Chapter 29

Gajeel scowled as he worked on the first floor of the house.

It pissed him off the more he thought about it.

Two days now he'd been back, doing odd jobs for the Old Man between sessions of working on the house.

He'd gotten the framing in for the two floors. He wiped his brow as he swung his leg over the beam of the second floor rafter.

The wood had come from all the trees he'd cut down and planed and imbued with Dragon Script magic to last and not warp or crack.

He twitched his ears as he heard the wind change.

He pushed up and swung himself to stand on the rafter above him.

The trees were still tall, but he could see the swirling clouds above Magnolia.

There was a flash of light and he heard cussing.

He blinked his eyes as he saw his barrier ripple. Everything around Magnolia had vanished as sure as the town had.

He jumped down as he saw Mistogan at his door.

"Shit. I was hoping I'd make it in time. You have to help me Redfox, I can't do this on my own." The hooded Mage spoke in a tone that Gajeel knew was desparation.

"What's going on? Where is the guild?" Gajeel asked.

"Gone."

Gajeel scowled as he towered over the other Mage.

"You can glare at me all you want, but unless you help, I can't get it back." Mistogan said.

"Why is it gone?"

"I've been holding a bit of a secret from all of you. I'm not-"

"From this world, I know. You smelled different and my father told me stories of a mirror world. I just thought it was a bedtime story."

"Well, it's not. I'm from that world and there are portals opening, sucking up the natural magic from this world." Mistogan motioned at the portal above them. "We need to go into there to get Magnolia back."

"That's where..." Gajeel stopped himself.

"Levy is?" Mistogan finished. "Yeah, so we'd better hurry."

xXx

Levy couldn't remember what just happened.

One second she was laughing with the rest of the guild in the hall, the next second Jet and Droy were using their magic to make a living shield.

She turned in the bubble of crystal and saw several others. Mostly all the stronger members of the guild.

Mira and her brother, Cana, Freed and his teammates, and the Master.

"What's going on?" Levy looked at Master Makarov.

"I thought Mistogan was keeping these closed, but it would appear not." The little old man said.

"What?" Levy frowned.

He briefly explained the situation to them all.

Levy couldn't believe it, she'd read the books he gave her, but she never thought she'd end up in Edolas.

"Why are we the only ones awake?"

"Everyone else is the crystal around us. I think our stronger magic is too much to handle and so it encased us instead." Master Makarov said.

"But I'm not powerful..." Levy said.

"As if, no one weak would be able to pair off with the Metal Dragon's son so easily if they were weak." Cana said as she tried to look through the crystal.

Levy frowned at her words.

"Cana is right dear, you're strong in magic even if not in body." Mira assured.

Freed nodded. "You are the prodigy of the family."

"What?" Bickslow gasped.

Evergreen frowned. "Family?"

"Yes, Levy is my cousin, which is why I begged Master Laxus and Master Makarov to let her stay when I found her in the destroyed village." Freed said.

"Wow. I thought she just had the same magic and so you liked her." Bickslow sat against the wall.

Freed frowned at him and sighed.

"Anyway, what are we going to do?" Levy asked.

"There is nothing we can do but hope our resident Slayers can get us out of this mess. Edolas fears them because they are immune to this effect."

"But...aren't we too?" Elfman asked.

"No, I can feel Gray and Erza are in their own crystal near here." The Master shook his head. "We just got unlucky that they were upstairs checking on something for me."

Levy sighed as she sat beside the wall of the dome.

She could only put her faith in Gajeel.

xXx

Gajeel kept his hood pulled down as he walked through the shady part of the city.

The lights were broken more times than not and he could swear the ground was a toxic zone.

He followed the reporter and again felt slightly awed that this man was supposed to be his mirror image.

"Just in here." Redfox said and Gajeel nodded as the door was unlocked.

Gajeel looked around the room.

It looked like the back room of a bar, filled with crates and barrels of booze.

Cana would be in heaven.

"Up here please."

He grimaced.

He'd never get used to his other self being a polite...reporter...it disgusted him slightly.

But he followed the other man upstairs and into a posh looking apartment room.

"What the hell?" Gajeel frowned.

"Deceptive isn't it?" Redfox smiled as he took a seat on the desk chair and motioned to the couch.

"Completely." Gajeel looked at the plush leather couch before sitting.

The room wasn't something he could see himself out of place in.

Decked out in dark golds, reds, black accent, and genuine brown leather furniture, it looked pretty good.

"Got a picture of this place?"

"Sure." Redfox pulled out a stack of pictures. "I had some I was going to give to my parents tonight, you can have a couple."

"Your..." Gajeel looked down as he realized that nothing was remotely the same.

"You don't have parents?" Redfox pulled out a notebook. "I'd like to write down some things if you don't mind. I want to make up a book to pass on to my kids about how I met my mirror image."

"Yeah sure." Gajeel waved it off. "It's just, my father is a Dragon and he's gone missing. My mother was human and died in childbirth."

Redfox leaned over as he paused and touched Gajeel's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"It happens."

Redfox jumped up. "Hey, come on, you can meet my parents and I'll try and get you as much information about what's been going on for the past few weeks. Maybe it'll help you get back home."

"Wouldn't you lose your source of magic?" Gajeel frowned as the man collected his photos and put several in Gajeel's hand.

"Doesn't matter. I can't abide killing someone else for their magic. Besides, Ms McGarden helps me under the table. She likes to tinker with machines and try to find a way to do things without Magic."

"Levy?"

Redfox nodded as he led the way downstairs.

"A mechanic Levy?" Redfox pulled out a picture from his wallet as they stood in the bright light of the back room. Gajeel looked at the most adorable picture of a longer haired Levy wearing cargo pants and a tank top with a over-shirt tied around her hips and a dressed down Redfox with his suit jacket tossed over his shoulder and his tie loosened.

Levy was holding his hand with her right as her other was fiddling nervously with the knot at her waist. Redfox was leaning down to kiss her cheek.

It made Gajeel a little jealous. "Well I'll be damned."

"Yeah, she's pretty awesome." Redfox took back the picture and led him back out into the streets.

Gajeel just shrugged.

xXx

Redfox fell quiet as they came up to a higher class blacksmithing shop.

Gajeel took in a heavy breath of the metal.

His mother was a smith and his father was a retired fighter who'd been called the Metal Dragon based on his armor and his name.

He pushed the doors open and his father looked up.

Gajeel stood in the doorway with his hood pulled low as Redfox flipped the open sign over.

"Son, been wondering if you'd ever come visit and bring that girl back, she's a doll." His father said.

Redfox laughed. "Levy and I had plans to take you both out to dinner tonight, but I wanted someone to meet you."

Redfox motioned to Gajeel and he watched his father stand up as Gajeel pulled his hood back.

"Dad." Gajeel spoke quietly.

"What?" His father frowned.

"Father, this is Gajeel from Earthland. Those stories were true, there really are other worlds."

His father came around the counter to look closer at Gajeel.

Gajeel stood there, looking less like the fierce Metal Dragon Slayer he was and more like a boy in front of his father.

"Sorry, it's just that you look exactly like what my father looked like back home."

"Metalicana." His father said.

Gajeel looked up.

"Yeah, I'm the Edolas Metal Dragon. It's been a long time since I've been able to see through my dreams to your world. Back when your father lost his mate, it hit us both hard. I nearly lost my wife that day too. I couldn't stand seeing my mirror self so unhappy, so I forced myself to break the connection."

Gajeel just gasped.

Redfox knew it was a good thing for the other Gajeel to meet his father. He watched his father pull Gajeel into a hug.

"I'm so sorry boy, you must have hurt for so long losing your mother like that."

Redfox turned for the back room and pushed the door open. He headed into the forge room and found his mother tinkering with her tools again.

"Mother? I have someone who needs to meet you."

"What? Gaje?" She turned to face him and Redfox wondered if this was the right move.

xXx

Gajeel stepped back from the human Metalicana.

It was a shock for sure.

All these years, his other half had been able to keep his family together and relatively happy.

"You're going to find that old lizard, I promise. He's not dead, I can be sure of that. I'd have felt it. We human Dragon mirrors are far more in tune than normal people can ever hope to be. Grandine left a long while ago through an Anima to find her other half, so I'm one of the only ones left here."

"Hey, Gajeel." Redfox spoke up and Gajeel looked to the doorway.

He felt his heart stop for a moment.

It was his mother.

She came to him and hugged him.

Gajeel brought his arms up to hug her in return.

"I'm sorry for all your pain my son." She said and Gajeel broke down.

He fell to his knees.

It didn't matter that she wasn't his actual mother. She was his mirror half's mother. Which was good enough.

She brushed her hands through his hair.

"You're definitely my Gaje's mirror image. Much more than my own son. I love these studs. I wish my son would let me do another to him."

"No thank you, the ones I have are plenty." Redfox said.

Gajeel took in a deep breath and reveled in the scent of metals.

"So what is your home like?" She asked as she stepped back from him.

He stood up and looked down at her.

"I...I lost my parents, but I found a great guild. I'm even working on getting my version of Levy to accept being my Mate." Gajeel said.

"Mate? You're not just a...what do they call it? Slayer?" She frowned.

"No, my father helped turn me into a full Dragon. I'm a real Metal Dragon like him." He said.

Gajeel found himself talking about a lot of things that had happened.

It was another half hour before Redfox looked at the clock.

"We need to head out for information."

"Oh, Gajeel." She spoke as he turned for the door. "I know your mother hasn't completely left. Her soul is still with your father and you, waiting for a body to call her own again. I have a feeling she'll come back once your father can collect his...Magic to create her one that won't be destroyed."

Gajeel nodded.

He wanted to believe her.

He followed Redfox out the door and looked one last time at the older couple.

"You alright? I didn't do something wrong did I?" Redfox asked. Gajeel laughed as he slung his arm around the other man's shoulder.

"No. I'm glad you did that. Thank you. It means more than you can imagine to see my parents, even if they aren't technically mine."

Redfox nodded as he returned the embrace of brothers.

"Good."

"Honestly, I'm rather jealous of you. Your life seems so much better."

"But much less exciting. You've had experiences I can only dream of. I wonder if we'll ever be able to connect like our fathers did?"

"Maybe, I mean I am a Dragon." Gajeel laughed again as he heard the wistful note in the other man's voice.

"Very true." Redfox said as they made their way through town.

xXx

Levy sat in front of the wall as the other members took their nap.

It was quite boring as she and Freed were staring at the image of Gajeel projected on the crystal wall.

The words were faint, but they could make it out. As he headed into town again after leaving his parents from Edolas, the image flickered and died.

"I'm surprised that lasted so long." Freed said once it ended.

"I'm still trying to figure out what was causing us to see him." Levy said. She shook her head. "But I'm glad Gajeel got to see his Edolas family."

"Yes, he does seem happier." Freed nodded.

"And apparently my other self is a mechanic." Levy wasn't sure how she felt about that.

Would Gajeel like her mirror self more?

She was into metals more than Levy.

She was prettier than Levy...

Definitely had a more womanly figure...

Levy sat against the wall and Freed sat beside her.

"What's bothering you cousin?"

"It's just...what if Gajeel likes this Mechanic Levy because his other half does?"

"I'm sure Gajeel likes you for who you are. Who could not? You're a strong Mage, you're brilliant enough to outshine even me, and you have a gift for making friends with even the most ornery of people."

"But none of that is what people would like about me." Levy said.

"I rescind my brilliance comment. Levy, I'll be blunt, you're not tall and voluptuous, you're not a hands on Mage, and you're most definitely not physically what most men look for."

"Thanks a lot." She mumbled.

Freed reached to tilt her head up to look at him.

He kissed her forehead.

"But you don't need to be a model like Mira or physically powerful like Erza. I'm certain Gajeel has had plenty of opportunity to find himself a woman that fits that description if he wanted, yet he doesn't. I've seen how he looks at you. I've seen the way he looks at others. Most of the guild gets his boredom stare, some he's entertained or angry with, but only you have ever held the same fire in his eyes that I saw on both our parents faces before we lost them. He may not outright say it, because he's just not a wordy person, but I'm certain that he loves you enough to cross oceans and fire."

Levy smiled. She knew Gajeel cared about her. But she wanted to hear it from someone who had seen them both.

"Believe me, Gajeel is lucky to have you. You are sweet and caring, devoted and brave, and I'm sure if you can stand your ground against Master Laxus, then you can handle any broad who might set her eyes on your Dragon." Freed said.

Levy blushed.

"My Dragon?"

"Of course. Just as I know Master Laxus will likely be Miss Mira's Dragon. He's had a crush on her for years."

Levy laughed. "Everyone thinks you have one on him."

"Contraire, I respect him, unlike most people who see our type of Magic as absurd. I will admit that I am fascinated by his level of dedication to his guild even misdirected, and his loyalty to his team appeals greatly. But I do not have a crush on him. I do not have my eyes on anyone in that manner." Freed said.

Levy smiled.

"I just let them all think that because they give me a hard time and keep their focus off Master Laxus and his tendency to stare at Miss Mira."

Levy laughed as she was told the secret.

It made sense.

She couldn't wait to get back home.

She had to have faith that Gajeel would save them all.

He could choose to give up Magic and stay with this family, and she wouldn't blame him.

It might hurt, but she'd understand.

She found herself drifting to sleep against Freed's shoulder.