Levy said. "Meet you here at quarter after?"
Nero nodded, "Sounds good. Seeya later. Bye Mom," he kissed his mother before heading off.
"Bye honey," she called after him.
"He sure is kissy," Gajeel pointed out.
"Oh c'mon, don't be like that," Levy laughed, elbowing him in the arm.
"Like what? I'm just sayin'."
"Oh, don't worry – he's always been that way. He doesn't mean anything by hugging on your girl," Leah assured him.
Levy hid a smile when Gajeel blushed. "I wasn't worried," he insisted.
She tugged on his arm, "C'mon, stew's getting cold."
He followed her to their usual log and sat down beside her, settling in closer than he usually did.
"Looks like love is in the air today, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess so. So how is it that you're giving him love advice?"
"Oh, it came up on one of our lunch breaks when we were translating in the under level. Henry was gone and James was trying to be a little flirty with me. Nero kind of rescued me by asking me what I thought a girl would want to do on her first date. So I told him a few things that might be fun – but they were mostly stuff to go and do in a town. He and Elaina don't really get a chance to leave the camp much though. So I told him to pack a picnic for the two of them and invite her to go on a walk or something and see where they end up. I guess he did it."
"Did he do that a lot?"
"Did who do what a lot?"
"James. Did he flirt with you a lot?"
"You didn't hear a word I said after that, did you?" she asked, smirking at him.
"Yes…picnic, walk, whatever. Did he come on to you?" he asked more forcefully.
Levy sighed and looked down at her feet, "He tried to. But we were working around the clock, and Nero and Kane ran interference constantly. He really didn't get a chance. You don't have to be jealous of him, Gajeel."
"I'm not jealous of him. I just can't stand the thought of him trying to flirt with you – especially after what I saw last night."
"Look, James is a letch…end of story. There're a lot of guys out there like him. Being a girl in Fairy Tail makes you a target for guys like him, so trust me, I'm used to his type. Jet and Drory used to scare off his type all the time."
"Yeah, 'cause it was competition for them."
"No, Jet and Drory may have liked me – but they were always respectful about asking me out…if not a little whiney," she added, giggling. Her face turned thoughtful. "I really need to patch things up with them when we go home."
"I'm sure they'll come around, Lev," he assured her. "Except, they might be a little pissed that we're, uh…dating."
"Yeah," she sighed. "You know what though, it'll work out. I'm not going to hide that we're together when I get back home. I won't rub it in their faces, but I'm not ashamed to be with you and all of Fairy Tail mind as well know that."
There was real conviction in her voice as she said this, and Gajeel graced her with a proud smile. She returned it shyly. She enjoyed it when he did things that showed his approval of her. Before, that was all she had to cling to. A kind word from him, or something that suggested he was paying attention to her. Now, even though she had a whole lot more from him – like his heart – she still soaked up every pleased gesture he gave her. By now her stew was finished though, and she really needed to get a move on if she was going to be ready. She only had fifteen minutes to get back here to meet Nero.
"I need to go get ready," she said apologetically.
"Yeah, I should go back and start on a new set of tactics with Lily," he agreed in a similar tone.
"I wish we had the rest of the day to ourselves," she said quietly.
He leaned in to her, close enough for her to feel his warm breath on her ear, "We've got all the time in the world, remember?"
His lips brushed the top of her ear in a quick kiss, eliciting a tiny blush from her, "I know."
They got up and returned their bowls to Leah, before heading back to their tents. Levy took a deep breath of fresh air – it would be hot and stuffy in the ruins, and she would miss the sunlight pouring down on her. She stopped at her tent and went inside to get her satchel with all the supplies she would need. She almost forgot her magic stylus, which she would need if she had to write more complicated spells than a normal solid script. She grabbed it and threw it in the bag. She turned to crawl back out of the tent, where Gajeel was waiting patiently to say goodbye to her. Except, he apparently decided patience was overrated, and had ducked in after her. She managed to let out a little "eep" before he dragged her down into the blankets on top of him and captured her with a searing kiss. Levy's heart threatened to burst out of her chest as he wrapped his arms around her and turned them both over, careful not to put his full weight on her. His lips were so much softer than she had ever imagined, and when he kissed her, there was nothing in the world but the two of them. Despite his heavy bulk bearing down on her, she felt weightless, as if the softest breeze sifting through the tent's folds would blow them both away. His hands found her wrists and pulled them up over her head, gently pinning her beneath him, as his lips moved to her jaw and then the soft skin of her throat. A tiny moan escaped her lips as he nipped her softly, utterly lost in the feelings washing over her. She couldn't believe that this was happening. The man who she had watched change from a bully to a full fledged Fairy Tail mage, fallen in love with, and dreamed every night of being hers – was lying here in her tent kissing her senseless. She wriggled her arms free of him and tangled her fingers in his hair, gently pushing him back so she could look at his face. He made a little sound of protest at being forced to cease his nibbling of her ear, but complied and pulled back. He stared at her, his crimson eyes burning with a fire completely different from his battle glares.
"You're beautiful," he said, his voice low and gravelly.
Levy blushed up at him, "So are you."
He gave her an odd look, "Handsome, I mean," she corrected.
He chuckled, "It's okay, you don't have to lie."
"I'm not lying!" she protested. "I really do think that. Trust me, I found you attractive from the very beginning. I was just too scared to come around. But you know, it was the way your eyes go soft sometimes – like when you're talking to Lily – and the way your mouth quirks when you find something confusing, that really drew me back to you." She paused and looked up at him a little sheepishly, "And when you grin and your fangs show…I think it's kind of sexy."
She covered her face with her hands in embarrassment for having admitted that, but Gajeel laughed out loud. When she peaked through her fingers, he was grinning at her with both incisors gleaming wickedly.
"Is that so?" he asked, a dangerous lilt in his voice. "You think my fangs are sexy, eh shorty?"
She gasped when he dipped his head back down to her throat, peeling his lips back enough for his fangs to gently run up and down the cords on the side of her neck. It didn't hurt, but his touch left her skin prickling and super sensitive. He licked the spot he had been chaffing, earning him a little squeak of pleasure. He was once again taking over all her senses; it was as if his very touch left her brain dead. She couldn't imagine leaving this spot for hours, but a fleeting thought in the back of her head – the last remnant of sanity perhaps – reminded her that she had somewhere to be…like now.
"Oh, I don't want to go," she told the thought; out loud, she realized belatedly.
"So stay," Gajeel offered, his voice muffled.
"I told Nero I would meet him now. He's probably waiting."
"Yeah, I know," Gajeel sighed. "Alright, you go on. We can pick this up later," he said, winking.
"I'm sorry," she said, looking guilty.
"Hey, stop. I started it knowing we only had a few minutes."
"I know, but…" her voice trailed off.
"Levy, it's okay," he assured her, kissing her forehead. "Go find something cool up there."
"Okay. I'll see you as soon as we get back."
She really wanted to tell him she loved him, but couldn't quite form the words. He knew anyway. He nodded to her and turned to leave the tent, holding the flap open for her to crawl out.
"Bye," she called, as she turned to sprint back to the eating area.
Nero was indeed waiting for her. She skidded to a stop in front of him, panting a little from running. Good grief, she needed to work out.
"Sorry I'm late," she apologized.
"Now worries, it's not like I've been waiting her long. C'mon, let's go."
"Is Elaina already there?"
"Yeah, she left early to grab some tools from the shed."
"Ah."
"Hey Levy?"
"What happened to your neck?" he asked, but there was a little smirk on his face that suggested he already knew.
Levy slapped a self-conscious hand over the spot Gajeel had been nibbling, "Oh please tell me it's not noticeable!"
Nero laughed, "Eh, it's dark in there – no one should be able to see it."
"Crap," she muttered.
"I'm glad he finally made his move though. I thought you two were already together when you first came."
"Really?"
"Yeah, the way he watches you like a guard dog...duh."
Levy smiled at him, "I didn't think it was that obvious."
"I guess that's the funny thing about love – it's obvious to everyone else except the people in it."
She laughed, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Kane suddenly came running up the path behind them, falling into step beside her.
"Hey Levy, glad you could come," he said cheerfully. "What happened to your neck…Gajeel marking his territory?"
Levy threw her hands up in the air, "Ah! That's it, I'm going back for a scarf."
"Wait, here," Kane laughed, reaching into the satchel slung over his shoulder and pulling out a large adhesive bandage. "This should cover it."
Levy gave him a watery-eyed look, "Are you sure?"
He peeled its backing off and slapped it on her neck, "Perfect."
"Thanks. What would I do without you guys?"
"Aw, what'd you do that for – I wanted to tease her about it all afternoon," Nero protested.
"I'm sure you did, but you gotta be more sensitive about a lady's feelings. Believe me, you have to learn a little tact if you're going to be a good boyfriend. You'll understand one day, young grasshopper."
"Okay, just because you've had a girlfriend longer than me doesn't make you the leading expert on all things female related. And if you call me 'grasshopper' one more time, I'm gonna…"
Levy laughed as the two brothers bantered back and forth, enjoying their antics. These two had really made her stay here a lot of fun. Their never ending squabbles and the way they tag-teamed to tease other members of the crew was hysterical. They had both acted like big brothers to her ever since she met them. It was nice to be able to spend time with other guys and not worry about being flirted with. Of course, now that she and Gajeel were officially together, most guys would think twice about trying anything. Nonetheless, there was something endearing about guys who would watch out for you, without having a stake in it. This was how it should be, she decided. Men should be protective of women instead of constantly harassing them. Even if a girl is perfectly capable of defending herself, doesn't mean that boys shouldn't do their part. Maybe the idea was old fashioned and maybe she was spending too much time reading old books – but really, what was wrong with men acting nice to women instead of being lecherous swine?
Her mental soapbox speech was interrupted upon their arrival into the main foyer. She and the twins made their way over to the main staircase, where Elaina and two other men, Ian and Lee, were waiting for them. They had been working hard the last week to build supports and braces under the upstairs hallways so that more people could go up there at a time to remove debris. Everyone picked up a couple tools each and a torch, before carefully making their way up, taking care to space themselves out to take some of the strain off the supports. Levy took point, knowing that if the floor began to give away, she was the best equipped to stop it and get everyone else to safety. It was a daunting task, having people's lives in your hands. But it was exciting too, as the prospect of finally being able to clear into a room began to be a real possibility.
She led them up the stairs and down the right corridor, until they reached a place blocked by debris. The team had made a lot of progress yesterday, and according to some rough blueprint estimations, there should be a room entrance directly behind the rubble. Each worker set their torches into holders they had with them, illuminating a stretch of hallway leading back to where they had come from. Kane moved up beside Levy and the two of them began carefully pulling bits of rock and rubble out of the pile with their tools. The removed debris would then be taken down the hallway little by little by the other workers, until it gradually made its way all the way downstairs. It was not the most efficient way to move rock, but it was the safest in terms of keeping the strain off the flooring. Levy climbed up the heap and began digging closer to the top. It was a tricky job because the rubble might very well be holding up the ceiling here, so she had to work slowly and carefully. But if she was able to clear a hole up top big enough for a person to crawl through, then they could get to the other side and start removing the ruins from both ends, cutting the clearing time in half. Of course, if they could get to the other side today, they would have to do a little exploring before going back to work on the rocks.
The rubble at the top of the pile consisted of smaller stones and Levy could tell she was making good progress. Nothing up here seemed to be packed hard, so it couldn't be holding up much. She was able to clear a spot big enough for half her body to get through in less than an hour's time. The loose stones were dusty to move and she had to take short breaks occasionally to give her lungs a rest. She was grateful for the safety glasses Nero had handed her earlier to keep the dust out of her eyes at least.
Levy began to lose track of time. After what felt like hours, she had tunneled her way pretty far into the mound. She began to wonder if perhaps this rubble pile was a lot larger than they had estimated. Just when she was about to crawl back out and suggest they break for dinner, she broke through the other side. She let out a little whoop of triumph and called her success to the others. It only took a couple more minutes to make a hole big enough to crawl through.
"Elaina! Bring a couple torches and come on through," she called back through the little tunnel.
She could see the other woman's face on the opposite side as she went to grab the items she needed. A minute later and she was through. Levy cast a solid script for fire and lit the torches, keeping the script burning to further light up the corridor. It was clear for about twenty five yards before more rubble showed up, but more importantly, there was not one, but two doors in between here and there. They were positioned just past the mound they had come through, as predicted, and lay exactly opposite each other. Levy shared a look with Elaina and they nodded their heads in silent agreement. Choosing the door on the left, they both leaned against it with all their might. Surprisingly, it gave way rather easily, opening up into a vast bedchamber.
Levy held the torch in one hand and brought the solid script past her, positioning it in the middle of the room to maximize on the light output. They did not venture out into the middle of the floor, not knowing whether or not it was stable, but the light revealed that the room was mostly empty. Any wooden furniture had long since decomposed, and the only other stone structure was a raised section in the middle of the room – probably a dais for the bed. There was some pottery in the far right corner in an alcove within the wall, but it was too dusty to make out any patterns they may have had. Even so, the room was incredible to behold, if only for its sheer size.
Scraping sounds behind them alerted them to the arrival of the other four men, who seemed to be having a tougher time getting through Levy's tunnel. She had tried to make it big enough for the guys, but maybe she should have dug it a little wider. They finally made it through and crowded around the entrance of the chamber, forgetting to be cautious about the flooring.
"This is amazing," Kane said, his voice barely above a whisper, but still carrying into the emptiness.
"Look at those jars over there," Ian said pointing to the alcove. "We have got to take a look at those."
"Wait, not until we have some supports under this floor," Kane warned.
"We can calculate where to put them down below if we measure how far down the corridor this room is," Nero added.
"Yeah, but we still don't know how deep the room is," Lee pointed out.
"Or wide. Listen, let me cross the room and take measurements and then we'll know for sure where to put the supports. The weight of one person shouldn't be a problem," Ian suggested.
Levy hesitated, "I'm not sure. But you're probably right; one person shouldn't make a difference. Let me go, I'm the lightest. If it's safe, I'll bring the jars back here."
"Okay, but be careful," Elaina said, concern written on her pretty face.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Levy assured her.
She grabbed some rope that Lee had brought and gave one end to Nero. She began her slow journey across the room, scanning the floor carefully for any signs of cracks or soft spots. It seemed very stable and she gradually began to cross confidently towards the far end. Once at the back wall, she marked the rope and then headed towards where the pottery was. She gingerly picked up one of the smaller pieces, and blew on its side. The dust clouded her eyes for a moment, but when it cleared, she could make out some patterns on the sides. Best to leave this for a team of experts, she thought, carefully picking up the other two and returning to the doorway. The group stepped aside to let her back into the corridor, where she set the jars down.
At that moment, a large boom sounded overhead, causing the entire structure to shake violently.
"What was that?" Lee yelled as the tremors only got worse, causing small stones to come loose from the ceiling.
"I don't know! Get close to me!" Levy commanded.
Everyone crowded around her as she threw up a solid script structure around them. Grabbing her stylus, she began writing feverishly. Purple runes glowed brightly in the air, surrounding them with walls of words. Levy remembered to form a floor and also wove a spell into the box to keep it suspended should the floor beneath them give way. Larger stones fell down and cracked the solid ceiling of her first barrier, splintering it to pieces; but her rune barrier held fast. She continued to write, layering every spell she could think of to keep them safe in these walls. Finally satisfied, she removed her first solid barrier, as keeping that magic up only drained her of more energy.
"It's going to be okay", she assured everyone, though she had a hard time keeping her own voice even. "The rune barrier will hold until I release it myself, and we'll stay in this spot even if the floor collapses."
"What was that boom? It sounded like dynamite going off," Nero said, holding Elaina protectively.
"I'm not sure," Kane answered, "But it shook this whole place pretty bad. Anyone coming to help us will have to be really careful."
"Don't worry. I'm sure Gajeel and Lily will come to get us out," Levy said. "Gajeel can throw up metal braces as he goes to keep everything steady."
"How will they even know where we are? They've never been up here," Lee said.
"They will track our scents to this spot. Finding us won't be a problem," she replied.
"Finding us may not be an issue, but getting to us might…look," Kane pointed to the passage that Levy had dug.
The explosion or whatever it was had caused the ceiling above the tunnel to collapse, filling in her channel. Now, Gajeel and Lily would have to dig it out again to get to them. That could take hours. Levy leaned up against the wall of the barrier, slowly sliding to the floor. The rubble had stopped falling and the dust was mostly cleared, but it didn't make their situation any less bleak.
"It's going to be okay," she said again, assuring herself as much as anyone else. "They'll find us."
Kane sat beside her, putting his hand on her head and rubbing a little. It reminded her of Gajeel.
"Of course they'll find us," he said assured everyone in a tone that left no doubts. "All we need to do is sit tight and wait."
"Why wait…why can't we try to get ourselves out?" Ian asked.
"Because it's way too unstable out there. We need someone to lay supports before they come after us. Gajeel can do that," Nero replied.
"And if this place starts to cave in any more, I'm not sure I have enough energy to make another rune barrier," Levy admitted.
Kane looked down at her with a concerned face, "Is this barrier drawing on your energy constantly or only when it's cast?"
"Both. It does feed off of me a little to maintain itself, but most of the energy is drained when I build it."
"Are you going to be able to maintain it?" Lee asked.
"Yes," Levy answered. "We've got a long time before I run out of energy, don't worry," she said, smiling.
In truth, she had used a lot of power making this prison of words for them. Each layer she wove in had cost her a little extra, and maintaining it was more challenging than she let on. Besides that, she was already physically exhausted from her hours of digging. She was good at casting solid scripts, but these rune barriers were more of Fried's expertise than hers. If she had had more time, she probably could have constructed the walls in such a way as to cost her little energy to maintain. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to really think it through, and casting it the way she did had put a tremendous amount of strain on her. Kane seemed to sense that she was not being totally truthful and kept a close eye on her. She was grateful for his presence. The twins were fun to be around and everyone loved their jokes, but everyone respected them as well, especially Kane. He was the more mature of the two, and his presence seemed to help soothe everyone else, even her.
She glanced at the others, measuring each of their reactions. Elaina was scared, but she stayed quiet in her new boyfriend's arms. Nero's mouth was set it a hard line, his face mirroring his brother's determined expression. Lee and Ian looked anxious, but they were not panicking and seemed to be holding it together. Levy wondered what her face looked like to them. Did they believe that things were as 'okay' as she was telling them? She wasn't so sure. But she still needed to put on a brave face. She was a Fairy Tail mage after all, and she had saved them. But now, the rest was up to Gajeel. She couldn't let the barrier falter for even a second until he came for them.
"He'll be here soon," she told herself over and over.
The minutes ticked away and nothing happened. Levy had at least expected to be able to hear the efforts of their rescuers long before she saw them. Maybe the thick stone walls were masking the sounds of digging. She was about to offer another word of encouragement to break the thick silence, when the sounds of muffled booms reached their ears. None were as loud as the first sound that had rocked the entire castle, but they seemed to increase in volume – like they were getting closer.
"Sounds like your man isn't wasting any time getting to us," Kane told her with a little wink.
She smirked at him, "Patience is not one of his virtues."
"Thank God for that," Nero added. "Is Pantherlily with him?"
"I'm sure he is. He'll be in battle mode now. He's frighteningly strong when he's in that form," she said.
"Yeah, who knew the cute little kitty man could turn into that beast?" Kane commented.
"He's so cool!" his brother agreed.
Levy giggled at them; they sounded like they were talking about some action hero. Lily would be pleased. The sounds of their rescue were indeed getting closer – the boys must be in the corridor now. She suddenly realized that Gajeel would probably not waste time digging, but would just punch through the wall in front of him in an effort to get to them quickly. She decided maybe it would be a good idea to try and move the rune barrier back from the rubble a bit. She was about to inform everyone of her idea, when the wall of debris shuddered as if it had been hit from the other side with extreme force. Once, twice, three times it shook, more and more stones crashing to the ground around them. A few hit the barrier, but it held.
Levy gathered her little remaining energy to move them back, and then all at once the wall crumbled. Dust filled the air around them, blocking their view of the gaping hole in the rubble. Torchlight filtered in through the smoky screen, casting dark silhouettes of their saviors. Two massive shadows gradually dissolved into the faces of Gajeel and Lily, both covered head to toe in dust and scratches. Gajeel's shirt was torn a little at the shoulder, revealing a pretty nasty gash, but otherwise he looked fine. Levy couldn't help the wide grin that formed on her face upon seeing him.
"You're late, what took you so long?" she teased.
"About four tons of rock - are you okay?" he replied, his voice rough with worry.
"We're all fine," she assured him.
"Good, drop the rune wall and we'll get out of here. I braced the floor real good, so we should be fine."
"Okay," she complied and gratefully released the magic draining her.
She was exhausted, but she felt stronger already once the barrier wasn't drawing any more power from her. Gajeel closed the gap between them and pulled her close, not really caring about their audience.
"Please don't ever do that to me again," he said, his voice muffled by her hair.
"I will try very hard not to," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist.
He turned to the others, still holding her against his side, "Anybody hurt?"
Kane answered for everyone, "We're all fine, thanks to Levy. That's one hell of girl you've got there."
Gajeel grinned at him, "No need to tell me."
Lily spoke for the first time, "Braces or no, we should probably not linger here."
"He's right, let's go," Nero said, taking Elaina's hand. "Lee, Ian…why don't you grab the vases."
The two men grabbed the mentioned pieces, which had luckily been inside the barrier Levy had thrown up. Everyone quickly made their way through the rubble and down the corridor to the stairs. On the other side of the wall, they could see the extent of the damage to the building. Portions of the ceiling had collapsed, leaving small piles of rubble on the floor. A section of the staircase had caved in as well, leaving them a narrow way to descend. Levy noticed the hallway leading to the basement looked clear though, as they passed it and emerged into the faded glow of twilight. The fresh air was heaven after breathing in all that dust.
A small crowd had assembled around the front of the ruins. Levy watched as Sara broke free and ran into Kane's arms, kissing him rather passionately in front of everybody. She smiled as Leah hugged her sons and Elaina. Ian and Lee were also greeted warmly by their friends. These people were such a close-knit group – everyone was there to make sure they were all right.
Leah approached them and threw her arms around Levy, "Thank you so much for saving them. You are truly amazing. And you too," she added, hugging Gajeel and Lily.
Levy stifled a laugh as Gajeel accepted the embrace rather awkwardly; Lily was a little more gracious about it. They both shrugged off the praise and insisted they really didn't do anything. The workers began to disperse, taking their family members and friends back toward the tents. Gajeel pulled Levy aside; Lily joined them after shrinking back down to his normal size.
"We're leaving," Gajeel said.
"What? I don't understand."
"Lily and I talked about it all day. This is the only way we can think to lure these guys out again. They know they are dealing with three mages. They'd have to be either incredibly stupid or incredibly ballsy to take this thing with all of us here. And we lost the element of surprise, thanks to last night."
"So we're going to pull out entirely, so that the whole camp knows. It will create the perfect opportunity for them to take the artifact," Lily explained. "So when they do take it, we'll catch them."
"…Because we're not really leaving?" Levy asked.
"Exactly."
"So we make everyone think we're abandoning them when we're really not? Is that really okay?" she questioned.
"Well, we're gonna feed 'em some bull story about going for reinforcements or something," Gajeel explained.
"Okay," Levy said, sounding a little doubtful. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning," Lily said.
"Okay, maybe we can come up with a better excuse than 'reinforcements' before then," she suggested.
"Such as?" Gajeel asked.
"I don't know, Master Makarov is deathly ill and all the mages have been called back from their assignments?"
Lily and Gajeel looked at each other and shrugged.
"Well, at least it doesn't make us sound like cowards," Lily said.
"True. Okay, whatever. Just pack your things tonight," Gajeel said.
"Okay. Hey, I left some reference books and stuff down in the Dragon Room. I'm going to go get those now before it gets totally dark. Why don't you go back and get cleaned up?"
"Okay; sure you don't want me to come with you?" Gajeel offered.
"No, I'm fine. I'm just running downstairs," she said, the independent side of her not wanting to feel coddled. "Why don't you see if Kane can patch up your shoulder – he's good with field dressing."
"That's probably a good idea," Lily said.
He looked at the still bleeding injury and sighed, "Fine. Just hurry up, okay?"
"Will do. See you in a bit," she said, heading back into the castle.
She cast a solid script for fire and brought it along with her, illuminating the dark hallway. She descended down the staircase carefully, as the narrow steps had little bits of rock on them that had been knocked down from the ceiling. Overall though, this area seemed relatively unaltered from whatever had caused the first cave in. She wondered if maybe the volcanic mountain that this place was set into wasn't as dormant as they had originally thought. But it had been thousands of years since its last eruption, so surely that couldn't be the case. If it were true though, everyone would be in grave danger. Any lava flow would wash away the entire camp, and even the ash alone would probably kill them at this close range if they couldn't evacuate in time. But volcanic eruptions didn't just happen without warning. There were earthquakes that preceded something like that.
"Like the one today," Levy thought to herself.
But the big boom today didn't feel like an earthquake. Nero was right, it almost sounded like a blast of dynamite. Whatever the case, it didn't matter now. They could investigate the cave in after they caught the thieves. She still didn't think that pulling out was a very good idea, but she guessed it was probably a necessary ploy if this was going to work. She trusted Gajeel and Lily to come up with the best plan, and if this was it, who was she to argue? She made her way over to the far end of the basement, nearing the book-wall. Spotting her reference material, she stooped to big up the big leather bound volume.
Suddenly, a hand clamped over her mouth and jerked her upright. Her loss of concentration caused the solid script to flicker out, blanketing them in total darkness. She struggled against her captor who had an arm around her throat. It was a man, she could tell from the feel of his flat chest against her back. His arms were small though, not very muscular at all. Remembering her lesson from earlier, she grabbed his wrist and pushed up with all her might, loosening his hold enough to duck out from under his arm. She pivoted around, still holding his wrist and tried to catch his other one. But in the dark, she missed it and he pulled her back towards him. Then, she heard a sound almost like that of a water sprayer. She could feel a sour smelling mist hit her face, instantly affecting her senses. She felt sluggish, and her fingers began to tingle. At an alarmingly rapid pace, her limbs began to feel numb and she could feel herself collapsing. She was tired…so tired. She fought to get free, fought to stand, fought to stay awake. It wasn't working; she was losing consciousness. Her last thought was why in the world didn't she bring Gajeel with her?
K.K.: Well this was a beast of a chapter to write, I don't know why. It's really hard to switch gears from romance to work to danger, but I wanted to do a whole chapter from Levy's point of view since I have been focusing on Gajeel for so long. This chapter was actually supposed to go a little further into the story, but it was getting too long, so I decided to cut it off here. I think it's a good spot though - cliff hanger. Dun, dun, DUUUUUN! Anyways, R&R as always my friends (I'm trying to get 100 reviews out of this thing). Hope you like it! Love to all!
