Bookworm And The Dragon {GaLe}

Chapter Five: New Friends

Levy’s eyes snapped open as the memory of wolves jumping towards her frightened her awake. She breathed heavily, and when she calmed down a bit. She sat up, wincing as she looked at her arm, blinking at the torn cloth that was tied there. Then she looked up, only to flinch away at the sight of a dark creature sitting at the bedside in a chair. Her heart starting to slow as she heard the deep snore coming from it.

Peeking over at it, she took a good look and gasped. That familiar snore, long spiky black hair, and dark clothes told her who sat before her, even with the steel colored scales and new long black pointed horns.

“G-Gajeel..?” It came out a whisper, and she immediately had to confirm if it was her Gajeel or not, eyes quickly looking at his shoulder and seeing that indeed Fairy Tail’s guildmark remained, black over his steel-colored skin.

Tears came to her eyes in relief. It was really Gajeel! Her Gajeel. She brought a hand up to her mouth to try and stifle her cry, but it still caused him to stir.

He opened one eye to look at her, half asleep. He went to grin at her. “You’re awake-” Then he noticed her crying and sat up straight, fully awake with worry hidden in his frown. “You okay? Is it yer arm?”

She shook her head and merely leaned forward, hugging him around the neck. “G-Gajeel it’s you!”

The Dragon Slayer blinked, trying not to blush at her closeness. He didn’t dare move away or into her hold. “Y-Yeah?” He had thought maybe her arm hurt, or that maybe the wolves had scared her, but she seemed to only be focused on him and he wasn’t sure how to handle the attention. He looked anywhere but towards her, trying not to think about how her hair was touching his face. That’s when he saw one of his hands and remembered his appearance. “Oh did I scare ya? I don’t really look like myself…”

She shook her head. Levy didn’t care that he looked scary, even if it was a little too close to how he looked when they had first met...She didn’t care about that. He was there with her, he knew her. He wasn’t a copy without a guildmark. He was the real deal. She could hear it in his voice.

After a moment, she released him. He leaned back in his chair, watching her as she sniffed and offered a grin. “Geehee. You feelin’ better?”

She nodded, offering a smile. “Yes, thank you…” Then the embarrassment of what she had just done dawned on her and her face exploded crimson, scolding herself mentally.

Gajeel didn't notice her change in behavior and went to open his mouth to ask another question, but before a single word could escape, there was a knock at the door, and a feminine voice could be heard. “May we come in?”

Levy blinked. “Lu-chan?”

Gajeel groaned, sliding down in his chair. He reluctantly gave a “Come in…” while ignoring Levy’s curious stare. The door opened to reveal a feather duster followed by a cart of food for two people, being pushed by the candlestick Natsu and cat-clock Happy, who were currently arguing about who was stronger.

Gajeel glanced over at Levy, curious about her reaction. She stared wide-eyed at the objects, looking at each one with just as much curiosity and confusion as the last. Before being able to give a vocal response, the feather duster hopped onto the bed with her, a smile on her small face. “Why hello! I’m Lucy, I’ll be your maid while you stay here.” Levy blinked again as the little duster continued, pointing one of her feathers towards the candlestick and the clock. “Over there are Natsu, who is in charge of lighting all of the candles in the Castle, and that’s Happy, he um..helps us keep the time?”

Happy didn’t seem too happy about that explanation. “That’s not all I do!”

Lucy turned to him. “Cram it stupid Cat!”

“I’m a clock, not a cat!”

“Tell that to your ears!”

Levy slowly turned to Gajeel with a raised brow. He gave her a smirk, shrugging his shoulders. “Don’t ask me. I have no clue what’s going on in this place.”

Levy’s attention was put back onto Lucy as she hopped from the bed to the cart, gesturing to the plates of steamy food. “Anyways, here are you and Master’s meals. Please take your time eating.” She gave a giggle, like she knew something they didn’t before rushing out of the room with Natsu and Happy behind her, Happy complaining about how he was a clock, not a cat, and Natsu complaining that they were already leaving. Then just as sudden as they came, the three were gone.

Levy blinked after them, glancing towards the good smelling soup and fresh baked bread. “That was… strange.”

Gajeel ran a hand down his face, grumbling. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

She looked back at him, a hint of amusement in her eyes as she raised a brow. “So, Master?” She had a feeling that the title here meant something different than what they were both used to.

He glanced back over at her, and she was glad that even with the slightly scary dragon-like appearance, his eyes were still their same kind red. “Yeah.. they’ve been callin’ me that since I’ve been here. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with why I woke up in the Castle. There’s even a picture of me hanging in one of the halls. I look like I’m someone important with cash.”

Her brow raised slightly higher as her amusement grew at the fact that he sounded almost fond of the idea of him being high, mighty and rich. But it had her thinking, a small frown forming on her face.

Gajeel became slightly worried when he watched her expression turn into that one where she was so focused on trying to figure something out she spaced out, looking almost irritated at the air. He sighed, knowing nothing he said would get through to her at this point. He just had to let her think whatever it was out until she spoke up.

Levy was already lost in thought. She had to start from the beginning if she wanted to figure any of this out. She woke up in a town similar to Magnolia, but not the same. Laxus wanted to marry her, still the weirdest thing to happen so far in her opinion, even over their friends becoming live objects. Then Gajeel woke up here in a Castle being addressed as it’s Master. Not to mention his appearance. And the fact that there was no magical power… This sounded a lot like-

He heard her gasp and looked over at her, her face a little paler than before. She didn’t look towards him for a solid minute and when she did, she blinked in shock. “We’re…I think we’re in The Book Spell.”

Suddenly he couldn’t look her in the eyes, looking down instead, he rubbed the back of his neck. “About that…” She blinked at him when he paused. “I may or may not’ve had somethin’ ta do with that..?”

Levy stared at him for a moment. “You…What?”