Chapter Thirty-Three: Beginning Again
Using Carina, Puppis, Vela, and Pyxis in Argo form Gajeel and I made it to Oak Town in no time. Looking around I could see the damage from the war and the repairs they were doing. Bits and pieces reminded me of my first time here. It was a bittersweet moment for Gajeel and I, as this town was where our own personal adventure first began. As we were making our way through town suddenly Gajeel stopped and spoke.
"Bunny, how could you forgive me?"
Turning to him at first I didn't understand what he was on about, it wasn't until I realised he was looking around the town with shame that I realised he meant from before. As I was about to answer it seemed he couldn't wait.
"I tried to kill yeh, honestly tried to kill yeh. If Salamander hadn't turned up when he did I would da killed yeh. Squirt she told me, she knew I was changed that she saw it when I took that attacked from Spark-plug. But you. you been smiling at me since ya saw me again. How Bunny?"
I could see that this had been praying on his mind, all of a sudden it occurred to me that he must have been doubting my feelings since he joined the guild. Letting out a little sigh I reached out and grasped him by the arms forcing him to face me and ignoring the people moving past us on the street. I had to make sure he heard me.
"Gaj everyone has a past and sometimes they make decisions that they are not proud of. Do you think you are the only one who has done things they are ashamed of; even I have things that I wish I could take back. The man who stands before me today is not the man who stood before me then. Life's choices can make or break you; you chose to start fresh at FairyTail and since then you have been my friend. You never needed to ask for forgiveness as you already had it the moment you said yes to Master Markorov's offer for a second chance. That told me all I needed to know."
Pulling him closer I hugged him, trying to get him to see that I believed wholeheartedly in what I just said. I finally felt him respond, pulling me in and trapping me in his embrace I relaxed and felt him respond in kind. Suddenly the thought appeared, that a relationship between us really shouldn't work; they have so many things going against them from the start, their history, their previous relationships, let alone what the reaction of the other guild mates would be. I was so busy thinking about the problems of a relationship that I almost missed the fact that I wanted an actual relationship with him. Holding him close I finally acknowledged what my heart had been trying to tell me for a while, I had fallen for Gajeel trouble and all.
Pushing my emotional needs aside for now when Gajeel let go I smiled at him and let him ruffle my hair knowing he needed to get back on track. Motioning to the street we continued walking getting ready to start our search of the village. Still holding to my routine even with Gajeel along I headed towards the city hall hoping they would have some information before I went looking for the magic shop or library. Having struck out at the Hall I was coming out of the magic shop after a conversation about keys when I barely dodged in time to avoid having my head cut off.
Jerking into a battle stance I readied my whip as three men tried to surround me. A quick look left told me Gajeel had his own problems as he was surrounded by five other mages. When the man in front wiped his hand back and forward I rolled out of the way as a small fireball flew from his hand to where I had just been. Giving no time to rest the man on my left brought out two long chains that he started flicking through the air trying to hit me and wrap me up.
Cartwheeling back and to the right to give myself room, by the time my feet hit the floor of the second spin I was already in Aquarius stardress and tossing a condensed water bomb towards the fire mage. Now in position spinning in a downward swipe kick I knocked the third man down before he could bring what I now saw was a magic sword to bear. Continuing the spin, I flipped and slammed my right heal on the sword wizard's head, making sure he stayed down.
Shooting another water bomb at the fire mage who looked like he was trying to make a comeback, I felt one of the second assailant's chains finally take hold. Not stopping to think I switched stardress as I planted my feet and as I felt Taurus' strength fill me I heaved and smashed the second guy on top of the third man. Still in fight mode I took several seconds to recognise the GhiGhi sound I could hear coming from behind me. Looking back I saw Gaj sat on top of a pile of mages just watching my fight.
Looking round I quickly counted all known assailants and realised the attack was over. Finally taking a breath, a quick check of me saw minor fire damage to the edge of my coat and scuff marks where the chain caught. All in all I was less injured than I thought I would be. Shaking off the thought a simple mental call had Virgo out and tying the bad guys up. As she was moving my pile over to Gajeel's pile I noticed an odd marking on one of the men's arms. Getting closer the moment I saw what the tattoo was I couldn't help calling out.
"Gajeel come quick!"
Looking over at where he last was I saw Gaj had wandered off and was just now coming around the side of the building. Moving back towards me Gajeel spoke before I could.
"Bunny what's the number of the Mayor of this place. They changed it since I was last here. Stupid idiots how's anyone supposed to call the Knights if they don't…"
By that point Gajeel had arrived at my side and saw what exactly I was pointing at: the Phantom Lord Guild symbol. Shocked into silence Gajeel simply stood there staring at the blast from the past. I myself was weirded out and didn't know what to do, I knew Phantom Lord was disbanded and there shouldn't be any mages with that symbol left. Realising something was going on in town it didn't take us long to decide to put on hold the search for the old man and instead track the mages trail back to where they came from.
"Pyxis come on out I need a hand with something."
The moment the little penguin appeared I smiled and thanked him for coming out again after getting myself and Gajeel to Oak Town early in the day. Pointing at the down mages that Virgo was still tying up I turned back to him and spoke out loud my question.
"Pyxis you said that now I have your sister keys that your abilities would start to expand I was wondering if you could get a magic reading off the wizards and give us a starting direction of their most common point of origin."
Seeing him frown at first I was about to tell him to forget the idea when he waddled over to the pile of bad guys and waved his wings about and started humming. A few seconds later he brightens up and spun to face me and smiled as he answered.
"Peku peku."
Seeing him fade back home I turned to Gaj and pointed South to what we could see looked like a warehouse district.
"Pyxis said that most of the mages there, at one point or another today were all in that direction. And that he thinks that there are other mages all congregating in the same general area."
Nodding he moved over to the pile and took a quick whiff. At first I was slightly confused it was only when he closed his eyes and started walking in the same direction Pyxis pointed that I remembered what my partner was 'Dragonslayer'. Keeping up after asking Virgo to drop the bad guys off at the Mayor's office as I didn't know where the nearest Ruin Knights were stationed. I quickly caught up to Gajeel and made sure I was ready for anything that hit us.
It took the both of us close to half an hour to find what we thought was the right warehouse after watching it for ten minutes we had noticed a pattern of shady individuals coming and going. I was about to recommend sending for backup as we didn't know how many were actually inside when Gajeel caught a whiff of something and froze. Before I could ask him what was wrong he took off like a shot and headed right for what we figured was the front door.
Sighing at Dragonslayer recklessness, I hurried to catch up and barely made it to the door when I heard a mighty crash come from inside. Stardressing into Virgo's form as I run through the door I automatically dodge to the left and take out anything I see moving. Which lucky for me were two men running for the door to escape, and by the look of the marks on their arm and chest, guild members. Not wasting time Capricorn and Leo were next on the battle list and the three of us got to work.
It was only after my sixth opponent that I thought to look around. Spying Gajeel tearing up the place in the far right corner I almost took no notice of who he was fighting when I saw a bunch of people tied up in cages hanging from the ceiling. When the call went out to 'grab a hostage' I knew I had to take the caged people out of the equation. Thinking fast I switched to Cancer form flashed above each of the cages cutting the ropes holding them. Before the other guild members could see what I was doing I had Capricorn round them all up into one corner and called out Scutum to shield them.
Now that they were covered I finally had a chance to acknowledge who it was that Gajeel was battling so hard: Aria of the Heavens, the leader of the debunked Element Four. Knowing that even Gajeel would find this a hard fight I quickly sent back Capricorn and let Leo stay out under his own power. Hoping she had had enough time to replenish her magic I called out to Vela to help him keep Aria's most powerful attacks from having any effect. With that taken care of I quickly checked to see how many people are left standing. Still seeing quite a few guild members ready to attack I realised I needed a wide area attack to thin the herd.
"Scorpio, 'Sand Storm Battalion'."
As he arrived I quickly ducked and grabbed one of the support beams knowing what was coming. A sand storm that filled the warehouse appeared and blew pretty much everyone off their feet and into the nearest hard object, in most cases that was a very thick wall. When the coast was clear and I could see again I realised I had knocked out most of the remaining thugs. I was about to pat myself on the back when an awful feeling hit me. Without even turning I had Horologium's key in my hand and a scream on my lips.
"Emergency mode activate!"
Spinning in place I prayed I had been in time. As the light appeared across the room over where Gajeel and Vela were fighting, I heard the end of the spell I dreaded.
"Metsu."
Aria's drain spell that had almost killed Master Makarov during the Phantom War had finished being cast. Not waiting and feeling a rise in anger like no other I transformed mid run and arrived in front of Aria in Aquarius form and the words already spoken.
"Aqua Metria."
As the very ground he stood on encased him in solid rock. I put every feeling I had into the spell, forcing the rock to harden and change. By the time I let go of the magic Aria was a living statue made out of diamond. Breathing hard after all that magic and the adrenalin I barely heard the sounds of a swish behind me.
"Iron Dragon Demon Sword."
Finally getting the energy to turn, I saw Gajeel stood over a man crashed on the ground right behind me with a dagger in his hands. Not waiting for the explanation I threw myself into Gajeel's arms and burst out crying. Sobbing over and over the words 'you're o.k.' I practically climbed Gajeel like a tree so I could wrap my arms around his neck and force my face into his shoulder. Refusing to let him go I could feel my spirits finishing off the last of the guild members.
It took several minutes for Gaj to calm me down enough to let him go and that was only far enough so that I could run my eyes and hands across his body checking for injuries. Surprisingly enough he let me, as I think he realised that I had one hell of a scare. It probably helped that he was just as worried and was just as intent on checking me over too.
Once we both were satisfied neither was seriously hurt I suddenly remembered the hostages. Turning and making my way over to the group I was relieved to find them all safe. Releasing all my spirits and ignoring Virgo having fun with the bad guys it wasn't long before the Ruin Knights turned up and everyone got to go home. After being thanked and given a surprisingly high reward for ridding the town of the dark guild 'New Phantom', Gaj and I decided enough was enough for today and headed for the nearest hotel as we were both still covered in sand and I didn't know about him but I wanted a hot shower and a comfy bed in that order this day just never seemed to end.