Chapter 9: Game of Shadows

"Be careful, Shrimp..." Gajeel pecked Levy's lips. "I love you..."

"I love you too. And you need to be careful as well."

"Tch. I'll be fine." Gajeel caressed her cheek. "Go on and follow the Atlantians to the surface. They'll lead you right to the train station above ground."

Levy nodded. "And if you come back injured, I'll treat you then beat you."

"This ain't a poetry reading, Shrimp." Gajeel rolled his eyes good naturedly, shouldering the blocks of iron and watching Pantherlily and Shagotte say good-bye. Yeah. He got laid last night. He's way too relaxed; must've been good, gihiiiii... Truth be told, Gajeel wasn't entirely comfortable with parting ways with his beloved cat, but if it would help Levy's case, then it was a necessary sacrifice. And in any case, they'd meet up later on.

"Take care of her, Lily," Gajeel called as the Exceed and Levy walked away.

"Absolutely. And you take care of my queen."

"Sure thing." Gajeel chuckled, then looked down at Shagotte. "Let's go Fancy-pants. We got a demon ta' slay."

Shagotte rolled her eyes at his 'nick name' for her, but didn't say anything to insult him in return. How boring...Well I guess that's why she's a queen. She's so stuffy... "Gajeel, you must be careful when dealing with Gorgantuis. He will kill you in a heartbeat."

"That's why we got the iron blocks," Gajeel pointed out. That are shaped like hearts... Good ole' Shorty. I have no qualms about eating heart-shaped iron. I'm confident enough in my manhood that I can hearts. No problemo what-so-ever. Gajeel smirked. I am an awesome boyfriend.

After recieving blessings from the Atlantians, Gajeel and Shagotte reentered the tunnels. Gostly silence reigned; an ominous sign, considering that Gajeel had exceptional hearing.

"D***, the entire f****** place smells like that dip s***..." Gajeel muttered. "It's hard to pinpoint him..."

"There's a trail. Look." Gajeel looked where Shagotte was pointing.

"That is disgusting..." It looked like the shadowy goop that the minions were made from.

"I'll say. But we should not underestimate Gorgantuis."

"Who said anything about underestimating? Just because I'm really strong, that don't mean I'm stupid."

"I never said that."

"You implied it."

"Not really; I was simply warning you."

"Well I don't need the warning."

"Can you at least try to be civil?"

"We're about to fight a demon. If I get civil, I'll get killed."

"Not with me you won't."

"Well you never know when he'll strike..."

Shagotte sighed, rolling her large brown eyes in exasperation. "Let's just get moving, Gajeel-san." She turned on her heel and stalked away. Smirking Gajeel followed. Man...I love teasing people...

The two remained silent as they tred through the tunnels. The stench got stronger as they went deeper. We're getting close. Gajeel wondered when Gorgantuis would make his move; or if he was even in the tunnels.

Just as Gajeel was going to yell out and challenge the demon, there was a familiar slithering sound. Tossing the sack of iron to the side, Gajeel pulled a shark-like grin, turning to face the former Exceed king.

"So Little Queen and the dragon slayer have returned, hmmm? Where is the warrior and the sacrifice?"

"Safe," Shagotte retorted, her head high.

"For how long?"

"From the world?" Gajeel shrugged. "From you? Gihihihihihihihiiiii, I'd say forever!" Gajeel grinned, turning his arm into a metal pole. "BRING IT ON SNAKEY BOY! WE'LL SEE IF YOU CAN EVEN THINK OF EVER TOUCHING MY WOMAN AGAIN AFTER THIS!" Gajeel swung, his pole barreling into Gorgantuis, who wraps around it. Gajeel called upon his iron scales as Gorgantuis bit down on his head.

The ringing it caused resonated in Gajeel's mind, but he ignored it, flinging the snake to the ground and stabbing at him with an iron sword. The snake coiled, sprinking and smacking its tail into Gajeel's gut, flinging him into a wall. "Gihihihihi!" Gajeel popped right back up, leaping in the air and bicycle kicking Gorgantuis in the face, knocking out the other fang and catching it.

Landing on his feet, Gajeel surged forward, knocking Gorgantuis with another pole, slamming him through the wall. Gorgantuis hissed, slithering forward and headbutting Gajeel in the gut. Gajeel stabbed him in the scull. It didn't seem to deter the great snake.

Gajeel grunted in pain as the barb on Gorgantuis's tail pierced through his side, jerking him off of the snake's head. D*****! Gajeel spit blood in his enemy's eyes, causing the demonic serpent to toss his head from side to side, hissing bloody murder and slamming Gajeel into a crater, wrenching the barb out with a spray of blood.

Growling and holding his wound, Gajeel ran up the walls of the crater, using a pole to swipe underneath the serpent, knocking him to the ground. Gajeel lept on top of it and proceeded to repeatedly stab the scales underneath him. Gorgantuis began to thrash, rolling on top of Gajeel and pinning the dragonslayer down with his great girth. S***, I can't breathe! He could feel his scales cracking and his organs bending; taste the blood pushing its way up the back of his throat, almost as if he was drowning in it. Well this sucks ***, now don't it...

"Gajeel!" Shagotte's muffled cry sounded from somewhere outside of the Gorgantuis's disgusting aroma. Something clanged on the ground and from the sound of it, it was pretty near Gajeel's free hand. He caught the scent of Levy's pure iron through the rotting flesh stench, almost like a lighthouse's beacon in a hurricane on the sea.

Gajeel's hand made contact with something cool and familiar. I will come back to you, Levy. I promise. Gajeel worked the iron under the snake, quickly scarfing it down.

"Now, Little Queen, what to do with you?" Came a muffled hiss as the fragments of iron made their way down Gajeel's throat.

"How about leave her alone and pick on someone who can kick your scaly ***!" Gajeel strained against Gorgantuis, managing to roll the gigantic snake off of himself. He did feel renewed, as small as the heart was. Luckily, he had a whol d*** bag full or things could get dicy. Sure, he wasn't fully healed, but he'd get there, and besides. He wasn't a puddle of dragon skin, blood, and bones just yet. Nor did he plan on becoming one. Levy's waiting.

o0o

Levy stuck her head out of the train window, her azure hair blowing in the wind. Who the h*** knows, maybe if you cheer loud enough, I'll hear it. "YOU CAN DO THIS GAJEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEL! I BELIEVE IN YOU SO YOU BETTER COME BACK!" She knew that to all the other train riders, she sounded like a lunatic. But then again, she was from Fairy Tail, so perhaps the majority of them would just shrug it off as always.

"Do you really think he heard you?"

"I know he did. He is our dragonslayer after all."

"Yes, yes he is isn't he." Pantherlily stuck his own head out the window. "BEAT HIS *** FROM KINGDOM COME, GAJEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL! YOUR WOMAN AND YOUR CAT ARE WAITING FOR YOU!"

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GAJEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLL! I LOVE YOU SO DON'T LEAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Levy screamed into the wind until she was hoarse, but even though she lost her voice, she never lost the hope in her eyes or the width of her grin.

o0o

Gajeel's eyes snapped open. His iron stash was nearly gone and he looked like all of Hell had decided to have a party on his body, but he heard them. He heard them both. Heh. Ya' really think I'd leave ya' Shrimp? No way in Hell, Earthland, Heaven, Edolas, wherever. You're stuck with me, Gihiiiiiii.

He got to his feet, stalking over to Gorgantuis, who was attempting to catch Shagotte. That explosion got me pretty d*** good, but ya' ain't gettin' away with s*** like that, Snakey. Not this time around. "OI! SNAKE S***! I AIN'T DONE WITH YA' YET!"

"You just don't know when do give up, do you?" Gorgantuis hissed softly, sickly dark green eyes narrowing.

Gajeel shrugged. "I hear we dragons never do; we're too d*** stubborn for our own good." Gajeel cracked his knuckles and shoulders. "I guess I need to play my trump card; I don't like doing this because I tend to get a little crazy, but hey. Whatever works, gihiii."

"Don't like using what?"

Gajeel smirked, letting the shadows that he'd devoured from Rogue surface and mingle with his usual metallic aura. "I sometimes get to play a little Shadow Man." His laugh became manic. "Care to join the game Gorgantuis? GIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI HIHIHIHIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIII! HOW ABOUT I REMIND YOU JUST WHO'S TOP DRAGON AROUND HERE!"

"YOU THINK_"

"IRON SHADOWS ROAR!"

A cascade of shadow and iron came to life around them and Gajeel was vaguely aware of Shagotte making her way to him and clinging to his leg to avoid being torn to shreds Oops. But hey. Whatever works. The screams and shrieks of a dying Gorgantuis were all that could be heard in the formerly mostly silent tunnels of the demonic snake's evil lair.

As the attack died down, only smoldering remains of Gorgantuis remained, devoid of all life. Gajeel, completely drained, collapsed on the ground, panting. "Well why didn't you do that in the first place?!" Shagotte demanded.

"I wanted the b****** to suffer for what he did to my woman."

"Looks like you were the one doing all the suffering..."

"Nah...I've had worse...can ya' get me some iron?"

He heard the bag being drug over. "Awesomeness."

"You folks from Fairy Tail really are strange."

"Yeah? I thought so too when I first joined...but you know what? Fairy Tail's the best d*** guild there ever was. Ain't nothin' ever gonna' change that or take that title away from us."

"I suppose not," Shagotte mused quietly.

Gajeel grinned, munching on some iron. "D*** straight."

(A/N: Oh my word, guys if I spoiled anything in this chapter, I'm REALLY sorry! I forgot that maybe not everyone read up to chapter 318 and I'm really really really sorry. It took me longer than usual to write this chapter and I really couldn't figure out any other way to end the battle between Gorgantuis and Gajeel. Please R&R anyway? c:)