Chapter 20

"Sit." Metallicana ordered Gajeel the instant he stepped into his father's office. Gajeel raised an eyebrow but obeyed nonetheless. He gave a nod of acknowledgement to Makarov, who was also sitting in a chair. He looked less than pleased, which was an odd sight for Gajeel. The little old man was usually cheery on a good day, serious on a bad. He'd never seen the man scowl like he was doing right now.

"Something happen?" Gajeel questioned. Something had to have happened, for the meeting to be move up this early. He even had to leave Levy much earlier than he was planning, and he still felt guilty about making her worry.

"Yes. Something happened." Makarov sounded angry as he spat the words out. Gajeel looked at him in confusion before raising an eyebrow to his father, who sighed heavily, crossing his arms.

"We found the rat, and his accomplices." Metallicana scowled. "But they got away before we could take care of them."

"What?" Gajeel scowled now, standing up in his anger. "Who? Give me names. Now." He demanded.

"It's Laxus." Makarov spat, shocking Gajeel into silence. Laxus? He was the rat?! "My own grandson... he's the traitor." He deflated at that, and Gajeel honestly felt bad for the old man. His grandson had betrayed him and the family. That couldn't be easy to deal with. He felt the need to comfort the old man, but he had no idea what to do. So he just sat down, instead, waiting for the details. "He slipped up last night. Didn't make sure he wasn't being spied on. I heard him on the phone with Phantom Lord, said he was going to send them more money, but they needed to take care of their end of the deal first. I can only assume he was talking about assassinating you." Makarov let out a heavy sigh. "I... confronted him. I just... couldn't believe it. But he ran. Dropped his phone, too. I went through his contacts... I know it's him."

"But why would he turn traitor?" Gajeel frowned deeply. He didn't understand it. What did he have to gain?

"If he had succeeded in killing you, and not gotten caught..." Metallicana spoke up now. "He would have been next in line to become Don."

"What?" This shocked Gajeel. "But, wouldn't that fall to Makarov, if I was out of the picture?"

"I'm an old man. He would have to endure only a few short years with me." Makarov said grimly. "That's if he didn't straight up murder me, as well."

"Even so, pops has a lot of life left in him." Gajeel pointed out. "And he's got too many eyes on him at all times. There's no way he could be assassinated without everyone knowing who did it." Indeed, Metallicana had constant guard around him, every second of the day. He didn't sneeze or take a shit without at least ten people knowing about it. And all his guards were hand-picked by the don, himself, and he made sure they were loyal to him and him only. Nobody could touch him.

"If there was an all-out war with Phantom Lord, I would be forced to reduce my guard, or even participate in the war, myself." the boss commented. "Laxus was likely banking on Phantom Lord going to war with us, and my inevitable death from that war. With you out of the way after that, and if he assassinated Makarov, he would be Don within the year." Gajeel scowled as he stared at the floor, deep in though. Why did it have to be Laxus? They grew up together, were even partners on a lot of missions. He never thought Laxus to be one to want to be Don. But maybe something had changed? He hadn't seen him much in the past few years, as Gajeel was going on more solo missions and being groomed to be the next Don.

"That still doesn't explain why he's targeting Levy." Gajeel growled as that thought crossed his mind. He could understand killing him off, but Levy had nothing to do with this power play. True, he could use her against him as leverage, but he had the feeling that Phantom Lord's intentions were only to kill her, not use her.

"That's... probably for a different reason." Metallicana let out a heavy sigh as he sat down in his office chair. "I did some digging on her before you introduced her to me."

"Yea, I know." Gajeel nodded. His father did that with everyone.

"Well, I haven't told you everything I found out about her." Metallicana locked eyes with his son, his pitch black eyes boring into him. "Or, more specifically, her parents." Gajeel raised a brow at this and leaned forward, ready to listen to every word his father had to say.

"Tell me."

Levy blushed as she looked at her neck in the mirror. More specifically, at all the hickeys and bite marks that marred her normally flawless skin. Mavis, there were so many. She touched a particularly large one lightly, and felt herself shiver as she remembered Gajeel's lips on her neck, biting and sucking as his fingers... she flushed ten shades of red at the path her mind was taking.

Mavis, she never knew... never knew something could feel so wonderful. And she knew now, and she knew that wasn't even close to what it would be like when they... they... oh, she couldn't even think it without blushing. What was wrong with her? Nothing, her mind whispered, you're simply a virgin. Until she... did it... and finally knew what it was like... it was understandable that she would be embarrassed and... nervous.

Nervous. That word struck something with her. She was... nervous. Not scared? Not scared. Her eyes widened at this realization. She wasn't scared anymore, just nervous. Mavis, she'd been scared this whole time. Scared that it would hurt. She was... scared that Gajeel would toss her aside once he got in her pants. But... she knew he would never do that. Now she knew. And... pain was fleeting. If a little bit of pain would lead to pleasure even close to what she felt that morning... wasn't it worth it? Just remembering that morning, she shivered again, feeling lingering pleasure course through her.

And then she was back to blushing. She sat down on the edge of the bathtub with a defeated whimper.

"What do I do?"

"What troubles you, my lady?" a deep, unfamiliar voice startled her. With a jolt, she looked up to the bathroom door, where a very tall, very muscular black man blocked the entrance. He wore green cargo pants and a black tank top, and she noticed a large red dagger at his hip. He was bald, but had a thick white beard and mustache, showing his age, and there was a thick, obvious scar around his right eye. His hazel eyes locked with hers, and she felt like he was piercing into her soul. There was silence for all of a second as they looked at each other.

And then Levy screamed.

"Don't panic, my lady, I'm not-" he was cut off as he was tackled by a shouting Natsu, who had burst into the room upon hearing Levy scream. Everything seemed to happen at once after that. Levy hid in the bathtub, trying to distance herself as much as possible from the intruder. Gray showed up and helped Natsu subdue the intruder. Gajeel burst into the room, having apparently been returning from his meeting, saw that the intruder was immobilized, and surprisingly not fighting, and then hurried to Levy. He grabbed her roughly and carried her out of the bathroom and then out of the room entirely.

Levy suddenly found herself in the don's office, her feet once more on the floor, with Gajeel holding her close to him, his arms squeezing her just a bit too tight. Don Metallicana was demanding answers, which Gajeel was supplying to the best of his ability. Levy buried her face in his chest, feeling herself start to shake as she realized what had happened. Somehow, someone had slipped past both Natsu and Gray, plus all the guards in the mansion, and had gotten within striking distance of Levy. She could have been killed just now, and that terrified her.

"Levy, oi... you're okay. Calm down." Gajeel soothed, and she felt him rubbing her back gently. He sat down in a chair and pulled her into his lap as he tried to calm her down. "I know you're scared, but we need to know what happened." She took a few shaky breaths, trying to calm herself, and then she nodded.

"I-I was in the bathroom, and I sat down on the edge of the tub. T-then I heard someone speak, a-and that man was there, and I got scared and screamed, and Natsu came in and tackled him." she told Gajeel and Metallicana. That's all she knew. Everything after that, she knew Gajeel had seen.

"Boss." Gray stuck his head in the office, looking between both the don and the don's son. "We got him in a cell." The Don stood up at this, looking to his son and potential daughter-in-law.

"Come, let's see what this intruder had planned." That said, he left the room. Gajeel looked at Levy, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

"You okay, shrimp?" he asked softly. When she nodded, he kissed her forehead. "Are you going to be okay coming with us?"

"A-are you going to hurt him?" Levy whimpered. He shook his head. No, the intruder would not be harmed, not in her presence, at least. "I-I want to know w-why he tried to talk to me i-instead of attacking me." Gajeel nodded, understanding. He wanted to know, too. So he stood and gently set her on her feet, taking her hand in his.

"C'mon, we'd better hurry." Gajeel led her down to the mansion's basement, where there were a few holding cells that reminded her very much of a prison. They were all empty, save the one with the intruder. Metallicana, Natsu, and Gray were all standing in front of the cell already. She could see Metallicana inspecting the red dagger curiously. When the Don noticed they'd arrived, he addressed the intruder with an angry glare.

"Who are you?" He stated it as a question but it was a demand. Levy found herself thankful she'd never been on the receiving end of his anger; she would have pissed herself.

"I am not an enemy." the man in the cell answered. "My name is Lily, code name Panther. I was a loyal member of the McGarden Family, years ago before they were disbanded."

"McGarden... family?" Levy questioned in a whisper, glancing up to Gajeel. His eyes were narrowed at the man and his jaw was set in a way that told her he knew something about that. What did this have to do with her? Was it just a coincidence she had the same last name? Surely it was...

"How did you get into that room, with no windows and two guards at the door?" The don continued his questioning.

"The air vents, sir." the man spoke honestly. "You should, perhaps, make the entrances to them smaller." Metallicana hummed as if he were considering the man's advice. He was not wrong, after all. If a large man such as himself was able to get through those vents, an assassin could as well.

"What were your intentions with Levy?" Gajeel spoke up now, stepping closer so the intruder could see him. The man, Lily, looked at Gajeel, and then at Levy who was hiding slightly behind him. She looked afraid of him, Lily noticed, and he felt guilty for it. He bowed his head to her in shame.

"My deepest apologies, my lady. It was not my intention to frighten you. I came to offer you my loyalty and services, my very life, even." Lily told the group, surprising everyone except the unshakable Metallicana. "I have been searching for you for many, many years, my lady, and have only found you now because your name and the news of your return has spread around the underworld."

"My... return? I don't understand." Levy said quietly, looking to Gajeel for answers. "What's he talking about?"

"Little one," It was the don who spoke, "what do you remember of your parents? Were they often gone at work for long periods of time?"

"Yes," Levy answered warily as she looked at him. "Papa was a businessman. He went on trips a lot. And mama was a doctor, she worked long hours and had a lot of meetings." Levy was thoroughly confused. She didn't know what he was hinting at.

"They never told her?" Lily sounded shocked. Then he lowered his head in shame. "I am so sorry, I thought she knew."

"Knew what? I don't understand." Levy whimpered out in fear, feeling herself become frantic. What was going on? What wasn't she told?!

"Levy." Gajeel turned to face her, his eyes serious as he knelt to be eye level with her. Her eyes were full of fear and confusion, and he hated seeing her like this. He had not wanted her to find out this way. He was planning to sit her down and tell her in private, what he'd learned not even an hour ago. "They didn't want you to know. Your parents were the part of a mafia family." He cupped her face gently with one hand as her eyes went wide as saucers. "Levy, your parents were the leaders. You're the sole heir to the McGarden Family."

Dun, dun, DUNNNN! Oh, I'm so mean, giving you guys a cliffie! But at least you got two updates really, really fast! Plus, I finally brought out Lily!

Hehehe, there was a reason I didn't go too into detail about her parents, during that one chapter with the beach. I'm evil XD

Oh, and of course, we found out who the traitor is. I told you it was similar to the anime :P

Anyways, that's enough from me. Please, tell me what you guys think! Things are gonna be picking up here soon! hehe :D

Thanks for reading!

-Everythingnerd12