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neen-writes · 7 years ago

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Prince Mononoke -- Chapter 7

Series: Fairy Tail/Princess Mononoke

Pairing: Gajeel/Levy

Genre: Romance/Adventure

Rating: M for violence and language.

Summary: Afflicted by a terrible curse, Levy is forced to abandon her home and her family in search of a cure; a journey that throws her into something far greater. She finds herself stuck between the world of humans, struggling to pull ahead and evolve, and the world of demons and gods, where she meets a beastly prince with a heart of unwavering loyalty and determination.

Note: And...here it is. Over a year since the last update, I never wanted to give up one this story. I told myself I wouldn’t, and I always sat and would look at the started chapter, two paragraphs, and then get distracted by something else. So, this chapter is for all of you that have somehow waited so long for this update. Thank you to all of you, and thanks to @spikerr for beta-ing for me :]

Read this fic on FF.net here, and Ao3 here

Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6

From the green, a frothing, roiling mass of brown pelts came into the light. More boars than they could count marched forward, tossing their heads to brandish tusks of varying length. It was a warning to weigh carefully how to react to their appearance.

Reflexively, Gajeel moved to between them and Levy, his eyes narrowed in apprehension. Immediately the attention of the boars went to the beast prince, and wails of disapproval filled the air. Some stepped back, fully repulsed by the sight of them both in such a place. But what had repulsed them more, was the calm leopard god standing near them, yellow eyes piercing them in a way that could only be interpreted as defensive.

“How could you bring a human to such a sacred place? The humans would kill the forest. We must save it,” one of the larger boars, near the front, spoke up. He stomped the earth repeatedly with a defiant, proud hoof and tilled the soil. “How repulsive to see one in such a place as this; this is not what we expected to find here.”

Metalicana did not flinch, instead he took one fluid step closer to his son and the girl. The very motion brought a collective shudder and tensing from the group in front of him. At this time, another black cat emerged from the shadows behind him, bringing even more alarm to the group. Pantherlily sat, quietly but tensely behind the larger panther, his tail swinging idly behind him. Just once, he curled a lip to show his teeth, letting a little of his anger show, before he relaxed his face again and adjusted his paws in front of him.

Had Metalicana not committed to remaining calm and keeping the situation as controlled as possible, he might have laughed at the fear of the pigs. Prey all act the same. So frightened. So weak. “There are humans everywhere, you know.” His giant tail swished silently behind him. “Gajeel is my son, tread carefully. You’d do best to go back to your own forests and butcher the humans there. You need not have come so far for ours.”

The boar that spoke before found his composure again, and snorted. “We must kill for the Forest Spirit.” Slowly his dark gaze went to Gajeel, who in his pelt looked like he belonged more than the figure on the ground behind him. His eyes settled next on Levy. “Why is the girl here?”

“The Forest Spirit healed her,” Gajeel stated, tight-lipped. If he’d had his way, he and Lily would have torn into them as soon as they dared confront them like this. This was their territory, and this confrontation was outrageous.

The very words were a blow, and the entire group stepped back, shaking their heads in earnest denial. Now words rose up from everywhere in the herd. “The Forest Spirit healed a human? Saved her? A human! Why not one of our own? Why not Nago! Does the God of the Forest not protect us all?”

A sharp hiss cut into them and steadied them just enough for Metalicana to speak again. His coat bristled enough to add even more to his bulk. “You know as well as I that she gives life and takes it away. We are not to question her ways. Have you forgotten this?” The black leopard tilted his head, baring a yellow fang.

The confident one hesitated only a second at the very quiet warning. But no more than that second as his rage started to bubble. “Nago came into your lands. Injured, poisoned. Debased. Why did you not help him? Why was the Forest Spirit’s favor stolen for another?!”

“Your brother feared death as much as I. As do any of us with sense. Like Nago, I carry a poisoned stone in my flesh. A gift from the humans. Nago ran from this. I will face it.” Metalicana was perfectly calm, composed, but as though in response a pulse of pain shot through his shoulder. He could feel Gajeel and Lily’s eyes on him suddenly, burning into him and demanding that he acknowledge them. The panther had not mentioned this until now, but he knew as soon as he was hit that the scalding metal would kill him. Slowly, but kill him nonetheless. He had accepted it already, but the human boy and the other cat would take time he didn’t have right now.

Still, this was not an answer the boar clan would accept. “You lie! Nago was brave! Beautiful! He would not have run! You must have eaten him! Traitorous cats!” The rest of the herd wailed in agreement, churning the soil with their hooves. They inched forward in their rage, but the leopards stood firm. Even though he knew to not say anything, Pantherlily did not stop himself from firing off a terrifying snarl of warning, ears pinned back against his skull. They could have counted every tooth and fang with the intensity of his snarl.

Gajeel could remain quiet no longer. He stook a short leap forward, baring his teeth as well. His black mane fell around his face, adding to his size and the feral look he had adopted. “Watch yer damn mouth, pig! Don’t ya forget who my father is!” he snapped. A growl from the leopard god warned him, but he did not back down. He was ready to fight for such disrespect. His father’s sensibility would not stop him.

“Please...listen…”

But that tiny, weak voice did. As though forgetting she was there, Gajeel whirled, his pelt billowing around him, to face the young woman that had weakly hauled herself up to sit. She panted, sweat glistening on her face as she regarded the angry beasts.

“I killed your brother, far from here,” she said simply. Angry snorts replied to her, and the herd crept forward again. Only a hiss from the leopard god stopped them, momentarily, allowing her to continue. “The iron turned him into a demon, and he attacked my village. I killed him to protect them, and I was cursed in turn.”

Slowly, like the very action was draining what life she had left in her, she pulled back her sleeve to reveal the purple, burning flesh. She lamented at how much it had progressed, but kept speaking. “This is my proof. I am here to beg the Forest Spirit to lift my curse. He healed my wounds, but left my curse--Nago’s curse. I too must now face my fate.”

The entire herd went silent, but not because of what she had revealed.

A white figure, larger than any other individual in the herd, slowly appeared through the parting mass of boars.

“Ah, Okkoto. Finally,” the leopard god said in relief, visible tension leaving his body. “Someone reasonable.”

The white boar ignored the cat, lumbering straight for Levy. Metalicana looked to have taken no disrespect, knowing their time was limited. Gajeel, however, tensed and moved to stop the god. He didn’t know why he moved so instinctively to put himself between the girl and a threat, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“Back, boy,” Metalicana warned sternly, but still Gajeel was unsure.

The white boar turned milky eyes to look upon the beast prince, calmly enough to give him pause. His giant snout twisted as he breathed deeply, but his eyes were vacantly staring past him. It took Gajeel a second to realize, He’s… he’s blind.

“You are the son of Metalicana, I have heard much of you,” the boar god finally spoke, his voice far gentler than the others. “Fear not, boy, I will not eat her.”

The prince started to bristle, disregarding the words, but the woman’s small voice stopped him. “Let me speak to him. I owe him this, to tell of his brethren's end.” Gajeel paused, looking at her for a moment with an emotion he couldn’t define; was it irritation or worry? After a second, he finally stepped back to allow the boar god to advance. He didn’t know why she had such a sway on him, but he felt no inclination to fight her. Still, he would remain close and vigilant. “Lord Okkoto, what I said of Nago is the truth,” she added weakly.

The large boar approached slowly, sniffing every step as his ears twitched. He was gauging how close he needed to get, until finally an outstretched hand rested against his wet snout and he stopped. He inhaled deeply of the purple flesh, so deeply that she thought he might swallow her up. On the exhale, he nodded. “I believe you, and I thank you, little one. It hurts and shames me deeply that a demon was born of my tribe,” he finally said, leaning away from her.

Levy nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “I am sorry for your loss, but I must ask,” she started, and he snorted a reply. “Lord Okkoto. Is there any way to lift this curse? Any at all?” Had she not been so weak already, it would have sounded more like she was begging. Because she was. She was begging for her future.

The boar went still, lowering his head slightly. He was quiet, and she wasn’t sure if he was thinking or paying respects. “Leave the forest. This is no place for you. If we meet again I will have to kill you; you must know this, it is our way. Our law,” he warned, turning away from her. He had nothing to offer her, and he had no more time to be sympathetic. He had what he came for: closure for their comrade. The girl visibly slumped at such a disappointment.

It was Metalicana’s turn to step forward, “You cannot win against the humans and their poisoned stones, Okkoto. Go home.”

The boar sighed, turning an ear to the leopard, “Metalicana… look at us. We grow stupid, and smaller by the day. Soon enough we will be no more than mindless game for the humans to hunt. This is our final stand. It is all we have left.”

“You will fall right into their hands if you stake everything on this one battle,” the leopard retorted.

“I don’t need the help of the shadowcats. We will die. But we will leave the humans bleeding, in awe of us and what we are. What we were. We are gods, Metalicana. They have forgotten it, but we cannot let them. You may be content with that; we are not,” Okkoto replied, slowly and calmly. There was nothing but resolution in his tone, a steady determination that was not going to be swayed. The herd of boars parted to allow him to pass, and all followed him soon after.

The leopard clan and the human girl were left in heavy silence. She let out a long, heavy breath and slumped forward a little. She had no other ideas, no other hopes. The Forest Spirit could do nothing, and the god of the clan where her curse originated from could do nothing. Levy found herself robbed of the strength to stay awake, and as far as she knew, this was where the curse killed her.

Her vision quickly went black, and she remembered the sensation of falling before consciousness left her all together.

Before the back of her head hit soil, the prince was leaping for her. He caught her by the shoulders, shocked that he had even moved to touch her at all. Gajeel stared down at her for a moment, before slowly looking to Lily, baffled at the whole affair.

Levy awoke in a cold sweat, her cursed arm wracked with spasms. Trying not to move too much, she grasped it with her good hand and hissed a steadying breath through her teeth, biting back groans of pain. She had to all but dig her nails into the flesh to distract herself from the pain with another. Several minutes passed before her own limb calmed down enough to let her take in her surroundings.

Eyes still closed, the woman inhaled deeply, expecting to smell soil and fresh water. At her last memory, she was in the Forest Spirit’s glenn, and thus at this point she realized two things: she was somehow still alive, and she did not smell what she expected. Old leaves, mostly. Nothing more she could pinpoint over that.

She forced herself to look finally, and overhead she found not sky, but stone. A cave? she thought, wondering how she could have come to such a location at all. Levy turned her head slowly, and felt her heart skip a beat or two when she saw a figure very close to her, sitting like a sentry against the wall. The prince… In her mind she found familiarity that brought her some peace. Not only because she knew the face, but because she had dreamt he would be there. They were short dreams, images mostly, but each one had him close to her.

His eyes were shut, hair fanned out against the wall behind him. He was missing his cape, she noticed, and when she tried to move, hoping to sit up, she recognized the weight over her. She felt such stiffness in her bones and such a fog in her mind, like she had been asleep forever, that each of her senses took some time to catch up with her. Levy looked, and found the leopard pelt draped over her like a blanket.

It may have taken several minutes for her to wake fully, but at that moment a warmth spread through her that woke the rest of her up. A warmth that did not come just from being under the pelt.

As she came more to her senses, another flare of pain shot through her arm and she found herself again fighting the agony. Levy bit down, hard, and forced herself upright. Air. I need air, she thought, desperate for even temporary relief.

Quietly as she could, the woman forced herself upwards and wavered on her feet. Her knees cracked and she felt the full effect of her stiff muscles then. She tried to focus on the mundane pain over the curse, and walked quickly to where she could see moonlight illuminate the mouth of the cave.

Behind her, Gajeel cracked open his eyes, having listened to the entire process, and watched her hobble towards the exit. He wondered if she would leave, or if she would be frightened back inside by what she found standing guard out in the open.

The cool night air wafted over her, and Levy stopped abruptly. Not just from the relief of fresh air, but from what she found before her. The cave exit was nothing but a large rock outcropping, higher up than she could imagine, with a view over the valley. The sky was clear, revealing a tapestry of constellations, with the silver moon at its center. She could see as clearly as she would at the height of any day, and Levy was so stunned by the silver forest, spanning out towards a ridge of mountains, that she forgot her pain. On the rocky slope extending down to her right, she caught movement; Yakul, nibbling on some greenery in the rocks before he lifted his head to look at her. At least you are without pain, old friend.

“There was a day, a day that feels so distant, when I looked out upon this and did not find myself counting the seasons until its disappearance,” a rumbling voice startled the woman, and she whirled to find the leopard god himself perched in watch over the mouth of the cave. His eyes glowed yellow in the moonlight, focused not on her but at the same view she had been admiring. “Every spring I wonder, ‘will it be this year?’ And every autumn I find myself unsure if it is the normal course, or if I am finally watching my home wither away.”

Levy wasn’t sure what to say. She pitied him, knowing their plight against the humans, but still she could not find the words to offer. What do you say to a god of the forest? Any words that might have tried to come up with dried up when he turned his eyes down upon her. More specifically, her arm.

“Does it pain you?” Metalicana asked, tilting his head slightly. The tensing of her body, and the way she bit her lip was answer enough. His lips curled in a bitter smile or sorts. “If you jumped, it would end the pain, you know. You know of no way to rid yourself of that, as I have no way to rid myself of mine. When you regain your strength, so will that curse. And it will tear you asunder.”

“Would you jump, then? To end your pain?” Levy replied, unsure if she regretted saying such a thing, or if her somewhat dimmer outlook gave her more confidence than was healthy. “Or do you feel your own curse drives you towards greater purpose?”

The leopard huffed, flexing his claws into the stone in a tense moment before he relaxed. “Well said,” he conceded with a small bow of his head, shockingly tolerant of such boldness from the human girl.

Levy released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and shifted on her feet. She looked back out towards the forest and rubbed her arm absentmindedly. “I feel as though I have slept for days. I dreamt that Gajeel stayed by my side, caring for me,” she said, softer than she realized.

“Nearly two days, child,” Metalicana replied simply, watching the girl look back to him quickly. “I hoped the pain would make you would cry out in your sleep; surprise us. I would have a reason to kill you then.” He took a moment to watch the human girl tense again, like a prey animal unsure of whether to fight or flee. He savored the nervousness in her body and scent, before his body shook with huffing, sharp noises that could only be taken for laughter. The girl did not relax. “Gajeel would have been displeased with me if I did,” the cat added, and then the tension left her.

So he had been there, it was not only a dream. Levy swallowed hard, wondering if there was not quite as much animosity here as she had expected. She woke up warm, a little stronger, and safe. Thanks were in order, at the very least. “I am honored you have let me stay with you. I know you hate me; my kind. Thank you,” Levy said with a small bow of her head.

A low growl, more of dismissive annoyance than anything else, rumbled in his chest. He cocked his head, baring a single fang. “Save your words. We are of shortened lifespans, you and I. Let us not waste what precious little we have left with useless pleasantries.”

Levy paused, taking a moment to try and understand his motives. He did not look like he meant to attack her, but instead he looked at her expectantly. Impatiently. He’s… he’s deigning to speak to me. I’m a human, he is a forest god. Of course this is a privilege for me, he’s giving me a chance to say what I would like. Or need, she thought, hurried by a swish of his massive tail. A tail as big around as a young tree.

“Do the boars really mean to wage war? Have they moved yet?” she asked.

“Not yet, but soon. Perhaps in another day or two,” he answered, reading the disapproval on her features. He scoffed again, “You are lucky, child. You cannot hear it.”

The woman tilted her head then, “Hear what?”

“The screams of the forest,” he said simply, and she balked slightly at the bluntness of it. Metalicana looked outwards again, a faraway gleam in his eyes. “You have your curse, and I have mine. The forest cries as the boars advance, and my body wastes away,” he paused, giving Levy a chance to recall what the boars had said of their own wasting, “All I can do is wait for Titania to emerge again, and dream of the day we end her.”

Levy frowned deeply, and a pang of pain in her arm reminded her to control whatever emotions she felt. “Why is peace so unattainable?” she all but cried out before she took a deep breath to steady her tone. He could still kill her whenever he wished, and moreover her cursed arm reacted to her emotions it seemed. “Why do both sides cling so steadfast to their hatred? In my village… the home I left behind, we respected the forest. It took from us and we took from it in equal measure. We had balance. If we can strive for that balance, perhaps we can reverse what has already been set in motion. Would that not be a better future?”

“You were spoiled, then,” Metalicana shot back, baring his teeth in warning. “These humans cannot be stopped. You are a fool to think you can change them. Their passions consume them, and they are gathering. Even here we are not safe.”

“And what will become of Gajeel? Will you drag him into this as well? Foster more hatred in him too?” Levy glanced inside of the cave quickly before resuming eye contact with the cat. Her eyes narrowed, feeling that foolhardy confidence from before ignite in her chest.

“He is my son. Instead of killing him I raised him as my own. He is a panther, he is of my tribe. If the forest dies, so does he,” he replied with such simplicity, such resolution that she took a hard step towards him.

“Then set him free! He has the unique position to choose, either between the humans or the forest. He is stuck in this conflict because of who you are, let him make his own decisions. He nearly died trying to kill Titania. And for what?”

“Foolish girl!” Metalicana was on his feet in a second, a hiss trailing from him as his fur bristled, brilliant under the moonlight. “This is his choice. The humans cast him out, rejected him. Now he belongs to neither beast nor human, he has no set place in this world. And he chose it. You think you can save him from this war? The tiny creature you are, curling up at the feet of death already? You think he will go with you? That you will live together outside of all this?” Levy couldn’t tell if it was rage, passion, or both that drove the cat. But what she could tell, was that his reaction to this topic indicated he was just as frustrated by the outcome as she was. None of them wanted to die, least of all those of the forest. He did not want Gajeel to die, he did not want his clan to die, but here they were. On the brink of war, mortally wounded before it even began. Nowhere to flee to with the forest near death itself.

At this point in time, she could see how it would appear there was no other option. Still, something in her would not allow her to accept that. She reached up, clutching the crystal whistle around her neck and thought, just once, of her sister. “These can’t be our only choices.”

The leopard god stared her down for a moment longer before the tension finally left his body, and he dropped back down into a reclined position. “You can do nothing, child,” he said, “you will fight to, but soon that curse, the forest, or the humans will kill you, and none of it will matter.” Finally, he tore his gaze from her in a way that felt like he grew tired of the conversation. “We cannot stay here; we will leave at sunrise and rest elsewhere tomorrow until the boars begin their onslaught. You will not come with us. And the forest will not be safe for you once the fighting begins, so you will do best to flee. Far, far away from here. Telling you this is the last kindness I will extend to you, child.”

That was the end of it, and she knew it. She didn’t plan to push her luck with him. Levy, again, bowed her head out of respect and headed back into the cave. Just being on her feet and speaking left her feeling exhausted all over again, and she feared she might collapse right there. And she couldn’t be sure of how controlled the god would be over his instincts at that time.

The woman craved the soft bed of leaves now and the warmth of the pelt, but when she found herself inside, she saw red eyes staring at her expectantly. “That was… stupid,” he grumbled, with just the hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Levy stopped short, swaying a little on her feet. She didn’t expect him to be awake. “How much did you hear?”

“All of it.”

Her heart jumped a little bit, and she was forced to sit on the bed of leaves to avoid cracking her skull on the stone floor. She sat for a moment, staring at him, and found his gaze to be just as unwavering. “I don’t regret what I said.”

“Of course ya don’t, you’ll be dead soon,” Gajeel replied, faster and a little more insensitively than he had intended. The realization hit him moments after, especially when he saw her reflexively hold her blotched arm to her chest. “I, ah…” he fumbled for words, unsure how to communicate with someone who might actually not be as steeled against words as his brother and father were. Communicating with a human girl was just… a little different from communicating with predators.

Levy smiled bitterly. “Yes, well. I’m sure that plays a part,” she said softly, finally averting her eyes. “I am sure it is why Metalicana bothered to speak to me at all.”

Gajeel shifted uncomfortably, missing the meaning in her words. Instead, his thoughts flew to the fact his father suffered just as she did. He kept himself in complete denial that his ailment was anywhere as bad as hers, especially when the leopard refused to speak to him or Lily about it. She had an actual curse, one the Forest Spirit couldn’t even touch. But the mighty leopard god merely had a wound. He would heal; he had to. Something like that would not bring down his father.

“You will follow him? Into the fight?” she asked, breaking him from his thoughts.

Gajeel took a moment to remember what she was talking about, and puffed up a little with a determined look on his face. “Of course I will. I failed the first time, I won’t again,” he glared at her this time, recalling the Iron Town incident. His first instinct was to be angry with her over it, but then everything else trampled over his impulsivity. He remembered the look in her eyes as she stopped the blow that could’ve killed Titania. He remembered what she said to him to stop him from driving his blade through her throat. And most significantly, he remembered the strange twist in his stomach when he overheard her advocating on his behalf to his very large, powerful, and dangerous father. With no wavering in her voice, no hesitation.

All at once he realized every memorable thing she had done in his short time knowing her, had been done completely selflessly and without hesitation. He saw uncertainty in her face only a handful of times, primarily when dealing with the topic of her fate. That arm would kill her. He knew the Forest Spirit had come to her, even if he dared not be present. But even she could not have healed the girl of the curse, only her mortal wounds. “What’ll ya do, about that?” he inclined his head towards her arm, trying to break himself from his own thoughts that were running off too quickly.

Levy bit her lip and looked to her lap. “As much as I can before it takes me,” she replied simply. If she was to die, she would still follow her original purpose: to see with eyes unclouded by hate. How exactly she was to achieve that she was still unsure but she knew it had something to do with this conflict. Lady Gandeeney told Levy her fate laid in the West, and as uncertain as that was she refused to believe after all this her fate was just a slow death. She had to find some way to stop all of this, and if doing that killed her, at least that would mean something. For her family, for all the lives in the forest, she would not give in to the curse.

Gajeel tilted his head, struggling to understand her. She was a human, she had to want something. “Do ya really think you can do anythin’? Why try? This ain’t your fight,” he pushed, and she stilled him again with those golden eyes, pinning him with a strong look.

“Because it’s right,” she said simply. “I have very little time left, and I am going to spend it doing what I think is right.”

“And that includes defendin’ me, huh? Ya think I’m better off not following after my father? Doing this for my clan?” Gajeel pressed, crossing his arms.

“I meant exactly what I said. That you have a chance, being what you are, to take a position that isn’t for either side, but both. You are both, help both. You can’t just… kill yourself for a senseless war,” Levy answered softly, “I can’t watch that happen.”

Again, he was taken aback by her words. By the gentle, but steadfast selflessness. She wasn’t saying any of this for her. She wasn’t even telling him not to fight. She was telling him to fight differently. None of that matters. Not now. I ain’t got a choice anymore, it’s too late. I can’t let my clan die and I can’t let Titania live, he thought. Still, her words hung heavily over him. After a long pause, he relaxed against the stone wall. “You may think I’m both, but I gotta tell ya, you’re neither. Ya ain’t beast, but ya ain’t like any human I know.”

Levy laughed a little at that, a sound that surprised herself. When did I last… “I suppose you’re right,” she agreed, more aware now than ever that she didn’t know where she fit. “Regardless, thank you. For caring for me,” she said with a small smile. He crumpled his nose a bit at that, and opened his mouth to reply but was cut off.

Another sharp pain shot through her arm, and she finally looked down to the patterns of rough purple. “A-ah!” The muscle spasmed and her arm went stiff, and with a hiss she grabbed it and tried to hold it to her chest, applying pressure that helped just a little in controlling the shaking, burning flesh. Levy curled in on herself, trying to hold it as tight as possible, huffing air through teeth clenched so tight she thought they might crack.

What she felt next wasn’t more pain, but the leopard pelt that was previously her blanket being thrown over her. She couldn’t look up to see what was happening, but there was a sudden, strong pressure that wrapped around her, and she was being pulled somewhere.

Gajeel wrapped her in his cloak and sat behind her, pulling into a tighter hug than she could manage for herself. Carefully, he shimmied backwards to rest his back against the wall of the cave, pulling up his knees slightly on either side of her. He could feel her trembling terribly in his hold, and for whatever reason he felt completely compelled to stop her shaking and just hold her as secure as possible. They could all die, very soon, so what did he have to lose for just giving in to a fleeting desire?

So, he sat huddled with her, keeping her as close as possible until he felt her body calm and her breathing slow. The tremors faded away, and the whimpers she kept in the back of her throat stopped. They said nothing else to one another for what felt like a long time, largely because Levy couldn’t find the words, through her shock or pain, to say to him. Eventually, her breathing had slowed down enough and her body relaxed enough for him to think she might have drifted off entirely. Slowly, Gajeel tilted his head to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of her face to see if she was awake. As if on cue, her head lolled back, resting against his shoulder.

Gajeel went stiff, taking in a sharp breath and looking utterly dumbfounded and wide-eyed at the sudden contact. He was hit with a distant memory as a small child, curled up into the warm pelt of his father. This wasn’t quite the same, that much he could tell, but the peaceful sleep she had fallen into reminded him of it regardless. Craning his neck, he could see just the side of her face, her soft features framed by the brilliantly blue hair. Nothing about her fit with what fate had handed her. Cursed, a demon… none of that seemed right.

She was soft, warm, and she smelled like spring. And for once, he was frustrated by the timing of it all. But even he knew it was useless to toil over it, and he couldn’t let himself be consumed with that image of her. Slowly, he leaned his head back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. This girl, touched by the Forest Spirit, a fearless traveller from the East, was anything but soft. He thought instead of the moment he saw her face for the first time, and found himself consumed with another image of her. Aflame with determination, hair a cerulean storm as the force of their collision threw back all covers from her face. He remembered the surprise that shot through him like lightning, how his entire world of vengeful fury had come to a complete halt in that one, decisive second. And the small, honey-eyed girl was the one responsible; the last figure he had ever expected to have such an effect on him.

Gajeel liked to think himself as fierce as his clan. Unstoppable, fearless, and headstrong enough to never sway from his goals. Everything he had thought of himself had been turned on its side by the appearance of the blue-haired, beautifully tragic woman. Maybe there was more to her and her role here yet. The idea brought a strange stillness to him that he clung to, fervently, until sleep finally took him as well.

All throughout the night, his dreams were filled with her.

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