HELLO READERS! Thank you so very much for reading this chapter (if you are going to). I also changed a little bit of the second chapter before I uploaded this to make them fit better - BUT it is not a big enough change that you have to read it. :) It is going to be very important with the whole Gajeel-coping with his life thing. Don't worry, though, he's not just going to immediately adjust. He was really tired and kind of not aware of what he was doing last chapter… Anyways, enjoy the read. :-) Oh, and one more thing. Whenever there is italics it is Gajeel thinking. (I think you can tell when this is not true because I might have missed some when I was changing the accented words from italics.)

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL!

-Lichenwing

Black Steel Gajeel

Ch.3

Of Caverns and Changes

Gajeel was surrounded by the shadows. His eyes were useless against the penetrating darkness, and his ears were only met with the muted hum of silence. He struggled to his feet, but they only sunk into the murky ground. His ankles were soon completely covered by a gooey substance. Then his knees. Then the first half of his torso. Gajeel clawed at the ground above him, panic taking over his movements. But, his fingers slipped off of the surface as if he was trying to get a grip on a huge slab of Jell-O.

Breaths came quickly and uneven as Gajeel sunk farther into the floor. Now only his head was above the ground, and it certainly did nothing to help the desperation wreaking havoc on his mind.

The liquified floor inched it's way up to Gajeel's chin, and before he knew what was happening, it had leaked it's way into his mouth.

The stuff tasted like burnt tires and old rags.

He gagged, but only succeeded in allowing more of the burning fluid to pour down his throat. Now he was choking on the stuff, coughing up the vile concoction.

And then it reached his nose.

Huh, it seems I can't breathe, was Gajeel's first thought. Then, I CAN'T BREATHE I CAN'T BREATHE I CAN'T BREATHE! His eyes widened at the lack of oxygen, and soon the phrase was repeating in his head like it was a mantra. Over and over again the words spiraled through his mind, burning as much as the taste in his mouth. As the goo reached over his ears, he began to hear something.

"Why don't you grieve for us, boy? We know you don't. Where is your humanity, boy?" The sound that Gajeel had hoped to never hear again echoed through the muck, sending vibrations throughout his entire body. The voices of his parents. He tried to yell back at the voices to go away, to leave him alone, but the burning fluid blocked the sound. Instead, he just floundered there, waiting for the liquid to cover the rest of his face. Gajeel squeezed his eyes shut as the stuff reached them, fear wrapping him in his grasp and then…

It was all gone.

The panic, the murk, the searing sensation. All of it vanished with no warning.

The only thing that remained was the echo of three words in the back of his head.

Light filtered in through his eyelids, and that was when Gajeel knew it had all been a dream. A horridly realistic dream, but a dream all the same.

He slowly opened his eyes and sat up to take in his surroundings. He was sitting in a cave, which sounds extremely uncomfortable, but this was the opposite. A mattress of moss covered the floor, and Gajeel reached out a hand to touch the plant, marveling at how soft it felt against his palm. The room was surprisingly warm, and every few seconds the boy could feel a gust of warm air on his back. But why was he here? Where were his parents?

Warm air on his back…

Gajeel slowly turned around, and there he was. Metalicana the Iron Dragon. The events of the past day came rushing back to him. A hand flew to his cap, a habit that the boy had picked up a few years back, something he did when nervous. Then, he let out a shuddery breath. His parents were… gone, and replaced with a dragon of all things. Even after a night to soak it in, it was still quite overwhelming. On top of all of that, the same drake didn't know of his Jashi.

But did dragons even believe in such things? Gajeel didn't know, but he hoped they didn't.

He also hoped they didn't eat people… did they? Was that why the dragon had brought him here? For dinner? Gajeel shakily stood up and backed up against one of the walls of the cave. I-I have to get of here…

The dragon in question's eye was peacefully shut, and the low, even breaths that rumbled out of his snout showed that he was probably having a good dream. Did dragons even have dreams?

Lucky reptile, Gajeel thought bitterly. The boy could't remember the last time he had had a good dream. They usually weren't as bad as the one he had just had, though. Why wasn't he grieving? Any other child would be…

And then, suddenly and with no warning, Gajeel was laughing his head off. His parents were DEAD, and he was being raised by a DRAGON! How absurd was that?! He laughed louder. It must be a dream. It must be. It was just too good, too whimsical. He would wake up and be sleeping on his cot once again. Oh, it was too good to happen to him. Or was it too bad? The laughing stopped. Too good, too bad to happen to him, oh why didn't his mind just stop playing tricks on him already?! Gajeel stood up and began to pinch his arm, over and over again, desperately trying to hold onto his fractured, isolated sense of reality. He had never been so confused before in his life…

"Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake UP!" His voice grew from a whisper to a shout. The boy was getting frantic, pupils dilating to the size of pinpricks. "WAKE UP!" He screamed, voice hoarse.

Then there was a weight on his shoulder, and Gajeel whipped around. There was Metalicana, looking worriedly at the boy. He shuddered.

"We need to talk, kid." The dragon said roughly. Yet, his tone had a cautiousness to it, as if he was talking to a wild animal and not a small boy.

"NOT REAL NOT REAL NOT REAL!" Gajeel shrieked, throwing up his hands in front of him, almost as if they could ward off the dragon he so desperately wanted to believe wasn't really there. It was simply too much of a shock to his already fragile terms of reality.

Metalicana stood there for a few moments. It really was shocking, the sudden change in the boy's attitude from yesterday to today. It was almost as if he was a different person…

"NOT REAL!" At the sound of his adoptee's (A/N: IT IS A REAL WORD! I SWEAR!) high-pitched voice, the drake decided to end the hysteria.

"Aw, shut up." He said softly, and when Gajeel didn't calm down, he reached out with one massive paw and tenderly picked up one of his hands between two of his claws. Though he struggled, Metalicana was much stronger than the boy, and the hand was soon being directed towards the drake's mouth. His huge, toothy mouth.

He's going to eat me! The thought forced it's way into Gajeel's chaotic, confused mind. He tugged harder, but to no avail.

Instead, Metalicana pressed the boy's hand to his neck. "You feel that, kid?" He said. Gajeel's eyes widened. The thump of the dragon's heartbeat shivered up his arm. He blinked. Then, painfully slowly, some of the franticness began to drain from his features until Metalicana could no longer smell the sour scent of insanity anywhere on him. But, he was still filled with suspicion. The dragon was beginning to realize this wouldn't be as easy as he had originally thought it to be.

"…real…" Gajeel whispered before heavily sitting down. He sighed, letting his head fall back against the wall, grateful when Metalicana backed up a bit, giving the boy his much-needed distance.

This is actually real… he thought., mind clearing a bit. He was still shaken up, though. It was the first time he had ever gotten so hysterical, so… insane. Who knew what might have happened if the dragon hadn't snapped him out of it. But, I still need to keep my guard up. Metalicana sounded unsure the other night when he said he was lonely… I don't really believe him. Those teeth were so sharp. Oh, why did I go with him at all?!

The truth was that, because of the fatigue pulling at his senses, Gajeel had been completely different than usual yesterday. In truth, he was actually the kind of person who only trusted themselves, and would have probably just ran away from the village, bandits, and dragon had he been feeling like himself. Cowardly, you think? With his upbringing, it was no surprise.

I need to wait for the right time to escape, he thought to himself.

Gajeel was wrenched out of his thoughts when Metalicana spoke. "C'mon kid, I'm gonna give you a tour of the house." His rough voice almost reminded the shaggy-haired boy of the village blacksmith's, filled with an iron conviction along with the rough accent. He nodded, and followed the drake as he walked out through a hole in the all.

But only because I need to know the layout of this place if I ever want to get out…

The ground in the tunnel was stone, barren of plant life, unlike the room he had slept in. It was a roundish circle, with smooth corners and a curving floor. The ceiling was amazingly high, but he guessed it had to be for a dragon the size of the one in front of him now to fit. A little bit farther down, Gajeel could see the traces of another tunnel.

"Well, the cave 'ere we just were was the… bedroom, I guess you'd call it," Metalicana started. "And this is what I call the main hallway. All of the other caves and passages sprout out from this." He continued to walk, and Gajeel had to sprint to keep up with his long strides. By the time they had reached the next room, the boy was panting heavily and his legs were burning.

"You would call this cave the kitchen." The room was smaller than the bedroom, not as rocky as the hallway, but still with less moss than the former. A small spring bubbled in the corner, and there was a pile of iron off-center.

Odd, Gajeel thought.

But not as odd as what he saw next. There was a small section of dirt, and growing out of it was something rather familiar.

"P-potatoes?!" The boy spluttered, not believing his eyes. Just what kind of dragon ate potatoes?!

"I happen to find them refreshing." Metalicana said seriously.

Gajeel kicked the floor with his boot. "D-do you eat people?" He said softly, so softly that if it wasn't for his remarkable hearing, the dragon wouldn't of heard anything at all.

The drake tapped his chin with a claw. "Occasionally, if they've made me mad."

He didn't mean to, he didn't want to, but at this point, Gajeel was shivering on his boots. Metalicana glanced at the boy, immediately noticing his fright, and scoffed.

"I was jokin', boy."

Gajeel wasn't so sure about that… what else could those razor-sharp teeth be for? His mind strained to come up with an answer, and when he couldn't find any, the dread in the pit of his stomach grew.

"Anyway, we'll probably come back here later, so just c'mon already. Stop starin' at the potatoes like one of 'em is your long lost lover." Gajeel blushed; he had been staring at the potatoes when he spaced out, something he was used to doing since there usually weren't any other people with him. But, he quickly caught himself, and the red vanished from his cheeks.

Focus, Gajeel. He told himself.

The dragon strolled out of the cavern, and Gajeel ran to keep up with him. He was not about to let the drake out of his sight.

They passed a room while they walked, one filled to the brim with metal scraps. Once again, that curiousness rose up inside of him. This dragon is weird, he thought, stopping for a few seconds to stare at the iron. But, he had to cut his inspection of the cave short when a voice called to him from another room.

"C'mon, kid! What you waiting for?!"

Shoot.

"Comin'!" He yelled, jogging towards the cavern where he heard the voice come from. Then, abruptly, he stopped. Am I really picking up some of that dragon's accent ALREADY?!

"I'M GETTING OLDER HERE!" The dragon be

llowed, and, Gajeel was ashamed to say, he squeaked and scampered to the cave from where the sound emanated.

Once inside, he stopped, dumbstruck.

This cave was bigger than the other three combined.

It's ceiling was high enough for three Metalicanas to stand on top of one another. The floor was powdered with sand, and pieces of metal were scattered across it.

Again with the metal.

"This," the dragon began, "is the training room."

TA-DAAAAAAAAAA! Third chapter! What did you guys think of Metalicana's rougher talking that I integrated? (And on top of that, Gajeel's new personality?) I don't even know where his panic attack thing came from. *sweat-drops* Sorry… As always, please read and review. XD

Review Replies:

odoole (Guest) — I think this is the longest review I have ever gotten 0.0 I was worried about the reception I would get for making the dragons sort of have personalities from my mind (and the whole Skiadrum/Weisslogia twins thing), but this makes me really happy! :) The whole cursed eye thing kind of came to me when I was watching Naruto. (It only had a little bit to do with the Sharingan I swear! *sweat-drops*) So yeah, thanks a million for this review, seeing it made my day! XP

LateNightShips — FIRST REVIEW! (I think….. is the bottom one first or the top? Wait, never mind, the dates are different) I agree on the fact that there are A LOT of stories about Lucy, and some of them are really repetitive and go against her character, but I really do enjoy most of them! And sometimes some of the really cheesy ones that would never happen… I am so torn between NaLu and Sticy :( (Though I feel that GaLe needs more stories… but that might just because they are my OTP…) Anyway, thank you SOOOO much for writing this! :)