So, I'm back.
Commence the REAL Gajeel-Levy interaction now! It's going to get more romantical up in this piece!
I do apologize if the last chapter sounded rushed. I was debating whether to prolong it or not, but decided that the foundation was built up more or less and moved on.
And if you're wondering, the reason I did not include Gajeel screwing up Fairy Tail's building is because I wanted Jose to seem like he knew what would make the Fairies mad. In this story he, "SEES EVERYTHING", and his goal was to pick a fight with Fairy Tail and come out on top. So, since he "SEES EVERYTHING" He jumped right to something that would make the Fairies want to fight. Having him be sort of a stalker is crucial to another part of the story.
And the friendship spam? I tried, man! I did! But I write a lot of comedy, so it's almost impossible for me to write anything inspiring and serious... Sorry about that. I reread it over and over, trying to fix it, but just couldn't think up anything good.
*Recognition for Ulcaasi because your reviews are solid constructive criticism I salute you!
But I really hate it when I have to explain things because that shows I haven't done my job as a writer... DANG IT! But I'll really make an effort to leave no questions asked.
Like I normally say, hope you enjoy the chapter, yadda yadda yadda.
Gajeel stood in front of the open gates of his new school, red eyes fixed straight on it. The poles of the gate stood tall, like metal soldiers standing by to let him pass.
I can't believe I'm doing this.
I must be fuckin' psycho.
The pierced boy rubbed the straps on his backpack anxiously. He was starting to sweat.
Why did I have to choose here, of all damn places, to go to high school? He asked himself.
Gajeel was standing outside of none other than Fairy Tail Academy, his previous school's archenemy. He was a mere centimeter away from Fairy Tail territory. Makarov's words to him had just made sense- and now he was here, 'seeing the path to tomorrow'.
But all he saw now was a big fat problem. He regretted ever listening to that old man's speech. Maybe Quattro Cerberus would have been a better idea, with their "punch first and ask questions later" attitude. But he had already, rather STUPIDLY, enrolled himself in Fairy Tail.
This school had been Phantom's demise. Why?
Maybe it was Makarov.
Maybe it was to repent.
Maybe it just felt right...
Gajeel was damn sure it wasn't the last two. The bloody old man had probably put a hex on him or something!
He still thought that Fairies were blubbering fools. And he didn't really regret hurting one of them at all.
Changing to Fairy Tail was for HIM, not for them. For his future, like Makarov said- the path to tomorrow.
But he was still a Phantom at heart. That was the only thing holding him back.
And he wasn't scared of the pissed-off Fairies coming after him- he was Kurogane Gajeel for god's sake! His deathly iron pipe was lodged firmly in his backpack, and it was easily accessible if some battle hungry students came along looking for more revenge. Who cared what those guys thought anyway, because they were nothing!
The thing that bothered him?
It was a DISGRACE. A HUGE disgrace.
This shit's like dumping your girlfriend, then findin' out she got with another dude better than you. Wait, that's a bad comparison. Damn it all, it's nothin' like that! This is just a pain in the ass!
After all, the Fairies had beat his ass to the ground- that 'Salamander' guy had done a pretty good number on him. His eyes stung just thinking about the pink-haired guy.
Gajeel hissed at the memory. Him, beaten? Preposterous!
The pierced boy was so lost in thought, he was completely oblivious to the time. Currently it was early in the morning, but it wouldn't be for much longer. He had been standing at the gate to Fairy Tail Academy for about 15 minutes. His striped tie felt too tight around his neck, so he absent-mindedly loosened it. The crisp white button-up shirt he was supposed to wear was untucked and rumpled around his muscular torso, and the top button was undone. Gajeel's wild black hair rand down his back, and blew slightly in the wind. Shoving his large hands into his pockets, he began to think.
Should I walk in? No! Once I'm in Fairy territory, I'll officially be a member of this damn school! But I can't stand here forever!
Unaware of how stupid he looked, Gajeel lifted up a foot and let if hover an inch above Fairy Tail's pavement. No matter what Makarov had said to move him, somewhere in the back of his mind, he still thought Fairies were garbage. Stepping on their land as a student was like bathing in toxic waste.
The 'die-hard Phantom' side of Gajeel wanted to spit on the Fairy Tail territory and run to live life out on the streets. But another side of Gajeel, one that had sprouted after listening to Makarov's words, wanted to forget the past and move forward to his new school.
Gajeel's large foot stayed hovering above the ground. He clenched his eyes shut, almost scared of letting his booted foot drop.
What if some damn alarms go off once I step? Shit, I wish I could ditch this dumbass idea and-
"WHOA!"
The wind had suddenly blown strong, and pushed his single foot down into Fairy Territory. Gajeel jolted, and almost got a heart attack from fright. But it was just a step into the school's area.
Shit. He had done it.
No alarms beeped at his entrance. No centurions came to drag him off to prison cells. Nothing happened. The only sound in the air was the quiet whistling of the wind.
Like it was laughing or something.
But the wind jeering at him wasn't the main issue here- he had TOUCHED FAIRY GROUND.
"Guess that means no goin' back," He sighed, "here goes nothin'..."
This whole deal is a mistake! From the moment I stepped on this territory... THIS IS PROBABLY MY WORST MISTAKE EVER! He thought, gritting his teeth. But no matter how hard you wish... mistakes will still stay to haunt you for the rest of your damn life!
Gajeel sighed and slapped himself on the forehead.
And with that, he jumped, fully into Fairy Tail Academy's area, his boots landing on the sandy pavement.
Gajeel crouched a little, looking for any incoming attackers. He didn't really care what the Fairies did to him, but that didn't mean he'd let them walk all over him either. Keeping his hand close to his backpack, he was ready to whip out his iron pipe and defend himself if he had to.
There were no sounds except quiet birds chirping, and the barely audible fluttering of butterfly wings.
Disgusting.
The place was just so calm and happy and clean. Fairy Tail's building was made of white stone and brick, and towered high and noble. Large, crystal-clear, gleaming windows on the academy reflected light from the sun. Green trees lines the paved pathway to its front doors. Other greenery grew around as well. The school also had a grand clock mounted on its front like Phantom Lord, except this one was fully functioning and made of sparkling marble.
...Disgusting?
It just didn't have the exciting and dark edge that Phantom Lord had. THAT was beauty to Gajeel.
He bitterly remembered his first day at his old school. He had defeated the King on that day, and asserted himself as a new leader- it was a pretty damn good first day.
Look at me now, he thought. Dressed in a stuffy uniform, goin' to a prim school like this. PAH!
"OOOOOIIII!" Someone howled from behind him. Gajeel jerked- if surprises like this came one more time, he'd probably die of fright. He whipped out his iron pipe.
"METAL FACE!"
"SALAMANDER GUY?!"
Gajeel's blood-red eyes bugged out. It was none other than that pink-haired dude who had sprayed him with hot sauce a summer ago. Except the guy's eyes burned with hotheaded, silly anger, not serious intent to cause pain.
"What're you doing here, Metal-face?!" He yelled, jabbing a finger at Gajeel. The pierced boy scoffed in response. "I ain't got time to deal with your shit, Salamander." He said, trying to brush the idiot off.
"Wait... You're actually coming here?"
"Ain't that what it looks like?"
"How could Makarov let a jerkface like YOU in?! You hurt our friends!"
Gajeel kept staring at the boy, his eyes unwavering. Inside, he didn't really regret hurting that Levy girl. It had been an effort for Phantom Lord, after all.
"If you're here to annoy me, I'm just gonna leave." Gajeel said.
"OI! Bastard, have you forgotten what you did to Levy?!"
Oh. HER.
Suddenly, the petite blue haired girl's face came to mind. The warm hazel eyes, the kind looking smile, the colorful headbands- he remembered it all.
"Eh?" He asked rather dumbly.
"APOLOGIZE FOR HURTING HER, METAL FACE!" Natsu roared. He shoved his hand into his pocket.
"O-oi!" Gajeel began to sweat at the thought of behind hit with another dose of that hot sauce. "Watch what you're doin' there! I'm armed, ya know!"
The 'Salamander' pulled a round bottle of red liquid from his pants. Gulping, Gajeel started to slowly back away. It was like dealing with a guy that had a gun- back away VERY SLOW, then run like hell about 5 seconds later.
But instead of aiming the bottle at Gajeel, the pink haired boy brought it up to his lips and...
Drank.
He swallowed half the bottle before returning it back to his pocket.
Gajeel wasn't scared anymore- he was totally nauseous.
"Dude. WHAT?!" He yelled, looking at 'Salamander' in disgust. "You chugged half of the goddamn bottle! Aren't ya afraid of burnin' a hole in your tongue?!" He just chuckled in response.
"I like hot stuff. Got a problem, Mr. I-can't-handle-hot-sauce?" The pink haired boy taunted.
"S-shut up! So what if I don't like spicy shit, Salamander?!"
"It ain't Salamander."
Gajeel stopped his ranting, and took a good look at the pink haired boy. His expression had calmed, and it was more neutral than angry. The fire burning in his eyes had disappeared.
"Eh?" The pierced boy just furrowed his studded brows. What did Pinkie want to tell him now?
"It's Natsu. Natsu Dragneel." He said.
"O-okay..." Gajeel said, looking at him uncertainly. He had just shifted from angry to mocking to calm! What was with this guy?!
"Look," Natsu said, staring straight into Gajeel's red eyes, "you're in Fairy Tail now. I don't know why the old man let you in, but he did it for a reason. We're all family here, you know."
"Tch!" The pierced boy said, rolling his eyes. Not more of THIS SHIT!
"Don't take that lightly, metal-head. When we say 'friend', we MEAN 'friend'. We're all gonna have each other's backs, no matter how much we hate each other. So, now that you're a Fairy, I just want you to keep this in mind."
"What?"
"I own ten bottles of hot sauce from Louisiana, and Louisiana don't fuck around with making hot sauce. You backstab ANY OF US, I take them out and GO WILD ON YOUR ASS." Natsu growled. It was enough to make Gajeel sweatdrop- if he couldn't handle regular sauce, how could he handle sauce from LOUISIANA?
But, Gajeel wanted to keep up a manly image. So, he just bared his sharp teeth and growled back.
"You got worse things to worry about, SALAMANDER." He growled back. "I ain't here to cause a fight."
"I hope not." Natsu stared at him hard, still judging on whether letting him stay at Fairy Tail Academy was a good idea or not. He crossed his arms.
"Prove it. Apologize to Levy. But I bet you can't do it- it takes someone without a heart to attack a girl like her."
"Maybe I will." Gajeel said, glaring back. Now this guy was challenging him?
"Nu-uh. You'll probably chicken out."
"I CAN do it, Salamander, you just watch me!"
''Fine. But I still think that you don't have the heart capacity to actually FEEL BAD for hurting an innocent girl."
"I'M GONNA DO IT, SO SHUT UP!"
Silence followed between the two young men. Now Gajeel was mad. This punk was accusing him of being some kind of robot without feelings or something? Gajeel would show him! He'd march right up to that girl and apologize, no sweat.
"She's probably around the outside of the library right now. Go find her, and MAYBE you can prove to us that we can trust you."
"TCH!"
The pierced boy gritted his teeth in irritation. For some reason, he actually wanted to be trusted at this school. His past self might not have cared and just walked away, but right now? Right now, he wanted to SHOW Natsu that he was an ally.
Strange.
"I'm going, Salamander! Watch!" He growled, beginning to walk towards the library. He almost thought he saw a smile on the pink haired boy's lips.
''You go do that!" Natsu yelled to Gajeel's fading figure. "BUT WAIT! ONE MORE THING!"
"Huh?!"
"Stop calling me Salamander, Gajeel!" He yelled.
The way Natsu had said his name just sounded so familiar. Like they had both been friends for life... It was kind of nice. The sound of his own name being spoken warmly by someone else just felt right. At Phantom Lord, people had called him 'Kurogane' and that only. It was a fierce sounding name, but it wasn't really his. Having himself called by his real name was good. But Gajeel shoved these sissy feelings out of his mind, and hollered back, a fanged smirk playing on his lips.
"SUUUURE, SALAMANDER!"
Levy shivered as light wind blew at her bare arms.
It was early in the morning, and she was walking circles around Fairy Tail's library, reading a book. The story was exciting, action packed, and had snippets of romance woven into it. Her novel's hard, glossy cover shone in the sun, and it had the words "MAXIMUM RIDE" printed onto it.
The six main characters of the book were fending off some hybrid wolf-men, side by side. Each punch, each kick, each scream of anger TOGETHER. Oh, and did she mention that these 6 main characters were genetically engineered DNA hybrid kids with WINGS sprouting out of their backs?
Eyes sparkling, Levy turned a page. She was straight-up inhaling this story right now.
Then, the sound of heavy boots squashing grass filled the early morning air. The blue haired girl's ears perked up, but she didn't look up from her book. It was getting too exciting, how could she?
But suddenly, something walked up. She could smell a masculine scent right in front of her.
Levy's hazel eyes traveled up the figure. It was a guy, she assumed, by the size of his feet. He was wearing studded navy boots- odd. The person donned Fairy Tail's uniform, gray slacks and a white dress shirt and striped tie. She noticed that the guy had the top buttons of his shirt unbuttoned, and revealed just a little of his well-muscled chest. Reddening, her eyes continued on their path. The boy's chin was pierced with two shining studs, one right below his cracked lips. Sets of piercings decorated his nose as well. Finally, her eyes met his own.
They were blood-red.
She jolted, her body turning an unpleasant mix of cold and burning hot. Levy's terrible memories of being beat crashed down on her again, after 3 long months of trying to forget. Shivering, she dropped her book.
They were THOSE EYES.
Those eyes associated with pain and fear.
Levy's mind was buzzing in shock, and her back felt like it was on fire. The tips of her fingers turned cold. She felt like the workers in the control panel of her body were shutting all systems OFF.
Mayday! System crash!
All mechanisms down!
Preparing for mind shutdown!
Mayday! Mayday! Houston, do you copy?!
Whoops. It was already too late.
"Oi." He rumbled, trying to get her attention. But she was very pointedly looking away from him.
Levy began to back away from Gajeel, her heart racing at bullet speed. Quickly, she turned around, and ran away.
"HEY!" He yelled after her. But having the shit scared out of you can make you run like hell. The blue haired girl was gone.
Dammit, should I go after her? Gajeel asked himself. I gotta do it!
Quickly, he started to run- but he stepped on something on the floor mid-pace, crushing it under his boot.
"SHIT!" he swore, almost tripping. He looked at the item.
"...Maximum Ride?"
Gajeel raised a studded eyebrow, and picked the thing off the floor. It was a shiny hardcover book with its title printed in simple white letters on the cover. This book was probably what Levy was reading before he had appeared.
...Well...
Guess I should get this back to her.
Soon, the bell rang, signifying the beginning of class. Fairy Tail's bell, unlike Phantom's electrical one, let out a clean, pure peal when struck on the inside. It was almost cleansing, the chime of the bell. Like its sound waves washed away the dirt from the past, and led the path to something new.
It just sounded like ringing in his ears to Gajeel.
He leisurely strolled to his first-period classroom, forgetting that he was sort of a criminal at this school.
"YOU!" Two boys leapt up from their seats and charged at Gajeel. One had violent orange hair pulled back in a ponytail, and the other's black hair drooped above his head like the tail on a fish. The two tried to hit Gajeel with flying punches, but he blocked them both with his palms.
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO HURT LEVY-CHAN!" Fishtail yelled.
Gajeel didn't have anything to say to that. He almost wanted to snarl back, "Yeah, and you can't do shit to change it!"
There was that Phantom Lord part of him that still lingered- it stopped him from feeling any remorse or guilt from attacking that blue haired girl. That had attack had been for his badass school's rise to the top.
The pierced boy looked down at them coldly. He could, he was like THREE INCHES taller than them both. But his lips remained still. He just shoved past the two and sat at an empty desk away from everyone. Fairies in seats across the room whispered and glared at him.
They're scared of me?
No. Angry at me.
Gajeel turned his head towards the window. He'd have to get used to actually studying and doing work now. At Phantom Lord, the education system was shit- you basically sat around smoking all day, or did whatever the hell you wanted while the "teacher" turned a blind eye.
He'd also have to get used to the annoying sun shining in his eyes whenever he looked at the whiteboard or at his work. That sucked.
Plus, Gajeel would have to restrain himself to not strangle every Fairy in this stupid Academy. They were all prissy high-riding kids, thinking they were the "top academy in Magnolia". The glared from them, he could handle. But just seeing them going about their classy top-notch lives like they were the best made him want to whip out his iron pipe and play Fairy golf.
Sighing, Gajeel closed his eyes.
Let them be. I don't care.
And that is it for now!
FFF, maybe?
It's for Favorite, Follow, and Feedback. Choose any you wish!
And if you have any suggestions/questions for the story, don't wait to ask me.
Bye! Take care!