Countdown to the End (Gale) {Fairy Tail FF}

12 Days

(I'm so sorry.)

~Levy~

"Mm," I murmured, feeling something incredibly warm beside me. Still half asleep, I snuggled closer to the warmth, wrapping my hands around it. It smells good, I thought, inhaling the wonderful scent. It was like metal and soap, and something that I couldn't quite name. There was also something soft near my head, and kept tickling my neck.

The bed is so comfortable, I thought to myself, still clinging to the warmth beside me. Suddenly, my eyes snapped open. I was sleeping on the sofa.

My eyes fell on a bare, muscular chest, one that my arm was draped comfortably over. Moving my eyes slowly upward, they finally met two crimson ones, staring silently down at me.

"G-Gajeel!" I shrieked, pulling my arm back and rolling away from him—and straight into the floor. I hit the carpet in a tangle of blankets, cursing as I tried to free myself.

Laughing, Gajeel grabbed the blanket and gave it a hard tug, effectively rolling me out onto the floor and freeing me. "What the hell are you doin', Shrimp?" He asked.

I sat up, my face scorching as I avoided making eye contact with him. "I fell asleep on the sofa, so can you blame me for be a bit surprised when I woke up in the bed?" I snapped.

"Maybe," he shrugged, "but not enough to throw yourself in the floor like that." He snorted, a smirk pulling at the side of his mouth.

Grumbling, I got to my feet and adjusted the nightgown I had purchased in town when we had first arrived—having gone on the mission with no supplies, I'd had to buy some clothes.

"You looked uncomfortable last night on that stupid thing, so I moved you to the bed. You didn't seem to mind while you were asleep," he muttered, angrily, "considering you slept right up against me all night."

To that, I felt the blush on my face deepen. "Y-You could have at least put a shirt on or something."

He gave me a confused frown. "Why would I do that?"

I sighed in exasperation. "Never mind, let's just go get breakfast. I'd like to interview a few citizens this afternoon, so we should get going."

He nodded, getting out of bed and putting on his clothes. When he was finished, he turned and looked at me expectantly. "Aren't you going to change?" He asked.

"Not with you here!" I shoved him out of the room, locking the door. I grumbled angrily to myself as I got dressed, still embarrassed that I had practically been laying on top of Gajeel when I woke up. And he was practically naked!

"He probably thinks I'm a giant dork," I groaned, brushing out my hair and putting a red ribbon in it.

"Ready?" Gajeel asked once I finally joined him in the hallway.

"Yeah," I nodded.

Gajeel—and that extraordinary nose of his—found us somewhere to eat breakfast in no time, and we quickly ordered. As we ate, I thought about that strange dagger-like object the cloaked man had had the night before. He had been able to cut through my magic as if it weren't even there, so perhaps it was some sort of magic cancelling device. However, I had never seen or heard of anything like that before. There were handcuffs and ropes which could be used to restrain wizards and seal off their magic, but not weapons that could be used as a counter-attack to magic. If he can cancel our magic while using the different types that he can, we're in trouble.

"Did you see that old man this morning?" Gajeel asked, breaking the silence after we had paid for our food and made our way around the city to look for someone we could ask about the cloaked man.