Script Dragon (Fairy Tail - GaLe/Gajevy fanfic)

Ch 4. Oak Town

SCRIPT DRAGON

CHAPTER 4: Oak Town

It's all too familiar. The hills, the castles, the huge tower in the middle of the town, even the pavements-Gajeel can close his eyes and run down the narrow roads and still find his way around. This is Oak Town after all. His former residence.

"Left!" Lily yells.

"I know!" he yells back and skids to the direction.

A dark figure glides past the shadowy streets of Oak. It moves rapidly, almost flawlessly, they barely catch up to it. It's a moonless night. No normal human can see anything. Unfortunately for the entity, Gajeel's far from normal and with him is an Exceed. No fucking way that hooded thing can escape their highly sharpened sense of hearing and smell.

"Damn it. These walls are pain in the neck." Lily dons a pair of wings to make up for the delay the maze-like partitions cause.

Gajeel stops. "Ya see it?"

"It's headed outside of town!"

"North Forest! Go!" Gajeel tells him and without more words, the cat heads to the direction of the forest.

They could've gone together but Lily will be faster without load. He'll just have to catch up to the cat. Which means he's going to need a shortcut.

Shortcut, my ass.

Without another thought, Gajeel smashes his way through a series of brick walls. Parts of the walls spray all over the ground, leaving gaping holes big enough for three people to pass through. Oak citizens will be pissed off for sure.

Outside the walls is the Oak River snaking its way between the North forest and the town. He stops by the edge of the water and fixes his unruly mane behind the bandana he wore during the Grand Magic Games. Levy gave it to him before the tag battle against Sabertooth.

He cross the river and stops right outside the forest and sniffs the air. The Exceed's a little far but he's not on the move anymore. Lily must've engaged the enemy and currently on battle. He got to hurry and join the fray then. Lily's an adept fighter but he's fighting shades. No one else knows how to fight those fuckers better than the guy who used to fight alongside with them. The cat needs him.

Halfway through a thick copse, a familiar scent stops him from his tracks. He pauses and sniffs the air again. Is this some kind of a trick?

Baffled, he turns toward where the scent is coming from. No. It can't be. Why would she be here? He inhales deeply, taking in the scent, denying that it's really her, that it's just something that smells like her.

Peppermint. With dust and ink and something else that's unique of her.

Damn it. He's not hallucinating, isn't he?

Two other separate scents come up and Gajeel confirms that she, along with her two annoying fanboys, are really here. He grits his teeth in annoyance. Nice timing, really. What the hell are they doing here at Oak Town in this time of the night? Shadow Gear didn't follow them, did they? Those two idiots aren't surprising. They did follow him before on missions. But Shorty?

Now, this is what he calls a fucking distraction. Which way should he take? Lily needs him to fight but he can't just shake off the sharp stench of blood on the Shadow Gear's direction. Cursing fervently, Gajeel dashes to his right.

Slashing the bushes using his tetsuryūken, he makes his way out of the thicket. He just hopes Lily can handle himself a little longer without his help. There's no time to think. It's Levy, for fucks sake.

Just make sure it's not your blood, you idiot.

Not too long then, he comes upon a small clearing surrounded by thick foliage. Under a huge oak, he find three figures slumping on the ground. Two are lying on their backs while the third seems to be fixing a tourniquet on an arm of one of them.

A surge of unexplainable feeling pounds his temple. The sight of three bloody shapes and a huge tree... damn it. All of the sudden, it feels like Magnolia Park all over again. Only this time, he's not driven by cruelty.

He slashes off the last bush blocking his way and rushes towards the smallest figure under the tree. Startled by the noise, it jumps up and-

"Solid Script: Stone!"

A large chunk of rock goes flying and Gajeel only has a little time to duck. It misses him by an inch. Another one comes for his head and he blocks it with his iron club. Bits of broken stone sprays all over him.

"Shit! What the fuck, Levy!"

The little mage freezes. She still got her arms raised for another spell when a hint of recognition, then confusion registers on her face.

"Gajeel?"

"Who else?" he snorted, putting his arms down from his face.

"What are you doing here?" she asks; her voice too loud and too alarmed.

"No. What are you doing here?" He asks back and points out to her, then to her teammates. The two are still unconscious.

Sighing, Levy puts down her hands. The wild look on her face dissipates. Gajeel walks towards them and sees that all three are badly beaten.

"What hell happened here?"

Gajeel can't stop cursing inside his head as he stares at her disheveled form. Her dress is in tatters. Her headband is missing. And most of all, she's bleeding. A rich flow of red oozes out of her left leg. There are bruises everywhere. Bumps. Gashes. Wounds. Damn it. Damn it all to hell.

"Who the fuck did this to you?"

Levy just stares at him, like she can't believe it's really him. She lets out a croaky laugh before sinking down to her knees. Gajeel rushes to her just in time to keep her from falling on her face.

"Shorty!" he calls her but like the two, she's out cold. Whatever energy she had left, she already used it when she threw two solid scripts at him.

Gajeel carefully lays her beside the other fairies. The grim look on his face turns darker as he pulls off the bandana on his forehead to wrap around her bleeding leg. Before he leaves the three, he puts up iron bars around them as protection.

Whoever the assholes stupid enough to hurt his bookworm-they're so fucking getting it. They messed with the wrong guild. Moreover, they messed with the wrong mage.

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