OMG! Guys, this is coming along great! My feet are in pain from walking around town all night because Cruise Night was going on. Hurts to walk, but my fingers are still in good shape! Alright, enough about me. ON WITH THE STORY!
Pain. Only one word described Gajeel's feet, and pain was the exact one. He and Levy had been walking for two days. 'Pff, not far from home my ass.' he thought. "I'm taking a break," he told Levy, sitting on the ground.
"Okay," the little solid-script Mage replied with a nod. Se sat down as well, taking a book out of her satchel and sitting under a willow tree. A few seconds went by and Gajeel got bored quickly.
"Wacha reading?" he called out to her.
"I'm not sure..." Levy looked at the cover of the book and replied, "The History of Exaltia."
Gajeel got up and walked over to her and sat under the shade of the tree next to her. "Wasn't that Bunnygirl's book?"
"It WAS until I kinda stole it from her bookshelf during her birthday party..." Levy hung her head in shame. "I meant to give it back, but I never got around to it." a mischievous smile crept across her face as she looked at he book. "She probably will never get it back..."
"No big deal," Gajeel waved his hand dismissively. "It's a book, she probably won't miss it."
"You're probably right," she smiled at him then went back to reading. Then, she suddenly looked back up at him. "I forgot to tell you! We're half way to Oak City!"
Gajeel shrugged and leaned against the trunk of the tree. It wasn't long before he cool breeze that filtered through the willow switches lulled him to sleep.
He didn't dream. It just felt like he blinked and the sun had gone down in that brief second, but it had really been hours. Gajeel tried to move his arm to stretch it out but something was restraining it. Looking over, Gajeel saw Levy fast asleep on his arm.
This wasn't too bad. She looked pretty cute while she was curled up next to him. The way her mouth twitched as she dreamed amused the iron Dragonslayer and it made him wonder what he tiny girl was thinking about. He thought about Levy almost every second of the day, especially now that he knew she liked him, which put him in a surprisingly good mood.
Gajeel stiffened as he felt Levy stir beside him. Her silky brown eyes opened slowly, then they blinked for a few seconds.
"Morning Shrimp!" Gajeel greeted her awakening.
"Good morning," Levy yawned, then unexpectedly snuggled up closer to his arm, wrapping her teeny hands around them and closed her eyes again. "Give me five more minutes..."
"No-can-do Short-stack," he placed Levy right side up, warning himself a groan of objection from the little solid-script Mage. "We have two more days until we get to Oak City and I don't wanna take longer than we have to."
He heard Levy sigh. "So that means I get two more days of sleep deprivation?" she yawned. "Wonderful."
Gajeel shrugged and started walking again. He really didn't want to be out more than he needed to be. The sun was already getting hot, and it sure affected Gajeel, since he was made up of 95% metal.
He looked over at Levy, and of course, she was reading her book. It was surprising that she didn't trip over loose ruts or rocks; it was like she knew they were coming. She just hadn't stopped amazing him yet.
A few hours later, the sun was at its peak and was then scorching the forest like it was a desert. Sweat rolled down Gajeel's forehead and he slumped against the heat. "How long now?" he huffed.
"A day and a half," Levy didn't seem phased by the heat at all. She was still steadily reading her book. "Would you like to take a break? There's time."
"Nah," Gajeel answered regretfully. "We gotta stop stalling or we'll never get there."
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starving," she pulled out a bag of screws and thew them to Gajeel, then had some dried strawberries for herself. She sat down and ate while she read her book.
Gajeel popped a screw in his mouth and munched it thankfully. He hadn't eaten in days and was starting to feel woozy. "Don't fall asleep again Shrimp," he told Levy.
"You dozed off first," she threw back at him.
"You fell asleep on my arm,"
"That was an accident!" Levy glared at Gajeel, but not in a serious way. "I told you already."
"I didn't believe you," Gajeel shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, you didn't wanna let go when I told you to get up."
"I was tired!"
"Uh-huh."
Levy chucked some dead grass at him, but Gajeel carelessly brushed his off. Then, as payback, he took her bandana again and wouldn't give it back.
Just when Levy was about to object, there was a loud noise farther up the trail; like a roar of some angered animal. The solid-script Mage stared ahead where it came from in pure fright, then scooted closer to Gajeel for extra protection.
