"Truth"

…

"Beast!" Laxus roared. "Come on out, beast! There's no need to be scared," he said in a patronizing tone.

Gajeel watched with sadness from his balcony. When he turned around to leave the room, Natsu stopped him with a touch to his claw. "What are you going to do?"

"It doesn't matter now," he said, wrenching his claw away and bounding down to the door.

…

The scene upon which Levy entered was truly horrific. Laxus and some sort of mercenary force had swarmed the fortress. Looking up at the Iron peaks, Laxus had Gajeel cornered.

"I've got to get the him!" Levy said aloud frantically. She quickly jumped down from Felipe and ran into the castle. Taking the steps two at a time, she made her way back up to the tower he had first held her prisoner.

Carefully, she inched her foot outside the window, clinging the the medal structure as she tried to make her way towards the iron dragon. The wind whipped her coat around her and her blue hair blew into her face.

"Gajeel!" she yelled as loud as she could!.

Further away, Gajeel was engaged with Laxus. The dragon just didn't have it in him to fight, despite all of the man's goading.

"What's the matter beast? Too kind and trusting to fight back?" He let out a booming laugh. "What, did you think you could trust someone like her?"

Gajeel groaned and crouched lower behind the current pillar obscuring his view. He didn't even know why he was bothering, he should just step out and let the man end it all. He felt so tired already. And perhaps, with his death, his Guildmates would go free. He at least owed it to them to try.

Stepping out from behind his spire, he left himself open on purpose. Laxus scoffed and twirled a medal device around his finger. "You see this? Her father designed it to kill you. She wasn't here to be your friend, she was here to collect Intel on you." Laxus was lying, of course, but it angered him that this dragon wasn't putting up a fight. He wouldn't be able to brag about this encounter the way he wanted if it looked like it was an easy kill.

Gajeel opened his eyes wide at that statement, not wanting to believe it but not knowing what to think. That's when he heard her voice, carrying across the fortress. "Gajeel!"

"Levy?" he turned to try and see her but just as she did, Laxus pulled the trigger on the device and a blue blast went sailing past him, grazing his shoulder.

He howled in pain as it tore scales away from his body and shred his flesh as it passed. He lost his grip on the spire in the process and began to slide down the castle.

"Gajeel, no!" Levy panicked. She felt completely helpless as she watched his body fall towards the ground. Breathing a sigh of relief and shedding tears of panic, she watched him grab another spire with his tail so he slowed his descent to the ground.

Laxus laughed, before jumping down to follow the dragon. Stepping back in through the window, Levy ran as fast as she could back down the stairs. Tripping over her own feet in her hurry, she fell to the floor just in front of Gajeel as Laxus and his officers swarmed around Gajeel.

"Levy?" Gajeel said, clearly in pain. Silver liquid was gushing from where his arm was torn and as Levy looked into his eyes, she could see he was in tremendous pain. "What happened? How did you make it back?"

Levy hushed the big dragon. "Don't talk now. I'm sorry. I lost the mirror when I confronted Laxus about my father. I never knew-" she began to sob on his chest, unable to finish her words.

"It's okay," Gajeel spoke.

"What?" Levy said, looking up, startled. "How-?"

How could Gajeel possibly believe her. After what Laxus had told him and done to him. After he found the hidden fortress and shot him with some perversion of her father's invention.

"Because, I trust you, Levy." As Gajeel said the words, he knew he meant them. All the pain and anger in his life that he had held onto from his father leaving left him with that breath. He didn't even question what Laxus had said. Looking into her eyes was all the proof he needed that this woman was here for him and would never do anything to hurt him.

"Well, isn't this sweet," Laxus said with a sarcastic tone as he approached the front of the group. "Move aside, Levy. It's time to let the beast go."

"No!" the girl screamed. "If you want to kill him, you'll have to go through me first," she said as she flung her small body across Gajeel.

"That can most certainly be arranged," Laxus said, taking aim with the device.

"Laxus, no!" The big blond whipped around as he heard his best friend's voice.

"Bickslow? What the fuck are you doing here?" he growled. His features softened though when Cana stepped out from behind his friend. "Cana?"

"We followed Levy through the woods," Bickslow responded.

"Please, don't do this, Laxus. Let it all go. I know you are trying to prove yourself somehow through this, but you don't need to. You have people waiting for you back home that love you," the girl said, full of emotion.

"Love?" Laxus choked the words out and Cana nodded. He looked at her and she nodded her head. That was all Laxus had ever truly wanted in this world. In many ways, he felt as alone as the dragon living in his fortress. He always thought it was his father's love he had been trying to earn, never knowing why the man had chosen to abandon him but, as he stood there, looking at his best friend and the woman he had come to care for, his own anguish began to fade away.

Tears began to well in his eyes and before he knew it, he had dropped the device to the floor.

A shot rang out and a scream died on the wind. Turning around, Laxus looked on in horror as a faint blue glow emanated from Levy's chest. Gajeel let out a howl of despair as he held the woman in his arms.

"Levy, no, please, God, no!" he howled so loud that everyone around him had to cover their ears.

"Goodness, you make such a racket," an elderly voice rang out across the entire group. Walking slowly towards the fortress was the pink haired woman Levy had met in the forest.

Seeing her, Gajeel instantly growled as she approached close, recognizing her instantly. "Witch! You're the one who cursed me!"

The woman scoffed. "And you're lucky I did, the way you were headed."

Laxus, Bickslow and Cana looked on in astonishment as the woman knelt in front of the beast. "I'll need my mirror," she said, holding a hand out to Laxus.

The big man wiped tears from his eyes and grabbed the object from his belt, not daring to fight with the woman. He could feel her power from where he was kneeling and knew better that she was something not to be trifled with.

"I never said you could give my mirror away, you know." She spoke to Gajeel in a scolding tone. As she talked, she worked her hands over the object and Gajeel looked on in wide eyes as it shifted into a small fluid ball. Separating the liquid, she pressed half into where the girl had been hit and the other half into his shoulder.

"There. That should fix you both," she said, standing up. Gajeel was about to speak but Levy blinked her eyes open and he was instantly distracted.

"Levy?" he said incredulously.

Levy lifted her fingers to his face and smiled. "I'm so glad you're safe." Levy blinked her eyes as as she looked over at the pink haired woman. "Who is she?"

Gajeel gulped. He'd never told her before that he was under a curse. Would she still feel the same way about him if she knew? Swallowing his pride and allowing his feelings of trust fill him for the woman in his arms, he took a deep breath. "She's the woman who cursed me. I wasn't born this way, Levy. Underneath it all, I'm actually human."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the pink haired woman smiled and waved her hands. Gajeel's body began to lift off the ground and was surrounded by an intense light.

Levy fell to the floor and pushed back quickly. She and the others looked up in awe, shielding their eyes from the intensity of it all.

"Gajeel. I am proud of you. You have found yourself through friendship and trust. Do not forget the lessons I taught you and know that I am always with you."

Gajeel heard the voice in his mind clearly. It was his father's voice, Metalicana's voice! "Father!" he called out but the vision was over too soon and he quickly found himself back on the ground.

"Father!" he repeated again and stopped in shock at the sound of his voice. Putting his hands up to his throat, his eyes went wide when he felt his own skin and not with claws, but with actual hands.

Levy looked in awe as a man fell to the earth from the bright sphere Gajeel had been trapped in. Turning around, he looked at her and she knew it instantly.

"Gajeel?" she said, scrambling over to his side. "It's really you?" She knew it the moment she looked into his crimson gaze. It was Gajeel, there was no mistaking it. She reached up, running her fingers through his long dark locks before tracing the small metal rivets down the sides of his nose and eyebrows.

She barely had a moment to catch her breath before the man moved in to capture her lips. They were soft and as she breathed in, his iron scent was still the same and she melted into his embrace.

A loud noise distracted them and had everyone turning their attention to the fortress. Mouths dropped open as the castle began to shrink in size. Living furniture began pouring out, surrounded by their own glowing light before people dropped to the ground.

Gajeel rushed forward towards them. "Natsu?!" he exclaimed as the candelabra revealed a pink headed young man. "Gray, and Mira? Wendy too! Oh my God, you're all here!"

Gajeel very uncharacteristically embraced all his old Guildmates, elated that everyone had made it through the curse.

Turning back around, Gajeel was shocked to find Laxus striding up to him, his hand outstretched. Gajeel took the offer uncertainly and Laxus bowed. "I am sorry. I allowed my pride to cloud my judgment. I spoke lies earlier but you saw through them. I ask for your forgiveness."

Gajeel nodded and pulled the man in for an embrace without saying a word. When the two parted, Laxus stepped back and Cana ran into his arms, kissing him for all she was worth. Laxus broke the encounter and much to Cana's shock, knelt down on one knee. "Cana Alberona. You've given me something I never thought I deserved. If you'll marry me, I promise I'll work the rest of my life to show you I deserve it."

Cana could barely get her words of acceptance out of her mouth before she was leaping into the blonde's arms.

Bickslow nearly cried at the scene before him. As he put his hand in his own pocket, he gripped the ring he had bought for Lisana, vowing to do the same for her as soon as he returned home.

The pink haired woman cleared her throat over the crowd. "Well, all I have to say is that I hope you all learned your lesson." She turned her attention to Laxus. "I'm glad you came to your senses before I had to put a curse on you. Don't think I wasn't watching you through my mirror. And Gajeel," she barked and the man looked instantly afraid but her gaze softened as she took in the couple. "Don't fuck this up."

And with that, she waved her hands and everyone woke up the next morning, in their respective homes.

END CHAPTER 14

…

Hang in there with me. There's an epilogue to go and then this tale is wrapping up. I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I had bringing this world to life in a different way.

Musicera