[Ink x Iron] A Gajeel x Levy Fanfiction Pt. 18

Chapter Eighteen: Life and Death

Outside, Fairy Tail was locked in a ferocious battle with the puppets. Everywhere one looked, someone was either fighting, or defending a wounded person. It was madness, and it seemed that no matter how many puppets Fairy Tail defeated more and more appeared.

“How many of these things are there?” Lucy yelled using her whip to destroy a puppet.

“I don’t know,” Loke responded, sending one puppet crashing into another.

“Have either of you guys seen Wendy?” Cana yelled, running towards Lucy.

Before Lucy could even get the words out, a puppet struck Cana in the side, sending her sliding across the stone street. She let out a yell, and tried to get to her feet, but the puppet was faster. It stood over her, one of its scuttling feet swiftly buried itself in her shoulder, she screamed in agony.

“Cana!” someone yelled, there was a flash of red. In a blink of the eye, the puppet fell, sliced in half. Standing a few feet from it was none other than Erza. She was wearing her Flight Armor, and seemed extremely out of breath. Lucy couldn’t help but let out a small cheer.

The redhead’s brown eyes suddenly widened, and the world began to play out in slow motion. Erza’s mouth moved slowly, but Lucy knew she was screaming. The redhead pointed behind Lucy, and the blonde turned, ever so slowly. The second her head whipped around, the slow motion was taken off, and Lucy was sent flying.

“No!” Loke yelled from somewhere on the ground. Lucy felt herself begin to fall down, but for some reason, she couldn’t get her body to move. Realization began to sink in. This was it. This was the way that she was going to die. Falling to her death in front of all her friends, there was no way she could stop it. It was the end, and she had to accept it. The blonde closed her eyes, accepting her fate…

“LUCY!” another voice yelled from nearby. Was this it? Was she already dead along with her other Guild mates? Pain spiked in her side, along with the feeling of heat, lots and lots of heat. The feeling snapped her out of her thinking, and she slowly opened her eyes. Above her, was Natsu? He had caught her!

“Natsu…” Lucy whispered, reaching her hand out to touch his face.

“Hey Luce,” he glanced down at her, his gaze softened, “hold on.”

The two hit the ground, hard. Lucy’s world spun, and Natsu set her down gently, holding her arms to steady her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice low.

“Yes,” the blonde nodded as he pulled her into a small hug.

“I’m glad I saw you when I did,” he murmured into her hair.

“Ahem.”

The two broke apart; Lucy glanced over to see Loke. He was visibly annoyed, Lucy would’ve laughed if the situation were different, but behind him she could see her Guild mates still fighting. This was no time for laughing.

“What’s the plan, Loke?” Natsu asked, his hand had found its way into Lucy’s.

“I don’t know,” Loke’s gaze fell, he looked back, “Erza said something, but the puppets’ cut us off. All I could make out was ‘regroup’.”

“Regroup? Where?” Lucy said, gripping Natsu’s hand tightly, “and where did Happy go?”

“He went to help Carla, I think,” Natsu replied looking back into the sky, worry written on his face.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Loke nodded, following Natsu’s gaze, “If you were a bad guy, where would you put your home base?”

“Somewhere high, where I could see anyone that was coming. Higher ground is always an advantage,” Lucy replied.

“I think I know where Erza would go.”


* * *

Erza had tried to tell Loke about the entire situation. The people that they thought were evil actually weren’t, Zuri was being controlled. Jack of the East was on their side now, along with Rain. This whole thing had just been an entire show. There was only one man pulling all of the strings; Jest the Puppet Master.

Once Mirajane got Jack to talk, he told them everything. Zuri was a completely different person when she got back from the ten year quest, and found out the Guild had been disband, she went absolutely insane. She had hunt down every last Guild member. She had given them a choice, go with her or die.

Jack told them that the only reason he went with her, was because he had always loved her. She was always stronger than him, and he always thought that she never knew he existed; so going with her seemed like a way for her to notice his strength. The second he had said yes, he realized that she wasn’t the same woman.

There were only four that had decided to go with her were himself, Winter, Enasni Cisum, and another elderly man who kept to himself. (Jack still wasn’t sure if the ones who said no actually died or not). The four of them were given the task of guarding the Gates, but from whom or what they were never told.

Jack told them that Zuri spent most of her time locked up in the tower. She would spend hours upon hours just pouring over books, maps, and various old drawings. She would whisper to herself, lock herself up in the dark, and sometimes she would go days without eating. One day, without warning, she disappeared. She left notes with instructions for all of them, and left an exact date as to when she would return.

The scary part was; everything she wrote down happened exactly how she wrote it.

“Ah!” Jack yelled, falling to the ground. Mirajane and Erza immediately slowed.

“What’s wrong?” Mirajane yelled, over the noise of fighting.

“Me chest,” Jack groaned again, pulling open his shirt. Forming over his heart was a long pink cut he let out another yell, as it grew wider.

“What is that?” Erza yelled, swinging at a nearing puppet.

“Its—ah!” Jack yelled again as the cut began to turn red, “it’s me—ah—connection to Zuri—son of—ah!“

“Connection?” Mira asked, her blue eyes still staring at the red cut slowly turning dark.

“Yes,” Jack groaned, “what color is it turning?”

“Um, it’s a…” the color was changing rapidly Mira could hardly keep up.

“What color is it?!”

“It’s starting to turn red—“

“Red?! No! No, no, no!” Jack struggled to get to his feet.

Mira helped him up, “what does the color mean, Jack?”

“It means that Zuri is dying.”

“Dying?” Erza echoed.

“Yes, lass, dying,” Jack sounded annoyed, “we need to get to the tower. I have to be there for ‘er, I have to…I have…” Jack fell down to his knees; the cut along his chest was turning a deep magenta.

“Jack!” Erza yelled, he closed his eyes and sweat had broken out across his forehead.

“We can’t keep moving like this,” Mira said, trying to hold him on his feet.

“We have to!” Jack spat, “Have ye e’er loved somebody so much that it hurt ye?”

Mirajane blinked at him.

“Have ye e’er watched them fade right before yer very eyes? I did, and I thought there was so much more that I could do, but I wasn’t…I wasn’t strong enough…I couldn’t protect her. I can be strong now, and I can help her—save her maybe—if ye had that chance for somebody ye loved, wouldn’t ye take it without any hesitation?”

Erza stopped in her tracks, “then we’d better get moving! These puppets are letting up any time soon, and we’re not very far from the tower.”

“Right,” Mira nodded, allowing her Demon form to take over. Jack did the same, forcing himself to stand up, and requip into a different armor.

* * *

Gajeel could’ve sat there for eternity, and never bat an eye. Levy was here, in his arms, safe, unharmed, and she had said the one thing that he had always wanted to hear out of her mouth. Those three tiny words; I love you. And he had said it back, without hesitation, without tripping over himself he had said it, and he had meant every single word of it.

“Don’t cry,” he murmured, smoothing out her hair.

“I can’t help it,” she sobbed into his chest, “I’m just so happy…”

He held her tighter, burying his face into her neck, and letting his own happy tears fall. He was really here with her; after all of this time apart, they were together again. Everything about her seemed so surreal—her scent, her soft skin, and her tiny hands locked firmly around his neck—how could this beautiful, gentle, amazing woman ever feel so much love for a guy like him? It must truly be what they call love.

Someone cleared their throat; the couple immediately broke apart, preparing themselves for another fight. From the doorway, floated an elderly man, surrounded by sands. He floated inside of the room, flanking him on either side was a gray Exceed, a man in a beaten up top hat, and a pale woman in a red scarf.

“I am sorry to interrupt such a…” the man struggled for words, “…joyous reunion, but I’m afraid the fight is not yet over.”

Gajeel stood quickly, “Who are you? What do you want?” If the old man were affected by Gajeel’s tone, he showed no signs of it.

“Oh, no,” the old man raised his ancient hands, “you’ve mistaken me. You see, my fight is not with you. My fight is against Time, and against another,” he stared longingly at the Iron Box that bound Jest the Puppet Master.

“Why should I trust a damn word that you say?” Gajeel’s voice was dark, and he had moved completely in front of Levy, prepared to defend her in any way.

The old man laughed, a sickly laugh, “Gajeel, why do you even think you’re alive today? Time has wanted you to live. It has bred you, and the girl you love, all for a purpose. Without the Time, you would have been dead, as I’ve watched you die so many times before. This Time, everything works out the way its supposed too.”

“What the hell are you going on about?” Gajeel’s hands were slowly forming into swords.

“If you dare to attack him, I will rip you to pieces,” the pale girl with the red scarf yelled, stepping forwards. The elderly man’s sands stopped her.

“Winter,” the elderly man seemed to chide, “Gajeel will not attack me, now don’t pick a fight. Time will not allow it.”

“Where’s Zuri?” The gray Exceed asked suddenly, her eyes searching the room.

“Zuri,” Levy spoke up, stepping out from behind Gajeel, “what do want with her?”

“She’s my Dragon Slayer!” the Exceed wailed, “I need to know if she’s—“ the Exceed stopped, Levy followed her line of sight. She had found Zuri’s broken body lying amongst the rubble.

Levy could feel the sadness rolling off the small Exceed. Her Dragon Slayer, probably the only person she’s known since birth, was now dead. The worst part, Levy realized, was that Zuri died young, and in battle. Some people would argue that dying in the place of someone else was honorable, but here and now, experiencing a comrade die before their time…nothing was honorable about that.

“We haven’t got much Time,” the elderly man broke the silence, “she’s slipping farther and farther away by the minute.”

“Can she really come back from an injury like that?” the woman called Winter asked.

“Of course she can! She’s Zuri the Water Dragon Slayer! She would never go down without one last fight! Even if it were with death!” the Exceed yelled indignantly.

“Rain is right,” the elderly man began to glide towards Zuri, “Time will not allow her to leave just yet…” Behind him, the small gray Exceed, Rain, followed behind him. The two came to a stop in front of Zuri. Gajeel took a step back, his body still shielding Levy.

“Zuri!” a new voice yelled from the doorway. Gajeel and Levy glanced over. At the door stood a man with black hair, red bandana, and an open shirt with a red Phantom Lord symbol and a black cut over his heart. Behind him stood Mirajane and Erza.

“Ye step away from me beauty, ye son of a bitch!” he yelled, taking a step forwards, Winter grabbed his arm.

“Jack,” the elderly man smiled, “if I step away from her, then she’ll die. I’m sure that you of all people wouldn’t want that…”

“What are ye gonna to do to ‘er?”

“What the Time has commanded me to.”’