"Children Of the Wildness"

When Levy told him that they had a job that included lots and lots of walking and sleeping on the ground, Jet merely shrugged and grabbed his bag. He was used to that sort of thing. One could say, that it was Team Shadow Gear specialty. Though strolling through wildness, far away from cities was only a part of their usual jobs.

It all started with that one old guy, who was either a writer or a researching old times, because some people liked to study those things. The guy spilled his tea - at least that was what he told them - over his notes. Since he was too old, and a little bit ashamed over creating this whole mess, he decided to hire a young Script Mage to re-do the whole thing for him. For Jet and Droy it was pretty much a long trip far from the civilization and then long hours of watching Levy doing her thing and running frantically from one pile of rocks to another.

The old guy ended up very happy with their results and because of that, they got another job opportunity, this time requested by one of his friends. Then another one and another. Team Shadow Gear ended up with a pretty damn good reputation among the odd old folks.

Gajeel was a surprisingly good addiction to the group and not only because he was followed by the most level headed person ever. While he wasn't the most well-read person around, he wasn't just a muscle and just the survival person; Gajeel had a thing for knowing stuff, overhearing little bits and putting them all together and that made the jobs much, much easier. And less surprising, when something big and scary jumped out of the bushes, because they waltzed into its territory.

And he cooked. Which pretty much made suffering through his gruff personality absolutely worth it.

xxx

Several days of nothing interesting passed and they were somewhere on the map that nobody bothered much about - no cities or even little villages around. There were just trees around and when they were not, all they could see was ridiculously high grass, or little stinky ponds, or other stuff of that sort.

"Why all of those things are always so far away?" Droy whined.

"You're the plant guy, you should be happy," Jet grunted.

"Well, I'm not. A few days away from the civilization are fine, but this? What ever happened? Did cities walked away, or something?"

"Well," Levy started slowly. "Ruins are ruins for a very specific reason. Something broke them."

"And people moved so far away just like that?"

"Well, I think dragons were what happened to them," she explained and then carefully eyed Gajeel.

Droy hummed. "It makes sense. Four hundred years is more than enough for the terrain to change to the point it's really hard to recognize there was something build around here..."

"With the dragons around I don't think they were living fancy," Gajeel stated.

"True," Jet said and shuddered, because the memories showered him and it wasn't very pleasant experience. Especially that one short moment among the piles of rubble that smelled like ashes and despair that didn't even really happened, because Droy was walking right next to him, talking and alive. "People spend so much time building just a single building and then all went to shit in like ten minutes."

Sure, there were some ancient cities that somehow managed to survive the dragons, but they were mostly on the other side of the mountains that were towering far to their left. This part of the Fiore, it was pretty much burned to the ground and only recently people started to build new villages and towns along the roads leading east, towards Seven.

It wasn't the kindest of places either; somehow the wind always appeared much colder here and even in the middle of the summer they could still spot the white spots of snow hidden here and there in the thick and unwelcoming wildness.

The forest, just by the track they were following, was an odd mix of trees bended in weird ways and big bushes with crooked branches creating natural, thorny snares. Honestly, it almost looked like somebody chopped the forest in half, just to squeeze the road between the trees.

"Damn, this place is unpleasant," Jet grunted, wrapping his coat tighter around his body. The wind, along with the everlasting darkness caused by the thick foliage wasn't making the weather any better and the day itself was quite gloomy. "Why there's a road here in the first place?"

"Be glad," Droy grunted. "Just imagine walking around here without the road!"

"You're the plant guy, you should feel right at home here!"

"There's a road here, because Fiore needs the trade with Seven," Gajeel explained, probably in hopes to cut the end to the argument before it went too far. Or, more likely, because the noise was annoying him. "The only other way is through Bosco and they know it."

"You're right," Levy nodded enthusiastically. "They're calling for quite the money for just passing their borders with any sort of merchandise."

"Why can't we transport our stuff through the sea?" Jet asked. "I mean, not the Calm Sea, since this is like all Bosco on the other side, but the Whirpool Sea?"

"It's really damn misty all the time and there's a lot of shit underwater," Gajeel answered with a shrug. "And there's Isenberg."

"What about it?"

"Nothing much," the Dragon Slayer snickered. "Just the whole northern tribes are pretty much pirates."

"How does that even work?"

"Dunno. But they are living either on the sea, on ice or on the marsh that's the rest of their land and seems to be perfectly happy with themselves."

"You seem to know a lot about other countries," Levy noted, looking at the man with curiosity clearly visible in her eyes.

"I was travelling a lot before I joined a guild," he said. The smirk left his face, leaving it blank and emotionless.

"Oh," Levy said. There wasn't much more to add. There was also much more context in the things that Gajeel left unsaid – they all could guess pretty well why he was well travelled before he finally settled in a mage guild and they all knew as well what the name of said guild was.

"Can you tell us more about Isenberg then?" Levy proposed. "I've known about the tribes, but the piracy thing is quite new to me…"

She didn't receive her answer.

Gajeel stopped dead in his track with no explanation whatsoever. He stood there for a short moment, his brow furrowed, eyes focused on the ground in front of him, as if he decided to count all the grass straws in this particular spot.

Then he cursed loudly, took a sudden turn to the side and walked away from the group, quickly disappearing behind the thick foliage.

"Um, what the hell?" Droy asked, staring at the direction Gajeel wandered off. "This is not the right way, is it?"

"It's not," Levy said with a nod. She wrapped hands around herself as if she was cold.

Only she wasn't and they both clearly knew it. She was worried and probably would not move from her current spot until Gajeel returns.

Jet dropped his bag on the ground and found himself a nice tree – one without thorns and actually shielding him from the wind - to sit under. If they were going to stick around, he could at least be somewhat comfortable. Droy soon followed and then they both tried very hard to not feel awkward. It was a difficult feat, because with those two dancing around each other like that, they felt like they should walk away and give them space, or just plain out of their place. Which was ridiculous, since they were team, so their spots were right next to those stubborn dolts.

Jet sighed.

When Levy was about to switch from standing frozen in one place to walking in circles, the little stick on the ground cracked, the leaves made a surprising amount of noise and then Gajeel was back. Which was quite weird, because the guy usually moved like a freaking ninja, all soundless and unexpected.
A second later Jet noticed that the messy entrance wasn't the only strange thing about Gajeel. There was the fact that he was all of sudden shirtless. well, not exactly shirtless to tell the truth. The shirt was simply not on his torso anymore. Instead, it was wrapped around something Gajeel was carrying.

Then that something started wailing in one of a kind, impossible to mistake with anything else, way.

"Holy...!" Jet gasped.

"You're not supposed to pick that in the forest!" Droy screeched, gesturing widely at the man. "You are supposed to pick mushrooms! And berries! and, and-!"

"Man, chill," Jet put hand on his friend shoulder, but he wasn't feeling too chill himself about the whole situation. it was just so surreal. Too crazy to be really happening.

"But it's not even a cat!" Droy protested.

Levy was the one person in the entire group who didn't seem like she was bordering with the state of pure panic. She put her hand on Gajeels elbow and somehow this little gesture made the huge Dragon Slayer to carefully lower himself and sit down on the ground. Levy followed, her fingers not leaving his arm for even shortest moment.

Droy opened his mouth, but Jet smacked him over the head before he managed to say something stupid. Or anything at all.

Jet himself had no idea whatsoever how to deal with this situation or what to say to not make everything worse, but he had no doubt that Droy would drop something that would just turn the crazy situation over its head. It was a shame that Pantherlily wasn't with them, currently occupied by training trip with Wendy. Nobody could say no to that face and besides, no one would be able to predict this situation either.

At least Levy seemed like she knew exactly what she was doing. So Jet just let her deal with the problem and Droy got the clue and kept his mouth shut.

Levy's hand slowly moved up Gajeels arm and then travelled back down just to climb up again. Each time her fingers reached further and further. Finally, she reached his hair.

Gajeel just tilted his head towards her. His expression was odd, like his mind and soul were somewhere far away, looking at entirely different place than his body was facing.

The little bundle of terror went silent at some point - Jet wasn't sure when exactly, because he was too concentrated on observing Levy, who was still petting the Dragon Slayer.
In any different circumstances it would be a really, really intimate situation. Something no one was supposed to see. Now, however... now it was just weird and there was context to it too, so much of it and it all was like guessing, because Gajeel never talked about his past, period.

"Gajeel?" she asked in a soft voice.

He made a humm in response.

"Gajeel, I need you to give me something verbal," Levy reminded him. She brushed his hair aside, behind his ear. "So talk to me, please."

He was silent for some time, but finally, he opened his mouth.

"I don't know."

"We can figure it out," Levy said.

"Sure," he muttered.

xxx

It was the first time Team Shadow Gear decided to drop the mission. Usually they at least tried to nib on it before admitting that they went over their heads - and it wasn't like they were picking difficult or tasking things on purpose, like Team Natsu usually was.

However usually they weren't randomly finding babies in the middle of nowhere.

Old ruins definitely weren't baby-proof, they barely were able to put together a few meals for the kid. And gods only knew when was the last time the baby actually ate. So yes, they were forced to return. In haste.

The baby itself decided that being glued to Gajeel all the time was the greatest idea in the word. Gajeel didn't seem to mind. He just pulled out another shirt of out this bag, while the baby-occupied one became a variation of a blanket and a baby carrier.

Levy was also rarely leaving his side and Gajeel was fine with that too. Or because of that. Whatever was going on in his head, Levy was probably the sole thing anchoring him to the reality. The déjà vu hit him hard and then his memories weren't making it any better.
Jet might've been guessing there, but if someone was raised by a dragon, then there was clearly a reason why a giant beast was doing the parenting in the first place. It wasn't a pretty one. He didn't know what the circumstances looked like in Gajeels case but this little brat, cradles safely in the muscular arms of the Dragon Slayer, had a nasty tale to tell. People were not leaving babies in the middle of nowhere in hopes that someone would pick them up.

"We're now pretty close to home," Droy said with a pleased sigh. "Finally."

Jet shared the sentiment. He was the speed-based mage, but even for him, the pace of the travel was quite taxing.

"You two go forward," Levy gave them a tight smile. "We're going to Porlyusica..."

"Okay," Jet nodded, before she even finished the sentence. "It's fine."

"Good."

"Droy, can you like take the request back to the guild?"

"Uh, sure." He blinked. "Why?"

"I think I'm going to do some rounds around the city," Jet said. "I'm fast enough to get the shopping done before everything will be closed."

They probably could improvise for another day or two, but why improvising if there was a way to get most of the necessities ready?

"Oh," Droy blinked. "Okay. I'll pick up dinner for all of us?"

"Great idea," Levy's smile warmed up several degrees. "Thank you."

"We're team," they answered with a shrug.

Well that and the fact they all went completely out of shirts during the mission, using every possible scrap of soft fabric as emergency nappies. Jet really wanted to keep the rest of his clothes intact.

Speeding through the city, doing baby-related shopping definitely was going to produce a crazy amount of ridiculous gossip. Especially since he paid a quick visit to the local merchant guild, to withdraw some of Gajeels money. The Dragon Slayer was too lazy to actually carry all the money from the mission, so he was instead using merchant guilds to take care of it for him. As the result, he was the only one from the Tenrou Island who had no financial problems after his return, through his finances were spread all over Fiore. And for some reason, he was letting the entire team withdraw all the money they wanted, which was the weirdest discovery ever. Well, maybe safe for the fact that Gajeel actually enjoyed sewing.

Jet was seriously out of breath when he kicked the doors of Gajeels house open.

Lily welcomed him with a frown.

"You could've just knock."

"With what?" Jet grunted, setting the bags on the floor, together with a collection of wooden boards in different shapes and sizes that were supposed to create a crib after being put together.

The Exceed just rolled his eyes and continued his own task. which, apparently, was cleaning the house. Not there was much to clean. Pantherlily happened to be a neat-freak and Gajeel wasn't making much of a mess either.

"Right," Lily sighed. "Need a help with that?"

"Sure," Jet nodded. "I have no clue how to put together stuff like that." Any form of a puzzle and he was completely, utterly lost.

Pantherlily nodded and picked up the wooden pieces. "I've cleaned up the guest room next to Gajeels," he explained.

"The kid is going to stay, right?" Jet asked, rearranging the stuff in the bags. A bunch of items needed to be brought to the kitchen, some of them should go to the bathroom, the rest - to the newly created nursery.

"Can you imagine it be any other way around?"

Jet couldn't. He honestly tried, because finding a good home for a baby would be a right thing to do and the logical one, but they were talking Gajeel here. The Dragon Slayer was glued to the kid since the very first moment he saw it and Jet highly doubted that the man would let go of it any time soon.

"I just hope he won't-" Jet started, but then stopped, because he couldn't find the subtle way to talk about Gajeels abandonment issues.

"He won't," Pantherlily said, absolutely certain. "Levy's with him."

If Gajeel was glued to the kid, then Levy definitely became almost inseparable from the Dragon Slayer, her fingers constantly giving reassuring touches, brushing his hair aside and doing all sorts of the things that somehow worked and kept Gajeel relatively calm.

"The one of the many good things that happened," Droy joined the conversation, walking through the doors.

"Since you two are gossiping I can assume that they are still out?"

"Not gossiping," Jet said, rolling his eyes. "But yes. They still haven't returned."

"Oh good," Droy smiled. "If I knew that all we had to do was to throw a baby at them...!"

Both Jet and Pantherlily groaned.

"Stop making disapproving noises, you guys know that I'm right!"

A/N: I think it went the slightly darker route that I expected. I just wanted Gajeel and Levy to not talk about being together or admit that they want to be together, but to just be together when it is needed.

Also, I dropped headcanons about the world here and there, because I find that sort of stuff interesting. And I really like writing Droy.