Finally, I had some time to write again. I can't believe how busy I've been. It's really the worst, the last few weeks I came up with some ideas for stories and chapters, but I just didn't have time to write them! And now I can't remember half of them of course...
BUT I managed to finish this chapter.
Credits to the owner of the image I used as the cover by the way. I don't know who made it, but I really liked it.
Chapter 2
Rain Woman
By Neko Erza
"Come and meet your new master."
It took a couple of seconds before the meaning of those words sank in. Levi felt like her heart skipped a beat and fear crept over her. "N-No! I don't want to go!" She grabbed Gray's arm, hoping they would not take her away from her friends.
"If the master tells you to come, you better start walking, bitch!" One of the mages that was leading them down snarled. He grabbed her hair and pulled her back up the stairs. The girl let go of Gray's arm to try and free her hair. Although their bodies were numb and painful, Loke pulled her back as the ice mage punched the phantom member in the face. Of course the other guards came to action and soon had the powerless mages under control again. The one that got punched in the face dragged Levi up the stairs, harshly grabbing her arm. The little bluenette whimpered from the pain.
"Now, now, if you'd just listened, this wouldn't be necessary." Master Jose said. "Well, this will be your new master from now on. I suggest you do everything he says; he can have quite a bad temper."
Levi saw the vile master nod towards a person who was standing beside him; a tall man with long spikey black hair. He wore a sleeveless ragged tunic, loose light pants and heavy boots. His whole, muscly body was covered in piercings and with the sullen look on his face, he didn't look like someone you should mess with. The man just radiated 'danger'.
"I want to stay with my friends…" The small girl said defensively. She absolutely didn't want to go with that pierced man.
The master smacked her in the face, which made her loose her balance. When she hit the ground, the shirt she was wearing jumped up a bit, now barely covering her butt.
Gajeel couldn't help but take a quick glance. The girl really was hot.
The sharp pain from the punch went through Levi's cheek and she could taste blood coming from her cracked lip. She wiped the blood away with the back of her hand and then looked up. The pierced man still had the same expression on his face and the master now had a sadistic smile, which really pissed her off.
Suddenly the girl jumped up and punched Jose in the face. Gajeel's normal grimace was replaced with a look of surprise. He couldn't believe it; that shrimp actually hit the master in the face.
Levi turned her angry gaze towards the pierced man, and saw the surprised look on his face. In return, Gajeel saw the tears and anger on the little woman's. She quickly turned back and ran to the Fairy Tail men.
"I don't care what you say! I'm not leaving my nakama!" She said determined.
Gajeel saw the furious look on Master Jose face, so he quickly walked over to the girl and picked her up. "You're going with me. I'll take care of the punishment, master."
If she were to be killed now, Juvia would surely kill him.
"I should kill the little bitch." Jose angrily turned to the girl. "But that would be an easy get away for her. Long term punishment is always more satisfying. I suggest you do everything he says; he can have quite a bad temper." He started to walk away. "She's yours now Gajeel. Lock those other fairies up!"
"Let me go!" Levi shouted, trying to hide the panic in her voice. Gajeel swung her over his shoulder and left this part of the building. The girl kicked and screamed, but nothing seemed to help: the man didn't let go one bit. They kept going like that for a while, walking all the way through the guild building.
After some time, she gave up the screaming as her voice getting raw and painful, yet she still struggled. It might not do that much, it surely gave her a better feeling that she at least fought back this much.
"You really think that's going to work, shrimp?" Gajeel chuckled at the puny attempts to escape. He barely even felt the tiny fists hit his back. Levi stopped for a second, realizing this was the first time the man had spoken to her directly.
"I'm not someone that gives up this easily…" The girl said, but still she finally also ceased her kicking, having to admit it really wouldn't make a difference in the end, fighting back or not. And now that she thought about it, in this position, Gray's shirt barely reached half of her thigh. The kicking would only make it hop up and reveal more and since she wasn't wearing anything underneath it... She shuddered and remembered the embarrassment she had felt before and tears stung behind her eyes again.
'I suggest you do everything he says; he can have quite a bad temper.'
The Phantom master's words echoed through her head, which made her think. It maybe was better to keep nice and quiet, to try and measure the situation. Pissing this guy off didn't seem the best idea. This just seemed like the safer option…
"Finally quiet…" Gajeel mumbled when he noticed that the girl wasn't going to start her kicking and screaming again. They left the main guild building and walked into a smaller one. He turned right into a small hallway, and walked all the way to the end where he kicked open a door.
He threw the girl off of his shoulder onto a large couch. He turned around and locked the door. Without even looking at her, the man walked over to another room. Levi was just left by herself in what seemed to be the living room. She looked around and saw pieces of metal lying all over the place and on some places there were holes in the wall, like somebody had hit it with a hammer. Other than that, it was surprisingly clean.
A rumbling sound came from the other room, which seemed to be the kitchen, the man had disappeared to. Levi decided to take her chance and jumped from the couch and quietly ran to the door. She hoped the noise from the kitchen would mask the rumbling from the door. She pulled the locks and tried to open the heavy door, but none of them unlocked. The little bluenette was so busy trying to open it, she didn't notice that the noise from the kitchen had stopped.
"That's not going to work, you know." The deep voice from Gajeel sounded.
Levi quickly turned around and saw the man standing in the door of the kitchen. He had a mean, smug smirk on his face and stared at the girl.
"I… I don't want to be here. Let me go. Let my friends go." The girl begged.
"Not going to happen." Was the only answer she got. The man kept staring at her, giving her an uncomfortable feeling. His eyes travelled over her body, to her exposed legs. Fear embraced Levi's heart for a second and she quickly pulled down the shirt a little.
Gajeel averted his gaze and walked over to another door. "Damn Juvia…" He mumbled.
Levi anxiously wondered what he was planning to do with her. She had heard the 'ideas' of the men of the guild while she was stripped, which only scared her more.
But when the man returned, to her surprise he came back with a pair of pants, which he threw towards her.
"Put that on, that's all I got. It will be way too big, but it's still better than… how you are now." He turned around and went to the kitchen again. "The shirts I got are probably even bigger than the one you're wearing, so just keep that one."
Levi's eyes went big with surprise, but she wasn't going to complain and quickly put on the pants. The small girl could probably fit in only one pipe of the pants and they were way too long, but she was happy that she could cover up.
Levi wondered if she should thank him, but decided to just keep quiet. It seemed her best to say as less as possible and try and weigh the situation.
She peeked at the heavy iron lock on the door again and decided to try opening it one last time. She quietly tugged it, but it didn't nudge one bit.
"I told you it won't work." The heavy, grumpy voice sounded from the kitchen. "Now keep calm, shrimp. Or else…"
Levi didn't know what to do; she was lost in this unknown room and didn't know what to think about the strange man who she was told to consider 'her master'. She just stood there dazed.
A weird sound emerged from the kitchen again, like something patting against a piece of metal. The little bluenette was curious what it was, but she was too scared to go look, so she just stayed where she was.
"You gonna stand there all day?"
Levi jumped when she heard the man's deep voice again, she didn't notice he had come back into the room. To her surprise, the man was nibbling on a scrap of metal, which was making the sound she couldn't place before.
The solid script mage's uncontrollable curiosity and thirst for knowledge bubbled up and it even made her forget the situation she was in for a moment. "Are you eating metal?" She asked surprised. Gajeel just glared at her, so she backed down, but she couldn't supress her curious gaze.
"Problem with that, shrimp?" He asked after a while. The girl seemed genuinely interested.
"N-No… I… well, it's not something you see every day…" She whispered.
"It's part of my magic." Gajeel grumbled.
Part of his magic? Levi's brain went into overdrive as she recollected all she knew about the different types of magic. The habit of eating things that weren't considered food only applied to a small range of magic categories. One in particular she had been able to observe closely for years: Slaying-magic. Natsu was a Fire Dragon Slayer and his special diet thus existed of flames.
It was a rare kind of magic, only a few Slayers were known, and somehow she had heard about one being linked to Phantom Lord.
"Wait… you're Kurogane Gajeel." Levi said stunned. She had heard about the Iron Dragon Slayer of Phantom Lord. And since Natsu could eat flames and stuff, it would be normal that this man would eat metal and iron. Not only did she hear his name before, but also the stories about him. He was well known as a violent, destructive mage that didn't scare away for some bloodshed. Unwittingly, Levi took a step back.
An evil smirk appeared on the man's face. "Seems like you heard about me."
"I- I did…"
Suddenly there was a light knock on the door, which made the little bluenette jump in surprise. "Gajeel-kun?" A woman's voice sounded.
'-Kun?' That man absolutely didn't fit the addition of –kun, Levi thought.
"Come on in, Juvia." Gajeel said and waved his hand, the lock on the door immediately fell open.
Levi carefully stepped back from the door, wondering who'd come in. She hid herself a bit behind a closet. She knew it wouldn't protect her if anyone wanted to hurt her, yet her instinct was to try and put a barrier between herself and whoever it was that was entering.
A woman with long blue hair came into the room. As soon as she was in, the door and lock closed again.
"Juvia." Gajeel nodded as a greeting.
"Did Gajeel-kun's plan work?" The woman, apparently named Juvia, asked.
"Look for yourself." Gajeel said as he nodded towards Levi. Juvia turned around and saw the girl at the other end of the room. She had a defiant look, yet Juvia could see the fear hidden in her eyes. The girl was trying to keep strong in this undoubtedly terrifying situation.
Juvia approached the girl carefully, not wanting to scare her more.
"Juvia will not hurt you." She said with a gentle smile and she could see the little bluenette's body relax a bit. "Juvia doesn't want you to be scared of her."
A bit unsure, but enough convinced, Levi came from behind the closet. The woman didn't seem like she wanted to hurt her and she looked friendly. Unlike all other people she had encountered here, she hadn't a single thing about her that felt hostile.
Juvia offered her hand and gave Levi another smile. The small bluenette happily accepted the friendly gesture and grabbed the hand. Feeling the soft hand against hers felt surprisingly soothing.
"Let's sit down." Juvia said as she pulled Levi towards the couch. Levi was sure to sit down on the other side of the couch than where the dragon slayer sat.
Juvia noticed a cut on Levi's cheek and saw that it was starting to bruise. "Gajeel! Did you hit her?" Juvia asked indignant.
"What? No I didn't, the master did." Gajeel grumbled as he grabbed another piece of metal to chew on.
"Poor thing. Juvia will take care of that." The water mage quickly grabbed something to take care of the scratch and put a band aid on it.
"Thank you." Levi said honestly. She knew it was probably a bad idea, but she already felt a bit comfortable with the other blue haired woman. The rain woman gave a gentle smile, then turned to the dragon slayer.
"Take good care of her, don't let anything bad happen, Gajeel-kun."
"What? You're taking her with you, Juvia."
"Juvia can't take her with her. Master Jose will find it suspicious you asked him to have her and then let her live with Juvia. And by the way, Juvia has to go on a mission."
"I don't care! Take that shrimp with you! I did this for you, you know! For my part she was thrown into jail with the rest of them. I don't want her here!" Gajeel shouted.
"Please, Gajeel-kun." She quickly glanced over to Levi and leaned over to Gajeel's ear and whispered. "You know what the men will do to her. Juvia doesn't thrust them at all. And what if the master finds out that we protected a member of another guild, Fairy Tail of all!" The rain woman stared into the dragon slayer's eyes and whispered again. "She will get hurt and the poor girl's spirit will be broken."
Gajeel thought about it for a second. He glanced over to the girl, who stubbornly stared back. She looked like she was smart. Her quick deducting skills of before assured him of that; from just the bit of information of him eating iron she was able to identify him.
A smart girl like that undoubtedly knew what might happen to her if he didn't let her stay at his place.
And the dragon slayer had to admit the girl had guts. Even after being publically humiliated, she dared to stand up for her friends and even slapped the master. The master! He kind of admired that strong will and if he had to be honest, it would be a big loss to see her spirit get broken. Besides, she wasn't bad to look at.
The iron mage gave a deep, annoyed sigh. "Fine, she can stay here, but what if I go on a mission?"
The water mage clapped happily. "When Juvia is here, she will take care of her. And if we're both away Juvia will ask Totomaru-kun to check on her."
"Totomaru?" Gajeel asked doubtfully.
"He's also an element 4, he's my partner. I thrust him, Totomaru won't do anything to her or spill the beans to Master."
"Looks like you've got it all figured out, huh. Fine, she can stay... for now. Now get out of my house." He waved his hand and the door unlocked again.
"Thank you, Gajeel-kun! Don't try to worry too much, Fairy girl. And next time Juvia drops by, she'll bring some better clothes for you." She said as she looked at the shirt that was way too big and the even bigger pants the girl was wearing. Then the water mage disappeared and the door locked again.
"Damn that woman." Gajeel said annoyed and punched the wall. Dust and gravel fell on the ground. Levi jumped in surprise and let out a small gasp. Now she knew where all the holes in the wall came from.
Gajeel turned and looked at the small girl. The fairy and the dragon just stood there awkwardly for a few moments. "Stupid Juvia, making me watch that damn shrimp." He mumbled as he walked over to the kitchen once again.
"My name is Levi." The small mage said.
"Shrimp will do."
Levi wanted to go against it, but decided to keep quiet.
It was better to not anger him. Just because he promised the blue haired woman that he wouldn't hurt her, didn't mean he would keep his word. She didn't forget the stories that she heard about him.
Gajeel came back and walked towards the door. "I'll be back soon. Don't try anything stupid." The man walked outside and the door locked itself again.
He couldn't help but find the girl a bit strange; one moment she was full of confidence and the next she was ready to cower in a corner.
Levi let out a deep sigh and she was finally able to relax a bit now that she was alone. She decided to use this opportunity to look around, so she walked over to the kitchen. Even though it wasn't very big, this room had even more scraps of metal lying around. A few dirty dishes were left by the sink, which meant he did eat things other than metal. She had started to doubt that for a moment by seeing all the metal lying around.
The rest of the house consisted of a bathroom, a fairly large bedroom and another room that was packed to the roof with all different kinds of things and unlike the other rooms, this one was full of dust. She wondered why he would bother keeping so much stuff, was it true after all that dragons hoarded?
Unable to calm her curiosity again, she wandered through the room. Soon she found a bookcase and she instantly felt a little better. She didn't know what she should do in this unknown house, so she decided to pick a book, sit down on the ground and started reading. It would get her mind off of things for a moment and just sitting around doing nothing would only make time go slower.
She was soon so lost in the book, she didn't even hear the door open and close again a while later.
"Shrimp?" A deep grumble sounded from the other room. Levi startled when she was pulled back to reality. "Where are you?" His voice sounded annoyed.
Levi panicked as she wonder what she should do. She probably shouldn't even be here in this she answered. "H-Here."
A few seconds later the gigantic posture of the dragon slayer appeared in the doorway. He still had the same annoyed look as he had had all day.
"What are you doing?" He asked to Levi's surprise. She thought he would get mad.
"I- I didn't know what to do and… then I found these books so I…" The girl explained.
"Yeah, yeah. Fine by me. Just don't break anything." He said calmly. He turned around and she heard him sit down on the couch.
That was surprisingly… friendly. Maybe he wasn't as bad as the stories made him seem.
Levi only noticed now that a few hours had already passed since Gajeel had left. She had been completely lost in the book, but now that she was pulled out of her daze, the whole situation came crushing back. She worried about where Gray, Loke, Jet and Droy were. She carefully toddled after the iron mage, wondering if he would know what was going to happen to them. She saw the man sitting on the couch with his eyes closed.
"Can I ask you something?" The girl asked carefully. Gajeel cracked an eye open at the question.
"Depends." He grumbled as he sat back up.
"What's going to happen to my friends?"
Gajeel looked at the girl. The determination had returned to her face, yet he could also see worry in her eyes. He sighed.
"They took them to the cells, you saw that, didn't you?" He said annoyed.
"Yes, but I mean… what might happen to them? Is locking them up really the only thing you're going to do?" Levi asked, staring at the tall man in front of her.
"I heard they put on quite some resistance after I took you, so they have put a special device on them that deprives them from their magical power even if Tenkin isn't nearby. Then they were probably taken to their cells and… Well, I don't know. They will probably be just locked up like that without any food for a few days as a punishment."
The bluenette's eyes went big with horror. "No food? But… without their magical power they will get weaker, so do will need that food even more. They might die!" She shouted angry. The dragon slayer just shrugged, which made the girl only angrier. "What kind of guild is this?! Do human lives mean so little to you? Depriving people of their magic? Keeping them hostage? This whole guild is just horrible! YOU are horrible and a monster!"
Before she knew it she was pushed against the wall and two strong arms caged her in. The dragon slayer's face was only a bit away from hers.
"I'm a monster, you say?" Gajeel hissed between his teeth. "I risk to lose my position in this guild just to save your sorry ass and you call me a monster? I didn't have to take you in, you know? I did so because Juvia convinced me to keep you from being brutally raped by the guild members." Levi looked at him with big shocked eyes but kept quiet, being lost for words.
"What holds me back from just throwing you in some rotten cell along with your friends. And why shouldn't I have my fun with you first? You're completely my type, you know." He said as he roughly grabbed one of her breasts.
Tears sprung to her eyes. "P-Please, don't…"
Gajeel stared into her fearful eyes. He let go of her body and took a step back. "I won't, though." He grumbled. "Since I'm not a monster."
"I- I'm sorry…" Levi whispered as she quickly rubbed a tear away that had escaped.
"I really appreciate determination and courage. And I know you have that, shrimp, I've seen it a few times today already. But I don't like to be insulted."
"I- I…" The girl stuttered, not knowing how to react.
"Treat me with respect and I'll do the same."
Levi quickly nodded. "I- I'm sorry… I was wrong."
"It's fine." He went into the bedroom and came back with a blanket. "You can sleep on the couch. If you need anything, just go for it. I'm going to bed."
And with that the startled girl was left alone.
She hadn't got a clue as to why he didn't do anything to her. He had the worst reputation of all Phantom mages, yet he was the one keeping her from being treated like an animal.
The little mage quietly sat on the couch and wrapped the blanket around her.
End of chapter 2
I made Juvia really friendly and sweet in this story, 'cause I can actually see her sticking up for someone like that. I also imagine her with the long hair, not the 2 big curls she had when she was in Phantom, since I think she looks so much better with the long.
Keep updated for the next chapter. I'm also planning to write an alternative storyline for this one some day, but I still have to start that. Would you like that?