Hello, my pretties! I know, I know. I still have the other story to finish, and I will... in due time! But for now, I have a story even better. This is an AU LaLu and Gajevy fanfic, with my own personal twist on things. Most of the characters are OOC, but that's what makes it more fun, right? This story will be a bit longer, and a lot more detailed than my last, as I saw the error in my writing which inspired me to do better. (Another reason why I haven't finished my last story. Every time I look at it, I just wanna gag.) This story has a dark, supernatural theme to it, with sone lemons tossed in there too. Can't have a story without lemons, am I right?

I will be making a conscious effort to reply to each and every review at the start of each new chapter. I thrive on my readers' opinions as constructive criticism will always improve you! A few have requested that I make my chapters longer and I obliged. This story will have at lease 4k-5k words per chapter, with a WHOLE LOT of dialogue.

I hope you guys like my take on the Fairy Tail characters and that I've created a story to your liking! I am posting the first five chapters just to test the waters and see how you guys like it. PLEASE PLEASE COMMENT AND REVIEW!

Chapter One

He was never one to partake in the joys of the holidays, nor was he one to be a part of family gatherings, as they were always awkward and tiring. As the outcast, his family would always look down on him because of the trouble he used to get into as a teenager. It caused them to view him in a bad light, but he was still human and still their kin, and they didn't seem to care. He was the only boy and second of three, and knew his mother boldly preferred her second daughter— his younger sister, as her favorite, and he hated that she gave her special treatment. He hated himself for loving them unconditionally knowing they spoke nothing but negative things about him, but that was one of his weaknesses as well as one of his strengths. All reasons why he never cared to join in when they all came over for the holidays.

The evening sun shone through the parting of cheap black curtains that hung next to the bed he was lying on, his room, the small room graciously giving a generous portion of itself to the full-sized mattress and box spring he had sitting snug in a corner. He glanced over at his almost bare nightstand and freed his arm from his thick burgundy comforter, reaching for the dragon-crested charm his father gave him when he was young. He listened to the chatter and laughter coming from the other side of his closed door as he scanned every detail of the charm for what may well have been the millionth time, always fascinated that the details never wore, with disregard to how much it'd been handled.

This time of year was especially rough on him, as this was the time of year when his father disappeared years ago. His last memories of his father always racked his brain when snow fell because he seemed to be the only one who was affected by the disappearance. Granted, the relationship between his mother and father was always rough, but his father always did his best to provide for their family. His mother was a very selfish woman and she always wanted more than he could give, and she never seemed to be satisfied with anything. They argued and fought, often about trivial things. There were even times where the fights got extreme enough for him to leave in a huff and not return for days at a time.

His eyelids were getting heavy with the memories of his father, who he just knew was alive. Even though he'd disappeared without a trace, he'd kept the words, 'I'll be back soon, son,' close to him and embedded into his brain, and fully believed that he would, in fact, return to his family. As gravity finally won, his eyelids closed, only for the sound of his sister calling for him through his closed door bringing him back to consciousness.

"Gajeel! What are you doing in there? Come out and join us!"

His ruby eyes cracked open, annoyance already brewing within the depths of his darkened mind, as he knew she was just being nice and trying to play the role of the family mediator. He rolled over, the cozy comforter now splayed across his body and over his head, closing his eyes before they got the chance to adjust to the new darkness.

"Go away, I ain't comin' out," he called, his deep voice slightly muffled by his pillow.

"Your family wants to see you, Jeel."

Marianna, the only person in the family he really cared for, his older sister and best friend. She'd always been a big influence in his life, from helping take care of him when he was younger, to being someone to confide in when he was older. She was strong and independent and was never afraid to call him out on his bad behavior, all the while never once turning her back on him and treating him with contempt. She was the only one who returned his unconditional love.

Now fully annoyed, he threw the comforter off his body, swinging his legs over the side of his mattress and stuffing charm in his pocket, goosebumps gracefully making an appearance on his upper arms from the sudden gust of cold air. 'Damn it,' he muttered under his breath as he stood from the bed and made two large strides to the slab of wood his sister was behind.

"Don't fuckin' spew that bullshit at me, Anna," he said, swinging the door open then resting his right arm on the upper frame of the door, almost having to duck down slightly to see her. His eyes met her large ones, similar in color, but instead of cold and dark, hers were light and happy, while serious and comforting at the same time.

"Just humor me, please?" Marianna spoke in her soft voice. "I feel like it'd do you some good to spend time with your family. You're always shutting yourself out and holing yourself up in your room," her doe-like eyes scanned what little of his room she could see through the space between him and his door ajar. "Which you so desperately need to clean."

"They don't wanna see me and I don't wanna see them, now go away. I was sleepin'." His words came out harsh while his left hand gripped the doorknob, preparing to shut the door. He turned away, his long, bordering unruly, dark hair hanging loose down his back and swaying with his motions.

"Gajeel, is that you?"

That voice. That same voice that'd cursed and yelled at his father. He stopped in his tracks; the door halfway shut. He figured he could at least make an appearance, though he was wary. Most family gatherings ended with the entire family poking and prodding at him with no regard to his feelings. Unfortunately, his hidden love for 'togetherness' led him astray once again, and he'd hoped that maybe this time, just maybe they could all get together without feeling the need to attack him.

"Come on out, it's been a while since your aunt has seen you!"

"Tch." He flung the door back open and breezed past his sister and down the narrow hallway that connected the three bedrooms in the small house, making his way to the living room in almost the same number of strides he took in his room. He would have much rather been sitting in his room, in solitude, drifting off to a state of consciousness where he was at peace and didn't have to face the painful reality of his life. He rounded the corner to the family room, he was faced with his mom, his aunt, and his younger sister, two out of the three looking at him with utter disdain.

"Well? I'm here," he stated, shoving his hands in his pockets and scanning the room. None of them seemed happy to see him, and it was as if they only called him out to poke and prod at him mentally.

"Don't be so rude, Gajeel," his aunt said, aiming her nose down at him. "We haven't seen you in a while, and you sound like it's killing you to come out and talk to us."

"I know you guys don't really want me here, so why would I grace ya with my shitty presence?"

His question gathered a collection of gasps and fake faces of awe.

"Now why would you say a thing like that, Jeel?" Anna asked, coming up from behind him and linking an arm through his.

"I don't know why yer reactin' like ya actually care, I'm not the favorite," he replied, glancing across the room at his blue-haired sister, who all but smirked at his response.

Juvia, his younger sister and his mother's 'light on a cloudy day', was always indifferent toward him, not really showing an interest in one way or another in his life. She'd always been on their mother's side and hated their father just as much as their mom did. She was the spitting image of their mother, with her azure hair that fell just past her shoulders and navy-blue eyes, while Gajeel and Marianna looked like their father. Both had his signature red eyes and thick dark hair that went down their backs, Gajeel's hair being a bit longer and more unkempt.

"It's a nice life," Juvia said, her head cocked slightly to the side. "Being the favorite."

"Well, this conversation would be much more pleasant if you stopped acting so uppity," his mom said curtly as she fanned herself with a flimsy piece of paper she'd grabbed from the kitchen counter.

"Wow, comin' from my own damn mother," Gajeel smirked, his small red eyes rolling upward as he turned around to head back to his room. "This is exactly why I didn't wanna come out. I'd say it was nice seeing ya, but we all know that would be a lie."

"Just like his father."

Meryn, his aunt and his mother's fraternal twin sister. She was just another thorn in his side each and every time those two paired up. It was almost insufferable, and now, of course, she had to fix her lips to be rude.

"What did you say?" His voice turned grim as he turned around, a scowl plastered on his face. Anytime his father was mentioned, harsh words and insults always followed. He braced himself mentally, ready for word to word combat with those who supposedly were his family.

"What's yer big ass deal with me?" He asked, getting angrier with each word that left his mouth.

"You're just like him. Attitude and all. It's bad enough you look exactly like him, now you have to act like him too?" His mom was clearly annoyed with his presence and she let it be known with each interaction they had.

"Ya know what? My father was a better provider and a better fucking human being than you people ever were!" His words were filled with anger and emotion as he walked to stand in front of his mother.

"Gajeel! Stop it! Please!" Anna pleaded with her younger brother, yanking on his arm to get him to pull back and take a breath, only for it to be in vain as he leaned down, his face about a foot away from his mother's.

"You guys hate me! So be it! I don't give a rat's ass what ya think about me, but don't you dare speak ill about him! He was nothing but good ta me unlike you fuckers," he fumed as he tightly gripped the charm in his pocket in a white-knuckled fist.

"Tell that to the family he abandoned all those years ago!" His mother retorted. "Would a good person just leave his kin so easily?"

"He would if he was sick and tired of yer crap! Hell, I'd leave too!" Gajeel finished his outburst throwing his hands in the air, almost yanking Anna's arm off.

His mother, clearly amused by his sudden fit, glanced at the door. "No one is stopping you."

"Mom! Stop it! You know how he is! He'll really leave!"

Anna hated her role sometimes. She felt as though she was the glue that held her and Gajeel to their family, as their mother was indifferent toward her too. She didn't quite treat her with the same contempt she treated Gajeel with, but it was still evident that she wasn't liked either.

"Good riddance," Meryn muttered to herself.

"I'm goin' ta get some fresh air." He turned on his heels and stormed through the front door, grabbing his thin grey hoodie on his way out.

He stood at the bottom of the porch and as he heard his beloved sister calling for him to return, he stopped to pet Lily, a small black cat he found in an alley one day a few years ago. The cat was near death from being malnourished, and it looked like it'd been forgotten. He'd spent months caring for it and gaining its trust and eventually, the cat was healthy again, though, there was nothing he could do about the scar on his left eye. Instead, he grew to like the scar, as it gave him character. That cat, Lily, may as well have been his best friend, aside from his sister. The cat followed him wherever he went, but this time, Gajeel just wanted to be alone.

"Sorry, Lil. Not this time. I'll be right back, I promise," he said to the black cat, walking away and not even bothering to look back at Lily's sad, red eyes.

He walked through his small neighborhood, the streets lined with rickety houses and shacks that were built in a rush after the Fallout that occurred almost ten years ago. The cobblestone streets were lined with puddles of muddy water and snow, and the evening skies were a deep burnt-orange, with a reddish-pink ombre. He continued walking as the world around him had gotten darker in response to the sun's disappearance, unknowingly wandering into another run down town. It wasn't until he reached the outskirts of the second town he'd trekked through that he realized he'd been gone for hours. 'Good riddance, indeed. Not like they miss me.'

As small snowflakes speckled the now deep navy skies, he spotted a metal bench he decided to stop and rest at, realizing it was once a bus stop maybe eight or so years ago before all the madness happened. He pulled the charm out of his pocket and held it up by the thin iron chain it was latched onto, admiring it, as it reminded him of his dad. The charm itself was also made of iron and intricately carved into a dragon, with eyes made of ruby and scales lined with steel. As much as he'd handled the iron dragon, it always looked brand new and untouched. None of the details faded away even after sometimes being exposed to harsh weather conditions, and that led him to suspect it had some magical properties to it.

Figuring he should head back, he put the charm around his neck and stood from the bench, stretching from discomfort when something… or someone quickly headed his direction caught his attention. He barely had time to notice the fact that they were fully covered from head to toe in a brown cloak, the only thing visible being their hands. Nothing seemed too weird about the situation, so he turned around to head back home when he heard the soft sound of snow crunching under one's foot stop behind him.

"The talisman. Give it to me."

A woman's voice sounded; a soothing tone that echoed in his ears nicely. He found himself unable to ignore the beautiful voice and keep walking like he typically would when it came to strangers approaching him. He turned, allowing himself to see the face attached to that voice, only to see that her face was now covered by the shadow of the hood she had pulled over her head, the only thing now visible being her chin. She was a small thing, almost dainty under her cloak, but he couldn't make much detail out from what was presented.

"What?" He asked, both annoyed and confused at the fact that he apparently had no free will.

"The talisman. Hanging around your neck." She extended her hand upward, revealing a small and feminine wrist that had red markings that wrapped completely around it.

As badly as he wanted to walk away, he just couldn't get his body to work properly. It was an understatement to say he was a bit intrigued by this woman and the markings on her wrists. Her voice was light and almost angelic, and even though she only spoke a few words, they were enough to pierce through a layer of the wall he had up and found himself wanting to hear her speak more. Why she wanted his father's charm, though, he had no idea.

"Fat chance," Gajeel scoffed. "This is the only thing in this fucked up world that's important ta me. I ain't givin' it t'ya."

"I'll just take it then," the woman said before giving him a roundhouse kick to the face, sending him to the ground.

"Oi! The fuck's yer problem?" He asked, propping his upper body up with an elbow as he rubbed his chin. "If you weren't a lady, I'd— "

It was when he finally composed himself and looked up, that he noticed that the woman had disappeared with his charm. 'Goddammit!' He stood and brushed the snow off his clothing— or at least the snow that hadn't melted and seeped through his hoodie, his eyes scanning the immediate area around him.

"I'm never gonna find her! That fucking bitch," he exclaimed, punching a dent into a nearby metal door, not caring if he disturbed the occupants on the other side.

He decided to turn back and head home after determining the girl was nowhere to be found, dark thoughts brewing in his mind from the recent turn of events. He suspected the charm was no ordinary charm, and she'd unknowingly confirmed it, but he didn't think it was worth being stolen. His mother did try to take it from him on multiple occasions when she found out it was given to him by his father, so he started keeping it on his person at all times. He didn't think anything strange about it other than the fact that she was a bitter woman, but maybe she knew something about the charm that he didn't.

His thoughts stayed with him the entire walk home, the sky now an ash-grey from the combination of soot and snow that went unnoticed due to his distracted mind state. He rounded the narrow path that took him back to the bridge that led him home to see an unusual bright-orange glow emanating from his small, dingy town.

"No…"

He picked up his pace with flashbacks to the Fallout, eventually sprinting toward his neighborhood in hopes that his family was fine and that his home hadn't been destroyed. He reached the town's only entrance to find everything in flames, and what looked like armed giants covered from head to toe in metal suits.

"Not again…"

He pushed through the people fleeing their homes in the opposite direction, immediately regretting his last interaction with his family. He begged internally that Anna was alright, praying he'd be able to go home and live his boring life as he normally would. After what seemed like forever of shoving through the other townsfolk, he broke free of the crowd and finally got to his house, the only house that looked like someone had taken extra precautions to completely destroy his house and kill his family.

"Anna…" Gajeel fell to his knees in front of the body of his sister, who looked like her throat had been slit, hugging her close to his body. His teary red eyes scanned the area around them, and he found Lily, who was also dead. He screwed his eyes shut to stop the tears, his teeth clenched to keep him from going berserk, holding Anna tighter and closer to his body as if he could give her his own life.

"Hey, boy!" A grating and somewhat deep voice broke his trance and he opened his eyes and looked up, the worst possible view he could have ever imagined staring him in the face. A being that was much too large to be a regular human emerged from the remains of his demolished home with one of his hands full of blue hair. His eyes widened, his mother's head was attached to that bloodied blue hair and he was sure his aunt and younger sister were already dead. He stood slowly, feeling a white-hot rage he'd never felt before.

"I'll fucking kill you!" Gajeel barreled toward it, only to be grabbed by his collar and yanked up so that he was eye level with the being.

"The talisman, boy. Where is it? I don't sense it on you."

"I don't have a goddamn thing!" Gajeel spat, throwing punches in vain.

Throwing him forcefully to the ground next to Anna's body, the creature stood over him, a sword held to his neck. "You foolish human! You're nothing but living pieces of pathetic meat, not even worthy of being vessels. Now, for your insolence and stupidity, you must suffer."

Gajeel didn't know what was going on, but he at least knew that he was the cause of his family's death and the cause of the town being destroyed. 'I shouldn't have left… I shouldn't have been gone for so long… I shouldn't have let it get stolen… now I truly have nothing…'

"What more can you take from me?" Gajeel asked with a shaky voice as he held his sister's body in his arms.

The creature dropped his mother's head in a pile of dead bodies he was sure the rest of his family was in and knelt so that he was in Gajeel's face, and with the most twisted grin it could muster under its helmet, it uttered, "I can take your life."

"Fuck…"

Gajeel Redfox is a man in his late twenties, with a tall and bulky build and long black hair paired with a quick temper and a bad smoking habit— or at least he was until he and his family were brutally murdered by the Fallen. Now, he's a goblin with a quick temper and a score to settle with his assailants and the wench who stole his father's charm, which had to be at least a year ago. He vowed to himself that he'd locate it, even if it took the rest of eternity. He figured she still had it, but he didn't even know who she was, or anything about her. The only things inscribed into his brain were her voice and the markings on her wrist.

He drug his hands down his face and threw the fleece blanket that covered his body to the side, rolling out of his large bed, happy to finally be rid of the recurring nightmare of his death that kept him awake several times throughout the week. The images had been becoming more real and vivid each time it occurred. He always woke up when he heard the last words spoken to him… those very words that put him where he was now.

He stood and stretched, the white t-shirt he had on rising halfway up his midriff. Letting out a deep yawn, he walked to stand in front of the mirror, seeing the same face he's always seen. The same body, the same build. There were a few differences, none that really bothered him, though. As a human, he was a little over six feet tall, now he was at least a foot taller. He now also had iron studs on his face, neck, and arms that he actually liked, as he thought it brought out his brash personality and rugged looks. He'd been dead for almost a year now, and he still had yet to wrap his head around the fact. 'Not like there's anyone to miss me. They're all dead too.'

He spent the next few minutes sifting through his clothes for his usual go-to outfit as he figured out what his plan was for the day. On his days off, he'd spend his free time either at the bar with his best friend or wandering around in the human world searching for the person who stole his most prized possession; the woman with the beautiful voice.

*BUZZ BUZZ*

Gajeel perked up hearing his phone go off. It was old and lost signal a lot so he only used it for work. It only rang when he had another job, and he strangely gained solace from his work. After tying his hair back with a red and white bandanna, he picked up his phone and read the text,

Lily – 'Come to the bar. I found you another job.'

He smirked, reaching for the black, fingerless knuckle gloves on the nightstand next to his bed along with the keys to his bike and briskly walked through the front door, grabbing his sleeveless black jacket along the way.