Beauty of Fairy Tail (Gale/Gajevy AU)

Chapter 29

3rd person

Those in the field all watch as the large doors open, scraping across the ground. Levy watches as some of the few remaining members of Fairy Tail get ready for a fight. People stand in front of her, so she can't see who it is. All she can see is red droplets falling from stained hands and blood covered arms.

When he stumbles into view, they all stare at Gajeel, covered in blood. Levy sees her friends drop their arms and a clamor goes up from all around. She can't tell what's going on. Wendy grabs a bucket of water and a towel, running towards Gajeel. She steadies him and uses her healing magic on the large burn that has consumed his left shoulder.

Gajeel uses the damp towel to wipe off Jose's blood. His claws had ripped an enormous hole through Jose's gut. Blood had trickled up to his elbow and splattered on in clothes. His shirt clung to him like Juvia on Gray. I few of his ribs are broken, too, and a sprained ankle. All in all, not a good day.

On the other side of the grand line of people that formed in front of Levy, the young Solid Script mage cranes her neck to see what's going on. She can't tell if there's a battle or if someone came out to surrender. She tries to ask her fellow guild mates, but no one is answering her. She continues to sit on the cot, unable to stand on her own. She looks for Lucy, whom she had seen wrapping Natsu's head, earlier. He got a pretty back cut and was hurt pretty bad. She spots the other mage a few yards away and waves her over, much to Natsu's disappointment.

"Lu, what's going on? Who opened the doors?" Levy asks. Lucy shuffles around to get a good view. We aren't that close to the castle and almost the entire guild is standing in front of us. The sunlight glistens in the tears that are forming in her eyes as she smiles.

"It's Gajeel! He's back, Levy! He came back!" Lucy announces to her best friend. Levy starts to cry. Lucy sits down to hug her, wiping her own tears. They stay like that for barely a minute, before Levy pulls away to look at Lucy. She only has one thought on her mind.

"He-help me up. I need to see him." Levy starts to stand, but Lucy hold her shoulders and makes her stay where she is.

"No. You need to stay here and rest. I can go get him for you-" "No! I need to do this. Please, Lu... please." Lucy considers for a moment, but both of the girls know that she has no chance of saying no to Levy when she makes the pleading face she's making. Lucy nods and puts Levy's arm over her shoulders. She steadies her friend with her other hand that rests on Levy's side. Levy grunts and holds her stomach as she stands. Everything hurts and is stiff as stone. After swaying and struggling for balance, Levy finds her bearings and moves her arm to just Lucy's right shoulder.

"Alright. I'm ready," says Levy. Levy initially trips, taking her first few steps. Lucy wonders if she should take Levy back to the cot, but people make room for them as Levy starts to walk forward. Soon enough, she's walking on her own, losing Lucy about half way.

At the edge of the group, Levy pushes past thst few people, many of which want her to wait. She doesn't listen and limps around them. On the other side, about thirty yards away, Gajeel is leaning on the wall, grunting in pain as Wendy mends his a few of his ribs. He's discarded the shirt he was wearing.

Gajeel

This hurts like a bitch. Mending a bone always sucks, thought. Well, at least I'm not trying to regrow one. I dig a claw into the stone wall behind me and use that to preoccupy myself. I can see the guild is waiting for me to be done to talk to me. I scan the line of people, but don't see Levy. I sigh, knowing that she's probable still asleep or... I push the thought from my mind, rubbing my sore wrist.

With Wendy just yammering to herself, I tune her out and listen to basically anything else. I hear the guild whispering to one another and the sounds of those who were injured being tended to. There is also the sound of something being dragged through the crowd. Every so often there is rhythmic sound of feet on grass. I can see people moving to accommodate for someone. I assume it's the master but then I see him standing at the front of the guild, barely a scratch on him.

Levy

I finally limp through the crowd that has formed, watching Gajeel. He's staring at us. At me. Tears flood my eyes again and I bring my hands up to cover my mouth. Gajeel is bloody and battered and in a serious amount of pain.

I start taking steps, little by little picking up the pace, until I'm running. He heaves himself off the wall, Wendy being almost finished, and runs to meet me. I can see tears in his eyes, too; whether from pain or happiness, I don't care. I'm almost there when I kill the mood and nearly fall on my face. I trip and stumble, but I do so right into Gajeel. I kiss him, hard as we wrap our arms around each other.

Because of our poor balance, we fall and I land on top of him. He releases me from the kiss and holds on to me and all I can say is, "Don't let me go. I love you. Don't let me go."