. Oculto .
"Is everything set?" Levy stroked Salutem's nose as she spoke, her fingers running gently over his soft face as his massive antlers went far too close to her face for Gajeel's liking. He glared at her and the deer before giving a curt nod, making sure the last of their possessions were strapped onto the large animal.
"Yeah," he muttered, stepping back. "Everything's good. Managed to get the strap strong enough so that it should hold. Damn, this is gonna suck…"
Due to the amount of people that were going, they'd decided on something simple.
The girls would be allowed to sit atop of Metalicana himself alongside Lily, and the three males that were accompanying them - Gajeel was tempted to make it so that Eberos couldn't go - would ride in an iron sled of sorts that Gajeel had made with Natsu's help. The three of them weren't exactly pleased, but at least it'd allow the Fairy Tail mages to keep an eye on Eberos.
Natsu had been all for abandoning him to the desert, surprisingly brutal about the matter while he and Gajeel had been busy building the sled. But Lucy had scolded him and ordered that he be at least decent towards the other man.
That had been before he'd shown up behind her, breathing on her shoulder as he asked what they were talking about. She'd turned around and struck him across the cheek by accident in her panic, and now avoided Eberos as much as possible, glaring at him often times as she stood beside Levy. Now the blonde was grabbing the horse that Natsu had used, looking excited by the sight of it and telling him that it looked like a horse from the stories that her mother had told her as a child.
Salutem whistled out a sharp breath, snotting all over Levy's arm on purpose, and she made a sound of disgust that Lily - who sat between the antlers on the deer's head - laughed at.
Gajeel ruffled her wild blue hair. "Got that thing up on the old man's back so you don't have to worry about cutting yourself trying to hold onto the plating. He complained, but don't listen to him. It didn't hurt."
After learning that Levy had cut herself on Metalicana's metallic plating, Gajeel had insisted that he be allowed to create something that would allow them to hold onto him without hurting themselves. The dragon had reluctantly agreed, and it had resulted in an awkward bar that had been nailed into the plates. Levy had fretted about it hurting Metalicana, but the amused iron dragon had simply lowered his head to blow warm air over her and said, "You worry too much, shrimp."
Levy had flushed in response and complained about stupid iron dragons and their children.
Gajeel ruffled her hair a final time, his fingers running gently through the strands to the point that she leaned into the touch. Then he ripped away and bustled off to see what was taking Natsu and Lucy so long to tie the horse to the sled. Levy smiled to herself, and then glanced down when Lily chuckled. "What?"
Lily's tail twitched, his eyes amused. "Nothing."
"Uh-huh," she said sarcastically.
"I do believe that the cat finds your relationship with the iron dragon slayer amusing." Levy tried not to flinch when Eberos spoke, seeming to appear beside her. His red eyes glinted excitedly, as if he was looking forward to something. Levy guessed that he was excited to be actually going somewhere or doing something other than sitting around waiting for Lucy's wounds to heal as they'd been doing for a while now.
Levy gave Eberos a tight smile and hugged Lily, who didn't say anything as he stared at Eberos without blinking. "And what relationship do you think that is?" she asked lightly.
"A close one." Red eyes glinted with amusement, and Levy tilted her head back to look at him when he leaned a slight bit closer, earning a growl on Lily's part. "A fairly close one, actually."
Warm air suddenly rustled their clothing, and Eberos glanced up to see a rather grumpy dragon glaring down at him with piercing red eyes. He took a step back, and Metalicana growled, dipping his head to suddenly snag Levy by the back of her clothes, lifting her. Levy squawked, nearly dropping Lily, who hooked his claws in her shirt in shock.
"Better airborne," Metalicana snarled under his breath, voice not even muffled by the grip he had on her. "Then with him."
"Put me down!" Levy shrieked.
"Certainly."
Levy screeched as she plummeted - straight into arms that were thrown out in a panic, narrowly grabbing her before she hit the ground. Gajeel scowled furiously up at the guffawing dragon as Levy wheezed for air, her fingers gripping his shirt so tightly her knuckles were white. "Stop doing that!" he demanded, making Metalicana snicker even more.
Metalicana looked down at them with a look that Levy couldn't figure out, and then suddenly muttered as he lowered his head, "I did not like the little one so close to the other one."
Lily, still held in Levy's arms, lashed his tail, hissing furiously, "You could have warned us!"
"Sorry, Lily," Levy groaned, releasing him, and he glowered up at the dragon before sitting himself comfortably on Gajeel's shoulder. Gajeel glared up at Metalicana for a few seconds more, and then gently put Levy on her feet. She gratefully patted his shoulder, wincing. "Thanks for catching me, but I'm going to have bruises."
Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Whiner," he muttered, patting her head with his signature "Gihi!" "C'mon, ya need to get onto the old iron bastard's back. Lily?"
"I've got her," he promised, wings appearing at his back as he hopped from Gajeel's shoulder to grab her by the back of her clothes. Gajeel watched as Lily lifted the unprotesting solid-script mage up onto Metalicana, and then turned away, only to be stopped when Metalicana made a rumbling sound. "What?"
"Watch him," Metalicana sneered under his breath so that only his son - and possibly the small woman on his back - could hear. Gajeel glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "There is something unnatural about the magic he used. It's ain't his natural magic."
"We weren't trustin' him to begin with," Gajeel huffed back. "Watch shrimp and the bunny girl, got it? Ya let one of 'em get hurt and I'll kill ya."
"I'm very aware," the massive dragon drawled. Lily returned after that, and Gajeel told him to go and get Lucy, to take her up as well so that Levy wouldn't be alone for much longer. He itched to get up there with them and sit on his father's back like he'd done as a child - not that he'd admit it.
He'd never admit how nice it was to have the iron dragon around again.
Never.
Because that meant admitting that he'd forgiven Metalicana for so kindly abandoning him to the dark life he'd led after he'd left. And that was just something Gajeel couldn't bring himself to forgive the dragon - any of the dragons, honestly - for.
Once Lucy was on the dragon's back, Natsu trotted over to stand beside Gajeel, onyx eyes unreadable. "Do you think we'll go back?" he said after a moment, voice surprisingly without emotion. "I feel like something really, really bad is about to happen, Gajeel."
Gajeel was a little startled by the seriousness of which Natsu Dragneel of all people spoke. Rarely did the fire mage use such a voice. Rarely did he look Gajeel straight in the eye and call him something other than iron freak or metal head. The fact that his insanely sharp instincts were catching onto something made Gajeel narrow his eyes suspiciously.
"We'll be fine," he decided to grumble, narrowing his eyes. His crimson eyes studied the iron dragon above them as he turned his head to make sure the three that rested there were alright. "We've got a goddamn dragon and two dragon slayers. And my cat."
"Lucy can hold up pretty well," he agreed. "Levy, too."
Gajeel thought of Levy for a moment and then agreed, her image branded on the back of his eyelids. "Yeah," he grunted, turning away. "Levy, too."
"This is great, but seriously...the metal's burning me," Lucy grumbled with a grimace on her pretty face.
The traveling had begun not too long before. Distantly on the ground, like little ants, they could see the miserable dragon slayers dealing with the sled as Salutem galloped across the sands, making happy cries every now and then, swinging his antlers. Metalicana would take a slow step every now and then, shaking the ground beneath him, and was somewhat careful when it came to not squashing the men.
Not really. He liked to get close and scare the hell out of Natsu.
" That's what you get for wearing short skirts," Levy giggled, waving to the capris she'd put on earlier in the morning. Careful to make sure that Metalicana had just finished a step, she reached into the pack she'd been given and pulled out a blanket. Between the two of them, they'd managed to arrange it so that they could sit on it, the hot sun blazing down on them.
"I look like a lobster," Levy declared much to Lucy's amusement. She looked at her red arms and made a face. It was going to hurt later - and badly. "I can't even use my magic to give us shade; I need it just in case something happens."
"You mean in case Eberos tries something," Lucy interrupted. "I hate him. I want him to leave. He came to visit when Natsu was off doing stuff last night and just...he was acting odd. Saying odd things."
"Like what?" Levy questioned, narrowing her hazel eyes. "Did you tell Natsu?"
"Or Gajeel?" the tired Lily added. He was curled up in Levy's lap, slitted eyes watching them with care. "Gajeel would want to know, too."
"No," Lucy admitted. "I didn't tell either of them. He was just...it made me doubt myself, that's all. I'm going to ignore it, of course, but he questioned how strong I was. If my Spirits' contracts were locked for good, if they could get out of it if they wanted to go elsewhere...if Natsu and I were determined to remain partners for the rest of our lives and what would happen if he found someone he wanted to marry, that kind of thing. It almost made me think that he thought that I wasn't strong enough to keep everyone's interest. Like my Spirits were going to leave and that Natsu was thinking about going elsewhere, you know? Loke popped up on his own after he'd left, and knocked me around on the head a few times, scolding me, but…"
Levy couldn't help but smile wryly at the mention of Loke. Only he would strike a girl to make sure she knew that no one was going anywhere. On a normal day, he was quite gentle when it came to women. But on occasion, he could be rude. It was hilarious. "Don't listen to Eberos," Levy told her firmly. "Natsu would kill you for even thinking that he's going anywhere. Have you seen the way he's been hanging around you?"
Lucy's lips curved into a shy smile. "I guess...you're right. Sorry."
"That's what I thought," Levy told her, and then glanced down to check on their friends. She frowned, seeing only a massive metallic shoulder and a wing tucked up, and then crawled carefully over. Lily dug his claws in, ready to pull her back up. But she balanced with ease and smiled down at the dragon slayers below.
The boys would make sure nothing happened.
And the women themselves weren't exactly people to be messed with either.
If Eberos tried anything, he'd be killed on the spot. Especially with Metalicana around.
A glowing red eye slid into her vision, Metalicana's massive head swinging around to look at her. "What are you doing, little one?" he rumbled.
"Checking," she giggled. "Sorry. I'll get back to Lucy now."
"Gihi!" the dragon snickered, and it made Levy want to laugh.
Gajeel had certainly learned his weird laughter from his father.
As Metalicana's head turned back to face the direction they were heading, Levy returned to her place beside Lucy, who looked questioningly at her. "He was checking on us," Levy explained, reassuringly smiling.
Lily huffed. "More likely making sure you weren't going to fall off. Or contemplating throwing you back down."
"Probably the second option," Levy admitted.
There was a second of peaceful silence.
And then Metalicana suddenly stumbled, massive body jerking roughly beneath them as something slammed into his head. He roared, the sound drawing blood from their ears. His leg collapsed beneath his heavy weight and they screamed as their hands were ripped from the safe hold that had been made for them. Lily was ripped from Levy's shoulder, tumbling through the air with a shriek of surprise, and Lucy went sliding past Levy, who barely managed to catch the bar again.
"Lucy!" Levy screamed as Lucy slid over the side of the dragon. She tumbled into empty air with a cry, blonde hair streaming around her face. Levy felt the air rush past her, hands sliding on the metal that she struggled to keep a grip. Metalicana roared again as he hit the ground, snarling furiously in pain.
The momentum jarred her and Levy cried out, struggling to catch at the bar when she slipped. Her limbs trembled, hazel eyes frantically searching for a way out of the situation. But there wasn't one; what could a human do when a dragon couldn't get upright or reach her to make sure she was alright as Metalicana was struggling so hard to do?!
She heard her name shouted somewhere far below her and barely managed to catch the bar again. She dangled by two hands, heart pounding in her chest, and pulled herself up with burning arms. The metal burned her, but she ignored it, gasping for air with her legs and hips dangling.
Metalicana snarled again, not daring to move, as if he could sense that Levy was still stuck. Levy spared a glance down to check on what had happened and was relieved to see that a flash of gold was running around with a blob of pink following her. Someone must have caught Lucy, she thought.
She hoped Lily was alright.
There was a moment of silence before Metalicana rumbled something, shifting. Levy gasped, grip tightening. She could hear shouting beneath her, telling him not to move yet, and he finally went still.
It felt like forever before Lily flew up, cradling a paw delicately against his furry self. "Gajeel's going to climb up," he said seriously. "I hurt my paw grabbing Lucy. Don't fall. Eberos is already waiting if you do. We'd all prefer if you could hold on until Gajeel gets up here."
"Right," Levy gasped. Her muscles burned with the effort of keeping herself there. "What happened?"
"Something attacked Metalicana, we think it might have been a creature that dwells in the sand. It's hanging around, waiting, and we're worried it'll attack. Hang on, Gajeel's going to get up here as soon as he can."
"Was it what attacked him before?" she murmured.
"No, maybe. We don't know, and neither does he."
"Right." Levy took a deep breath, and then gasped in terror when her hands slipped. She scrabbled at the metal, ignoring the searing pain of hot iron against her fingertips. Lily growled, worried but unable to do anything as the bar suddenly shifted. Levy's gaze darted over.
Gajeel's hard work had been ruined by the amount of force. The force of the dragon hitting the ground had ripped the iron he'd used to nail it into the dragon's hide free and it now dangled, the other iron coming loose. It wavered as she tried to right herself.
Her heart dropped - as did her stomach. She could feel it falling, hearing it screeching as it parted. "Lily," she gasped in panic, scrabbling when it dropped several feet and nearly sent her straight towards the ground.
The cat dove over, snagging his claws in her shirt and trying to keep her there. But it did nothing, and Levy gave a cry when it jerked downwards again.
"Shrimp!" she suddenly heard. Her blue-haired head snapped around to look down at the not-so-distant mage. Gajeel had let his arm become a pick axe, his spiked boots digging into Metalicana's iron hide. The dragon didn't seem to mind, instead trying to twist his head back to make sure that they were getting her safely off. His crimson eyes were sharp with concern, black hair wild yet still held back by the headband she'd given him.
"I'm okay," she lied faintly. She watched as he picked his way further up, edging as close as he could. It jerked again and she screeched when she found herself barely holding on. "Lied! Not okay, not okay!"
Gajeel scrambled closer, and Metalicana snarled in pain when his pick axe dug in a little too deep, shuddering in pain.
The movement did the trick.
Levy screamed as the metal gave way and she dropped like a stone. Lily snapped his wings out to slow their descent and she screwed her eyes shut in fear - only to be snagged out of the air with a ripping sound. She gasped, eyes snapping open. It took her a moment to realize that something sharp had snapped through her shirt.
"Got ya," Gajeel rasped from behind her. She was carefully pulled towards him until a solid arm had wrapped around her, carefully tightening around her waist. Levy wrapped her arms around Gajeel's neck with a groan of relief, resting her forehead on his shoulder. Her breath came in panicked gasps. "You good, shorty?"
"Yeah," she breathed. "Lily?"
"We're good, Gajeel," the cat reassured. "Get her down from here." He dropped, wings snapping out and Levy tightened her grip on Gajeel when she looked down.
She'd never had anything against heights until that moment. She just wanted to feel solid ground beneath her. Solid ground that wouldn't give out and send her to her death if she stepped wrong. She tightened her grip around Gajeel, and he snorted softly as he began to carefully clamber down.
"Thanks," she mumbled, "For helping me. Again."
He grunted. "I ain't ever letting you choose a job by yourself again."
"Please don't," she squeaked. He made a sound deep in his chest that seemed to comfort her, and he rolled his eyes, mumbling about just how needy Levy was. When they got to the ground, he slammed a fist against Metalicana's hide.
"You can get up now, you ugly scrap metal!"
Metalicana snapped his jaws irritably and hauled his massive body upright. "Is the little one alright?" his booming voice demanded. "And the golden one."
Levy gave a wry smile at his choice of name for Lucy. "We're fine," she called up to him. A split second later, she was tackled in a tight hug, knocked into the sands by her blonde friend. "Lucy!" she laughed, "I'm fine!"
"I saw you hanging up there," Lucy sobbed, tears rolling down her cheeks, "And thought you were going to be killed!" Natsu watched with careful onyx eyes and Eberos looked just plain confused as he studied the iron dragon.
"I don't get it," he said after a moment, throwing his hands up. "I mean, yeah, I did the first one, but what the hell is doing this?"
They all turned to stare at him, confused, and Metalicana's head snapped around, jaws clicking. Eberos shrugged, snickering under his breath. "What, ya think a dragon slayer can't hurt a dragon if they don't want to? You guys suck. I was trying to get some fun for the first time in ages - oh, except for those treasure hunters last week, they were a pain in my ass. Pretty blood though."
Gajeel began to growl, crimson eyes vicious, and Natsu's flames flickered up and down his toned arms.
Eberos was unconcerned, instead curious about what had attacked the iron dragon when no one was looking. He shoved a hand through his thick black hair. "I attacked the first time, knocked him out of the sky, but I didn't make him bleed, and I didn't do this. I don't get it."
"...wait." Lucy and Levy climbed to their feet, and Lucy stared at the dragon slayer over Natsu's shoulder. She wasn't even concerned as the flames licked at her chin, and Natsu glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, onyx eyes thoughtful. "You knocked Metalicana out of the sky?"
"What can I say?" Eberos flashed her a mocking smile. "I have a thing for screwing with people." He tapped his chin. "But I didn't do the bloody thing. As much as I'd like to see a dragon's blood, I don't generally screw with the physical appearance of a dragon. I tried once and nearly lost my head. And I didn't do what happened just now. You saw me; I was sitting there quietly."
"...I really, really don't like you," Lucy told him, and Natsu muttered his agreement.
This earned a grin from Eberos. "It's fun to play with little girls." He flashed a predatory look at Levy and the murderous look on Gajeel's face made him grin wider. "Don't get me wrong, I like the occasional killing spree, but...this wasn't me. Oh, stop your goddamn snarling, Redfox, I'm not gonna touch your little girlfriend yet. I want to figure this out first."
Levy stared at him without much surprise; she'd expected something of the sort - all of them had. But none of them had expected it to be revealed this early. Levy had expected that he'd show his true colors later on.
Metalicana looked ready to just eat him. Suddenly, he grunted, a malicious look entering his gaze. "I know who you are," he said suddenly and Gajeel's eyes went wide before he grabbed Levy by the back of her shirt and dragged her back. Natsu followed suit, remaining protectively in front of his partner as Metalicana unleashed a roar that made their ears bleed. Lily nervously watched from above, wings fluttering.
Eberos merely stared boredly up at him, arching a brow. "Are we really gonna do this now, old man? My father taught me fifty three ways to kill a dragon, probably more. You see, there's this nice little spot beneath your armor about fifty yards away-"
Metalicana's jaws snapped furiously. "Stay away from my brats," he seethed, shifting. He stepped slowly around Eberos so that he stood over the four Fairy Tail mages.
"Uh, no." Eberos gave a vicious grin. "I'm not done playing with them just yet, but I'll let you in on a little secret. I fully intend to enjoy them to the fullest."
"Metalicana," Levy demanded, "Who is he? What are you-"
"Eberos is not the son of Rhyszard," Metalicana snarled. "He is the dragon slayer of chaos."
"...Acnologia," Natsu whispered, horrified. "He trained a human, too?!"
"Not quite as lovingly," Eberos hummed, twirling black magic around his fingertips. "You see, he hates humans with a passion, particularly those of the blondie's bloodline. But he thought it'd be funny to train someone who hated them just as much. So here I am."
Gajeel's eyes flickered with hatred. "Get lost."
"...no." Eberos studied them without an ounce of fear in his body, even as Metalicana rumbled. "I wasn't kidding. I won't fuck with you until I've figured out what's going on with this dragon killer, because I really do want to know. Might be able to learn from it. So you can either accept my help, or…" He bared his teeth in a grin. "Hey, Lucy, remember what I told you this morning? Definitely proved my point when you couldn't save yourself, didn't it."
Natsu looked murderous, ready to outright tear him apart when Lucy flinched, but Levy suddenly shoved past Gajeel and planted her hands on her hips. "Let's make a deal. If you make any move towards us, we'll set our dragons on you. If you leave us alone, we'll let you help."
His eyes ran down her slim body with an eager look, lingering on her breasts and hips.
"...deal."
So this is my love OC Eberos' true personality. I'll sum him up in three words: murderous and insane. I love him. Which is kind of concerning. Onto the next chapter! Which you'll get next Sunday. XD
Thanks to reviewers (Typhlosion8, MaDxHatteRxGirL, silverGhostKitsune, Kmmcm, and AfterWriter!) as well as those who favorited and followed!