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Bad memories in the rain

A Fairy Tail fan-fic

Levy was sitting at a table in the guild when she heard Gajeel scream.

"SHUT UP YA DAMN CAT! I PICKED THIS MISSION SO WE'RE DOING IT!" His voice echoed through the guild hall.

"AND I'M TELLING YOU THAT IT'S A DAMN DUMB IDEA!" Lily countered "There's not even a good pay!"

"WELL THEN I GUESS I'LL JUST DO IT BY MY SELF!"

"YOU DO THAT!" Lily roared before turning around and walking out of the guild.

Gajeel just grunted and stormed over to the counter slamming the request down in front of Mira.

"I'm taking this one."

Mira kept her sunny smile and took the paper from Gajeel and walked away to enter it into the system. She returned a minute later with a travel description and a train ticket.

"Here you go Gajeel. The client sent a train ticket with the request."

Gajeel grunted something in response and left the guild without saying another word.

Levy quickly returned to her book before Mira came walking over to her table.

"Um Levy could i talk to you for a second?" She sounded worried. Was something wrong?

"Eh? Ok?" Levy answered.

"You see it's about Gajeel the mission he picked well... Here's the poster of the mission Gajeel picked." She said placing a piece of paper in front of Levy.

Request

We need strong people to help us clean out our house in preparation for moving.

My wife and i are moving to a retirement home but we have a lot of furniture.

Please send capable hands.

Your humble Joseph and Maria Beckwith

Reward: 5000 jewels

Levy stared at the request forum in confusion. "5000 jewels!? That's barely even food money for a man Gajeel's size!"

Mira nodded in agreement "I know! It's weird since the only real jobs Gajeel ever takes are all basically the same Kill that monster! or Eradicate this bandit gang/Dark guild! for him to take a mission like this something has to be wrong."

Levy looked closer at the request, it did not seem to have any special connections to Gajeel. "But wait?" she said "Why would you talk to me about this?"

Mira smiled slyly and patted Levy on the shoulder. "Well... Since you and Gajeel have gotten along sooo well lately... I figured that you would be the perfect person to figure out why he would do something like this!"

Levy shuddered, Mira was up to her old match-making strategies again. And when Mira used her match-making magic on people they would end up together within weeks.

"But Mira! I have a mission with Shadow Gear in the afternoon!" Levy tried.

"No. Since your latest mission three days ago you've not picked any new ones." Mira countered.

"But I have a hangover from last night!" Levy tried again

"Levy..." Mira dead panned "We both know that the heaviest drink you ever drunk was at your birthday when I accidentally served you a light beer and you spent the entire evening singing the elephant song which never ends." Mira sighed "And you didn't even drink it all!"

Levy cringed at the memory of the hangover she had gotten. Jet and Droy had snuck into Fairy Hills to take care of her... She had spent ten hours asking them to finish her pain if they really loved her...

"But Miraaaa!" Levy whined "I don't even know if I like him in that way!" Levy sighed "And what am I supposed to do? Stalk him? That's the kind of things crazy people or Juvia do!"

"When did I get on a train!?" Levy asked herself. Somehow she had been given a train ticket to the same destination as Gajeel by Mira and was now in the coupé next to Gajeel. Apparently Mira had meant for her to stalk Gajeel until she found out the truth.

Levy sighed deeply. Mira had demanded that she wore an old brown raincoat and sunglasses as to not be discovered.

For once Levy was glad that she was small otherwise people might get suspicious. Like this people would just believe her to be a little kid playing spy.

She pulled out a book and began reading to pass the time. The book was named The Iron Princess and featured a young poor girl during the dark ages who was saved from her abusive father by a knight who took her as his wife for political reasons only. At first the knight wasn't much better than the father but eventually he began to open up to the young girl and eventually they fell for each other.

Levy was so absorbed by the book that she almost missed her stop. Hurrying off she easily saw Gajeel's black mane through the crowd and followed it at a distance out off the small town into the woods.

Levy followed Gajeel through the thick woods, jumping from bush to bush along the small forest road.

Levy smiled as she realized her small stature made following people unseen so much easier. Truly there was advantages to be had even if you barely touched 4'10.

Suddenly Gajeel stopped in the middle of the road and Levy was pulled out of her thoughts. She quickly dashed for the closest bush and peeked through the leafs.

Gajeel stood still for a while as if thinking about something before walking around a thick oak. Levy quickly got out of her cover and hid on the opposite side of the tree.

That's when she heard it.

The sound of dripping water.

"OH MY GOD! He's... He's... peeing..." She thought blushing bright red at the thought of Gajeel doing number one so close to her. "This is horrible! Why did i agree to this!?"

A good three minutes later the sound finally came to an end and she peeked around the corner trying to see where he was going.

That's when she saw IT.

Nailed to a nearby tree was a now empty water-bottle. She barely had time to register the meaning of this before a hand clamped down on her shoulder.

"Boo."

Levy let out a horrified screech and promptly fainted collapsing on the ground.

Gajeel stared down at the unconscious girl. He had been able to smell her since the train. He did not know why but he had a strange feeling Mira was responsible for this.

Realizing he couldn't leave her there he decided the easiest way to do this was to bring her with him and hope she didn't realize anything.

And with that he threw the unconscious bookworm over his shoulder and got back on the road.

Levy woke up to the systematic bumping of steps. Opening her eyes she realized she was upside-down and immediately let out a shriek.

"Oh! You're finally awake Shrimp!" She heard someone say before being dumped rather roughly on the ground. Looking up she saw Gajeel's mighty build tower above her.

"Oh... Hi Gajeel!...when did you discover me?"

"Shrimp in this entire world there's no one else but you who can make an entire train smell like ink and old books." He said with a stern look on his face "Did you really think that the raincoat and sunglasses would hide your identity?"

"No actually that was Mira's idea! She forced me!" Levy tried.

Gajeel didn't answer but instead just stood there watching her. Why had she followed him!? She was the last person he wanted to have with him for this mission.

"Well i guess it doesn't matter now. You can come along if you want but the reward is still mine. Ok?"

Levy had no problem with this as it meant she could perhaps figure out his motive.

The two mages continued down the road in complete silence until they reached a little red two-stories house on the top of hill.

As they got closer to the house Levy saw that it was worn down with barely any paint left on the walls.

Gajeel raised his hand and knocked on the door which looked like it'd fall into pieces at any moment. From inside they heard two voices talking before the door opened revelaing a small rotund lady and an older man of avarege height with white hair who Levy assumed to be her husband.

"Oh you must be from the mage guild correct!?" The lady asked. Gajeel and Levy quickly showed their guild marks.

"Well then." The man grunted. "You might as well help us pack. " He said before turning on his foot and heading back into the house.

Levy looked stunned at his foul attitude but the lady simply chuckled. "Forgive my husband. We ran out of coffe last night and he's been in a foul mood since then. Please, come on in." She said before walking inside Levy and Gajeel in tow.

The inside of the house was depressingly ordinary. The kitchen had a stove and a small dinner table but aside from a small storage for food there was nothing to see.

The lady grabbed Levy's arm and pulled her with her to a second room and told Gajeel to go see if her husband needed help.

Before too long Levy found herself folding different sets of clothing with the lady doing the same next to her. The two worked in silence before the lady decided to try and break the silence.

"Your boyfriend is a very handsome man. You're a lucky girl."

Levy dropped the shirt she was folding and blushed. "Oh! No no He's not my boyfriend! We're just in the same guild that's all!"

"Oh really? I could've sworn the two of you were courting? So he just stares at every girl in your guild? Cause he couldn't stop staring at you."

Levy's cheeks flushed and turned even redder. "R-really?"

"Oh yes! Poor kid looked like a dog wanting a bone."

Levy didn't answer the old lady who simply chuckled.

"Or i guess you'd be the dog wanting his bone in this case." She said. Levy gasped at how this old lady could say something that suggestive with a straight face. "Shame is for the young. Now get folding!"

Levy picked up the shirt she'd dropped and looked around for a change of subject. But the walls of the bedroom were bare with no photos.

"You remind me so much of my son." The old lady said with a snicker. "He always tried to be the big tough guy but he was always sensitive to the birds and the bees."

Levy decided that maybe silence was best for now and got back to folding clothes.

Meanwhile Gajeel had found the old man up on the second floor busy trying to get a bookshelf down the stairs. Gajeel was just about to say something when the shelf fell over and landed on the floor with a crash.

The man cursed loudly and began picking up the books that had fallen out. Gajeel snorted to get his attention and helped him clean up the mess. However a photograph caught his attention in the middle of the mess which he swiftly picked up.

It was a picture of a small boy who couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 years old running on a field. The boy had a sunny smile on his face as he tried to catch a butterfly.

"That's me son Jimmy." The old man said. "He left to join the army a good ten years ago. Haven't heard from the kid since."

Gajeel didn't answer but instead grabbed the bookshelf with ease and carried it down the stairs.

"When you're done with the shelf you can come help me get this dang wardrobe down! It weighs a frigging ton!" Came the old man's voice from the top floor.

Gajeel just grunted and threw the shelf onto the carriage outside the house. He shouldn't have taken this mission. The memories simply hurt too much.

"Thank you so much for helping us out! We really wouldn't have been able to do it without you!" The rotund lady said looking at the now full cart "Like this we'll be able to start moving first thing tomorrow!"

"It was nothing Ms Beckwith. It's what we do." Levy said smiling at the older lady's enthusiasm.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay the night? We have plenty of room and i always cook too much for my husband and me."

"No." Gajeel said. "Thanks for the offer but we're leaving now. Let's go Shrimp." He turned around to leave but stopped when he realized Levy was glaring at him. "Shrimp?"

"Why not Gajeel!? It's already way past sunset! If we leave now we'll never get back to town before dark!... AND STOP CALLING ME SHRIMP!"

"I don't care we're leaving right now Prawn." He ignored Levy's reaction to her new nick-name and turned to leave.

"HEY KID!" Came the old man's voice. Gajeel turned around and saw the old man sticking out his head out of a window on the upper floor. "Catch!" He said and chucked a neatly folded package at Gajeel. Gajeel unfolded the package and realized it was a green rain coat.

"My son's old raincoat. Take it and it'll keep you warm. "

Gajeel stood there looking at the raincoat for a moment as if thinking about something. "Thanks!" He yelled and stuffed it down his backpack. "I'll treasure it! Now let's go Prawn!" He said and began walking back towards the forest road.

"Oh just call me Shrimp you brutish moron." Levy said reluctantly following him. "Thanks for the talk Ms Beckwith! Enjoy your retirement!" She yelled and waved the old lady goodbye.

Just as Levy had predicted they hadn't even gotten halfway to town before the rain started falling. Within a second they were both soaked and had to take cover beneath an old tree who's branches was so thick they formed a natural umbrella.

"S-Solid Script: Fire!" Levy yelled aiming the towards a pile of dry wood instantly starting a camp-fire. "Solid Script: Stone" She continued the second word shattering and landing around the fire as to stop it from spreading.

Gajeel quickly sat down at the camp-fire and began warming himself. "You know that magic of yours is really damn useful. "

Levy just blushed at his words. "Don't try to flatter me..."

"No I mean it! All I'm good for is smashing stuff but you just made a camp fire in under a minute! I don't suppose you could write forth a steak too? Gi-Hi!"

Levy smiled and blushed. "Sorry organic materials are a no-no. I could make you a nice piece of iron though?"

Gajeel's eyes shone up for a second before he seemed to remember something. "Nah... I'm good..."

Levy flinched. Gajeel said no to free Iron!? Something had to be wrong... "Are you okay? You've been acting strange the entire day."

Gajeel just kept staring at the ground. "No it's nothing... I'm just... feeling a little down..."

Levy saw that his eyes were red as if he was about to start crying. "Gajeel." She said and crawled closer to him. "We're nakama. Whatever it is that's hurting you, you can share with us." She slowly stroked his cheek as he suddenly burst into tears and started crying. She hugged him close and let him cry into her shoulder. She realized she'd never seen him cry before but didn't comment on it as he let all his sadness and regrets pour out in form of tears.

"It was back when i was in Phantom Lord... I had gotten into some trouble during a mission and was being pursued by the army." Gajeel said when he finally stopped crying. They'd moved so that they were sitting with their backs against the tree as the rain drizzled outside.

"I don't even remember what it was i did. I may have punched my employer, Or did i tear down a church? I can't remember. I was just focused on getting outta there as fast as i could."

"The army chased me for hours but i managed to lose them by running up on a nearby mountain. My superior sense of smell and sight let me avoid them with no problem. And then just when i thought i'd lost them he caught up to me."

Gajeel was running along a small mountain path. Those punks with their magical weapons and armour's could be heard a mile away.

Suddenly out of nowhere the rain came crashing down. Gajeel growled as he realized he couldn't smell them like this the rain drowned all the smells.

He smiled as he realized the same went for them. In rain as thick as this they'd never be able to find him.

As he cut a corner he found himself almost running off a steep cliff just barely stopping before. Gajeel looked around him. There was no other way than back. He began turning around when he heard a voice.

"Halt! Hands up!" Gajeel spun around and saw a young soldier aiming his weapon towards him. "Don't move or i'll be forced to shoot!"

Gajeel snickered. This kid was not much older than himself, not to mention smaller and much less experienced.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please don't hurt me!" Gajeel shrieked putting up an act. "Please don't shoot i'll come willingly!"

The soldier seemed like he didn't know what to do and lowered his weapon slightly. "O-ok... Hands on your head and walk slowly towards me."

Gajeel let out a fake whimper and put his hands behind his head as ordered.

"G-good... Now walk slowly towards me!" The soldier said trying to sound confident.

Gajeel slowly walked forward until he was just a step away. Then just as the soldier lowered his weapon to reach for the handcuffs Gajeel lashed out with a kick hitting him clean in the head.

As the poor soldier tried to regain his composure Gajeel was already going low and grabbed his weapon disarming him. Before the soldier could make a move Gajeel punched him clean in the gut sending him to his knees.

"Sorry punk. But only a noob would lower his weapon like that." Gajeel said before turning to run back the way he came.

Suddenly a hand grabbed his foot. "N-No you can't escape... I had you..."

Gajeel merely snorted at the idiot and broke lose. Stupid brat. He once again turned to leave but the soldier got up and threw himself onto his backtrying to choke him.

Gajeel felt the arm around his neck and tried to shake him off. Just as he felt himself losing consciousness the kid let go and got thrown off landing near the edge of the cliff. Gajeel saw how the kid groggily got to his feet.

Just then a lightning bolt came crashing down and struck right between the two. Gajeel didn't even have a chance to scream as the cliff the soldier was standing on collapsed on itself.

The soldier shrieked as he fell down into the dark deep abyss.

Gajeel hurried to the edge and stared down in the darkness. Even if it hadn't been raining he'd still wouldn't have been able to see a thing.

Tears fell as he realized there was no way a man could survive a fall like that. He had never wished for him to die! Why did a man as young as he had to die!?

Suddenly he heard voices. The soldiers! He had to leave! Rushing back the way he came he stopped looking at a shine in the mud.

Looking closer he realized it was a pendant of some sort. It had to have to belong to the soldier!

At the back of the pendant stood three words.

James "Jimmy" Beckwith

"I kept that pendant. Not long after that when I joined Phantom Lord i had José do some research in exchange for doing some of his dirty work. He found where the parents lived. I went there several times wanting nothing more than to tell them the truth. That their son is dead... and that i was the one responsible for it. But i couldn't."

Gajeel sighed and leant back onto the tree.

"Does it disturb you? Knowing that i'm a killer?"

Levy said nothing and just sat there in silence. She didn't know what to say.

And so she merely crawled closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. Gajeel pulled out the raincoat and wrapped it around her.

The two sat there under the tree and watched the rain fall. Neither of them said a word but both could tell that the other was experiencing some major blushing.

The two mages walked along the dirt road. In the distance they could see the city lights.

Gajeel found himself sneaking a look at the girl next to him every now and then. Damn it if she wasn't just the cutest little thing ever. It was funny really. Their first meeting had been the worst possible one what with him beating her senseless and bolting her to tree.

But then he'd been invited to Fairy Tail. Makarov had given him a second chance. And she'd forgiven him and accepted his apology even if her team-mates where a bit less forgiving. Dang it he hoped he wouldn't come to regret what he was about to do.

"Hey shrimp!" He said getting Levy's attention. "Seeing as i have some cash from the mission how abut we grab a bite to eat in the town?"

Levy flustered "W-what l-like a d-d-date?" She stuttered.

At her reaction Gajeel found himself getting just as flustered much to his own annoyance. "W-Well... I-If you want to?"

Levy saw his blushing face and giggled. "Well then i guess I'll accept! But i want ramen none of that fancy Foie Gras crap!"

Gajeel chuckled at her acting all gangster. "Shrimp if you want food for 5000 jewels then it was gonna be ramen whether you like it or not."

Levy just smiled and Gajeel couldn't help but to smile as well. They had an entire lifetime to talk about the past. Now they both looked forward to a future containing a bowl of boiling hot ramen and maybe a second date.

The End

First GaLe story completed! Woohoo!

To anyone who is actually looking forward to my stories I'm sorry for taking such a long time. I've been having some problems with my body in that aspect that I've been just feeling all around shitty. I haven't had any appetite and I've also been feeling all around nauseous 24/7.

As one might think i haven't had much energy to write. I will hopefully get a doctors appointment sometime next week and maybe they can figure out what is/was the problem.

One of my teachers suggested it was an ulcher created by the stress of not seeing my family and instead staying at my boarding school for an extended period of time and i was homesick without realizing it.

Sorry I'm rambling. I was home this weekend and am feeling better now so hopefully i can get back at writing now. Luckily this one was almost finished already.

Now then. NaLu, Stino (StingXYukino), Gruvia, RoWen or an original Yu-Gi-Oh fan-fic (Which i've been writing when bored or during writer's block)

If you'd like me to work extra hard on either of these leave a review and i'll try my hardest.

Until then Ciao!

P.S The book Levy is reading "The Iron Princess" is an actual fan-fic by Kurisu313 one of the biggest GaLe writers on this site.