This pertains; Gajeel's cunning plans (!), Gajeel being intimidating (Gajeel being Gajeel); Gajeel being a jackass (read last brackets); brawls (a commonality); angry!Leo (don't get between him and Lucy; asskicking!Lucy (I really think she's strong, but gets so overshadowed by Natsu and whatnot).

Hey everybody! I'm, baaack ~ Sorry about such a wait, peeps, but I've had very bad health problems… actually, I've been diagnosed with a bone tumor. It's not a comfortable prognosis, but we won't know more for another month or so. On top of that, I've been helping my sister who has a chronic disease, and it's been exam period at University. Not a good time to be me. Wish me luck.

But I'll keep writing. This is for all you people who never lost faith in me

Song by Pink

Chapter 6 – Trouble

As a mage, more specifically, as Fairy Tail mage, Lucy had found herself in a lot of bizarre - and not to mention life-threatening - situations in her life. In fact, the number of normal circumstances she had found herself in since joining Fairy Tail could be counted on one hand - and this one came nowhere close to normal. It would be more normal for Natsu and Gray to be friendly to each other, and for Erza to be non-violent in asking questions, and for Elfman to not be manly… well, you get the idea. This was not normal.

"Gajeel?" Lucy ventured quietly.

Said Dragon Slayer grunted from across for her, and Lucy kept her eyes carefully down on her cup. Her teacup.

"Why are we drinking tea?"

It was the only thing she could think of saying, and Lucy took a moment to examine how they had reached this point. They had caught their connection at Oshibana, a tiny town with a massive train-exchange, and gone straight onto Shirotsume. Lucy would have liked to have looked around Oshibana a little more - it has that quaint small-town charm to it, but some gentle prodding from Gajeel (let's fucking go already!) had them all on their way.

Shirotsume was a large town - almost a city - that was renowned for its nightlife, sweets and candy stores, and the fact that anyone could fade away in such a large town. She had only been here once before, briefly passing through on their way to address the Nirvana incident, and she had always wanted the time to look around its famous market and candy stalls. Gajeel seemed fairly familiar with the town as he guided them to a mage-friendly hotel (of whom the clerk seemed scared of Gajeel), paid upfront with his own money, dumped their bags in and left. It was disconcerting to a point that Gajeel had everything so utterly planned out so far, and Gajeel was the type of man who never had a plan.

But that didn't explain why they were in the seedier part of town with Wendy in tow as they drank tea outside the dodgy diner. It came in wonky, ill-patterned cups and Lucy was pretty sure that a blend like that never existed, and that Gajeel's had some kind of alcohol in it. Wendy took it as it came, she'd give her that, because the littlest Dragon Slayer drank her tea in relative silence and calmness. While downright weird, it was kind of flattering that Gajeel had paid for everything so far - not that he had a choice, with Lucy being flat-broke and Wendy only a little better off.

"We're waiting," was Gajeel stoic reply.

Lucy eyed him.

"Waiting for what?" she asked

"You'll know it when you see it," Gajeel replied, then paused for a second. "Like porn."

Lucy was taking a mouthful of bitter, watery tea when he said that, and promptly choked. Wendy blushed redder than a tomato, and Lucy levelled a glare at him over the rim of her gaudy cup, and Gajeel looked oddly smug at the rise he had gotten out of her. Lucy resisted the urge to hit him - any other man and she would of, but she was living off his good graces for the time being.

Heh. Gajeel's good graces. Now there are words that Lucy never thought she'd put together.

Gajeel slapped his empty teacup on the table - boy, did he look ridiculous holding a delicate little teacup - and Lucy gulped down the rest of her watery tea to catch up. He was already standing and 'guiding' Wendy up and away from the diner when Lucy had finished her tea, and she hurried up to stand beside him as he waited for her. Lucy couldn't get a handle on Gajeel at all. He did horribly brisk things like pushing her around, he prodded and poked her until she lashed out, but then he waited for her to catch up and paid for her tea and their lodgings. He was an incredible contradiction.

He took off at a decent pace when Lucy approached, and she had to take two steps to catch up to one of his. Poor Wendy was almost having to run, and Lucy took pity on her by reaching out and resting a hand on Gajeel elbow. It was just above his bandaged forearm, and it did succeed in slowing down Gajeel to an almost-normal pace, which was good because poor Wendy was almost panting and Lucy couldn't walk comfortably that fast in her heels.

"Gajeel, why are we here," Lucy asked, gesturing to the seedy streets they were traversing.

"We're waiting," Gajeel repeated.

She didn't even notice that her hand stayed on the crook of his arm until she tried to hit him in response, and promptly dropped her hand back to her side with a blush. Gajeel didn't say a thing, the stoic bastard keeping his face in its usual expression - somewhere between annoyed and angry. Lucy felt the urge to duck away from him, but that would send across the wrong; that would say that she was intimidated by him. But she was Lucy Heartfilia, and hell be damned if she was going to cow down to anyone, let alone Gajeel. Still, when they turned to her, his blood-red eyes did stir her a little, if not because of the intensity that Gajeel always seemed to carry.

"Why?" Lucy settled for bemoaning. "Why are we waiting here?"

"It's like…"

"If you say what I think you're going to say, I'll aim for the ribs next time," Lucy warned.

Gajeel gave a dark chuckle, and Lucy really wanted to hit him somewhere it would really hurt. It would serve the bastard right. But history has shown what happens when one tries to hit Gajeel Redfox, and it doesn't end well for that particular party.

"Why am I going along with this?" Lucy sighed loudly.

Gajeel's lip twitched upwards in a sardonic smirk, and Lucy kind of regretted ever coming along with this weirdo. But she desperately needed the money, and she couldn't fall back on the charity of Erza, Gray or Natsu this time, because they had up and left her. Then again, Lucy supposed it was a good thing they had temporarily abandoned her, because if they hadn't, then Lucy had no idea how Gajeel would still be alive. She could tell that he was still favouring his left side, overcompensating for his wounds, and every now and then he would flinch when his ribs were provoked.

It was probably time to change those dressings on him, anyway.

"When we get back, let me have a look at those," Lucy said, looking pointedly in the direction on his chest wounds.

Gajeel snorted arrogantly, as usual, but didn't rebuke her demand, and they fell into an odd sort of silence. Lucy followed alongside Gajeel as he, well, Lucy couldn't really say he had a plotted course, he just really meandered along busy roads in what were possibly the worst districts in Shirotsume. Wendy was sliding herself closer and closer to Gajeel that the blonde worried that their littlest Dragon Slayer might try to attach herself t the elder Slayer. But Lucy could hardly say that this was a safe area for a young girl like Wendy to be in, mage or no.

And Lucy didn't like the looks they were getting. She could swear that people were just staring at them, but Lucy couldn't imagine a place where they looked at home; a large and brooding man, a buxom blonde and a young girl. They were attracting all sorts of attention to them, and Lucy could have sworn that she had seen that guy at leats three times now… that's when she caught onto Gajeel's plan a little too late.

"We're bait," Lucy hissed angrily.

At the same time, she reached back and grabbed Wendy's hand, pulling the young girl up and between them. Lucy had almost forgotten the exceed until Pantherlily settled on her shoulder and Charle huffed to catch up to them. Gajeel looked greatly amused (for Gajeel), as he folded his arms back behind his head nonchalantly, only to wince a little from pulling at his injuries and bruises. Serves the bastard right.

Even Natsu, who was the king of bad plans, would never use her as bait, even without telling her. Okay, there was that one time where they first met that Lucy thought that he had baited her out, but it turned out that he really was that stupid. If Erza knew of this, then she would beat the shit out of Gajeel without a moment's hesitation, but then that little voice in Lucy's head reminded her that Erza wasn't there to cover for her this time. Neither was Gray or Natsu. She was with Wendy, who while sweet and adequate, couldn't hold her own in a physical confrontation, and Gajeel, who was basically a walking bulldozer with a temper.

This would be interesting…

"'Bout time," Gajeel rumbled under his breath, and Lucy got the sneaky suspicion that he wasn't talking to her.

Swivelling behind Wendy, Gajeel grabbed Lucy's arm and yanked her into an oncoming alley. Staying behind Wendy and in firm control of Lucy, Gajeel directed them down the dank alley, wheeling and turning and Lucy could hear footsteps behind them. When they came to a fork in the path, Gajeel went left, and Lucy could see people in the right branch of the tunnel. They weren't escaping, Lucy realised, they were being herded. She turned her eyes to Gajeel, looking for something, anything…

He was grinning.

They weren't being herded; Gajeel was in complete control. And Lucy found out pretty damn quickly where they were being 'chased' to.

It was less climactic than she had expected, but to say they had 'burst' out of the alley would be accurate. It was a massive space between alley tunnels that was swarming with mages, all staring at them and oh God, Gajeel had led them purposely into a trap. And it was a bloody big trap. They were bait. Trapped bait.

That bastard! Lucy levelled her fiercest glare at Gajeel, but the Dragon Slayer had his patented shit-eating psycho grin going on, staring down the horde of mages before them. Fucking Gajeel. She would be avenged. Natsu and Erza and Gray would avenge her, because although they might have left her behind, they still loved her (Lucy assumed), and would avenge her untimely demise at the tender age of 17. And if Lucy was going down, then she was bringing Gajeel with her.

Lucy opened her mouth, to scream or shout or verbally murder Gajeel, or some combination of all three, when she was interrupted before she could begin.

"So, you thought you could catch the Great Leeroy, eh?" a man boomed before them.

And there he was, standing on some kind of podium made of out old boxes and wood,above the masses of mages. Completely ordinary and unassuming, Lucy recognised the face of Leeroy Jenkins from the wanted flyer that Pantherlily had showed her on the train. And all she could do was stare. He was supposed to be in hiding… it was like asking Natsu to be subtle. In fact, Lucy could already see similarities between the two…

There was a very nervous looking young man clambering up the side of the off-kilter box podium, trying to talk to the guild hunter atop of them.

"Leeroy-san, shouldn't we stick to then plan…"

"CHARGE!" Leeroy hollered in response.

Lucy felt her heart drop into her stomach. Was that idiot really…

Yes. Yes he was. He was roaring for his fellow mages to fly head-long into battle, no plan, spur of the moment.

And Gajeel roared back. Pandemonium broke through the area as the Dragon Slayer's Tetsuryu no Houko tore through at least seven mages, sending them flying back as the metal shards tore at them. That was the initial wave, and Gajeel had decimated them. The mages looked unsure now, hesitant to move forwards into what they presumed was the larger male's strike zone, so Gajeel went to them. He was quick to charge into the fray, and looked ridiculously happy to be finally getting his hands dirty - - Lucy had come to realise that Gajeel liked to be doing things, not thinking about doing them, which was why he was a very physical person.

Pantherlily had already entered his Battle Shill mode, easily gaining height and bulk over Gajeel, and slammed a few people into submission with his powerful fists. The two were really something to behold, and they seemed to be moving purposely in their chaos, creating openings and yet shielding the bulk of influx from the girls behind them.

Lucy ducked down quickly enough to dodge as something went fly just where her head should have been, and Charle decided it was too hazardous to keep Wendy down there and scooped her up into the air. Wasting no more time, Lucy grabbed her keys and went for Loki's key, knowing where it was by touch, and wrapped her fingers around the shimmering gold of her strongest spirit's key. She was not going to stay behind and be protected by Gajeel - Gray usually fought alongside her while Natsu rushed off and Erza went after him, the ice mage supporting her while letting her fight. Lucy knew she wasn't as strong as they were, but there was no way that she wasn't going to at least try to pull her own weight.

Loki came out before Lucy could even summon him from the key, opening his gate through force and with little drain on her own magical powers. His fingers clad in light, Loki took a sharp swipe at a nearby enemy mage, smattering him to the ground as the lion rounded to Lucy. She gave him a smile, her fingers clasped around her whip, and the Leo gave her a charming grin before turning to join the fray with Gajeel and Lily, at Lucy's side. The Stellar Spirit Mage edged closer to the battle, her fleuve d'étoiles lashing out in a flash of blue-yellow spirit power to catch a nearby attacker and smack him away.

A flick of her wrist had her whip changing directions as smoothly as fluid, wrapping itself around a particularly burly man and holding him still long enough for Loki to smash a Regulus into his gut. It was the way they worked together, and they worked together well; Lucy incapacitated and fended off people, lining them up so Loki could take heavy hits to them with his Regulus, which usually resulted in a one-shot K.O. Lucy veered off from the protective shelter that Lily and Gajeel had created behind them, instead protecting their vulnerable left flank where Charle was hovering with the quickly-tiring Sky Dragon Slayer. She found herself hip to hip with the Leo, her whip creating colorful arcs across their vision as she clipped anybody within range, and Loki would move no more than a few steps away to attack before moving back to Lucy's side.

She felt more than heard Wendy let loose a roar of her own, though it didn't have the power that Gajeel had put into his. The rush of air ruffled her hair as it sent sailing in the opposite side to their only-just exposed flank as they methodically bludgeoned their way through the mass of mages. Wendy seemed to be struggling along, but she was fairly safe from physical attacks with Charle weaving through the air to miss those few aerial attacks. One of the bastards were getting in close to hit her with ranged magic, so Lucy lashed out with her fleuve d'étoiles and, using the momentum, slammed her attacker into the alley wall, knocking them cold. Lucy looked back long enough to give the little Dragon Slayer a smile before inching herself further into the battle.

There was someone coming at the side of Gajeel, Lily having moved away to make sure that Leeroy Jenkins didn't escape in the fray, and Gajeel was too busy exchanging blows with someone bigger than him to notice the lithe person slipping into his range. Loki yelled at her when she dashed out of his cover, her whip responding to her will to get that little fucker; she didn't actually have to move her hands for her whip to respond, but if she did, it gained an extra force behind it that translated into the blows it dealt. With the frantic and powerful snap she gave it, the sliver of light sailed past Gajeel's back by a hairsbreadth and cracked loudly against the sneaky mage's face. He flew back, howling in pain as Lucy flicked her wrist, curling the coils of her fleuve d'étoiles around the lithe man, and snapped her hand to send him flinging across the area.

Gajeel dealt a crushing blow to the mage before him and half-turned back to Lucy, who had now insinuated herself a little behind and to the side of him, defending his injured side. He would absolutely hate the idea of Lucy covering up a weakness of his, and it was a weakness, a handicap, but she could see that he was heavily favoring his other side. Gajeel was tiring, not that he'd ever admit it.

Loki was on the other side of the arena they had created, roaring and dealing blows to all those between him and Lucy. The Leo looked almost frantic, and Lucy almost stalled in her own battle when Loki lost his temper and punched a mage into the brick wall. Into it. He was really wedged in there. There were still mages to fight, thinning though they were, but they seemed reluctant to get in between Loki and a direct path to her. It was lucky that Loki crossed over to her when he did, because although he had opened the Gate himself, her magical energy was beginning to get dangerously low.

Charle had dropped Wendy back down because her Aera had worn off, and the littlest Dragon Slayer seemed a little wobbly on her feet, but determined to pull her own weight and get some recognition from Gajeel - and Gajeel seemed as lively as ever, throwing punches as often as he did his Tetsuryukon. Luckily the amount of enemies they were facing had taken a dramatic nosedive, most of them smattered on the floor around the Iron Dragon Slayer, and the few left seemed to be weighing the options of fleeing vs. facing Iron Gajeel.

Needless to say, they fled.

Soon Fairy Tail mages were the only ones left standing, and Gajeel flexed his muscles on instinct and to work out the cricks from the fight. His tunic was dirty and splattered with blood - most of it not his own - but apart from that, the Dragon Slayer seemed completely fine. He did manage to split his knuckles from punching people too hard, but Lucy doubted that counted as an injury in his books; it was probably a regular injury for the man. Wendy was standing on her own feet, Charle locked securely in her arms, with Loki pressing a large hand to her shoulder in praise.

Wait a minute… where was Pantherlily?

"That way!"

Pantherlily was teeny-tiny again, and seemed to have his own collection of cuts and bruises. He seemed okay, but there was no Leeroy Jenkins.

"Jenkins went that way!" Lily shouted.

Gajeel grinned, licked his lips, and thundered after Leeroy Jenkins. All Lucy could do was follow and pray that he didn't cause more property damage than what they could pay.