Chapter 53

Pantherlily jolted out of his bed and was into battle form as he moved out the door.

He heard Metalicana stumbling out of the bedroom he was set up in and they both opened the door to Levy and Gajeel's room.

He sighed as the soft lights Rai had set up around the place illuminated enough to see that everything was fine.

The scream was nothing more than Gajeel scaring Levy again.

It was the second time in the past week.

Metalicana sighed as he and Lily saw her holding Gajeel again.

Levy held up her hands to brush through Gajeel's unruly hair and Lily shrank down and flew over to the bed.

"Shh, it's alright. I'm right here." Levy said softly.

It had been just over a month since Laxus healed up and he and Rai and his crew headed out for some training with the Strauss family.

Gajeel shuddered as he pulled Levy closer.

He put his hand over her stomach and his head on her tiny shoulder.

Lily heard Metalicana walking quietly to the bed.

The nightmares were getting worse as Levy got closer to Grandine's estimated due date.

Lily wished there was something he could do for his friend.

xXx

Gajeel could feel the rumbling of his inner Dragon as his father sat on the bed beside him.

Metalicana began humming an old Dragon lullaby.

One he had heard several times this past month, but not since he was a little child before that.

It was enough to calm his nerves as Levy stroked his hair.

She was there.

Not dead. Not drowning. The baby was fine.

He felt a tiny bump under his hand.

Hell, even his kid was trying to make him feel better.

Gajeel wanted to beat himself.

It was his job to make sure his child never feared anything, not the other way around.

But Gajeel was afraid.

Of losing Levy.

He turned his head slightly as she raised her hand again and kissed the inside of her wrist.

Metalicana finished the lullaby and put his hand on Gajeel's shoulder.

"It'll all be alright." His father said.

Levy leaned to put her lips to his temple.

"I'll never leave you willingly Gajeel." She said.

Those words sank in again, almost like a trigger phrase.

She said it every time he woke her up like this.

And he knew she meant it.

The warmth down their Bond was nothing to frown at.

She could never lie to him about this.

She loved him as much as he loved her.

But she could never need him like he needed her.

Without her, the old Black Steel would be back.

And he never wanted to become that person again.

Metalicana slowly got up and Gajeel reached to snag his fathers hand and squeeze it quickly before letting go.

His father squeezed back before heading back to his own bed.

Lily patted his leg under the blanket before flying back to his own room as well.

"God I'm pathetic." Gajeel mumbled as he used his magic to lock the door.

His father had unlocked it so easily that he knew locking it would only be a deterrent to non-Dragon individuals. Any Dragon would have just forced it open in an energency.

"You are not. We're all just concerned for you. You won't let Skiadrum or Weis help, you won't even let Doranbolt know, we just don't want you hurting by yourself." Levy said.

He scoffed. "And I don't want anyone else hurting because of me."

"Please just tell me what your nightmares are about at least. Maybe then I can help." Levy pleaded.

Gajeel looked at her in the soft lights that had flared up with their awakening.

xXx

Levy let him pull away physically, but kept up pressure on their link.

He sighed as he laid back.

"I just keep seeing flashes of that day. Ever since. And in my dreams, you never made it to me. I watched you die Levy. Over and over. Right before I die too. Knowing there is nothing I can do...nothing to stop it. Sometimes you drown, other times the poison gets you, and then there are the times that Demon kills you. I just...I don't ever want to lose you."

Levy sighed as she reached for the bedside stand.

She took hold of a knife and before he could stop her, she cut her thumb.

Gajeel was instantly removing the weapon and embedding it in the wall across the room. He put her thumb in his mouth and glared at her.

Those red eyes had once scared her when he glared.

Now she rarely ever saw it directed at her.

"See Gajeel. That is all it is. A dream. You would never let anything happen to me like that. I know you would have died first trying to save me and the baby."

He licked her thumb to make sure his Dragon saliva had sealed the tiny cut.

"Don't you ever do that again." He snapped. "I already have enough nightmares."

Levy reached up with both hands to hold his face.

"You never need to worry baby. Least of all about me being safe with you around. Isn't it my job to worry about that kind of thing?"

Gajeel pulled her down with him, holding her hands against his chest.

He laid them both on their sides, careful of her stomach.

"I'll still have nightmares about losing you. Forever. Maybe less when you become a Dragon too, but I'll always worry." Gajeel stared at her.

"But we can at least prevent these incidents from happening if you would just let one of us ease whatever pathway that memory is tied to causing you to have nightmares of it."

"I'm not going to just forget it Levy."

"I'm not saying that. I was just saying that I read that memories can sometimes get associated in certain locations where the unconsciousness of a dream can access it." Levy said.

"What?" Gajeel frowned.

"Some memories are so tied up that they can't fade and so you dream of them. And because that one is so violent and negative, you have nightmares of other endings to it." She explained.

He huffed a laugh. "You and your reading."

She smiled as he leaned to kiss her.

"I just want to help you Gajeel."

He sighed.

"Maybe tomorrow."

She smiled as he gave in.

"Stubborn thickheaded Dragon."

He grinned.

"Always."

xXx

Metalicana sat in the living room on the couch as Gajeel laid on the floor on the metal plate Metalicana had created just for this.

He settled Levy beside him and wrapped his arm around her.

He knew she wanted to be beside Gajeel, but the other two Dragons in the room had strongly suggested she not, for the baby's sake.

Gajeel tensed as Skia and Weis sat on the floor on both sides of Gajeel, facing each other.

Metalicana watched as they each touched his head.

The combination of dark and light Magic made the lighting in the room take on a freaky effect.

These two were the only known Dragons who could manipulate memory so completely.

Metalicana almost held his breath as Gajeel closed his eyes.

His son started out frowning as he relived the memory again. This time awake.

As his claws began forming and the metal just under his skin came to the surface, Metalicana used his magic to manipulate the metal under him.

He bound him to the floor to prevent him from hurting anyone.

Gajeel's eyes flew open again and Metalicana knew that this horrifying face was what that Demon had seen last.

The slit eyes and fangs and razor sharp scales and spikes covering his son were truly scary.

Even to him.

He couldn't believe Levy didn't have a hint of fear.

Weis looked up at him and nodded.

Metalicana let Levy go and she knelt on the floor beside her Mate.

Gajeel's eyes focused on her as she leaned over him, but those sharp scales hadn't retreated yet. Nor the fangs or spiked piercings.

Metalicana started to reach for her when she touched Gajeel.

Instead of cutting her, his scales instantly sank back into his skin.

She leaned over him and kissed him.

He watched Gajeel calm down as she reinforced the emphasis on the focus of his memory.

Weis and Skia had agreed to not erase or reform the memory, but to go into his mind and refocus it.

Instead of the near death experience he was focused on, they had worked to tie his focus to her survival.

Levy touched his chest and the scales completely sank back under his skin.

Metalicana didn't even realize he was on edge so badly until Levy got up and her touch over the golden studs on his arm smoothed the jagged metal they had become.

This girl wasn't fearless. She just didn't fear Dragons.

Hell, she was perfect to be future Queen.

Even Acnologia had bent to her will and agreed to attempt to control himself better.

She was more effective in ten minutes with him than the past hundred years with Grandine.

Gajeel knew loss and hope and had the strength to protect.

But it was truly Levy who held the stronger power.

Her Magic was more than Script. It was pure Creation like he had never seen since at least a thousand years ago.

Back when he had been a very young Hatchling.

The old Dragon had been small, fond of his Human form, and able to manipulate the world with nothing more than his will alone.

Metalicana frowned as he stared at Levy.

If he focused, he could see traces of that old Dragon in her features.

The softness of her eyes, her delicate hands that held strength no man could hope to have, and that heart that saw the world as it was: a malleable collection of Magic.

He had to wonder if that old Dragon was still here.

He unbolted Gajeel and his son got up with a little help from Weis.

"Come on." Levy said as she helped lead him to the chair they usually sat in.

Metalicana went to the bookshelf and pulled down the family book. Not his anymore, but this one was more complete than the abbreviated form he had. He opened it to the diagram of the Dragon's linage.

He hovered over the symbol that would bring up the huge collection instead of just the Dragons in his family.

He carried it upstairs as Weis and Skia started to do their final checks and list off things that they needed to be called in for.

xXx

Gajeel gasped as he jolted awake.

He looked down beside him as Levy rubbed at her eyes.

"Did it come back?" Levy mumbled.

He shook his head.

"No. Not really." He said.

She sat up with a little difficulty.

It was hard to imagine such a small person carrying his child.

Even his father had been worried these last couple weeks.

Porlyusica made frequent trips to the house the past few days to keep checking on her.

Gajeel knew the old hag would never admit to being worried about any human, but he could smell it on her.

All the Dragons stayed close to the Haven, creating a real Safe Haven for their kind.

He knew that a lot were staying so close for more than just that. No one wanted to see Gajeel go mad after hearing stories of his near insanity in the Games. The closeness to death had brought his Dragon to the edge and he had almost killed Rogue.

Gajeel turned to help her.

He felt along their Bond to see how much she was in pain.

He hated to see her in pain and vowed to turn her into a Dragon to never let her feel that kind of pain again.

At least if she was a Dragon, having their child wouldn't have hurt her nearly as much.

She settled in against him.

"Grandine said I would be due soon." Levy spoke quietly.

"I know." Gajeel wrapped his arms around her.

Using their Bond, he could take it further and feel their son as well.

He would be strong, just like his father and grandfather before him.

The line of Metal Dragons just kept getting stronger every time they were reworked in blood with something else.

Lightning, Water, Fire, everything had been in Gajeel's bloodline already. Everything except any of the Creation Magic inside Levy.

His son would easily be stronger than he ever was.

And he would see to it that his son never felt fear like he had, or the suffering he had caused on others.

He would know the price of happiness and love and everything good, but he would never take it for granted like Natsu had for so long.

And Gajeel would damn sure never leave him behind for the world.

He understood Metalicana, he just hated to accept that his father had left him behind in order to protect him.

Levy curled into a ball in his lap as pain shot through her body.

He felt the fear and loss down their Bond and knew it wasn't from her.

"Father, Lily." He shouted.

He felt the surge of pain and shut his connection, knowing it would hit Levy alone then.

He held her as she passed out.

It killed him to know he left her to face it, but he also knew having both of them out from that pain would not have helped.

His father almost tore the hinges from the door.

"Get Grandine. Something is wrong." Gajeel looked up at them both.

Lily shifted into his battle form to help Gajeel get Levy situated more comfortably.

xXx

Grandine heard the shouting in her head and grumbled.

She slid from her bed and pulled on the clothes Wendy had picked out for her.

Her daughter mumbled as she woke up in the bed beside her.

"Sweetheart, would you like to help me with Levy? Meta says something went wrong." She knelt beside the bed.

It was all Wendy needed to hear before she launched out of bed and yanked on her dress.

As Grandine was pulling on her boots, Wendy shoved her feet into her own while pulling her hair into their ties.

It was messy and they both looked pulled from sleep, but she was proud that her daughter woke so quickly and was ready to help her friend and future Queen.

It was mere seconds before her Magic brought them both to the Redfox house.

Gajeel had taken his mothers name as a sign of love towards the only parent he had when he was born.

Grandine pushed the door open and Wendy followed her upstairs.

Metalicana stood by the door, gripping one arm with his other hand so tightly that his knuckles were white.

The metal on his skin was spiked slightly.

Grandine sighed.

"You are no good like this to me." She said coldly. "Take Gajeel and leave us be."

He jolted and nodded.

Wendy frowned as she went to the bed.

Gajeel was holding his Mate so delicately, yet with enough of a firm touch that Levy wasn't moving from the pain.

"This is...worse than the Games. She put herself through such pain then too."

"Well that probably didn't help any." Grandine sighed.

Metalicana moved to pull his son away and Gajeel lashed out.

Grandine gasped as the claws raked over his fathers arm.

Gajeel himself seemed a little shocked as well.

"Help Meta real quick." She ordered Wendy and Grandine brushed Gajeel's arm aside to move Levy into a laid back position.

"What is wrong?" Pantherlily asked.

She frowned as she pulled up her Magic to check on the baby.

She gasped as she shut it down quickly again.

No wonder Levy was larger than she should be.

Even for the rapid growth calculations she had done, Levy was bigger.

Grandine hadn't sensed anything wrong, so she had assumed that given Gajeel was a large man, his child might be big too.

Far from the case in fact.

Grandine snapped her fingers and Wendy finished the quick healing of Meta.

"Get me the red vial from the bag and the knife. Also, prepare a temporary suspension bubble big enough for her stomach. It'll be done quickly, so you need to be ready for it." Grandine held out her hand as she spoke.

Wendy set the required tools in her hand as her Magic flared.

"When I tell you, use the bubble."

xXx

Wendy was worried.

She had practiced with her great Grandfather Aer to make small time-lapse bubbles. Nothing larger than a toy ball.

They were meant to be used to temporarily suspend matter within them in order to do medical procedures without blood loss.

That her mother would tell her to get the knife and prepare a bubble meant Levy could be in real danger.

She watched as her mother used a bit more Magic to help the liquid she poured onto Levy's stomach sink in.

It reduced the pain from operation to whatever minimum it could.

In this case, that would still be quite painful.

Hopefully Levy would stay out long enough to bear it.

"Gajeel, open your Bond to her and try to take as much of the pain as you can."

Wendy watched him nod.

He tensed as Grandine held the knife in a loose, yet precise motion.

Wendy looked up at her mother, holding her hands over Levy's stomach, ready to activate the bubble around her.

When her mother took a deep breath, Wendy cast the spell and held it.

Metalicana held on to his son as Gajeel tensed.

No one but Grandine moved as she deftly cut a wide incision.

Her movements were careful and precise as she used a combination of her Magic and her medical knowledge to cut into Levy.

Gajeel growled as the Bond sent him the pain.

It didn't show on Levy's face though, which was good.

Wendy watched in shock as Grandine pulled two small babies from Levy.

Metalicana accepted them as Grandine quickly healed up the wound she had created.

Her mother nodded at her and Wendy slowly released the bubble.

So very slowly that the wound was healed completely before it snapped and was gone.

Wendy fell to the floor. A bubble like that was hard to uphold under stress like that. Not to mention Aer had told her that multiple healer Dragons would switch off during operations like that to ensure no single Dragon felt the strain.

It was basically holding space perfectly still when all it wanted was to move.

Grandine took the babies back as she moved to the end of the bed.

"Lily, a hand."

xXx

Lily jumped to attention.

He shrank down and stood over the two babies.

The larger one was wrapped around the smaller.

He was startled by their looks. The tiny soft hair on the larger baby was a soft golden color, and the smaller had a head of jet black fluff.

Grandine worked to separate them as Lily picked up the towel Levy must have dropped on the foot of the bed earlier.

He accepted the larger baby boy as Grandine handed him to Lily.

She used her Magic again as Lily couldn't hear a heartbeat from the other.

The baby he was holding was silent until the Magic settled again and the tiny baby girl gave a faint cry.

Her brother finally made a good cry as his sister breathed on her own.

Grandine used a clean towel from her bag to wrap the smaller baby.

She handed her to Metalicana as Grandine moved to sink into a chair.

"Good god, no wonder I never felt her. Her brother had so much Magic that he hid her completely. Protected her even before birth. Hell, he probably sent the alarm to you two the instant she didn't have a heartbeat anymore. His Magic was keeping her blood pumping for her until I got here, but that couldn't have lasted much longer before he would have died too." Grandine mumbled.

Lily looked down at the little boy who was slowly pulling metal scales to his skin.

Metalicana moved to look at the boy and Lily watched as the scales went away as his sister came closer to him.

Definitely a protective older brother.

This baby would be a handful in the future.

If he kept up his training with his father and grandfather and godfather then hell help anyone who touched his sister.

Gajeel held Levy as she started to wake up again.

Wendy came up off the floor to look at the babies.

xXx

Levy struggled to sit up and Gajeel helped her settle in his lap as Lily and Metalicana handed over her children.

She looked down at them, mostly cleaned up by their previous holders.

Her son reached out and ignored Gajeel's hand as he grasped his sisters.

Gajeel huffed.

"They are perfectly fine." Gajeel sighed.

Levy nodded. When the pain had hit her, she had thought she would wake up to having no child at all.

She looked up as Grandine sat on the side of the bed beside Metalicana.

"Your son made you feel the pain because he was struggling to keep his sister alive. He knew help was needed and his Magic was the only thing keeping her blood flowing while I was on my way."

Levy looked down again. Her son had done that to save her daughter?

"I have a feeling the rapid growth will continue for a long while. I can still feel the Time Magic on them both. It may cause them a little issue along the way, but I can't see it causing any physical problems." Grandine reached out to brush her fingers against the little girl's cheek.

A growl rumbled from her son and Levy laughed.

"I think I have the perfect name for you." She smiled at him.

Gajeel scoffed. "Completely."

Levy felt their Bond strengthen as Gajeel opened it again. His warmth filled her again and she sighed.

Her Mate looked down at his son.

"You are a little Aegis." He reached to very softly ruffle the feathery soft honey hair of his son.

Levy smiled. It was exactly what she had been thinking.

She brushed her thumb over her daughters plush cheek and Gajeel rested his head on Levy's shoulder.

"And her...I wanted to name her after her grandfather." Levy said.

Metalicana frowned as Levy looked up at him.

"If you don't mind that is."

"Of course not. I'll love them both forever." He said.

Levy looked back down.

"I want to call her Melina."

Gajeel frowned as she named their daughter.

"It is your name without a couple characters."

Metalicana laughed. "Hopefully without my bad character." He leaned over to kiss his grandchildren.

Aegis growled as Melina was kissed first until he got his.

Levy watched her daughter yawn.

"I recommend feeding them as often as they want and letting them sleep when they want until they are old enough to get on a schedule. Hopefully they'll do it naturally if you keep them in light during the day and dark at night. Dragons tend to form habits quickly based on day and night cycles." Grandine gave them some pointers.

Wendy leaned over the bed.

"He so cute and squishy." She put her cheek against Aegis and he rumbled. A softer rumble that Gajeel made when he gave up whatever argument they were in.

Wendy was such a gentle girl that even her seemingly violent child was already prone to liking her.

Grandine and Wendy both headed for the front door and Lily saw them out, making a list of the things Grandine told him.

Levy looked down at her children again, happy that she hadn't lost either of them and that she hadn't come to the same fate as Gajeel's mother.

xXx

Metalicana watched Gajeel and Levy both sign the papers to become temporary members of the Council.

Gajeel as the Liaison for the Dragons, Levy for Fairy Tail despite it being 'disbanded' until further notice.

Even after the guild came back together, the Council would have to go through either Levy or Gajeel to talk to the Dragons.

Acnologia frowned as he sat on the floor of the living room with the two babies.

It still shocked him after almost a month of seeing this happen.

Metalicana would never have pegged the Dark Dragon for a fondness of children.

But he did in fact have a great care for both children and was constantly coming to visit them.

Metalicana had overheard just last week Acnologia telling Levy that the children reminded him of the future that he had wanted so badly with his own Mate.

The most mentally unstable Dragon of them all was slowly becoming his old self again with help from the little Princess and her children.

Just yesterday he had actually settled in for a quick medical checkup from Grandine and agreed to a blood sample to attempt to cure the power draining curse he had left all of them with.

It was amazing steps for them all.

Doranbolt glanced at the Dragon sitting on the floor, sending out clear signs of unease around the man.

The response was expected considering four of the strongest Dragons were in the room with him.

Levy had agreed to undergo the transformation and came through with an astounding level of control.

Even Acnologia seemed to worship her after that feat.

It wasn't an easy thing to get the most violent Dragons in the history of their kind to bend to one's command, but she had three at her whim.

And no one other than the Dragons knew Levy was now one of them.

Not even her teammates who had gotten used to living among Dragons.

Doranbolt collected the papers and tucked them away.

"So, meetings are twice a month and you have the next few dates already. I expect to have these processed by the end of tomorrow and filed away." The Mage said.

Levy nodded. "We'll be at the next meeting." She waved him off.

He left quite quickly with his magic and Metalicana sighed.

"That is quite dangerous, you know." Acnologia stated as he held Melina upright with a couple fingers.

Levy sighed as well.

"I would rather no Dragon have to come in contact with anyone they don't want to. Besides, I'm used to dealing with the Council." She moved to sit on the floor near her children.

It had been proven that Aegis had the same control over metals that his father had, but Melina had shown no sign of any specific Magic just yet.

Metalicana could sense power in her, knew from his look at the lines that Levy had already had Dragon blood in her like he thought, so he had a strong feeling that Melina could use that ancient form of Magic.

Energy Manipulation. It was the oldest and greatest thing any species had ever lost.

The Dragon he had known had been the last user of it until Levy came along.

She used words, but as she had begun to learn, she could use more than words.

Mental images, the breakdown to an atomic level of the world around her was at her command.

And she didn't use it because she didn't think it was right.

Well, just let one person touch her children and she would use it then.

He glanced at Gajeel.

Maybe.

xXx

Gajeel sighed as Levy mumbled.

He scooped her up from her desk and carried her to bed.

His father made a contented noise as he cuddled both his grandchildren closer.

They had seemed to grow quite a bit more than normal in the past two months while they were working with the Council. He estimated them to be nearing seven months in maturity by now.

They were on a normal schedule in both sleep and food and as Dragon children, they were a bit more advanced than normal children even for their physical age.

Gajeel could almost say they acted about a year old already.

It was almost half a year since Fairy Tail had disbanded.

He didn't want to worry his extremely intelligent daughter, so he and Levy avoided talking about the danger of the jobs they were gone for a couple days at a time on.

Part of him always expected to come home and find his father had left and the babies crying upstairs from starving.

He shook his head as he laid Levy in bed.

She woke up a little.

"Gajeel?"

"No, I'm some random stranger acting all cozy with you."

He made his old smirk as he leaned to kiss her.

She huffed a laugh.

"As if. I'm not the kind people want to kidnap." She said.

He made a low growl as he nipped the arch of her neck with his fangs.

"I'd kidnap you."

She tilted her head to the side and her fingers found his shirt.

"Isn't kidnapping if I go willingly." She mumbled.

He crawled onto the bed to brace himself over her.

"Have I told you lately that I love you?" He asked.

She nodded. "All the time."

He kissed her lips. "Well, I do. And I always will."

Gajeel felt her melt under him.

He slipped his hands under her shirt to begin undressing her as hers found the button of his pants.

He groaned as she shoved his pants down his hips.

He pushed himself back enough to shrug out of his open shirt and kicked off his boots and pants while yanking her own off her.

Levy didn't argue it as he stripped her a bit roughly.

In fact she pulled him into her, moaning as he slid home.

Gajeel might never get over the feeling of being at ease with her.

Their relationship had started so badly, yet here he was, bringing the very girl he had crucified to a tree and painted in blood, pleasure beyond her wildest dreams.

He moved slowly, feeling her nails rake down his back as he hit a sweet spot.

He braced one arm on the sturdy headboard and used the other to pull her hips up at an angle.

She made a cross between a whimper and a moan as he slammed into her at that angle.

Her nails caught on the new metal piercings he'd set along his spine.

She couldn't yank them out like if he'd been human, because they were actually attached to his metal spine.

But the feeling of her tugging on them sent a shiver down his back straight to his cock.

His daughter found his studs amusing with how he could change their colors. His son had worked up how to create his own already and had one on the back of each hand in the dead center.

His Mate knew how to set him on fire by touching them.

Levy moved her hands to the ones on his arms.

He growled as he could feel her coming close to breaking.

"Ah...Gajeel." She moaned his name and it was the sweetest thing he ever heard.

Lord he wished he had at least tried her that horrible night.

He might have converted then and there to Fairy Tail.

Who was he kidding?

She had set him on fire the moment he saw those big brown eyes that night he wrecked the hall.

He had been completely possessive over his coat and he'd left her wrapped in it then.

She screamed out his name as he ran his thumb over her center.

He spilled into her as she tightened almost painfully on him.

He laid back after sliding from her.

She turned to snuggle into his side and he yanked the blankets over them both.

"You're really quiet right now." She said. "Frustrated?"

"No." He sighed. "I was thinking about the first few times we met again."

She moved to kiss his jaw.

"I don't regret those days you know. They did bring us together after all."

"I know. I was just thinking about how if I had listened to my Dragon that night you fainted when I attacked the hall, I probably would have taken you and Bonded with you against your will and you'd hate me right now and we might never have our babies."

She touched her finger over his lips.

"No, you protected me, and even if you'd been that man then, your actions would have been the same afterward. Maybe even worse. I fell in love with the man who was willing to lay down his own life to repay his actions."

He huffed a laugh. "So ironically, my being stubborn and withstanding Laxus actually didn't scare you away like it should have. Most girls would have run from a man like me knowing how powerful Laxus was at the time."

She climbed to straddle him and he instantly hardened at the sight.

xXx

Levy reached to guide him into her.

"I'm not most women now am I?" She smiled, showing off her two tiny fangs. They weren't even noticeable to her partners. Only the Dragons seemed to perceive them at all.

He groaned as she braced her hands on his chest and rolled her hips.

"Even if I weren't a Dragon myself, I wouldn't have any fear of riding one."

He showed his fangs as he growled.

"I better be the only Dragon you ride." He gripped her hips.

He yanked her down as she tried to move up.

His strong hands were never painful on her.

Even now that she was the first Creation Dragon in a very long time, he treated her as breakable as before.

She supposed she still was.

According to his father, Anima, her own ancestor, had been a very fragile Dragon. It had been why he settled in his human skin so easily. He knew how breakable he was and decided that blending was easier than acting tough when he wasn't thick skinned like Metalicana.

Meta's own father had been his protector and supposed secret confidant.

There was a hidden section of the family diary that she had accessed that led her to believe the two were a bit more than just that.

Metalicana's father had been one of very few that had never found a Mate and had a child anyway.

His partner had died only years after Meta was born and Anima came into his life as a guider. A kind of nurturing figure.

One of Astatine's diary entries just about stated that after the death of Meta's mother, Anima had been his constant companion.

In life and in bed.

It was hard to picture a Dragon almost as violent and temperamental as Acnologia actually being extremely gentle with her ancestor.

But other entries had shown he was prone to violence and brutality.

Levy looked down at Gajeel as he slid from her.

"You're thinking again, aren't you?" He growled.

She nodded. "About how gentle you Metal Dragons really can be."

Gajeel flashed his fangs again.

"Only when we want to be baby."

He turned to move from under her and she started to go to her back again.

Gajeel put a heavy hand on her waist.

Her body had healed very well thanks to Grandine and no one could tell she had been pregnant. He was glad for that.

She frowned as he pushed her to her knees and brought her hands up to the headboard.

Levy braced her hands on the metal frame as Gajeel moved behind her.

His body covered itself in those small, cool scales and she shivered.

She knew when he did this, the studs on his body got a little bigger.

He kneed her legs apart from behind and slid into her roughly.

"We aren't always gentle. I would just die before hurting you." He growled in her ear.

In this position, kissing him was hard.

She felt him touch his tongue to the curve of her neck and he nipped the skin with his fangs.

Her body shuddered as he braced his hands on the headboard.

Gajeel growled as he kept his mouth over the pulse in her throat.

It was an erotic, yet dangerous position with a Dragon.

At any point, he could bite her and it would hurt.

But she trusted him.

Even as he started to rock into her hard enough to have her gasping.

One of his hands moved down to stroke her and she moaned.

His pace picked up and she found herself pushing back on the headboard to make him hit harder and deeper.

Levy cried out as she came and he sank his teeth so very gently into her shoulder.

Enough to mark her, not enough to hurt her.

He was right about never hurting her.

She couldn't even collapse before he was back to taking her to the edge.

"Again?"

"All night long baby." He growled in her ear, nipping her lobe.

Levy hoped she could keep up with him.

xXx

Gajeel yawned as he pushed the door open.

Eight months since the guild had disbanded and all the Council really had him and Levy and Lily doing was trivial junk.

He stepped into his house and heard laughter.

Right, this was why he put up with the crap.

He closed the door behind him and moved into the kitchen.

Levy stood by the table with his father and Morte and Shuri.

He leaned against the frame and watched for a moment.

His little Mate looked so perfect right like this.

This was how things were meant to go.

No Dark Guilds trying to kill them, no Council soldiers out to arrest them, no crazy death seeking psycho Mage out to destroy all life on the face of the world.

Wait, the last was still likely.

He sighed as Levy turned to face him.

She came to him and he caught a glimpse of his children in the chairs his father had made up for them.

Aegis couldn't quite eat his way out yet, but Gajeel gave it another week before he did.

Then again, if they kept growing at the rate they were, they would need new chairs soon anyway.

Melina could easily pass mentally for a three year old and Aegis physically as four.

Grandine had taken up residence in the Haven while Wendy went to practice her offensive Magics and get some real jobs with Lamia Scale.

Jura kept him updated on her all the time, so he wasn't worried. She and Chelia were great friends and known as the Sky Sisters as a team now.

He pulled Levy in close and she leaned against him.

"I know." She whispered.

He sighed.

Their Bond was great, but there were days that he wished she couldn't tell how he felt.

Guess this was what she had been meaning when she used to say he knew to much about her using his senses.

Gajeel looked at their children as Metalicana fed them another spoon of what looked like stew.

Had his father cooked again?

He knew how well his father cooked and had missed it when he'd been abandoned.

Melina looked up and her face lit up as she saw him.

Neither of his children had begun to speak, which worried Grandine due to their rapid growth.

She feared they were mentally stunted in that manner.

Gajeel had a feeling that as brilliant as Levy was, they wouldn't speak until they were ready and they would shock the world.

Aegis had taken to being a little shit without his sister nearby and Melina was extremely closed off except to himself and Levy without her brother.

Levy moved away as Gajeel went to the table.

He reached to pick Melina up by the back of her heavy duty harness.

They had quickly realized that Dragon children were hard to control and Metalicana had pulled up the old design he would have used on Gajeel.

It had been Runed by Levy on each chain to hover almost a foot from the ground, making it so they could never fall and get hurt.

Not that they ever had.

Melina gripped his shirt and he held her as he reached for Aegis and the boy hung off his shoulder.

He moved into the living room and sat in his chair.

Aegis tumbled forward as he sat and settled in his lap.

Gajeel jolted slightly as Melina touched his bare neck.

Images flashed through his mind like a video.

Everything she and her brother had done while he was gone all day.

He laughed at the image of Aegis hating his evening bath.

His son was like him as a boy. Hated being wet.

Well, at least, Gajeel used to.

Taking baths with his mate had definitely soothed that hatred.

Levy smiled as she sat on the arm of his chair and ran her hand over the spiky, long golden hair of her son.

He had Gajeel and Metalicana's hair, but her color. Her natural color.

Melina flashed another image of Aegis with dark red and almost electric blue streaks along strands of his hair.

He frowned. "Really?" He looked down at Aegis and his son grinned.

He reached out and touched the studs on Gajeel's arm and more images came.

Melina being picky with lunch, refusing the crust of the bread on her sandwich.

Then the last was an image of her with the same color streaks on strands of her jet black silky hair.

He raised a brow as he looked at her.

"I'm still not sure that blue is good. Maybe darker?"

His head hurt as they both tried to show him and Levy new images.

But the changes were much better.

The pain was instant and gone as the images faded.

"One at a time." Levy said.

"They doing that thing again?" His father asked from the doorway, drying his hands with a dishcloth.

"Yeah." Gajeel said.

"I swear, you two need to learn how to talk sooner or later." Metalicana chided.

"They're fine Uncle Meta." Morte shrugged as he moved past him.

"They have an amazing talent to be able to project images like that. I could even get Warren to help them further that talent." Levy said.

Gajeel huffed. "We already know Aegis is a Metal Dragon who will be starting his training with me and Lily soon enough. I would rather he work on his primary Magic to start. He can keep practicing with the images if he wants on his own."

Levy frowned at him.

"And what if he doesn't want to be a Metal Dragon like you?" She questioned.

Sensing their pending argument, Aegis touched them both.