AN: Happy Gajeel day! What a day to return :D

Enjoy!

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Chapter 20 - Contact

The atmosphere in the strategy tent was thick with tension, making Levy feel even more anxious under the scrutinizing gaze of the generals and strategists present. She could feel their eyes on her, assessing her every move and decision. She was already under immense pressure due to the impending danger, and the atmosphere in the tent was only making things worse.

Suddenly, one of the strategists spoke up, breaking the heavy silence in the room. "Your majesty, we have received information that part of the Erkarian army is moving towards the border. They could reach us in about three days at this pace."

4000 men, moving through uneven terrain, meaning their own forces would have to move either towards them or away if they did not want their camp to be overrun. Ambush, Battalia, Coup de Main, Debellatio, Encirclement, Frontal assault. Levys mind was racing, trying to recall any and all snippets of information she'd ever acquired about strategic troop movements, warfare and battle tactics. Guerilla, Interdiction, Melee, Overwatch, Retreat. Anything to keep her mind moving, moving, running away from everything, now that she was thinking about it, she could almost feel her legs move, knew it was only a short way to Shiro. She hated herself for her weakness, this new paranoia that felt so unlike everything she wanted to be and the tingly feeling in her legs growing stronger with every breath-

A warm, firm hand appeared on her back, steadying her. She looked up at whom it belonged to, finding a reassuring smile on Lily's face. He looked around the room, locking eyes with each one of the generals who'd been giving her disapproving looks, holding their gazes steadily until they averted theirs before gently pushing her to stand by the table, next to Gajeel, who was engrossed in a conversation with a young man. Feeling more secure between the two of them, she took a look at the map in front of them. Even though the tent was closed off on most sides with heavy curtains, she could still hear the rumbling of soldiers going about preparations outside like the steady humming of a busy beehive. The men around her were mumbling, discussing the situation and exchanging ideas on possible strategies with one another. The busy beehive outside mixed with the many voices around her, creating a steady rumble like the purring of a content cat.

The map was surprisingly intricate, taking even the surrounding terrain into account. Levy could see some statues in varying sizes, representing each of the various troops. Most of the Teryan troops were represented by a big shield, as part of their kingdom's symbol. Erkar was represented by a ball of black flames on a book, symbolizing their history of strong magic. If she had to guess, Erkars forces would count up to 12,000 and their own should be at around 9.000.

Levy listened intently to the various discussions around the table, trying to soak in as much information as she could. If all troops were deployed, they could easily win in a head-on battle, but this tactic was too obvious and would leave them open to further attacks from the remaining main force. The goal of the moving Erkarian troops was also still unclear, while Erkar was clearly showing aggressive behavior, the troops could be moving to be stationed closer to the border. Trying to counter them with aggressive tactics without knowing the full scope of their capabilities was a risk not worth taking, but only a battle could reveal any hidden tricks.

Finally, one of the strategists spoke up: "If they are heading in our direction, they'd have to go through Helia's pass eventually. We could cut them off there, encircle them, and use the terrain to our advantage. We could even try to close the pass off."

"Not a bad idea, but risky. The pass is close to one of the scouting camps, so facing them in there should be a last resort, not our only option," Lily asserted, ever cautious, courtesy of decades of experience.

"The scouting camp is only 400 men, We could dissolve or relocate it, but if the Erkarian troops are making their way here, Helia might be the only place we can truly overwhelm them."

Now, all eyes went back to Gajeel, who was pondering their options, taking a moment before he spoke.

"How many long-range fighters and mages do we have? Do we have enough destructive spells that could cause a rockslide at the entrance to block it?"

"We have-" the answer was cut off by sudden screams and horns blaring outside of the tent. They cut through the previous tranquility of the buzzing beehive, abruptly pulling Levy back to the reality of what they had been discussing. A military camp, on the verge of a war. Everyone quickly gathered themselves, rushing to the tent entrance, with Lily making sure Levy wouldn't get lost in the group.

After so much time in a dimly lit tent, the light of day was glaringly bright, making her feel uncomfortably exposed. Lifting her hand to her forehead, she shielded her eyes against the sun, trying to ascertain what had happened to cause this panic. Seemingly, the center of action was somewhere in the camp, but it was hard to tell with all of the men running around in different directions. But soon, her eyes adjusted and there was no more mistaking, where the threat was located.

White wings with golden adornments unfurled above the line of tents, casting a wide shadow and creating strong gusts. Levy recognized them immediately, her heart dropping into her stomach with a resounding thud that reverberated in her body.

Oh no.

The sunken feeling in the pit of her stomach that had rooted her to the floor suddenly vanished, as she was jerked backward. Looking up, she once again saw Lily towering over her, but this time there was no reassuring smile, instead his fur stood on end, his eyes wide in shock.

"Come on, Miss Levy, we have to get you to safety!"

His shouting startled her, alerting her to the cacophony of noise around them once again.

"No, I have to go there, can you get me through?"

"It's dangerous, Miss! Gajeel will rip my head off if I bring you there!"

"I'll make sure he doesn't, but I need to go there right now, sorry!"

With that, she slipped out of his grip and started weaving through the crowd, making her way towards where she had seen Rheyvar's wings. She could hear Lily yelling her name, his thundering steps behind her, but years of being small had taught her well to duck into a crowd. As she rounded a corner of tents, she could hear loud voices shouting and Rheyvar's booming voice, growling vague threats with his signature undertone of contempt.

Finally, she reached the previously wide open space now occupied by a growling, hissing dragon who flailed his long tail at anyone coming close. He was surrounded by soldiers, who didn't seem to be able to decide between keeping their distance and addressing the threat. Having arrived just moments before her, Gajeel was still in the middle of assessing the situation, when Rheyvar seemed to spot him. He turned his massive body and before any of the soldiers could react, his muzzle was already in front of Gajeel, puffing up billowing dust clouds with his laboured breathing.

"Found you."

Gajeel was clearly struggling with a reaction to the situation. Levy hadn't seen his new magic power before, but it was unmistakable. The air around him flickered strangely with power and his face looked strained, his mouth twisted into a pained grimace and his eyes shut tightly. He'd joked about growing horns, but now they were actually forming, together with patches of silvery scales on his arms. Levy wondered if she should be afraid and whether the complete absence of fear was a bad sign. She couldn't deny that he did look intimidating, but worry had long since taken over any possible inkling of fear.

"Hello, Dragonblood," Rheyvar growled, before being interrupted by soldiers with spears, who were clearly unhappy about him seemingly threatening their sovereign. "Tsk, can you stop trying to poke me with your little sticks? I can tell you, it has little effect." He flicked his tail angrily at the soldiers and Gajeel, who'd managed to regain control waived them to stand down.

Levy finally managed to squeeze through the crowd, running over to where the two were standing. Rheyvar's large eye flicked to her, acknowledging her presence but his head remained focused on Gajeel.

"Took you a while, tiny human."

"Why did you come here? Even if you don't trust me, you said you could sense what I'm doing," Levy gasped, still slightly out of breath. While he had been wide eyed and horrified when he saw her arrive, now Gajeel seemed confused more than anything.

"Levy, what are ya doing here? And why the hell do ya know the dragon?"

Levy smiled sheepishly, now realizing she probably shouldn't have omitted that part in her earlier explanation.

"He's the acquaintance I told you about. When looking for an exit I found him in a secret cavern under the castle. He brought me here and-" she glanced at the dragon disapprovingly "was supposed to wait for me so all of this wouldn't happen."

Rheyvar snorted condescendingly at her explanation.

"You haven't yet realized that I am not your housepet. I came here for him, not to follow you around."

This caught Gajeel's attention, whose expression had evolved from confused to completely bewildered.

"You were looking for me? Are ya even friendly?" he asked, his irritation causing a slip into his usual, colloquial speech pattern. The noise Rheyvar made in response was a new one to Levy. His massive flanks shook as he actually laughed quietly.

"If I wanted to, I could have set this entire camp ablaze in the blink of an eye. I am most certainly not unfriendly. Now, would you mind removing your entourage? They are rather... distracting and I'd like to have a decent conversation," he grumbled, the previously threatening undertone giving way to a bemused, almost relaxed purr.

Gajeel furrowed his brows in response, clearly far less relaxed than the dragon who'd just nonchalantly told him he could singlehandedly wipe out his troops.

"I'd rather you leave my camp. If ya really just wanna talk, we can do it together, outside."

"Mhm that suits me."

With that, Rheyvar once again unfurled his wings and took off with just a jump. Levy watched him flap his wings once before landing outside of the campgrounds. Even though he'd just jumped instead of using his wings to take off, some tents would probably need to be rebuilt, having lost their fabric from the wind force. With the imminent threat gone, Gajeel waived the soldiers off and turned his attention to Levy once more. He pulled her into his arms, where she immediately snuggled into his shoulder, her heart still beating fast with adrenaline. He hugged her tight, his actions betraying the scolding undertone of his voice:

"Levy, love, what're ya doing here? Running into danger like that, have ya gone crazy?"

"Ah, sorry about making you worry. But I figured I could help resolve this faster, since I know him and all. And I mean, I know he's harmless." She leaned towards his ear, whispering "he's just pretending to be dangerous, but he's actually pretty docile."

Gajeel chuckled at that, kissing the top of her head

"Yer such a cute little spitfire. Since ya know him, wanna come with and talk to him? Maybe he's less grumpy with ya."

Levy giggled, knowing full well that Rheyvar wouldn't be any less grumpy with her, but still agreed to go. Somehow, she felt a tad of responsibility for the dragon, even if she knew how silly it was. More importantly though, she was dying to know what Rheyvar wanted with Gajeel and what he might reveal about him.

/

AN: So. Hi :)

Guess I'm now one of those memes, where the author vanishes for a year, got married, divorced, got ran over, died, came back and moved to another country lol.

Basically, since I uploaded the last chapter, the entire year since has been very full. I had to hustle for University, I got Covid, got my wisdom teeth removed and so much more. And I have my first degree now, a Bachelor of Arts!

In that time, it was hard for me to write, not just time/energy wise, but well, emotionally I guess? I was struggling hard with how I want to bring this story to an end, I was feeling insecure about what I'd written so far and just felt a bit intimidated by the empty page. Also, I got a lot more into drawing around October! If you'd like to check it out, (I drew mostly Gajevy) it's on mavikiu_art on Insta and Mavikiu on Twitter.

Anyways, I switched my writing operation from my laptop to my phone and noticed it's now much less intimidating for me. Also, with my Bachelor done and caught up on all work, I'll actually have a bit more time now, so I hope to bring this story to an end soon and give you another one! I recently had an idea I'd like to explore, it involves Flowers :D Generally, as much as I enjoyed this, I think modern settings fit me a lot more.

I do realize I said these things before, but the following chapters, and the ending are already almost done, so this time I can keep my promise ;P

Livalibus, Rao Hyuga and Dragonfly, plus of course anyone else reading - thanks for sticking by me!! Your support through this whole story means so much to me!

Also, shoutout to smol-warrior on AO3, they recently left reviews on every single chapter, which is what motivated me to go back to writing. Reviews are a writer's lifeblood, they make us so happy!

Anyways, enough rambling. Have a nice day :3