Another two-for, since I wanted to do some Alzack/Bisca and tormenting Gajeel is a blast. Hope you enjoy these two!

And it's a Sunday release because I know they seem slower now that I'm juggling two fics at once. Also, I'm really fighting the image of Charle dragging Lily along to try and see what's going on with the exams. *shoves the story idea away from her* I bet she sneaks off to see it, but who knows if she's going to bring my favorite cat or not? *can't wait for the next chapter*

Through the Storm

Characters: Pantherlily, Gajeel

"Don't touch me," Pantherlily snarled, jerking away from the metal dragon as Gajeel reached for him. They were camping out on this mission because there were no hotels anywhere near them. Hunting down a monster tended to be that way. But that wasn't the problem.

"What the hell, man?" Gajeel asked, looking both stunned and offended by that response.

"Don't touch-" Lily's ears went back against his head as the thunder cracked overhead. He bared his teeth, hissing out of instinct as lightning lit up the tent. "Sharing a tent with a walking lightning rod, what am I, crazy?" he muttered, grabbing his pillow and hiding his head underneath it.

He didn't see how an evil grin was dramatically accented by another flash of light. But he did feel a finger run down his spine. His back arched and he let out a roar, twisting so the rest of his body was hidden under the pillow. "Stop that you sadistic bastard!" he bellowed.

Gajeel's laughter filled the tent and Lily dared to peek out long enough to give him a dirty look. He was about to hit him, but thunder rumbled so loudly that it seemed to shake the tent and he let out a yelp instead, burrowing under the pillow as much as he could. His tail wouldn't fit under, but he tried.

"Damn am I glad you weren't here to fight Luxus!" Gajeel hooted.

"Shuddup," Lily said in a muffled voice.

"Hell, it makes me want to hunt him down so you can meet him," Gajeel went on cheerfully. "Freakin' monster would have you carrying a pillow for the rest of your days."

The thunder boomed again, as if teaming up with the metal dragon to torment him. Lily muttered something dark and hard to understand, no longer even paying attention to what Gajeel said. It was only when the metal dragon cursed and grabbed both the pillow and the Exsheed that Lily freaked out.

"Let go, dammit!" he bellowed, shoving against Gajeel's chest as hard as he could to try and get free.

"Quit struggling, dammit!" Gajeel bellowed right back, his metal hard arms clamping around the cat. "While I try to tell you something!" he yelled as the thunder roared around them.

"Whatever you have to say can wait!" Lily bellowed back, twisting as hard as he could and kicking Gajeel in the face.

"I'm not a lightning rod!"

Lily went still. "Like hell you aren't!" he said, completely forgetting his fear in outrage over the ridiculous lie.

"If I'm not using my magic, I'm not a lightning rod," Gajeel said.

"With as many studs as you've got? Sure as hell look like one," Lily said, squirming free and hiding under his pillow once again.

"Who woulda thought," Gajeel said with a snort.

"Shuddup," Lily growled.

"I mean, seriously, lightning?"

"Thunder," Lily muttered, peeking childishly out from under the pillow. "Usually I found an excuse to go to my barracks."

"And hide under your pillow," Gajeel said, grinning evilly as he imagined the massive Exsheed on Edolas hiding under his pillow every time it stormed. "Lemme guess, you probably did something stupid, like rise in rank just so you could have your own room-" He stopped as Lily looked at him. "You did!" he howled. "I can't believe you did!"

"Shut it!" Lily snapped. "And if you ever tell anyone, I swear I'll-"

"Who am I going to tell?" Gajeel asked, still grinning. "Relax already." Which was made a mockery by thunder rumbling once again. Lily swore he did it on purpose. He wasn't sure how Gajeel was doing it on purpose, but he knew he was.

The thunder rumbled again and Lily pulled the pillow down tighter over his head. It was only because of his excellent hearing that he heard Gajeel start to sing.

"Colorful, colorful, shubdaba, the melody of blue metallic..."

And for once Lily didn't make fun of his singing. In fact, he found himself fighting the urge to crawl over to the metal dragon. This little body was far too easy for things like that. He didn't hide his vulnerabilities as well as he used to. He didn't fight being held, either. But maybe it was because it was Gajeel.

"Shubidoobop, shubidoobop."

"That song still makes no sense," he muttered, even as the thunder rumbled quietly. It didn't seem so close now. Not when Gajeel was being an idiot right in front of him.

"Don't mock the shubidoobop," Gajeel told him, reaching over and picking up the Exsheed and the pillow again. This time he turned them both so the pillow was between them.

"What are you doing now?" Lily demanded irritably.

"Insulation," Gajeel said roughly, keeping his hold and laying down. He started snoring as easily as that, leaving Lily lying on the pillow that lay on his chest. Deciding that it was too much work complaining about Gajeel's arms being just as metallic as the rest of his body, Lily let out a yawn.

He slept straight through the rest of the storm.

Directionless

Characters: Gajeel, Alzack, Bisca

They had gotten the latest episode of Sorcerer Magazine. At least, it was the one that featured everyone in Fairy Tail. Gajeel scowled, trying to ignore how every single person in the dining area seemed to be reading it. It was so crowded that even the table where he usually sat had those two cowboy people sitting there, awkwardly glancing at one another over the magazine.

He looked for another table. He looked for Lily, as well. He didn't see either. Reluctantly he headed for his table, sitting down as far away from the two as possible and waiting for his food to show up.

"You ah, like the south?" the male asked finally.

"You like the north?" the female asked, looking up. Gajeel couldn't figure out what was going on, because, seriously who cared? But both of them seemed to be traumatized in some manner. It was just his luck to be stuck listening to their drama. He scowled, looking around the room for a waitress so he could order his food, eat, and go.

"There's nothing wrong with the south," Al... something said, looking as if he was swallowing razor blades. "I mean, it's very nice to the south."

"I-I was just thinking the same about the north," the girl-Biscuit? said. "I've always thought it was very pretty to the north, too."

"Yeah," Al said, looking at the magazine again. His face was turning red, Gajeel noticed with interest. Then he promptly cursed himself as Al caught him looking and latched onto him. "Gajeel, what-which do you prefer? The north or the south?"

"I don't care," Gajeel said, irritated for getting dragged into such a stupid conversation. Where the hell was that waitress? Better yet, where the hell was his cat?

"You like it here, best?" Biscuit asked. Seriously, though, who would name their kid Biscuit? He pondered that question for a few seconds, wondering if he might have gotten her name wrong, after all. "It isn't bad here," she said.

"Yeah, yeah, it's not too bad," Al said eagerly. "I mean, we've been here for a little while, right? And there's plenty of things to do-"

"But it's awfully pretty to the south," Biscuit (maybe her parents were bakers?) said a bit sadly.

"There's some great land to the north," Al said in almost the same tone.

"Then why don't you go north and you go south?" Gajeel said, getting irritated with the conversation. Why did he get dragged into things like this? "Oye!" he called over as he caught sight of the blue cat, "have you seen Lily? Where's my cat?"

"Lily's with Erza!" the blue cat called back.

"Dammit!" Gajeel snarled, irritated with life by this point. He had forgotten that Lily and Erza had gotten into one of those stupid "my blade is better than yours is" arguments earlier. And he couldn't go get the cat, because he was probably up at the girls' dorm. There was no way Gajeel was going anywhere near that place.

"We... we could do that," Biscuit said, looking even more depressed than when she had been talking about the south being pretty.

"Yeah... but..."

"Oh for-" Gajeel looked at them both, shoving himself to his feet. "Go east and stop bothering me already!" He stormed away, leaving them both shell-shocked for a moment.

"Well... there is some very pretty land to the east," Bisca said after a long moment.

"And we can always visit the other places!" Alzack said, cheering up. "You know, if we-if we went, that is."

"Right, that's right," Bisca agreed. "Gajeel's not as bad as I thought he was, don't you think?"

"You don't-ah-like him, do you?" Alzack asked, growing worried.

"No! I just thought he gave us a real hand-not that-I mean-" She was bright red by this point and hid her face in the magazine. "He just had surprisingly good advice?" she offered, her voice muffled behind the pages.

"Oh, right, right, good advice. It's good to get good advice," Alzack agreed. Inwardly, though, both were already picturing a beautiful little ranch house to the east, with white picket fences.

Not much later, everyone at Fairy Hills was shocked to find Gajeel sitting outside of the dorm, complaining to himself about biscuits and directions for no apparent reason.