Contain-eth within-eth: Gajeel hunting people (damn-near terrifying); angry!Lucy (Gajeel certainly knows how to push buttons); reflections upon the Dragon Slayer natures (how to tutor your orphan Sky Dragon Slayer 101); angry banter (Lucy has panties of steel); dominant!Gajeel (mmm, yum); groping (of the Lucy kind)

Song by Saliva

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Chapter 7 – Hunt You Down

This was how it was supposed to be. Heart pounding in his chest, adrenalin flowing throughout his veins, wounds and limbs aching, but this was right. This was it. Not hip deep in idiotically-weak fighters who could barely be called mages while trying to keep an eye on two errant girls. Now was the hunt, the bloodrush that came with the chase, the pursuit of prey. That delusional bastard Leeroy Jenkins actually thought that he could outrun them, not know that at any second he wanted, Gajeel could crush him. He could speed up and stomp him into the ground, or he could use a roar to tear him to shreds in the narrow alley they were pursuing him down, or even his Tetsuryūken to slice away his ankle tendons, but he didn't.

Because this, this was fun.

The adrenalin was flowing, his muscles aching for a fight, his lips curled up into a smirk he wore most of his days in Phantom Lord as his prey scrambled along not ten feet ahead of him. Nothing would please Gajeel more than to speed up just that little bit and tear Leeroy Jenkins apart, but this wasn't his hunt, this was Wendy's. The whole point of his mission in the first place was Wendy. The girl had been separated from her dragon parent much too early for Grandine to teach her anything for her own self defense, and Wendy couldn't rely on him and the flame-brain for the rest of her life. She had the makings of a great mage in her, all Dragon Slayers did, and she just needed to sharpen and hone those skills that she wasn't even aware that she had.

And even though this was Wendy's hunt, the girl was sadly lagging behind both him and the bunny girl.

"Hurry up," Gajeel shouted back.

He could hear the click-clack of Lucy's heels not far behind him, and she was keeping up remarkably well for someone as ill-dressed, tired and angry as she was. She was quite sexy in his eyes when she was about to blow her top like this, and it gave him a certain thrill to see her like in this state; pissed to the point where she was trying to race him in high heels. The bunny girl was a hell of a force to be reckoned with when she was riled up like this, and already twice she had clipped then man in front of him with her whip, only to have him barely escape. Gajeel felt a sliver of pride when she did, when she joined on in the hunt, but then he had to check himself into order so he didn't take down what he had decided to be Wendy's prey. His only business now was to make sure Jenkins didn't get away from her.

That bastard Jenkins they were chasing hadn't quite figured out that Gajeel was just provoking him into a winding game of cat-and-mouse - and Gajeel could end it anytime he wanted to. And that was a good thing, he guessed, because Wendy was lagging behind, puffing as she tried to keep her small legs going to keep up with the adults. He could only hear Wendy's breath, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see the blonde struggling along behind him. At first, he had been against the idea of the bunny girl tagging along on their job. He had wanted to teach Wendy solo the joys of being a Dragon Slayer, and the bunny girl often served as more eye candy or a distraction than a working part of a hunting party. Gajeel was almost glad that she had tagged along now, because the blonde was turning into a good influence on Wendy, who had never really had a female human role model - Lucy wasn't weak, if a little self-deprecating, and wasn't afraid to throw herself out there to get their mark.

But it was good that the bunny girl was motivated right now, because Wendy was watching both her and Gajeel for clues on how to act; manic running with a slight sadistic glee seemed the norm. Lucy was alternating between scowling at Gajeel and glaring at their prey, and she was running surprisingly well for wearing heels that high - Wendy was starting to catch up, getting used to the sudden pace, but still not fast enough. At this rate, the girl would never reach their prey to take him down - in Gajeel's first manhunt, he had taken his prey down within the first few minutes of the chase, before he developed a taste for the hunt - and he was going to have to intervene if Wendy was going to net any experience from this chase.

It was a simple manner to summon a jagged-sharp shard of iron into his fingers, and just as simple to flick his fingers, sending the strip of iron flying into their mark's thigh. It did exactly what Gajeel wanted it to do - it crippled his leg just that little bit to slow down his pace, Gajeel dropping back to match Jenkins's pace. Lucy caught up easy enough with the slightly lowered pace, her fleuve d'étoiles whip poised for battle, but she was not taking the shot. She seemed to have realized that Gajeel didn't want Leeroy downed just yet, and that blonde was smarter than she often let on. Lucy fell back into a supportive role, her hand still clenched around her whip, but Gajeel could see it in the lines of her body that she was ready to jump from defensive to offensive and nail the fucker. Smart girl.

She had probably realized by now that this job they had taken, hunting the Guild Hunter, was for the benefit of Wendy - for Gajeel to help teach her those skills that Grandine never had the chance to. Grandine, as he had heard, had a fairly positive outlook on people, and believed in their kindness and passed that along to her child, Wendy. Metalicana didn't care an inch for people, except for those inside his very small circle of caring, which was pretty much limited to Gajeel while he was growing up. It was one of the many things that Metalicana had imparted upon Gajeel during his youth; people were idiots and were always getting into trouble. That was pretty much Fairy Tail down to a T, but they had a miraculous ability to dig themselves out, and come out on top.

Metalicana had never told him that; that even if you lost the battle, you could win the war. In his defence, Metalicana had never been defeated (no one was stupid enough to pick a fight with a very short-tempered, full-grown dragon), and until Natsu came along, neither had Gajeel. And it was all for - all because of - the woman now running along beside him, her heels clicking loudly and her face marred with determination; the woman that he had, and quite gleefully, beaten to a pulp and had somehow, now, formed a terse, competitive companionship with.

If there was one thing that was baffling to him, it was why the bunny girl didn't hate him for what he had done to her; even Levy, who he had soldered to a tree and painted his old guild symbol upon, was always a little weary of him. And he had done much worse to Lucy, and she showed not an ounce of fear for him; instead she stuck her tongue out at him petulantly, occasionally bitched him out, and looked like she wanted to hit him half of the time. Gajeel had never met such an abrasive, fearless, head-strong woman before, and it was almost as irritating as it was interesting.

He wasn't quite sure what to expect when she first toddled over to him those few nights ago, probably for her to begin a tirade about what he had done to her; all he knew was he wasn't expecting what she had babbled on about. He wasn't expecting the barrage of personal and very vexing questions, nor the sudden grab-and-sob she had pulled, which quickly went back to emotional prying and dirty questions.

She was a well-formed body of contradictions, still glaring at him, but not butting in until she was clearly given a signal; he really shouldn't be all that surprised - Lucy was a Dragon Slayer's partner, after all.

"Move it," Gajeel shouted back behind them at the Sky Dragon Slayer. "Out in front, girl!"

Lucy leveled what should have been a very fierce glare at him, but it had little impact on him other than a derisive snort - while she may be strong, he could still paste her to the floor. Then again, he found no reason to feel threatened by her - she was more like a riled bunny rabbit than anything - and she had never done anything to make him feel threatened. In fact, a begrudging part of him wanted to admit that not only she was a good influence on Wendy, but also acceptable company for travelling; she wasn't annoying or half as spastic as the rest of their guild, let alone her usual team.

Gajeel grit his teeth at his current line of thought and turned his mind back to the hunt; it was all for the girl's benefit, not for his or the bunny girl's, but she was still lagging. Wendy was a Dragon Slayer, and there was no room for timid and shy behaviour with their particular brand of magic. She needed to get her act together, because there will be people out there after her unique brand of Lost Magic, and she needed to be able to defend herself - at least until he or the flame-brain got there. And even then, they wouldn't be around forever to guard her from the shadows, so she needed to pick up and hone her skills quickly - he couldn't deny that he looked forward to hunting with her as an equal.

"You don't have to be so mean to her," Lucy huffed, keeping stride with him with a little difficulty.

Gajeel grunted. "She has to learn this."

It didn't stop the blonde woman from deepening her scowl at him.

"Ever heard of positive reinforcement?" Lucy growled back.

"And what part of being nice to her will get her ass into gear?" Gajeel shot back.

"You're a jackass, you know that?" Lucy hissed.

Gajeel growled in the back of his throat, both irritated by her and yet impressed with her moxie. There were very few people out there with the stones to cuss him out, and he never thought he'd be putting the blonde mage in that particular category. Metalicana hadn't raised him to be a touchy-feely love-love person; Metalicana had raised a survivor, a hunter and a warrior; a true Dragon Slayer with all the powers that equated to one. Gajeel wanted to say that Grandine had coddled her too much, but Wendy had been separated from her much too early to learn anything apart from healing and supplementary spells.

"Screw off," Gajeel muttered, returning to his normal response.

"Screw you," Lucy hissed back to him. "Come on, Wendy-chan!"

He grit his teeth to keep himself from pushing her into that particularly dark twist in the alley they just passed, or quite possibly, with the way her hips were moving as she ran, from reaching out and smacking her rump. Gajeel pushed that thought away as adrenalin from the hunt, now determined to ignore it, and put his full focus into their prey ahead of him. Apparently, their mark had decided to veer off into a particularly dark and rank arm of the alley, and the smell was almost overpowering as Gajeel followed, but the wound that Gajeel had inflicted had bled. That scent was now embedded in his mind, easy to follow like a second nature, and there was no escape for him now.

Little Wendy had finally caught up to him and Lucy, pushing in between them to get in front, and Gajeel felt a little proud that she would push them out the way to take charge of the hunt. It was the first indication that she had Dragon Slayer instincts, even if she had picked a difficult place to overtake the hunt; in the dark with no experience. But Gajeel was close behind her, keeping their prey from getting too far away and them falling too far behind. The darkness around them didn't bother Gajeel too much; he could see just as well in the dark as he could in the day - one of the advantages of being a Dragon Slayer - and even if he couldn't, the scent of blood was enough to guide him.

It was a little reminiscent of the alley where he had gone down in after the Tartaros attack those few days ago, but something as petty as that memory was no deterrent for him to follow. The thrill of the hunt had overtaken in his veins, and there was no stopping him now until they got their prey, but he held his baser instincts in check as Wendy chased after Leeroy Jenkins. His baser instincts recognized Wendy as child and kin, something that his Dragon instincts said to protect and guide, so he barely registered her movements as something to be aware of; Wendy was just there, and Gajeel was her parent for the purpose of this hunt. But because of this, their sharp senses and abilities, he almost forgot about the bunny girl until, she reached out and grabbed his arm.

He nearly well lashed out and drilled her into the wall, not expecting both the human touch and scent clouding his senses suddenly, but managed to convert his oncoming enraged roar into a guttural growl. It made sense a few moments later why she had grabbed onto him; the bunny girl couldn't see in the dark like a Slayer could, nor could she follow scent and let the sound echoes tell her where the walls were - she had little choice but to grab onto his arm for guidance. Their prey squealed in terror at the sound that ripped from Gajeel's throat, and he heard Lucy make a little concerned yet unamused huffing noise under her breath. Gajeel wasn't used to working with humans - he'd never had a partner before Pantherlily, let alone a human one - and she was clogging his senses with a sweet smell that his adrenalin-infused blood was interpreting none too correctly.

The pitter-patter of Wendy's little feet rang out closely in front of them, her small form just barely a few steps in front of him - he had to scale down his longer steps as to not trample Sky Dragon Slayer. Gajeel had to drop back his steps more than he liked over the last minute, and it was a telltale sign that Wendy was beginning to flag; he could hear her breath coming faster and faster, her gait becoming smaller and her steps getting shaky. She was at the end of her stamina, so Gajeel decided it was time to end the hunt - it wasn't bad for her first try at it, even if Gajeel did like to draw them out as long as possible. There would be many more hunts after this one, with him guiding her, as he promised, and he would not stop until she could stand on her own feet without his eyes on her.

It was time to end the hunt, and he wanted Wendy to be the one to take the kill - not actually killing, of course; he was a bastard, but not that much. As much as he wanted to end this himself, this was supposed to be a learning experience for Wendy, and as much as he loathed admitting, the bunny girl had become a distraction. She had a very firm grip on his good arm, meaning that he couldn't use his Tetsuryūken ((Iron Dragon's sword))or Tetsuryūkon ((Iron Dragon's Club)) without dislodging her and possibly losing her in the network of dirty alleys. No doubt that the bunny girl would raise a fuss over that, even though he could find her easily by scent, and a bitching girl that he couldn't shut up was beyond annoying.

It would be easy enough to aim a Tetsuryū no Hōukō ((Iron Dragon's Roar)) over Wendy's head, but there was always the chance that his iron shards could catch the young girl as well. So it was up to Wendy now to take down their prey.

"Wendy, use a roar to bring him down," Gajeel shouted to her.

He heard a soft, timid sound and the falter of steps before she caught herself, clearly not expecting the Iron Dragon Slayer to let her take the kill personally. A well-placed roar would easily get the job done, even at her current power level, and it was the only mid-to-long range attack that she knew, and one of two offensive techniques she had. But she had to be careful using her roar in such a narrow alley; of course she was going to hit her target, but because of the bends and turns, there was a good chance that her roar would create backlash that would hit them.

And Gajeel thought she would do just that; take down their target with a well-placed roar, her cheeks puffed out as she gathered the energy in her mouth, but then she blundered. She actually paused in her steps to release her roar, giving her prey time enough to make it just out of range of the direct hit from her Tenryū no Hōukō, instead having the whirlwind shatter against the wall instead of against flesh. Gajeel growled his displeasure, refusing to slow his stride, and pushed the stationary Wendy along in front of him. She made a startled noise, and the bunny girl cried out in disapproval at his actions, but he ignored her; Gajeel was not a nice man - ask anyone - and there was no room to be as both a Dragon Slayer and a mage.

Little Wendy stumbled over her own feet, and with a helpful but rough shove from Gajeel, took the lead once again in their hunt. He had seen the Sky Dragon Slayer do that before; it was almost an instinct for the girl to pause in her steps to release her roar, and it was one of the first things that Grandine should have taught Wendy - prey didn't stand still and wait for you. A proper, full charged roar, like she used in their Edolas battle, had a wide range and powerful impact, and launching it while moving added more spin to the already rapid whirlwind that came from a roar. Wendy just needed to work up her self confidence and her magical power in battles; as far as Gajeel knew, her battle experience was limited down to two fights, no matter how large-scale they were, where his ranged somewhere in the hundreds.

"Take him down," Gajeel ordered roughly into the darkness.

The impatience and irritation was starting to show in his voice, and Wendy's instincts were likely telling her to be weary and obey the older Slayer presiding over her - judging from the startled little noise that she made, at least. Gajeel wasn't angry at her, maybe a little frustrated, but definitely not angry - what was really getting under his skin was that their prey was right there, but Gajeel couldn't touch him. There wasn't a time he could remember where he wanted to finish a hunt so badly, to just level the blonde off his arm, catch the bastard with his Tetsuryūkon and howl in joy at the kill. It was working him into a flurry, grinding his teeth together to stop the bone-shattering roar that was welling in his chest on instinct.

Something happened then that didn't spell anything very good - they rounded the bend in the dark alley, and the bright lights of the main street pierced the gloom. Nothing good could come of letting their prey escape into the crowd, where they could not roar or lash out to catch him - not without involving the random civilians still out. Shit. He was going to have to get Wendy to drop so he could roar the bastard himself before he reached the main road, because while he could not lose himself in the heavy crowd, it would slow down Gajeel enough to let their mark get ahead. And they were so close to the train station, no doubt by plan, and all that bastard had to do was jump on a train and Gajeel would lose him.

But something happened that Gajeel wasn't expecting; little Wendy, keeping her current pace, reared her head back and puffed her cheeks out. Gajeel couldn't keep his grin in check, nor the subtle malicious tint that tainted it - he could feel the current of the air, the hint of other-worldly Lost Magic power, and knew by instinct that Wendy had accumulated the correct amount of power. The backlash from the power she was building would barrel through the narrow alley and slam into them - it would stagger him for a moment, but it would send the bunny girl flying. With a dark thrill running through his veins, Gajeel reached out and grabbed the blonde, hauling her up without breaking stride and crushing her to his body.

Lucy made a very startled noise that was muffled in the shoulder of his tunic, his arm hooked around her waist to rest along her thigh - for all intensive purposes, she was now sitting on his forearm while clinging to his shoulders. He vaguely remembered the blue cat saying that Lucy was heavier than him, but she felt light in his opinion - the decent weight of a well-rounded woman. Lucy started to make screechy noises near his ear, and was damn well close to trying to hit him, when Wendy opened her mouth and let it loose.

"Tenryū no Hōukō!"

The vortex of spiraling air erupted from the girl's gaping maw, the bulk of force slamming straight into the back of their fleeing mark - right as he reached the mouth of the alley. He was sent careening out and straight into the very solid brick wall across the street, hitting it with what Gajeel found to be a very satisfying thunk sound. The backlash of wind was already upon them, and Gajeel dug his heels into the concrete flooring, cracking it in the process, but he remained rooted to the ground.

Lucy, protests dying in her throat when she felt the lash of wind hitting them, buried her face in the crook of his neck on instinct, and her ragged breath against his skin was invoking certain bodily reactions - fucking adrenalin. But her fingers were twined in his tunic and her breath was moist against his skin and the goddam adrenalin was making her smell so fucking good that he didn't notice that his hand had slid back from grasping her thigh to squeeze her shapely rear. If the blonde did notice, she was too busy hiding herself from the blast of air that rushed past them to squeal and smack him, so Gajeel chalked it up to a mental win.

With the bunny girl still reeling from the impact of the backlash, and Wendy both out of breath and tired, that left Gajeel with the enjoyable task of incapacitating their prey. He didn't think that he had to worry about the bastard getting up any time soon, but they still had to turn in that bastard Jenks for their reward, and couldn't risk him getting away. And this mage clearly had a knack for escape. Well, not while Gajeel was there, that's for sure. Lucy was still huddled against him, and he turned his head to take a deep inhale of her heady scent before dropping her from his arms. She slid to the ground and landed on unsteady feet, blushing like a tomato and yet glaring her best at Gajeel, before wobbling her way over to Wendy and the two exceed that had joined her.

People were gathering around the man's prone form, alarmed at the sudden explosion for power that had been Wendy's roar, and the subsequently injured man. They sure as hell scattered quickly when Gajeel stalked out from the darkness, the thrill of the hunt running down his spine and almost, almost to the kill. There was no way that bastard was going to be up anytime soon with the power of the roar Wendy had unleashed, and Gajeel found himself wishing that the bastard would get up and make another run for it.

But that did not happen; their prey remained face-down on the road, Wendy panting under the lamplight, Lucy with her arm around the girl, glaring at Gajeel.

"Well, what now genius?" Lucy snarked.

And Gajeel liked her much better when she was cowering against him.