When life gets in the way... You unexpectedly put your fanfic in hiatus. Sorry, minna. But, now I'm back (even if College is back too...) Never mind! It's a real pleasure to be back!
In life, there were undeniable and avowed facts. For example, the lawn was green and birds flew. Everybody knew that for sure. It was set in our mind as something normal and unchangeable.
Another known fact was that Gajeel Redfox didn't cry. Ever.
However, how could anyone explain what was that lonely drop of salt water that crossed his cheek ?
It was quite simple. For everything, there were exceptions. Lawn can go yellow without water. Penguins were birds, yet they couldn't fly (poor little guys).
Someone found the words he needed to hear.
The right words. At the right time. From...the right person?
"Fuck…" Gajeel groaned, wiping quickly the proof of the existence of emotions that he used to concealed. "You did it on purpose, damn Shorty."
The last tear he allowed himself was years ago when he decided it would be him against the rest of the world. He was going to be a strong Dragon Slayer without moments of weakness who didn't need any feelings. Those would only get his attention away of his path. He didn't have any time to spare feeling sorry for himself. Life was cruel and so what ? Anyway, who cared if he was now alone, left by the only remained relative he had ?
That young woman, apparently.
"Besides the swearing, you're actually a nice guy." Levy soughed, playful. "All caring and concerned about his nakamas."
Gajeel froze. Who said what ?!
"I AIN'T CARING ! Are you blind, you dumb Midget ?! ..."
And he continued to bawl out restlessly. She sighed, relieved. Levy knew he wasn't the type of guy who wore his heart on his sleeves. She just felt like she had to give him an excuse to act like his usual self, being rude and act tough. She rolled her eyes. It was great having him back to normal. His lifeless eyes in the guild nearly gave her a heart attack. Darkness might have swallowed the remaining of his hopes and the willpower of fighting what's worth it.
"Thank you, Gajeel." Levy interrupted his castigation. "Without you, I don't know how I would have..."
"Tch...I did nothing." He groaned, disappointed at his own weakness. "I didn't save you. I was...useless."
"Hey ! Don't say that." Levy scolded him. "If you hadn't free yourself, Noname wouldn't have been distracted and I wouldn't have been able to trap him."
"Shorty, stop... I didn't save you and I was as effective as your two lapdogs...Wait you what ?" Gajeel shocked.
Levy showed her book which locked Noname inside a page. Gajeel smirked as he poked the small illustration of his enemy who didn't enjoy being treated as he was powerless (he was, unfortunately for him).
"How you like it in there, you asshole ?" Gajeel chuckled. "Being shorter than Shrimp must be shameful."
"Gajeel !" She exclaimed, vexed.
"Gihihi. You'll have to face reality someday. "
Levy punched his shoulder, restraining herself of smiling. Even if they were both in a pitiful state, they couldn't help but feeling relaxed. However, an inevitable question was brought up.
"So...what are you gonna do with Magnet freak ?"
She frowned and looked up to the moon that finally showed up in this lugubrious night. A refreshing wind was the only thing we could hear combined with their soft breaths. She closed her eyes, knowing that it was too late. There were no 'turn back' possible. He had the right to know what was out there. Even, if she didn't like it, she had to make him involve in what she had try to keep him away from. Yet, trying to past by his query was worth trying...
"I'll wait. I'll take care of it." The bluenette said.
"Nice try, Shorty. Now, shoot ! What's going on ? I know that you know...ermm...s'mthing that I don't."
"Gajeel..." She begun.
"No ! Shut up ! Why did the Magnet change attitude when you talk of a damn book ? You seem to know a lot about those creatures. You said they were back ? Who the hell are they ? They want to meet my fist in their face ?! Don't look at me like that ! And don't give me that 'I-don't-want-to-involve-you' crap, 'kay ? 'Cause I don't buy that shit. Why do you want me to be send away ? Can't believe I can fight for myself ?! Damn Midget !"
That was surely the longest speech Gajeel had ever made since he was a kid. He just had enough with all those unanswered questions. He had to evacuate the frustration and somehow, he ended up speaking as much as a chick with her hormones all messed-up.
Too much, because he actually said stuff he shouldn't have.
Levy had her eyes wide open, surprised at first. She gazed at him, inclining her head in an interrogative kind of way.
"Is stalking a Phantom Lord's thing ?"
It was the second time that night that he was asked that stupid query. They were driving him nuts. He facepalmed himself before yelling.
"No, it's not ! ... I was passing by... and I heard your lacrima call to the old man. That's all."
She raised an eyebrow, not convinced.
"Don't get on your high horses ! It's not like you're interesting or anything... It's just that now that I got implicate in all that, I want to know."
She sighed as she surrendered to his good judgement. He was more clever than expected. He didn't barge in that mess without asking what he was getting himself into unlike Natsu. Maybe, she didn't have to worry so much about him...
Her next actions were taken place really quickly as she stood on her tiptoes, clapsed Gajeel's neck who lowered himself easily because of his surprise and murmured in the quietest and smallest voice ever in the hollow of his ear :
"Meet me at 5 a.m in the abandoned house in the far southeast corner of Magnolia."
She ended the unanticipated hug, her cheeks slightly pink, she waved at him and speed-walked to her place, unable to run.
Gajeel stood there, amazed that the burning fire on his face didn't alert the firehouse yet. Without looking away from the silhouette slowly fading away and trying remembering who is was, he failed to notice the presence next to him.
"Juvia isn't the only one who changed , thanks to Fairy Tail."
Juvia's voice made him jump. He poured a stream of swearwords as he gathered some composure.
"What the hell are you doing here ? How long have you been there ?!"
Gajeel tried to hang on the hope that Juvia hadn't see what happen just now.
"Juvia was worried about Gajeel-kun...But Juvia realized that there's no reason to be..." The Rain Mage smiled tenderly to her friend.
Unfortunately, his hopes had failed him. She saw it...but how much? She surely caught a glimpse of the end of it when Shorty... His cheeks still felt warmer than they should. He hadn't anticipated her proximity. Although, they should be no reason to react like that. He was still shaken by the guild's reaction probably or maybe by the attack. Whatever he was not a guy who let his composure be taken away by a Shorty.
"Oi, what the hell do you mean? ...No, drop it! I don't want to know. Just stop nagging me!"
"Gajeel-kun seems to believe it's possible." She teased him, visibly enjoying the uneasiness of the Dragon Slayer and forgot about the previous misadventure that happened only minutes ago.
"Tch, damn women."
He tucked his hands in his pockets and limped towards his apartment to get clean up and take care of his bruises. He heard Juvia following him. She probably wanted to make sure he would make it home safely. Though, it was a silly precaution.
"Leave me be."
"Good night to you too, Gajeel-kun."
Seeing him being a jerk like usual, Juvia knew he was now fine. It was his way of saying that he didn't need her assistance and that she shouldn't worry. She left him in peace. He had most likely had seen enough social interactions for a lifetime. She knew that because before she was as social-skilled as him. Fairy Tail really did change her, making bloom the flower that longed to hatch inside her to make her become the person she was suppose to be.
He would open up to the world like she did one day. Everyone had their own pace as well as their own path. She was ahead but she became aware he wasn't that far behind. He wasn't avoiding the light. He wasn't used to darkness. Gajeel simply needed a hand to be guide progressively towards the light. Juvia dearly kept her fingers crossed that it would be Levy's. She didn't know why, she just did. It seemed like they were connected somehow... How she wished it was the same for her and her Gray-sama!
Gajeel signed in exasperation. Juvia was such a light-head. He could, without effort, know she was analyzing useless stuff and now she was daydreaming about the Stripper. He left now she entered the mansion of Fairy Hills.
The detour let him less time to take care of his scratches, but he didn't mind. He would finally know what was going on with Fairy Tail's bookworm and that would save him the time of thinking too much about one thing.
He looked one of his countless alarms. It was almost time. He growled, irritated. He wouldn't have time for a nap. If he left now, he would make it on time since he fixed his sprained ankle and had probably healed with his fast metabolism of Dragon Slayer. One more hour and he would be in tip top shape.
It didn't take him too much time to find the place Shorty mentioned. The house was on the edge of the forest near the entrance of the city. He hesitated. He never took Shorty for the mysterious type, but he didn't know what to expect. In time like those, it was better not to think to much about it and just go with it.
He then entered the house, without minding to knock at the door. What he saw shocked him. It was beyond everything he would have imagined.
The habitation had only a central room. Its walls were covered with papers filled with strange and exotic writings, even on the windows which made the air look dark grey. In the back, there was a massive wooden table where a lot of jars, flasks, phials and test tube of different sides and colors were scattered in an organized mess. On his left, a pile of books was about to fall at any time. On his right, there was a ton of sheets and carpets rolled for some reason. In the middle of the room, a gigantic circle-like symbol along with others weird-looking signs had been drawn on a carpet where a single card was standing in its center. A small silhouette was sitting in front of it, turning its back on Gajeel.
"Hi, Gajeel."
He kept his cool and asked with a detached tone :
"What the hell is that, Shorty?"
She slowly got back on his feet. At his surprise, she looked quite healthy except for the bandage around her head. Their old hag was quite a good doctor to be able to heal their patients so fast. The card shook lightly before producing a dark light.
"It's magic able to restrain evil creatures."
He waited for more precision. She remained silent, looking intensely towards the card. She seemed lost in thoughts. Gajeel cleared his throat to make her snap from her reverie.
"Yeah... I know. I promised. It's just difficult to explain...It's so messed-up."
"When was the last time something wasn't messed-up when you're involved?" Gajeel responded, discouraged by her bends to avoid the subject.
She grinned at that, on how accurate it was.
"Well, everything happens for a reason, right? Our world is in constant balance between good and evil, day and night, joy and sadness, predator and prey... And as part of the universe, we have our role to play in this eternal balance. When something new happens, good or bad, the world will re-establish its equilibrium by adding its opposite. Noname is the consequence of that. But, its kind grew faster than expected and they are threatening their positive opposite."
"And since it concerns Salamander, Girlie and I, their "opposite" are Dragon Slayers."
"Exactly." She smiled, impressed by his perceptiveness.
"He's not alone probably... But, what are they? You said... demons?"
"Not quite..." She admitted, uncomfortable.
"Well...! What, then?!" Gajeel got impatient. He didn't like her being anything else than bubbly and lively like usual.
She looked up to him with her big brown eyes filled with worries. She seemed like she had hoped to never have to speak up what she was about to say. If she could, she would bring that secret in her grave and bury it with her. It was a nightmare becoming sadly a reality that needed to be spoken.
"They are the children of Demons. They've been taught magic by great Demons. They have antic magic within them."
"What is bad about that?!" Gajeel exclaimed overtaken by her revelation, fearing the announcement of the apocalypse. "They're Demon-Slayer. They have the power to slay demons but it doesn't make them bad people, no?"
He spoke too soon, because if he had sat and looked more closely, his logic made no sense.
"They don't slay demons, Gajeel...They're far from being meant to that mission."
"You're right...If you say everything has its opposite and they are ours...you don't mean that..." Gajeel started to understand.
"Yes...They are the opposite of Dragon Slayers. They are the evil part of the whole of Ancient Magic. You could say they are...Anti-Slayers.
...Back with a cliffhanger:) But, now I'm starting again. Promise!
So, stay tuned and I hope you enjoy!
P.S: I did read the scan and the thingy about Demon-Slayer came to me before reading it (NOT saying I'm more awesome than him, believe me), so just so you all know I won't make it connect with the storyline of Mashima-sensei. It will take its own turn, 'cause I already plan this^^
P.S#2: I still don't own Fairy Tail:)