Beauty and the Iron Dragon (A GaLe Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Chapter 18

Wendy walked into the library at, what she guessed was about, ten-thirty. The fire was still going, warming up the whole room in an orange and yellow glow. As the little wooden doll walked closer to the couch, she could see Levy and Lily fast asleep on the couch. Awwww, this so cute!, Wendy thought as she let out a yawn. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I joined them, Wendy reasoned in her head, climbing carefully into Pantherlily. In a matter of minutes, all three were peacefully asleep on the couch. At the door, a golden candle and a blue flying cat were tired and looking for a place to sleep. Meanwhile, Gajeel was still walking around the castle. His pride wasn't broken anymore, that was good. In fact, now that he thought about it, it never was broken in the first place. It was more like, well, a huge shock. Ok, maybe it was broken a little bit. One more reason to love the shrimp, Gajeel thought as he walked around. The fact that she could beat him at two different games in a row was impressive. Then again, everything about her was impressive. Geese, I need to stop sounding so sappy, Gajeel thought as he came to his iron door. After taking a shower and getting dressed in his night clothes, he laid in bed and just stared at the ceiling. DAMNIT! WHY CAN'T I GET ANY FUCKING SLEEP ANYMORE!, Gajeel screamed in his head. It was going to be another long night for him. Then again, shouldn't he be use to it by now?

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Levy woke up with the morning sun shining near her eyes. I guess I fell asleep with Lily in the library, Levy thought. When she opened her eyes, they widened in surprise. Wendy, Erza, Gray, Natsu, Happy, and even Carla was sleeping on the couch with her and Lily. Wendy was sleeping on Lily's fur, who was curled up on her lap, the blue and white exeeds were curled up next to each other, Gray seemed to have Natsu in a headlock, or the other way around from a different angle. And Erza was sprawled out on the armchair. How did they get there?!, Levy thought to herself as she reached for her book. It turned out to be harder than she thought, since the blue haired woman had a short body and had to stretch across to the little table a few feet from her with Lily and Wendy in her lap. She had to really suck in her gut. After reading for half an hour, thanks to Gray she knew the time, she had just gotten to her favorite part of the book. "What are you reading?" a sudden voice whispered in Levys ear, causing her to scream. Which caused most of the group to wake up with sloppy fighting stances. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" Wendy exclaimed. "Carla! When did you get here" Happy said with bright eyes. "I decided to sleep here because Wendy as here, not because you were here too, tomcat" Carla said sounding annoyed. "I don't remember much, but I think I fought with Natsu" Gray said holding his hand to his chin, trying to remember what happened last night. "I shamefully lost to one of the other staff members in a drinking war. I don't remember anything after that" Erza told them, looking down at the ground. "Ok, well. Let's go have breakfast" Levy said, lifting Lily off her, and walking towards the kitchen. The breakfast that day was like any other. With Gray and Natsu fighting over the last piece of bacon, and Erza splitting them up by brutal force. Gajeel came in a little later than usual, saying that he had trouble sleeping. He ate his iron in two bites and walked out. "I got something to do, so don't bother finding me. If there's trouble, bug Lily" Gajeel's last words were. Where is he going? Wait a minute..., Levy thought. Then it hit her. The training session!, Levy realize. "Well, I have to go. See you guys later!" Levy said as she left her friends a few minutes later. The second she closed that door, Levy bolted straight to her room, getting dressed in her workout clothes. As she made her way to the training room, Levy made sure she wasn't caught by any passerbys in the hallways, though she was close to getting caught. She was almost there when she heard Wendy and Carla having a conversation, walking straight towards her direction. Panicking, Levy did the only idea she had at that moment and hid behind a window curtain, using her short body to her advantage. It wasn't until the short blue haired women was sure that the doll and the white exeed was gone, that she came out from her hiding place and ran as fast as she could to the training room. The second she closed the door, Levy was picked up by the back collar of her shirt. "Gihi, your late shrimp" a very familiar voice said from behind her. "Well I almost got caught. Now put me down!" Levy told the iron scaled man. "Sheesh, fine" Gajeel said as he placed Levy on the ground. "Are you ready?" Levy asked while walking over to the fighting part of the room. "Hell yeah! Gotta warn you though shrimp. I'm not gonna be surprised anymore. Iron Dragon Club!" Gajeel yelled as his fist and forearm turned into an iron club, and extended its way towards Levy. "Solid Script Shield! I wouldn't want it any other way Gajeel!" Levy said excitedly as the word "shield" stood in front of her, blocking off his attacks completely. Well, this'll be fun!, Gajeel thought as he prepared for an attack from Levy. He was glad that he had this one thing that only he and Levy could do together. He was glad that he got her all to himself, even if it was for a couple hours. And even if they were fighting. But they both knew and trusted that the other wouldn't hurt them. Well, not on purpose anyway. Meanwhile, Mirajane was with her baby brother and sister, catching and making up for all the lost time. Somehow, they ended up halfway done with plan Mira had made. "So Mira, what's going to happen?" Lisanna asked her older sister. "Well, I'll tell you what. By the end of the night, they'll either confess their undying love for each other, or they'll fall helplessly in love!" Mira said as her eyes widened and the amount of sparkle in her eyes could have powered the whole world. "Sounds pretty descriptive Mira" Lisanna said. "A real man would have already confessed if he had feelings for a girl" Elfman stated. "He might be nervous. Besides, what about Evergreen, huh?" Mira asked with her matchmaking smirk on her face. "A real man wouldn't be nervous. Plus, I don't have feelings for Evergreen!" Elfman exclaimed. "Not yet my dear brother. Not yet" Mira told her younger brother in such an evil voice, that he began to worry about what was going through Mira's evil, smart, and mischievous mind. "One couple at a time Mira. One couple at a time" Lisanna told Mira, setting one her paw on where Mira's knee would have actually been. "Oh well. Someday I need to talk with Happy about all the future couples I have. He would enjoy teasing them about it" Mira said. And it was true, Happy would most definitely, absolutely do that with her. She remembered when Happy would help her with bringing her matches together. Now she had to get Happy together with Carla. And she knew it wouldn't be that hard since Happy adored the white exeed, and Carla secretly liked Happy. "There's no problem in having a second plan though!" Mira said with a big smile. Meanwhile outside in the snow and ice, a small puddle formed under the icicles and a snowman slowly fell apart. The snow was melting, and spring was just around the corner.