"Why do you want to speak with Natsu?" Levy asks, she is staring at me intently and I can see her brain is whirring into life, probably thinking over a million different reasons why I might want to talk with Pinkie.

"It's nothing really," I shrug, I don't know how to tell her what is going on without it worrying her more than she already does. Even though we haven't talked about it, I know that Levy has been suffering with anxiety and panic attacks since my fight with Bloodman, I must admit that I do also have nightmares about that particular fight from every now and then. There have been plenty of epic battles in my time, but I really did believe I was going to die then, and it was losing my chance to be with Levy that truly broke my heart.

There have been many nights when I have awoken to Levy thrashing beside me, her body slick with sweat and her face screwed up in utter terror. Most of the time I am able to hold her still and soothe her with sweet nothings in her ear until her body finally relaxes against me and her breathing becomes even again, but every now and then the nightmares are too intense, and I cannot release her from them without waking her. She shrugs these nightmares off as nothing unusual, often she will make up nightmare scenarios and try to convince me that they aren't about me, but I know the truth of it.

"Am I doing the same thing to her as she is to me?" I wonder, we are both dancing around each other with these problems, maybe a combined attack would work better?

"Levy, do you trust me?" I ask, grabbing her hand and pulling her to me once more. As she sits sideways on my lap, I place her palm against my chest where my heart lies beneath.

"Of course, I do," she breathes quietly, her eyes are round with worry once more and I hate it.

I capture her soft lips with my own, revelling in her ability to soften my rough edges, I sit back, resisting the temptation to take this any further. "I promise I will tell you everything, but I need to speak with Natsu first."

Levy stares at me, her intelligent eyes assess me, and I feel stripped bare before them, it's like she is looking into my soul. I pray she finds the truth in my words; I do want to tell her everything, but I need more information before I can do that.

As Levy opens her mouth, the dungeon door is thrown open once again and in walks Lucy. "What the heck are you two doing in here?" she demands, her large brown eyes dart between us as she awaits an answer, her hands resting on her hips.

"Don't nobody knock in this damn place?" I grumble at the blonde staring down at us.

"I trust you Gajeel, we do need to talk," Levy whispers to me, taking me by surprise.

She jumps from my lap and shrieks happily, "Lucy, I haven't seen you in forever, how're you doing girl?" I watch as Lucy and Levy embrace before they start to leave the dungeon. Wait, have they forgotten about me? I'm still chained up!

"Levy! Are you forgetting something? I need these taking off and do you mind fixing my clothes back, I don't want people thinking I've been hanging around Gray too much." I shake my manacled wrists to emphasise the point.

All I get in return is that cheeky smile of hers, "you'll need to ask Erza to get you out of those, won't you? As for the vest, I like it that way." She hungrily looks me up and down before winking and quickly sprinting out the room with Lucy following in peals of laughter.

"You are going to pay for this you little vixen," but I can't help but smile at her bravery.

~.~

Oh, I am going to pay for that, I know it! Lucy and I collapse into an empty booth by the doors of the guildhall, we can't get further from the stairs to the dungeon if we tried.

"I can't believe you left him in there like that," Lucy laughs, her eyes shining with tears, "you are getting brave, aren't you?"

Before I can answer a bellow sounds above the noise of the room, "ERZA SCARLET, get your butt down here!" I wince as the room silences; everyone turns to look at Erza. Gajeel really is an idiot sometimes.

Slowly Erza stands and marches down the stairs to the dungeon, her face is set in stone and she does not look amused. There is a moment of silence followed by some angry voices then two almighty thuds before Erza reappears, worryingly holding her sword. I frown at the scarlet haired mage; she returns my gaze and gives me the tiniest of smiles. I release the breath I didn't realise I had been holding, at least I know he isn't dead!

I can't help but laugh, finally the noise starts back up and I turn to Lucy and smile broadly at my best friend. "I feel like I have hardly seen you since, you know, it all happened…" I trail off, I hate thinking back to that time.

"I know, right? A lot has happened since then," Lucy sighs, her eyes travelling around the room until they land on Natsu, who is standing by the bar and is clearly one insult away from brawling with Gray, some things never change. I watch as her eyes soften and if I'm not mistaken there is a pink stain appearing on her fair cheeks. As if he knew Lucy was watching, Natsu turns his attention from Gray to stare back at Lucy, he breaks into his familiar wide smile as he waves in our direction before being dragged back into hurling insults with the ice mage by his side.

"Spill!" I demand, grasping Lucy's hand and pulling her focus back to me.

"Well, it's a long story," Lucy starts, taking a big breath as if to prepare herself for what was to come, "I guess the most important part is that Natsu and I are -"

Lucy's words are cut off by the deep barking shout of "NATSU! You and me need to have some words, get your pink ass over here right now!" Gajeel has emerged from the dungeon, the restraints have been removed and sadly he has been able to right his clothing, although I am pleased to see that a bite mark is peeking out from the neck of his vest.

"Stupid Gajeel…" I hiss, throwing him a nasty look as he and Natsu clash in the middle of the room. I was pretty sure it was going to devolve into a violent throwdown but to my surprise the two men move over to a table in the corner, their heads bent low. Even Gray looks shocked by this, I wonder if he feels left out?

"Get over here Ice Princess!" Natsu yells, gesturing for Gray to join them at the small table.

Frowning, I return my attention to Lucy, we are both clearly confused by this new development, Lucy shrugs and continues, "we are together, but it's more than that," she raises a hand to keep me from interrupting, "we are mates."

Lucy's face takes on an almost ethereal glow when she says the last part, it's clear that she is truly happy, and I want to squeeze her so tight.

~.~

Rubbing my sore head, I glare at Gray as he sits at our table. Erza gave me one hell of a lump, at least it gave me the chance to thank her for saving me from myself and my rage earlier. I chuckle to myself as I remember her stunned face when I bowed my head and thanked her, I don't think she is used to people saying thank you after she hits them with the hilt of her sword.

"What's going on flame brain, and why have you dragged me into this?" Gray asks impatiently, crossing his arms over his bare chest, does that boy ever keep his clothes on?

"Look, I kinda think I know what Gajeel is about to ask me, and I figure it might be relevant to you one day and I don't wanna be having this conversation more than once, alright?" Natsu answers, he rubs his temples as if this is already giving him a headache, rolling my eyes I resign myself to Gray's continued presence.

Pyro and Ice Boy wait for me to start, and for a moment the words get stuck in my throat, this is harder than I thought it would be. "Get on with it Gajeel, these two idiots are not worth the embarrassment!" taking a deep breath I explain what has been going on…

"Basically, since Levy and I became a thing," Gray gives me a sly grin at this, "watch it or I'll throw your ass throw the door!" I warn under my breath. As Gray's face clears I continue, "well, there are moments when I can feel this presence within me, it's like there is a beast inside. I can't quite see it, but it has glowing red eyes and the pupils are slits like a dragon or a snake. The beast wants me to -"

"Mark Levy?" Natsu finishes, he is frowning at the table between us.

"Yeah." I answer solemnly.

The pink haired mage looks up with his trademark bright toothy smile, "Ah don't worry about it man, just means you've found your mate."

"And what the hell does that mean?" I snarl at the grinning idiot.

Natsu sighs heavily as he scratches the back of his neck, "Ah jeez, I'm no good at explaining these things, but I guess I'm going to have to try."

~.~

"You know how I had to rewrite the book of E.N.D. to save Natsu?" Lucy asks as she shifts in her seat, her fingers idly twisting in her golden blonde hair as recalls the memory.

"Yeah, that's about all I know of it though, we really haven't had many opportunities to catch up lately," I reply, feeling a bit guilty that I have been neglecting my friend in favour of Gajeel's company.

"Well, that act did save Natsu's life, obviously," as she gestures to where the salmon haired man is sat, his back to us, but he did seem to straighten ever so slightly when Lucy pointed towards him, his head almost looked round, but it stopped as Gajeel spoke to him.

"It also awoke his Dragon." Lucy whispers, her eyes searching mine and it seemed like they were silently pleading with me to believe her.

My mind raced with that revelation, "Natsu has a dragon? Does she mean Igneel? How is this related to them becoming mates?" so many thoughts and questions flit past as I try to process what Lucy has said.

Laughing, Lucy says "I know you are trying to figure this out, I bet you have so many questions for me," she blushes shyly, "but I'll answer the ones I think I know you'll ask first. No, it isn't Igneel, no he can't turn into a dragon, but his magic and power have increased dramatically since we last saw you."

My eyes widen at the mention of Natsu's power increase, he was already one of our strongest wizards in the guild and to hear that he was now even more so was a little scary to think about. "What does this have to do with you two becoming mates though?" I ask curiously.

Lucy sighs before continuing, "Let me explain this first, it might be important to you.

All the Dragon Slayers have a Dragon within them, when Igneel left Natsu's body, a small amount of Dragon essence was left behind and it will be the same for the rest of them, including Gajeel. We know that the Dragons did this to protect the Slayers from transforming into Dragons like Acnologia and Erza's mother. What they didn't know was that by leaving this essence behind, they made it so that a Dragon spirit now resides within their soul, it boosts their magic power and extends their life force greatly. We would not have known this had it not been for me rewriting that book."

"I don't understand, how are the two things connected?" I whisper, my head is beginning to hurt from processing this information.

"The Dragon spirit lay dormant until an ultimate act of love or sacrifice is displayed to them by their mate, that being me for Natsu. My willingness to sacrifice my life to save Natsu and my love for him, it awoke his Dragon and let me tell you it has been a crazy few months." Lucy whistles quietly through her teeth, she slumps back in her seat and stares quietly at the ceiling, her face flushes as it looks like she is thinking about some pleasant memories.

~.~

"Wait, you're telling me this is a book's fault?" I snarl at Natsu, his face is a mask of confusion as he tries his best to explain what is going on with us.

"No, that's just to do with me and Lucy," Natsu says, waving his hands at me in annoyance. "What I'm trying to say is that you have a Dragon in you now and he wants his mate."

"Let me get this straight," Gray interjects, "you're saying that because of what Igneel and Metalicana did to protect you from turning into Dragons, you now have a Dragon Spirit within you, and they are only awakened by an act of true love or sacrifice by their destined mate?"

"Man, that is exactly what I am saying. I knew you were cleverer than old Iron Head over here!" Natsu points his thumb at me, and I instantly want to smash his face through the table.

"That is not what you said, ya knucklehead! What was all that about a book and not being able to fly like Happy?" I roar at the cocky bastard sitting before me. I don't care that people are staring at us again, my blood is boiling.

"Relax, man. You learn how to understand idiot after a while, I've been around flame brain for years and I've managed to pick up enough of his idiotic ways to be able to decipher what he means most of the time." Gray explains as Natsu begins to yell about not being an idiot, his fists now encased in flames as he dances in anger around our small table.

~.~

Angry outbursts from across the room halt our conversation once more, Lucy and I look towards the table where Natsu and Gajeel are now forehead to forehead hurling insults as Gray looks on with a pensive expression. It's not like Gray to not get involved in, I wonder what is going on with him. Lucy catches my eye, and it is obvious she is thinking the same thing, "he isn't a Dragon Slayer, but he is a Demon Slayer, who knows if something similar will happen to him?" Lucy whispers nervously.

Chewing my lip, I think on the enormity of what Lucy has revealed to me. For obvious reasons she didn't go into details about how they officially became mates, but she did tell me it had something to do with being marked so no other Dragon would dare go near her. Lucy also warned that it is best for Gajeel to get on with it and not to resist his urges if he is having them, things can get seriously messy if he does.

I muse about that in particular, it seems like Lucy was telling me this from personal experience, I guess Natsu tried to deny his Dragon? Now I need to find out from Gajeel if his Dragon has awoken or not. My mind flashes to the night before, there was a moment when it seemed like Gajeel had fought against some unseen force, was that him resisting? It seems like we have a lot to discuss now and there will be no distracting me this time Mr Redfox.

Lucy and I return to watching our respective men, both of them are still acting like complete dumbasses, our eyes meet and we both burst out laughing.

"I think it's time we reined these two in don't you agree?" Lucy stands, pulling me to my feet. We march across the room, Lucy whispers "follow my lead," as we stop before the table. The men haven't noticed our presence, Lucy clears her throat loudly and crosses her arms. I follow suit, my face falling into a deep scowl as Natsu and Gajeel both freeze and slowly turn to us.

"I think it's time we had our chat now, Mr Redfox." I turn on my heel and stride for the exit.

As I walk away, I can hear Natsu whine to Lucy, "what did I do Luce?" I don't hear Lucy's reply, but a pained yowling starts not long after. I refuse to turn to see if Gajeel is following, he better be.

~.~

"Oh fuck, I'm in trouble now." is all I can think as I sheepishly trail Levy out of Fairy Tail.