Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 13

Carry Me Home

Eventually, Gazille worked up the courage to go to apologize to Levi. He stood outside of her bedroom for a while, hearing someone muttering inside. Gazille thought how similar and repetitive this routine could get. He stood outside so long that a rather large crowd had gathered before he made up his mind to knock.

"Hey, Levi. I'm sorry about before. Can I come in?" There was no response. In fact, it was eerily quiet. Gazille frowned and pressed his ear to the door. He could hear Erza whispering nervously, but couldn't quite make out what she was saying.

"Oi! Erza? What's going on in there?" He paused only a moment before deciding to go in. What he saw was completely unexpected.

The bed was stripped of its sheets, and Erza had been dragged in front of the window. Levi was nowhere to be seen.

"Erza," Gazille growled. "Where is she?"

"I have failed you, Master! Please, do not hesitate to punish me! Chop me up for firewood if you must, but—"

"Erza!" Gazille interrupted. "Answer the question. Where. Is. She?" He circled the large wardrobe, until he stood between her and the window where he saw his answer. Gazille roared in anger. There was a long rope of sheets tied at the end to Erza's handles, stretching out of the window.

"There wasn't anything I could do, Master! I…I don't have arms, you see, so—"

"SHUT UP! I don't want your excuses," Gazille snapped, glaring daggers at his servant. He darted to the windowsill and looked down to see Levi's small footprints in the snow, leading out of the gate and into the forest. He grabbed the first coat he could find from Erza and dashed down the stairs and out into the cold.

Gazille sniffed the air, trying to find Levi's sweet scent, but he was thrown off by the now full-blown snowstorm. Levi's tracks were slowly being covered, so there was no time to lose. Gazille dashed off into the howling wind, running more quickly on all fours. He heard loud howling from the woods and struggled to pick up the pace. The wolves in this forest came out at night, and they were vicious.

Finally, Gazille found Levi surrounded by a pack of wolves. The small girl had fallen at the foot of a tree and was slowly being backed up to the trunk. Gazille let out a dangerous snarl, and all eyes were on him. He saw the fear in Levi's large brown eyes, how terrified and cold she must have been. That was all Gazille needed to go on a frenzy.

He dashed at the wolves surrounding her, ripping and biting as he went. Somewhere in the middle of their brawl, the largest one of the pack had managed to wrap its fangs around Gazille's thick shoulder. Even Gazille's sharp scales couldn't deter the protective canine's bite, and he could feel the tender flesh beneath his hard exoskeleton being shredded.

Gazille fought through the pain and took down the entire pack, ripping the alpha off of his back and throwing it onto the red stained ground. Then he noticed the pool of blood surrounding him, and the pain from his shoulder raged out of control. He took a few staggering steps toward Levi before blacking out.

. . .

When Gazille woke up, he was sitting in his armchair in front of a roaring fire with an aching pain in his shoulder. Levi was at the door call for someone to bring her more bandages and another bowl of water. When she turned and saw that Gazille was awake, she hurried to his side.

"How do you feel?" she asked softly. Her large brown eyes looked even more beautiful in the firelight, despite the worried upturn of her eyebrows. Gazille didn't like for Levi to worry about him. It was his job to do that for her.

"I'm fine," he said gruffly, trying to get up from his seat, only to be pushed down by Levi's surprisingly strong hands. She looked angry now.

"Don't be stupid! A wolf nearly bit your arm off, idiot! You have to take it easy!" Gazille could tell that Levi had been really upset by this, so he did as he was told.

Just then a tray holding gauze and a big tub of water floated in. Mirajane could be heard tip-tapping away conspiratorially, grinning as she made her way to the balcony of the room just across from the couple for the best view. Levi called her thanks after her, and began squeezing out a blood-covered sponge into the basin.

Gazille frowned and turned to assess his damage. There was a clear bite mark on and just above his shoulder blade that had obviously been bleeding horribly, if his red-stained shirt in the corner could be used as evidence. The wound disgustingly gnarled his already alarming skin, deep gashes marking where the wolf's teeth had sunk into his skin.

"I'm going to clean it again," Levi said, trying to sound as unthreatening as possible. "I'm using some antibacterial potion that Mirajane came up with, so it may sting a bit." Levi raised her eyebrows, making sure that Gazille was ready, before quickly applying a potion-soaked cloth to the affected area. Gazille howled in pain and lashed out, knocking Levi back a couple of yards.

"Don't do that!" Gazille roared.

"I have to!" Levi shrieked in response.

"Just let me get an infection and bandage it up! It can't be any more unpleasant than that!"

"No! It has to be properly treated or you'll die!" That shut Gazille up. He huffed angrily and gestured for Levi to come back and do it. Levi shook her head as she rose from the ground where she'd fallen and roughly slapped the cloth back onto the gashes. Gazille howled and snarled but dug his talons into the seat cushion to keep from throwing her again.

"Now, was that so hard?" Levi asked when the medicine had taken affect. Gazille rolled his eyes.

"It wouldn't have been if you hadn't hit me with it," he growled.

"Well, I wouldn't have hit you with it if you hadn't knocked me against a wall." There was silence as Levi slowly wrapped his shoulder in white bandages. Gazille was starting to get uncomfortable, embarrassed, rather, at Levi's gentle touch on his bare scales. He knew she must feel repulsed that she had to touch him like this.

"Can't you hurry up?" Gazille muttered, starting to get antsy. Levi sighed softly.

"No, I don't want to hurt you more than you already are." Another silence.

"Where did you learn to treat injuries?" Gazille asked, genuinely curious.

"My dad's an inventor, so he gets hurt sometimes. We don't really have enough money to pay for a doctor, so I learned pretty quickly." Levi was slightly embarrassed to admit that she had lived in relative poverty in front of this prince who owned half of a forest.

"That's pretty impressive," Gazille grinned. Levi blushed and smiled. Mirajane swooned.

Levi cleared her throat before commenting, "You know, you're pretty heavy. Don't ever pass out with just me around again." She bit her lip thinking, Don't even be in a situation where you would pass out again.

Gazille was surprised; this girl had carried him all the way back home? That was utterly ridiculous and…amazing. Gazille smiled and nodded his head, ruffling Levi's hair with his good arm. She lifted her hands away from him, and took a step back.

"All done," she said, and Gazille got up slowly, staring down at her. He licked his lips, thinking he should say something, but not knowing what. He just ruffled her hair again and grabbed his ruined shirt before opening the door.

"Thank you," he heard her whisper. He smiled.

"Thank you," he replied before walking away.

Author's Note:

Haha Did I say tomorrow? I meant…in a few months? Sorry about that. Thank you for waiting and sending me such lovely comments, though. I really hoped that this chapter was worth it as well as the rest of the story COMING SOON (I hope). I have to read I lot for school this summer, but whenever I get bored I'll be working on this! Expect more plot development as the story comes to a close!