Chapter Thirteen

Lucy woke up to the sound of voices talking animately. She'd heard a roar and came too, concerned that a dragonoid had gotten into the library but since there was no screaming or growls from the Dragis, she'd let herself snuggle back into the blankets. Her hands still tingled a little, but the pain she'd felt when she'd grabbed Wendy was just a memory. She stretched and groaned as her muscles cramped.

"Lucy?" Natsu's growl made her wrinkle her nose. She cracked one eye open and looked at him. In the darkness of the aisle they were in, she could just barely make out his downturned mouth. She pushed up on her elbows.

"I'm thirsty." Her voice was hoarse and her throat felt scratchy. He held out a cup and she took it with one hand and sniffed. Water. She was so grateful. She drank it rapidly, sighing as the water cooled her parched throat.

"Want more?"

"Please?" She asked and he disappeared but quickly returned. She drank the second glass and smiled at him. He cupped her face and pushed her hair out of the way. He was so close she could see the concern etched in his face. "I'm fine. Just tired and thirsty."

"Wendy said you had depleted your energy. What you did was reckless."

"She nearly fell."

"She's fallen before. It's fine."

"She was running out of energy. You heard her. She didn't have the energy to save them all."

"What do you mean?"

"She said she didn't have enough energy to save them all. But she couldn't choose who to let die."

"She never spoke." Natsu said and Lucy's eyes widened. He ran his hands down her throat and over her shoulders and down her arms. She gripped his hands and he squeezed them and she tilted her head.

"But I heard her. She said she had to keep pushing."

"You must have heard her thoughts. It's rare but I've heard of Dragis experiencing Unison Raids in battle; where they merge their life forces and power. But I've never heard of a non-Dragis doing it." He flipped her hands over and stared at her palms. "They're still warm."

"Wendy was really warm. It hurt to touch her." Lucy admitted and he looked up at her.

"Then why didn't you let go?"

"She sounded so distressed at the thought of failing to heal all three…I wanted to help however I could."

"I've said it before, but I'll say it again. You have no sense of self-preservation."

"Thanks for pointing that out." She scrunched her nose at him. She yawned and he pushed her back into the blankets. She shivered as she tried to curl into them. Natsu reclined behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She sighed and rolled over and snuggled into his chest. He growled softly and she smiled softly.

"Reckless human."

"Says the reckless…dragon." She yawned and missed his grin. She fell asleep quickly. Natsu soon drifted off as well.

Gray stepped back out of the aisle and returned to the main group. Laxus and the human female Erza both eyed him. He put his hands in his back pockets and sighed. "They're both out cold. Looks like she's trying to burrow into him for his warmth."

"Lucy started to get cold easily over winter." Levy mumbled more to herself than out loud. She walked over and forced a cup of something into Erza's hand.

"It's hard to maintain your body heat if you don't eat." Erza reminded Levy who nodded and sighed.

"You have mentioned that…that Lucy hasn't eaten but…8 times this month?" Gray tried to recall.

"Well she's eaten a few more times…she said Natsu fed her something and she had a can after getting away from the flyer." Erza reminded him and tilted her head. "So she's eaten at least once a day for maybe 10 days this month."

"That is not enough." Laxus shook his head and all the girls nodded.

"We know…but our food stores were running out. We were having to go deeper into dragonoid and raider territories to try and find food. Our crops weren't enough to feed us all three times a day every day." Cana explained.

"And Lucy refused to let anyone go without food like her." Yukino whispered. "I tried once and she threatened to tie me to my bed and force feed me."

"Why would she demand to be the only one who did not eat?"

"One death by starvation is easier to live with than several." Erza bit out slowly. He inhaled sharply but held his breath and temper before nodding slowly.

"She isn't stupid. She just sees herself as expendable." Levy sniffed and wrapped her arms around herself. "She was alone a lot growing up so she doesn't think she's important like other people."

"We'll work on that." Laxus decided and growled. Levy's lips quirked. He caught it and looked at her. "What?"

"The way you said that…reminded me of Lucy when my first attempt at gardening failed. She said we'd work on it and get it going. It's like you are her big brother."

"Gihihi." Gajeel chuckled and put his hands on his hips. "I could see that. Both are blonde and bossy."

"How about you go patrol the exterior, since I feel like being bossy." Laxus ordered and Gajeel snarled but left without arguing even as everyone else laughed softly. Levy watched him go and looked over at the dark aisle where Lucy was sleeping with Natsu. Something bothering her. She grabbed a bottle of water and chased after Gajeel. Laxus started to open his mouth but Erza cleared her throat.

"Let Levy go. She has a question and if she doesn't ask him, she'll bottle it up until she explodes."

"Humans can explode if they don't ask a specific question?" Sting asked looking horrified.

"It's a figure of speech." Yukino reassured him and he nodded slowly.

"And you, who don't really trust us, are going to let her be alone with Gajeel?"

"She's already proven she can surprise him. I think she'll be fine." Erza shrugged and Cana tittered behind her.

"Ga…Gajeel!" Levy whisper-shouted at the large back stalking away. He froze and slowly turned around. She hurried over, making sure to keep an eye on the surroundings. She held out the bottle of water. He eyed it and she rolled her eyes before unscrewing the cap and taking a sip. He took it and drank half of it. He held it back out and she closed the cap.

"Whatcha following me for?"

"I had a question and I think you're the only one who would answer me honestly."

"Oh really? And what is your question?"

"Did Natsu put a claim on Lucy?" Gajeel stumbled over a discarded bicycle rack that had been covered with creeping weeds. He jumped back up and looked at her, his hands on his hips.

"What now?"

"Did he put a claim on her? When you offered her a suit upgrade his reaction was both visceral and territorial. And he's always draped over her, and kind of nurturing. But like…possessively so. Is it like some sort of Dragis mating ritual or something?"

"How did ya figure that out?"

"So it is?" Her eyes widened and her mouth opened. "Oh…oh…hmmmm."

Levy turned away from him and set the water bottle down and started walking up and down the front steps, pressing her forefingers together and apart as she thought. She knew if Lucy had any idea she'd been claimed; she would have either put up a fight or told Levy. Which meant she had no idea. She didn't think her friend would like that. She looked at Gajeel who was looking at her with a hard to read expression.

"Is it…forbidden?"

"What?"

"The claim he put on her? Since she isn't a Dragis too? I don't know the courtship rules of your planet. I don't want Lucy getting attacked because someone didn't like the he'd claimed her. Especially as I don't think she understands he's done it."

"Slow down." Gajeel put his hands on her shoulders and she dropped her hands and looked up at him. "Walk with me and I'll explain."

"Okay." Levy nodded slowly and looked up at him trustingly. He dropped his hands and turned to head down the stairs. She followed and grabbed the water bottle and looked around them as they walked in silence for a few yards.

"Natsu is an idiot." Gajeel said and Levy jerked her head towards him quickly. "He runs more on instinct than anything. But, he's also lucky because his instincts are rarely wrong. But this time, I think that he is running into trouble."

"Why?"

"Because, as you said, your friend is human. She doesn't understand how massive the universe is. Our culture…what's left of it."

"What's left of it?" Levy asked and Gajeel sighed and sank down on a crumbling ledge. He reached over, grabbed her waist and hoisted her up onto the ledge beside him. She elbowed him but didn't shout at him.

"Our planet…Edolas…it's gone."

"Go…gone?" Levy asked and watched as the intimidating male beside her exhaled slowly.

"Edolas was destroyed by Mard Geer, the one who controls the Draconics and has been traveling through the known universes unleashing them on the innocent worlds. Our world is just one of many that were destroyed."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She said and wrapped her arms around him. He tensed for a moment before relaxing and patting her forearms. "That's just horrible. How many Dragis survived?"

"Around a hundred."

"Only…a hundred? From an entire planet?"

"We were one of the lucky worlds. So many were destroyed with no survivors." Gajeel was looking out at the dejected city blocks around them. In the silence between them, he could hear the bugs and the slithering of a legless dragon from this world. Even when the humans were run out, life survived on this world. He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. "Most of us were off world, helping the Guide Alliance train the next generation of mages to go out and try and end Mard Geer's reign of chaos."

"How did…you all find out?" She asked and looked up at him. His expression taunt.

"We were already traveling home, having completed our training. Gramps got the transmission and pulled us to the bridge and connected to the other ships with Dragis on them…and read the transmission. We got back to Edolas and the survivors we found…they didn't survive. Wendy tried, but she was too young and it nearly killed her. Natsu was the one that stepped up and stopped her; kinda like blondie did. If he wasn't a fire Dragis it would have killed him."

"Poor Wendy." Levy sniffed to keep from crying. She looked around and then leaned against him. He stiffened but she didn't react. "That's also why Natsu was horrified by Lucy's actions. He knew first hand how bad it hurt."

"Yes…and he didn't hold on as long."

"Hopefully Natsu isn't feeling emasculated by that."

"E…what?"

"Emasculated. It means being made to feel like less of a male."

"He's probably taking it as a challenge." Gajeel chortled then sobered. "He's the most reckless member of our squad. He was put on this squad so Laxus could control him—as much as any Dragis can be controlled. Three solar trips ago…he went off script. His last report was of a small heat signature making an unusual path on his radar. He stopped responding to our calls. We couldn't find him. Then suddenly he appeared at our base camp."

"Uh oh." Levy swallowed and looked around in embarrassment. Then she leapt down to the ground and started to walk. He followed.

"As Laxus was threatening to strip him of his scales; he had marched up to our main connection hub to the Guild Station and uploaded the entirety of your language he'd collected. He turned around and started explaining how a band of human females were…surviving and growing plants and…fearless in the face of danger. For the first time since he left Edolas in its ruins…he wasn't the same reckless idiot. There was a change in him."

"You make it sound like we're badasses."

"You all are." Gajeel said and pulled her around the corner, having to help her climb over some fallen rubble from a building that had once stood across the street but had been knocked over at some point in time. "Most worlds fall and there are no survivors in a…twelfth of the time you all have made it to now. Or they are wiped out sooner. One planet fell in five solar trips of this planet."

"Oh." She looked up at him and felt her face heat up. He tapped her shoulder and motioned for her to keep walking.

"What was more for the Lava Lizard, was how he told us about her."

"What do you mean, told you all about Lucy?"

"As he had explained to us that this…small, frail female had not only made it a long distance—from outside his radar's range to where he'd found her; to how he had watched her realize her fate and made her decision…"

"Huh?" Levy asked and tilted her head.

"His first few moments of watching her off screen; a Shadowcrawler Dragonic had latched onto her leg and was pulling her down off of the roof of the building she was trying to climb. He said when she realized it was going to take her down; she set her jaw and pushed away from the building; probably intending to take it into the alley where the other Draconics below would fight it for her."

"I'mma kill her." Levy turned around and started stalking down the sidewalk. Gajeel stopped and stared after her for a split second before realization hit. He caught up to her and picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and turned back the way they had been walking. When they got back to where they had been, signified but the water bottle she had dropped in her rage; he set her down and put his hands on her shoulders.

"He saved her."

"I'm still gonna kill her. She tried to kill herself."

"No." He argued and put his thumb over her lips when she started to rebut. "She tried to take out as many with her as she could. It's an honorable passing for any warrior. And Natsu caught her. He pulled her back and got the Draconic off of her. When he turned to try and calm her down; the Draconic got behind him. She saved him; and kicked it off of the ledge."

"Her kicks are pretty dangerous." Levy conceded.

"We all noticed his retelling was…different for him. He was animated and…"

"Captivated?"

"Maybe." Gajeel shrugged and leaned against the side of the library and looked up the brightening sky. It was nearly morning. "But he also explained that he had given her his Scalut and…Gray nearly froze him."

"Why?"

"Scaluts are made from scales."

"We saw when she was fighting the Raiders." Levy said and Gajeel flexed, scales rippling along his bicep and down his forearm.

"But not just any scales. They are made from Dragis scales. We shed them when we're young and transitioning from younglings to mature Dragis. Our elders would weave them into cloth and then the cloth would be made into suits."

"So…all of you have these suits?"

"All but Wendy. She has her fallen scales…but the elders who knew how to weave them…"

"No." Levy bit her bottom lip and wiped at her eyes.

"She is determined to learn on her own how to do it. She is determined." Gajeel held the water bottle out to her and she drank some.

"Do you all wear the suits?"

"No. Gihihi." Levy watched as he shook his head ruefully. "They aren't for us."

"Then who are they for?"

"For our growlkins."

"There isn't a translation for that." Levy said and shook her head.

"Growlkins are…the keepers of our…hearts."

"Soulmate." Gajeel tilted his head and Levy smiled wishfully then sighed heavily. "Soulmates are the ones we meet who we love with everything we have; who…complete us in a way that we aren't alone. The other half of our soul."

"Soulmate." He tested the word and chuffed. "It's as close as I think we can get."

"So…the fact Lucy is wearing his…"

"He believes she is his growlkin….his soulmate. He understood one word; friends and the way she kept saying it. He knew she was on a mission to get back to you all. She was a fighter. She was brave and reckless."

"The other half of him." Levy connected the dots and Gajeel nodded. "So Gray does not approve?"

"Giving out the Scaluts is not supposed to be a hasty decision. Even with as reckless as he is; Natsu should have given it more thought. Once a Scalut becomes attuned to a wearer…it will never fit another. So…"

"So if she…rejects him his true Growlkin wouldn't be able to wear it."

"And no other Dragis would know instantly they were claimed. They could be kidnapped for a forced mating; or…"

"You all kidnap and force matings?"

"Not for many grousleks." Gajeel shook his head.

"That's good to know." Levy wrinkled her nose.

"Come on…We've been out here too long. You should get some sleep."

"I slept after we got here."

"Yer lying. I can smell your exhaustion as well as see it."

"Shut up stupid Gajeel." Levy stalked off for the door. Gajeel followed behind and made sure she got inside before he closed the door and riveted it shut and started another patrol.