Chapter 45

Levy looked around the room, silently observing, learning. She sat close to Gajeel at the large table, occasionally looking at his papers out of curiosity while the council talked about boring mundane issues. Reports were good, they were making money, there were a few new recruits, etc. It was boring. Levy was a doctor, not a businesswoman.

Sure, she had to take a few economics classes, and she did well in them. But she'd rather learn about the conversion of energy within cells again than this. Still, she wanted to be informed. She wanted to do her part for the family. She wanted to be a good future wife to Gajeel. So she came with him to the council meeting to learn about the going-ons of the family.

So far it was mostly business jargon she couldn't decipher. A look at Gajeel told her he would explain it all later. She nodded with a silent sigh and listened on. She looked at the Don, who sat at the head of the table, smoking a cigar like usual. He was listening intently to each council member, taking note of their reports, assuring them he would address their complaints. He didn't look bored at all, as he was focusing on taking care of his family. Levy glanced at Gajeel and saw the same concentration on his face. She had to smile a bit.

It seemed Gajeel would be a good leader in the future. Already, he was focusing on the family's needs intently. She saw him write down a few notes, even, on solutions to problems or problems to address later. This was not unnoticed by the council, and many of the members even addressed Gajeel with their concerns, knowing he would be the one to handle them if his father had too much on his plate. Gajeel answered them with the same calmness and authority as his father, and each council member seemed satisfied by his responses.

Finally, the official business portion of the meeting ended, and they began to focus on current issues within the family. Certain people did not pay protection money this month, there was a new business they were looking into taking over, someone really needed to deal with the Chief of Police, who was getting far too close to sniffing out one of the council members, etc. Gajeel said he would speak with Erza about the Chief and, if needed, they would plan to silence him, be it by blackmail or by more... permanent means. And then the most important topic came up.

What were they going to do about Jude Heartfilia?

Jude Heartfilia was a very, very powerful man with many strong allies as well as many powerful enemies. Fairy Tail was now officially included in the latter. Jude had provoked their wrath by daring to attack Fairy Tail, targeting the Don in an assassination attempt. It was something they just could not allow to go unpunished, and everyone agreed to that. But how to go about this punishment... that was the question.

"I don't think he fully thought the attack through. Surely he realizes how many of our companies have close ties to his? A boycott would severely hurt him." one member suggested, looking over their papers. "We would have to find another supplier for some parts... but we would be doing that anyways, after all this."

"Fair point." Metallicana nodded. "However, he would bounce right back. Jude is a strong businessman, despite his tendency to let anger affect his decisions. He would recover quickly from something like that. No, he needs a far more severe punishment."

"Perhaps we should call in for a favor from the king. He does owe us one." someone else threw out, but the Don shook his head.

"I would not waste such a precious resource on something like this... yet." the don said calmly. "No, we must try to figure this out on our own first."

"Old man, what if we formed an alliance with Blue Pegasus or Sabertooth?" Gajeel spoke up, earning everyone's attention. "I know we ain't got good history with them, but Heartfilia's done worse to them than he has to us."

"The enemy of my enemy." Don Metallicana nodded sagely, inhaling deeply on his cigar. "I think that is a fair start. Look into it, boy, I'll give that project to you." Gajeel just nodded at this, and the meeting continued with several other council members throwing out suggestions and ideas. Eventually, the meeting concluded.

"Learn anything, Lev?" Gajeel glanced down at his little fiancee as he escorted her out of the mansion to their waiting car. She looked tired, and rightfully so. It was late at night, the meeting went long, and it was mostly boring business talk. Gajeel would be bored, too, if he didn't have to focus on everything like she did.

"Hm... I learned that I'm glad I'm a doctor." Levy giggled softly, earning a hearty chuckle from her future husband.

"I see. Anything else?"

"Well... I guess I learned that I need to learn more. Like... how many families are there? I had only ever heard of Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord before..."

"Ah. Guess I ain't gone over all that." Gajeel hummed, opening the car door for her and sliding inside the car after her. He patted Lily's shoulder in a signal to go on and take them home, and then he got situated in the back with his girl. Levy leaned against him with a soft, sleepy sigh. "There's more families than I can count, shrimp." he told her once they were settled in for the ride. "But we mostly deal with the big ones and the local ones. Sabertooth is a big one... and Blue Pegasis is more of a local one, but they're pretty strong for their size."

"And Fairy Tail doesn't have good history with them?"

"Yea. Sabertooth's old Don used ta be my old man's best friend. They had a falling out a long fucking time ago, like before I was even born." he explained. "Anyways, that Don died a few years ago, and his adopted sons took over together. Been tryin to patch things up a bit with them since then, but it's got a rough start." Gajeel sighed. He was the one responsible for the little progress they had made. It helped that he and the younger son, Rogue, got along well enough. His brother, however, not so much.

"And Blue Pegasis... they're pretty new, fer a family. They're just a town over. They made the mistake of trying to gain territory in Magnolia, but we put a stop to that pretty fast, and that's their reason for not liking us. We've gotten up to trading terms with them, at least, but we ain't really friends, if you know what I mean." Levy nodded to that, listening closely despite her urge to just curl up against him and go to sleep.

"So how are you going to form an alliance with families that don't like you?" Levy yawned softly. Gajeel wrapped an arm around her, letting her rest her head on his chest, and he smiled down at his sleepy bride to be.

"I got some ideas, shrimp, but nothing solid yet."

"Maybe we should... invite them to our wedding." Levy suggested sleepily as she snuggled against him. "As a show of goodwill? And then they'll both be there so you can," adorable yawn, "talk about the alliance."

"Interesting idea." Gajeel hummed. Their wedding was only two weeks away, after all. Well within the time limit his old man had given him. But... "Aren't ya worried that'll cut into our celebrations?"

"Well, yea... but this is important... right?"

"Very." Gajeel nodded with a sigh. He really didn't want to take away from their celebrations... especially not from Levy. Weddings were the bride's big day, after all, and it should go how she wanted.

"Why don't you have the meeting during the reception?" Lily's suggestion surprised him. "Wedding receptions are usually pretty long. You can sneak off for a few minutes to discuss the alliance, and nobody will care."

"Yea, that's a great idea." Levy agreed, waking up a bit. "Do it while everyone is dancing or something. I will be going off to change dresses before our dance, anyways." she smiled sweetly at him. His mother's dress, while stunning, was fairly restrictive and hard to move around in, so Levy had found a beautiful but simple white dress to use for the reception.

"Well... only if yer sure yer okay with that, Lev." Gajeel sighed with a soft smile. Levy nodded happily. It was a perfect solution, after all, and nobody would miss the groom for a few minutes. "Then I think it's a great idea. Thanks, Lil."

"My pleasure."

A knock on the door got Sting's attention, and he looked up from his work as his brother walked into the office. "Oh, Rogue, it's just you." Sting sighed, flipping a paper in annoyance. "I tell you what, dad never mentioned just how much paperwork this gig involved."

"Yes, he did. You just never paid attention to that." Rogue shook his head in mild amusement. They were silent for a few moments, both remembering their father fondly. Then Rogue coughed and held out an envelope. "This came for us today, from Fairy Tail."

"Oh? Let's have a look." Sting took the small envelope from his brother and opened it, taking a moment to read it silently before he choked on a laugh. "What?! This can't be real!" He laughed, quickly handing the little invitation to Rogue, who read it curiously.

"To the twin leaders of Sabertooth, Sting and Rogue, you are hereby cordially invited to the ceremony binding Gajeel Redfox and Levy McGarden in holy... matrimony... what?! That idiot's getting married?!" Rogue asked in shock, rereading the invitation to be certain that's what he saw. Indeed, that was what was written there, in elegant cursive handwriting. Holy Matrimony. The future don of Fairy Tail was getting hitched.

"Bout time he stopped being a man-whore." Sting laughed heartily, more amused than shock. He'd heard, of course, the the little McGarden heir had been found alive, and was under Fairy Tail's protection. And his scouts reported that that war they had against Phantom Lord was pretty much over the girl. It seemed Gajeel was adamant about getting her back, even risking his own life for her. So Sting knew there was something interesting going on with Black Steel. He just hadn't known it was this... serious.

"Well... are we going to go?" Rogue questioned his brother after his shock subsided. Sting hummed as he thought it over. They weren't on very good terms with Fairy Tail. True, that was slowly changing, but... there were still hostile feelings on both side. That, however, was mainly focused on Metallicana and their father... and with their father six feet under, even those hostile feelings were beginning to fade. Gajeel, himself, had made several attempts to build bridges over the past few years. He didn't want more enemies than allies when he took over as don in a few years and, unfortunately, his father had a bad habit of making enemies. Metallicana was a terrific leader, make no doubt, but his people skills needed... work.

"Well, you can go if you want, Rogue. But I don't think we should both go. What if it's some trap by Metallicana?" Sting hummed. He knew that was a slim chance, as the don was reasonable enough to understand the sins of their father were not their sins. However, he was hesitant for them both to go anywhere together. If something happened to them, Sabertooth would be without any leaders.

"Very well. I will inform them of my attendance." Rogue decided. He did get along with Gajeel far better than his brother did, after all. "But I need your help picking out a wedding gift."

"Boss! Hey, boss! This came in the mail for you!" a rather dashing-looking young man in a pristine white suit hurried into the office, where Don Bob of Blue Pegasus was unusually focused on his work. Usually, the don would be out and about, teaching his wonderfully adorable family about true beauty. Today, however, doing boring work simply could not be avoided.

"Yes, my beautiful boy?! Tell me, what beautiful mail do I have today?" Bob perked up at the very welcome distraction. The young man handed Bob the letter, allowing him to read in in silence. Bob's eyes went wide, then filled with happy, manly tears. "How marvelous! How spectacular! How beautiful! I've been invited to a beautiful wedding, and what a marvelous chance it is to repair relations! Quickly, fetch Ichiya-chan, I must inform him of this beautiful news at once!"

"Anyone else I should send an invitation to?" Levy asked Gajeel with a sweet smile as she was writing out the invitations to their wedding. Gajeel leaned over her shoulder, looking at her list of people to invite. The entire family, of course, was coming already. There was no need to invite them. But she was sending special invitations to Blue Pegasus and Sabertooth, as well as a few extremely important allies Gajeel had already told her about.

"Actually, my old man just told me there's a small little family that's trying to ally with us." Gajeel hummed, placing a kiss to her temple before moving to it next to her at the table. "They're calling themselves Cait Shelter. I ain't met nobody from there before, only my old man has. They got their hands in textile, and they're pretty good at it, it seems."

"So I should invite them?" Levy asked with a smile. "Who should I write it out to?"

"Think the old man said their boss' name is Roubaul." Gajeel scratched his head as he thought. He grunted in annoyance as his hand got stuck in his hair. "Damn knots."

"Alright, I'll make sure they get one." Levy giggled, writing it down before turning an amused look to her fiance. "Need help?"

"Che." Gajeel scoffed, but he let her untangle his hand from his hair. She ended up having to climb onto his lap to reach better, and he grinned as this put her chest at eye level with him. Levy blushed as she realized it, too, but she focused on his hair with an amused giggle. The instant Gajeel's hand was free, he wrapped both arms around her and kissed her. Levy laughed into the kiss as she returned it, sliding her arms around his neck as he held her close and kissed her sweetly. When they moved to part ways, Levy's eyes went wide as she realized... her own hand was now stuck in his hair, too. As soon as Gajeel noticed it, he growled in annoyance and set to work helping her free herself.

"Fuck it! I'm getting a haircut, shrimp." Gajeel growled in frustration once she was finally free.

"Eh, but you love your long hair?" Levy said in surprise.

"I know, baby, but dammit... it's too much of a hassle." he sighed heavily. "For fuck's sake, Levy, you just got trapped in there. That's too much!" he grumbled, pouting at the future loss of his hair. He'd spent years growing it out, and he'd put in a lot of effort to make it look good. All that work, gone to waste, because he was definitely getting it chopped off. He wouldn't back out on that... but that didn't mean he liked it. Levy gave a soft amused sigh, then smiled sweetly at her pouting fiance.

"You know, I bet you'll look so handsome with short hair." she encouraged. Gajeel smiled wrly at her attempt to make him feel better.

"Think so?"

"Well, you would look handsome no matter what." she assured him, and he gave her a mischievous grin.

"Even if I was bald?" he mocked.

"Well... let's not get carried away, here." she teased back with a giggle, earning a hearty, amused laugh and a huge smile from him. He gave her a quick kiss before standing up with her.

"Thanks, baby. Now c'mon, you can work on the invitations later. This hair needs fixed ASAP."

"Oh, how interesting." Roubaul mused as he read the invitation over a few times. He looked to his granddaughter as she walked into the office. "Oh, Wendy. How was work, dear?"

"Long but good. We had a set of triplets this time, and they were so cute." Wendy smiled at her grandfather, who chuckled in amusement. "What do you have there, grandfather?"

"A wedding invitation, dear. You know how I was trying to get in touch with Fairy Tail, yes?" he chuckled as the girl nodded. "They've responded by inviting me to the don's son's wedding."

"Is that so? Can I see?" Wendy smiled, gently taking the invitation from him. "To the leader of Cait Shelter, Roudaul, you and a guest are hereby cordially invited to the ceremony binding Gajeel Redfox and Levy McGarden in Holy Matrimony." she hummed. "How nice of them to... wait..." Her eyes turned back to the paper and she read it again... and again. "This says... Levy McGarden."

"Indeed. She's the sole heir to the McGarden family, didn't you know? She was missing for years but apparently she's been under Fairy Tail's protection all this time." Roudaul chuckled in amusement, oblivious to his granddaughter's total shock at seeing that name. All she could do was stare at the invitation and read that name over and over again.

"Levy McGarden..."

Hey everyone! I'm so glad I got another chapter up for y'all, and how's that for a fucking twist, huh?! Ahaha! I have so many ideas in my head right now, you have no idea.

Please, please, please tell me what you think! I need feedback. I want love! Jk but for real, tell me what you think.

Thanks for Reading, like always!

-Everythingnerd12