#took an intermission from reading because I had a brief thought that spun out into this ramble

[umberpath]

thinking about how idyllic the village of Alderhill is portrayed as in both Cillian and the Ronans' eyes. For the Ronans its the antithesis to a place that was never their home and they couldn't wait to escape. The Village is a spot they would vacation to in the summers of their youth. For all appearances, it's just a nice, quiet getaway from everything that ever troubled them (except themselves). Blissfully unaware of its real history and their grandmother's direct involvement with it.

To Cillian, it's something others have told him is (in the post-war social landscape at least) a bit of a taboo, dangerous place that he instead finds charming and harmless once he sees it for himself. The faction that made it so harrowing for the Hill-folk dissipated, and along with it, well known contempt for his kind. It's a little piece of rebellion he holds dear, and now that he's cut off from it for the time being, the grass on the other side only looks greener. But really, the main draw is the potential companions he could harvest from its grounds. It's a place of possibility.

In reality it's just another place. A peaceful one in present, a tapestry of people and their stories, lives, daily hustle and bustle. I'm sure you could find parts of it that are truly rotten if you dug deep enough, but the rose tinted glasses stay on for now.

[neen-writes]

Iron Legends: Reforged -- The Beast’s Interlude

Series: Fairy Tail

Characters: Gajeel, Levy, plus appearances from Natsu and Lucy.

Genre: Hurt/comfort, Sci-fi

Summary: The old lab had always been fuel for a good story, something you would half-heartedly joke about going to sometime.  Some did, and when they came back they never talked about it again.  The legends circulated, telling of ghosts, monsters, and anything else someone would be likely to conjure up about an abandoned building.  But even with all the stories meant to keep everyone away, there are still those for whom the intrigue is too tempting.  

Note: Reordering!  I feel much better having the interlude on chapter 10.  I fleshed this one out a little more too, but it’s still just a kind of intermission, so not a long chapter.

Read the Reforged chapters on FF.net here, Ao3 here, and read the entire original story here!!  AND find this fic’s soundtrack here!

Ch. 1  Ch. 2  Ch. 3  Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6 Ch. 7 Ch. 8 Ch. 9

“Damn it all!”  A roar shook the damaged foundation, an iron fist swinging to knock a full desk across the lobby.  His skull throbbed and burned with the tumultuous storm of emotions, roiling within him.  Everything he thought he had, the peace he thought he had found, was ripped away from him in the kitchen.  What a damn fool he was for thinking he could have a single thing he wanted.

Not only did he have his tormentor on his heels as well, but she had revealed what she thought of him.  Truly.  That she thought he could have killed those people in cold blood.  And it shouldn’t really surprise him, because look at him.  He had torn the room half to shit in the rage he couldn’t control.  It was better for her to think that this was all there was to him: that he was a murderer.  Because maybe that kept her safer.  He would draw Jose and all the evil that tailed him away from her life, and from Magnolia.  The quiet little town that had put the horrors of this place to sleep and put its legends in discount fiction books.  It was time to put it away for good, and with Jose after him, he could.

‘You’re a person.  Just as deserving of love and kindness as anyone else.’

Her voice, soft, kind, and melodic invaded his thoughts in such a way that it had him staggering back.  No I’m not, the darker part of him shot back, but it was so much weaker than it had been in the past.  So defeated.

‘Please stay here.’

Gajeel’s thoughts clawed feebly at the smoke and mirrors, how he had taken every word from her hook, line, and sinker.  He tried, oh he tried, to make them lies.  To tell himself she never meant a word of it and that he may as well have imagined it.

’I don’t think you’re a monster.’

“LIAR!”  he screamed with a billow of steam into the cold air, dropping to his knees with both hands digging into his scalp.  Gajeel hunched forward, his body shaking uncontrollably.  She does.  She does think that.  She thinks I’m a murderer.  She’s afraid of me.  “Damn it…” he hissed, a twinkle appearing on his cheek that dropped to the ground in front of him.  “You’re pathetic,” the dragon scolded himself, voice weak enough that he felt sick.  How did I let one person do this to me?  Is this supposed to be love?  Because god damn, I don’t want it.  His thoughts spun, and he hissed through his clenched teeth. It was clear, though, that he didn’t have a choice.

Movement caught his eye, and when he raised his gaze he saw the black cat sitting quietly, calmly in front of him.  A small shred of ease came over him, and slowly he reached out to gently pat the top of Lily’s head.  “Hey,” he said, softly.  His sides heaved as he tried to calm himself, to bring himself back down.  Lily waited, patiently, as he always did.

Minutes passed, and Gajeel released a heavy sigh that seemed to alleviate the majority of his tension.  “I need to go away, Lil,’” Gajeel finally said, his voice hoarse, “And you can’t come.”  The black cat tilted his head slightly, his tail swishing suddenly behind him.  “I know but, I got something I need you to do.  Can you do that?”

He’s a fucking cat.  Why am I even bothering.  Gajeel shook his head, trying to push his thoughts aside.  He knew why he bothered, because as much terrified rage he felt, he couldn’t direct any of that at her.  If anything, she had hurt him, deeply, but he couldn’t blame her.

Foolish as this was, he needed it.  “Look out for her, will ya?” he finally said.  “She’s not…she doesn’t need to be a part of any of this.  She deserves better.”  The man directed his eyes downwards, “Try and make her house a little less empty.”

As much as his volatility wanted him to reject her, to paint her like the others and discredit her words…. there was no honest way that he could.  Because she wasn’t capable of any ill will.  He knew that the accusation, the questions that had cut him so deep weren’t malicious.  She was afraid, and she asked him a question that she deserved an answer for, given that she had opened her safe space to him.

He realized now, now that he had fallen back into his pit, that Levy had saved him for a brief time.  Despite what happened tonight.  The short weeks he had known her, she possessed him, body and soul.  Her touch, her voice, her scent, every aspect of her he craved in a way that grounded him to earth and made him feel human again.  But it was selfish of him to rely on her like that, to expect that from her.  Regardless of how much she had reciprocated, he still couldn’t convince himself that it was any more than one-sided.  The time had come where the reality of his condition, the life he had been condemned to, finally caught up.  It was inevitable, and he was an idiot to think that he had left this place behind the night she shut those doors behind him and asked him to stay.

Still, it was a pleasant dream while it had lasted.

With a final pat on his cat’s head, Gajeel rose and reached up to adjust the scarf in his hair.  To his surprise, his fingertips only met black locks.  He looked around him, quickly, only to notice the fabric partially buried the rubble he had created.  Gajeel’s first instinct was to pick it up, but he second guessed himself. He wanted to take it and cling to the sentiment, but it felt more appropriate to leave it in the dust.

There was another moment of hesitation, before Gajeel turned from the lobby, from Lily, and walked slowly out of the building.  Outside, he looked up to the sky, obscured by thick, snow-laden clouds.  Fat flakes fell onto his iron hide, and with closed eyes he inhaled deeply.  It made the most sense that Jose would come here to seek him now that he knew he was alive.  Which meant he needed to leave clear signs that he had been there recently.  

He glanced back at the doorway he had emerged from and the fresh debris that he had thrown through it.  That was a start.  He turned the other way to look beyond the building to the back fence line, far across the snow-covered yard.  Gajeel inhaled deeply, cracked his knuckles, and took off at a sprint towards the back.  He kept close to the lab’s wall and swung his left arm out to drag iron claws along the building like it was paper, leaving a trail of dust and cracked rubble in the snow.  He cleared the yard, heading straight for the service gate at that back fence.  Like a wrecking ball, he flew through the gate shoulder-first and continued to race off into the dark.