Hello again! One thing about being sick is that you have lots of time on your hands to do other things, you just don't normally feel like doing them lol Thank God I was in a writing mood yesterday! Hopefully this chapter is a little more stimulating (and longer).
Also! We have pushed into the 60+ followers mark, which makes me super stoked! Thanks everyone!
As always, I do not own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima and I thank him for its use in my own creative expressions *bows*
Gajeel glanced down at his phone and saw it was nearly eight; Laxus should be getting there any minute to relieve him and Natsu. Without telling Cobra what he was doing he opened the truck door and got out. The other man startled awake from the passenger seat where he had been napping as the door slammed shut, Gajeel was already almost across the street when Cobra realized what was happening. He was at the door before Cobra caught up to him.
"Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?" Cobra commented winded slightly and in a dry tone. Gajeel just grunted in response as they walked through the front door, his sensitive ears picking up loud noises as they removed their shoes in the entrance. It was coming from the other side of the house but it didn't sound like the TV, his curiosity was piqued as they made their way to the kitchen. He was surprised when he saw Natsu and the girls sitting around the kitchen table with an in-progress game of Monopoly spread out.
"Arg, how do you keep getting all the lucky rolls?!" Lucy whined to Natsu as she was counting out the brightly colored bills to pay him rent.
"I don't know," the pink-haired man admitted happily with a wide smile. "It just happens."
"It's not fair," she mumbled in reply as she picked up the die. She rolled a five and ended up on a Chance square. "'Go directly to Jail'" she read out. "This is crap!" She moved her shoe pawn to the corner square sourly. Gajeel watched as Levy tried to hide a giggle while picking up the die for her roll, he realized that it was the first time that he had really seen her smile. Her heart shaped face seemed to glow and light brown eyes sparkle, he hadn't noticed before how delicately beautiful she was.
"What is going on here?" Cobra asked and the other three looked up at them startled like they just noticed them in the room.
"Monopoly," Natsu replied. "And I am kicking their asses. Levy, are you gonna roll or what?"
Levy looked away from Cobra and Gajeel and at the dice in her hand like she had forgotten they were there. "Oh, right." She threw the dice and they landed in double ones.
"Ohh… Snake eyes," Cobra remarked. "Some people believe that is a sign of bad luck."
"What do you mean? Its doubles, she gets to roll again," Lucy countered.
"He doesn't mean anything," Gajeel replied before Cobra could speak. A small frown had replaced the smile on Levy's face as she looked down at the die on the game board, Gajeel couldn't explain why that bothered him as much as it did. "Laxus will be here soon and he might have some new information."
"I guess that means the game is over, too bad…" Lucy remarked almost happily as she started to sweep the pieces and extra play cash back into the box.
"Aww," Natsu was the only one who looked a little disappointed. "It was just starting to get interesting." But he helped her collect the little plastic houses and the mortgage cards. Levy was still staring at a spot on the table and seemed to be deep in thought.
Gajeel walked up to her chair and nudged her shoulder with his hip. "Are you ok?" He asked when she turned her head up to look at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered a little too quickly for him to believe her.
She didn't look fine, but he didn't want to pry and make her even more uncomfortable. "Ok," was all he said out loud. Once the game was back in the box and put away Gajeel and Cobra joined the girls around the table while Natsu puttered around the pantry in search of food.
"Does anyone want popcorn?" He asked while pulling a few microwaveable packets out a family size box.
"We just ate not that long ago. You had two PBJ sandwiches, how can you still be hungry?" Lucy asked.
"That was hours ago." Natsu ripped open a packet and put it in the microwave.
"I wouldn't worry about it Lucy, Natsu is a bottomless pit when it comes to food." Laxus sauntered into the kitchen. "Why isn't there anyone watching outside?" He asked, his tone was curious but his face looked annoyed.
"We came inside to wait for you boss," Cobra answered nonchalant. "It was a quiet afternoon, nothing to report," he added. Gajeel and Natsu understood his intent was to not tell Laxus about their incident earlier, for some reason the big man looked bothered and they didn't want to irritate him further.
"I see." Laxus didn't sound convinced, he crossed his arms and surveyed them each in turn until he finally rested on Natsu. The microwave dinged but no one moved to get the popcorn.
"Ladies," Laxus began almost eerily quiet. "I know it's been a long day, but I need to speak to my guys in private…"
"No problem," Levy spoke first as she stood up from the table. "Let's go upstairs," she told Lucy who reluctantly stood up and they left the room.
The silence stretched for another long minute before anyone spoke.
"Did something happen?" Gajeel asked.
"I don't know, why don't you tell me, Natsu?" Laxus continued to frown at the other man.
Natsu looked confused at the question. "Me? What did I do?"
"Think about it," Laxus urged. "What happened today that would have brought Mest and Romeo into the office this afternoon looking for you."
All eyes were on Natsu now and his cheeks darkened in a deep blush. "Well I guess they did call the cops when I was at the salon picking up Lucy…"
"Assault and kidnapping!" Laxus shouted. "What the hell happened?!"
"It wasn't my fault, honest! The asshole went nuts on me; he stabbed me with a pair of scissors!" He held up his hand to show him the bandage. "I had to defend myself."
"If it was like that then why didn't you tell me this afternoon? Instead I was blindsided when the cops came looking for you, and you know Mest, he isn't going to give up until he finds you."
"I'm sorry…" Natsu looked down sheepishly.
"Did either of you know anything about this?" Laxus turned his glare to the two still sitting at the table.
Cobra shook his head. "Um." Gajeel thought back to the scene this afternoon when he and Levy had arrived, he vaguely remembered being told about a fight with Lucy's boss.
"It's my fault Laxus," Natsu cut in before Gajeel could admit anything. "I should have told you about it, I wasn't thinking."
"Ok," Laxus looked at him again; his face had softened just slightly. "But this makes things even more complicated. Until this is over you're staying here, they will be watching your apartment and the office so you have to stay low or it could compromise everything."
Laxus walked over to the microwave and pulled out the bag of popcorn, he opened it and took a handful. "So, now that that is taken care of, Cobra, you take outside watch. Gajeel, come with me." He took another handful of popcorn and then shoved the bag into Natsu's arms before turning towards the living room. Gajeel got up and followed him silently, wondering what was going on now.
"Well, it's a good thing we didn't tell him about the gate," Cobra remarked once he was sure they were out of earshot. Natsu just shrugged and stuffed a handful of popcorn in his mouth.
Laxus threw himself down on one of the couches in the living room and sighed, it had been a long day and wasn't over yet. Gajeel was standing in front of him expectantly, dark and menacing; Laxus could see how he made people uncomfortable with just a look.
"I heard back from my contact in QC. We have a meeting set for tomorrow night, eight o'clock at the Black Dog, the biker bar over on Pine. I'm not going to lie to you, this could be dangerous, and I don't know what we should be expecting."
"I'm in," Gajeel replied without hesitation. "What do you want me to do?"
"Mira is having family supper tomorrow at the house around five; I want you to come and pick up the girls here and bring them there. Then you and I will go to the meet, but don't mention it to the other guys."
"Why not?" Gajeel asked, a little surprised.
"Part of the agreement to meet is that we come alone, unarmed. I don't want the others trying to tag along and getting us all killed in the process, I'm ninety-nine percent sure that we should be ok."
Gajeel raised his eyebrows at him and Laxus shrugged. "Go home Gajeel, get some rest. Tomorrow will be another long day." Gajeel nodded and went back toward the kitchen. Laxus leaned back again and sighed, it could have gone worse with Natsu and he seemed to be telling the truth about it being self-defense. Unfortunately it didn't help anything since he couldn't allow Natsu to go and give his statement because it could jeopardize the murder case so he was stuck. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and groaned, the amount of calls he was getting today he felt like he needed a personal secretary. He looked at the call display and was pleased when he saw who it was.
"Sting," he greeted the caller. "You got my message?"
"Yeah," Sting replied. "If you want to know how the case went-"
"Not right now," Laxus interrupted. ''You can fill me in about that tomorrow. We are kind of in the middle of a crisis right now."
"Oh?" Sting's voice sounded surprised. "We leave for a few days and the whole place falls apart does it?"
Laxus rolled his eyes, although the conceited statement fit with Sting's arrogant personality. "I will fill you in about it tomorrow; come to Gramp's place around nine, you and Rogue."
"Ok boss, I'll play along with the mystery. Tomorrow," he confirmed and then disconnected. Laxus put down his phone. That call should take care of all the urgent business at least for tonight, hopefully there weren't going to be any more surprises.
Lucy and Levy had only made it down the hall before the blonde stopped to listen in on the conversation in the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" Levy whispered anxiously.
"I'm trying to find out what is going on," she whispered back. "You couldn't tell? Laxus was pissed!"
Levy had caught the tense mood in the room which was why she had decided to make a hasty exit. "Yeah, I know. That's why we shouldn't be doing this, he will be even angrier if he finds us listening in…"
"He won't find out if we don't make any noise." Lucy started creeping back down the hall towards the kitchen.
"Lucy, stop!" Levy whispered even more frantically. "They are going to hear you." She followed her until they were just outside of view from the kitchen, neither of them speaking now.
"Assault and kidnapping!" Came Laxus' shout, it was loud enough they probably could have heard it upstairs. "What the hell happened?!" Levy glanced at Lucy and could make out her blush even in the dim light.
"It wasn't my fault, honest! The asshole went nuts on me; he stabbed me with a pair of scissors! I had to defend myself."
"If it was like that then why didn't you tell me this afternoon? Instead I was blindsided when the cops came looking for you, and you know Mest, he isn't going to give up until he finds you."
"Who is Mest?" Lucy whispered to Levy.
"How should I know?" She answered back so quietly that it was almost in-auditable.
"I thought maybe it was another one of these detective guys, you've met them, I haven't," she answered.
"Not all of them," she retorted. "Shhh." She put her finger against her lips signaling Lucy to be quiet.
They heard Natsu apologize and take responsibility which Levy thought was kind of endearing. Then he ordered Cobra outside and Gajeel to come with him.
"Shit!" Lucy looked at Levy. "What if they come down the hallway?!" They heard movement from the kitchen and froze, pressing themselves against the wall to be less visible. Instead of the hallway they must have gone into either the living room or outside, the kitchen was so quiet that the girls wondered if everyone had left.
"So, you punched a hairdresser?" Cobra sounded very amused.
"Shadup," Natsu shot back, but it was slurred like his mouth was full. "And I didn't punch him, I tried to but the weirdo was quick."
"I find that hard to believe… Maybe I should get the real story from Lucy."
"Pfft, like she would tell you anything." Now Natsu was the one who sounded amused.
"I think that she would," Cobra sounded confident. "But we can ask her, Lucy? I know you're standing in the hall."
Lucy squeaked in surprise and Levy thought her heart was going to jump out of her chest.
"What?" Natsu was surprised again. "Her and Levy went upstairs."
"She's been listening to us this whole time. You can come out now."
Lucy crept out of the hallway, obviously trying to think of an excuse to be in the hallway.
"I just came back down to… umm… get my dog. Plue!" She called out. The little dog let out a shrill yip and trotted out from under the kitchen table.
"Now, now." Cobra wiggled his finger at her while lounging in his chair. "It's not nice to lie or to eavesdrop, but I forgive you."
Natsu was leaning against one of the counters, his hand buried in the popcorn bag. "Leave them alone, it wasn't like we were talking about some big secret."
Just then Gajeel walked back into the room from the direction of the living room, he looked at the girls standing sheepishly in the entrance to the hallway and raised his eyebrows. "What's going on?"
"Nothing," Lucy answered quickly. "I just came down to get my dog."
He looked from her over to Natsu. "Popcorn?" The man offered him the bag.
"Naw, I'll see you guys tomorrow." Gajeel turned to leave and Levy felt a pang in her chest. She realized that for the first time since they formally met this morning he wouldn't be around to watch her back and for some reason that bothered her more than it should have.
"If you need me, I'll be at my jeep." Cobra got up and also left the kitchen. Natsu crumpled up the empty popcorn bag and stuffed it in the garbage under the kitchen sink.
"Do you guys want to watch a movie?" He asked them as he opened another packet and put it in the microwave. "Or we could do round two of Monopoly," he added with a smirk.
"No!" Lucy called out. "Um, I mean, a movie sounds good. What do you think Levy?" She turned to her roommate.
"I'm kind of tired; I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." Levy didn't feel like hanging out anymore, she just wanted to be alone for a while. "You guys go ahead; I'm going to go to bed."
"Are you sure?" Lucy frowned at her; she had picked up her dog and was cuddling him against her chest. "I'll come up with you if you want."
"No, it's ok." Levy would feel bad if she made her come upstairs just because she was feeling kind of depressed. "You guys watch a movie, I'll be fine." She gave them a big smile that she didn't feel at all. "Goodnight!" Lucy and Natsu echoed her, Lucy looking at her with a little bit of concern but she didn't say anything else.
Levy went up the stairs to their shared bedroom and changed into her pajamas. She decided to skip her normal bathroom routine and turned off the light before crawling into her bunk bed. It was a surprisingly comfortable, better than she had been expecting and she snuggled into her pillow. She thought about what had happened in the last 24 hours, this time yesterday she had been sleeping in a pile of books on the floor of the shop, not knowing what was going to happen when she woke up.
It felt like much more time had passed and she knew that things probably weren't going to get any better anytime soon. She took a deep breath and tried to let her body relax and forget about everything. As she was drifting off to sleep only one thought still remained in her head, that she was grateful for the dark-haired grouch that had saved her life twice already and probably would again before this was over. With a small smile on her lips Levy drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
Gajeel was surprised when he walked back into the kitchen and saw the girls wearing an expression like they were little kids who had just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "What's going on?" He asked.
"Nothing," the blonde girl was quick to answer. "I just came down to get my dog. Plue!"
Her tone made it seem like she was hiding something but he didn't know if he wanted to know what it was. He glanced in Natsu's direction to see if he if he would tell him what was up. "Popcorn?" Instead he held out the popcorn bag expectantly.
Gajeel thought about it for a second."Naw, I'll see you guys tomorrow." He walked out of the kitchen quickly, making sure not to look at the small blue haired girl or he might not want to leave. H
e heard Cobra say goodbye behind him but he quickly pulled his shoes on and was out the door before the other man could catch up. He didn't really feel like any more smart-ass comments tonight, he was tired and he felt a headache welling up behind his temples, probably from all the stress he had dealt with tonight. He crossed the street to his truck but before he could climb in he heard Cobra behind him.
"Black Steel, wait." The other man called out. Confused and curious, Gajeel waited for him to cross the road.
"I need the radio," Cobra explained once he had caught up and Gajeel cursed himself mentally for forgetting it in his truck.
"Here," he handed Cobra the small box. "Keep it on channel seven, that's the frequency they have it hooked up to in the house."
"Alright." He took the box and ran back across the street to his jeep. Gajeel waited until he knew Cobra was situated before starting up his truck, before he could put it in gear to drive away he heard his phone go off from a text message. He slipped the phone out of his jean pocket and looked at the display, curious about who would be texting him right now. The message itself was only one word:
SPAR?
Gajeel thought about how tired he had felt a few minutes before but reading that message had given him the sudden urge to beat the crap out of something.
GYM IN TEN
He sent back a reply almost as short. This was going to be fun.
Just like Gajeel, why sleep when you can beat someone up? Lol Hopefully the next update will be soon!