"The entire place was industrialist chic, all steel beams and exposed brick. Alcoved lighting let shadows linger and the spotlights over the dancefloor flashed purple and blue.
It almost looked like they were underwater, the dancers strange ethereal fish."
- Gray's observations of Element 4 in Chapter 9, The Magic Hour
~Breathing Underwater~
Sunday, November 1st, 2020
-Magnolia City-
Sometime Around 3 AM
"Are you just gonna sit there or would you like to get a drink?"
Levy glanced over her shoulder in surprise and came face to face with a beautiful pink-haired bartender.
The other girl was standing behind the bar, calmly cleaning a glass, and Levy couldn't help from smiling back at her. After racing around Magnolia City for half the night with Gajeel, it was nice to finally be talking to someone normal again.
She swiveled on her stool to properly face the other girl and leaned up against the bar, shaking her head in response to the question.
"No thanks!" Levy said brightly. "I probably shouldn't. Plus, I'm broke."
She frowned, thinking about how her money had been in the pockets of her cloak, which she'd foolishly abandoned somewhere in the twisting corridors of the Haunted House. Her ID had been in those pockets also, but she shivered at the thought of ever going back to that place. It looked like she'd need to replace her ID… ugh, and she needed a new phone still, too...
Levy slumped onto the bar, feeling a bit crushed by the realities of her situation.
Meredy chuckled as she eyed the strange girl slumped at her bar.
"You look like you've been through Hell," she said, with a twinkle in her eye.
Levy glanced up at that, pausing thoughtfully before snorting with laughter.
"You know what, I really have!"
They both chuckled for a moment and Meredy glanced the other girl up and down again before coming to a decision.
Levy's scattered mind was still mulling over her predicament, so at first she didn't notice the bartender swirling about on the other side of the bar, but she was snapped back to reality when the other women slid an ombre pink cocktail towards her on the bar top.
Levy's eyes widened in surprise. She glanced up quickly with concern, waving her hands in front of herself.
"Oh wait! I'm sorry, I think you misunderstood! I really can't take this! Like I said, I have no money! I can't pay for it!"
Meredy simply chuckled, pouring a generous shot for herself, and winked at the other girl.
"Don't worry about payment! It's on the house. Like you said, you've been through Hell tonight, right? I think that's more than deserving of a drink."
Levy felt her cheeks flushing at the kind gesture, and she felt it might be rude if she kept refusing, but… was this really alright?
"I like your costume by the way, it looks quite realistic," the cute bartender continued. "Although, the mask seems a bit out of place. Kind of clashes with the whole bloody zombie vibe."
Levy's blush deepened as she glanced down at herself. Bloody and torn shirt, oversized leather jacket. Once again, she didn't even want to think about her hair. She felt like sighing, but instead started to chuckle at the ridiculousness of it all.
Meredy smiled brightly, holding her shot glass up.
"Alright, what are we toasting to then?"
Levy glanced nervously at the drink one last time, before gingerly picking it up to tap it lightly against the bartender's shot glass.
"To Hell? Or, there and back again?" Meredy asked thoughtfully.
"How about, to making it out alive?" Levy said, smiling wistfully, and Meredy smiled back warmly before she took the shot in one go, shaking her head with a wince as she swallowed the harsh liquid.
"Oof! And to the end of my shift! It can't come soon enough!"
Levy laughed, watching as the other girl winked one last time before moving to the other end of the bar. She looked down at the pink cocktail still clutched in her hands, still not quite sure if she should be drinking it.
But, drinking hadn't been on Gajeel's list of rules, right? And actually, thinking about his list made her scowl in annoyance. She'd almost be more inclined to drink this if it had been on his dumb list!
Stupid Gajeel…
She sighed. He was really annoying sometimes but… being with him made her feel safe. She glanced around the rowdy bar and pulled his jacket closer. Where the hell had he gone? He was coming back, right? How could he have abandoned her here, after telling her to stay by his side?
The bartender had been right, Levy had been through Hell tonight. But… she'd also made it out alive. The fact that she was here, living and breathing right now, was testament to the fact that those men had failed.
The thought made her lips twist into a bitter grin, but it was short-lived as a sudden crash to her left had her eyes shooting open in fear. Someone shouted, and then there was the sharp crash of breaking glass, and Levy spun towards the commotion with panic thrumming through her veins, her eyes wide as she frantically tried to figure out what was going on.
It took several seconds for her frazzled mind to catch up with what she was seeing, but slowly she realized the ruckus was between two men she didn't know, clearly intoxicated at the other end of the bar.
She put a hand to her chest, her heart racing beneath her palm, as she gasped from the shock. The pink-haired bartender was already down there, trying to pry the men apart as she shouted at them angrily, taking their glasses away so another one wouldn't be broken.
Levy gulped and turned away, staring at the bar top but not really seeing it. Fuck.
Yep, she was still scared. She was definitely still scared. She was happy to be alive, to have made it out of that Hell alive, but she was definitely still scared.
Come on, Levy! She thought to herself forcefully, trying to swallow down the fear. I thought you decided you wouldn't let fear control you anymore!
She thought back to the dark corridors, those twisting velvet Halls of Hell. She thought about how suffocating they had felt, how terrified she had been. She thought about the icy terror of being on death's doorstep, of hearing the gunshots and feeling the chill of fear in her bones.
But… she'd found more than just fear in those halls. She'd also found her courage. She'd found a will to fight, a will to live.
Levy glared down at the cute pink cocktail and forced herself to breathe.
You're alright, Levy, you'll be alright, she thought, breathing hard through her nose. It's okay to still be scared. But you won't let it control you. You're still alive.
She let her racing heart slow down as she sifted through her thoughts and she realized there was another emotion there she hadn't quite considered before.
It wasn't just fear, or relief to still be alive, she also felt angry.
She was really fucking pissed.
Whoever those men were, how dare they?!
Levy decided, right then and there, that she would get to the bottom of this mess. She'd find out who those men were and what they had wanted and she'd get justice for herself and Gajeel.
This new sense of purpose, fueled by the storm of emotions she'd been feeling all night, burned in her stomach and helped eat up the remaining fear that had churned there.
And she also decided, that beginning right now, she would take back control of her night. Levy was tired of being small and feeling like a mess. She wasn't about to let life jerk her around anymore. Sure, she probably looked a little crazy, but she decided she also felt pretty badass, and she smirked to herself as she stared at the drink.
It was really cute and totally up her alley. The pink-haired bartender had topped it off with a little maraschino cherry, and one of those tiny paper umbrellas.
Yep, she'd take back control of her night and she'd start by drinking this absolutely adorable pink drink because fuck, she'd earned this. And honestly she'd started this night out expecting to be a lot more drunk by now.
"So tell us, Gajeel, what was in your bag?"
Gajeel met José's deep glare with one of his own.
"Boxin' supplies," he said coolly. The same response he'd given to Totomaru, back when he'd seen him in the hall of the Dragon's Den.
José's glare didn't change, he simply glanced Gajeel over as if searching for something, but Gajeel forced his breath to remain steady. He refused to give that asshole any kind of reaction, even if the air in the gaudy room was starting to feel stifling.
After what felt like hours, José finally leaned back in his chair with a huff, breaking the tension in the room.
"I believe you," he said, easing the scowl on his face and Gajeel allowed himself to breathe out deeply in relief. Fuck, he felt like he was drowning.
But not everyone was quite so relieved.
"What the fuck?! I told ya what I saw, Master José!" Totomaru cried, rounding on the Master who glared back up at him. Totomaru shrunk slightly at José's intensity, but he clearly wasn't ready to let this go. He grit his teeth.
"I know he's lying, no way there was fuckin' boxin' supplies in there, it was a body, for sure!"
Gajeel stiffened. Totomaru was right, but he couldn't let them know whose body it had been.
"Totomaru," José sneered, glancing back to Gajeel, "seems to think you had a body in that bag, Gajeel. Did you?"
Gajeel scoffed, acting nonchalant.
"Nah," he said, moving his hands casually to his pockets. "Nothin' like that. I dunno what he's talkin' 'bout."
"Hmm," José said thoughtfully, glancing between the two men. Then he sighed. "Well truthfully, I'd been hoping Totomaru was correct."
Gajeel raised an eyebrow at him. Wait, what?
Now the Master was moving to stand up, beginning to pace the room, and Gajeel watched him warily from where he stood. What was going on, such that José would have wanted Gajeel to have a body in his bag?
"We had a little visitor tonight, Gajeel, a little rat."
Now both of Gajeel's eyebrows were lifted in surprise, and José glanced him over carefully.
"I can see you knew nothing of it," José continued, turning back to his pacing. "Our little rat snuck into the back office at the tail end of your fight. Totomaru, the footage."
Totomaru glared sharply at Gajeel, but moved to the laptop on the Master's desk, spinning it around so Gajeel could see the screen.
"Play it, please."
Gajeel watched the screen carefully. Totomaru pressed play and Gajeel saw a grainy image of the back office at the Dragon's Den pop up. It was dark and empty. The timestamp read 11/01/2020 12:12 AM.
November 1st, 2020. Twelve minutes past midnight. That would have been just a couple of minutes after Gajeel's fight with Pinkie had ended. Right about then, he had probably run into Levy and was taking her to the locker room.
Gajeel narrowed his eyes, waiting to see what would happen.
A few seconds later, after the timestamp had moved forward a minute to 12:13, something in the camera frame shifted and Gajeel held his breath as the door to the office slowly creeped open.
He watched, his eyes fixed on the edge of the door, waiting to see who this person was who had broken into the back office, and seconds later they turned the corner and entered the room, glancing around before looking straight at the camera. Gajeel couldn't keep his eyes from widening in surprise. The rat smiled coyly back at him from the grainy frame.
It was a girl with blue hair wearing a fish mask.
Gajeel couldn't believe this turn of events. What the fuck?! The rat José wanted to kill right now was a girl with blue hair wearing a fucking fish mask?
In that moment he was immensely relieved that Levy had chosen a different mask for herself, instead of the fish mask he'd teased her with. Admittedly, this one was quite different. Instead of one fish, it had two, swirling in a figure-8 around the eyes of the wearer. But, still! Levy was just downstairs, sitting innocently at the bar with her blue hair and a face mask on!
Fuck, he needed to speed this along and get her the fuck out of there!
He glanced at the Master, who had paused in his pacing to watch Gajeel closely, no doubt waiting to see if Gajeel would recognize this mysterious girl. Meanwhile, the footage was still playing, and the girl had moved to the computer in the office, logging into it quickly, her back now to the camera.
"Do you recognize our little rat, Gajeel?"
Gajeel cleared his throat, trying to distract from his racing heart, and shook his head.
"How the fuck would I know 'er? She's wearin' a mask, ain't she?"
"Exactly," José snarled, and Gajeel glanced at him carefully from the corner of his eyes. "Of course it had to be fucking Halloween."
"Could be a wig, too," Gajeel scoffed, carefully using this as an opportunity to distract from Levy, whose natural hair color was blue. Levy would've been in the locker room with him at this time, so he knew this mysterious girl wasn't her, but he'd already entangled Levy in so much shit tonight, he didn't want her to get caught up in this too.
He grit his teeth, trying to keep his emotions in check. The Master was still pacing the room and the footage continued to play, showing the girl hunched over at the computer in the main office of the Dragon's Den, apparently navigating its interface quite deftly as the minutes on the timestamp ticked by.
Gajeel frowned thoughtfully. Even if she'd managed to get physical access to the computer in the main office, while everyone was still distracted by the end of the fight, how was it possible for her to be accessing Phantom Lord's databases? You'd need all of the passwords and security keys...
He was watching her closely when suddenly something in the footage seemed to shift. It was so slight, it almost wasn't noticeable, but Gajeel's keen eyesight noticed that the door seemed to move inwards, as if being touched by a ghost or, was there someone in the hallway, just outside the camera's view?
The mysterious girl at the computer glanced at the door herself, then quickly back to the computer again, then back to the door. It almost looked like she was talking to herself and Gajeel wondered what they would have heard if the camera had also been recording sound.
Then she quickly pulled a USB stick from the computer and, with one last glance at the security camera, swiftly left the room.
The footage stopped. The timestamp now read 11/01/2020 12:18 AM.
"Five minutes."
Gajeel's skin crawled at the Master's low tone of voice. José's fury was tangible in the air around them.
The Master had paced to somewhere behind Gajeel, but he refused to turn and look. He could feel Totomaru's burning glare as well, from where the other man still stood near the Master's desk, but Gajeel simply shifted his stance as if bored, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Five fucking minutes."
José walked forward into Gajeel's peripheral vision, and he watched the man carefully as he stopped in front of a vase sitting daintily on a side table. The Master appraised the vase with cold eyes.
"Can anyone tell me, how the hell, this little fucking rat managed to stay in the back office for FIVE FUCKING MINUTES?!"
José snapped, his face twisting into grotesque, unadulterated fury, and quick as a flash he snatched up the innocent vase, throwing it at the wall. Its beautiful ceramic figure shattered into a cloud of dust and Totomaru flinched as José stood heaving, watching the dust fall around him for several seconds before straightening himself with a sharp intake of breath.
When he turned back to the other two men, his face was calm and composed, as if nothing had happened. He walked to his desk and sat down with chilling grace, relaxing carefully into the leather chair.
Gajeel narrowed his eyes. He was used to the Master's sudden bursts of anger, but it wasn't over yet. That poor vase may have suffered the brunt of it just now, but Gajeel could still sense the fury swirling beneath José's chillingly calm façade.
"It is apparent, Gajeel, that you knew nothing of this," José said coolly, resting his elbows on the arms of his chair. "But Totomaru believes you helped the rat escape."
Gajeel met Totomaru's glare.
Yeah, he admitted it, it was pretty fucking suspicious timing.
Gajeel had run into Levy a little after his fight, which had ended about 12:10 AM. If they'd been in the locker room about ten minutes, then they would've been leaving about 12:20 AM, or a couple minutes after. That's when they had run into Totomaru in the hallway, when the man had been headed to the back office.
Based on the timestamp on the office footage, the mysterious rat had left at 12:18 AM, mere minutes before Gajeel and Totomaru had crossed paths in the hall.
And now Totomaru was claiming that Gajeel had had a body in his bag. What made it worse was that he had had a body in his bag, but he didn't dare tell them the truth and put Levy in danger. Fuck.
"Personally," José continued, oblivious to Gajeel's internal struggle, "I'd been hoping you'd already exterminated the rat for us. But it appears we aren't so lucky."
José now glared at him with displeasure, as if angry that Gajeel hadn't already found and killed the mysterious intruder even though he'd only just learned of her moments ago. Gajeel didn't let this blame faze him, once again used to José's unreasonable anger. He met his glare evenly.
"Well," José said after a moment, letting it go. "It would seem then, that we have lost the rat."
"Master José, ask Gajeel to show you the supplies, I swear to god there's no fucking way he didn't have a body in that bag-!" Totomaru started. Gajeel's composure was pissing him off, but he was cut off by another sharp glare from José and he was forced to clamp his mouth shut angrily.
"Enough," José snapped. "Totomaru is the one who discovered the break-in," he continued and Gajeel watched as Totomaru flinched again. It wasn't necessarily his fault that he'd gotten to the office too late to stop the break-in, but that wouldn't stop José from blaming him for it. No wonder the other man was trying so hard to shift the Master's focus to Gajeel's bag.
"When Totomaru got to the office a little past 12:30 our sneaky little rat had obviously already escaped. But I find myself with so many questions tonight, Gajeel. For instance, how the fuck was no one in the office to have stopped our little guest? And why the fuck weren't there any cameras in the hallway, such that we could have seen where our little rat ran off to-?"
José was still ranting but something he'd said piqued Gajeel's interest. Totomaru had gotten to the office… a little after 12:30?
Based on the timeline Gajeel had just been running in his head, this meant it took Totomaru ten minutes from when he'd run into Gajeel in the hallway to get back to the office but that… didn't make sense. Had Gajeel been estimating the times all wrong? It's not like he'd been looking at a clock throughout all of this. Honestly, he had no idea what time he'd run into Totomaru in the hall and as the Master had said, there were no cameras in the hall so there was no way to double check. That was part of the reason it was simply Totomaru's word against his own on what had been in his bag.
But how could his guess have been off by ten minutes? He didn't have any firm proof of anything, but something felt off. He glanced at Totomaru and caught him glaring at him again.
Maybe it was only because he was looking for it, but now he almost felt like he could detect an extra layer of desperate anxiety in the other man's actions. He narrowed his eyes and Totomaru looked away, back to the José. Yes, something felt off.
The Master was still talking.
"-And lastly, possibly the biggest question of all," José said, drawing it out with an air of dramatic suspense. "The question that I find myself mulling over the most… what did the little rat have on her little USB?"
The room was silent as neither man dared speak.
Yes, this was extremely bad for Phantom Lord. Gajeel was no IT expert, but the intruder seemed to have broken into the database quite easily. There was no way of knowing how far into their system she'd gotten, or what she'd had time to download onto the USB.
He found himself thinking back to the footage, watching as she deftly hacked into the system. The footage was too grainy to see what had been on the computer screen but it'd almost seemed… too easy…
"Of course, as we speak they're trying to figure out where she went in our database but apparently it's quite hard to trace her little digital rat trail," José drawled, frowning. "And-,"
"There's a mole," Gajeel said darkly, causing José to pause.
"Yesss," the Master said, leaning forward now with an ominous smirk. "As always you are so perceptive, Gajeel. We seem to not only have a little rat, but a mole as well."
It was the only way to explain how quickly she'd broken into the system. She hadn't hacked her way in at all, she'd already known all the passwords. Which meant someone had given them to her.
"And ya think it's me."
Gajeel's glare grew darker as he realized the depth of the accusations being leveled against him.
"Ahh, once again, so spot on Gajeel. At least… Totomaru thinks it's you."
José leaned back into his chair, watching as sparks seemed to fly between the two men and he smiled. He enjoyed teasing them, watching their hatred for each other deepen.
"It was Gajeel, Master," Totomaru said, turning to José. "I swear to god, it had to have been him!"
"Yes, well," José said, sniffing. "I suppose we shall see."
He paused, enjoying the tension in the room.
"I like Totomaru's idea, of showing us your 'boxing supplies,'" José said and Totomaru smirked. "Bring them to the morning meeting."
"Wait-!" Totomaru cried, spinning back to the Master. "But! He'll just find something else in time for the meeting! Make him show you now-!"
"Enough, Totomaru!" José snarled, cutting the man off for good. "That will be enough! Now leave!"
Totomaru glowered between the Master and Gajeel. Gajeel's iron-clad features were supremely pissing him off at this point, and he hated how the Master always seemed to favor the other man, but there was nothing he could do. He stomped out of the room, purposefully bumping into Gajeel's shoulder on the way.
Gajeel didn't move a muscle, just kept the Master's gaze as he listened to the other man leave the room, the door slamming after him. It was getting really fucking hard to breathe in this room, and he hoped José would dismiss him soon as well. He waited in the silence, standing his ground, gritting his teeth.
"Are you the mole, Gajeel?" José asked point blank, as if trying to catch him off guard.
"No," Gajeel ground out, unflinching.
José chuckled. "Yes, I did not think so."
Truth be told, José hadn't believed for a second that Gajeel was the mole. He just enjoyed pitting the two men against each other.
José had given Gajeel everything. He'd found the boy in the streets and taken him in. He'd clothed him, fed him, given him a place to stay. He'd raised him to be the perfect minion, he'd given him a home. Without José, Gajeel would have nothing. He'd have no one.
He smiled deeply, sitting back comfortably in his chair. Yes, he was much more than just a Master to Gajeel, he was more like a Father, and he didn't doubt for a second that Gajeel would never betray him. José was all Gajeel had.
"Ohmygosh this drink is just too delicious!" Levy cried, downing half of one of the pink cocktails in one go as Meredy chuckled nearby.
The bartender had made the mysterious blue-haired girl slumped at her bar another one of her special drinks, after the girl had finished the first one with much glee. Meredy was enjoying the other girl's company, especially after she'd spent most of the night serving rowdy men. She was more than happy to give the girl drinks on the house, it was nearing the end of her shift anyway and it was late on Halloween, she figured no one would care.
Levy was thoroughly enjoying the warm buzz of the alcohol as it calmed her nerves. It made the world feel softer, less harsh. She was really in need of that, after the night she'd been through, and she was so thankful for the nice pink-haired bartender. Her kind gestures and the free drinks were warming her heart, giving her faith in humanity again. It was like a breath of fresh air.
She hummed happily as she sipped at her second drink, but the warmth inside of her was spreading to her cheeks, and she realized she was getting quite flushed.
Levy liked wearing the oversized jacket Gajeel had given her. It had made her feel safe when she'd first put it on. But now it was almost a little too hot, especially with the alcohol's warmth and the crowd around her. But she was reluctant to take it off, especially when it smelled so good…
Nope! Nopenopenope, we are not going there, Levy! she thought, the blush on her cheeks deepening as she realized where her thoughts were taking her, to a certain red-eyed man and the memories she may or may not have had associated with his scent.
She decided to take off the coat, setting it down carefully in her lap, and her cheeks flushed again as she felt the cute bartender's eyes drift to her bandaged arms. Gajeel had bought bandages from the mask shop, and he'd carefully wrapped her cuts before they'd come inside the club.
She remembered the way he'd looked when he'd done it, crouched down beside her, his eyes focused on the task, the way his hands had so softly held her wrists…
Nope! Nopenopenope, not thinking about it!
Levy shook her head and self-consciously sipped her drink.
Meredy decided not to ask about the bandages, but she wondered now about whether the strange girl's zombie costume was really just a costume…
Levy clutched her cheeks with annoyance. They just wouldn't stop burning!
Okay, Levy, think! Let's think. Let's think about what happened! Right! You swore to get to the bottom of this! We should brainstorm, while everything is still fresh!
"Oh!" she said suddenly, glancing around the bar. "Hey is there anything I could write on?"
Meredy glanced around herself then shrugged and handed the girl a napkin and a pen.
"Just don't get it wet or the ink will bleed. So don't spill on it, or cry on it."
Levy frowned, "Cry on it, why would I cry on it?"
The bartender shrugged while chuckling cryptically, and moved down the bar to help another customer.
Levy's blush deepened again, this time in embarrassment.
Oh no, do I really look like I might start crying at any second?! Okay, Levy, get it together! Just focus, focus, lets jot down a list of what you remember!
She shook her head and furrowed her brow in thought, pen poised over the napkin. After a moment of contemplation she began to jot down a rough list of the events that had transpired, starting from when she and Lucy had gotten to the Dragon's Den. She racked her brain, trying to remember every little detail, even things that might not have seemed relevant at the time.
She wondered if those men had been there at the fight, if she'd seen them then at that time and not even realized it…
She shivered, took another sip of her drink, and kept writing.
Alright and then Gajeel stuffed me in his bag…
She glared at the memory, her treacherous cheeks beginning to burn again.
And then it was dark and suffocating in there, and he threw me on his shoulder and… how long before we reached his car? Just a couple of minutes, right?
Levy put the pen to her lips as she thought. Wait, they'd paused at one point, right? And Gajeel had talked to someone. What had they said?
She racked her brain, trying to remember, and absentmindedly reached for her drink, taking another sip.
It had been something about the fight? Something, something… "should be pleased…?"
Who would be pleased?
"Oh," she said, her eyes snapping back into focus from where they had wandered with her thoughts. "'José should be pleased,'" she muttered, jotting it down on the napkin.
Who is José? she wondered, then shrugged and kept jotting down notes.
She reached for her drink again and when she sipped it, discovered that it was already almost empty.
"Ehh?!" she cried, staring forlornly at the bottom of the empty glass.
Meredy, who had wandered back over to her, laughed again and said, "Would you like one more?"
Levy looked at her starry-eyed. "Really? Would one more be alright?"
"Sure, sure," Meredy said, already spinning around to mix it up. "But probably the last one, alright?" she said with a wink, and Levy nodded happily, thankful for this girl who was quickly becoming a friend.
Lucy grinned brightly as she followed her friends down the strip.
The street was still fairly crowded. People who had previously swarmed the bars and clubs were outside now in the cool night air, getting late night snacks one last time with friends or finding their way home.
The friends were walking further down the street in search of someplace less crowded where they could wave down a cab, and Lucy was content to simply follow, looking around at all the beautiful costumes that drifted past amongst clouds of laughter, and the shimmering and glittering buildings that glowed in the night. Lucy felt like a small child at an amusement park, her eyes wide open with childish wonder.
Her grin widened as she glanced up at the pink-haired man beside her and she grew conscious again of how her hand was gripped firmly in the warmth of his own, their fingers intertwined. They'd held hands like this hundreds of times but after what had just happened at Fairy's Fate this time it felt… different.
Lucy couldn't keep the dusting of a blush from her face and when she sniped another sneaky glance at him from the side she giggled. She felt carefree and giddy, like she was walking on thin air.
"-ana!"
Lucy glanced around. The crowd was thinning here, they were nearing the end of the strip.
"-ISANNA! LUCY!"
Lucy blinked, that had definitely been her name, right?
Cana and Lisanna looked back from where they'd been leading the group and suddenly a barreling figure burst out from the surrounding people, running up to the startled friends and stopping in front of them to gasp for breath. He was bent with his hands on his knees but the distinctive hair color made it pretty obvious it was-
"Jet?!" Lisanna cried. "Where the heck have you been all night?!"
"Ah, so then just behind him should be…" Lucy muttered, glancing back to where Jet had come from and sure enough a slightly slower staggering figure was jogging up to them as well, panting harder than Jet had been.
"Droy!" Lucy cried happily as he joined the group, and he gave them a pained smile.
Meanwhile Jet, who had regained his breath, was standing up straight and the group froze awkwardly as they took in his sweeping glare.
"Where the heck have we been all night?" he said. "Where the heck have we BEEN ALL NIGHT?! Where the heck have YOU been all night?!"
"Ahh, that's…" Lucy said, chuckling awkwardly and rubbing the back of her head with her free hand.
"I tried calling you! ALL of you!" Jet cried. "Droy and I have been racing up and down this blasted strip all night looking for you guys and-!" he paused, seeming to search the group until his eyes alighted upon a head of brunette hair that was conspicuously trying to hide behind Lisanna.
"YOU!" Jet cried, rounding on Cana who chuckled nervously. "YOU sent us a text saying '~come to the strip! It'll be fun!~' But you never said WHERE in the strip! You never said what club you were at! Do you have any idea what kind of HELL Droy and I have been through tonight?!"
"Uhh, Jet, it wasn't that bad…" Droy said awkwardly, trying to calm his friend.
"Ho ho ho, did I do that?" Cana said laughing. "Little old me?" She stuck her tongue out and winked cutely.
Jet fumed, glaring at Cana, before glancing around the group again.
"Wait, and where-?" he said, peering around Lucy's shoulder with a look of pure mystification. "Where is Levy?"
"Uhhhhh…"
The girls glanced at each other with pained expressions. Lucy nodded at Lisanna as if to say, 'I'll take one for the team' and Lisanna smiled back gratefully.
"Uh, Jet," Lucy began as he glared at her suspiciously. "Levy, uh… Levy met… up with someone…"
She trailed off awkwardly and wasn't able to meet his gaze.
Jet blinked. "What? Who? When? 'Someone'? A girl friend?"
"Well, uh…" Lucy said, meeting Lisanna's gaze anxiously. "He's uh… a guy…"
"Wait…. WHAAAAAT?!"
Gajeel glared back at José.
The man was still smirking to himself from his chair, seemingly distracted from his previous fury by something else, but Gajeel was finding it hard to really give a damn about the internal workings of the Master's twisted mind. He wanted to get the fuck out of there and go find Levy.
Fuck, he felt like he was drowning.
"As it happens, Gajeel," the man said now, sneering at his desk thoughtfully. "Many other strange things have happened tonight as well..."
Gajeel blinked.
"I suppose Halloween has often had a history of being eventful but still, this year it's been… oddly eventful."
Gajeel narrowed his eyes.
"Not long after our… little guest," José continued with a wrinkle to his nose. "Those sniveling fairies called in a bomb threat at a Halloween show halfway across town, some kind of silly concert being held in a park. My sources don't yet know the details, but it's my opinion that the police completely overreacted, deploying an entire bomb squad, evacuating the entire site. Why they needed to make such a big deal of it is beyond me, but it's gotten the police all worked up and that isn't even the only thing-!
"Apparently there was also a fire across town, in some kind of old abandoned building, likely low level arson, which is actually typical for Halloween, I suppose. But there was also an armed robbery at a convenience store, some kind of shooting at a Haunted House, and also a car prowler downtown-,"
Gajeel couldn't help from flinching when the Master had mentioned the Haunted House, but now it seemed as if it wasn't interesting to him…
"-Although I suppose, out of all of those, that Haunted House shooting is the most… intriguing…"
Shit.
"-Largely because an officer was shot. You know how seriously the police take attacks on one of their own," José said, sniffing. "Apparently the wounds were near fatal. He's at a hospital now, but I don't have any updates beyond that…"
Wait, so the cop Gajeel had shot was still alive? Fuck, just another thing to worry about! Gajeel grit his teeth.
"Well it was probably just some lunatic gone crazy on Halloween," José continued. "But in yet another stunning display of their complete ineptitude they let him get away and they have no idea who it was. You know how often the police completely fail at their jobs, idiots, all of them-!,"
Gajeel thought this over as José continued to rant.
So the official report talked about an 'unknown shooter' at the Haunted House, but did it say anything about how the cops had been the ones to start it? Or were they denying any initial involvement?
The whole thing was still shady, but at least it sounded like José didn't know much about it either.
A knock at the door cut José off and he glared at it sharply.
"Master José, I apologize for the intrusion, but there is an urgent call…"
Gajeel glanced over his shoulder to see José's secretary nervously poking her head into the room.
"The Mayor would like to have a few words with you, I've put him on line one…"
"Fine," José hissed. "Oh, and clean this up," he said, waving a hand towards where the pitiful remnants of the vase were littered on the floor.
"… of course," she said, before quickly ducking from the room.
"You are dismissed, then, Gajeel."
Gajeel tried to keep himself from heaving with relief. Instead he nodded sharply and turned to leave.
"Don't forget to bring your 'boxing supplies' to the morning meeting," José said, and Gajeel could hear the smirk in his voice. He said nothing, just kept walking, anxious to get out of there.
"Oh, and one last thing..."
Gajeel was forced to pause, steps from the door. He glared back over his shoulder.
"Good job winning the fight."
Gajeel could barely see the Master's dark eyes, shining like chips of obsidian from across the room. They made his skin crawl.
"But next time," José purred. "Don't let it be so close."
The door to José's office shut firmly behind him and Gajeel paused, allowing his composure to break for the first time since entering the club, putting his hands on his hips and sighing deeply.
His relief was short-lived.
"Master José might believe you, but I sure as hell don't."
Gajeel snapped his head up and glared as he saw Totomaru lurking in the darkness of the hallway that led to the elevator.
Gajeel scoffed, straightening, and strode down the hallway, brushing the other man off.
"I know you're lying!" Totomaru said again, hurrying to keep up with Gajeel's pace. "I know it was a body, and now you're just going to find something else to fill your bag before the morning meeting!"
Yes, that's exactly what he was going to do.
"Hey, are you fucking listening to me?!" Totomaru snarled, pissed off that Gajeel was ignoring him. "Don't think you're fucking special! When I prove to Master José that you're hiding something, you won't keep getting the special treatment! You're fucking dead!"
"Oh yeah?" Gajeel snorted, eyeing Totomaru sharply. "And what about you?"
They'd stopped now in front of the elevator, Gajeel with his arms crossed over his chest.
"About… me?"
"Why'd it take ya so long ta get ta the back office?"
Totomaru's eyes widened with fury, his face turning red.
"Ahh," Gajeel said. So Gajeel's hunch had been correct. Something had been off with that timeline.
"Yer hidin' somethin' aren't ya, Totomaru," he said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
Totomaru looked furious.
"Don't you dare turn this on me, Black Steel Gajeel. I had nothing to do with this, but you-!" he spat, shoving a finger at Gajeel's chest. "You are the fucking suspicious one. You better watch your back, Gajeel. You're a dead man walking."
The elevator doors dinged open. Gajeel walked in and pressed the button for the first floor, glaring back at Totomaru who stood rigidly in the hall, face red. Then the doors slid smoothly shut, and Gajeel was left alone in the eerie silence.
He sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.
Fuck, so now he had to worry about Totomaru, too. And he needed to figure out what kinds of boxing supplies might look like a human body in his bag, which he'd left back at the Haunted House.
And he'd been hoping to get information from José, but now he felt even more confused than he'd been before. Phantom Lord's databases had been hacked? Using the computer in the back office of the Dragon's Den? What kind of sensitive information had been stolen?
And who was the girl with blue hair, wearing a figure-8 fish mask?
Fuck! It didn't make sense!
For now, he just needed to get Levy the hell out of there. The longer they stayed in this club, the more dangerous it got, especially for blue-haired girls in masks.
And ever since entering the cursed place, he'd felt like he was drowning.
Fuck, I need some air...
Juvia was sitting in the exact same spot as when Gray had left.
She knew it was silly to think he might rush back to her, but she couldn't deny that a part of her was hoping he would. She sat there on the edge of her stool, sipping more of her favorite drink, and trying to keep the tears at bay.
When Meredy's shift was over then they would walk home together, but she could try to keep the hope alive at least until then, right?
She searched the crowd absentmindedly, watching people as they danced. She'd spent many hours here in this place, she'd worked here for many years. She recognized quite a few regulars, but there weren't too many people she was genuinely close to. She often found it hard to open up to people, she wasn't as outgoing as some, and she bonded best with people who were similarly closed off, like…
"Oh," Juvia exclaimed in surprised, noticing her black-haired friend slipping through the crowd. He stood out, since he was practically a head taller than most of the other people there.
"Gajeel!" she cried, sitting up on her stool and waving to get his attention. He seemed pretty distracted, his eyes focused on the back bar under the stairs, but her waving finally caught his eye and he paused.
"Can't talk, Juvia, gotta go," he snapped, but his brusque tone didn't put her off. Instead she smiled, and held a shot glass up towards him.
"Not even time for a drink?"
He paused, his red eyes flickering to the other bar for a second, then pushed through the remaining people between them to reach her.
"Just one, I fuckin' need it."
Juvia hummed, smiling as Gajeel quickly took the shot. He seemed distracted, he kept looking back towards that other bar.
"Congratulations on your win, Gajeel," Juvia said, reaching over the bar top to grab the liquor bottle and pouring more into his glass. She could tell he was antsy, but she'd seen the hits he'd taken earlier. His chest was probably still in pain. And had he just come from the elevator to upstairs?
"Did… Master José need to talk to you about it?" she asked hesitantly as he drank the second shot. His eyes were dark. He was silent for a moment, and Juvia took that as a response.
She hummed, and poured him another shot.
He glanced back at that other bar again, craning his head as if trying to look for something, then sipped at the glass, distracted.
Juvia let her eyes wander towards the dance floor again, and this time her eyes were drawn to one girl in particular. She was wearing nothing but a sports bra and a pleated mini skirt, her blue hair spinning around her shoulders as she danced. She was relatively shorter than most of the other people there, but her dancing was fluid, her hips spinning wide.
Juvia blushed as she watched her, but then briefly a thought flitted through her head.
"Could that be…?" she muttered softly.
"Eh?" Gajeel grunted, turning towards Juvia when she spoke, still sipping at his third shot. Then he turned to look at where Juvia was looking and…
Juvia blinked.
"Ga-gajeel?! Did you just spit on Juvia?!"
She glanced up at Gajeel in shock, rubbing at her cheek, but Gajeel looked like his entire soul had left his body.
"Is… Gajeel alright?" she asked frowning, but just as quickly Gajeel adopted a wicked glare and before she could say anything else he'd slammed the shot glass on the bar top and stormed off towards the dancefloor, leaving Juvia perched on her bar stool in surprise.
Well, it wasn't entirely out of character for him, to be sure. She chuckled, then tried to search for the blue-haired girl again in the crowd. Hadn't that girl almost looked like Gray's friend?
She tried to think back to his description of the girl.
'A girl with blue hair… She's shorter and her hair is a bit lighter than yours.'
Well it wasn't a lot to go on, but… maybe she should text Gray just in case?
She blushed at the thought of it, her heart racing in her chest. But she also really liked having an excuse to text him!
She took another sip of her drink to steel her nerves, then pulled her phone out and stared at the screen. It took her several tries until she finally settled on something short and simple.
'Hi. I think I found your friend.'
With shaking fingers, and several more sips of her drink, she finally hit send, remembering at the last second to send it to both of the numbers she'd saved in her phone, just in case.
She stared at her phone with wide eyes, as if at any moment it might bite her. She re-read the message and then realized crap! He didn't have her number saved!
'Oh this is Juvia btw!'
'We met earlier!'
'I have blue hair!'
Juvia stared anxiously at the string of texts she'd just frantically sent and groaned. Crap! What was that?!
She picked up the shot glass Gajeel had been using and, with shaking hands, poured herself a generous shot. She glanced dejectedly at the dancefloor, but the mysterious blue-haired dancer was gone, and she couldn't spot Gajeel anywhere either.
With a sigh she drank the shot, phone clutched to her chest and heart pounding as she waited to see if she'd get a reply.
Gray glowered as he sat in the back of the cab, crushed underneath not only Cana, but Lisanna as well. Somehow they'd both managed to be on top of him.
They'd waved down two cabs to take them all back to the Hotel, but after explaining to Jet where Levy was and who she was with, the other man had furiously dragged Droy into one of them, leaving the five friends to squeeze into the backseat of the other.
And something had obviously happened between Lucy and Natsu at Fairy's Fate, considering how much space Cana and Lisanna were trying to give them in the backseat, and also by how much giggling was going on as Lucy's face stayed permanently red.
Gray shifted his head, trying to look out the window, when he felt his phone vibrate. He pushed against Cana's back with a frustrated grunt, trying to dig it out of his pocket.
"Ack! Gray! Careful!" Cana giggled, sipping at her flask, and Lisanna snorted with laughter over something Lucy had just said.
Gray rolled his eyes and checked the screen, seeing a text from an unknown number. He frowned, opening it.
'Hi. I think I found your friend.'
Huh? Who was this?
As if the mysterious sender knew what he was thinking, three more messages quickly buzzed into his inbox.
'Oh this is Juvia btw!'
'We met earlier!'
'I have blue hair!'
Gray's eyes widened for a moment, then he chuckled. So she'd finally texted him.
He found himself thinking it was cute that even though she talked in third person, apparently she texted in first person. It was like he'd learned another little detail about her, tucking it away in the back of his memory.
But he re-read the first message curiously. I think I found your friend? Did she mean… Levy?
Was she joking? Because he'd suggested when he'd left Element 4 that she could text him if she ran into Levy? Or was she serious?
He decided he should text back, but for some reason it was taking him a minute to write the right thing. He frowned. Since when did he care what he sounded like through text? It took a moment to type something out, but finally he said fuck it and just sent the damn thing, his cheeks tinting red. Why the hell was it so stuffy in this backseat?!
'Did you really run into Levy?'
He waited, staring at his screen, while Cana and Lisanna continued to cackle, and Cana handed Natsu her flask.
It took a second, but then the screen lit up again and the corners of his mouth inched upwards into a smile.
'I didn't run into her, but I think she's dancing at Element 4.'
Gray paused in thought. Really? Would Levy really be at Element 4?
"Oy, Gray! Whatcha reading on your phone?" Cana cried, smiling at him deviously as she tried to read the messages. He glowered and jerked his hand away but she reached out and snatched it from him, Lisanna crowding around it to stare at the screen as well.
"Hey!" Gray snapped, trying to reach around them to get it back. "Give me my phone back!"
"Wait, Levy?!" Lisanna cried, as she managed to read some of the texts in the back of the bumpy ride. "Who is this? Who's texting you?" she asked, craning her head back to look at Gray, but now he'd managed to wriggle around Cana enough to snatch his phone back from the laughing girl, all five of them swaying in the cab as it took a sharp turn.
"Juvia," he snapped, and the girls gasped in delight.
"Isn't that the girl you went to Element 4 with, Gray?" Lucy asked and Gray could feel his blush deepening.
"You gave her your number?!" Lisanna cried gleefully.
"Yeah," he glared. "I asked her to text me if she ran into Levy, because she helped me look for her when we lost her. She says she thinks she saw Levy at Element 4."
"Really?" Lucy asked, exchanging looks with Cana and Lisanna. "Why would she be there? Is it really her?"
"I dunno," Gray said, shrugging. "Juvia just thinks she saw her dancing."
"Ask Juvia what she looks like!" Cana cried, and the girls nodded.
"Alright, alright," Gray grumbled, typing out another reply.
'The girl you saw dancing, what does she look like?'
It took a couple seconds to get a reply.
'Short, with short blue hair.'
He read the text aloud to the cab, and Lucy hummed in thought.
"Well sure," she said thoughtfully. "That's about right, but that's also not a lot to go on."
"Oh, ask what she's wearing!" Cana said, and Gray nodded.
'What is she wearing?'
'Face mask, sports bra, short skirt.'
Gray read the response out and Cana started to laugh.
"There's no way that's Levy," she chuckled, Lisanna giggling in agreement.
"Well she was wearing a short skirt," Lucy said, grinning. "But there's no way she would've taken her cloak off. And a face mask? That doesn't match her costume at all."
Gray nodded.
'Doesn't sound like Levy.'
He paused, before typing out another text.
'Thanks for checking in though :)'
It was entirely one hundred percent unlike Gray to use smiley-faces in texts, but for some reason he couldn't keep the smile from his own face as he sent it, and even though the conversation had found a natural conclusion, part of Gray still hoped that she'd reply.
Levy had gotten too hot.
It was probably a combination of those delicious pink drinks, as well as how crowded the club was despite the late hour.
She realized halfway through her third cocktail that the alcohol might hit her extra hard since she hadn't had anything to eat all night, but she loved the way it warmed her up and made everything feel fuzzy, especially after her nerves had been shot from being on-edge half the night.
The more she drank the more carefree she felt. Those wonderful pink cocktails filled her with a thrumming sense of excitement, rushing through her veins. She felt energetic and adventurous and bold. She was drunk just as much on the liquor as she was on her new sense of strength, and she felt like she could do anything. She felt fantastically alive.
Her mind had gotten too hazy to concentrate on brainstorming, so instead she'd finished off her drink while chatting with the cute bartender. Eventually she'd decided she was sick of wearing the blood-stained and shredded shirt, and she'd tugged it off as the bartender laughed.
Normally Levy might be too shy to only be wearing a sports bra in public, but it was dark in the club, and everyone was pretty trashed at that point in the night, and frankly she just did not give a fuck. She was way past the point of caring about what she looked like.
She'd finished her drink and glanced around, hoping to spot a towering head of dark hair somewhere amongst the crowd, but frowned when she couldn't spot one.
Stupid Gajeel!
And after he was the one who told her not to leave his side!
She'd pouted, especially when she thought about how he'd left after giving her a list of rules to follow, as if he could tell her what to do. What was on that list again? Stay? Don't talk to anyone? Don't take off your face mask?
She'd blushed as she realized she'd accidentally already broken the second one, having already chatted with the cute bartender for quite a while.
But seriously. Stay? She wasn't a dog!
Levy had looked out over the club, enjoying how the music seemed to roll over her in waves, making her shiver with anticipation, like her body was telling her to just move. And she spontaneously decided to go dance.
She'd grinned while kicking her shabby sandals off, carefully setting Gajeel's jacket down on the stool, and waved to the bartender as she asked her to watch over her stuff, to which she'd gotten a wink and a nod in return.
And then she'd skipped off to the dancefloor, melting into the crowd, getting swept up in the music and losing herself to this wondrous sensation of freedom.
She felt oh so deliciously alive and she wanted to stay here in this pleasant atmosphere forever.
Levy wasn't aware of the passage of time, as she let her body take over and move how it wanted. She was dancing with her eyes closed, feeling the rush through her skin, when suddenly she felt a dark presence manifest itself in front of her and Levy opened her eyes to see a familiar pair of sharp red ones glowering down at her from above.
Despite his deep scowl warmth blossomed in her heart and she was just so happy to see him.
"Gajeeeel!" Levy cried, twirling to the music. "You're finally back! I'm so glaaad," she hummed, closing her eyes as she spun, her lips curled up into a smile.
Gajeel was… in shock.
What the fuck?!
He'd been talking to Juvia, trying to spot Levy at the other bar where he'd left her, and he'd casually glanced at the dancefloor and nearly spat out his drink because there, amongst all the other people, was possibly the sexiest thing he'd ever seen in his life.
She was wearing just a sports bra with that skimpy skirt, and sure there were plenty of other girls there in much more scandalous and revealing things, but seeing her like that had nearly given him an aneurysm.
And then he'd just as quickly noticed how many other guys were seeing her like that and in a burst of anger he'd stormed off to go put a stop to whatever this was.
She was dancing so innocently, without a care in the world, as if she had no idea how many other guys were staring at her from the sidelines, and Gajeel found himself glaring sharply at each one in turn while she kept spinning in circles like a fairy, her hips going back and forth, and fuck this needed to stop!
"Levy!" Gajeel growled, reaching down on an impulse to grab her hips, forcing them to stop as he glared around again.
"What? Let go of me, Gajeel, I want to dance," she said, pouting up at him through the glittering orange face mask. She pushed her hips against his grip, trying to dance in spite of him, and oh fuck he felt like he was going to get a fucking nosebleed.
"Fuck, we need ta get out of here! We don't have time fer this! And I thought I told ya ta stay put!"
Levy rolled her eyes, but couldn't help from giggling as she managed to break free from Gajeel's grasp, spinning away from him as she kept dancing.
"And I told you, Gajeel, I'm not a dog! Relax! You need to learn not to be so grumpy all the time!" she said, laughing as she went further into the crowd of dancers.
Gajeel watched, flabbergasted, until he was forced to push his way after her. He didn't want to lose her in this crowd but her smaller stature made it easier for her to slip through the dancing bodies and he found himself desperately shoving people aside as he tried to follow.
"Shorty! Get the fuck back here!" he cried over the music, which seemed louder than before the further onto the dark dancefloor they went.
He tried to spot her blue hair amongst the other bodies, which were twisting and twirling like plants underwater, and his heart clenched for a moment thinking he'd lost her when suddenly she popped out in front of him, smiling up at him brightly as she danced with the rest of the crowd.
"Come on, Gajeel, dance with me!" she cried, as Gajeel stood rigidly among the dancing bodies. Dancing wasn't exactly his scene, and he glanced around nervously, on-edge.
He also didn't like the idea of staying in Element 4 for too much longer.
The music was quite loud, and it was dark. The lights flashed in deep shades of purples and blues. It was hard to make out the people around them and he didn't think he recognized anyone.
But it was still unsafe, and he felt jumpy.
"Shrimp, we need ta leave," he growled, leaning down so she could hear him, but she rolled her eyes again and laughed.
"Wait are you… are ya drunk?" he asked, studying her face. How the hell had she managed to get so drunk in such a short period of time?! How long had he been gone for?!
Levy laughed, bumping into him slightly as the crowd shifted. It was more crowded here and Levy felt her skin prick every time she brushed up against Gajeel.
"I'm fine!" she cried, and now she was looking up into his eyes with those great big hazel ones of her own, the orange butterfly mask sweeping delicately across her face and glittering in the occasional flash of light.
He swallowed thickly, caught up in her eyes. They were doing that witchy voodoo thing again, and he was finding it hard to focus, his senses on overdrive...
Levy had been floating in her alcohol bolstered golden cloud of freedom, but now as she was pushed up closer to Gajeel, and he was leaning down over her, staring into her eyes, she felt the beginnings of nervous excitement rush through her veins. Butterflies were swirling up in her stomach, and she found she couldn't look away. His eyes were a dark red in the light, and she felt a shiver run down her spine. But it wasn't from fear.
She didn't feel scared anymore.
This entire night had been a series of completely unexpected events.
Levy had never expected she'd end up at an illegal bare-knuckled fight. She never expected she'd be calling her best friend from a phone booth, at the edge of the city, staring out over a lake she'd never seen before. She never expected she'd wind up in a car chase, getting shot at, running for her life through a Haunted House.
And she certainly hadn't been expecting that, for the fourth year in a row, she'd run into Gajeel on Halloween, just a little after midnight.
But after everything that had happened, after the entire night had gone batshit crazy, after all of the wild and insane and entirely unexpected events, she wouldn't have had it any other way.
Every second of it had led to here, to this moment, when she felt more alive than she'd ever felt before in her entire life, and she was with the only person in the world who had ever made her feel so safe. There wasn't a single other person she would've rather gone through all that with, and now as she stood there on the dancefloor, with the music thrumming through her skin, and as she looked up into Gajeel's eyes, she realized she was exactly where she wanted to be.
Spurred on by the intensity of the emotions welling up inside of her, which blossomed more deeply with the help of the alcohol, Levy reached up and grasped Gajeel's face, pulling it down closer to her own before she had the chance to overthink or second-guess herself.
And for the first time in his life, Gajeel's breath was completely taken away.
A/N
Thank you for reading ;)
I don't want to spoil the Fairy Tail manga/anime for anyone in the midst of enjoying it, but this chapter was heavily inspired by the most adorable gajevy moment in the Episode "Air" of the Tartaros Arc.
Gajevy fans, u know what I'm talkin' bout!~ ;)
.-.-.
More Hobbit References:
Bilbo: "I found something in the Goblin tunnels."
Gandalf: "Found what? What did you find?"
Bilbo: "My courage."
Levy mentions briefly in the beginning of this chapter that she found her courage in the twisted velvet halls of the Haunted House~
Also, the full title of the novel is "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again" and Meredy's first toast to Levy is "To Hell? Or, there and back again?"
.-.-.
A more pop-y song that I associate with this chapter would be "By Your Side" by Jonas Blue, largely because the lyrics fit Levy's and Gajeel's situation quite closely:
"Take me here, take me now, getting lost in a crowd with you,
Up all night, I waited for you all my life,
Hold my hand and keep me close, I'll never let you go, no not tonight.
Keep me by your side."
The song even references broken glass, which has been a theme for them! Lyrics always sound super cheesy when written out, but I think it's cute :3
.-.-.
The other song I think of for this chapter, on the entirely opposite end of the music spectrum, is "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" by Radiohead:
"In the deepest ocean,
The bottom of the sea,
Your eyes,
They turn me~"
This is one of my favorite Radiohead songs, and it obviously fits with the underwater themes in this chapter.
Talking about this song also reminds me of a mashup, that uses both this song and "The Bed's Too Big Without You" by the Police. You can find it on youtube if you search "Radiohead Meets the Police- Live Looping Mashup by Elise Trouw."
I wrote an angsty gajevy oneshot inspired by that song several years ago, I find it quite bittersweet.
.-.-.
Okay, another pop-y song that totally fits with this chapter is "No Air" by Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown.
"Got me out here in the water, so deep,
Tell me how you're gon' be without me,
If you ain't here, I just can't breathe,
It's no air, no air"
.-.-.
A ~Special Thanks~ to people who have reviewed! Reading your reviews makes my day!
rao hyuga 18 – So happy to have made your day ^.^ I really liked Gray's internal struggle too! I hadn't really planned it, it just happened, but I ended up enjoying it immensely. Gajevy though, oof, always the best. Thanks for sticking around!
Amanny – Thank you! Gray and Juvia are kinda struggling to get in sync, lmao, but they'll get there, I'm sure. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Lucy H Lover – Gajeel is DEFINITELY not getting away from Levy this time, she is way too stubborn to let that happen! Which is good, because he's stubborn as hell too. I love how Cana and Lisanna are teasing Lucy all the time, I feel like that's exactly what I would do to my friends too! Thanks for reading and sticking around!
piranha pk – haha so much fate in this story! You're right, as long as we exist the fandom can't die! Gajevy has been my otp for years, there's no way I'm letting this fandom die. Thanks for reading, hope you've been well!
Copperreign12 – Thank you! Here's hoping Im able to start updating more frequently! Thanks for reading and sticking around~
Guest on Mar 13th – Thanks for reading and sending me some words of encouragement! Hope you've been well!
.-.-.
Thank you and have a wonderful weekend ^.^