. Oculto .

"What the hell are we doing out here, Lily?"

"You're the one who took the job."

"You're the one who offered to go with me and didn't stop me."

"Can we stop blaming one another and get a move on?"

"...right."

Levy - now Levy Redfox after three long years of dating, one of being engaged, and on her fourth of marriage - grimaced and started forward, hating how sand shifted beneath each step. She'd vowed to never set foot into a desert again. Yet here she was, on the outskirts of Oak Town, which had been rebuilt to its former glory, heading out into the desert to deal with a creature that had been supposedly attacking travelers that came by.

"Do you think Alexus is okay?" Levy fretted, thinking about how she'd left her daughter and son with Gajeel since he'd gotten to go on several jobs without her. "And Saviir?"

"They'll be fine," the patient Exceed told her, rolling his eyes. "Besides, Lucy offered to take Haru and Sage over to help him, remember? And Juvia's always coming over to help where she can, as is Mira. They'll be fine."

"Right, right," Levy sighed. She made her way through the sands, her blue hair swept out of her face and up in a ponytail. She'd wanted to cut it for a while now, but hadn't gotten around to it. "What do you think could be attacking travelers and letting them leave alive? Not a wyvern; they'd be eaten."

"I'd suggest Eberos, but he hasn't shown up since the ruins that you and Gajeel fought him in," Lily admitted. Levy grimaced at the reminder; Eberos hadn't been seen in nearly nine years. They were pretty damn sure that the evil bastard was long dead, buried beneath heaps of sand or eaten by the lone linnorm that still roamed the temple it had guarded.

"Well, we'll just have to find out, won't we?" Levy smiled. "He said it was only a mile or two out of town, and we've been walking for quite some time, so we've got to be around the area-"

Something sharp skimmed her cheek, drawing blood, and Levy whirled around, eyes flashing as she saw someone swing off of a mount's back, grinning. Coming from another side, she could see a few others.

"Slavers," she muttered, preparing her magic. "Here we go again, Lily. We can't escape these bastards."

"Like Gajeel said, you attract them," he replied, transforming and preparing a sword that he'd brought. He towered beside her, and Levy smirked. She was more confident in her magic after nearly a decade of growth, and she had no concerns about taking on so many at once. She'd competed alongside her nakama in the Grand Magic Games, bringing them to first in the most recent, and she was proud of what she'd done.

Suddenly, the ground trembled beneath their feet.

Levy paused, glancing uncertainly at Lily, who narrowed his eyes, sniffing with his enhanced sense of smell to detect what it was, but he shrugged, coming up with nothing.

And then there was a roar so loud, she clapped her hands over her head. She gasped, watching as something surged out of the sands, its jaws clicking viciously. Sand came off in sheets, and she screwed her eyes shut to try and help protect them from the stinging that accompanied it. Massive talons scored the sandy earth as the creature hauled itself out of the sand, and Levy gawked up at it alongside the slavers, who'd stopped dead to gape in shock

There was a moment of silence, and then Levy began to laugh. Lily chuckled beside her, releasing the transformation. Crossing his arms, he glared at the slavers with a smug look, his eyes blazing with triumph.

Levy beamed innocently at them as it lowered its head to peer at them with a single glowing red eye, her hand coming to rest on the slick metallic nose that she hadn't seen in nearly nine years. Jaws clicked again, snapping massive teeth warningly.

"What?" she giggled, her hazel eyes flashing with a warning look. "Surprised? I'd run if I were you, dragons aren't nearly as forgiving as we humans are, right, Metalicana?"

"Gihihi," the dragon snickered, gaze never leaving the men before them. "I wouldn't say no to trying human for dinner."

Within minutes, they were gone, fleeing and screaming at the tops of their lungs. Levy roared with laughter, clutching her stomach. Wiping at her eyes as she gathered Lily in her arms, she greeted Metalicana with a warm smile. "Long time no see."

Metalicana's eyes flashed as he reared his head back. "It's been a long time," he agreed, and then shifted, metal hide clinking like Erza's armor did. "Where is my brat?"

"At home with our children," she replied. She caught the excitement that flickered through those glowing eyes and couldn't help but smile up at him, her voice smug when she spoke again, as if she already knew what he'd say to her next question. "Would you like to see them? Alexus is fascinated by dragons and would love to see one do a flyby."

Metalicana proudly raised his chin. "My brat has raised his hatchlings well. Tell me, little one, where the hell do I find these hatchlings of yours?"

Levy only exchanged a grin with Lily before telling him, "Magnolia. Home of Fairy Tail and everyone else in our massive family."

Without another word, his huge iron wings snapped out, and she didn't hesitate to turn and dart back towards town. She'd done her job. She didn't even need payment in the form of money.

The only payment she needed was the look on her husband's face when he realized that once again, she'd been the one to find a dragon.

And when she arrived at their house with Lily a day or so later, she wasn't disappointed. She was greeted by a grouchy Gajeel, who was keeping a close eye on their children as Alexus clambered around on Metalicana's talons and Saviir was seated beside him in the grass.

"The fuck, Levy?" he rumbled as she greeted him with a kiss to the cheek. "Salamander's gonna send you out like some kind of tracker."

She only smiled up at him with a look of feigned innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about," was all she said as she left Lily with him, arms thrown out to catch Alexus when she came running to greet her.

As she pressed her face into her daughter's hair, Levy realized that she couldn't be happier.

Oculto is officially done! One of my shorter multi-chaps, to be honest, but I'm pretty fond of it. I love writing Metalicana, he's precious. As is everyone else.

I'm not going to lie: I'm considering a somewhat not really spinoff with Eberos. It would center around him and one, maybe two other OCs of mine and my editor's. People seemed to be cool with him and I like him despite his psychotic self. Would any of you be interested?

Anyways...thanks to reviewers from the last chapter (SilverGhostKitsune, sassykitten1701, and Treblemkr!) as well as everyone who reviewed period! Thank you to those who favorited and followed! And thank you to everyone who read this period! I appreciate it all!

If you don't know, I'm working on a Nalu and Gajevy work called In Tenebris. I'll leave you a small preview of it as a gift. That should be coming out soon, and I've started another project called Ashes to Ashes, in which Gajeel and Levy are fairly important. Between the Lines won't be over for quite some time, so you're welcome to check that out if you want.

Alright, that's about it. Thank you all again. And, as always...

"Don't say goodbye!"

~river

Preview of In Tenebris!

"The hell is that thing?" Natsu demanded after a moment of staring at the phone.

Lucy blinked. "...a cell phone? Did you never see one?"

He shook his head and Lucy looked to Levy for permission as she waved the pink-haired man over. Levy looked at her pleadingly but nodded in consent. "Here," she said, leaning towards him so that he could see. She swiped the music away and then explained, "We use them to call one another when we need to talk about something or another. Or we can message each other, which is basically talking without talking." She showed him that, as well. "There are a ton of other things we can do on them, but my personal favorite is this." She winked, pulling up a fairly well-known game that made Levy blush madly.

"Lucy," she whined, but Lucy had already handed the phone to Natsu, and Gajeel had come to peer over their heads in curiosity. "Can you read, Natsu?"

"Yeah. Zeref and Mavis taught me." He curiously did as the directions on the game instructed and within minutes, he was playing it with a furiously excited look, Gajeel uttering orders to him over his shoulder while expertly avoiding getting his throat slit by the sharp tips of Natsu's horns every time he turned his head to snap at him with sharpened teeth.

Lucy thought they looked like a pair of friendly dragons, to be perfectly honest.