Chapter 9
Cobra pulled his jacket on as he heard Jellal and Meredy gathering their offering for the food table at Fairy Tail Guild Hall today.
"Come on you slow pokes." Cobra called from the door.
"Just a minute." Meredy called back to him.
He heard them zip the backpack Jellal had stuffed everything into and then they moved quickly towards the door.
It was unusual to see Jellal actually dressed down, but Cobra had to admit, the man pulled off plain jeans and a t-shirt just fine. He just liked being a stickler on their missions. Only when they went to Fairy Tail did he ever pull out the jeans.
Cobra had a theory it was because after the Dragon Fight, half the guild got involved in a general competition and Erza and Laxus always urged him into it as well. Despite the fact that technically Crime Sorciere wasn't a part of Fairy Tail.
"You sure you don't want to come Ultear?" Cobra called back to the apartment from the doorway.
"Go away." The woman shouted back at him.
He grinned as he closed the door. Jellal gave him a dramatic sigh as they headed for the elevator. "Maybe next time she'll learn to not drink with Gray and Lyon. Bet they'll be at the fight today." Cobra said.
Last night, the three had gone out due to it being her mother's death anniversary or something like that. All three had been students of her mother at some point or another, though not at the same time. Ultear had left young when she was in a period of hating her mother for not teaching her the stronger Ice Make magic, and then Ur had taken on the boys.
Cobra was aware her mother had died protecting them from some major bad thing and Ultear never got to see her mother again. Now she had vowed to get to know Gray and Lyon better, in order to understand how her mother had chosen to die for kids not even related to her.
"Maybe." Jellal shrugged as he pushed the button to close the doors.
"But, she has fun, right?" Meredy asked.
"Probably." Cobra tilted his head.
They were in the lobby of their apartment building when Jellal spoke up again. "So, why the jacket today? You never wear that thing."
"Got a date after the fight."
"Assuming you come out cleanly? With who?" Jellal frowned at him.
"Kinana." Cobra held the door open for them as he reached to put his headphones on.
They were great. After a couple years of just having to deal with all the noise of the city, Freed Justine had finally finished the intricate runes on the headphones.
Kinana had explained the other day that it took so long because he was trying to keep the music aspect of the headphones intact while restricting Cobra's hearing abilities to minimum volume. He could still hear everything around him, but it was all at the lowest volume possible. Even Jellal and Meredy beside him. He could arrange individual voices to be heard clearly over everything simply by attuning their magical energy to the headphones, which he'd done with his team and Kinana already.
"Liking those things are you?" Jellal asked.
"Loving them. Wish he'd gotten them done sooner, but eh, beggars can't be choosers." Cobra shrugged.
"They look cool." Meredy said.
He had to admit, the pair Justine had picked to inscribe were pretty neat. Dark ruby red bar and ear pieces, with gold and purple trim and etching marks. He'd even inscribed the runes into the bar and ears and done them up in gold to match. As if they were actually a part of the original thing.
He really did love them. It had been nice of the Legion Wizard to come to their apartment shortly after they'd met and Rune his bedroom. Burying himself in blankets and pillows was only so effective. And he couldn't live in his bed.
"Come on, we'll be late." Jellal said as he looked at his phone.
"Yada, they can't start the fights missing a Dragon." Cobra shrugged, but he still hurried to keep up with the other man.
xx
Kinana watched as a crowd of people gathered in the small field of Fairy Tail. There were some laying out blankets and setting up chairs even as Freed and Levy prepared the sphere that would hover above the field and hold the Dragons.
She'd been surprised his barrier held all seven of them at full power and he'd confided that it was a very special kind of Rune.
It was one of his secret abilities, Living Runes. The more magic the Dragon's exerted, the stronger the barrier was. It fed off them. And when he broke it, all that magic went back to the source, re-energizing all of them.
It had also been the Runes he used on those headphones he'd been working on for a year now.
She really hoped Cobra was able to use them.
She sighed as she saw him and Jellal and Meredy come around the corner of the building.
"Welcome." She said as they came towards the table she stood at.
"Hey. I'll take this to Mira, alright?" Jellal asked.
Kinana nodded. "That'll be great. Thanks."
"I'm going to find Wendy and Miss Juvia." Meredy started off and Jellal caught the back of her shirt.
"Do not wander off Fairy Tail property, do not pick a fight with anyone. If someone wants to fight, find a Fairy Tail member first."
"I know already." Meredy brushed his hand off. "I'm not five." She raced off to find her friend.
Jellal sighed. "Could have fooled me."
Cobra laughed as the other man headed for the Hall.
Kinana smiled as she watched the two. "It's good you have friends." She said to Cobra.
"Yeah. If you can call them that." He shrugged.
She laughed. "You do."
"Hey, get your ass over here." She heard Laxus shout from where the other six were starting to gather in the middle of where Freed and Levy were writing in the air.
Cobra sighed. "Well...I guess I'll see you after the fight?"
"Yeah. I'll be helping Mira set up the Hall really quick after you guys get done and then we can go."
He nodded before heading off to where the others were waiting.
xx
Levy hoped she'd done her script right as she watched the seven of them start to float up into the air.
Wendy bounced as she kept her stability, while Laxus and Gajeel took more balanced positions.
The two Sabertooth Dragons had briefly introduced themselves and Levy had been there when they had apologized to Mira about their normal companions being gone. The two women had gone off on missions and hadn't gotten back in time. Levy honestly didn't mind not meeting more people, though she supposed it was respectful to at least meet the partners of the local Dragons, considering the entire race was known for being extremely powerful and not always restrained. She couldn't really afford to offend them.
She felt someone touch her shoulder and jumped slightly.
"Come on Levy, there is a really good seat on the roof." She turned to see Lily.
"Really?" Levy frowned.
"Absolutely." Lily nodded. "I'll take you up. Lucy and Juvia and Gray are already up there."
"Well...alright." Levy looked up at the roof as Lily moved to take hold of the back of her shirt.
Lily took her up to a balcony kind of ledge on the roof, looking out over the field.
"Welcome to the best seat in the house." Lucy said cheerfully as she shifted over on the cushion by the edge.
Levy had come to like the tall, voluptuous, blond woman in the short time she'd been a member of Fairy Tail. Lucy was an aspiring writer as well as a capable Stellar Key Wizard. She also kept a fairly decent hold on Natsu's more rampant destructive tendencies.
"Are you going to cheer for Gajeel?" Juvia asked.
"Well..." Levy started. "I think he'd enjoy winning."
"Juvia has known Gajeel for a very long time, but Juvia knows that this time he'll put his whole self into this fight." Juvia asked.
Levy looked at the other blue haired woman.
She'd been told about how Juvia and Gajeel were both a part of a Dark Guild before joining Fairy Tail, but looking at the woman, it was hard to believe.
She was just too cheerful and kind. She always played with Wendy and Romeo and Meredy. She almost obsessed over Gray, to the point that Levy had seen him get uncomfortable with the level of affection in the Guild Hall.
It was just hard to imagine the same woman nearly killing Lucy and Gray only a couple years before. The same person who'd had the capability and the will to flood all of Magnolia just over the order to get rid of Fairy Tail.
Levy watched Gray settle on the edge of the balcony and he held out a couple of large mugs to Juvia.
The woman took hold of them and he shifted to pull the small backpack off his shoulder and opened it up.
"Does Gajeel normally not put his best effort into this?" Levy asked.
"Well..." Juvia started. She seemed hesitant.
"It's okay Juvia. Gajeel won't mind her knowing." Lily said as he sat beside Levy, between the two blue haired women.
"Yet he hasn't told her himself." Juvia sighed. Levy frowned until the woman handed back one of the mugs to Gray and took hold of a sandwich he traded her. "I suppose, since he does have intentions...Gajeel has never given his all in anything Juvia has seen him do. He's more powerful than he lets on because...Gajeel is the son of a very powerful, very much royal, lineage. His father, Metalicana, is one of the oldest Dragons in known existence. Far more than even Acknologia or Igneel. In fact, Gajeel has told Juvia that his father is more than just strong among Dragons, he is the equivalent of the King of Dragons."
Levy felt her eyes widen as she looked at the large man in the orb, getting ready to fight six other Dragons.
"It's true Lev." Lucy said. "Natsu beat Gajeel when Phantom Lord attacked, but only because Gajeel was not at all taking him seriously. He's only half Dragon, so Gajeel went very easy on him. And he really had no intention of fighting anyway because Jose had pissed him off recently. He does a lot of things by his whims. You might have seen the other day when Laxus hit Natsu with that bolt?"
Levy nodded. "Yeah, he said that was half power for him. Natsu is pretty tough."
Lucy smiled. "He is. But Laxus is stronger still. His mother was a Dragon and his biological father is also a Dragon, but from two separate families of Light type Dragons. Tehcnically Makarov isn't his grandfather, but no one else knows or cares. Gramps is special to us all." Lucy said. "Anyway, that half bolt puts Natsu out for hours. That same level of power won't even scratch Gajeel, and Metal is weak to Lightning."
Levy frowned again. "So...Gajeel is usually just playing around with them?"
"Gajeel is a monster." Gray said. "No other words to say it. Man is a beast and I respect that, but he scares the shit out of me. I can usually go head to head against Natsu, so I'm by no means weak. And partnered with Juvia as support, I'm almost triple my usual strength in Magic. Those Dragons are a class all their own. Laxus could wipe the floor with Natsu, myself, Elfman, and probably half the guild combined, short of Mira and Erza and Guildarts. He'd have some serious trouble against Erza's Lighting God armor set."
"But if Gajeel didn't hold back, if he drew on all his power, he'd probably take Laxus out in seconds." Lucy shuddered.
Levy stared at the group in the bubble as Sting and Rogue launched the first attack.
"I knew Dragons were strong...but that much?" Levy shook her head.
"Acknologia is thought to be the strongest Dragon, but honestly, my money would be on a team up of Gajeel and Laxus against him. In his Dragon form, he still wouldn't stand much of a chance against them."
Levy watched as Laxus flashed around the bubble, irritating Cobra's hearing and she could faintly catch it as he sent tiny shocks out every time he passed Wendy. Not enough to do any real damage to her, but enough to throw her off.
He seemed to be getting a kick out of it.
Gajeel was taking on Rogue with no problems at all.
Levy sighed as she took in how powerful these seven had the potential to get.
This was just the warm up. The 'hey, how have you been' part of the fight.
xx
Juvia sighed as she watched Rogue finally tap out of the bubble.
Gajeel had played with him for almost half an hour before Natsu and Gajeel tag teamed both Sabertooth Dragons to get them out of the fight. Rogue would always be a little weaker than Gajeel.
Levy hadn't looked scared at their telling her that Gajeel was essentially only using maybe five percent of his power, tops. Ever. Laxus tended to sit somewhere about twenty-five percent at any given time. Natsu maybe stayed around half power or so. Cobra only tended to use his full strength in these fights as well. But if the skill Sting and Rogue showed was any indication, they used seventy-five all the time. They had a long way to go.
Now the real fun could begin.
Wendy and Cobra checked out ten minutes ago, in order for her to heal the broken arm Cobra had gotten from Rogue knocking Gajeel into him.
The whole field had gone quiet at that moment.
Laxus had set up his traps and Cobra had gotten caught. The cage held him still while Laxus was busy playing around with untangling himself from Wendy's air pocket.
The Lighting Dragon hadn't been able to open his cage for Cobra as Gajeel was unable to change direction or slow himself down from the blast Rogue had hit him with. It hadn't done damage to Gajeel, but Gajeel's metal body had hit Cobra with the force of a truck.
Normally such injuries were very rare, but they tended to be severe enough to need immediate attention.
Juvia felt bad for the Poison Dragon, because he had been doing so well against Laxus until then.
She watched as the three left took positions where they could see each other.
Natsu was panting a little, but the other two weren't even out of breath in the least.
This could easily go on for an hour more.
She caught the grin as Gajeel looked at Laxus and then the Lighting Dragon vanished.
Gajeel launched at Natsu, and the younger man braced himself.
But Gajeel never made contact.
Juvia laughed as Laxus slammed into Natsu from the side, taking him off his feet and putting enough energy through his body to have him passing out.
Both men took hold of Lucy's partner and lowered him out of the bubble to Bickslow and Elfman before facing each other.
The crowd was in awe at seeing the two who normally quit halfway through actually go head to head for once.
They were showing their real strength today.
xx
Author's Note: Hey everyone, sorry this is a bit late today. This past week has not been good for me at all. It finally improved last night when I got to do a server play of Minecraft with some friends of mine for my birthday. That was quite fun, but the rest of the week did not go nearly as well. I had a really bad episode of depression and the anxiety just keeps getting worse. I'm really trying to work on getting into a situation with less anxiety, but until then, I get to keep dealing with at least one to two anxiety attacks a day and the usual depression. I'll try not to let them interfere and hopefully I'll have the next chapter up on time. Again, sorry this one is a bit late by my clock, but 'Life'. Honestly, it's not worth it sometimes if it wasn't for my writing and all of you who love reading my stuff...so, thanks to all of you for being there and if any of you are having bad times too, I really hope my stories and the others on this site make things better for you. Like everyone keeps telling me (though I'm not sure on the validity of it): things will get better. Eventually.