Born Without A Heart

Chapter 14

            Gajeel had taken Levy to his apartment. He hadn't wanted to take her back to her place. He didn't want her to be alone. She was shaken, despondent. He'd never see her like this before. Her eyes that would sparkle when she looked at him were hallow and distant.

She had been crying, and it killed him. It filled him with fury. He wanted to kill Rogue for scaring her. Most of all he was furious with himself for leaving her alone.

He didn't want to see Levy cry. The desire to take her into his arms and hold her, to wipe away her tears, was overpowering.

The emotions that filled him when he thought about her, when he looked at her, it was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Somehow she had broken down his thick walls and crept into what remained of his heart. A heart he didn't even think he still had.

Levy sat with him on his low black sofa, tucked into the corner with her knees pulled up to her chest. She had barely said a word since they had gotten the heads of Fairy Tail on the phone to discuss the night's events. He had turned it on speaker and set it between them so they could both hear the conversation, but she barely looked like she was listening.

"Tell me again Gajeel," Erza's calm voice sounded from the speaker, "what exactly did they admit to?"

"Minerva and Mard Geer told me that they are moving the drugs and that they plan to increase distribution now that they have a system in place. I have it on tape."

"Hmm," Erza hummed into the phone.

Minerva was planning to take Gajeel with her tomorrow to the warehouse where the drugs were being stored. The property was owned by Tartaros. They had the confessions, all they needed to do was bust the warehouse and they would have indisputable evidence in hand to prove both Saber Tooth and Tartaros' involvement. The case was a slam dunk.

"And you're saying you want to raid the warehouse with the drugs tomorrow?" Gray chimed in. "That's, what, eight hours from now? It's not enough time to put a team together for that type of operation."

"Bull shit, Gray. Gajeel's right. Let's get these bastards," Natsu's heated voice burst through the phone.

"Everyone, if I may say something," that was Freed. He had been silent up to now, listening intently to what the others had to say. "I do not see any reason why we need to rush into this. Gajeel is in place, his cover is solid. Levy and our team will need time to review the data she retrieved tonight. The stronger this case is, the better. Why not wait a few days, weeks even, until we can better prepare."

Gajeel ground his teeth as he listened to the stoic man. He didn't have a problem with Freed, except that he didn't like what the guy was saying, and that was enough to put him on Gajeel's bad side.

The group sat in silence as they all waited for Makarov to respond. He would be the deciding vote.

Gajeel stole a glance at Levy. She hadn't moved. She sat like a porcelain statue, so close Gajeel wanted to reach out and touch her only she looked like she might break if he did.

"We will wait," Makarov's voice boomed out decisively. "Get the location of the warehouse and we'll begin setting up a team for a sting. We don't want to wait for something to go wrong, but if we move without caution we could lose all the hard work the two of you have already put into this."

"Sir," Gajeel tried to temper the anger in his voice, "I really think you should reconsider. We can take the whole place down-"

"My decision is final," Makarov said sternly. "We'll work on organizing the team on our end. You two send us everything you've gathered so far so Intelligence can review it. Give us a couple days and then I'll reach back out to you when it's time to finalize our plans. Keep a low profile until then. Stay away from headquarters. You've done well so far but they are going to be watching you closely, it's best you two keep your distance. Goodnight everyone-"