Gajeel woke up with a train leaving the station. He heard it´s wheels on the tracks and saw a dark smoke through the window abowe his bed. He got up of his messy bed, leaving the sheets fallen of on the ground. He never cleaned up, well, unless there were pieces of iron somewhere.
And there were actually lots. When he moved in, all the kitchen has been of metal, but in time, only the wooden furniture would survive with the dragon slayer around.
In all, the place was a mess. Some people who have visited him even wondered, where he would get those new clothes from time to time. But he alone didn´t care about such details, he would wear an outfit, till it got completely teared up in a fight and then buy a new one. Piece of cake.
He took some of the iron he had from yeasterday morning and began to munch it at the kitchen table. The whole room was actually quite little, and it was not really divided into any more room than the living one and the bath. But Gajeel still refered to the part of his living room as kitchen, bedroom and a living room, making people that have never seen his apartment think he owned quite a big place.
Once he was done with the breakfast he decided to go back to the quild and look for some jobs. He did not want to stay in the city, with patherlily always watching, though he knew he was a friend of his, and knowing Salamander was somewhere working up his damned class. He should do that too. Get a hard job a work it up a bit.
He arrived to the building of Fairy Tail early in the morning. The sun was shining and there was no cloud anywhere in the sky. Like if there was no rain yeasterday. But he did not want to think about that. That was why was there so early too, he didn´t want to meet anyone. And so he ignored some of the other members, taht were probably drinking last night and passed out right in the hall, and went direct to the board with job offers.
He was looking for one that would take the longest. He had enough of this whole place, of all these mages even. But maybe he would ask pantherlily to come along, for all the other dragon slayers took their cats everywhere and as he finally had one too, he wanted to be no different.
It was in the middle of thinking when he realized he did not stand alone before the board, but that there was a little man standing next to him, interestingly going through the job offers as he has up until now. It was the midget sized master of Fairy Tail, Makarov, that has now turned to the black-haired mage with a smile on his face. Gajeel frowned, not wanting to talk to anyone, but he knew there would be no way to dodge the conversation now.
It was this master after all, who came to him in the wreckage and invited him into Faity Tail, telling him about the „guiding light". Maybe he had saved him from the loneliness of that place, but with this new quild, there came much more new problems, most of them caused by it´s members.
„I see that you are lonely yet again."
The little man remarked, still looking at the board.
„…just alone." The mage replied in a tone that hinted it was his own decision not to be with anyone.
„I see" remarked Makarov, finally turning his head to the iron mage.
„I might have a request…a job offer, if you will."
he smirked in the same way Gajeel has seen many times before.
„Any job is ok" he replied, being aware that he could not refuse Makarov´s request and that it finally might be a challanging job after all.
„That´s good then" the master smiled and handed him a sheet of old paper, probably with a description with the requested job.
„You should not go alone however…" the master turned around and went to the front dook of Fairy Tail. Well, the mage wanted to také his cat alone anyway, so it was not such a bad suggestion as he would expect it to be, and so he followed the master silently to the exit .
He probably wanted to tell him something about the mission out of the reach of other´s ears. Well, if it was a personal request, he had no problem with keeping it a secret. They both left the building with it´s still sleeping members and stopped in the empty street in front of it. The sun was shining and it was hot outside. Gajeel knw it would get ven hotter in the course of the day, but he smelled rain. He smelled the thick air that comes after it and he smelled wet grass. Was it just imagination, or a memory of yesterday´s afternoon?
And there she stood. The answer t his question and the source of the heavy smell. The rain woman dressed in a warm blue dress with a parasol above her head.
„I suppose you would not mind pairing up with your former quildmate for this one quest." Makarov smiled, placing himself next to the rain woman with a smirk on his face. That was what he ment with „not go alone". „The job might keep you entertained for some time, as I can see some mages here are not entirely satisfied with the difficulty of the missions they get, but one can not také the S-class exam before being a member of Fairy Tail for at least a year." He continued his little speach, looking direct at Gajeel. „And there would be good payment as well, as I have heard someone owned a lot of diamonds to Fairy Hills for taking apart the heating system in her apartment…" now he looked at the rain woman. „Juvia doesn´t need a heating system…" she replied, but did not refure the job either.
„ I think you´ll have a lot of fun" the master smirked again, turning back for the Fairy Tail building and leaving the duo standing in the street.
Gajeel finally got a momentto look at that old piece of paper Makarov gave him, hoping there would be more about the job, than what the master had said, but all he found was a map of the land, with a big red „X" scrabbeled over the area of north in a place where two big mountain were drawn.
„The twins" remarked the rain woman, looking at the map from the side.
He saw those two mountains before. They were a dark place, gloomingly rearing over the other mountains in the north, he could remember seeing them from afar while going to other missions, but what would Makarov want from such a place?
He turned the paper, hoping again for more information, but all he got were some pieces of sentences scrabbeled all over the sheet.
„Only a quardian in the night" „Eternal life" „In the peaks" „No man" „The golden treasure"
Did the old man want to live forever or what? What were they even supposed to bring back, the gold or what?
He put the paper in his pocket and went back to his house. He did not care what exactly that man wanted him to do in those mountains, but he would probably figure it out once he got to that damned place. But first he needed to pack something. At least a few iron plates would be good, so he would have something to eat on this strange journey. And maybe a raincoat would be a good idea…
But what was more important, that rain woman started to go with him.
„Why ain´t ya going to your fancy home?"
he remarked, finding her presence highly annoying right now.
„ Juvia has her things packed,it is inside Juvia´s body."
Yeah, right, he forgot that woman was all water. „Go somewhere else then, ya shouldn´t follow me…" he said, hoping she would dissapear.
„Juvia will not cause trouble Redfox, it´s just that for Juvia th job has already began."
„Right…" he groweled then.
„Do what ya want then, damn it!" he could couldn´t care less anyway. Finally he got a worthy job to do and if the price is to let some kinda of a rainy cloud float after him, then fine. Hopefully she can keep up with him in a fight, he is certainly not going to be responsible for her, she has to look after her own…
It was around midday, that the two mages finally stopped to have a lunch on their way to the twins. The sunny weather prevailed and though they could not see the mountain itself, they knew they were getting closer quite fast. But for now they rested on a rock next to a small scossing in the middle of some corn fields. „Ya didn´t really have to frag along, just run to that stripping idiot if ya want.." were the first words the Iron mage has spoken since they departed from the city.
„Gray-sama has his own quests,and Juvia doesn´t dislike Redfox, they were guild members once if someone still remembers."
„Well I don´t care, do what ya want" sounded theanswer.
„You could have gone with Levy…" came at once the strange suggestion from the rain woman, that made Gajeel choke on the piece of metal in his mouth.
He looked at her, shocked as how she would come to such conclusion and wondered how he would live through this whole fucking mission with her.
„Stop asking unnecessary questions, none of your business anyway." He bit of a piece of the metal again and turned to the corn field rather than looking at that woman. She was mocking him, that was all. And when she spoke, ahe wanted to talk about only the most annoying themes, no wonder that ice guy didn´t want to date her, ahe was really annoying as hell.
He swallowed the rest of what he had in his hands and got up to continue their travels. Why did she even ever care about him? He remembered her talking about him being lonely and yesterday she kind of helped him, but why the hell did she annoy him so?
He turned around to see her walking behind him with that strange look on her face. She should play poker sometime he tought and turned back forward, knowing they had a long way in front of them.
The time was passing as the mage duo was getting forward for days. The landscape presented them with many fields and just a lightly hilled terrain, but they could finally see the nothern mountains too. The first moment for them to see those rocky giants was while entering a little abandoned village. The houses were burned, as were the fields around that little town, seeming it might have been attacked by something. And as they neared the mountains, they came across two more villages in the same shape, until they reached a slow caravane of settlers.
They did not seem like villagers from the destroyed places they´ve visited efore, but Theky might have had a similar experience, as They did not have too many things on their carriages.
Gajeel stopped many meters from them, seeing as how Theky looked at him and not wanting any trouble. But the rain woman continued to approach them, probably wanting to ask about chat has driven them from thein homes. But the iron mage couldn´t care less. All that wasn´t connected with the actuall quest and he surely did not want to make it také any more time then that. But that rain woman was already there…
„Juvia would like to know if your village got burned as well…"
he heard her say in that strange third person way. The villager muttered something and pointed his hand noth to the twins. Well, maybe it was connected to thein mission after all.
That woman střed at the man´s side for a few more minutes, asking some questions and then she returned back to Gajeel, as the caravan slowly passed them by.
„The village began to burn in the middle of the day…no source was found and there was no warning too. The man said that it has happened to all the villages arend here and those who střed unharmed seem to be expecting it too." she turned towards the karavan, looking a bit sad while watching the people getting further and further away from the place They once lived in.
„The man also mentioned the mountain storms. They are not supposed to happen in this time of the year, yet one night a few weeks ago, the storm began and it hasn´t ended since."
„Magic"
sounded the short suggestion from the iron dragon, and it sounded about right. Is this why Makarov send them here now? Has some dark guild made that place to their new home, or has something awakened in those mountains, that needs to be eliminated?
Both mages looked north to the dark mountains.
"Juvia also got the location of the nearest village that did not get burned yet…we could rest there."
"…and investigate." sounded in Gajeels head as the water woman moved forward in nearly the same direction as the caravan came from.
It was near nightfall when the duo reached the building of the described village. They wanted to find shelter first and replenish their supplies, before starting to question everyone in this forgotten place. It wasn´t even really a whole village. It was just a part of the road flanked with a hostel, a shop and some houses.
It seemed they weren´t used to travelers as well, noticing how people looked at the two mages that came to this lonely place. Their first sop was supposed to be some bar, but as the place did not seem to have one, they decided to start with the hostel instead.
It was an old and little place, having just a little hall with an old reception in the ground floor, and old wooden stairs that led to a half-opened corridor with rooms.
The only two people in this place were an old man sitting behind the reception desk and drinking, and a young boy, sitting by the stair and obviously staring at the new quests.
"Oh my, was a long time since someone passed here…what would it be, a room for the night for the cute couple?" started the old man getting into the business right away.
"No, no, Juvia could not…"
"Two rooms" cut the iron mage the chatter before it has even began and put the payment right in front the old guy.
"Yes, yes, two rooms, right away…Honzo, go and prepare the rooms for our quests"
answered the man Gajeel´s request and started to collect his fee from the desk.
"Is this place safe?"
asked the black-haired mage, while the young boy ran up the stairs to asumingly clean the messy rooms for them.
"Right, right, our place is the safest in the whole land, no burglars, no bandits, everything is safe around here…"
"What about fires…" continued the mage his questioning and it seemed he hit some kind of a spot in the old man´s soul, or head, as there came a while of complete silence.
"There was no fire here for ager, sir, I can assure you, this village is the safest place around here…"
if the hostel owner ever thought they were normal travelers, he forgot it now for sure, as the iron mage held everyone suspicious and would not end the hearing till he was completely finished.
"I´ve heard there were many fires around here lately, maybe the lightening up in the mountains caused it, right?"
"I am telling you sir, this is a safe place, there are no storms of fires here!"
rehearsed the old man his answer again.
"Juvia thinks this is a safe place too…" interrupted the rain woman the questioning, giving her companion a cold look. he assumed she did not share his suspicion of this place. Well, not his problem anyway, she began with the questioning as they passed that man with that carriage.
"They´re ready!" screamed the young boy from the top of the stairs.
"The rooms are ready!" he repeated his line and looked down upon the couple downstairs.
"Your rooms…" pointed the old man his hand upstairs with his happy business smile again and there was nothing more left than to proceed to the recently cleaned rooms for the night.
It was in the middle of the night when Gajeel woke up. He heard some soft sounds from downstair, but it was the strange smell, that his nose caught, that got him up from the uncomfortable bed in the hostel room. He smelled smoke and fire.
The mage grabbed his things, as he didn ´t even unpack them before going to sleep and rushed to his room´s door, opening them with one single move, shattering the locked lock and ripping out the door handle at once.
The hostel´s front door was shattered, half of the front wall was in ruins. It looked as if an explosion shattered the whole place, but there was no such sound, the mage would have noticed it even in his deepest sleep. The owner kneeled in the middle of the building´s hall, looking right into the main road connecting all building of this village. It was in flames. The fire danced on the building in his red, orange and yellow colours and slowly consumed one building after another, reaching out to the hostel itself, ready to consume it in whole, as the place was fully build of wood.
"Safest place my ass!"
Screamed the iron dragon, taking a quick step to the side, to reach the door of his fellow mage.