Warning for triggers! There are suicidal themes, graphic violence and cursing ahead!

Jägerin

As she ran blindly away from the academy, Levy shakily clutched the paper envelope to her chest. The jerk. That...that ass! He really thought she would shoot him. Like that would somehow make her feel better. Levy knows deep down she is not a murderer, even when it comes to the people she greatly detests. To give into such dark emotions...Levy knows she is nothing like him and doesn't want to be.

Levy is so done with today. Laxus' weird police connections, Makarov's betrayal, Redfox-everything! It was all too much for her overwrought nerves and Levy needed an escape, an out. Tears filled her eyes, salty and blurring the road as she continued to run blindly away. It isn't fair Redfox had to show up now. Not when her and the boys finally had a place to call home, to be free from worry and be surrounded by friends.

Jogging to a stop, Levy hurriedly wiped away the salty discharge when she realized where she is. Blinking at the loud, motion filled downtown intersection, Levy glanced behind her. Did she really sprint from FA campus to the edge of the Fiore Quarter? That was almost four miles (and proved her jogs with Jet paid off).

"What is that in the street?" someone on the corner near her asked. Another person pointed toward the intersection.

"Is there a storm headed our way?"

Levy looked past the intersection to see a looming, thick cloud of gray mist spreading rapidly toward them. Pulse jumping, she prayed the gray mass was just some smoke from a building fire which sounded better than the alternative. Please don't be-

"Is that a...kid?!"

Sure enough, a blue haired girl sat in the middle of the stalled traffic. People paused to gawk at her or at the bizarre forming fog. The girl looked around with wide, scared eyes only to gasp as the grounded started to quake. Pulse jumping from the dread clawing at her heart, Levy watched the moving shadows through the mist that started to crackle with pure energy, spitting sparks of blue and red.

You're just stressed out, Levy. That isn't happening again. This is just an earthquake, Levy reassured herself as she squeezed through the gathering crowd to help the girl. She must have fallen or could have sprained an ankle. There's no way this is anyway connected to monsters.

"Run!" the girl suddenly screamed, waving her arms as the terror in her eyes grew. "Get away from here!"

Levy paused halfway through the intersection to look back at the churning mass of gray.

No.

A shriek cut through the air, or was it a roar? Loud bursts of pure animistic howls wailed through the quarter as Levy struggled to stand through another quake. Sounds of breaking glass and torn metal echoed above the intersection before it started raining debris from the buildings around them.

Levy stared in disbelief as the crowd started to move and churn in brewing fear.

NO.

The shifting grays and blacks in the mist started to solidify into a giant black shadow and then it was there. A massive triangular head looming forward as the energy danced vigorously along its brown scales, snout rising to reveal rows of sharp tangs and a long, shaking serpentine tongue.

Limbs frozen, Levy's eyes widen as she inhaled to gasp just as it hissed. Then the neck muscles rippled as it prepared to strike and she knows there is no time to save herself. To think. To breath. Only watch as those fangs came closer to chomp-

THWACK!

Out of nowhere, a black high heel hits the dragon in the left eye.

Throwing its head back in pain, the brown beast roars up into the cloudy mist filled air. A pink haired woman wearing a Starbucks uniformruns towards Levy in nylon stocking feet, one hand holding another high heel and her other hand tugging the blue haired girl after her.

"Get up!" the woman ordered as she reached for Levy, unaware of the movement behind her. Levy tried to warn her but no sound came from her stalled lungs. The brown dragon's eyes focus on the pink haired woman with a snarl, lunging forward for another attack.

A blur of black and purple slammed into the dragon's head. Through the thickening mist she squinted up to see purple hair, sunglasses and a scarred cheek. The Kamui guy from before! Crouched atop the scaly snout, Kamui impaled the roof of the mouth down through to the bottom jaw with an authentic Japanese Nodachi blade, brutally skewering the jaw closed.

The pink haired woman gasped in shock, dropping her other high heel, "G-Gaku?!"

Kamui struggled to hang onto the sword as the dragon thrashed its head from side to side, trying to throw him off. "Run!"

"Don't order me around!" the woman angrily snaps back, crowding the two blue haired girls behind her.

"You're gonna argue now, woman?"

Levy would have found the whole situation hilarious had it not been for the dragon ripping its lower jaw free from the sword and jerking its massive head backwards, throwing Kamui and his sword into the air. She should close her eyes, scream, anything! But Levy shakily watched, clutching onto the shirt of the girl next to her. Seeing events from twelve years ago overlap the present, the blasts, the roars, fire everywhere, deathdeathdeath!

A loud rumble of an engine roared closer as a motorcycle burst through the mist, shooting up the back windshield of an abandoned car and landing on the dragon's thick neck. With a burst of gas, the rider rode over the dragon's head and into the air, the rider grabbing Kamui out of the way of gnashing teeth.

Levy watched in awe as the two dropped from the bike before it hit the side of another building, slamming into the cement below. With bated breath, she waits to see them move but the dragon acts first. It roars at the pair of bodies and then turns towards its right as new tremors threaten to knock them over again.

A large shadow drifts through the mist to join the first dragon, its scales green and lizard eyes yellow in color. Yellow slime covered fangs flashed as it roared. Another dragon!

The pink haired woman finally snaps into action, whirling around to push the girls back. "Get moving!"

"Now you wanna run?" the blue haired girl from the intersection asks irritably, pulling on Levy's wrist as the woman kept pushing.

Levy ignored them both as she strained to look behind them through the rubble and mist, watching as Kamui and the biker struggled to their feet. There was no doubt about it. The biker is Redfox.

Gajeel coughed up blood as he shakily pushed his body up from the street just as the motorcycle crashed into the sidewalk behind him.

"You have some nerve wrecking my bike, Jeel." Gaku snarled from his left, using his sword to prop himself up.

"Can you whoop my ass after we kill these two?" Gajeel replied while wiping blood from his mouth.

"Who says I won't do both? That bike was expensive, you hatchling."

Gajeel flinched at the veiled threat, but kept his eyes on the pair of overgrown lizard heads, their bodies not fully emerged from the misty gateway. This situation needed to be shut down, ASAP because if they come all the way through...it would mean the total destruction of Magnolia.

"Ill take the left one." Gajeel wiped the blood from his mouth, watching for the dragons for any sudden movements.

"Gajeel! Wait-"

He did not wait, hesitate or linger. He couldn't. Sprinting towards the massive snouts lined with sharp teeth and instant death, the black haired young man barreled forward with a loud roar.

I hate you!

Gajeel jerked from her words, feeling them churl with guilt and shame in his chest. The dragons flinched at his sudden burst of movement, necks bending as they tensed to snap and bite. He clenched his fists, feeling the power build from his core and move up into his arms.

For hurting my friends!

Black lightning zipped around his arms as his flesh hardened to silver metal, scales forming along the outer length of his forearms. A feral growl worked through his throat as sharp canines grew from his teeth, pushing painfully at his gums and cutting his lips open. His vision zeroed on the throat of the brown leader in front, then he jumped up into the air-

For hurting me!

-Loosening his fists, Gajeel let momentum carry him forward and closed his eyes as he let go. She wouldn't kill him, she wouldn't end this damn loathing he had inside. He wasn't hungry for this dragon's death, he longed for his own. He smelled the acid breath, the heat of the scales as he neared his demise, eaten by the very thing he was created to kill.

"You goddamn selfish FUCKER!"

Red eyes snapped open in time to see a very pissed off Yuuma flying towards the head of the brown dragon, long arm extended holding an even longer sword. As the dragon jerked its head sideways, Gajeel yelped as he missed the snout and slammed bodily into the chest of the dragon with a heavy smack, then fell onto his back with a groan. Above him, Yuuma's blade pierced through the left eye of the dragon. Gripping the handle with both hands, Yuuma swung his body around while keeping a firm grip which caused the blade to twist through the eye socket and into the brain of the beast.

With a sickening squelch, Yuuma pulled his long sword from the dead dragon as the head slumped towards Gajeel.

"Shit!" he cursed as he rolled his body out of the way to avoid being crushed by hundreds of pounds of dead lizard flesh.

Not wasting any time, Yuuma vaulted over the dead dragon head, grabbed onto Gajeel's arm on his way past and pulled them towards the green dragon Gaku is fighting. The tall form of their mentor moved in a blur as he slashed and parried with his Nodachi, the green dragon's snout covered with gashes and savage cuts.

"Come to join the party?" Gaku demanded as he deflected another bite, turning his blade to try and pierce the bloody maw but he missed.

Yuuma skidded to a halt and pushed Gajeel back a step, his bloody sword arched before him. "This party has gone on too long. I blame Captain Suicidal over there!"

Gajeel couldn't bring himself to respond, his jaw clenching from the frustration and the anger. Suicide seemed a better idea than living with all these different shades of guilt. Or at least it did at that moment.

"Later, Yuuma! Help me pin that jaw!"

In a synchronized attack, Gaku and Yuuma jumped in an inhuman burst of speed up toward the snarling head only to stab their blades down. The swords sank through the snout of the dragon and into the asphalt of the road where they all landed. Gaku glared over his shoulder at Gajeel.

"Jeel! Now!" he ordered, eyes wide and angry.

Yuuma held onto his sword with everything he had, sweat pouring down his face as they both fought to keep the struggling head down. "Gajeel! Hurry!"

Intense lightning roared through his veins again, fury at himself enhancing the high he felt as his powers grew hot inside him. Gajeel shook from the pure energy and intense blood lust then roared, charging forward as he channeled the chaotic force into one transformed fist. The fist of a metal scaled dragon arm.

Screaming, he slammed the clawed paw coursing with energy into the skull of the pinned dragon and felt bone give away in a loud crack. Just as soon as the power came upon him, his body morphed back to normal and he crumpled to his knees, panting harshly. Gaku and Yuuma jerked their blades free from the snout and double checked to make sure both heads were dead. Seconds later, the flesh and bone rapidly decayed and the mist began to lift.

Gajeel swallowed heavily, feeling the strain of the entire battle start to settle onto his nerves but Yuuma didn't wait. With a powerful snarl, the pink haired man jerked Gajeel to his feet only to punch him viciously back to the asphalt.

"You selfish little fuck!" Yuuma screamed, sword forgotten in the street behind him.

From the ground, Gajeel just chuckled and licked the blood from the new split in his lip. "You said that already."

Pupils narrowing to inhuman slits, Yuuma snarled again and lunged towards Gajeel but Gaku pushed him back.

"Enough! We'll settle this later. Pick him up and follow."

Knocking Yuuma's hands away as he got back to his feet, Gajeel rubbed at his hand that had earlier had been transformed. "Why?"

"We need to find that girl," Gaku murmured as he flung the blood and guts off his Nodachi before returning the blade to its sheath. "She may know something we don't."

They ran through streets and alleyways, the mist getting thicker than when they had been in the intersection. Levy was pulled along by the pink haired woman by her wrist, knowing she was the only thing keeping the girl moving. The other girl from the intersection ran along side them and began slowing down while looking over her shoulder.

"I think we're far enough away." she panted, wiping some sweat away from her face.

The pink haired woman let go of Levy as she turned around, "Are either of you injured?"

"N-no." the intersection girl replied as she wrapped her arms around herself, "Just happy to be alive. Hey, you okay?"

Levy didn't respond as she leaned her back against the wall of the alley, slowly sliding down until her legs were sprawled weakly beneath her. The sounds of dragon roars, people's screams and buildings breaking continued to echo from downtown. They are alive but for how long? Was there more than one dragon like before? Are the Magnolia Police even prepared for this? Depressing thoughts chased themselves around Levy's head as she settled into the lull of shock.

"Honey, breathe. Come on, shh." Warm arms wrapped themselves gently around Levy and she realized it is the pink haired woman.

"What's your name? Can you recall your name, sweetie?"she asked gently, rubbing slow circles around Levy's back.

"L-Levy."

"Hi there. My name's Luka. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No," the girl responded shakily, clutching onto Luka's Starbucks uniform, "S-scared."

"Okay," Luka murmurs quietly, nodding her head in understanding, "Can you breath slowly? In. Out. There you go. Good job."

She felt the dizziness ease from her head a little, the dark edges puling away from her vision as Levy focused on calming down, on simply breathing.

"Hey! Kid!" a deep voice shouted.

Levy flinched harshly in Luka's arms as all three ladies looked down the alley to see Gaku stalking towards them, his leather jacket covered in blood and dirt. Behind him followed a tall, pink haired young man carrying two long swords and then he gaped shock at Luka.

"Sis?!" he exclaimed and amber eyes looked her over frantically. "You hurt?"

"I'm fine, Yuu. What's going on?"

"About that..." he hesitated than looked over at Gaku who was had stopped in front of the other blue haired girl.

"Name?" he demands gruffly, arms crossed stiffly in front of his chest.

"M-Merli." the girl snapped, purple eyes eyeing him warily.

"Come with us. We can help you." he says, jerking his sunglasses off his nose. Merli's purple eyes widen in shock at his face but from where Levy is, she cannot see him.

A low whining siren is heard off in the distance along with a low purring sound that filled the alley way. Luka looked around with a frown, trying to find the source. Levy hugged her tighter, scared that there is more dragons somewhere

Merli paused a minute longer and than nods, her shoulders relaxing. "Okay."

Turning back around, Gaku storms past Luka and Levy with Merli at his side. He takes his sword back from Yuuma, who is grinning sheepishly at his sister.

"Catch ya later, sis!"

"Yuuma! Gaku! Get back here!"

Levy felt her visions start swimming as exhaustion covered her entire brain, Luka's angry shrieks fading away until the easy embrace of sleep took over.

Above the alley way, in the shadow of a building stood Natsu. He learned his muscular shoulder against the cement corner, dark eyes lazily watching the purple haired man escort the newcomer away.

A slow smirk pulled at his mouth. "Merli, huh? That's a new one."

Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his red hoodie, the young man turned to the shadows and walked off.

To be continued!

To those who are still desperate to know about the 'basement' hopefully I will get to that in the next chapter. Gaku has so much to reveal! I really need to figure out a time jump soon. No one has had a decent rest for the last two days since the Laxus-Gryder raid.

I hope this rekindled people's interest? It seems no matter what I do, I cannot write short chapters! Some would think this a good thing, I find it tedious when I try to keep this simple!

I look forward to all comments/reviews/reactions to know if this chapter excited, confused or amazed people. +.+