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Chapter 10
Gajeel nosedived straight down, eliciting a shriek from Levy as she fought to hold on, painfully gripping on to Gajeel's prized hair. He normally would beat anyone who dared mess with his mane, but right now he didn't care, the reaction was worth it. His signature laughter vibrated through his body, making Levy rumble with equal glee – so when it died abruptly she felt the night change from its carefree evening into something far more sinister. Keen dragon eyes picked up several bodies flying in front of them – Gajeel reckoned it was probably more fledging demons like the group last night; still, he wasn't going to risk it.
"Oi, need you to do as I say shrimp." His tone was serious, but not heartless. "Keep yer head low, and stay quiet" Levy responded with a murmured 'uh huh' and buried herself into his back just as the demons closed in.
Scare tactics weren't going to work now, he realised almost too late, as a blast of magic was launched heading straight for Gajeel. Narrowly rolling out of the way Gajeel went on the offensive "Iron Dragons Roar!" A flurry of iron shards erupted from Gajeel's mouth engulfing the demons, forcing them to scatter. He couldn't fight all of them with Levy on his back; she was too much of a target on his back. He had to get to Lilly. Roaring one more time he forced his wings to speed away back to the roof. Just as the roof came into view the air in front of Gajeel distorted and the distinct sound of wailing filled the night. Gajeel didn't have time to panic, it only meant one thing. "Shit! It's Aria."
Gajeel needed to get Levy out of here. Now. "Sorry shrimp." Before Levy could respond Gajeel violently threw her from his back, extending his arms are iron poles he spun, successfully catching Aria and the other demons closing in. The air mage; who had no visible wings just a faint outline of where they would probably be (giving the impression he floated mid-air), took the brunt of the iron pole straight to the stomach. While it did nothing to seriously disrupt his fighting ability it did ironically knocked the wind out of him. Gajeel hovered surrounded by several demons; he had clocked both Aria and Totomaru in the group; two of the Element 4 (now 3 since Juvia's 'betrayal'). He suspected that Sol wouldn't be too far away either. Damnit where was Lilly!?
Levy screamed as she fell, arms flailing in panic. Fortunately, Gajeel wasn't that bone headed to drop her to her death; he had seen Lilly flying towards them. Seeing the bluenette plummeting to the ground, the Exceed had swiftly caught her in his battle form – unable to hold it for long he swiftly deposited her on the ground. After steadying her jelly-like legs he crouched in front of her to check for any serious damage. Once happy she was unharmed he said: "You need to hide, don't make any noise – we will take care of this." Panther Lilly waited for no reply and flew to backup Gajeel.
Levy felt like she had been punched in the gut, brought down so quickly from a feeling of pure freedom to pure terror. Her legs broke into a run, anything to get away from the nightmare she was in – however, she was so disorientated the streets looked so alien to her despite living here all her life. Finally out of breath and shaking with adrenaline, Levy dove into an alley and hid against the wall -holding herself together desperately. I'm OK, I'm OK; they won't lose, they'll come back. Repeating the phrases like a mantra Levy sank to the ground, the rough bricks scraped at her clothes as she tried to hold back the sobs.
Sol emerged from the floor in front of her silently. He observed the crying woman, almost unbelieving that this girl would be what Jose wanted. Nevertheless, he had a job to do; grinning evilly he called his magic to his hand, ready to strike.
Gajeel's breathing was ragged, the cut on his forehead was bleeding again, the annoying stream running down his face and the smell of his own iron blood filled his nose. He had taken out the lesser demons but the two remaining mages were just too much to handle – not that he'd admit that out loud.
"It's so saaaaadd! Gajeel-sama has betrayed us like Juvia!" The wailing only served as background noise to Aria attack, a blast of wind designed to knock the iron dragon clean out of the sky. Hardening his skin Gajeel took the attack, strong wings held firm and he stayed aloft, perfect for the fireball that targeted him now. He couldn't dodge this one and prepared to block again; knowing that this bastard's attack was going to cause some damage. Instead of searing heat a pleasant 'whoosh' of air came over him and Gajeel saw Lilly defending him – his buster sword cut clean through the attack and the flames dissipated harmlessly "Gihi, took ya long enough!" Gajeel grinned; it was time to even the odds
"Had to drop something off, apologises" Lilly grinned back the two brothers in arms ready for the fight to really start. They moved, synchronised, both flanking the two enemy demons in a pincer movement. Soon locked in battle; Lilly matched sword for a sword with Totomaru and Gajeel trying to land a hit on Aria. After landing a few successful attacks, Totomaru unleashed a ring of fire forcing the winged back. Before they could retaliate an ear piercing scream broke the air. The heat coming off Gajeel battle ready body turned to ice – he knew exactly who that noise belonged to. Gajeel didn't need Lilly's permission. He dove; ears pinpointed on Levy, he only hoped he made it in time.
Aria and Totomaru moved to intercept but the large-bodied panther stood in their way "I will be your opponent." It wasn't a request; it was a demand that much was clear. Worryingly enough though, the two demons didn't seem concerned about Lilly blocking their path – a mistake he would make them regret.
Gajeel landed in the alley he was sure the sound came from, he saw no sign of Levy, no blood, no battle scars in the concrete; both a good and terrifying sign. He breathed deeply searching for a scent and caught the trail heading down the street – the shrimp had bolted and probably was being pursued. He had the advantage of being the better tracker but his enemy had a head start. As he followed his nose after the blue-haired woman; he concerned himself with Lilly. The Exceed could only hold them off for so long so he needed to move fast. Wings obeyed and soon he came face to face with Sol looming over a cowering Levy; a demented look in the earth demons eyes was Gajeel needed to put his fist between him and Levy. Knocking the man clean out of the ground he had rooted himself to. Gajeel took a protective stance, wings wide and teeth bared - A true dragon.
Levy couldn't believe her eyes, her lungs screamed for oxygen as she panted heavily finally feeling like she could take a moment to regain herself. She had only barely missed the monocled man's first attack and had scrambled to get out of the way, before running anywhere that wasn't the alley she was in. Her feet pounded the pavement, thin legs moving surprisingly fast while brown eyes blurred, not focused on where she was going just that she had to move. Had she been paying more attention, Levy would have seen a bump in the ground appear successfully tripping her. In a violent display of rolls and tumbles which left her with more than a few bleeding scabs on her knees and elbows; Levy finally came to an abrupt and painful halt against another wall. She knew it was over her body wouldn't move, her head had collided with the wall and resulting in a second concussion on top of her recovering first one, the bluenette just surrendered to the ground below her. Waiting for the final attack that would end her life before Gajeel had found her.
Having found her feet finally, she watched as the two men glared at one another, no words, no actions just intense eye contact. The stare-off wasn't even interrupted when Totomaru crashed into the street behind them, followed swiftly by a war-torn Lilly who barely rolled into the fall and landed cat-like on his feet. Aria gracefully floated down and glanced between his two comrades. Surprisingly they had both taken several hard hits and were breathing heavily – it was time to end this miserable fight and take the girl.
Fortunately for the winged fighters, a roar echoed through the skies. It wasn't Gajeel's iron roar this time though. No. This was a fire dragon's roar; one that brought back-up. While Lilly looked overjoyed that someone was coming to help, Gajeel barely moved throughout the encounter – staying protectively in front of Levy blocking Sol's advance. The remaining elemental demons simultaneously made up their minds and charged into an attack, not about to be intimidated by a few extra 'fairies'. Besides they had a back-up of their own!
Aria clapped his hands together and several demons sprung from pockets of airspace colliding with Natsu and his team; while the others moved to close in on Gajeel. Unlucky for them, Gajeel wasn't about to let them; in one fell swoop he scooped up Levy and took off – a brief nod to Natsu and the message was clear 'I'll leave this to you.'
In a practised motion the demons were blocked by four intimidating winged: Natsu with his fire red wings now burning took the lead; flanked by a steel-winged Erza in her heavens wheel armour, and reequipped wings to match – ready to switch at a given notice. An ice winged Grey flanked the other side; his short spiky wings looked completely impractical sprouting from his back in a series of clear icicles. Finally, Lucy provided support from the rear; her dark wings blended with the night sky but the stars they held on their surface glowed brightly; giving the appearance she was held in the air by the constellations themselves. Nothing was getting past them.
As Gajeel beat his wings he felt himself flagging, he had used too much magical energy and with no chance to regain his strength the complaints of his muscles were fast becoming an angry protest. Without warning the tug of gravity became too strong to overcome, forcing Gajeel to collide with the ground. With no chance to recover, iron scales covered his body and he curled protectively around Levy to protect her from the impact. Barely keeping the scales as they collided with the ground, Gajeel released the small bluenette causing her to bounce away from him and collapse a fair distance away.
Before he could grab her, Gajeel felt himself being thrown against the wall and being pinned against it. Fighting to move his head, he caught sight of the culprit for his predicament. A large demon with small black metallic wings stood nearby grinning maniacally – clearly proud of himself for inconveniencing the iron dragon. With a flick of his wrist, Gajeel wasn't flying yet again into another wall become crumpling to the ground coughing violently.
"What the fuck…" Gajeel was confused; he was getting his ass kicked by a guy who hadn't even touched him!
"It's a magnet! He's pulling your iron!" The voice cleared his confused head as he realised just the disadvantage he was at. The demon now moved towards Levy (the source of the voice Gajeel soon realised), Gajeel forced himself to his feet – This woman was going to be the death of him! For lack of a better plan, Gajeel threw himself at the demon tackling him to the ground; using his weight to hold him down.
"Shrimp run!" He didn't look long enough to see if she did, soon he was being flung away yet again. Never before had Gajeel regretted his iron-studded body so much. Again he fought against the magnetic force, the individual studs on his body were being painfully pulled but still, he fought to go forward. The demon moved in to attack again, Gajeel prepared to take the hit until the demon stopped with a confused look on its face. Behind him stood a defiant Levy armed with a fist-sized rock much like the one that had harmlessly hit the demons back. With as much bravery to match the stupidity of the idea, she launched the second stone catching the now pissed demon in the shoulder. Snarling he went for her, releasing Gajeel from his invisible restraints.
The iron dragon saw his opportunity and went for it; mustering his magic he launched several kunai from his arm and into the demons back. Successfully catching the target with a well-placed hit the demon dropped down to one knee. Continuing his onslaught Gajeel roared "Iron Dragons sword" His aim struck true and the demon crumbled at his feet. Gajeel's body couldn't take anymore and collapsed, refusing to fall he propped himself up on his hands and knees.
His nose caught the metallic scent of his element, driving himself forward he latched onto a nearby metal pipe and dug in. It wasn't near enough to recover him but it helped take the edge off. With some semblance of consciousness recovered Gajeel suddenly remembered Levy and turned to where she had stood distracting the demon so he could win. He could scarcely believe what he saw.
Sat in a pool of blood, Levy lay still. He sprinted towards her fallen form, skidding as he got close and took her into his hands. Ear to her chest he heard no breathing, no heartbeat. "Fuck." The curse escaped his lips as he desperately searched her form for a sign of life. He saw the metal pierce through her tiny body; it went clean through abdomen dripping crimson through the cloth and to the floor. He had witnessed death too many times to count but never had he felt this helpless. He knew she was dead, gone before he had realised. Stupid! How had he not realised, too caught up in the fight and his own selfish needs to see.
He looked back at the fallen demon; bastard was nothing but a hollow form of dust on the ground now. Gajeel saw the grin printed on his face – of course, the bastard was smiling he had seen his attack kill the woman they were after, now his brethren could just collect the soul as it exited the body. In a fit of rage, Gajeel launched an iron pillar at the dead demon, its face crumpled under the impact as it rapidly fell in a cloud of dust. Gajeel didn't realise how heavily he was breathing, no longer from exertion from sheer anger. He had done this. That was his metal in the shrimp. He had killed her. "Damn it!" He roared. He'd lost! Demons got the better of him and he had given them just what they wanted! He hadn't changed at all!
The body in his arms grew cold as a faint glow surrounded it; gently it rose up revealing the spirit form of Levy. Slowly it exited the body still glowing and hovered in front of Gajeel, slowly he let her human body fall to the wet floor and took her spirit form in his arms. He needed to get her out of here before more demons came, but this wasn't exactly something he could rush.
Now free of the mortal realm, the magical energy within Levy began to swell. Her wit, intelligence and understanding of others had attracted massive amounts of magic. Now it sprouted from her back rapidly as two large angelic wings took shape glowing in a blinding yellow colour. Gajeel's face was on fire, his eyes clamped shut to try and protect his pupils from the onslaught of light. His own veins hummed along with the energy in his arms. In the darkest pit of his stomach, a demon hungered for him to take it for himself. Gajeel quickly stomped the dark desire back down from where it came from. No way. He wasn't going to fall any further – this girl was going to make it to Fairy Tail if it was the last damn thing he did.
Gradually the light faded, leaving behind Levy's true tangible spirit form – wings made out of layers of paper each page overflowing with words, poetry, facts and stories; each individual but combined to make a canvas of literature. Only once the light had completely faded and Gajeel saw the faint rise and fall of the woman's chest did he move. Carrying her bridal style he flew as fast as he could to the safest place he knew.