Chapter nine here :) I hope you'll like and Review!
She really wanted to do this.
She did.
She did.
She did.
…Och who was she kidding?
Levy gulped loudly as she stared at the white water tumbling over the edge next to her, as it fell down, down and down, vanishing in the mist. She and Gajeel were currently next to a cliff, him sitting with his wings folded as he stared ahead proudly, and her shaking and fighting the urge to take few long, good steps back as the world was spinning. The sky was ready to cry a rainstorm and everything was rather gray, what was perfect because she wouldn't be blinded by the sun on her first lesson.
He noticed and laughed briefly, leaning over to whisper into her ear in his deep, velvet, beastly voice:
"Scared?"
She was. But… she would never admit it. She wasn't going to fall down. She was going to fly.
"Of course not." She answered calmly and outstretched her right hand to land on the underside of his black snout, looking in his eyes just like he did yesterday. A small smirk twitched the corner of her lips upward as she tilted her head. "Are you worried?"
His expression faltered - his head became heavy as he put his weight on it, pushing the hand down, and he crouched with a growl. "No, I just hoped we wouldn't go and come back to the cave."
Levy giggled. "Who is scared now?"
"You, cause you're shaking."
There was a while of silence as she checked, and yes, her hands were in fact shaking. Damn.
"Okay, the earlier we'll start the faster it will be over." She muttered. Gajeel let out an annoyed roar that nearly had her falling off the cliff in fright and stomped the ground with a huff, before stepping back to get himself space and letting his left wing outstretch in her direction.
"Get on."
Levy's face went blank.
"What?"
"To ride on me you have to sit on my back."
"Och! Um, okay!"
Levy stared at her hands, covered in leather gloves that were given to her. Will she climb on him in them or will she slip off? Other than the gloves, she wore warm pants and heavy boots, a shirt, a sweater and a bag tied tightly to her back, and had a cap and goggles. They made her look cute more than anything, but that wasn't the point there.
The dragon growled. "Hurry up."
"W-Won't I slip off in those gloves?"
"No."
Levy doubted she wouldn't but she walked up to him anyway, setting one foot on the long 'finger' of his wing, and the other above it, climbing his wing as if it were a ladder. Her speed wasn't promising though, and with a shriek she felt the wing moving up and sliding her onto his back.
Gajeel found some sort of a seat from old ages when dragons were loyal companions to humans (he didn't want to tell her about it) and changed it a bit overnight - it was a collar around the end of his neck, and another behind the base of his wings, connected at the back of his neck by a seat, and at his belly by a piece of metal that was the clasp, too, and now Levy found herself at that seat, limbs splayed in all direction and flailing for a second to get a grip on his mane of scales. Once she did, she gave Gajeel a glare and sat properly.
It was warm and comfortable to sit on, and she clasped the middle belt attached to it around her waist and two others on her hips like he instructed her before. Now, she wouldn't fall off him.
She stared at the back of his head uncertainly "Okay… What now?"
He angled his head to see her properly tied and nodded. "Fine. You sit right before my wings, at the back of my neck – the point that gives you a great look at the situation around, makes you safe and enables me to fly easily. Now, get your legs at the sides of my neck and keep them close, if you would – don't disturb the air when I'm flying. If you can, press the sides of my neck with your knees… like that, okay. If you'll get tired you can lose them up a little, but don't wave your feet around, and don't kick me!" He growled the last part. "Or I turn upside down."
Levy flinched. "O-Okay! I won't I promise!"
"Of course you won't. Your knees are bent – now you can slide tour feet in the wooden circles attached to my collar. Right there. Now bend forward a bit – don't put too much strain on your back. And get a hold of that seat, maybe circle the rope around you hands to get a better grip."
Levy did in fact circle the rope around her palms and got a firm hold, before taking a deep breath. "I'm ready."
"Good. The theory's over. Now we get up in the air!"
Gajeel straightened and stood on his hind legs, roaring loudly. Levy thankfully had her ears covered a bit and wasn't bothered so much by the sound, no – she was busy registering the feeling of being in such a weird position. Thankfully the seat had a piece supporting the back, otherwise her spine would break. The dragon straightened his wings, crouched at the edge to get a long leap – and jumped.
Being in the air like that – on the back of a giant, loud creature, was, after the terrifying, completely fucking amazing.
They were falling down, and Levy felt wind slam into her face* with the power that halted the scream in her throat. Gajeel let his wings swish uselessly few times in the air before they changed pressure just in the right way, and he made a sharp turn up, slowing down quickly after and steadying himself in the air.
(A/N*: I would like to inform you, dear readers, that just like men have hectoliters of compressed blood in their bodies ready for a nosebleed, in anime/manga world the heroes don't get their faces all funny from the wind like in Real Life, thank you! *brilliant smile*)
There was a moment filled only with the swish of wind and the waterfalls they were both watching from above. Gajeel chuckled.
"You didn't scream."
"I was so scared I couldn't."
"Get used to such speed, Short Stuff. I don't like moving like a slug."
"A slug?"
"Exactly."
Levy stared at him in disbelief, her mouth slightly open. "You can't be serious."
"I can - Hang on and watch!"
And with that, Gajeel flapped his wings once and pressed them to his body, diving with an extreme speed toward the ground. Levy screamed loudly, bending and hitting her forehead against the scales, holding the rope for dear life as they sailed in the air, and shut her eyes tightly, small tears being forced out at the corners of her eyes as the air got into her nose – she couldn't really breathe anyway. They were flying like that for around fifteen seconds, but for her, it was eternity.
And then, the dragon outstretched his wings, roaring as they were hit with the full force by the wind and reduced his speed sharply. Flying alone could be sometimes nice but eventually got pretty boring, but flying with another person and showing just how freaking great you are, that was truly something! He chuckled as he turned his head around to find poor Levy curled into a ball, digging her legs into his neck like a frightened kitty. Her breathing was shallow and she slowly let go of him, collapsing against the back of the seat and staring at him for a long while.
They maintained eye contact for about a minute when she finally caught her breath and groaned hoarsely " Don't ever do that again!"
"I am terribly sorry, but sadly I cannot promise you this, princess."
"Now you're a jerk."
"I'm good at that."
Levy sighed, turning her head lazily and staring at the ground beneath them, a small silver thread of the river chasing them to the west. Suddenly she held her breath as a small thunder rumbled ahead of them, and let out a small squeak few seconds later when another followed the first, making the dragon laugh.
"H-How high are we?"
"Few hundred meters above the ground."
"…Won't it hit us?"
"Dragon magic, Shrimp." Came a smug reply and the girl once again found herself amazed by him. "Even if I'm made of metal thunder should avoid me."
"You really are prepared, aren't you?"
"Yes."
Over the next hour they were mostly in silence, eventually making a small talk and joking a little. Gajeel was flying peacefully, trying not to disturb the Shrimp because she seemed to be dozing off (and she looked like a small kitty while doing so) – but he had to make a small turn and she woke up anyway.
The girl stretched and yawned, before blinking few times and turning around in her seat to catch her surroundings. They were currently passing by few mountains and she could make out the flying eagles, searching for some prey.
"We're lower than before." Levy mumbled matter-of-factly, and started to move the backpack a bit in order to get herself a sandwich. Once she unpacked it she dug her teeth in the bread and honey and munched roughly, trying to swallow few times before completely succeeding. She was really, really damn hungry.
Wiping the crisps off her face, she straightened and readjusted the belts on her hips. "How long will we fly anyway?"
"Four more hours or so. We'll be there at night."
Levy nodded and squinted as the clouds they were flying underneath finally passed by and every black scale on the dragon lit up with bright, golden glow. The uncomfortable feeling soon passed as her eyes adapted, and then she entertained herself with staring and poking at each individual piece in her reach, unconsciously both tickling and pissing the Dragon off.
"Bring out the witch! Bring the witch! Bring the witch!" The crowd howled before the small prison in Oak village, throwing more branches on the pile in a grassy clearing, shaking as the humidity in the air made the cold worse. Finally, they were going to get rid of the girl that flooded and killed their plants and made their children sick. Ever since that girl at the edge of the forest started living with them the rain just wouldn't leave them alone, making people depressed and desperate.
Today, she was going to burn and free their village from the curse.
The door of the cell opened, and streams of water gushed out on the stairs, accompanied by splashing footsteps bare feet would make in a puddle. The witch emerged from inside the hall, both arms wrapped around her waist, blue hair sticking out in every direction, her expression meek and eyes watering, ready to cry a rain just like the sky above.
She really just wanted to leave and go away somewhere, return the villagers their 'sky'. But the elders decided she would doom other places just like she did now. They threw her in a prison cell and now they were going to kill her.
She was going to burn.
Just at the thought alone Juvia's stomach was doing a flip of agonizing fear. No, she wasn't going to burn. She was going to melt, and then boil, and fly to the clouds. It was her nature. It was her destiny.
But she didn't want to die just yet. She wanted to have a friend… She wanted to be once accepted by someone before she were to grow too old to keep her body together, to turn into water and join the sea, or fly to the clouds.
She was roughly grabbed from behind and lifted up, carried over to a wooden cross and tied to its middle with her hands up. The wood was lit up with little difficulty, and when it did, it quickly swallowed up next bits of furniture and branches, and then, licked briefly near her big toe, sending a flash of pain though all of her body.
The sky grew pitch black in a split second, and it begun to rain hard, the mass of water closing in on the village. Just before it could reach and save her, the fire weakened the bit of wood supporting Juvia's legs, and her bare feet dove into the embers.
Her cry of agony was mixed with a loud thunder, and a second later she mixed in with the wave of ice-cold rain that hit the village with its full power - destroying weaker houses and flooding the place within minutes.
I am NOT dead! I just had problems with writing Gajeel and levy's surroundings (that take a bit out of the 2000 words and help starting dialogue, and when they fly there aren't any surroundings) also edited the chapter a bit and was busy with school. I hope you like it.
So, a new person is introduced – Juvia's here folks, and she just burned her feet alright. I'm sorry, it came out of nowhere :/
It means that we'll be meeting Gray, too, and Natsu and Lucy, with Jet and Droy (and maybe even Laxus! O.o) coming into the story! I'm so SCARED! I can't write Natsu at all! He's just too stupid to be written properly! I can't write idiotic people! *panic mode*
Also, a lot of you asked to add Lily in – I'm sure I will, it just needs to have its reason. They can't just get an adorably violent cat out of nowhere. He can't be an Eksheed too, I suppose, so… - maybe a human turned cat?
Och my, I'm getting ideas out of nowhere! No, stop! Save them for when you're writing, baka!
Also, I decided that I will post a Review reply chapters when there will be some notes. Hopefully not ones that say I'm out of ideas. I'M NOT GIVING UP! JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?
~HeartGold12, ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH! ):O
P.S. I always have the problem with writing 'Ride on me' not 'Ride me'. Actually, it would be a correct term (I think so) but it have that second meaning that just leaves my nose gushing with blood. Uch-och. Also, thank you for your happy wishes!