Rust

Chapter 4 - Worship

True to his word, the sun was near setting when Connagh set himself up the steps to the safe house, the muffled ruckus from within giving him pause as he chuckled to himself, opening the door to step into the cacophony of voices screaming at each other.

"Oi! Ken the two o' you's keep a bit o' hush? I ken hear you clear down the street, ain't know how th' neighbours aren't hollerin' 'bout the lack o' peace!"

"Bin tryin' ta git 'er ta shuddup all aft'rnoon an' just listen!" Gajeel threw his hands up in exasperation. "Mebbe yer'll have more luck" he stomped out of the room, the door slamming behind him.

"Ystyfnig, yn anodd dreigiau! I suppose you'll tell me the same thing - that he's very good at what he does and we need more information?" Xally's chest was heaving, still trying to calm herself down from the yelling match she'd instigated hours ago.

"Well lass, I canny be tellin' you what ta do, an' frankly I ain't sure what you been yellin' about. I will tell you there's a reason we all know the name 'Kurogane' round these parts though, man's efficient. Not th' prettiest ta watch workin', but he knows what he's doin'. So Imma need ye ta put on your big girl pants an' go apologise ta him - I ain't keen ta repeat m'self." Connagh quirked an eyebrow, gesturing over his shoulder with a nod that had the blonde sighing and, in what some might call a sulk, she slunk down the hall to find Gajeel and get him back inside. Connagh had no idea what she'd said to the imposing looking man, but he was clearly still miffed when he followed her reluctantly back inside.

"Le's hear it then".

"Identity papers. Cover stories. Everythin' you ken be needin's in tha' folder. An' if th' two o' you ken agree on somethin', I got you a slot t'morrow night at the local inn as musicians. Best way ta git information's direct from th' mouths o' th' drunks, but you'd best be erasin' those emblems. Folks round here don't take kindly t' mages from elsewhere, if you kin catch my meanin'."

"We're likely to get nothing if they catch on. I've been run out of this country once before, not keen to do it again. We'll make sure they're hidden, thank you Connagh." Xally smiled at the older man. Now she'd had time to calm down, she could see the merits of Gajeel's plan. And thinking back to the things she'd sent ahead, that were currently hanging in the wardrobe upstairs, she couldn't resist having at least a little fun at his expense. "Hey, Gajeel - you can actually play, right?"

"Tch, jus' ye wait annwyl." Gajeel winked over at her, loving the way it made her cheeks flush.

"Dáire help us all" Connagh muttered under his breath, shaking his head at the two acting like teenagers in love.

One of the perks of being as equally musical, and as well travelled, as each other was that neither Xally nor Gajeel had needed more than a glance at each others notes on the folk songs they'd picked up along the way to be on the same page for their little ruse.

"Ready, haearn?"

"Yer gonna regret tha' annwyl." Gajeel's eyes sparkled in a way that told her it was a promise, and she shivered with the thrill of what that could possibly mean.

They'd been given a late slot, because it was a Friday evening and the tavern owner wanted to keep her patrons drinking as long as possible - she'd taken one look at the pair and deemed them infinitely more attractive than her usual band, and pretty musicians usually made for happy drinkers. So Xally didn't really have time to dwell on the dark pleasures Gajeel's voice was implying as they made their way to the stage in the corner, letting her coat fall from her shoulders.

Gajeel was immediately aware that almost every set of eyes in the place were fixed on them, and as he turned to watch Xally settle herself on stage, he could see why. Her hair hung loosely down her back, almost white under the lights shining on them, reminiscent of foamy waves washing lazily upon a beach. Her ivory skin practically shimmered, and sweet Mavis was there a lot of it on display - in her traditional Boscan dress, there wasn't much left to the imagination; the pale aquamarine fabric almost glowing incandescent. There were bells around her wrists, hips and ankles, so every step she took, even the slightest of movements made sweet music ring out.

Gajeel wanted to groan, it was going to be a very long night watching her dance, his dragon instincts raging to throw her over his shoulder and take her home, away from the lusty gaze of anyone who wasn't him. But if that's how she wanted to play it, Gajeel certainly wasn't going to back down - shimmying his shirt off, he was left in his usual boots; jeans that were tighter than he usually opted for; and a white tank that made his tan appear deeper - richer - than ever before. He wasn't going to give her time to stare though, twirling his bow before setting it to the strings of his electric violin.

A few songs in, and everyone in the place was equally captivated by Xally's voice. High and clear, she sang so sweetly that Gajeel could have listened to her for the rest of his life, his imagination threatening to run away with him. In the end, it worked in their favour - when she alit from the stage, people were welcoming as she walked around, stopping to sit on more than one lap and laughing as she batted away more than a couple sets of wandering hands.

Xally had gotten what she'd been looking for - a sweet smile from a pretty girl did wonders for loosing lips, and those who were more than a few drinks in had been very willing to fill her in on all the local gossip. She shot a wink to Gajeel as he helped her back onto the stage, hand hidden from the crowd as she signed 'got it' - their signal to wrap up for the night. And not a moment too soon as far as Xally was concerned, all too aware of the way people were staring at Gajeel. Tall, tanned, heavily muscled and equally heavily scarred, he looked every part the proverbial bad boy and there were more than a few longing gazes being sent his way.

They ended the night on a slow song, almost a shanty from Midi, securing the 'we're not from around here' story they were selling, especially when Xally sang in Minstrellan, which they knew would help them in the long run - in Gajeel's experience, people were much less likely to watch what they said around strangers who, assumedly, knew nothing of local affairs and didn't speak the local tongue. The tavern owner paid them well, let them keep the tips people had been pressing into their palms, and invited them back every night for however long they were in town.

It was a blissfully short walk back to their accommodation, even with Gajeel steering them the long way to ensure no one was following. The spring days were bright and warm, but the nights were still clear and icy, and Xally was astutely aware of the lack of clothing under her long jacket. Thankfully they'd stoked the fire before they'd left hours earlier and she hurried upstairs to change into something warmer.

Gajeel stalked silently up the stairs behind her, coming across her door partly ajar, almost an invitation. With barely a whisper, he sank into the long shadows in the hall, materialising immediately behind her, right hand snaking up her body to clutch at her throat while his left dug harshly into the exposed skin of her hip.

"Gajeel?"

"Not anymore, dywysoges. He warned you."

The voice in her ear was not that of Gajeel - it was far deeper, far more animalistic. The Dragon commanded attention and obedience with the otherworldly power he was bleeding into the air.

"Haearn. Ni fyddaf yn rhoi unrhyw beth i chi. Mae'n rhaid i chi ennill i mi." Xally's breath caught in her throat at the sensation of nails turning to talons, dragging dangerously sharp against the delicate skin of her neck.

The hand at her hip suddenly let go, coming up to palm at a breast that was immediately and unexpectedly bare, wrenching a moan from deep in her chest. It had been months since anyone had touched her like this, and Xally was suddenly realising just how much she had missed it - how much better this already was than anything she had experienced before, and Gajeel was barely touching her.

"Rwy'n gallu arogli ydych yn."

The Dragon all but purred into her, impossibly sharp incisors dragging against the shell of her ear, and Xally found herself drowning in lust, in her need for him, the evidence of it slick between her thighs. She was pliant in his hold, her normally fiesty disposition gone in the wake of some deep, instinctual desire to obey, and while that would ordinarily have terrified her if Xally had been in possession of all her faculties, something about the atmosphere around them had her wanting nothing more than to be and do whatever was asked of her.

"I'm yours."

It was barely a whisper, a sigh of breath between parted lips waiting for his kiss, but something about the way she uttered those words - as though they were a prayer, a promise - had Gajeel fighting his way back to the surface and all but jumping away from her trembling form.

"Gajeel?" She was unabashed in her nakedness, turning to face the man behind her without thought or care to her current state of dress, taking a step towards him in uncertainty.

"Don't." he held a hand out towards her, trying to stop her coming any closer. He felt weak, clammy, knew he was shaking, and the sight of crimson blood bubbling to the surface along three fine scratches on her neck had him reeling, instantly nauseous.

"Gajeel, you're shaking. Hell, you look like you might faint." She stood with arms crossed across her chest, one hip cocked as she quirked a perfectly groomed eyebrow at him while he sank to the floor with his spine pressed to the wall.

"Yer bleedin'."

"This little thing? Gajeel, I've scratched myself worse than this putting jewellery on. Just, hold on."

From his position on the floor, head buried in his arms, Gajeel heard the rustling of fabric followed by the soft padding of bare feet moving towards him, a warm softness pressing into him from the side.

"Can you look at me?" she waited for him to lift his head, resting it on his arms so he could gaze at her face, now scrubbed clean of the cosmetics she'd applied earlier in the evening. "Hi. You want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I lost control, hurt ya. Tha's why I can't..."

"You didn't hurt me. Bloody hell, Gajeel, do you know how fucking hot that was? Being at your mercy? Knowing I drive you that crazy?" her eyes bore into his, tone earnest as she almost begged him to believe her.

"I coulda killed ya! I ain't... It can't... Look, dragon magic's weird, alrigh'? Tha' wa'n't ya, jus' wha' the pheromones make ye feel. I ain't want it ta be like tha', Xal. If'n we're ever t'gether tha' way, I want - I need - it ta be ya, all o' yer. No magic, nothin' in th' way o' ya choosin' it with all yer mind an' yer heart".

"Gajeel," the hand on his cheek was soft, delicate, as though she was scared any sudden move might scare him out of her reach forever. "I knew what I was doing, what I am doing. Look at me - hell, use all your senses. Tell me what you think, and then I'll tell you you're wrong".

Blinking, Gajeel looked at her - really looked. Xally's eyes were bright, a little watery as though she was holding back tears, crinkling at the edges when she smiled. Her cheeks were rosy, the fine red lines on her throat barely raised lines of pink flesh now. He leant closer, almost pressing his nose to the junction of neck and shoulder, wanting to purr when she craned her neck to give him unfettered access. She smelt like smoke and whiskey, from the bar. Underneath was pure Xally - her scent like the air on a clear summer's day, like rain on grass, and linens dried in the sunshine. He could smell her arousal, honeyed and a little spicy. Her heartbeat was steady - elevated, but even.

"Yer not 'fraid o' me?" The realisation was stunning, and for a man so used to inciting fear, it left him feeling a little off kilter. "Y'should be."

"No, I don't think I should. There is plenty to be scared of in this world Gajeel, but to be scared of you? Never."

"I could kill yer."

"I could say the same." Xally knew she was playing a dangerous game, but seeing just a flicker of passion, of life, come back into his eyes made the risks more than worthwhile.

"Annwyl, ye look like yer'd blow 'way in th' breeze. Hardly think o' ya as dang'rous".

"They never do."

Gajeel watched her face darken, eyes alight with the magic that seemed to dance through and around her body, and realised that he'd underestimated her. By quite a lot.

"You see, the human body is mostly water. I have a keen knowledge of anatomy, and I'm quite precise in my magic."

Xally's voice was silk, comforting even though his body was screaming in agony. His very bones were burning, lungs crackling in his chest and his heart - his heart felt like it might give out at any moment. When he thought he could endure no longer, was certain she was going to kill him, Gajeel found he could breathe again, the sensation of her magic reversed flowed through his body, cooling and soothing as it touched almost every part of him.

"Wha' th' fuck did ya jus' do ta me?"

"I can pull all the water from a body in under two minutes. Hardly a pleasant way to die, I imagine."

As she smiled saccharine sweetness, Gajeel swallowed heavily, too thoroughly shocked at this new and dark side of Xally Pradesh to formulate any intelligent response, all too aware of how arousing he found it for some unknown reason.

"Alrigh', y'made yer point." Gajeel's voice was husky, deepened with the lust that had come back full force. He reached out, taking her hand in his and together they stood, barely a hair's breadth apart and the way Xally looked up at him with fire in her eyes and laughter in the set of her jaw broke his resolve. Gajeel had her swept up in his arms before she could blink, had her laid out in front of the fire before she'd even registered their change in location.

"Let me love you, fy ddraig. Even if it's just for tonight."

Gajeel could refuse her nothing when she said his name like that; a breathy thing that could have been a sigh or a curse, it had never sounded sweeter or had fallen from more perfect lips, and he let her position him as she saw fit. He had no clue how she'd done it so fast, without him even realising, but the second those pillowy lips wrapped themselves around his bare cock, Gajeel damn near jumped out of his skin from the shock and the pleasure.

Xally handled him with an ease born of experience, and the eagerness that came with arousal. Her teeth dragged perfectly along his length, never catching on the metal studs that laddered along his shaft. Her fingers dragged sharp nails lightly across the sensitive skin of his thighs, and as she eased him into her throat Gajeel all but saw stars. Never in his life had anyone managed what Xally was giving him - the kind of bliss that chased away every doubt and insecurity, and silenced the Dragon within. His orgasm caught him off guard, barreling through his entire body with such ferocity that his vision went white and he would have shouted, had his throat not closed over from the ecstasy.

Satisfied he was sated, Xally let him fall delicately from her lips, pressing soft kisses to every inch of uncovered skin she found, tracing scars and playfully tugging on piercings as she trailed her way up to level her eyes with his that were now heavy lidded from pleasure, carefully straddling his lap in the process.

"Holy hell."

"You're welcome, my dragon."

Xally's smile was so pure, radiant under the warm light of the room that it stirred something deep inside Gajeel's soul, compelling him to move - to kiss her, please her, anything to demonstrate the feelings of home and want, of love and lust, of passion and longing that she brought out in him. With no effort at all, he had their positions reversed and Xally was all too happy to help lay herself bare to him.

"God's above, Xally. Yer so beautiful."

She looked like an angel to him, felt like absolute perfection under his hands. Gajeel was hardly a poet, but the way she looked up at him with such trust, such desire, had him feeling he could write sonnets about her beauty and the way she glowed under the light of the fire.

Xally let him position her, lay her back against the arm of the couch, and focused on keeping her hands still. Any sudden movement and she was terrified he would startle, stop in his attentions, and Xally had a suspicion that he needed this almost more than she did.

Gajeel took his time exploring her body, learning the places that made her sigh under pressure; where made her squirm away and giggle under a light touch; the places that stole her breath when he kissed them, and how to drag his nails just so to make her moan. His fingers danced across her, finding her hot and wet and waiting for him, and he delighted in reducing her vocabulary to just a chant of his name when he fixed his lips to her overly sensitive bundle of nerves. Between the metal ball in his tongue dragging against her clitoris, and his fingers working rhythmically inside her body, it took mere minutes for Xally to all but lose her mind from the pleasure, swearing her release with a body that tensed and shivered in time with the waves of euphoria that crashed through her.

"Holy hell." she giggled, echoing his sentiments of earlier. A little embarrassed, Xally watched him lick his fingers clean, his eyes full of wanting as he savoured the taste of her on his tongue, as she tried to remember the last time someone had brought her to orgasm so quickly and with such intensity, and came up empty. For all her years of sharing pleasure, no one had ever gotten such a reaction, and Xally knew she was forever ruined for anyone who may have come after.

"Will'n ye stay wi' me t'night?"

"Tonight and every night, Gajeel."

Translations -

Draconic -

ystyfnig, yn anodd dreigiau! = stubborn, difficult dragons

dywysoges = princess

Ni fyddaf yn rhoi unrhyw beth i chi. Mae'n rhaid i chi ennill i mi = I won't give you anything. You must earn me

rwy'n gallu arogli ydych yn = I can smell you

fy ddraig = my dragon

Hey look, two chapters in two days!

Today was the first day of spring, and it was glorious, so of course I was feeling extra motivated to sit in the sunshine and write! Apologies for any weird formatting - the app is still weird to publish from.

Rao - I'm glad you enjoyed it! I was hoping someone else thinks of Gajeel as a bit cheeky!

Dragonfly - a thousand times yes! So many blank stares and a complete lack of recognition!

Nic - hopefully more chemistry for you! And thank you for your sweet message!

I meant to say last update that I have a playlist for this fic (I have one for all my stories, actually) so let me know if you'd like the link! And as always, I'm so excited for your feedback on this bonus update! Stay safe everyone!

Much love

- A.V xxx