Warning: swearing (Gajeel's potty mouth…err brain); descriptive wounds (icky); explosive aftermath (hey, that works on two levels); romantic entanglement (finally); ruined chances (cock!blocked!)

Thanks for all the love and support, reviewers! It is most certainly felt.

Also, some of you have jumped to conclusion at the end of last chapter that the explosion was Natsu. Can I point out, in what universe would Natsu attack Lucy in the hopes of getting to Gajeel? He would just punch Gajeel.

So, no. It wasn't Natsu. He won't be in this for another few chapters. And it won't be subtle. He's not a subtle man.

I know this update has taken a while to put out, but I've been busy. First my laptop blew, so I had to get a new one and restart this chapter from scratch. And I'm in a wheelchair now, so. Yeah.

This chapter is split into 3 sections. The first two are from Gajeel's perspective; the last is from Lucy's. Just so you know.

Song by The Script

Chapter 12 – You Won't Feel A Thing

Shit. Gajeel grit his teeth at the pain blossoming all over his body. Shit, that hurts. It felt like Metalicana had sat on him again and broke six of his ribs and fractured his back. But all his limbs moved, quite unhappily, but everything seemed intact. It would have been a fuckload worse if he hadn't of managed to activate his dragon scales just as the explosion hit. But fuck it all, that hurt! He had been blown up before, on several occasions, but that hurt like all fuck!

His ribs screamed at the motions of breathing, and there was definitely something wrong with his left leg. Pain and adrenalin was mixing in his head, and his nerves were kicking into overdrive and fuck it hurt, those fucking bastards! He was going to rip apart whoever had set off the damn bomb with his bare hands! He flinched and hissed when he tried to move his leg. Definitely broken. Despite the pain, Gajeel forced himself to move.

Lucy was curled up in a ball beneath him, and Gajeel was pretty sure he might have crushed her. He had smelt something very wrong when she fled his presence down on the street, and every fibre of his being and senses screamed something was amiss. Then he had smelt it. Gas, oil, metal, fire. Not things that were ever found in the bunny girl's apartment. It had clicked over instantly in his mind. He knew that smell. Bomb. Tartaros. Lucy! He could recall vividly the look on her face when she opened her door. Her face went slack, almost disbelieving, and almost radiant in the orange glow of the oncoming inferno.

But he didn't get to her fast enough.

Gajeel howled as he rolled off of Lucy, pulling himself onto his side to tug Lucy onto her back. The back of her arms were badly burnt from where she had tried to shield herself before Gajeel got there, the skin black and charred and peeling away her tender pink flesh. The side of her neck and face were in no better shape, the soft tan skin blackening, wrinkling and peeling away from her body. There was a long laceration to her tender side, although very shallow, but it was bleeding too much. She was loosing too much blood.

Gajeel threw his head back and roared. All the anger and pain and sadness welled up and exploded out his mouth, and the ruined foundations of her apartment shook under the force of his emotions. He tore off the remains of his tunic, using his teeth to tear it into strips long enough to pack and bind the gash across her belly. There was nothing he could do for the burns across her arms and face, but she would live with those wounds; she wouldn't if he didn't attend to her stomach.

Her clothing was in a better state than his, and she remained oddly modestly covered for such a situation. Gajeel's senses were kicking into overdrive now. Lucy was unconsious and had lost blood, her skin burnt and destroyed. His leg was broken, by his best guess, and he had taken the brunt of the explosion with his own body. It was possible that Tartaros mages were still hanging around, and in the state they were in, there was no way they could put up a resistance. But Lucy's apartment was in a heavily populated area, and it wouldn't be long before someone came.

Gajeel only hoped it was someone from Fairy Tail.

Luck, it seemed for a change, was on his side right now.

"Gajeel! Lucy!"

It was Panther Lily. He burst through the ruined walls of Lucy's place in his Battle Shill, eyes flicking across the carnage in search of the bodies of his comrades. Gajeel was glad that they had parted ways at the train station now, sending Lily back ahead of him while he walked the blonde home.

Lily came rushing over to them, eyes full of panic and worry.

"Gajeel!? Shit, Lucy!"

The exceed diverted the moment he saw Lucy, hands fluttering worriedly above her prone form. Panther Lily was his best friend and treasured partner, but he wanted to smack the dark exceed's hand away from Lucy. She was hurt and vulnerable and unconsious and he had to help her. It rippled through his whole body. Save the girl. Save Lucy.

"Lily, go get help," Gajeel growled.

"What?" Lily said incredulously. "You can't be serious…"

"Go to Fairy Tail," Gajeel roared over the top of him. "Hurry! She won't last long".

Lucy whimpered, but showed no signs of awakening. She was in pain, and it made Gajeel's own injuries ache more and striped bare his nerves. It seemed to be the clincher to Panther Lily, though, because in a split second, he reverted to his smaller form, activated his Aera, and took off through the smoke and crumbling roof. Gajeel gritted his teeth to the pain to pull himself more upright and assess the area.

The entire front of her apartment that overlooked the canal had been blown out. Her furniture and clothes lay in splinters and rags around them, and Gajeel would guess, out on the street. His ears were still ringing from the force of the blast, but he could hear panic out on the streets, people running around aimlessly and in fear. Parts of the wooden scaffolding of her home was still on fire, but at least the smoke had somewhere to funnel out of instead of suffocating them.

They had wound up just inside the ruined doorframe of her home, the force of the blast rebounding them off the hallway wall and into the inferno and rubble. He had gotten to Lucy just in time to shield her from hitting the wall, but got himself caught in the explosion. He found himself wishing, for the first time, that the flame brain was here to have eaten the flames - even if Gajeel couldn't stand the little shit. But his own grievances were pushed aside when Lucy whimpered pitifully once more, and something in Gajeel wrenched.

Using his shaky strength, Gajeel pulled himself forwards a few feet to the crumbling wall. There was enough support left there to prop himself against, even if the pain from moving was making his vision blur. He reached down, and very carefully shifted Lucy onto her side and pulled her closer to him. Lucy choked on her breath, and he saw her eyelashes flutter before going dead still once more. She was in too much pain. He moved her as best he could, lying her body between his legs and her head on his lap, all the time being mindful of her wounds and completely ignoring his own.

The edges of his vision was getting darker and darker, but he kept himself awake and semi-alert and he couldn't tear his eyes away from her face. Her pretty skin singed, her golden hair charred and in disarray. She would never stand for looking this way in any situation, he knew, and a small, odd part of his tried to smooth down her hair into something a little more orderly. Lucy hadn't made another noise since then, and Gajeel had no idea how long ago Lily had left or how long he had been sitting here with Lucy. Or if Lily had even been here; it might've been an illusion of his injured brain. It wouldn't be the first time he had hallucinated after getting his brain rattled.

He could already be dying right now, and this was just all in his head. Gajeel hissed and rested his head back against the ruined plaster of her wall. Fine. He could die.

Just let her be alright

XXXXXXXXXXX

Footsteps. He could hear footsteps and voices and smell people. The voices were fuzzy and made no sense, but they were there and loud and Gajeel was almost convinced that they were real. Things just weren't clicking in his head, and he couldn't place sounds well enough to know where they were coming from, but they were there. And getting closer.

His brain and brawn screamed in protest as she shifted a little to draw Lucy closer to him. He could feel her warmth and heartbeat; a little piece of comfort in the hell of a situation, but she was alive. The smells and sounds were so close now, and Gajeel growled in the back of his throat, warning them away. Keep your distance! Stay away from us! I'll kill you!

But there were hands on him; small, shaking hands and he could smell fresh air and he knew those hands. Those hands, that smell, the hint of lost magic; Wendy was kneeling beside him, her little hands pressing against Gajeel's side and flowing her power into him. Everything still hurt, but it was gradually easing as the seconds ticked past, and his eyelids got lighter and lighter until he could almost open them. Lily must have gotten back to Fairy Tail safely, because as his head got clearer and clearer, he could place the smells of the guild. Wendy, Cana, Bisca, Alzak, Bixlow, Freid, Evergreen, Mirajane, Elfman, the Master.

Gajeel didn't think he had ever felt this relieved. Even if they were off-the-wall crazy, they were reliable as fuck in a bad situation. There were a few other smells he couldn't place, but they didn't bring any bad feelings, so he let them be. All that mattered was help was here, and Lucy was still alive and near.

But fingers were prying his arms from around her, and he felt her warmth drawing away… his eyes snapped open, teeth bared and Gajeel roared. His hands flew up on instinct and grabbed onto the blonde mage, and fuck it hurt but don't take her! Someone was shouting at him and huge hands pinned him back and down, and Gajeel thrashed and clawed at the massive appendages. He sunk his teeth into flesh and scraped with his claws but they refused to move - he didn't have enough power left to use a Houko or activate his sword or club, but he fought as best as he could.

A sharp blow to the back of his head rattled him, and he released his captor's hand. Gajeel's vision danced as he tried to pull himself together, but a face appeared directly in front of his, and smaller hands pressed against his cheek. It was Master Makarov, his face solemn but stern, small wrinkled hands anchoring Gajeel back to the real world. Wendy had firmly attached herself to his side, her small arms wrapped around his waist in an effort to stop him moving, her small back trembling. It was then that Gajeel realised that he was holding his breath and there was a metallic taste of blood in his mouth. Gajeel spat out the blood and took a shaky breath.

The wreckage of Lucy's apartment seemed more pronounced than before, now that Fairy Tail was there and sifting through the rubble. Oddly normal for Fairy Tail. But his eyes kept searching until they fell on Lucy. She was lying on the floor not six feet from him, and hunched over her was Porlyusica, her face tight with concentration as she healed the blonde. Tension fled his body as he watched the skin on the back of her arms repair itself, her complexion clear and her face still. He was barely aware of Wendy healing him, or the fact that he had slumped over; Lucy was okay now.

Taking in a shuddering breath, Gajeel moved his arm to drape it over Wendy's back. He must have given the girl a hell of a scare, because she was still shaking a bit even as she funnelled her power into his wounds. But her little face was screwed up in concentration, and she was growing more confident by the minute. Gajeel couldn't have been prouder of her right now.

"Gajeel."

Makarov sat down across from him, his old face stern. Gajeel knew what the old man wanted, but Gajeel had no fucking idea what to tell him.

"What happened here, m'boy?" the Master asked.

"I smelt something odd," Gajeel started.

His voice sounded weird of him, scratchy and raw. Too much smoke, Gajeel guessed. Wendy moved her hands up to his throat, and while it made him tense, she touched it very gently and started healing his damaged vocal chords.

"It didn't click until Lucy opened her door what it was. I didn't get to her quick enough."

He looked at the blonde, prone on the scorched floor of her destroyed apartment. This was all his fault. He had gotten her involved in his business, and now she was in the crossfire between him and Tartaros.

Gajeel grit his teeth.

"The fuckers put a bomb in her apartment," Gajeel growled.

He had never meant for something like this to happen, although it was a bit too late for these kinds of platitudes. The Slayer knew that he had been putting Lucy in danger, but not in danger of a direct Tartaros attack against her. He was prepared for mages to attack him, not her.

"If you hadn't of gotten to her, she'd be dead," Makarov told him.

The old man had anger and sorrow in his eyes, Gajeel knew that Tartaros had declared war on the whole of Fairy Tail by attacking one of the Master's 'children'. Gajeel had been on the end of that kind of rage before, and did not want to visit it again. But how could Tartaros' have known about her? Did they have him under surveillance - no, then they would have attacked Wendy first over Lucy. Gajeel showed more obvious affection to the girl than the blonde, and Wendy was the more obvious target out of the two women.

They couldn't be just attacking Fairy Tail mages willy-nilly - Gajeel was the one who was in their sights, so why the girl?

Then it clicked. There was a mostly-burnt pile of silicone and ash an arms length away, where he had first awoken with Lucy. He knew.

"Sorcerer's Weekly did a special on us while we were there," Gajeel muttered aloud. "Photos, gushing headlines, page spreads."

Makarov's eyes hardened. That had to be it. It made the most sense, why other Fairy Tail members hadn't been attacked and why they chose to single out Lucy over Wendy. Tartaros had seen the pictures of the two of them together, fighting off that pathetic excuse for a dark guild; the photo of them hugging, and had immediately decided that Lucy was the better target to get to him. And it was working.

"They're attacking the weaker link to get to you," Makarov mused darkly.

"She's not…" Gajeel muttered.

"What?" Makarov asked.

"She's not weak!" Gajeel roared back.

Lucy was not weak! She was the strongest woman that Gajeel had ever met, if not the most annoying, touchy-feely, loud and stubborn. Lucy was obnoxious and probing and overly-sensitive and competitive, but she was not weak.

Makarov turned a stern eye to the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"I know that, even better than you do. But it's how Tartaros must see her," the old man replied sternly.

Gajeel couldn't refute that. He didn't like it, but he couldn't refute it.

"Porlyusica!" Makarov called, "How's the girl?"

The elderly mage glared over at him, but he didn't take it to heart. Gajeel had only met her a handful of times in emergencies, but the woman was basically a part of Fairy Tail, whether she liked it or not. And Wendy seemed to get blushy and vague around her - hero worship, perhaps?

"You crushed her," Porlyusica said matter-of-factly.

Gajeel winced, which sent Wendy into a small panic attack, thinking her healing had gone wrong, and Makarov muttered to himself and glared at Porlyusica's back.

"It saved her," the healer amended. "She'll make a full recovery. Worry about yourself, boy."

Full recovery. Gajeel didn't think he had heard anything quite so amazing in his life. Lucy was going to be okay. And all the fatigue hit him like a pile of bricks, and his head felt too heavy for his neck to hold up, and all his limbs went unusually limp. He could feel Makarov's hand patting his shoulder, and Wendy's little hands fluttering about in a panic, but fucking shit, Lucy would be alright. The relief must have been evident on his face because Makarov snickered.

"Get some rest, m'boy. You deserve it," the old man said.

Gajeel released a long breath he didn't know he had been holding. It took him longer than he'd like to stand up, to the protests of Wendy and the shock of the guild, but he managed to kind-of walk over to where Lucy was. He more fell than sat beside her prone form, and Porlyusica was glaring at him but steadily doing her work. The skin on her neck and arms had been repaired, and if he hadn't of seen the wound first hand, they he never would have guessed. Gajeel reached out and pressed his hand against the side of her neck.

Warm. It was warmer there than the rest of her skin. The colour was slightly off, too - more pink than the tan of her skin. The same went for her arms, which Gajeel touched and examined with a gentleness that he didn't know he had. Her well cared-for golden hair couldn't be fixed by magic, but in his eyes, it was a decent enough trade off for her to live than to have perfect hair. She probably wouldn't see it that way.

Gajeel smiled a bit to himself, let his chin touch his chest, and passed out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pain. It hurt. Everything hurt. Lucy cringed. It felt like Natsu had slammed into her with his usual bull-headed approach to things. Usual – but painful.

What had happened? Why did she hurt so much? Lucy couldn't quite recall much past a flash of brilliant orange-red. Had it been Natsu? Did she get caught in the crossfire of one of his attacks? No, I was at home. Natsu knew the penalty of activating, even thinking of, magic inside her home - and it was not one he was eagre to repeat. Besides, Natsu was… he was away, wasn't he? Gone off with her friends and Lisanna to do some quest on the outskirts of Fiore.

Then how…?

Then it came back to her. Her apartment door. The click. Gajeel's terrified face. The heat and wind… She had been blown up.

Her eyes snapped open as her heart started thundering in her chest. Everything in front of her was blurry - too blurry - and all she could see was light, white light everywhere and nothing else.

Was she dead? Lucy didn't want to die. She wanted to live. She wanted to sit at the bar with Mirajane, and run away from Master's groping hands. Lucy wanted to hug Gray again and avoid Erza's bearhugs and punch Natsu in the head for starting another brawl. She wanted to take little Wendy out shopping and get her some grown-up clothes, and get Charle something pretty, too, and convince Lily to stop being stern for a little while and come out with them.

Lucy wanted to see Gajeel. She wanted to see him again; his smouldering scarlet eyes and jagged grin and tough stoic-ness and the soppy mess that existed underneath. She wanted to punch him for being a jackass and yell right back at the Slayer and be folded in his strong arms but never too tightly.

The more rapidly she blinked, the more the white light began to fade out, and her mind was having a hard time processing the fact that she was seeing a ceiling. Were there ceilings in Heaven? Mama never said anything about that. But as her brain scooted through her knowledge, she realised that it was a ceiling that she had seen several times before on many occasions - it was Fairy Tail's infirmary. Infirmary? Then that meant… oh. Not dead. Not in Heaven.

Lucy winced when she tried to move. But still blown up.

Why had this happened to her? She hadn't pissed off anyone half as much as the rest of Fairy Tail had… Oh. Oh. Tartaros. Right. She had forgotten about them. But they were less after her and more after…

After…

Where was Gajeel? He had been there, with her, when the explosion hit. Was he okay? Gajeel had taken a hell of a battering over the last few days than Lucy had seen him take, but taking a hit like that at close range… shit, was he okay? She didn't know anyone who could take a battering like that except for Erza and… no, even Erza wouldn't of been able to endure that hit.

Dammit! Gajeel!

Lucy, ignoring her aching muscles and booming headache, pushed herself upright in the infirmary bed. It was only the second time that she had ever been in one, and oddly enough, both times involved Gajeel. She grit her teeth as her bones ached at the actions, but she had to know; he could be bleeding out in an alley again. Lucy didn't think she could go through that again, all the worry. And new bedding.

But a large hand was pushing her down, and fear gripped Lucy. Was it Tartaros - was she actually in Tartaros's infirmary? Just when she thought to thrashing away from her captor, a face came into view above hers. Crimson eyes, studded eyebrows and chin, strong jaw, jagged teeth. Lucy had never been so happy to see that scary son-of-a-bitch before.

Lucy reached up and grabbed his thick hair, pulling him down to wind her arms around his strong neck and sobbed. She had been blown up and it was scary but he was okay and she was sore but okay and holy fucking stars, Lucy had never been so happy before. Gajeel's large hands were on her arms, stroking from her wrists to her shoulder, and Lucy had no idea why but she wasn't willing to push away the contact. Her frantic mind was working in overtime trying to process too much information at once, because she could still smell smoke and burnt wood on Gajeel, and that meant…

Her mind stalled as Gajeel shoved her away roughly, to just as roughly be pulled into a kiss. His mouth was hot against hers and Lucy had no power to resist him. She didn't want to resist him. Instead she wound her arms back around his neck as one of his large hands rested on the back of her neck and kissed back. She could feel his sharp teeth pulling on her bottom lip, his tongue darting out to lave along her teeth and Lucy just succumbed. She opened her mouth and let Gajeel do what he wanted, what he wanted to do last time, and let the feelings he was provoking wash away everything else.

Everything around her dulled, and the pain in her body floated away as Gajeel's hand roughly pulled her body to align her underneath him. Lucy didn't care because it felt like he was trying to devour her, and everything was hot like the explosion but not like it at all. His tongue was stroking over hers, and she could feel his sharp teeth against hers and holy shit, he could kiss. She was quickly loosing any fight for optional participation as Gajeel got more aggressive with his movements, hands gripping her waist and neck and lips…. Oh god, lips…

Lucy made an embarrassing whiney sound when Gajeel let her breathe for a moment, and the Slayer made that amazing rumbly-growl in his throat that made Lucy's whole body shake in response. Everything blurred; the pain, the fear and the worry - all that was left was Gajeel's mouth and hands on her, his smell and her happiness. It might be odd to find happiness in this situation, but Lucy knew she was going to be okay, and Gajeel obviously so, and they were both alive and he was kissing her. That's all that mattered right now.

"Ahem," a voice echoed. "Perhaps we should come back another time."

Gajeel stopped his actions, made an angry noise and glared over his should and Lucy froze. There… there had been people there the whole time? And Gajeel had know?! Lucy's anger took over, and with a force she didn't think she could muster at the moment, slugged the Iron Dragon Slayer in the jaw. Gajeel jumped back on instinct, and now Lucy could see the faces of Master Makarov and Porlyusica. The old healer had that stern look on her face that meant she was going to say something offensive (not that she ever didn't), but thankfully (or not so), the Master cut her off.

"Good to see you're both feeling… better," Makarov said dryly.

Lucy cringed, blushed, and pulled the sheets over her head. She felt the bed dip near her head, and knew that Gajeel had sat down at the top of her bed. How the Dragon Slayer didn't have a sense of embarrassment or even propriety made her head spin sometimes. If she had known that the Master and Porlyusica were there, she never would have… never… damn, he could kiss, though.

No. Wait, bad mind. Repress.

Lucy worked up the courage to peel back her sheet. Gajeel was looking stoic and irritated like always, Porlyusica was stern and disinterested, and Makarov was smiling. But he quickly sobered up, a dour look spreading across his old face. The Master walked slowly over to her bed, and gently grasped her hand.

"I'm sorry, m'girl," Makarov apologised. He looked gutted. "This should never have happened. Not to you, not to anyone."

The pain was coming back, spreading throughout her muscles and making her tired, but she still smiled at Makarov. He may be odd and fairly perverted, but he cared for his guild very much, maybe even more so than Natsu.

"Not your fault, Master. It's Tartaros," Lucy mumbled.

She felt too fatigued now. The pain and emotional backlash of being blown up had gotten to her, and all she wanted to do was get some sleep. Makarov patted her hand kindly, giving her a wry smile.

"I'll leave you two to, ah, get some sleep," Makarov said lightly.

Lucy blushed like mad and tried to splutter out a response, but the Master was laughing too rambunctiously. He left loudly with Porlyusica, who had said nothing but her dark stare said it all. And suddenly, she was alone. With Gajeel. Lucy peered up at him, cheeks stained red, and he was looking straight at the door that had just closed, his jaw set hard and his eyes sharp.

Gajeel still wasn't looking at her when his hand gently touched the top of her head.

"Sleep," he ordered.

She wanted to argue with him, ordering her about like that, but she was tired and Gajeel was here so she felt safe. With a blush still staining her cheeks, Lucy rolled onto her side to try and stop the throbbing, but only ended up winding herself. She curled over until her forehead touched Gajeel's hip, and decided fuck it, she was going to sleep. His hand had shifted to the back of her head, and his thumb was slowly stroking the back if her neck. And he still wouldn't look at her.

Heh. So Gajeel. What a jackass, Lucy thought as she fell asleep.