Rust
Chapter 8 - Rebalancing
It was official. Never in his life - and it had been a long one, if you went by dates - had Gajeel felt quite as ridiculous as he did right that second, knelt shirtless in the darkness, the only light coming from the abundance of candles strategically placed around the room, and the faint glow of magic where it emanated from the woman he loved.
Xally's eyes were warm, her smile one of giving, and her fingers were cool where they pressed against bare skin, tan flesh illuminated blue under her touch at forehead and heart.
"You see sugar, the trouble is that you ain't meant ta be at odds with the thing that gives you power. You're blockin' him, and he's blockin' you." Doireann was a no-nonsense kind of human, and Gajeel appreciated that fact at that moment mode than he had the entire three days he'd known her, even if she was prodding at him with sharp fingers in places he hadn't known ached until she'd jabbed into them.
"Right, I'm gonna release these and I ain't gonna lie to you - shits gon' hurt like hell. You're a big boy, suck it up and deal with it, be worth it in the end." She winked over his shoulder, and Gajeel could only guess at what exactly that meant, before heat seared through his spine, the headache as blinding as it was instantaneous. There'd been no word of a lie - this was possibly the more excruciating torture Gajeel had ever been subjected to, the sensation akin to acid seeping along his bones and setting him ablaze from the inside, the heat radiant and near unbearable, the Dragon itself screaming in pain, the sound haunting in his ears and unheard to the outside world.
"Doire, we need to -"
"Shh!" She silenced Xally's concerns, hissing at her to shut the hell up lest the love, the worry, she could see rising in the blue eyes do more harm than good. "He'll be fine babes. He's just gotta ride it out."
Logically, Xally knew this was the only way forward that wasn't going to take years, time they simply didn't have - to have found a mate but not claimed them weakened the Dragon and the Slayer alike, history littered with the names of powerful wizards who had simply withered away and died, either too proud or too scared to set their mark. And Gajeel needed to be at full power if their information was correct. None of which comforted her at all, watching her partner writhe and suffer was a bitter and cruel agony when all she could do was soothe him with the wash of her magic, the gentle touch of her skin to his in the slightest of embraces.
It was the calming waves of Xally flowing into his head and his heart that grounded Gajeel, lent focus to the Dragon, gave them both the strength to push through the pain when it would have been all too easy to submit, to spend an eternity wrapped in what felt like hellfire. Intrinsically, they knew the only way forward was together, the Dragon settling into a space that hadn't seemed to exist ten minutes ago, the cage burnt to ashes.
"She is your salvation, if you are brave enough to claim it." It was odd, the two of them facing off in this manner - not quite confrontational, but with decidedly more animosity than there should be.
"I don't deserve it!"
"Ridiculous. You are deserving of love, as is every other creature. You think you aren't, but you are wrong."
"She deserves more."
"She'll turn you to dust if she hears those words from you again." The thought caused them both to shudder, although in vastly different ways. Gajeel feared the agony, the wrath of the youngest Pradesh, whereas the Dragon took pleasure in the exquisite pain she could bring, the way she brought him to his knees with the barest of touches.
"I ain't strong enough." That raised a snort from the ancient creature before him, smoke puffing and curling from his enormous snout, and Gajeel felt like nothing more than a hatchling under his gaze, the look disdainful and yet sympathy was evident in scarlet irises.
"You were strong before I awoke, and you would be still if I never had. Your power does not come from me, Gajeel son of Metalicana - I am the Dragon in Dragon Slayer, the smallest part of who you are."
The realisation settled into Gajeel's mind, like a weight lowering onto its foundations, every part of him creaking and groaning under the burden as he shifted, his perception - his very sense of self - warping and adjusting, settling into a new definition of normal that left him unbalanced and unsteady, off kilter but strangely at peace. Like everything he had known, had seen or experienced, had been just a little askew, and now he was righted, Gajeel couldn't fathom how he hadn't understand before.
"Gajeel? Haearn, talk to me."
Xally was worried, he could hear it in her voice, could see it in the tears pooling in caerulean eyes, but it was not Gajeel spurred to action - the Dragon lifted his arm, leaden from exhaustion and shimmering with scales, hand cupping the soft flesh of her cheek, marvelling at the sensation of soft hair brushing against flesh that seemed to be neither human nor Dragon, and yet both all at once. The voice that bore life to those previously impossible words was all Gajeel, though, the remaining tendrils of her magic curling through his body inciting him to speak, almost without thought.
"Gods, I love ye Xally."
It still smarted his pride that he hadn't made it to their bed under his own power, stubborn and prideful to a fault Gajeel had been determined to make the trek on his own, but with knees buckling under his own weight, feet too heavy to do more than drag, he'd had to swallow any notion of independence and accept the help Xally had been more than willing to give. There'd been no jokes, no smirking, no poking just to watch him stumble - she had shouldered his weight and helped him shuffle the short distance with nothing more than a smile, the same blinding one still plastered on her beautiful face where she gazed up at him from her spot, chin pillowed on her hands over his still bare chest.
"Woman, if'n ye ask me again how I'm feelin' I swear ta Mavis I'll sleep next ta Doireann jus' ta spite ye".
"Not interested!" the yell echoed down the hall, causing Xally to dissolve into a fit of giggles, the nervous energy from earlier slow to dissipate from her body.
"I'm sorry haearn, I'm just worried."
"Oughta be worried 'bout yer friend, callin' herself a doctor. Yer sure ye went ta th' same school?"
"Yes! Doire is more what you'd call a Panacea - a healer of all ailments. Promise she went to medical school though - even got better grades than I did." Xally blushed a little, almost as if she were giving confessional. She'd been a good student - decent, even - but her strengths lay in people, in human interactions, where Doireann had always been the more academically minded.
"Ye should be tryin' ta sleep, dywysoges. Know we ain't make it easy on ya earlier." Gajeel knew he was never going to win the battle, but watching her clumsily wave off his sentiment with tired hands, he knew she was likely to talk herself to sleep, or nod off listening to him.
"Do you feel different?"
"I think so? Feels weird, brains spinnin' but ev'n me bones're tired."
"Well, apparently not all of them" Xally teased, feeling him twitch under the soft weight of her abdomen in response to the way she'd laughed against him.
"Ain't so tired I canny have ma way with'n ye annwyl." Gajeel's voice dropped, the Dragon bleeding into his words with no effort at all, man and beast learning how to coexist and co-operate. "Ngwladwriaeth, you are playing with fire".
Xally was unfazed by the new dynamic, by the threat of dark pleasures and eternal promises, slender hand tracing a path down his body, over scars and muscles and piercings, fingers tracing the outline of him through the cotton shorts he'd donned for bed.
"Maybe I like the burn."
Xally was reeling, head spinning as she found herself pinned underneath his body, Gajeel kissing her with a passion that bordered on desperate, the scaled and taloned hands crushing her against him a symbol of how far he'd come in such a short time, a symbol of how fiercely the Dragon craved their connection.
"Byddaf yn ei osod y byd ar dân i chi".
Xally was breathless, air stolen from her lungs by his kisses and his admission, the depths of his love for her shining so clearly from eyes that were neither human nor reptilian, eyes that had settled into something that captured the essence of them both.
"Gajeel."
The sound of his name falling from her lips washed a cold wave of clarity through his body, and Gajeel withdrew from her in the most minute of ways, angling his pelvis just enough that the glorious friction was gone, the press of their bodies infinitesimally less, the silver scales receding as the Dragon ceded, admitting defeat in deference to wisdom.
"Not like this annwyl. Wan'ta give ye more'n this."
Xally might not have been able to completely hide her pout, but the soft sweet kisses being pressed to every inch of her exposed skin helped soften the sting of rejection, even if it made sense. She didn't want to rush things - rush him - and while the spare room while your friend slept down the hall was more than fine for a random fling, but Gajeel was so much more, deserved so much more.
"I love you."
"Love ye right back, lleuad yn fy mywyd."
Learning to work with the Dragon, instead of fighting against it, was a surprisingly easy task. For Gajeel, in battle, nothing had changed save for the fact he actually had to throttle back the power he usually threw into his attacks - they'd learnt the unfortunate way, when a full strength roar had decimated the trees deep into the forest and a slight breeze had carried slivers of iron blades that shredded Xally's bare arm.
It had been an easy fix for Doireann, but a hard lesson for Gajeel to learn, the scars on his memory sure to endure far longer than the already fading strips of silver flesh he couldn't tear his eyes from.
"Eyes are up here." Xally was teasing, her tone gentle as she reached out, soft palm on course cheek to guide his gaze back to hers.
"Babes, he ain't starin' at your eyes or your boobs, though Lord knows why, those things just keep gettin' better!"
"Well, now I gotta look, don' I. An' keep yer hands off, would'n'ya Doire? Ain't kin ta sharin'."
"Please, if anythin' I'm the one sharing! You're new, Xal' and I got history. Plus, you shoulda seen 'em when I first met her - ain't know why she bothered with bra's all those years."
Xally couldn't help but smile, even if they were making fun of her, listening to the light hearted banter between two of her favourite people in the world warmed her very soul, and she was relieved to see the brooding look dissipate from Gajeel's handsome face, his eyes lighting up as he smiled, holding his own in a battle of wits and verbal jabs with one of her oldest and dearest friends.
"What you should do haearn, is ask Doire about that time she got blind and tried to proposition Kaleb."
"In my defence, Vander pours extraordinarily strong drinks. And Kaleb's room was right next to Arman's! How was I meant ta know? I was drunk!"
The image forming in Gajeel's imagination was too much, too funny to ignore, and the laughter poured from him long and loud, to the point tears collected in the corner of his eyes, catching on dark lashes, and his side's ached from the unfamiliar movement. He couldn't recall how long it had been since he'd laughed in such a way, couldn't remember ever laughing and enjoying life as much as he had since he'd set out on this adventure with Xally, the thought catching him off guard, and he stole her breath as he stole a scorching kiss, so full of gratitude and passion that even Doire was left a little rosy cheeked just from witnessing the moment, Xally's eyes glassy and unfocused as he pulled away slowly.
"Y'all need a minute? No, don't mind me, nothin' I like more than watchin' y'all play tonsil hockey." Doireann didn't mind, not really, not after spending so much of her life in Bosco and it's very liberal views on sexuality and pleasure. No, she just enjoyed watching Xally glare and Gajeel blush, more than she probably should, but nevertheless Doire was itching to call the man she viewed as a second father and fill him in on his daughters budding relationship, knowing full well he was a bigger gossip than any of the brood.
"Feeling left out Doire? If you wanted a kiss, you just had to ask!" Xally's smile was dazzling as she winked at Gajeel, leaving him gaping and a little stunned as she turned and slanted her lips across the dark haired woman beside her. While the Dragon decidedly displeased at the sight of his mate sharing a moment of affection with someone else, Gajeel was left shaking off the surprise and the faintest hint of arousal - because a beautiful woman kissing another had always managed to elicit a response from him - snatching Xally with a firm grip on her waist, hauling her over onto his lap placated the Dragon, the weight of her on his thighs grounding, calming the simmer of his blood.
"Gods, you're like a pair of lovesick teenagers. Just bang already an' get it over with, would ya?"
"Doire, you know it's not that simple."
"Sure 'tis. He's hot as sin, you're gorgeous, together you'll make beautiful babies - go have at it, I want to be an aunty!"
"Y'ain't know much 'bout Dragons an' slayer's, hey?" Gajeel was a little surprised, Doireann had seemed so sure of herself, of her knowledge of his kind.
"Not about your sex lives, no. Can't say I've ever had cause ta learn before know." Doireann bristled under the stare of crimson eyes, unused to having her expertise queried and questioned.
"Dragon's bond fer life, y'see - pick 'emselves a partner, an' go through th' matin' process. Slayer's ain't much dif'rent, 'cept we ain't choose our mates - th' Dragon soul we each got knows wha's gonna be best fer us, finds someone with'n those qualities an' prods us ta git cosy."
"They get to know the person, build a relationship and if everyone feels the same, the Slayer will take them as their mate. Or it isn't right - doesn't work for whatever reason, and they can go their separate ways. Poor Cris keeps finding maybes that end up as no's." Xally's face soured a little, recounting how the most loving of her brothers was still searching for his match, Gajeel squeezing her fingers reassuringly.
"He'll find 'em, don' ye worry. Ain't anyone d'serve it more."
"Girl, Cristoff is a catch - he's just waitin' for someone that's worthy. And none of that explains why y'all ain't makin' babies yet!"
"Can't stop th' process once it starts... Th' Dragon rules matin' an' they ain't like ta be gentle. Be kin ta level half th' town an' rip apart anyone got too close. Canny be takin' her ta bed, much as I wan' ta, b'cause we got work ta do, an' I ain't kin ta be 'round people when I get ta be havin' Xally. She's my mate."
"Well, can't be helped then - y'all are just gonna have to finish this job as soon as possible, because dammit I want baby cuddles!"
"Babes, go visit home then. Bixy and his wife have twins." Xally burst into laughter at the complete and utter astonishment on Doireann's face.
"Bickslow... Married? Babies? IN BOSCO?"
Translations -
ngwladwriaeth = sweetheart
byddaf yn ei osod y byd ar dân i chi = we would set the world ablaze for you
lleuad yn fy mywyd = moon of my life
Another Thursday update! Well, just - it's almost 10:30pm in my part of the world... This week has been completely insane - COVID exploded in my area the exact same day I started a new job in the only clinic that does testing etc locally, so I clearly timed that perfectly (not!)
Rao - hopefully some parts in here gave you a giggle too! And fixing Gajeel gives you some answers!
Dragonfly - knowing you're always waiting for the next update keeps me trying to get something out every week! Hopefully you're getting a sense for her and enjoying the dynamic between them! And you know Gajeel is a big softie at heart, of course he's going to do sweet things for his girl!
Starrat - welcome! I'm so glad you're enjoying this, and I hope you'll stick around to see what's coming!
In other exciting news - my very talented friend actually drew Xally in all her glory, so I've uploaded that as the cover! And as always, I can't wait to hear your thoughts and feedback on today's chapter. Stay safe, and much love
- AV xxx