Chapter 39

Monster

Several mages sit around a large oval table discussing their next move. A masked mage stood from the head of the table, his palms flat on the surface before him.

"It's time to move forward with 'Operation Phoenix'." He took a few steps away from the table and began pacing back and forth.

"We've been watching for a little over two years now, and I think now is the prime time to begin the first step."

"But sir," another masked mage said. "We'll get killed!"

The head mage smirked under his mask. "That's why we send in our secret weapon."

The other mages looked at each other, mumbling in confusion.

"Don't worry," the head mage said, causing the others to stop murmuring and face him. "Just trust me."

He grinned devilishly under his mask, content with his foolproof plan.

"How do you feel about me taking Zeke on a translating job with me soon?" Levy asked, sitting on her mate's lap.

Gajeel had to think about that for a bit. He was unsure if he wanted to throw his son into possible combat so soon.

"It's going to be fine," she assured him. "I'll be sure to pick a job that won't require fighting."

"Hmm, only if I can tag along. And then, I can pick the job so he can see how a dragon really fights."

Levy watched as her iron dragon got excited to finally show Zeke what he can really do.

"Maybe then he'll change his mind about being a dragon slayer," he smiled, showing both fangs to Levy. She loved seeing him so happy.

"Oi! Zeke!"

The boy came into the living room holding Lily captive in his arms.

"Put him down! You're squeezing him!" Levy exclaimed as she stood up to retrieve the exceed.

"I caught him!" Zeke said happily, running around the room.

Gajeel stretched his leg, extending across the path his son was running in. He laughed as Zeke tripped, the exceed floating away after being freed from his grasp.

"Gajeel! What did I tell you?" Levy berated him as she tended to a seemingly fine Zeke.

"Relax, he's fine, see?" He swiftly changed his arm into a small iron lance and swung it in his son's direction. In return, the smaller dragon covered his arm in his scales and blocked the lance with his forearm.

"That's my boy!" Gajeel laughed heartily. "Sharp reflexes!"

Levy huffed and sat down next to Gajeel. "So, Zeke," she began. "How would you like to go on the next job with us?"

Zeke bounced up and down with excitement, ready to see his mom's script magic in action.

"Yes! I wanna see your magic!"

"Well, your dad is going to pick the next job so he can show you how cool dragon slayer abilities are. How does that sound?"

Gajeel saw the disappointment in his son's hazel eyes and grumbled.

"You'll come around," he said, getting up and heading toward the door.

"Where are you going?" The bluenette asked.

"To pick a job. Ya comin'?"

Levy looked at Zeke, smiling.

"I wanna come too! I wanna see Nashi!"

"I think Flame Brain and Bunny Girl took her on their last job," Gajeel said, annoyed that his son took a liking to Hot Head's daughter.

"Maybe she's hanging out with Auntie Juvia and Uncle Gray," Levy said as she walked toward the door. "Come on, let's go. Oh, and tell Lily we're going."

"PANTHERRRRR!" Zeke shouted. "WE'RE LEEEAVING!"

Levy pinched the bridge of her nose in slight frustration.

"I could have done that," she mumbled under her breath.

"Then why didn't ya?" Gajeel laughed.

She rolled her eyes and walked through the front door, headed in the direction of the guild, her small family following suit.

The guild was still as lively as usual, with a few extra younger members and some soon-to-be members. Elfman and Evergreen already had two kids and were working on a third, Wendy and Romeo were expecting, Lucy and Natsu had a daughter, and Laxus and Mira had twins. Gray and Juvia along with Erza and Jellal had yet to conceive, and nobody in the guild really knew why. They all supposed they understood with Erza and Jellal. Their lifestyles didn't really allow them to have a child, although they've spoken about it and they decided to have a kid when they were older and more settled. Gray and Juvia, on the other hand, were still a mystery. Juvia was still head over heels for her "Gray-sama" and would cling to him like a bandaid. They never spoke much about children; they figured if it happened, it happened.

Zeke entered the guild hall first, yelling for Nashi. Levy went straight to the library for new books and Gajeel went to the job board.

As the script mage appeared in the library, she found Wendy.

"Wendy," she said, giving the young woman a hug.

"Levy, how are you?" She said with a warm smile.

"I'm fine," the older, blue-haired woman replied. "But look at you! How are you and Romeo?"

"We're fine," the sky dragon slayer said, rubbing her belly. "He's on a job right now and should be back soon."

"How far along are you now?"

"Twenty-two weeks," she said, beaming. "I'm halfway there!"

"Do you know what you're having?"

"Grandeeney came to me in a dream a few nights ago, actually. She told me I'd be having a girl."

At that moment, Zeke came running into the library with Nashi not too far behind.

"Mommy! I found Nashi!" He ran up to the table Levy and Wendy were sitting at.

"Be nice, ok?" She said to her son as the little pink-haired girl caught up to him.

"Tag! You're it!" She giggled as she ran off.

"No fair! I wasn't ready!" Zeke ran after the girl, sounds of tiny feet and laughter filling the library.

"Well," Wendy said, standing. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but Carla is waiting on me back at home. We're cooking Romeo's favorite meal for his return."

"Oh, no problem! I'll see you later!" Levy hugged the woman goodbye and watched as she exited the guild.

'It would be nice to have another,' She thought to herself, walking to the 'Lost Languages' section of the library.

Gajeel finally found a job that he deemed suitable for his son and his mate to participate in and made his way to the library... of course after getting sidetracked by beer and his fellow companions. He was in the mood to spar, but Hot Breath was on a bit of a long job which meant Zeke was somewhere playing with Nashi, as Bunny Girl didn't allow her to accompany them on their longer jobs.

He got to the library and sniffed around for Levy.

"Zeke!" He shouted upon catching his son's scent.

He heard a pitter patter of feet coming from the distance as he continued finding Levy.

"Yeah, Dad?" Zeke said, coming up behind Gajeel.

"Where's your mom?"

"Can't you smell her?"

"Don't talk back, just answer the question," Gajeel said, annoyed. "You can smell her too."

Zeke sighed and tried to tune into his sense of smell, succeeding after several seconds of concentration.

"She's over there," he pointed to the 'Languages' corner.

Gajeel peeked around the corner of the aisle she was in and saw her practically submerged in books of deadened languages. He loved seeing his bookworm in her natural habitat.

"Mommy!"

"Zeke, Gajeel," she said. "Did you find a job for us?"

"Yep," He said helping her stand up. "It's not too big a job that Zeke can't handle it, but the pay is shit." He handed her the flyer. "I figured this would be a good start."

"Well, come on," the petite woman said. "Let's get this over with, Zeke."

"I don't wanna fight a dragon," the kid said, pouting.

"Yer not fighting a dragon, just some small-fry monster."

"Are you gonna fight it or is Mommy gonna?"

"Gihi," he smirked. "You are!"

"But…"

"No buts!" Gajeel said firmly. "Yer gonna do this. I promise you'll have fun!"

Zeke really didn't see what was fun about beating up an innocent monster.

"Zeke," his mom said, taking his hand. "The monster has hurt a few people and needs to be dealt with."

That made him feel a little better, knowing the creature wasn't so innocent, but still. Fighting was not his forte.

"I guess," he said reluctantly. "Can I bring Nashi?"

"I don't think they would want us bringing their daughter on a job," Levy said.

They left the guild and started toward home, ready to start this job and see what Zeke can do.

This job consisted of going underground to deal with a pesky creature that has been eating the crops and attacking the farmers who tried to stop it in a village not too far away from Magnolia. This job had been on the job board for quite some time, as the pay wasn't decent enough, but Gajeel figured this would be the perfect thing for his son to do to help him learn and get a better grasp of his slayer abilities.

They decided to walk there, to avoid any possible motion sickness. They weren't quite sure if second-generation slayers had the same condition as first-generation when riding in any vehicle, and they didn't want to find out. Levy having to deal with two motion sick dragons would have been literal hell on earth.

They were nearing their destination when Zeke stopped walking and started sniffing the air. Not too long after, Gajeel started doing the same thing.

"What is it?" Levy asked, confused. Sometimes she wished her senses were as sharp as her mate and son's.

"I smell something vaguely familiar," Gajeel said, still sniffing around.

"What about you, Zeke?" She asked. "What do you smell?"

"I smell…" He paused for a bit. "Someone with a lot of magic!"

Right after he said that, Levy felt an immense but also familiar power headed their direction. She turned around and saw someone walking toward them.

"I think that's… Jade?" Levy said incredulously.

"Tch." Gajeel was not too happy, given their touchy history. He still wanted nothing to do with that wench. She could rot in hell for all he cared, oh wait, she was doomed to live a miserable life all by herself for all eternity.

"Gajeel!" Levy exclaimed, pulling him from his hate-filled thoughts.

He grunted in response.

"You remember Jade, right?" She gestured at the dark-haired woman.

Levy never found out about the incident on the train between the two, and he planned to keep it that way. He nodded, not wanting to speak.

"And this must be your son," Jade said, barely acknowledging Gajeel.

"Yes, this is Zeke," Levy said, pushing him toward the woman. "Say hi, Zeke."

"Hi," he said reluctantly.

Jade crouched down, eye level with the boy. "You're a cute little thing."

"Thanks," he replied, ducking behind Levy's leg.

"Don't mind him," Levy chuckled. "He's pretty cautious around new people."

"Well, Zeke, I'm one of the good ones," she said, still eye level with him.

Gajeel scoffed, earning him a death glare from Levy.

"Are you gonna fight the monster for us?"

Jade stood up in confusion. "Monster?"

"No, Zeke. I told you that you would do it," Gajeel barked. "Stop trying ta weasel yer way outta things."

"We're taking him on his first job so he can learn some of his slayer magic," Levy explained. "The only problem is, he would rather learn about script magic."

"Have you taught him anything?" Jade inquired, seeming to be genuinely interested.

"A few things here and there."

"Well, where is your job? I wouldn't mind tagging along."

Gajeel had never heard worse words in his life. The worst part about it all was he knew Levy would allow this... thing… to come along and he couldn't do anything to stop it without giving it away.

"Gajeel."

He felt a small hand caressing his face.

"Are you ok?" He heard Levy's voice ask.

He looked down; his mate's brow creased in concern.

"Mmm. Yeah. Why?"

"You looked really upset for a minute, there," she said. "I'm worried about you."

"I just need to talk to Zeke for a second," he said, grabbing his clone and walking a few yards away.

Once he felt he was at a safe enough distance, he squatted so he could talk to his son.

"Listen to me very carefully."

Zeke nodded.

"That woman is no good."

"But Mommy likes her," the boy said.

"Yes, Mommy does like her, but Daddy doesn't," Gajeel countered. "She doesn't like daddy either."

"Why?"

"The details aren't important, what is important is that ya stay away from her, ok?" He needed to make sure his son understood 101% that Jade was not one of the good ones.

"Ok, I'll stay away," Zeke said.

"Promise me, son."

"I promise." Zeke would do anything for his dad.

"I gotta ask ya ta do one more thing for me, Zeke," Gajeel said. "Don't tell yer mom about any of this, alright?" He placed his hands on the kid's shoulders. "This stays between you and me."

The boy nodded as Gajeel stood up and took his hand, leading him back to his mom and the wench.

"What was that all about?" Levy asked as they continued to the village with Jade not too far behind them.

"I was just giving him a pep talk," he lied.

"We are just about there, see?" Levy pointed to the village in the distance.

"That's soooo far!" Zeke complained.

"That's not too far, maybe another twenty minutes or so," she said.

After maybe ten minutes of walking, they felt a rumble from beneath them.

"We must be over its hideout," Gajeel said, his hand flat on the ground. "Can you feel him, Zeke?"

The small slayer copied his dad, putting his hand flat on the ground.

"Yeah. I feel 'em," he said. "How do we get down there?"

"Well, first, we need to speak with the person who posted this flyer," Levy said. "Then we go from there."

Jade stood back and watched as the little boy felt the energy in the ground around him. 'Such a smart child.' She wondered if he actually knew any script magic. Sure, his mother was a script mage, but he was born a dragon slayer.

Eventually, Levy found the lady who posted the job and took Zeke with her so they could get the details, leaving Gajeel and Jade to look around the farm.

"Why are you here?" He spat.

"Such venom," she replied nonchalantly.

"Look," he said, rubbing his temples. "Just stay the fuck away from my son and we won't have any problems."

"You think I'm after your child?" The woman snorted.

"Who knows what the hell you're doing, I'm just telling you what not to do," Gajeel said, albeit quite loudly.

"Be careful," she smirked. "We don't want your dear mate to find out what happened, do we?"

Gajeel wanted to beat her face in, but he knew it would all be in vain.

"Tch. Just stay away from me and my kid."

"And if Levy were to have me around often?"

Gajeel cringed. He knew very well that it was a possibility, but what could he do? Levy would never forgive him for keeping that from her and things between the two women would get a bit hostile, and the last thing he wanted was for Jade to have any harsh feelings toward his mate as Jade could kill the both of them easily. He ignored the question and continued scoping out the farm.

Levy and Zeke spoke with an older lady about the job, and she apologized for not being able to pay more, as the village was suffering financially. The creature eating most of their crops resulted in them not making enough money to stay afloat. Levy, being the kindhearted person that she was, turned down the reward. She figured the village needed it more than they did, and it would set a good example for Zeke.

As they got the details on where the creature showed up most, they made their way back to Gajeel and Jade.

"I know where the monster is!" Zeke exclaimed, running toward his dad.

"Great. Lead the way," he replied, ruffling his hair.

"So, what did the lady say about the job?" Gajeel asked his mate as Zeke led them through a tunnel taking them underground.

"I told her to keep the Jewel," Levy explained. "This village is really suffering because of this creature. They don't make much profit anymore and I figured they could use it more than we could."

Gajeel nodded, agreeing. "Do you know how much further?"

"No idea. I told her to tell Zeke where it was. He needs to get in touch with his inner senses." Levy mostly did that for Gajeel's sake, as she knew he really wanted his son to excel.

Gajeel was proud, but the feeling was short-lived when the tunnel started rumbling.

"Um… Dad?"