{Hello my amazing GaLe shippers! I hope you amazing peeps enjoy this chapter, and please leave a favorite/follow and comment to show the love!}
-Levy-
For some odd, unknown reason, Levy loved being close to Gajeel. As he flew over the forests and fields, she couldn't help but to imagine that she was in one of her fairy tale books. The bookworm could picture the tower up ahead where the dragon would lock her away forever. That is, until her Prince Charming arrived to defeat the dragon and rescue her.
But something about that idea conflicted little Levy. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't imagine Gajeel as an evil dragon with the desire to capture princesses. For some odd reason, she kept picturing him as the prince instead, but why? Surely he would be horrible enough to do such a thing if they lived in older times.
Maybe it was his food that I ate. I could never get mad at a guy with amazing cooking skills...
"Shrimp, you alright? Yer real quiet right now."
Levy sighed and glanced down at a sleeping Pantherlily in her hold. "I'm just bored. That's all."
"Shrimp! Yer flying in the sky with a dragon and yer bored?!" he asked, giving her a weird look.
She simply giggled. "I've done just about everything by reading. I guess my imagination prevents me from being shocked by reality."
The hybrid didn't reply as he continued to fly across a large forest, the sounds of animals being heard below them. It reminded Levy about the bear that nearly killed her. She never did get to see the creature that saved her. The only thing that she knew about it was the growl that it had. Funny, how similar Gajeel's growl was to...
Wait, did...was it...Gajeel?
"Um...Gajeel?"
"What is it, Shrimp?" he asked.
Levy growled under her breath. "Don't call me that! And I...I need to ask you something."
"Gihi, what is it?" he chuckled out.
"Um...when I was traveling to y'your home, I um...I got attacked. By a bear.." she explained softly.
Gajeel swooped down some once they hit another open field. "Yea? And ya apparently got away since ya here right now! What about it?"
She gulped. "Well, I wouldn't have escaped...alive, if it hadn't been for something. And...it...was it you?"
The hold that Gajeel had on the little woman tightened tremendously, causing Levy to become a little afraid.
"Drop the conversation Shrimp or else I drop you," the hybrid threatened.
Squeaking a little, Levy nodded and remained silent for the rest of their flight.
It must have been him if he's so sensitive about it. But why won't he just admit it?!
And why did she want Gajeel to admit to her that he saved her life? The important thing about the situation was that Levy remained alive. Right?
Right. I'm alive, and that's all that matters.
The trio flew on for another hour, finally reaching what appeared to be a large mansion.
Its windows were framed with both red and green colors, the roof made of red textures. The entirety of the mansion was composed of cream colored bricks. It was an odd looking building, and Levy instantly became even more curious by the minute.
Gajeel dropped the little bookworm on the ground, causing her to fall flat on her face. Blushing, she shot right back up and glared at the dragon.
"Why did you do that?!" she asked with clear irritation in her voice.
He shrugged. "Dunno. We're here aren't we?! So why should I carry you?!"
Shaking her head at him, she froze when she heard a pained groan. Glancing down, she saw Lily still flat on the ground.
I forgot I was carrying him!
Quickly picking the small panther up from off of the ground, Levy held Lily incredibly close to her.
"I'm so sorry! I forgot you sleeping in my hold. So so so sorry!" she cried out, squeezing him ever more tighter.
"Levy...can't...breath!..." he choked out, his voice straining.
Gasping, Levy loosened her grip, but not before the poor exceed passed out.
Gajeel suddenly snatched Lily away from the panicking Levy. "Tch, yer gonna kill my cat at this rate Shrimp!"
Once again, she glared at him, but now with watery eyes. "Don't...call me that, and it was your fault for dropping me like that!"
"Tch, whatever. Let's just go." He walked past and bookworm and towards the rather colorful mansion.
Levy, despite not wanting to be near the idiot, followed him up the steps and to the large double door set. She was about to knock first, but Gajeel beat her to it by rudely banging on the door.
"Oi! Gramps, ya home?!" he yelled out.
The little woman smacked Gajeel's shoulders, obviously annoyed with him. "Gajeel! Don't be so rude!"
"Stop complainin' Shrimp! The old geezer wouldn't hear yer girly knocks!" he yelled back at her.
"Girly?! More like human! Which you obviously aren't!"
"Of course I ain't human, I'm half dragon!"
"Well you could act more like your human side!"
"I ain't gotta listen to you!"
"I think you should listen to me!"
"You both remind me of an old married couple. I didn't know you had a mate, Gajeel?" a new, older voice chuckled out.
Both Levy and Gajeel snapped their heads towards the direction of the voice, both frozen in place.
"Glad to see that I'm not the only one to think that," Lily chimed in, having just awoken from his knock out.
"What?! She ain't my mate!" Gajeel bit out, making sure that his hand was covering Lily's mouth before he said it.
The old man simply chuckled. "I won't argue with you today, Gajeel. Are you here for another quest to do?"
Levy, being very curious, glanced down at the tiny man. "Quest?"
The older man smiled! "My dear, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Makarov Dreyar, an old friend of Gajeel's father. And please refrain from asking my age, my dear. I...suppose that you could say that I am Gajeel's guardian."
"Is that why he calls you Gramps?" she asked.
Gajeel suddenly butted in. "I call him Gramps 'cas he's old an' crazy!"
"Gajeel! Don't be so rude!" Levy warned him as she turned her attention back to Makarov.
"I'm Levy McGarden!" she introduced herself.
He nods, smiling. "Pleased to meet you. Are you a friend of Gajeels? I thought I remember him saying something about never interacting with humans."
"The Shrimp invaded my home and saw me. I wasn't gonna let her tell the village about me," the hybrid grumbled out.
"Then why didn't you kill her like any other trespasser?" the old man asked.
Levy gasped at that statement, but she was too afraid to question it.
"I ain't gonna kill a Shrimp. I'll kill anyone else:human, fairy, whatever, but not a Shrimp."
For some reason, Gajeel's words brought a faint blush upon Levy's cheeks. But why would it?! He had just admitted to killing people before!
"Don't say such things in front of the lady," Makarov scolded Gajeel, causing the dragon slayer to grumble out unneeded comments.
"Just tell me what the quest is old man," Gajeel finally said.
"Such ignorance. Anyways, I received word from the...council, that a very rare and sacred book had been stolen from the kingdom's secret library. Despite the underground library's heavily guarded entrance, a clan of specially talented thieves, who go by the name of "Shadow Gear", had managed to sneak inside and steal the book unseen. I need you to find these thieves and get the book back. I do not care of what you do to the fools who took it, but we need the book back unharmed and even unread," Makarov explained.
Levy tensed at the name "Shadow Gear". She knew that thievery clan well, very well actually. She was once apart of the clan herself, stealing from the innocent and torturing the frightened. It was a stupid decision that she had made, and she was glad that she had a positive change in her heart. She vowed that she would never cross paths with the clan again, the very clan that she founded and led with a corrupted heart.
"But what's so special about the book?!" Gajeel bit out, causing Levy to snap out of her thoughts.
The older man sighed out. "The book is an ancient piece of literature, written by one of the very first dragons to appear on Earth. Inside this book holds knowledge that could make even a dimwit like yourself smarter than anyone in existence. It also contains locked away powers that can be unlocked once more by simply reading the passage aloud. It's quite a fascinating book, but if possessed and used by a man of evil, it could easily bring upon worldly disasters, perhaps the end of the world even."
"If gaining the power is that easy, wouldn't you think that the clan would have had to have read it by now?" Lily pondered.
"Ah, but that's the trick. You see, this book was written by a dragon, a dragon with no knowledge of humans quite yet. Therefore, he had written it in an ancient dragon language known as Ferdahs-Nahn'Duurmict. Only those with the knowledge of such a language could ever possibly read the book. I'm not certain if any of Shadow Gear know the language, but you need to hurry just in case," he explained.
Levy nearly snorted. She wasn't too sure about any of the new comers, but she knew that the clan members she left behind weren't so knowledgeable in the art of knowing various languages. Her right-hand men, Jet and Droy, were highly unteachable with the subject. In fact, there was only one member that could speak various languages, both ancient and familiar ones, and that one person was...
"I actually know the language, Mr. Dreyar," Levy spoke up.
Both Gajeel, Lily, and Makarov froze in place, staring intensely at the short bookworm. It made her rather uncomfortable.
"Um...guys?" she asked hesitantly.
The small older man walked towards Levy, eyeing her curiously. "Levy, my dear. I want you to do something for me."
She nodded. "O'okay."
"Say 'The dragon, the protector of the intelligent one, he who shows no mercy' in Ferdahs-Nahn'Duurmict. Can you do that for me?" he asked.
"Sure. Um...Guiv Dragihndon, guiv andaas ti guv veritallas ceear, veh lohn zeerpihn neh rindahn," she said slowly, each word coming back into memory.
"GAH!" Gajeel suddenly grunted out, falling to his knees.
Levy ran over to him, as if it were an instinct. "Gajeel! What's wrong?"
Instead of answering her, the dragon hybrid snapped his head towards Makarov, who was smiling innocently. "What did you do old man?! Tell me!"
"I only helped you, Gajeel. But before you get too angry with me and walk away, you need to know this: one of my...spies had last seen Shadow Gear heading north, towards the village of Tenrou," he chuckled out, walking away.
"Oi! Get back here and tell me what you did!" Gajeel demanded, slowly standing back onto his feet.
"Like I said, I only helped you, my boy!" the old man yelled back, walking back inside his mansion and shutting the door behind him.
"So, are we going or what?" Lily asked, glancing between Gajeel and Levy.
That was...odd of him.
"I guess we should go ahead and get going, right Gajeel?" she asked him.
"Uh, righ-"
His voice died out as he glanced down at the bookworm, his eyes widening as he began to stare at her. Levy could have sworn that that the scales on his cheeks were tinted pink.
"Um...Gajeel? Are you okay?" the bookworm asked him, her eyes narrowing at his intense staring.
At hearing her voice, he looked away. "Yea, yea I'm fine Shrimp. Come on."
"How many times do I have to tell you to not call me th-AHH!"
He had wrapped his arms around her, jumping into the air and flying off. Lily was also flying, his bird-like wings gliding him around. Levy fought back her scream, knowing there wasn't a use for it.
And yet...there was something new to this flight. Something Levy didn't notice on the way to Makarov's mansion. When she finally did notice, a warm blush coated her cheeks.
Gajeel had his arms wrapped around her securely, as if she were his most valuable prize. And for some odd reason, Levy didn't mind at all.
Oh, what's wrong with me?!