Hey guys! Wow I can't believe the week's over again! Time flies~

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you for sticking with this fanfiction up until now! It really means a whole lot to me! So thank you again!


Chapter 11: The Phantom Lord Wizard

"I'll be fine Lu-chan! I can handle Gajeel!" That's what I had told Lucy only moments before we walked through the guildhall doors. Now I was walking on a sandy path, surrounded by tall, well-aged trees that formed an arch above my head. The sunlight was peeking through a few openings in the canopies up above, casting light patches on the path we were walking on. Neither Gajeel nor Lily had said a single word to me or each other since we had set out. Gajeel walked at the front with Lily following a few strides behind. I kept my distance, mainly to avoid any harsh comments from Gajeel. Although I had told Lucy that I could handle Gajeel, I didn't think my heart could handle any abuse from him at this point. I was still far too shaken up by the past events. I needed comfort and reassurance which were both things I wasn't about to expect from someone who's element is iron. On top of that, by then I was convinced that I meant absolutely nothing to Gajeel. The contrast between the beginning of our mission to Hargeon and this one was immense. It almost felt to me like Hargeon had been nothing but a dream. It was like reality was twisted and I was the only one not fooled by it. Everyone else seemed to go along with it and I was left suspended in space, forced to watch everything fall apart around me. I was forced to watch the friendship between Gajeel and me dwindle away. It was slipping through my fingers like sand and no matter how hard I tried to grasp it, it was dissipating with every passing second.

"Lily?" I addressed only the Exceed pointedly. He slowed down until he was walking in stride with me.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He asked me. The same note of concern was shimmering in his eyes again and I was tempted to ask him about it. The only reason I chose against it was because I knew that Gajeel had somewhat good hearing and that meant he would overhear our little conversation. I'd find a more suitable moment to talk to Lily about it- in private. "How long is it going to take to get to Oak Town?" I still didn't know why Gajeel had insisted on walking there. Last time they had taken the train and that had taken them less than two hours. Walking would take us half a lifetime longer. "We should arrive tomorrow morning." He informed me quietly, "We'll set up camp sometime in the late evening once we're out of these woods. There are quite a few monsters living in these woods and I don't really want to have to fight any of them."

"Good idea." I chimed, "Thanks for letting me come along by the way."

"Of course Levy." He smiled at me, "I couldn't think of anyone more suited to help us than you." A grunt from up front let me know that Gajeel disagreed, "Ignore him." Lily added and I nodded- that was exactly what I had planned to do.


It took us two more hours of walking until we finally made it out of the forest. At the edge of the forest, a small mountain barred the way and we were forced to climb it. To say the least, my sandals weren't the most suitable shoes for the job. I didn't complain though- I didn't dare. By the early evening we had conquered the mountain and were making our way through another, smaller forest. "Here's a good place." We followed Lily into a clearing spotted with numerous sandy spots perfect for a fireplace. The forest was inhabited mainly by smaller animals so I knew that there was nothing to worry about concerning the wildlife. "I can gather some firewood if you'd like?" I offered and Lily's ears perked at that.

"Good. You're finally making yourself useful for once." Gajeel spoke up before Lily did and I frowned. At first I had considered giving him a snarky response but decided against it. There was no point in getting into a fight with him. I was too exhausted for that anyway; emotionally and physically. "Would you like to join me Lily?"

"I'd love to." I put my bag down next to a small rock on the edge of the clearing and made my way into the forest again, closely followed by Lily.

Once we were a good distance away from the spot where Gajeel was setting up the rest of the camp, Lily stopped to transform into his full form in order to carry more wood. We started gathering wood in silence while the stars above began shining brighter and the forest around us darkened even more. "You've noticed it too, haven't you?" Lily's deep voice yanked me back to reality and I realized that I had been daydreaming a little.

"Yeah… I just don't know what's wrong with him."

"He's been acting like this ever since he woke up this morning. It's not just with you- he treats everyone differently." We stopped gathering wood for the moment, finding a fallen log to sit down on. I placed my pile of branches on the floor next to me, dusting my hands off before resting them on my lap. "It's like he knows us by name but that's just about where it ends."

"I suspect that he lacks any emotional bond with any of us."

"And it has something to do with the spell right?" He nodded in reply, "And the only way to make that right is to talk to the mage who cast the spell…" The realization hit me as hard as a bucket of ice water to the stomach. How were we going to convince a former Phantom Lord wizard to turn Gajeel back to normal? It wasn't like she owed us anything and on top of that she was the one to have called forth this predicament in the first place. "We'll find a way." Lily put his large paw on my back gently, "We always have."

"You're right. There's no point in worrying about it now… once we get there, we'll know what to do. It's like you said the other day: this is a fight we have to fight for him." He looked up at the sky for a moment, putting his paw back down on the log we were sitting on.

"You care a lot about him don't you?" I took a deep breath, following his gaze to the stars above. I considered his question for a moment, thinking about how much had changed between Gajeel and me after he had joined our guild. "I do." I felt a smile play at the corners of my mouth, "He really does mean a lot to me."

"That's good." His voice was so gentle that it made me relax. The silence of the forest enveloped us for a moment, each of our thoughts revolving around the same dragon slayer. "Gajeel needs someone like that." With that Lily got up, picking up his pile of wood again and waiting for me to do the same. I didn't quite know what Lily meant by that but I chose to hang onto what he had just told me.

Gajeel needed me… in some strange sort of way unknown to me he needed someone as small as me...

"Please forgive Gajeel for the things he says to you at the moment." He added after a long pause, looking extremely apologetic to me. It was so like Lily to apologize on Gajeel's behalf. "I already have Lily, don't you worry."


Once I had written the word out in the air, the letters morphed into a solid font of iron, landing at my feet with a quiet thump. I checked to see whether Gajeel and Lily were still asleep and was happy to find that both were still snoring away contently. Gajeel looked so peaceful when he was asleep. His hair was a mess, his arms and legs sprawled out so much that not even his sleeping bag could contain him. Lily on the other hand was neatly tucked away in his cat-size sleeping bag, giving off a miniature version of Gajeel's snore. Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to what I had planned to do. There had to be some way to break the iron down into smaller pieces! I wanted to make sure I had a supply of iron during the fight to ensure that Gajeel had some power-ups in case he needed any. On top of that, I knew that Gajeel was always in a better mood when he knew he had some iron to snack on. Groaning, I shoved the iron word into the pile that was slowly forming to my right. I thought of a different way to phrase it, trying to find a word that would make the iron break into pieces. I could ask Gajeel to break it up for me but I was reluctant to communicate with him at the moment.
I was about to try again when a loud yawn drew my attention. Two muscular arms were stretched into the sky and I watched his muscles flex as he stretched. "Mornin'," The word seemed to leave his mouth so naturally despite the fact that he hadn't said a single word to me the day before during our travels. "Good morning." I replied as cheerily as I could. His eyes came to rest on me for a moment before they spotted the shiny pile of iron next to me. "What're ya doin'? Wasting your magic power before the actual fight starts?"

"I'm not wasting my power I'm just-." I broke off, averting my eyes and looking in the opposite direction to him stubbornly, "I'm preparing."

"Preparing? What are ya preparing? You wanna eat some iron?"

"Well no…" I looked back at him, finding him sitting on his sleeping bag with his legs crossed, "I want to make sure you have enough iron during the fight." He didn't say anything to that, instead he let his eyes pan between the iron and me for a while, "I just need to find a way to break it up into smaller pieces to make it easier to transport." I added hopefully, earning a grunt and a smirk from Gajeel.

"So you can make iron but can't actually work with it? That's pretty stupid."

Just ignore it. I told myself, forcing a smile onto my face. "It'd be great if you could do it for me." He arched a non-existent eyebrow, giving me a rather arrogant look. "What if I don't wanna help a midget like you?"

"You can just leave the iron here for all I care. Just don't expect me to make more for you when you start losing like you did last time." Had I really just said that out loud? To Gajeel of all people?! I felt my face run up hot and I averted my eyes immediately, wishing I could take back every single word I had just uttered. "What did you just say?"

"It's nothing!" I blurted out, scrunching my hands into tight fists on my lap, "I didn't mean it- promise."

"Watch out or I might hang you up on a tree again." My heart set out for a second and my stomach lurched. Horrible images flashed back into my mind. I was forced to watch it all happen over again in my mind's eye. I saw the way he tortured Jett and Droy right in front of me, ignoring my pleas to leave them be. I remembered hearing them scream and hearing him laugh. I remembered the crazy look in his eyes, the malicious grin contorting his face. I recalled the feeling of his hand grasping my face so strongly that it hurt. I remembered the way his face was only millimeters away from mine while he taunted me… hurt me.

I remembered all of it.

My trembling hands lifted to frame my face and my body bent over in much the same way it had when he had punched me. I bowed my head and my hair fell forward, the bandana sliding out of my hair and landing on my lap. The purple flower pin caught my eye and I stared at it, thinking about how Gajeel had kept it for me. That was the Gajeel I had fallen for… but now, now I was confronted with horrifically vivid memories of a Gajeel that I wanted to forget! I didn't want to look at his hands and remember how much pain he had caused me with them. I didn't want to look at his eyes and picture that look. Why did he have to go and say something like that again?! Of all the damn things to say! Why couldn't he just snap out of it and be normal again?!

"Levy?" I blinked, stray tears escaping my eyes and running down my hot cheeks. I snapped back to reality and the painful images in my mind subsided, allowing me to think straight again. When I looked up, Lily was standing in front of me, concern and worry etched into every furry millimeter of his face. "What did you say to her Gajeel?" He looked back at his partner whose eyes were still trained on me. He was scrutinizing me, a strange sort of frown on his face. He didn't look satisfied or gleeful- it was quite the opposite actually. "It wasn't him." I spoke up quietly, "I was just remembering a nightmare I had." Lily's eyes narrowed and he studied my face before taking a step back. I knew that he knew that I was lying but Lily was the type of guy who respected someone's decision not to want to talk about something. "Will you be alright?"

"It's nothing I haven't learned to live with." Gajeel's eyes were yet to leave mine and I returned the eye-contact willingly. I let him search my eyes for whatever he was looking for and in turn I searched his, trying to find a little of the Gajeel that I loved hidden behind that sea of crimson. I searched and searched but all I found was a whole lot of confusion. There were tons of questions written in his eyes and I had the feeling that he was looking for the answers to some of them right in that very moment. It made me feel a little sorry for him. All I had done was think about what all of this was doing to me. I hadn't once considered what Gajeel must be feeling.
"Shall we go?" I nodded in reply to Lily's question, averting my eyes and getting up.

"It would mean a lot to me if you'd take some of that." I gestured to the iron on the floor, "It would give me one less thing to worry about." He nodded numbly, averting his eyes and getting up as well.


Oak Town was a beautiful little town that clung to the side of a mountain, surrounded by lush green trees. A river ran along the base of the mountain, supplying all the greenery in the area with the water it needed. Mountains loomed behind the city, placing it in a rather idyllic setting. "This place is amazing!" I breathed, following Lily and Gajeel along the edge of the river. Small fish bounded out of the flowing water, sparkling in the streaming sunlight before disappearing into the water again with a splash.

Once we entered the town, I found that it was a lot smaller than Magnolia. Much like Hargeon though, everyone spoke to everyone and greeted each other on the streets. Small shops lined the roads, selling all sorts of home-made things.

"We have to pass through Oak Town to get to the forest behind the city where we found the mage the last time we were here." Lily informed me, "She stays close to where the Phantom Lord branch used to be." My eyes widened.

"There used to be a Phantom Lord branch here?"

"Yes. Mystogan brought it down during Phantom Lord's attack on Fairy Tail." Lily replied. I checked to see Gajeel's reaction but he was yet to respond to what we were discussing in any way. He just continued to walk beside me with that vacant expression of his, his eyes alert and on the lookout for the enemy. Why hadn't he told me about that before he had left on the mission the first time around? He must have known that Oak Town used to be home to Phantom Lord. Or had he gone on that mission because there used to be a Phantom Lord branch here? Had he felt responsible for the dark mage causing problems for these people? Or was he trying to revisit something from his past? I tried to force myself not to think about it. I had too many questions in my mind that were starting to chip away at the image of Gajeel I had so carefully assembled in my mind. I couldn't afford for that image of him to shatter- it was the only thing I was holding on to.

Lily and I kept up casual conversation until we reached the outskirts around the back of the town. I was extremely grateful to him for keeping me distracted, knowing that I probably would have chewed my fingernails off by then if I had been left to think about the mage we were about to face. We walked along a rocky path lined by small boulders, heading towards the forest surrounding the city. We had almost made it to the first row of trees when Gajeel froze. His muscles tensed and his legs spread to give him a more grounded stance. His eyes were searching the forest ahead of us while he kept taking in deep breaths of air. "I can smell her."

"How far?" Lily asked him and he shrugged, "Lead us to her then." He added and Gajeel nodded. His muscles seemed to relax gradually, the movement releasing the tension that had built up in them. I followed closely behind him, watching his every move, waiting for any sort of shift in his body language. Lily had morphed into his full form by then and was walking beside Gajeel with heavy footsteps, hand on sword. The forest swallowed us up and I noticed how much cooler the air felt inside the forest. The air smelt fresh and light, the scent of all sorts of different flowers hanging in the air. It would have been something I'd have enjoyed… if it weren't for the circumstances.

"I can't believe you actually came back." The three of us froze and Gajeel and Lily tensed notably. I looked around at the trees surrounding us frantically, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. My heart was racing and my body became jittery. I lifted my hands, ready to write out any spell that I needed. "Why don't you stop wasting my time and come out already?" Gajeel barked and Lily nodded in agreement. He brought his red blade forward slowly, holding it in front of his body in a shielding manner. "Oh alright… but only because you asked so nicely Gajeel." Hearing the way she said his name made me want to be sick. I didn't have much time to think about it though because suddenly she was standing in front of us. She had appeared out of thin air!

She was tall and slender, wearing a deep purple dress with a spider depicted on the side. Her long, dark blue hair was tied back into a ponytail. Her eyes were potent and to make things worse, they were looking right at me. "So… it's you." I swallowed, taking a step back in a feeble attempt to escape her smoldering gaze, "I remember you. I remember seeing you in his memories." She pointed at Gajeel with a bony finger. Her mouth twisted into an unnatural-looking smile, her red lips twisting into an awkward squiggle. "And you know what…?" I shook my head hesitantly, "I hate you!" She lifted her hand, spitting out a darks spell and firing a ball of dark magic at me. "Solid Script: Barrier!" A large invisible barrier shot up in front of me and the dark ball collided with it. The air around me felt like it was getting heavier, bearing down on me, wanting to force me to give up.

I can't let her win! I can't give up! I have to fight for Gajeel!

I shook my head, focusing all the power I had into my spell in order to ward off the ball that eventually disintegrated with a sizzle. "They had to bring you didn't they?!" She continued angrily, "To make things worse, it looks like someone went and weakened my spell. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't even be here right now! Let me guess… it was you right?" She cocked her head to the side, "Though then again, I should be thankful for this opportunity to wipe your pathetic excuse for an existence off the face of Earthland!" A moment later she vanished, reappearing directly in front of me. I stumbled back with a loud cry, frightened and totally helpless. She sneered at me, an even more maniacal look entering into her eyes. "Of course… only someone as soft as you could make Gajeel soft too." She reached out her hand to wrap it around my throat but before she could, I was shoved back and something forced its way between her and me. The familiar scent of iron and leather filled my nose and I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

"Gajeel!"

"Just shut up and don't ask me what I'm doing 'cause I got no clue." My eyes widened and I lifted my hands to cover my mouth like I had when Droy and Jet had attacked Gajeel.

Could it be…?

I could only see a little of his face because he was facing away from me- shielding me- but I could see that he was incredibly frustrated. "But why…?" The mage backed away a little, genuine fear taking over her features now, "Why are you protecting her? You don't even care about her!"

"Like I know! I guess my body just moved. Guess I don't mind though" He smirked before lifting his hand, turning it into an iron club, "So if you don't want me to cut you into pieces, you'll keep your hands off of the midget. Got it?" The mage was so taken aback that she didn't respond in time when Gajeel brought his club down on her. With a shrill cry she was sent flying into the nearest tree. Groaning, she collapsed on the floor, holding onto her aching shoulder. "How could you…? You shouldn't care…" She whispered, "I took away one of the memories that meant the most to you."

The memories that meant the most to him?

"And even if you did remember… your emotions… I kept them from you. You shouldn't care about her. You shouldn't even have wanted to come back here!"

"You know…" He flexed his shoulders before walking towards her, notably enjoying the fact that she was desperately trying to get up and escape, "You made a pretty big mistake when you decided to mess with my head. I guess I needa make you pay for that."

"Please no!" She begged, "I spent most of my magic power on that stupid spell! I thought you were going to go and destroy Fairy Tail! I didn't count on you coming back here!"

"Well 'aint that your bad luck?"

"Please! I'll do anything!"

"You know me…" Gajeel smirked at her, "I aint the merciful type." He lifted his arm into the air, letting it turn into his iron sword. His grin widened a little and the mage cried out in fear, shielding her face with her arms.

"Gajeel wait!" The sword stopped only inches away from her head and Gajeel grunted, turning to look at me. It was safe to say that he was pretty annoyed with me for interrupting his 'fun'. "What the hell do you want?"

"You said you'd do anything right?" I addressed the mage who nodded vehemently, "Then give back everything you took from him and he'll spare you."

"You're kidding right?" Gajeel exclaimed, "You don't get to make those kind of decisions for me."

"In this case I do! I know you don't really know me… but just trust me Gajeel! I know what I'm doing." I let my eyes lock in with his and I stared back just as stubbornly as he was until Gajeel gave in with a dissatisfied grunt, taking a step back to give the mage more space. His arm turned back to normal and he crossed his arms across his chest. "What she said... and… you leave this town and never show your ugly face around here again. If you do, I might change my mind about turning you into scrap metal."
"Okay, okay fine!" She waved her hands in front of her, "I'll do what you say, just please… don't hurt me!"

"Wow what a pathetic loser!" Gajeel frowned, glaring down at her condescendingly.

"That's not the first time you've said something like that to me." She admitted, looking down at her own two hands.

"That's right… Lily she was a Phantom Lord mage right?" I asked.

"She was. She had only just joined Phantom Lord when they attacked Fairy Tail." Could it be that she joined Phantom Lord because of Gajeel? It would explain why she had been so upset to find out that he had joined the enemy's guild. It was understandable really… To be honest I almost felt for her. I would have felt the same way if I had been in her shoes. She had felt abandoned and betrayed and letting it out on other people had been her only way to somehow deal with that. She probably hadn't expected Gajeel of all people to stop by and tell her to stop. She must have used one of her strongest spells on him completely out of impulse, forgetting the toll it took on her. She was exhausted and fighting with much less than twenty percent of her usual strength. "Don't take what he says to heart too much." I heard myself say, "He tends to insult everyone. You're not pathetic. In fact, that spell you used is an extremely powerful one! It couldn't even be completely undone by a reverse spell- that's pretty impressive!" I walked over to her, passing Gajeel and crouching down in front of her, "You could do some pretty amazing things with your talent." For a moment all she did was stare at me, at the way I was smiling at her after all she had done. Then… her eyes filled with tears and she bowed her head as if ashamed. "Why are you being so kind to me?"

"Well because I get where you're coming from. You were hurt and people do really stupid things when they're hurt. There's no reason for you to throw yourself into darkness because of it though."

"I get it now." A gentle smile spread across her face and she wiped her tears away, "I get why you were in pretty much all of his most precious memories." I felt my mouth drop open and she laughed at that, "Well you kept him from hurting me any further so I guess I should keep my end of the deal." She closed her eyes and began reciting words that translated into a spell similar to the spell I had used to bring his memories back. Once she was done, Gajeel's eyes fell closed and Lily only just managed to catch him in time before he hit the ground. "He should wake up in a few hours." She informed me and I nodded, keeping my eyes on Gajeel for a minute longer. "Thank you so much. I was so worried about him you know?"

"I know why Gajeel decided to join Fairy Tail…" She smiled at me, "It's because of people like you."


And there you have it! I had to stop writing there otherwise the chapter would have been way too long! I hope you enjoyed it! Leave me some feedback if you'd like!

I really hope you enjoyed it! Until next time guys~

Next chapter:

Chapter 12: Feelings