A/N: Hey, Guys! Sorry to make you wait! I'm in Hawaii right now. My wedding is in ten days (May 30th), so I'm pretty busy and excited at the same time. Since I don't have work, I might be able to get the next chapter out by next week. We will see. I hope you like this chapter. I tried writing the band performance with the bands Framing Hanley and We are the Ocean in mind. The lead singer of Framing Hanley, Nixon, inspired Natsu's look and voice. Where Liam from We are the Ocean inspired Gajeel's singing voice, and Dan from the same band for Rogue's voice. Look them up on youtube. They are personally my favorite bands of all time (not up there with Metallica and Rush, but close enough).

Song list: Simple Life-Framing Hanley, I Used to be So Much More-We are the Ocean, The Waiting Room-We are the Ocean.

Chapter Five: Soundless

Heavy eyelids fought to stay awake, staring blankly at the bright computer screen. The strangely quiet pediatric wing didn't do much to his tired state. The steady rhythm of a monitor from a neighboring room held a lullaby to his ears, accompanying it with the hiss and hush from the respirator in another. Gajeel shouldn't be this tired. He had nothing going on the night before. No gig, no practice and not even errands to run. He spent the entire day eating Chinese take-out and studied his nursing management books. Or at least tried to at Levy's place. Most of the time, Gajeel was distracted by Levy; watching her grade essays and homework on her laptop. Her pen-stylus duo rested between her tasteful lips while she darted back and forth from tablet to computer. Hardcopies of reports in organized color coded folders were sprawled on the coffee table and the couch cushions. Nowhere for him to make his move to join her. Gajeel woke up this morning on her couch using his thick text book as a blind fold.

Tap, Tap, Thump, Tap, Thump, Tap.

Gajeel opened his eyes and looked up to see Jellal tapping his pen and palm against the white counter. Out of rhythm and out of sync to the background noise. It annoyed Gajeel and he wanted to snatch the expensive pen from his beatless grasp.

"Long night, Gajeel?" He asked, still tapping away against the counter.

"Slept weird." Gajeel groaned. "Can't keep a beat, can you?" Jellal paused his noise and lowered his gaze to his hands.

"No," Jellal put his pen away, sensing the annoyance in Gajeel's eyes. "Sorry. A habit."

"Lay off the juice," He pointed at the silver blue sleek can of Red Bull beside his right hand. "How are you a surgeon with jitter hands?"

"Ah," Jellal laughed. "I'm not a surgeon now. I'm a doctor. When I scrub up, then I am a surgeon."

"That's fucked up." Gajeel shook his head.

"It gets—" Jellal paused when an erratic beeping blared out of one of the rooms. Both Jellal and Gajeel bolted from where they were and sprinted to the room of a recovery patient.

"What's going on?" Jellal asked the nurse who was lowering the inclined patient and setting up a crash cart.

"We have a code blue." The young nurse said to them nervously.

"Hey, code blue ain't a thing. Unless it's really code blue." Gajeel lectured the newly graduated nurse. "BP 104 over 92. Stats are tacky." He looked at the screen again. "Shit, BP 260…he's going v-fib."

"Set up paddles." Jellal ordered her. "Gajeel—"

"Oh yeah," He snapped his gloves on and started doing chest compressions on the teenage boy, who recently recovered from a severe car accident and an operation to his ruptured spleen. "Pressures dropping. Chest is rock hard." He stopped pumping his arms and ripped opened the patient's robe, exposing blotchy purple and yellow skin all over his abdomen. "Jellal…"

"Shit, he's bleeding from somewhere." Jellal stepped back and slammed the red button against the wall. Three nurses came rushing in with masks and rubber gloves. "Inform the OR and Dr. Scarlet to prep for surgery. Gajeel and Elisa will assist. Go!" They scurried away and another came running to Gajeel's side.

"He's going tacky." She informed them. Gajeel reached for the ultrasound and applied the cold gel solution on the boy's body. His eyes went from the monitor to the area around his stitches.

"Spleen is fine." Gajeel studied the greyscale screen. He moved the scanner higher up and towards his side, pausing just beneath the ribs. "There!" A light, almost white, sliver was seen where his liver was located. "Bone fragment from his ribs."

"Possibly traveled to his liver during post-op." Jellal eyed the screen. "We need to get it out. Ativan, one milligram IV push." He said to Gajeel. "Hang Cerebyx one gram." And Gajeel inserted the required syringes into her tube.

With no wasted time, Gajeel and Jellal snapped the metal railings of the gurney and rolled the teenage boy out of his room. In a matter of seconds, a quiet morning turned into purgatory instantly.

Two weeks ago in Akane.

"Lu!" Levy called out to her in a playful chuckle. "You're going to rip my arm off." She laughed once more as the blond guided her through the crowd and towards the front of the stage. Her wrist burned from Lucy's grip, but it was necessary with the crowd packed in like a can of sardines. The air was polluted from the previous band's performance; the smell triggered an awful memory of her first year of college. She pushed Deja vu aside and continued to follow Lucy.

"We have to get a good spot." Lucy nodded her apologies to the people she bumped into. "Here. Right in front of Gajeel."

"Gee, thanks." Levy sighed. She looked over to see the large speakers right beside the stage and another set in between her and the lip. "I think we're too close."

"You have to experience it at least once." Lucy told her. "We can watch from backstage the next time." Levy nodded and averts her attention to the setup, where she could see one of the bands equipment and back up player, Cobra, set up with Sting. From what Lucy told her, Cobra declared he wasn't a member of the band, although the four members of Dragonslayers said differently.

"This is fucking ridiculous!" Cobra shook his head as he set up the center microphone and laced up the pick holder with vibrant red triangles. "Your boyfriend is a fucking drama queen, y'know that Lucy?"

"What did he do now?" She crossed her arms annoyingly and sighed along with Cobra. "Is he complaining about the line up again?" Cobra just pursed his lips and nodded his head towards Sting, who was uncoiling wires to the amps and pedals by the mic stands.

"He wants to do new songs we haven't even rehearsed." Sting explained to them, noticing that Cobra had enough of Natsu's whining, even though he was whining as much as Natsu was. "And Gajeel isn't up for it."

"And neither am I!" Cobra roared. "If he wants to do a song unrehearsed, maybe he should write his own stuff. Rogue, Gajeel and I are sick of his shit!" Levy stared at them in bewilderment. Was it always like this? It should be common for bands to butt heads once and a while, and from what she heard from Lucy, Natsu could be a bit of a handful. She wondered if they would be able to perform properly with them arguing about their songs.

"Cobra," Lucy waved her hand down. "Some of the fans can hear you." Levy looked back and noticed that a few people in the front two rows were whispering and staring at them suspiciously.

"Look," Sting chuckled. "Don't drag Lucy and Levy into this. It's our problem. We'll manage. We always do."

"Yeah, yeah!" Cobra waved his arms in surrender and continued to set up.

"Now, I wonder who's really the drama queen." Sting pointed his thumb at Cobra and winked at the girls.

"I think all of you are a bunch of babies." Lucy laughed. "You guys argue over what toppings you want on your pizza."

"Oh we do that on purpose." Sting grinned. "We complain until Gajeel caves and he buys everyone their own pizza." He winked again, but this time at Levy, and she replied with the shake of her head.

"See? Bunch of babies?" Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," Sting shrugged. "Enjoy the show, Ladies."

They waited for another five minutes until Levy saw Gajeel and the rest of the band standing around the left part of the stage. Gajeel was listening to Rogue and Natsu talk, covering their mouths with their hands to prevent anyone from reading their lips. From the looks of it, the band seemed to come to an understanding as they talk among themselves. Nods from Gajeel, though no initial expression on his chiseled face until Natsu shook his head and grabbed Gajeel's arm. He suddenly pulled away and begun to point his finger at him and say something incoherent, which brought Rogue in between them to stop Natsu getting into his face. Followed by Sting, they settled the matter before it even started.

So much for having the matter solved.

"HELLO, AKANE!" The crowd roared when Natsu and the rest of the band marched on to the awfully small stage. Levy didn't realize how small it was until all four members (and Cobra at the very back of the stage with varies instruments besides the drum kit and sound board) walked on with their instruments. Gajeel had the largest frame and the tallest out of the four, taking up majority of the left side. While Natsu and Rogue settled for center and right stage sparingly. Each of the members, except for Cobra, had microphones propped in front of them. Sting's microphone was positioned to his left next to the silver hi-hat.

"We're the Dragonslayers!" Natsu said into the microphone, threading his fingers through his hair, already damp with sweat. "How are you guys doing tonight?" He stepped away from the microphone and everyone in the room roared in response. Lucy joined them and Levy managed to do the same. "I didn't catch that! How's everyone tonight!?" The audience roared even louder this time and Natsu nodded in approval. "That's what I like to hear! We're glad to be here tonight! Are you guys glad to be here?"

The crowd went crazy again. Levy's exciting gaze went to Gajeel, who was standing on stage in front of her. His dark blue guitar was a beauty compare to Natsu's flaming red with actual fire decals gracing the body. A gloss navy body with a simple black curve design on either side of the six strings and the metal lever. What really caught her eyes was the incredible pearl pattern that lay within the frets of the neck. From where she stood, they almost look like cogs of a machine, intertwining from the base of the fret to the neck and top of the guitar.

"Simple Life," Natsu said into the microphone and once again the crowd went wild. Gajeel nodded towards Sting and then to Rogue before he returned to his mic, where he looked down at Levy and gave one last smile. And this time it was a viciously incriminating smile.

"Call my name and get me out of here!" Both Natsu and Gajeel sang into the microphone as soon as all four of the members began to play exactly at the same time. "The night is young. We could just disappear!" And Rogue and Sting followed with a follow up line.

The ground beneath Levy begun to shake as the sound and bass emitted from the speakers. It fought with the beat of her own heart, compressing her chest with every heavy beat from Sting's drums and chord from each strung by their two guitarist. Not too long ago, those two were fighting like children and now they were playing seamlessly. It was shocking to see that two different people with opposite personalities managed to play and sing perfectly together. Their voices were completely different and yet they harmonize astonishingly well.

"A balance." Levy said, smiling at something Gajeel told her the other night about bands having a particular sound. For the Dragonslayers, their sound was profoundly balanced. More so when the next song presented itself.

"I hear the sound," Gajeel begun to sing by himself with Natsu playing the guitar beside him. "She whispered softly and this is what she said—" And from that alone…

"He has come to take my sins away!" Natsu joined Gajeel at the mic with his voice alongside the rest of the band.

Levy was hypnotized by not just the band, but by Gajeel's voice. Nothing else mattered once she heard his raspy sexy voice reached her soul. It erupted something strange in her chest and she couldn't turn herself away. With every note sung it was intoxicating to hear a quiet and frightening looking man simply pour out these poetic words with harmonic rock to everyone in the building.

"I've failed once again, this is a nightmare that never ends, no it never ends." Gajeel sung into the microphone while Natsu nodded his head with the music, bobbing up and down as he played the chords with Gajeel.

"Take me out someone, take me out so I can reach you!" Levy nearly jumped at the roaring raspy voice of Rogue screaming into his microphone. Surprisingly, Levy could understand what he was saying. "Take me out someone, take me out so I can reach you!" He screamed once again and Gajeel's voice returned to soothe her again.

Balance.

It was frighteningly strange, might considered them soundless with their imperfections simple mask by the other's talents. A cooperation that didn't seem like it'd work, but they managed to make it ardently so with each unique sound they'd contribute. With each passing song, Levy noticed the cohesion of the band was brought on by music. They all love it and they have a passion for it. It showed tonight and Levy got to know them well by just watching them perform. Many questions came across her mind, but right now, Levy should enjoy the show too.

"I lose my hold," Natsu sang. "As all the pieces start to unfold. And now I see, where this started to get away from me."

"Around my neck," Gajeel's rasped into his mic. "Pressure holds its grip so tightly. And I regret everything I said…"

"But, it feels alright." Natsu hissed, turning his body to face slightly towards Gajeel.

"I might as well be dead." Gajeel did the same and now they sang face to face, strumming their guitars. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two as they engaged in their struggling duet.

"I do this every night."

"You can't understand—"

"How hard it is! To be in bad business!" They both articulate each constant with precision, the whole place could hear the spit hitting the microphone and the distress in their voices.

Levy didn't know much about music, but from the reaction of the crowd and the swell in her chest, she knew these guys weren't bad at all.

"Okay, Angela." Levy pulled out a stack of papers and then swiped her fingers on her tablet. "I have early feedback on your report." She spread the red inked scribbled papers across her desk and then set aside her electronic notes on her tablet on top of them. "Everything you are doing so far is great. Structure and analysis were done very well, though your annotations need to be reformatted to APA. Like here—" She paused and point out a specific paper. "You keep going back to MLA and then APA throughout the paper. I made note, of course, so you need to fix it."

Something caught Levy's eye. She quickly glanced over to her door where she saw a strange face peering through the small rectangle window of her classroom door. The frames of her glasses casted off a glare and she pushed them further up the bridge of her nose, making sure who she saw wasn't an illusion.

"Ms. M?" Her student called out to her and then turned to look at what was distracting her teacher. "Who is that?"

"Sorry," Levy smiled and turned back to her student. "Another thing I'd like to point out…"

A few more minutes and Levy dismissed her and she packed her own things to make a pit stop to her office. Gajeel waited against the emerald green lockers beside her classroom door.

"Gajeel!" Levy beamed, stepping forward and plant a kiss on his cheek since he was leaning far down at an angle tall enough for her to be eye level with her. "What are you doing here?"

"I got off work early." Gajeel cocked a grin. "Thought I'd pick you up and start our date early."

"Well, I have to go home first and get ready." Levy smiled wearily. "If that's okay with you."

"Ain't a problem." Gajeel shrugged and push himself from the lockers, following Levy to the English offices.

"How did you get in here anyways?" Levy asked him. "Security doesn't let everybody in."

"Ha," Gajeel snorted. "I told'em that I was from the Army Recruitment Office." He didn't even need to finish his story. The rest was self-explanatory. At least for Levy. She could see Gajeel walking through the metal detectors with not a single beep on him, and showing his military ID to prove he was military personnel.

"Nice," Levy laughed, almost dropping the small stack of folders in her hands.

"Jeez," Gajeel tsked and grabbed the stack and her laptop bag without her permission. "You're gonna get shorter if you keep carrying heavy crap."

"Thanks," Levy didn't even fight it. Her things were already in his possession and she really couldn't complain about it either.

"Yeah," Gajeel exhaled and continued to follow Levy down the hall. Levy didn't realize how empty the halls were. How long had she been conferencing her student? And how did Gajeel find her classroom?

"Oi, Levy!" Jet, her co-worker and best friend, waved them down from the annex, and jogged to meet them halfway. He slowed down once he noticed Gajeel walking beside her and carrying her bag. His eyes did a once over of the giant and turned to Levy. "Happy Friday! I didn't see you at lunch today."

"Oh," Levy thought about what she did during fifth period. "I had a meeting with the Dean about Summer school."

"I see…" Jet forced a smile, and Levy noticed that he was giving glances over at Gajeel. Jet was already dressed for track and field practice, wearing his green sweatpants and gray t-shirt with Magnolia Rams Track and Field decorated in green. He truly looked more like a high school student than an economics teacher. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Ah," Levy laughed awkwardly. "This is Gajeel Redfox. I met him in Akane over spring break."

"Oh yes," Jet held out his hand. "The guitarist. I'm Jet. Levy's friend and co-worker."

"Nice to meet you." Gajeel grabbed his hand and squeezed it firmly in reply.

"Levy spoke of you," Jet nodded. "Less than we would like, but it's good to put a face to a name."

"Likewise," Gajeel nodded and silence loomed over the three of them. A few students walking by stared at them before they scurried away, whispering and giggling to amongst themselves of the nature of their awkwardness. Teenagers. They could smell awkwardness miles away.

"Anyway," Levy coughed, grabbing Gajeel's forearm. "Gajeel is here to pick me up for our dinner tonight."

"Oh cool!" Jet nodded. "Where are you guys going?"

"Somewhere." Gajeel answered with another loom of silence hovered.

"Okay," Jet nodded once again. "Levy, don't forget about the track meet tomorrow before your swim meet. Hurdles have to report in at ten."

"I'll be there." Levy smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Jet turned to Gajeel and said, "It's nice to meet you, Gajeel. You should hang out with us when you have a night free."

"Sure," Gajeel shrugged. "Name the day."

"Alright!" Jet started walking backwards in the opposite direction, his dark brown eyes darting between Levy and Gajeel. "You two have fun!" He waved one last time and turned back around, disappearing around the corner.

"Well," Levy cleared her throat with a sarcastic chuckle. "That wasn't awkward at all." She turned to Gajeel who had his jaw locked up and grinding his teeth audibly. "What?"

"You didn't tell me he wears Adidas?" Gajeel mumbled. It was clear the sweatpants and shoes he wore were Adidas, but Levy didn't understand why it was a big deal.

"I didn't realize it was important. 'Oh Gajeel! Here is my friend Jet! Check out his Adidas gear!'" She mocked. "All our sports apparel is sponsored by Adidas." Levy grinned, daring her to say what Gajeel didn't want her to say. "My running shoes are—"

"Don't you even dare say it, Shrimp." Gajeel growled and continued down the hall. "We're getting you some Nikes."

"But, I like my shoes." Levy pouted, falling in step with him, even though Gajeel had no idea where her office was.

"Yer my girl and I ain't having you running around with stupid Adidas." Gajeel gritted his teeth again, speeding up his pace.

"Your girl?" Levy paused in her tracks, leaving Gajeel a few strides ahead. "Am I really?"

"Ha, what kind of question is that?" Gajeel said, nodding his head to keep moving. "Of course you are. C'mon, we ain't got time."

"Reservations are at six. We have plenty of time." Levy caught up to him. And Gajeel said, "We gotta get you new running shoes first."