Thank you to everyone for their comments so far! I agree that Laxus would be scary the first time you met him, even though it probably wouldn't take a lot to scare Levy right now. This chapter is a little lighter and a little funnier, we also get to know Wendy a little bit better.
As always, I do not own Fairy Tail, it is the property of Hiro Mashima and I thank him for the use of his characters for my own creative expressions *bows*
Gajeel was leaning against his desk with his arms crossed when Laxus came back into the room.
"So, what do you think?" He asked the bigger man.
Laxus sighed and leaned against the door instead of returning to his desk chair. "She knows even less than you do, but I didn't really expect anything else, witnesses are usually unreliable."
"There is something else."
"Oh?"
Gajeel explained how he traced the headband back to the bookstore and the other man that had been asking about the blue haired girl. "The bookstore owner could barely describe the guy, but I have a feeling it's the shooter from last night. Who else could it be, too much of a coincidence to think it's anyone else."
"I agree that it doesn't feel right, we need to assume that he is going to find Levy like you did but luckily you got to her first." Laxus raised a hand to his chin in a gesture of deep thought, "It does give me an idea though."
"What?" Gajeel asked skeptically.
"We know that someone is looking for Levy, but they don't know that we are one step ahead of them."
"So?" Gajeel was growing more suspicious by the minute; it was starting to sound an awful lot like what Cobra had been hinting at earlier.
"They obviously have some reason to be tracking her down, which means they aren't going to stop until they find her, but we can use that to our advantage."
"You want to use an innocent person as bait?" Gajeel couldn't believe that he was hearing this. "Doesn't that go against your cop code of ethics?"
"I'm not a cop anymore," Laxus answered quietly. "And I'm not using anyone as bait. I'm saying that we keep her close and eventually they are going to come to us, Levy needs protection either way."
"When I got to her apartment she was on her way to the police, how are we going to convince her to stay with us."
"As bad as it sounds, we won't give her a choice. This has gone way beyond the case and going to the police isn't an option until we know what we are dealing with." Laxus poked his head out the door again and called Cobra into the room. He stood quietly as they explained the situation, his remaining eye regarding them shrewdly.
"I want you to go back to Levy's place and watch it," Laxus told Cobra after he was finished. "If you see anything suspicious report it back immediately. It's important that we keep the upper hand in this, someone's life is at risk." Cobra nodded and without a word he let himself out of the room.
"So what do we do now?" Gajeel asked.
Laxus sighed. "As much as I hate it, we wait for them to make their move. You said that the shooter was wearing Quarto Cerberus gear last night, are you sure that it was fake?"
Gajeel shook his head. "The jacket looked real enough and the model of motorcycle fit. It was the hit that didn't make sense; if QC were going to kill somebody they wouldn't do it in a public space with that many potential witnesses."
"So you think it was a smokescreen? Make us think that QC has a beef with Zoldeo or Grimoire Heart in order to start some kind of internal criminal war?"
"Maybe… but it still doesn't make sense why they would want to, it can't be about business or territory, none of that stuff overlaps enough for a hit like this."
"That we know of," Laxus was pensive again. "I think it's worth looking into further while we wait for the hitman. I have a contact in QC, hopefully I can catch them in a good mood to set up a meeting and I want you to be there."
Gajeel nodded. "Just let me know when, what do you want me to do for now?"
"I want you to stick with the girl; don't let her out of your sight."
Hearing that made Gajeel grimace. "Me? Why can't she stay here with you?"
"Because she doesn't trust me and you saw her in here just now, she's scared of me."
"She doesn't trust me either!" Gajeel scoffed and crossed his arms stubbornly. "She hit me in the face with her purse and tried to break my ankles when I showed up at her door, no way she trusts me."
"You have to make her trust you," Laxus answered firmly. "She didn't seem that uncomfortable around you to me, use that." Then Laxus smiled. "She needs someone to protect her right now from the big scary bad man; you could be her knight in shining armor."
"Hell no!" Gajeel answered back menacingly. "This girl will not see it that way, trust me, she will just be a complete pain in the ass the entire time."
"Well," Laxus turned and opened the door again, walking out into the outer office. "I'm glad it's your ass and not mine, I have enough pain dealing with you and the other shit heads around here."
Gajeel grunted and followed him out but when he saw that the room was empty he was surprised at the stab of panic he felt in his stomach.
"Where did she go?! You told her to stay here dammit!" He exclaimed angrily, ready to bolt for the back door and track her down again.
"Relax, man," Laxus looked down at his watch. "It's passed noon, Wendy probably just took her next door for lunch."
Gajeel felt his cheeks get slightly warmer with embarrassment. "She still wasn't supposed to leave," he mumbled grumpily.
"Whatever, I'm sure she's fine but look at you being over-concerned about her safety." Laxus wiggled his eyebrows at Gajeel. "And you thought that you wouldn't be able to work with her, I think you want to stay close to her more than you can admit."
Gajeel stiffened and turned towards the back door. "Shut it, are you coming or not?" Laxus laughed behind him and they made their way to the bar for lunch. "Asshole," Gajeel muttered, making sure that it was quiet enough that the other man couldn't hear him this time.
Levy stood beside the closed door nervously, she didn't know what she should do while she waited for Laxus and Gajeel to work out a plan.
"Are you hungry?"
The question took Levy by surprise and she glanced at Wendy before replying. "I'm sorry?"
"Are you hungry?" The younger girl asked again. "It's lunchtime, I usually close the office for an hour and the bar next door makes really good veggie wraps."
At the mention of food Levy's stomach started to growl loudly, she realized then that it had been nearly twenty-four hours since she last ate. I guess a near death experience followed by fearing for your life really takes away an appetite she thought to herself. Now that she was thinking about it, food was the only thing on her mind, Laxus had told her to stick around but going with Wendy should be ok, right?
"I would love to go get some food, I'm starving, thanks." Levy waited while Wendy set her phone on auto-answer and gathered her coat and keys.
As they were made their way over to the front door, Laxus' office opened again and the blond man's head popped out. "Cobra, I need you in here."
Cobra was still seated at the back of the room silently reading something on his cell phone but he stood and made his way over to the private office, giving the girls a wink as he walked by.
"Give Kinana my love and tell her that I'll see her in a while," he told them before disappearing inside.
Wendy smiled and held the door open for Levy, flipping a sign in the window so that it showed 'Closed for Lunch and then locking it.
It was a short walk next door, a flashing neon sign in the big tinted front window told Levy that it was called the Honey Bone Bar and Grill. Inside it was typical older style bar décor, two pool tables in the back, a battered jukebox near the front next to an ATM machine, a scattering of tables in assorted lengths with chairs and a long wooden bar with seven tall bar stools. Levy followed Wendy as she made her way to the bar and climbed up on one of the stools, it took the shorter girl two attempts to get up on the swivel seat but she did it. Levy noticed that the bar was almost empty, maybe the lunch crowd hadn't quite made their way here yet. Wendy reached behind the bar and grabbed a black folder with the bar logo in gold on the cover, she handed it to Levy.
"Have a look, I've pretty much got it memorized." Levy murmured thanks and busied herself by reading the lunch menu. Levy was still browsing when another girl walked out of the bat wing doors on the far side of the bar, she was wearing a golden honey coloured apron embroidered with Honey Bone Bar and Grill across the chest over a black shirt and pants. She was also very pretty, with a heart shaped face and big green eyes that brightened her dark purple hair, cut in waves down to her shoulders with chunky bangs. When she saw them seated at the bar her face broke out in a wide but shy smile.
"Wendy!" She called out, her voice was just as pleasant as her face. "How are you today?"
"I'm good," the younger girl answered. "Levy, this is Cobra's girlfriend, Kinana Cuberos." Levy startled a little that the dark and frightening guy had such a sweet looking girlfriend, but then she felt bad about judging a book so much by his cover.
"Hi!" She extended her hand across the bar. "Levy McGarden, pleased to meet you."
Kinana gave her hand a quick shake before releasing it. "Nice to meet you too, do you work with Erik?" It took Levy a second to figure out that she was talking about Cobra.
"Ah, no," Levy tried to think about what she could say without giving away too much information. "I'm more like a client I guess."
"Levy witnessed a shooting last night with Gajeel and now somebody is trying to kill her," Wendy answered causally, like it was no big deal and happened all the time. Levy's heart constricted in her chest and she glanced at the new girl, expecting horror and surprise.
"Oh," she remarked instead. "That sounds dangerous, did anyone die?"
"That creepy guy with the black hair from Grimoire Heart, Zoldeo." Levy was a little taken back by how normal the conversation sounded, but then again they might be used to this kind of stuff.
"Huh… Well what can I get you today?" Kinana asked.
"Can I get the veggie wrap on brown and the crispy extra spicy curly fries? Pleaaase?"
"Of course you can," Kinana smiled and then scribbled on the waitress pad she had pulled from her apron pocket. "And what about you?" She asked Levy.
"Umm… Can I get the loaded bacon cheeseburger?" Levy felt a little embarrassed by what she was ordering but she was so hungry everything on the menu had made her mouth water.
"Sure," Kinana scribbled it down. "What kind of side do you want with that?"
"Get the curly fries Levy," Wendy cut in excitedly. "They are amazing here."
Might as well, Levy thought to herself. "I'll get those," she told Kinana. The girl nodded and then went back to the kitchen to put their order in. She returned with two large glasses of lemon ice water and then disappeared again to look after her other guests.
"So," Wendy began, taking a sip of her water through the straw. "You work at the bookstore on 14th Street, the one with all the old books right?"
"Yes, I do," Levy answered. "How did you know?"
Wendy looked down at her hands a little sheepishly. "Well, Gajeel showed me the headband that you dropped last night and I recognized it. I don't know if you remember me, but I came in a few times last year and you recommended some books to me."
Levy looked at Wendy again and realized she was right. "You had shorter hair though? And once you were wearing a big blue hat?"
Wendy nodded. "Yep, that was me. The books you sold me by the way were awesome, thanks so much for that."
Levy racked her brain to remember the details of their previous meetings. "You got all those old Nancy Drew paperbacks right?"
"Correct again! You have an awesome memory," Wendy remarked. "I really enjoyed them."
"I'm glad, I didn't know if you would like them," Levy admitted. "I read the whole series when I was in elementary school."
"Well, we didn't have books like that where I grew up so I thought they were pretty neat." The girl smiled. "And I guess now you know why I wanted detective mysteries."
Levy smiled back, Wendy was so easy to talk to. "You didn't have any mystery books growing up?"
"No, we didn't have any kids' books," Wendy explained. "My mom taught me how to read using Victorian novels and philosophy textbooks."
"Oh, so you were homeschooled?" Levy was intrigued.
"Kind of… it's more complicated than that though, I grew up in a closed community. A grow your own food, make your own clothes, live off the land kind of a place."
"You were raised by hippies?!" As soon as she said it Levy knew it was a mistake. "Oh my god, I didn't mean it that way, I'm sorry that was so rude."
But instead of being offended, Wendy was laughing. "It's ok! Really, I get that reaction a lot."
"How long have you lived in Fiore?" Levy asked.
"Since I was seventeen," she answered. "I'll be twenty in a few months, so almost three years now." She added.
"I bet that was a change, I've lived in Magnolia my whole life, I don't even know what it's like to live in another part of the city."
"It sure was," Wendy agreed. "But I don't think Mom wanted me to live there forever anyway. It was a really safe place to grow up in, that's all."
"So, do you live here with your mom now?" Levy asked.
Wendy shook her head. "No, she passed away from an illness when I was seven. I was raised by the rest of the community after that, but they are gone now too."
"Oh," Levy didn't want to ask any more questions. "My parents died in an accident about five years ago, I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thank you," Wendy replied. Before they had a chance to say anything else Kinana came back with two plates heaping with food.
"Here you go guys, enjoy!"
Levy looked at her order and her stomach let off a particularly loud rumble, she grabbed her middle in mortification but Wendy just laughed.
"You should dig in," she urged.
Levy took a curly fry and dipped it in the side of ketchup, Wendy was right, it was delicious. Levy ate her fries slowly, something nagging at her mind as she watched Wendy scarf down her veggie wrap.
"You're a vegetarian!" She finally exclaimed, figuring it out.
Wendy looked up from her wrap just as she was about to take a bite. "Yep, I am."
Levy looked at the giant burger on her plate and felt so guilty. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to offend you by ordering meat."
Wendy waved her hand in response. "Don't worry about it, it's more out of habit and health than ideology, I work with six guys, they eat meat around me all the time. You better eat that monster before it gets cold, if you can fit it in your mouth." She answered with a smirk.
Levy looked down at the burger again, it was a monster but she was determined to eat every last bite. With just a little bit of difficulty she managed to get both her tiny hands around it.
"Maybe it would work better if you cut it in half?" Wendy suggested.
"Nope," Levy replied, determined. "I can do this." She lifted it to her mouth and took a giant bite, Wendy had been right; her mouth didn't fit completely around it either.
"Hello ladies," came the sound of Gajeel's voice from behind her. Levy managed not to choke in surprise, but she did look up at him with wide eyes, the burger still up against her face and her mouth full of beef and bun. To make matters worse she could feel grease from the bacon dripping down her chin and hands, and she was sure either ketchup or barbecue sauce was smeared over her top lip.
"Ohommmph."She was stuck in the point of no return; she either had to eat it quickly or spit it back onto her plate. She set the bitten burger back down as she groped for a napkin, chewing furiously to empty her mouth.
"Just getting some lunch," Wendy answered. Gajeel and Laxus sat next to them, Gajeel on Levy's left side and Laxus on Wendy's right, Kinana appeared again from the kitchen.
"Hi Laxus, Gajeel," she nodded to them. "What would you like?"
"I'll have the usual," Laxus told her. She scribbled it into her pad and then turn to Gajeel expectantly.
To Levy's surprise and horror he pointed down at her plate and said, "I'll have that."
I'm being a little creative with the characters again to fill in some of the blanks, but hopefully it stays as cannon as possible! I thought it would be fun making Caitshelter into a modern "tribal" community, as they did make their own clothes and keep away from others in the original Manga.