For six days Gajeel slept in the safe comfort of Warrod Sequen's guest room. Sunlight trickled in through the frosted glass window but the raven haired man did not wake. He did not want to wake into a world without Levy McGardner. In his mind she was there with him. Her smile captivated him as they walked together within the darkness that enveloped them both. She was always the light within his darkness.
"You need to wake soon Gajeel." He nodded his head in agreement but shook it with a side smile shot in her direction. He could be himself within the safety of his mind. He could be himself with her.
Gajeel reached over and held Levy's hand as they walked with no direction in mind. Why hadn't he held her hand more before? "Why didn't I hold your hand more Shorty?" he didn't know what else to say. He wanted this time with her to last the lifetime it should have and many if he stayed unconscious it could.
"Because you're an ass." She said so matter of fact that he couldn't help but laugh. It was true after all. "I'm serious though Gajeel, you need to wake up. You aren't meant to live in darkness."
Gajeel stopped walking and pulled Levy tightly into his arms which she accepted happily. "No, I don't want to be in a world without you in it. You shouldn't be here. It's my fault. I couldn't save you." It was the most honest he had ever been and it hurt to know that the real Levy would never be able to hear these words.
Levy sighed into his chest; breathing in his rough metallic scent which she missed terribly. "You'll be okay Gajeel I promise." She leaned her head and pushed her body up onto the tips of her bare toes. Gajeel moved his hand to hold her face and pulled her lips to his. They danced eagerly together yet this time was different. This time they were as cold as the mountain snow. "Wake now Gajeel. I won't leave you I promise I'm right here. Always."
The former Fairy Tail member and fourth ranking ten wizard saint had checked on the Iron Dragon Slayer each day he slept to make sure he was still breathing. As much as he looked in on him though, Pantherlily checked on him more. The small Exceed stayed curled up on his bedside for most of the days and traveled from it only to eat and bathe. He didn't know what Gajeel would do when he awoke. How he would react or who he might hurt along the way. All he knew was that he would be needed when Gajeel finally awakened. That was what friends were for after all. The difficult situations that life places us into.
Warrod sat, surrounded by his plants reading a large leather bound book. Actually, trying to read was more accurate. His eyes kept wandering to his latest addition that was starting to slowly bloom soft purple flowers. "So bright and beautiful wouldn't you agree?" He had heard the soft patter of Lily's feet enter the room and stop a few feet away. The Exceed kept his distance from him which he took more out of worry that dislike. Worry that his friend would not survive the shock they had endured.
"Any progress?" he asked as he moved closer and took a Kiwi from Warrod's outstretched hand to eat. He felt guilty for eating at a time like this.
"On whom my boy?" he asked with a close of his book.
Lily shrugged as he bit into the soft fruit; his eyes closing from the pleasuring taste as some of the juice traced its way down the side of his mouth.
"Well she is still dead as a doornail and he, he is still sleeping like a log!" Warrod laughed as Lily choked on his kiwi. "Joking! I just head your metallic friend move!"
Warrod pointed to the doorway as Gajeel entered the room slowly and dazed wearing only his worn black pants; the rest of his attire washed days before. He felt exhausted and drained as he held his head within his one hand in an attempt to stop the throbbing from continuing. When Warrod and Pantherlily came into view at the small café style table he opened his mouth to ask the question on the forefront of his mind but closed it again; unsure if he was ready for the answer he might receive. Within his mind the Levy he had imagined had told him what to expect so when Warrod spoke he thought he would be ready. He thought wrong.
Warrod smiled into his cup as he sipped his tea and looked over at Gajeel. "Oh, she's dead."
Gajeel grasped the edge of the table for support; the wood splintering. "What the hell! Can't you break news more gentle or shit!?" his heart was racing and his head still pounding. It had to be a lie or a cruel joke. The man enjoyed jokes.
"She's right here if you want to say hello though." Gajeel looked confused and followed his pointed hand to a long flower pot on the other side of the room; sunlight pouring into it from the open window. Slowly he crossed to the clay box and his heart stopped. Within was Levy. She looked as though she was sleeping instead of dead. Her long blue hair lay in messy clumps around her face. He reached down to move one away but stopped himself. He could smell she was dead. From every side of her naked and bruised flesh vines covered her skin and tightly wrapped her in a blanket of green safety. Small purple flowers were beginning to bloom. He didn't know what to make of it. A sick and twisted experiment or a cure he did not understand. His hand reached down again to touch her cheek this time but he pulled it back before their flesh connected. He could not handle touching her in her current state. He had loved her, still loved her, and now the future he had hoped for was erased from a single slice of a blade. "Why not talk to her boy." Gajeel turned his gaze to Warrod who had stood to look down at Levy as well; Lily was still across the room sitting at the table.
"Why the hell would I do that? She's dead aint she?" Warrod nodded to confirm his question causing Gajeel's fingers to tighten around the boxes edge and cracks to run through the clay.
"But talking to her will make her happy." It was the last straw for Gajeel he turned and pulled the front of Warrod's shirt tightly into his fists. Pantherlily changed size and bounded across the room but not before Gajeel could slam the old man into an adjacent wall; smashing a few of the plant pots at their feet. Warrod knew that his jokes would get him into trouble one day and he had heard about the short temper of the Iron Dragon Slayer. He just didn't realize how short. Iron scales began to crawl up Gajeel's arms and neck as his eyes changed white with rage and a low growl rumbled through his throat. Levy's small voice pulled him from his murdering desire.
"Stop Gajeel!" He turned his attention to Levy who still looked very much dead and wrapped in vines. Gajeel dropped his hold of Warrod and placed his hands on her cheeks; not bothering to pause this time. She was ice cold and not breathing. He turned back to question how but Warrod only shrugged his shoulders before crossing the room back to the table and away from the possibility of getting hit. Did I just imagine her voice?
As he moved Warrod laughed out "She's taking a dirt nap!" Pantherlily was there to hold Gajeel back this time. "Just a joke!" Warrod waved his arms in the air as he eased himself back down with a laugh. "The seed that the young lady ate is currently growing throughout her system. It is pushing the poison out and pushing nutrients in. She'll be back to normal and life in about a month or so."
"She's dead. I can smell she's dead so how did she just talk!?" Gajeel's head was spinning. He sat down in Lily's chair to hold his throbbing head as Pantherlily stood guard encase Gajeel felt like murdering the old man once more. Which he would understand; Lily had been on the receiving end of his jokes for six days now and wanted the man to die just as much as Gajeel if not more.
Warrod smiled a wide and gap toothed smile that frustrated Gajeel but Lily's paw on his shoulder, keeping him in his seat; steading him. "Only true love can be heard from the heart." His crimson eyes went wide as he processed what Warrod had said.
Levy? Gajeel questioned in his mind.
Hey Gajeel I'm sorry if I scared you. It was Levy. His Levy he could even smell her within his mind. "What happens now?" Lily had been waiting to ask this particular question since Levy had begun to heal. He had waited for Gajeel to wake to question the older man and he could wait no longer. "If Levy wakes in a month or so will she be alright will she be fully alive?"
Warrod stood from his chair abruptly and waved for Gajeel and Pantherlily to follow. The three men journeyed to what Gajeel presumed was the older man's office. Papers covered the floors and walls with thin red string connecting each strategically pinned piece. Lily reverted to his normal size as to not disturb the madness within. Gajeel walked across not caring what his presence interfered with. "When Levy wakes she will be back to her normal self which will be helpful because in the meantime I have a job for the both of you to begin. She can join you later." Gajeel opened his mouth to decline but Warrod looked back at him now serious. "You three will join the Council and work to stop something that is coming. I'm not sure of what it is exactly but Levy will be able to figure it out when she wakes and joins you too. I know it." Again Gajeel opened his mouth to decline but Warrod cut him off again. Within his mind Levy attempted to calm him and his ever growing hatred for the man that resembled a moving tree that needed to be uprooted. "You can't sit and wait for her to wake you'll end up killing me and it's my house." He had a point. "Start your mission. Start being a member of the Council and I will send for you when she awakes."
When her eyes opened for the first time confusion struck her. Not for being in a planter box or from being dead but from being naked and having two old men starring down at her. She screamed as loud as her parched mouth would allow her to. When she was finally able to talk the next day; fully reenergized, somewhat clothed, and fed the only thought on her mind was of one man. Gajeel.
It was three months later that Pantherlily awoke to a small knock on the front door early in the morning. It was soft and gentle and had he not been awake already it would have missed it entirely. With half a kiwi in his hand and the other half in his mouth he pulled the large oak door open and nearly chocked. It was Levy. "Hey Lil." She dropped to her knees and pulled the small Exceed into her arms and tears fell from both their eyes out of pleasure. "I'm sorry I didn't send word first but I wanted to get here as fast as I could." Lily nodded as he closed the door behind her and she journeyed to the kitchen in the space he had been sharing with Gajeel for the last two months.
"When did you wake?" He whispered as he passed the cup of tea to Levy who eagerly took the beverage and in the room around her. The apartment was smaller than the cabin Lily and Gajeel had shared back home but it was perfect for a short term living situation. When her eyes fell to the couch she smiled at Gajeel's sleeping, shirtless, body. "Are you hungry?" Levy nodded but did not take her eyes off of Gajeel. He had been her every thought since she had awoken. She was not sure exactly what had happened but all she knew from Warrod was that they had saved her and that he was waiting for her. "Shall I wake him?" Levy shook her head and gestured for them to go onto the balcony and closed the door behind them. On the table Lily placed a small plate of bread and cheese which she eagerly ate with Lily deeply inspecting her as she did.
"Is something wrong?" she asked in between bites.
Lily cleared his throat before speaking "I've suffered many battle scars myself but none so" he paused "detailed." Levy looked down at herself and realized that in her rush to arrive to see Gajeel she had left with little clothing and in her rushed state her magic had failed her and all her hidden scars were now out for all the world to see. Quickly she moved to cover her stomach with her hands but Lily shook his paws to stop her "I meant you no offence. Really. More people should wear their scars with pride instead of hiding them as though it is a crime to be human or well whatever you may be." He said gesturing to the sleeping Dragon Slayer within the apartment.
Levy chuckled and relaxed herself, seeing that Lily would not judge her physique "I doubt they would make him happy to see though."
"Are these from your previous, um, past encounter?" Levy nodded "I see why he has beat himself up but you don't seem angry. Are you?"
"No I let go of that rage long ago but" her voice trailed off as she glanced into the room at Gajeel "I wonder if he ever will."
Lily nodded "Letting go is hard. It gives you an excuse to not live."
"You are very wise." Levy said reaching across the table and taking his paw in her hand.
"No, just observant when it comes to the Iron Idiot." Levy laughed again "He loves you ya know."
She nodded, swallowing her piece of cheese and trying to pick her next words "He needs to love himself though." Both friends sat in silence for a few minutes letting her words sink in. "I woke four days ago and left after I was able to walk again. Warrod told me I had died?" Lily nodded his head solemnly. "Well I don't remember it; any of it. I just remember waking up naked in a plant box. Talk about awkward when Warrod had friends over for tea." Lily burst out laughing with Levy who was fidgeting with her borrowed clothes. "All he had for me to wear were these old baggy pants and shoes, and this cloth around my chest but I—"
Gajeel began to stir on the couch and sluggishly opened his eyes; rubbing the sleep from them. He glanced across the room and sighed. He had hoped to see Levy in his dreams again as he had done for the last three months but like the last few days she had not been there to greet him. It worried him. "We didn't want to wake you." Lily said as Gajeel sat up and watched as Lily came in from the balcony.
"We?" It was then that Levy came through the door. She was a disheveled mess. Dirt still fell from her long blue hair tendrils, the cloth around her chest hid only that as her scars shined through as a visible reminder of the asshole he had previously been. Her borrowed pants which he recognized as his own missing pair hung lose around her hips but he couldn't stop looking at her chest which moved as she breathed. As she breathed the breath of life.
"I'm fine and I—" Gajeel stopped her with a raise of his hand, stood from the couch, and took a deep breath in himself; his crimson eyes closing. Her scent filled the room; she was really there.
"So" Gajeel looked to Levy, not bothering to move another step. "You died after a tiny cut." She paused as Gajeel raised a studded eyebrow "And now you barge in on a councilman's home and act like you're some hot shot when you're just a Shorty who got killed by a paper cut." The sound of Lily leaving the apartment didn't faze either of them. They just waved goodbye and continued staring angrily at each other.
Levy crossed her arms with annoyance. "It wasn't a paper cut it was a poisoned dagger and according to Warrod you blubbered like a baby when I died!"
Gajeel took a step towards her which she matched. "Warrod is a liar I don't blubber."
Levy let out a loud, fake laughed. "Yeah well he aint a liar just a perv. You know I woke up with him and two other men watching me sleep. I was naked too." Gajeel didn't like that. "How did I even get there?"
"Didn't Warrod tell you? I saved your ass Shorty you owe me now." His studded eyebrow raised again as he took in her hips; not even noticing her scars any more.
Levy laughed "No, I got out of there as soon as I could to find your ass and what you want a reward!?" as she stood on the couch forcing Gajeel to turn and face her and still tower over her.
"Yup. I'll take whatever you got."
"Well, I got your pants, old shoes, and a piece of cloth." Levy raised her arms above her head in annoyance as Gajeel tried not to smile.
"Seriously? That's it? I thought a council woman would have more." Gajeel crossed his arms over his chest and let some of his smile peek out when he noticed Levy looking down at his bare chest and blush crossing her cheeks. Councilwoman?
"Gajeel you are so annoying!" Levy tried to hop down from the couch but Gajeel moved to block her in every direction; her frustration growing.
"Well I hope saving your life counts for something because watching you die was the hardest thing I ever had to do." Levy stopped moving and gaped at Gajeel as his words sunk in. "I thought about what you said when ya left my cabin. I thought about it for a while and before I could even respond you had gone on your suicide mission to the mountains." Levy sat down on the couch not sure if what she was hearing was true or if there was still dirt in her ears. He sat down next to her and took her hands within his; turning her body to face his. When she looked up into his red eyes she noticed the same fearful look he had displayed on the mountain and again right before she had died. "You'd be mine forever. My Mate for the rest of our lives." It wasn't a question just a fact that he so desperately wanted to become truth.
Levy turned her head down as tears rushed from her eyes. Her words were barely above a whisper as she spoke. "Are you okay with just little me as your Mate Gajeel? I'm nothing special." Her fire from the cabin was gone and now fear of being rejected again had set in.
It was a hidden worry that she wasn't good enough for him and it made him smile as he nodded his head and said to her "You are everything to me Levy." Hearing her name in his voice sent chills down her spine as she turned her face to his.
"I am yours Gajeel." Levy said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"You are mine Levy." Gajeel pulled Levy into his lap and cradled her in his arms. They stayed silently entwined for a moment before she spoke into his shoulder a question that she was too curious to avoid.
"What made you change your mind?" She pulled back and looked into his eyes "I mean you were so against the idea of me, of us, before, but now you seem happy. Why?"
Gajeel thought for a moment how to phrase his words "When ya left I thought about the possibility of us. The good shit and the bad." He grew silent for a moment as the visions of pure happiness and pain danced behind his eyes. "I decided that even the slightest chance that the good shit could happen meant I had to at least try. Then when you, well, died I heard your voice in my head while you healed and Warrod said that only happened with the true love shit."
"True love and wait what about the bad?" Gajeel sighed and pulled Levy off his lap so that he could look at her fully.
"I ain't perfect."
"I know. You're actually kind of an ass."
Gajeel rolled his eyes "Shorty, tomorrow I might lose control of myself and attempt to kill ya." Levy nodded and for the first time he realized that she had had the same thoughts cross her mind as well.
"I'll bring you back" she whispered which was met with a confused look "I won't let the darkness take you. I'll bring you back." Gajeel felt a wave of relief wash over him as he pulled Levy into his arms and their mouths connected. Fire seemed to run through his veins at her touch. He pulled away and looked into her deep brown eyes.
Levy nodded.
Gajeel moved closer, placed his finger under her chin, and lifted her mouth to his. She did not stop him as his hands ripped the cloth over her chest and the pieces fell to the floor. Instead Levy deepened the kiss, her tongue finding his as she pulled her arms around his neck. With a gentle ease Gajeel pressed his body down onto hers his bare chest touching her own.
His eagerness pressed against his boxer briefs painfully as his fingers traveled to her breasts and he grabbed them in a fervor. Breaking the kiss he looked down at her exposed self and until his eyes reached her stomach and the still visible scar he had given her on their first encounter. He traced the thick pink lines with his thumb as though in a trance.
"I'm okay." Levy said, pulling Gajeel out of his daze. He nodded before moving away from her unexpectedly.
"Did I do something wrong?" she asked, sitting up and covering her chest.
Gajeel smiled "No just glad that you're alive again." Soon their remaining clothes fell to the floor and they were one.
Review please! Thanks for reading this was my take on how Levy and Gajeel got together and joined the Council during that year gap. Hope you liked it!