Authors Note: Oh the feels. I hope you guys will like this chapter as much as I do.
I decided to give you all a treat, so it's 4000 words this time, the longest so far!
I hope the ending isn't too rushed, I'm not sure how much I like it. I had to hurry a bit, between wanting to give you guys a chapter today, but also dyeing my hair before we visit my sister-in-law and nephew later. Phew, glad I managed it all.
This was also the last chapter I had in reserve, now I have to write update to update. But don't worry, I still have them planned out somewhat ;)
Happy reading!
Levy woke up to the sounds of yelling. She rubbed her eyes, trying to shake the sleep away before she crawled out of bed and made her way over to the window, opening it after she'd pushed the large curtains aside. Down in the garden, Gajeel and Natsu arguing caused the ruckus and she leaned on her windowsill to listen to their bickering. "Come on Gajeel, I hadn't had a good fight in weeks!" the flame emperor whined and Gajeel just groaned "What's with Gray? I thought you two idiots do nothing but fight!"
"Gray has been on a trip for such a long time and no one else wants to have a real fight!" Levy leaned out a little more and could now see that they were sitting at Gajeels table, eating Breakfast. "Well, I'm no one else too, then. Shut yer trap and let me eat!" Levy giggled at that burst of Emotion, as well as the funny expression, right when Natsu had the next idea to get the iron king to fight with him: "If I just start hitting you, then you have no other choice than to fight back!" Now she had to hold back from laughing out loud, knowing how childishly persistent Natsu could be when he got passionate about something.
"Like hell you are! Ugh, look, I know I can't keep you from trying. So, you let me eat my breakfast in peace and I promise that we'll have a training fight later. Sound good?" The iron king grumbled, but Natsu wasn't quite satisfied with that "Why only later? I'm bored right now!" he whined and dramatically draped hiself over his chair, causing Gajeel, who had already been seething to outright explode at him. "Cut the crap, Natsu! Either you take my deal or you can try fighting the guards when they throw you out of my fucking castle!" Levy startled when Gajeel raised his voice, obviously fed up with the flame emperor. She was also quite surprised at hearing him curse like that. Now she was conviced he held back when he knew she could hear him, so she wondered why he did that. From Lucys description she would have never expected him to be so considerate.
"I wanted to go to the town with Levy today, and now I have to deal with your stupid antics instead! So don't go around fucking annoying me!"
She started to blush at the implication of him specifically mentioning her, but her musings interrupted by someone knocking on her door "Hey Levy, it's me, Lucy! Are you awake? Can I come in?" Levy closed the window and turned around, smoothing her dress out. "Yes, I am, come in!"
Lucy opened the door and poked her head in "What, you're still in your nightgown? Oh come on, Lev! Asking if you are awake was a joke, you know?!" The blonde woman playfully scolded her friend
"I'm sorry, guess the ride yesterday was more exhausting than I thought." The blue-haired girl shrugged.
"Hey, do you have any idea what I should wear? Have a look in my closet, you're the one with the eye for style." Lucy laughed at that and walked over to the big closet, going through Levy's dresses. "So now you're sweet-talking me, huh! Madame de Jardin, mind your manners!"
Levy slipped behind her folding screen, where she pulled the nightgown over her head and slipped into a thin undergarment. Lucy turned around, a long, yellow skirt in her hands and threw it at the screen "Here, where are your blouses? It's really incredible, your closet here is better organized than the one at home and I still can't find anything." She remarked and both women giggled, before Levy slipped into her skirt and came over, nudging Lucy gently with her hip, to move in front of the blonde; and started rummaging through her clothes. She picked a nice blouse and turned around to present it to her friend, who reacted with raised eyebrows. "Dark red with yellow? You also have blue hair, Levy!"
"Yes, I like colours. Besides, everyone will look at you anyway." Levy smiled and Lucy suddenly got a sly smirk on her face "Well, not everyone." She grinned at her friend and only got a puzzled look in response "Huh? What do you mean by that, Lu?"
"Ah, nothing, just my usual silliness. Want me to do your hair?"
They sat down on Levy's bed and Lucy started skillfully braiding the blue strands into a tasteful updo.
"So, I just heard Natsu and Gajeel arguing about fighting, it seems they won't go with us."
"Waaaait a minute, you call him by his name now? What did you guys actually do yesterday?" Lucy asked and pinned the last strand of hair into her creation. Levy turned around and gave her best friend a look "Nothing, he asked and I agreed. As for everything else, I'll tell you later, let's get going, I'm starving. For food and experiences." With that, she stood and grabbed her satchel, walking over to the door, closely followed by Lucy.
The practice grounds of Farkesi Castle were filled with grunts and the hollow sounds of wood hitting wood as the iron king and the flame emperor let their respective swords rain blows on each other. "Hah, I'm winning!" Natsu yelled after he landed a blow to Gajeels shoulder, but his opponent used the position to grab the other man, turn him around and push his knee into his back, making Natsu loose his balance "You sure? I'd have killed you right now."
While stumbing, Natsu threw his sword forward and caught his stumble by simply rolling forward, picking up his sword again, before he stood and turned back to Gajeel.
"We'd have killed each other a few times now." He laughed and blocked the next attack from the iron king, sidestepping him and letting his sword fly at the mane of black hair of his opponent. Gajeel ducked and pushed the handle of his own sword into Natsus stomach.
"Ugh, hey!" the flame emperor yelled and coughed, prompting the iron king to take a few steps back, interrupting the fight to let him recover.
"Alright, we've been at it for some time and half of my skin is probably blue at this point. What do you say to some hand to hand? Another one of your hits and It'll get painful." Gajeel grinned and moved his shoulder while Natsu unceremoniously threw his sword to the side.
"Sure thing, let's go!" he wheezed and Gajeel gave him a look "Man, come on, at least breathe first, I don't have to see your breakfast again. I'll get us some water and bandaging, take it slow." He walked over to Natsus sword, picked it up and brought both of them to the weapon stand.
He walked over to the garden and waved to one of the maids "hey, erm…" he suddenly noticed that he didn't know her name, even though she was Levy's maid and he'd seen her a couple of times before. It felt weird to him now, these people lived in his home worked for him and yet he couldn't even call them by their name? He even told Levy he wanted to treat them as equal people, but how could he do that without a name? By now, the maid had made her way over to him and curtsied "What do you need, your majesty?" she asked and he hesitated for a moment.
"I'm sorry, could you tell me your name?"
She startled and looked at him with wide eyes "It's Mary, your majesty. Did I do something wrong? I'm deeply sorry if I did!"
"Oh no, I was just curious, you mustn't worry! Could you maybe get two jugs of water to the training grounds? Thank you." He smiled and she nodded, still giving him a surprised look "At once, your majesty."
Gajeel returned and rummaged through a box in the armor shed, pulling out some clean strips of fabric and returned to Natsu, who was already lifting one of the jugs to his lips. He threw two of the bandages at him and sat down beside the flame emperor, grabbing his own jug on the way.
"So. You wanted to go with Levy, eh?" Natsu asked with a sly smile and Gajeel shrugged. "Yea, and? What are you getting' at, Salamander?"
Natsu took one look at his friend and grinned broadly.
"Could it be that you like her? Your hair is up, you know. I can see you blushing," he snickered, prompting Gajeel to sigh in defeat and put his head down, letting the rest of his ponytail cover his face. "Congrats, you're number two." He finally murmured and Natsu gave him a puzzled look.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Lily pestered me about this too. Why are you guys on my back like that?" Gajeel groaned and finally looked up, to see Natsu give him a big sunshine grin, typical Natsu fashion, much like Levy but with less darkness behind his eyes that would betray the experience that one had to overcome to achieve this level of carefree. He'd never experienced the pain and hardship he did go through as other people did, simply blinded himself with his own light and accepted what remained. "Well, because we're family!" he simply stated and Gajeel gave him a half-smile.
"You're the smartest dumbass I know."
Natsu, offended by that threw a small stick at the black-haired man. "Oi, I was just nice to you, you Grouch!"
"I know, Natsu, it wasn't meant in a bad way. I just feel weird when I think of her, guess that makes me even more…grouchy." Gajeel admitted and Natsu just shook his head at that.
"To think I'd see the day…Gajeel talking about his feelings. What do you mean with weird, though?" he asked and his friend laid his head back.
"I'm not sure what it is. It feels like…when you stand somewhere high and feel almost like you're falling. Or that moment when you block a hit and can feel your entire body vibrate with the force and you feel like you don't have any weight." Natsu gave him a knowing look and then burst out laughing.
"Oh come on! I talk to you and you laugh!" Gajeel muffed and Natsu tried to stop laughing "Sorry man, It's just that I really know this feeling. I felt the exact same when I started to fall for Lucy. And until then I also only knew how it felt from fighting. When Lucy and I got together I recognized it as being in love."
Gajeels breath started to quicken at the last statement. "Love, huh?" he asked, remembering his thought process in the garden. "Wouldn't go there yet, I've known her for what? Not even three days. But I definitely get along with her and I also feel good around her."
Natsu gave him a smile at that, more serious now, but not less happy.
"Sounds nice. Levy is a great girl; I think she might be a good for you. She's really smart and kind, so your complete opposite," he snickered and Gajeel punched him on the shoulder "You really are a dumbass. Here we are, all emotional having a deep conversation and then you have to ruin it."
Natsu just laughed and stood up, offering Gajeel a hand to pull him up. "Well, we still have some time before the girls get back, you up for it?"
"Hell yeah."
Meanwhile, said girls said nestled away in a quiet corner of a nice tavern in town. Guards made sure that no one came too close or into earshot, so the patrons and occasional townsfolk just threw occasional glances at the two, who at the moment, were deeply engrossed in their conversation.
"So he caught you a fish? Just like that? Sounds kind of weird to me." Lucy remarked and Levy shook her head, quickly chewing the piece of mushroom she'd been eating. "No, no, it was actually very sweet! I tried to catch one of them for research purposes, but they were too fast for me. So he just pulled his shoes off and joined me. Like when Natsu plucked that peach for you! Remember, you told me how amazing it was that the emperor would do something like this for you. I felt the exact same! I mean he's a king and he willingly got his feet wet to help me look at a fish!" she emphasized the word fish and Lucy giggled at the excitement her best friend was showing
"Oh, Levy…you really like him, don't you? Don't try to deny it, you know I have a sixth sense for that!"
Levy felt her chest heating up and she was about to deny everything, but then she looked at Lucy, seeing this knowing look only a friend can have.
"He's so nice and thoughtful. I feel very connected to him and I do like him." Levy finally admitted, to Lucy and herself.
Lucy squealed with happiness and gave the blue-haired maiden a big hug, but as she pulled back, she noticed the sadness on her friends face.
"Oh no, what is it? If he was mean to you, I swear to the ancestors, I will punch him!"
Levy smiled at that. "No, it's not that, promise. I wouldn't call him nice if he did something mean, now would I?"
The blonde woman at her side nodded in agreement and stole one of Levy's mushrooms with her fork "So, why do you look sad when you talk about him?" she asked and put the food in her mouth before Levy could protest, but she seemed to not even take notice.
"I'm afraid, Lu. I mean, I do really like him, but I'm scared of feeling anything more than that," she sighed and nibbled at a slice of potato.
"What do you mean? I mean I can guess that you hint at romantic feelings, but why would you be afraid of that?" Lucy asked and scooted closer to Levy, as to not force her to talk too loudly.
"I mean, look at it logically. We live in entirely different places, almost a week of travel between us. And where would it lead? Spin the hypothetical relationship, I could never even dream of marrying him! I'm a lowborn foreigner, even my status as royal scientist doesn't give me nearly enough status to marry the king of another kingdom, so it would just end badly. That's why I'm afraid. I don't want to hurt myself," the petite woman sighed and let her head hang down.
Lucy gave her a shoulder squeeze and Levy looked up at her again "I think you're overthinking this, Lev. I've not seen you two together all that much, but I think he likes you if you can describe him as nice. He must really make an effort for you, because he is really grumpy to everyone else. And honestly, he's a hardhead, like his people. Natsu explained to me, that the people of Terya don't care much about status or birth, so don't be too scared, alright?" she tried to comfort her friend and Levy even managed a small smile.
"Alright, I promise I won't worry too much. Thanks Lu, you really made me feel better." Lucy smiled at her and gave her another squeeze "You're like my sister, and you can always tell me how you feel. Just let it come naturally. What do you say, get some sweet food and go back when we're finished here?" Levy nodded and they finished their food, Lucy telling her about all of her favourite Teryan sweets.
When the two women entered through the large outside gate, they could already hear labored breathing and grunts, mixed with the occasional yelling. Their guards led them around the main part of the castle onto the training grounds, to the source of the noises. Natsu had just ducked a blow from the iron king and was now trying to swipe his feet out from under him, but underestimated his opponent's weight and only made him stumble. He tried to use that moment of weakness to land a kick, and Gajeel barely managed to block it. He grabbed Natsus foot and turned into him, pushing his elbow into Natsus ribcage. The pink-haired man stumbled back and coughed "Man! What is it with you and my stomach today?" He held his sides and wheezed the air back into his lungs. "Shouldn't keep it open!" Gajeel retorted, and shrugged, rubbing the wrist that had connected with Natsus foot.
At that point, Lucy walked over to them, followed by a blushing Levy, who was cautiously holding a hand in front of her face.
"Gajeel, could you please try to leave my husband intact?" she asked and both men turned towards the newcomers. Lucy reached them and gave Natsu a back rub and a kiss on the cheek, which made him grin brightly. Gajeel meanwhile, was confused as to the behavior of her companion, who was standing a few feet away, still covering her eyes.
"Hey Levy, what is it? Why are you doing that?" he asked and went to collect his and Natsus water jugs from the ground.
"You're both half naked and I'm not sure how appropriate it is to look at half naked kings. Or emperors. Or other people's husbands." She answered, still blushing, still trying to not look at him. Gajeel just laughed and handed Natsu his water "I survived the inappropriateness of seeing your bare ankle, It's fine by me. Quit pro quo." He tried to avoid his thoughts from going to the real quit pro quo factor of him seeing her chest, but ultimately failed. He busied himself with getting off his bandages while Natsu and Lucy also told Levy, that she didn't have to worry.
She let her hand fall back to her side and gasped when she got a look at the men "What did you two do to each other? You look like you fell down a hill made entirely of rocks and fists!" She pfurrowed her brows, seriously worried about the battered states the flame emperor and iron king had gotten themselves into.
"Don't worry Levy, we'll just have some bruises tomorrow. And scrapes. And I'm pretty sure we'll be really sore. But Gajeel doesn't hit that hard." Natsu winked and laughed at the "Oi, Hotstuff, what were you wheezing about just a second ago?" He received from Gajeel. Lucy just shook her head at their banter, but Levy giggled, relieved that they seemed to not feel as bad as they looked. They did look bad though. An idea formed in her head as the four went inside to prepare for dinner.
After dinner, which was filled with good food and conversations about the days' shenanigans, everyone retreated to their rooms. Gajeel sat on his bed and was about to patch up his hand when he noticed a familiar tuft of blue hair outside. He opened the glass door and went out into the garden to join her. She was walking toward the vegetable garden, and Gajeel followed her at a distance. After taking one look at the plant beds in front of her, she shook her head and walked off towards the herb garden. When she reached it, she let a "Aha!" escape her lips and clasped her hands together, before she took a closer look at the plants. Gajeel chuckled and went over to her. He coughed to make his presence known and she jumped before turning around.
"Oh, you startled me!" she exclaimed and took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
"Sorry, didn't mean to. I noticed you were out and was curious as to why." Gajeel explained and gave the herbs in front of them a look as well.
"Well, as head scientist, I was in charge of some rather large medical projects back home. Me and a group of doctors and sometimes writers or illustrators had to do various researches to write books about medicine or look for new ointments. So, I learned quite a bit about herbs and decided to use that knowledge for once."
She bent down and plucked a few large leaves from a plant with pretty, purple blossoms.
"Oh. So you're gonna poison me." Gajeel stated dryly and she laughed "Well yes, why else do you think I joined Lucy and came here. Only for that purpose." She came back up again and held the leaves out, giving Gajeel a look, so he put his hands out and she let her cargo fall into his palms. "Soo. Now where are you…" She went around the flower beds until she suddenly found a cluster of the yellow blossoms she had been looking for and a few of them went into her own hands.
"Uhm, so let's assume that you're not trying to poison me, what are you picking and why?" Gajeel asked and Levy grinned.
"The leaves you're holding are from a plant called knitbone or comfrey. The blossoms I have are known as wolfsbane, their scientific name is arnica. They both can be ground up to create a good ointment against bruises and even sprains can be healed with their help. I want to grind them down to make you and Natsu healing poultices. I know you guys can deal with the pain, but your body would probably appreciate the help to heal all of this stuff" she explained as they made their way back toward the castle.
"That's really nice and thoughtful of you." He remarked and she blushed when she recognized that he used the same words she'd used earlier to describe him. She thanked him and they went to his room, stopping by at the kitchen to fetch a mortar.
Gajeel opened the door to his chambers and let Levy step inside. She marveled at the size of the rooms, his living area alone was almost twice as large as her room, which she also thought of as relatively big. They sat down and Levy started grinding the herbs down in the mortar while they talked. After they were sufficiently ground to a paste she portioned them and wrapped them up in linen cloth.
"Well, I'll get this to Natsu then. You just need to gently rub it over the areas that hurt or have already start bruising, it'll lighten the swelling and relive pain." She stood up and was about to walk to the door when Gajeel held her back.
"Hey, erm. I kinda didn't want to ask you, but I kinda can't ask anyone else right now. If you don't want to, that's fine, too. But could you help me with getting it on the bruises on my back?" He asked and Levy got flustered at his request.
"Oh, eh. You know what, it's fine, I'll help," she decided, remembering Lucy's advice to relax around him. And promptly threw that idea out of the window when he pulled his tunic over his head and her heart just about stopped.
She'd been flustered on the practice grounds, but hadn't really looked at him then. Now, she could see everything close up, every toned inch of his chest and every bunching muscle in his arms. Trying to regain a shred of her composure, she averted her eyes and busied herself with preparing the poultice. Gajeel turned his back to her and pulled his black mane over his shoulder. Levy, albeit still feeling very hot and flustered, looked carefully for any bruises or scrapes.
"Hey, you'll have to tell me what spots hurt, alright?" she warned him and pressed two of her fingers into a dark looking spot. Gajeel hissed and Levy quickly pulled her hand back "I take that as a yes?" she asked and received a nod.
"You don't have to press so hard, y'know." Her patient muffed as Levy applied the herbs to the bruise. "Oh come on, weren't you bragging about feeling no pain earlier?" she teased and felt his back for more injuries. "That was just for Natsu. He doesn't need to know how good he got me. And he won't give that up, either." Gajeel chuckled, before Levy found another spot and he sucked the air in between his teeth. "Sorry!" she exclaimed and treated it.
She'd found everything after a few minutes and Gajeel was about to put his tunic back on when she held him back "Oh, don't put it on yet!" He gave her a curious look, that turned into a sly smirk "What, do you want a show or something?" he teased, grinning and Levy felt her chest heat up.
"What?! No! Also, Inappropriate!" she shook her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest "It's just so you don't wipe off the ointment, you tease!" Gajeel laughed and turned back "Sure thing." He smiled and she gave him a grumpy look.
"I'll get this to Natsu and Lucy, hopefully they're still awake." She stifled a yawn herself and Gajeel chuckled when he noticed her tired look.
"Hopefully you'll stay awake on the way," he remarked and followed her to the door.
"I'll manage. Have a good night." She gave him a tired smile as she went to open the door, but he held it open for her to step out and returned the wish, before she walked out into the corridor. Somehow he doubted that he would be able to get much sleep himself. He could still feel the sensation of her soft touches lingering on his back and it made his head spin, just how much he reacted to her.
/
We'll see just how much more he will react in the future, hehe :P
I'm kinda proud of the fighting scenes in this one, I feel like they could look kinda cool.
I'll have to wrap this up quickly, but I still want to thank my amazing reviewers for motivating me:
Livalibus: They're just a perfect match ;)
finch6: I will, thanks for the review! Keep 'em coming ;D
DragonFlyFriday: Honestly, I'm teasing myself, too. But I do want to keep it realistic. Love your reviews :)
trienniagala: you're...welcome?! I just love how much you love it, makes me feel all fuzzy inside :3
Have an amazing weekend you magnificent people!