I really hope everyone is enjoying this story as much as I am writing it :D
Gajeel moved as fast as he could, despite the open wound in his side. He had to find Levy before the fighting between Fairy Tail and Raven Tail broke out. PantherLily was at his side, aiding the dragon, as they began their search for Levy. There was only one place Gajeel could think of where Levy could be if he was going to have her translate the grimoire.
"There's a room two floors down that Ivan used as a sort of library" the dragon said. "I'm sure that's where he took Levy to translate the book." The dragon could only hope that his hunch was right.
The two descended down the stairs but soon found it blocked off with debris. "It looks like we'll have to find another way to the next floor" PantherLily pointed out. Gajeel nodded and pointed down the hallway. "There's some stairs at the other end of this hallway" the dragon said. "Hopefully they're not blocked off."
As the made their way down the hall Gajeel noticed the room they passed by earlier, Raven Tail's communications room, was destroyed. It looked as if there was an explosion from the inside. Was Ivan trying to destroy any evidence and any trace of Raven Tail's secrets? That's when it hit Gajeel...the room that Levy was in; it had plenty of Raven Tail's records in it. What if that room was destroyed as well?
"We've got to hurry!" the dragon said to his partner as he began running down the hallway. PantherLily was close behind him but was worried about his partner. With a wound like the one he had the dragon was in no condition to be pushing himself too hard. But he said nothing, even after seeing the dragon's blood leaving a trail on the ground. The Exceed knew that Gajeel wouldn't listen, not a time like this. He was completely focused on finding Levy that it wouldn't have mattered if he spoke his concerns. All he could do was help his partner right now.
When they finally reached the staircase the two were relieved to see that it was still all together. They climbed down one flight and looked down the hallway. There was debris scattered about and smoke pouring out of some of the rooms. "Shit" Gajeel muttered as he and PantherLily made their way down the hallway.
It didn't take long before they reached the room Gajeel suspected Levy was in...or what was left of it. The room was completely destroyed by an explosion. Gajeel slowly moved towards it and froze in place as he looked down and saw something lying on the ground...something he knew all too well. He bent over and picked up the yellow headband that was lying underneath some rubble. He stared down at it before he felt rage building up inside him as his hand trembled. PantherLily stood there with his head lowered...they were too late.
The dragon fell to his knees as he let out a loud, deafening roar that made even PantherLily jump. The Exceed walked over to his partner and placed his paw on Gajeel's hand that was gripping the headband tightly. "I'm so sorry, Gajeel...we were too late" the black cat said with sorrow.
Gajeel didn't speak; he just continued staring at the headband. For the first time in his life the dragon felt his heart ache as his eyes watered up. He clinched his teeth tightly, wondering how he could return to Fairy Tail without Levy. Suddenly he lifted his head up high and caught the scent of someone. He began looking all around him, trying to find where the scent was coming from which was starting to puzzle PantherLily.
"What is it, Gajeel?" he asked. He could tell that Gajeel had smelled something or someone. He watched as the dragon sniffed the air a few more times.
"Over there!" Gajeel said as he rose to his feet and ran in the direction the scent was coming from. He moved into the hallway on the other side of the room; debris and rubble were everywhere in the hallway. There was also a large cloud of dirt and dust that filled the hallway, making it hard to see anything or anyone. Gajeel stumbled along the hallway when he saw a familiar person laying on the ground just in front of him...it was Levy.
Gajeel rushed over to her and knelt down next to her. She was lying there unconscious with blood running down her head. He nudged her gently, "Levy! Levy can you hear me?" he shouted at the script mage. There was no response from the bluenette. The dragon then lifted her body up and placed her in his lap. "Please...wake up Levy" he said quietly as he stroked her cheek.
There was a moment of silence. Suddenly Gajeel heard a small moan and looked down to see Levy fluttering her eyes as she tried to open them. A look of exhilaration filled Gajeel's face when he saw the bluenette look up at him. She smiled at Gajeel and raised her hand, trying to touch the dragons face, as he grabbed hold of it. "Ga-jeel. Is it really you?" Levy asked as her eyes began to water up.
The dragon nodded, "Yeah shrimp, it's really me" he said as he slowly pulled her into an embrace. His heart raced and nearly skipped a beat, he was so afraid that he would never see her again. Gajeel heard some muffled sobs and felt her arms slowly wrap around him as she rested her head against him. She wanted to stay in his arms but knew she couldn't, not now anyway.
"I'm getting you out of here, Levy!" Gajeel said. "Lily, go ahead and see if you can find someone from the rescue team and let them know that we have Levy." PantherLily nodded as he spread his wings and flew away.
Gajeel got to his feet and tried to help Levy up but she cried out in pain. The bluenette pointed down at her foot, she had forgotten that she was trapped under some debris. Gajeel stood up and walked over to the large chunk of wall that had her foot pinned.
"When I lift it up you've got to pull your leg away quickly!" he said. Levy nodded as the dragon lifted the heavy chunk of rock. She quickly pulled her foot out from underneath it as Gajeel dropped the debris. The large chunk of wall fell back down to the ground as Gajeel felt the stinging pain coming from his wound. The strain of lifting the rock put tension on his wound as it began bleeding again.
Levy sat up and saw the dragon clutching his side. "Oh my gosh Gajeel, you're hurt! What happened?" she asked, scooting closer to him to examine his wound. She noticed that the wound went all the way through his body and looked like it was made by a weapon. "Who on Earthland did this to you?" she asked as a tear escaped her eye.
Gajeel shook his head, "Don't worry about it, shrimp" he said as he slowly stood up. "Right now we have to worry about getting out of here" he said as he held out his hand to Levy.
The bluenette was none too happy about Gajeel ignoring his own wound but she nodded and reached out for his hand. Levy grabbed a hold of it and tried lifting herself up to her feet but her leg almost gave out from underneath her as she tried to put pressure on it. Gajeel caught hold of her waist just before she fell. "Don't worry, I'll help you walk" the dragon said as he put his arm around Levy. The script mage felt her face blush and gently smiled at the dragon. "Thank you, Gajeel" she said as they began walking.
Slowly they made their way towards the main staircase. Gajeel could hear fighting taking place just below them between Fairy Tail and Raven Tail. With Ivan no longer a threat here the rest of his guild wouldn't last very long without their master around. Gajeel turned and looked at Levy, "Don't worry shrimp, we're almost out of -"
Before Gajeel could finish what he was saying he felt several painful blows to his back, knocking him off his feet. The iron dragon hit the ground in pain as Levy tried to regain her balance from nearly being brought down with him. He winced as he looked to see what hit him. At the end of the hallway, in front of the room that exploded, stood one of the mages that was guarding Levy. He was badly injured from the explosion but was now accompanied by another Raven Tail member.
"Did you think we'd let you get away with taking this girl so easily...traitor!" he yelled out to Gajeel. Levy turned around in fright, she was surprised that the man had survived the blast. She thought he was taken out by the explosion from the library.
The mage raised his hand as another piece of debris levitated next to him. "I'll show you what we do with traitors!' he said with a smirk on his face. With a flick of his hand the rock hurdled itself towards the pair.
"Levy! Watch out!" Gajeel yelled as he tried to lift himself up. Levy didn't move. Instead she stood directly in front of Gajeel and raised her hand out in front of her. "This time I'll protect you!" she said to the dragon and with a few quick motions she made her stand and yelled out. "Sold Script: GUARD!" A large shield appeared in front of her and blocked the attack, shattering the rock into small pieces as it made contact.
Gajeel looked up in shock. "But how did you...you still have the shackles on!" he said confused. Levy turned around and held her wrists up. "They were broken during the explosion" she said, pointing out that the lacrima inside the shackles were shattered. They were still chained together but it seemed that her magic had returned back to her. "I honestly wasn't sure it was going to work...but I had to take the chance." she said, sticking her tongue out.
The dragon smirked, "Lucky for us it worked" he said as he slowly got onto his feet. Gajeel's legs were wobbly from because of his injuries and seemed to be having trouble keeping himself on his feet. The dragon tried to hide the fact that he was injured and hurting from Levy. She didn't need to worry about him, not right now.
"You bitch!" the guild member yelled out in anger. He then turned his attention to Gajeel, "We'll teach you to betray our guild!" the other Raven Tail mage said as he stepped forward. With a snap of his fingers the sound of the fighting below was amplified to a deafening magnitude.
Gajeel and Levy clamped their hands of their ears, trying to muffle the sound but to no avail. The dragon opened one of his eyes and noticed that the mage's magic was only affecting them and not his comrade. So his magic only affects whoever he wants and not everyone around him. The mage started walking towards the two slowly with a smirk on his face. It seemed that the closer he got to them the louder and more painful the sounds were on their ears.
Levy fell to her knees as she cried out in pain as Gajeel fell back down onto his side and laid there on the ground, his hands covering his ears as he yelled out in pain. He began to feel something drip down his hand and as he looked over at Levy. He could see blood slowly dripping from her ear due to the mage's magic. Gajeel then realized what was happening but was unable to do anything. The bluenette collapsed onto her side and looked over at the dragon. He couldn't hear what she was saying but saw her mouthing something.
The Raven Tail mage was practically standing in front of them now. Gajeel closed his eyes tightly as they both screamed out in pain and then...silence. Everything seemed to go back to normal...but how? Gajeel slowly removed his hands from his ears and looked up. He saw the mage standing there in front of them...with a large sword through him. The sword retracted from the mage as his body fell to the ground. "I can't seem to leave you two alone for a moment, gi hee." Both Levy and Gajeel looked up to see PantherLily in his battle form with his sword unsheathed.
"Lily!" Levy said happily as she sat up. The Exceed held out his hand and helped the bluenette up to her feet. Levy dusted herself off and gave PantherLily a big hug which made the Exceed blush a little. "What about the other mage?" she asked as she looked around.
The Exceed pointed over his shoulder to the Raven Tail guard that was lying lifeless on the floor. "They left me no choice...they were on to Gajeel about being a spy and if they were allowed to live they would have surly told Ivan."
Levy simply nodded. She didn't like the idea of PantherLily killing the mages but he was right. He did it to protect him and Gajeel.
"Well what are you doing still lying around?" the Exceed said, teasing the dragon who was still on the ground.
Gajeel narrowed his eyes and glared at his partner with a smirk on his face. "Shut your damn mouth, cat" he said as he sat up. He tried to stand up but quickly fell back to the ground. He looked down at his wound and saw it bleeding out again. "Shit...this just isn't my day."
PantherLily noticed the dragons wound bleeding profusely. "Gajeel, your wound. It's opened up more" the Exceed pointed out as he helped his friend up. "We've got to get this looked at and soon before you bleed out too much!"
Levy squatted down and tore some material off the dead Raven Tail mage's clothes. She then walked over to Gajeel and tied it around his waist as tight as she could. "I hope this at least helps until we can get out of here." she said, looking up at Gajeel. The dragon smiled at her and nodded.
PantherLily had to help the dragon walk, his injuries and blood loss were already making him weak, as Levy limped alongside her dragon. The bluenette looked to Gajeel and smiled softly at him. "Thank you again, Gajeel...for coming to save me" she said softly. "I thought I was going to be trapped down there for a long time."
Gajeel turned his head and weakly grinned at her. "No need for thanks, shrimp. I would have come even if Master hadn't asked me to take on this mission."
Levy felt her face blush at Gajeel's comment. "I-I appreciate it" she said bashfully. PantherLily just grinned as he helped his partner down the steps. They were so close to being out of there, they just had to be careful when leaving. Gajeel still couldn't let any more Raven Tail members see him helping Levy escape otherwise it would blow his cover.
The trio reached the bottom of the stairs and could see that there were more Fairy Tail members than just Mirajane and Natsu that stormed Raven Tail. They brought a large amount of guild mates with them, including Master Makarov. "Well...this wasn't part of the plan" Gajeel said as he held onto his side. Fortunately for them most of the Raven Tail members were preoccupied by the Fairies which gave Gajeel and PantherLily a good chance to sneak by everyone with Levy.
"There's...a secret exit just up ahead" he said pointing to a narrow hallway just ahead of them. "We can get out that way and avoid being seen."
PantherLily looked around before leaving the staircase to make sure the coast was clear. "Alright, it looks clear enough: the Exceed said. "Let's move." The three made their way quickly towards the hallway with the secret exit.
During the fighting Master Makarov could see Gajeel and PantherLily with Levy. They managed to find and free her, but they looked injured. Makarov had hoped that the dragon could pull off this escape without injuries but he was wrong. He noticed that they were trying to sneak by, no doubt Gajeel knew of a secret escape route. The old guild master looked up at Mirajane who was standing next to him. "We must not let them be seen by any of Raven Tail's members" he said. "We much distract Raven Tail as much as we can so they can get out!" The barmaid nodded with a mischievous grin as she performed her Satan Soul takeover and launched an attack on any nearby Raven Tail members.
As they quickly made their way past the fighting, Gajeel glanced over at Makarov. The old guild master looked back to him and nodded with a smile. The dragon smirked back as his Exceed partner helped him towards the hallway, with Levy by his side. Though they may have been injured at least they were safe and alive which was all that mattered to Makarov.
The three of them managed to enter the hallway without being seen by any Raven Tail members. The hallway was much narrower than the other hallways in the guild's hideout but all three managed to walk side by side down it. It didn't take them long to reach the end of the hallway where Gajeel looked around, trying to remember which torch was the lever to open the passageway. After a minute he pointed to one to the left of them.
PantherLily passed Gajeel off to Levy as she wrapper arm around his waist, trying to hold him up. He walked over to the torch and pulled on it. There was a click when he pulled it and the wall shook but the door didn't open. PantherLily looked over at Gajeel puzzled. The Exceed walked up to the wall and tried pushing on it but it wouldn't budge. "That was the right one, right?" he asked the dragon.
"Shit, the mechanism that opens the door must have broken from the explosions earlier" he muttered as he tried to stand upright. Gajeel pulled away from Levy and stood in front of the wall. "I'm going to have to open it up myself" he said as he raised his fist up.
"Gajeel no! You can't do that in your current condition" Levy said as she walked over to him, her eyes tearing up. She knew Gajeel was hurt badly and was taking a great risk to use his dragon slaying magic.
Gajeel turned to face Levy and placed his hand on her face. "Don't worry, shrimp. I told you I would get you out of here no matter what" he said, smiling at the bluenette.
Levy placed her hand on top of his. She tried to smile for him but found herself getting upset. "...I know you did. I just wish you would let Lily try and open it" she said. The bluenette knew that PantherLily couldn't break through the thick wall, not even with his sword. She leaned in and kissed him and then backed away. "Please...just be careful" she mumbled.
The iron dragon nodded as PantherLily stepped back behind him with Levy. Gajeel stood in front of the wall, gathering all the strength he could. A bright green light engulfed him as a magic circle appeared before him. He stretched his arms out and in an instance several large iron pillars were created, much like the ones he used to destroy Fairy Tail's old guild. Gajeel roared as he sent the pillars hurling towards the wall. The pillars collided with the wall creating a large hole which revealed the passageway.
The magic circle disappeared as well as the green light leaving the dragon standing in the hallway. His body swayed back and forth until his legs finally gave way, falling backwards towards the ground. Levy screamed as she and PantherLily dashed towards him.