35th: Sloth

Summary: He was utterly incapable of moving on but so was she.

He watched in confusion how she glared at the newspaper and crumbled it before she rushed out of the guildhall. Slowly, trying to stay out of Mira's field of view, he sneaked over to the bench where she had been sitting and grabbed the newspaper, trying to figure out what had caused the Shrimp to destroy the newspaper like this.

He hadn't look long but by the time he reached the right page, his heart beat so loud inside his chest that he wondered why the others weren't looking at him. He wasn't the kind of guy to stalk the one he was interested in. This was Juvia's field of expertise and he really didn't want to compete against his old friend.

He kept an eye on Mira as he quickly read the page. If the barmaid were to look, he'd be back on his original place too quick for her to realise that he had been reading the newspaper the Shrimp had mistreated a few minutes ago. He didn't take long to find the article which had caused the blue-haired woman to lose her cool for a moment. "Dark Écriture Master, Lillian McGarden, will visit Magnolia soon!"

"So you figured it out on your own, huh, Redfox?" the green-haired mage asked as he sat down and crossed his arms. "Levy and her mother … well, it's complicate."

"Why?" the Iron Dragon Slayer asked as he crossed his arms. "Don't tell me that Shrimp's mother is a bitch like your teammate, punk, 'cause I wouldn't believe it."

"It's really not that easy," he said. "Her mother is a mage, a pretty good one at that. She never joined a guild but among the independent mages, she's one of the best – or at least, she used to. She always wanted Levy to go for Dark Écriture but Levy wanted to learn Solid Script because she considered it more useful. Sure, since all the types of Script Magic are closely related, Levy has some basic skill but not all that much."

"And so she and her mother grew apart?"

"They haven't been talking since Levy was ten years old," Fried said. "Do me a favour and go look for her before she goes on a quest just to avoid her mother."

"What do I get out of this?"

"I wouldn't tell Mira that you are stalking Levy," the green-haired man smirked as he walked away with a smug grin all over his face.

Gajeel rolled his eyes before he went to look for his former S-class exam partner and found her in the garden of the guild. "Oi, Shrimp," he said as he sat down next to her. "You alright? 'Cause if you want to take your wrath out on something, I volunteer."

She snorted. "Ask me again after she left," she muttered darkly. "Damn, I really want to stay this time, you know? Just to show her that she doesn't know everything. But … a part of me wants to leave because that would be safer for my pride."

"So your mother isn't the warm and nice kind of person either, huh?"

"Yeah," she muttered. "I guess that Fried told you, huh? Anyway, it still stings that she thinks that Solid Script magic is inferior to Dark Écriture, you know?"

"Metalicana was the same, you see?" he asked as he awkwardly patted her shoulder. "He always told me that I was a disgrace to all dragon slayers. It hurt, sure, but in a way, it motivated me … I wanted to prove him that I was better than he believed me to be…"

"My mother will find ways to give me hell," she muttered as she wrapped her arms around her legs. "She's a skilled mage, true, but she isn't all that great. I am sure that Fried would be able to beat her. Anyway, I need to pick up a quest so that I won't meet her again."

"You are crazy, Shrimp," he said before he ruffled her hair. "You got to stand your ground. Don't let her push you around like that, alright? You are stronger than that, aren't you?"

"You haven't met her yet, Gajeel. You cannot judge about this. I haven't met your father either so I cannot judge about this either."

"I wouldn't run away from him."

"You have been searching for him ever since he abandoned him – to kick his dragon ass, of course. It's not like you have any friendly feelings for him or that you are missing him after all," she said with a slight smirk. "Anyway, why should I stay?"

"You can deal with me without trouble after all I've done to you and now you are running from your mother? C'mon, I can stay with you all the time if you need backup…"

"You didn't crush my complete self-confidence back then. Sure, it did hurt but … that was only my body – and you apologised. She never apologised for messing with my mind."

"I never pledged you as a complicate chick Shrimp," he shrugged. "So what if she crushed your self-confidence all those years ago? You are an awesome supporter now…"

"She is beautiful … you can tell me those things now but when she's there, I'd forget them all because she is beautiful and intimidating…"

"Tsk, you don't look all that bad either, Shorty," he sighed as he patted her head. "You are cute – like a baby bird or Lily when he isn't in his combat shape. So don't feel bothered by whatever your mother might say to you. You are great in your own way. Move on."

But she couldn't and neither could he. The words their parents had said so many years ago were still stuck into their minds and no matter how hard they tried to move on, they simply couldn't. They were stuck and in a way, this was more comfortable because it was an easy excuse. They had both someone to put the blame onto – if it wasn't so complicated to lie to themselves, they would have stopped a long time ago.