Gajeel's POV

We trained from when the sun rose in the east, to when it set in the west. It was tough, but it was so we could save Levy.

By 'we' I mean Fairy Tail, my new... how to put this without sounding bad...

Family. My new and improved family.

The cafe where Levy worked, to be honest I was surprised she didn't know but, there were many people who I knew from the streets. They weren't bad like Rogue's gang Sabertooth and roamed around all the time; no instead they were the ones who came out when it was time to play, never to kill time.

The combination of people who were in Fairy Tail amazed me, there was a hot headed freak called Natsu (he was also a stupid business partner), a cold headed freak, Juvia (she'd joined with me when she heard about it, plus I couldn't leave her alone when we left Phantom Lorde), a red haired weapons maniac and an alcoholic.

A good group of people.

We trained at the main house, the gang-hall. It was the house of the gang's founder. Vermillion residence.

"Gajeel!" I spat out the soda and gagged for air.

"Flippin' heck Mavis! What is it?"

The founder handed me a paper cup filled with water, "We've established that the only drink we're having is water. Cana agreed so you're no exception!" I was about to point out the fact that Mavis had a blackcurrant Fruit-Shoot in her hand but stopped when I remembered how she could turn the tables by bringing on the fake tears.

Apparently when the little girl cries you're the bad guy.

Tch.

"Alright, when are we going to practice fighting? In two minutes? Because this break has gone on for way too long."

Mavis looked at the ladybug watch on her wrist and frowned. "My watch has stopped; what's the time?"

"Half four."

"When did the break start?"

"One o'clock."

"Ehhh!?" She exclaimed, then she whistled for everyone to meet in the fighting room. "Quickly! We've wasted too much time!!"

Whilst Mavis sped off, I followed her at a slower pace, one which allowed me to properly look at the walls around me.

They were adorned with pictures, some portraits others of beautiful scenery. I knew that Mavis loved paintings since they reminded her of the past, she looked twelve but really she was older. Since it's rude to ask a lady her age I've never known how old she truly is.

One picture was bigger than the rest and it was right beside the secret stairwell in the fighting room, everyone remembered it so that they knew the exit of the fighting room, but I liked to look at it and smile. It was a picture of Mavis and four others, one was Mavis' adoptive sister and the other three were old friend's of hers. They lost contact a while ago but Mavis still talks about them and tells jokes as if they're still with her.

Soon enough, I'd made my way to the fighting room from the break room and opened the door to see Natsu and Gray in a head to head fight. The room was split into two teams. I wasn't surprised to see Blondie on Natsu's team and Juvia on Gray's. I was surprised however when Mira-Jane dragged me over to Natsu's team and said that I was next to fight.

I watched as Natsu threw a punch to Grays face but was blocked by Grays hand. Gray clasped his hand over Natsus fist and twisted Natsu's arm around. The hot head breathed in sharply then kicked Grays stomach in order to get the black haired man away from him.

Gray fell backwards and loosened his grip on Natsu's hand, using his to cushion his fall. Smirking, Natsu was about to kick Gray again when suddenly Gray sprung up and roundhouse kicked Natsu. Natsu stumbled away and somehow regained his balance, he clenched his fists and brought them up to match Gray's stance. Both looked ready to fight again.

Before they could continue, Mira-Jane called out, "Okay boys! It's Gajeel and Juvia now!"

"What?" They whined in unison. "But we wanted to continue."

"If you want you can fight me." They turned white as a ghost when they heard Erza speak. "I'm sure that would be quick."

"N-No thanks." They ran off to their team sides and sat down, both suddenly interested in the floor and their feet.

Juvia stepped into the centre of the room and cracked her knuckles. I grinned and joined her, "Not going to go easy on me are you?"

"Juvia will give Gajeel her best shot."

A whistle sounded and I knew immediately that it was Mavis. Before I could move a muscle, Juvia brought her foot up to meet my face and I had to duck down to avoid being hit. As I did that, she brought her foot down to meet my shoulder and send an ache down my arm. Using that same, aching arm, I grabbed her ankle and threw her to the side.

"Why are those two up against each other? Why isn't Juvia against Lucy and Gajeel against Loke?" I heard someone say.

"Because we're the ones who are going to beat Josef's ass!" I yelled out. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, I just don't know why you're fighting each other." The voice belonged to Lisanna, Mira-Jane's younger sister.

"Because Lisanna, Juvia and Gajeel need to know each other's moves so we can fight easily alongside one another. This is the easiest way to do that." Juvia responded as she fell to the side. She rolled away and jumped up, preparing to charge at me.

As she did, I sprang to the right and got ready to aim a punch to her face. When she got within a close distance, I threw the punch but she blocked it with her forearm and spun around.

She was showing off now.

And the others were loving it.

Even though we'd been fighting for a short time, we were both getting tired. When you've been training non-stop for three days it can get tiring, especially if you struggle to sleep because the girl you fell for is in a coma and is with people who are threatening you.

So yeah, we were getting tired.

Then we tried punching the other, in the face, in the chest, but with each punch one of us dodged. My dodges were fast but Juvia seemed to take more care into making them look pretty.

"Tryin' to impress Juvia?" I joked.

"Juvia hopes to impress Gray..." She mumbled, thinking that I wouldn't hear.

"Oh, GRAY?" Juvia looked horrified that I'd said his name aloud.

"N-No!" Her face turned bright red, it was then when I took the golden opportunity to drop the the floor and kick her feet from beneath her.

She fell with a yelp and I managed to keep her down for five seconds, winning the fight.

"Gajeel wins!" Mavis roared, waving her arms about.

"You used dirty tactics Gajeel," Natsu huffed.

"So will they, we use their tactics against them and we win. Gosh Natsu I thought you said you were smart."

Natsu growled but was silenced when Lucy hugged him from behind. She whispered something to him and he chuckled.

Don't even want to know.

"Cana! You're up against -," Mavis was cut off by loud footsteps, causing the paintings to vibrate.

"Cana won't be going up against anyone without me watching." We all turned to see Gildarts, holding a bottle of beer.

"Gildarts! We established th-,"

"Good luck Cana!" He sang to the brunette who looked away in embarrassment.

"Who am I up against Mavis?"

Whilst they carried on talking about the next fight, I heard the ringtone which I'd assigned to Sol's number. I left the room and answered.

"Bonjour fucker." I hissed.

"Well, that was to be expected."

"What is it?"

"You're not home Mr Redfox?"

A shiver ran down my spine, I'd forgotten that they would have my estate under surveillance and I didn't want to be suspicious.

Way to go.

"No as a matter of fact I am not."

"So then Draco Valle is there for me to take?"

I snorted. "As if. You know that PantherLily is guarding it."

"I also know that he loves kiwis."

"And that he now hates you?"

"I assumed so," Sol paused before speaking again. "Do you want to know how Levy is?"

Taken aback by his sudden change in personality, I said almost slurring the words together with how quickly I was saying them, "Of course, how is she?"

He sighed. "Josef is not kind, even to a woman in a coma."

My hand gripped the phone a little too tightly, I felt the small piece of technology start to dent. "What the hell has he done?!"

"I can't put it into words, but know that she isn't hurt... Physically."

"What. Do. You. Mean."

"Hydrotherapy was meant to wake her up apparently..."

"I will kill you all."

"Oh, but I don't think you will."

The line went dead before I could say anything else, without hesitation I threw the phone at the wall and snarled when it was still left in one piece. I couldn't take it anymore.

I'd dragged her into this.

I was the one who got her mixed up.

I was the man who practically kidnapped her.

I wasn't the man who could protect her.

And she was paying for it...

*=*=*

"Gajeel, you need some sleep."

"No."

"Gajeel."

"No."

"Brother."

Delusional, that's all I am.

"Brother."

"...."

"Brother!"

"What?" I turned to face Sara, her cute little face was tired.

"Stop fighting that punching bag. It hasn't done anything wrong." She pointed at it and frowned.

"Some people get hurt for no reason. This punching bag is one of them, and lookie here, Dad's face is on it."

"Gajeel! Goodness." Sara walked towards me and lightly hit me. "Hey that was... it was um..."

"Alliteration. Well done." The punching bag's chain rattled as I whacked it repeatedly.

"Thanks! You shouldn't do this y'know. Dad thinks that you're studying."

"Like I care."

"You should, you're going to be the owner of an amazing company one day, and if you aren't, then I'll take it! Whoop, it is gone!" She giggled.

"Go ahead. Take my burden away."

...

"Not all burdens can be taken Brother, sometimes we have to face the challenge and accept it for what it is. Then once we've stared it down, we strike."

"This is some meaningful stuff from a seven year-old."

"I'm eight!"

"Whatever."

*=*=*

The fighting had stopped for a while, it was dusk and everyone was eating at the large table in Mavis' dining room. We'd gone to her manor since it was the biggest one, although she wasn't the only person living here. Her sister lived here but she was out of town, and her friends always visited and they loved to practice their fighting skills.

"Fairies! How are we all?" Everyone cheered when Makarov entered the room. He'd gathered them all together and knew what was going to happen, they all did really; but Makarov was ready for any sacrifice which scared me to death. "Good, good. Hey! Natsu don't eat all of the hot sauce!"

"Makarov," I nodded at him and beckoned him over. "It's getting beyond serious, Sol mentioned hydrotherapy."

"That bastard."

"I know, we can't tell the others just yet."

"We don't want to lower their morale... I understand where you're coming from Gajeel, however like I've said before; if you hurt one Fairy, you've hurt us all."

"And if they agitate one of us, they agitate all of us."

"You've been with us for a while, I'm proud."

"Why wasn't Levy a part of the gang? I mean, Lucy is and so-,"

"She didn't want to be."

"Huh?"

Makarov sighed and took a swig of beer which was hidden in his inside coat pocket. "She was offered the chance when she had joined a year ago, she declined since she knew how much trouble we got into back then. We respected her decision and made sure to look after her."

"You certainly forgot when she was backed into that alleyway that night..."

"That's because we knew you'd be there."

"Do you think I should tell her that you guys told me all those things about her?"

"'Those things'?"

"When I first took her in, I basically told her that I'd studied her background before selecting her to be my fake wife... Should I tell her when she wakes up that..."

"You can do whatever you want, we cannot tell you what to do and what not to do. We can advise you though." He took another swig of his beer and held it upside-down when he drank it all. "Tell her what feels right."

"...okay."

|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|

Alright.
I'm on a break for those of you who don't know and I wrote this chapter, about a week ago,

Ya.

And I'm writing the next few chapters this week so no updates for a while again.

Oh and guess what.

I'm writing my Jerza book 'Seduce Me If You Can' and starting my new Gruvia fanfic!!!
Yay for all of you who love those ships.

And my soul (or what would be my soul) is now crushed from the books I've read this week.

Here they are;
1. The 5th Wave
2. Anansi Boys
3. Mind Games
And 4. The Game of Love and Death,
Halfway through 4. But all of these books have made me feel like crying/laughing/made me fall in love with the characters / grin wildly at the pages and so on.

Please read them.

Okay?
Okay.