Forgotten Memories (A Gajevy Fanfic)

A Man's Conversation

A few months had past since Gajeel and Lily settled down in the village. They had found a place to live and were working in the town. Lily had sent a letter to their guild master, letting him know the situation and forbidding him from telling the rest of the guild the truth about what happened to Lucy and Levy. They would bring them home in due time.

Gajeel kept himself busy. He had secured a job as a second apprentice to the head blacksmith and spent everyday along side his daughter, who was stealing his heart more and more each day. They spent hours after work training their bodies and sharing a teacher/student relationship as he taught Shutora everything he knew about dragon slayer magic. Their training sessions were always accompanied by an audience of Yajeh and sometimes Levy and Lucy. The boy still did not seem to trust Gajeel. He believed that the man was trying to get to his mother through her children. It was a good tactic, but he was going to remain as Gajeel's biggest obstacle.

One late afternoon, Gajeel and Shutora had just finished one of their sparring matches and were taking a break. An out of breath Gajeel collapsed beside Yajeh, earning an annoyed side glance from the boy who was trying to focus on a book.

"Whatcha readin, kid?" Gajeel asked, feigning ignorance to the boy's attitude.

Yajeh let out a long sigh before answering curtly, "I'm studying a new spell."

"Oh? So ya got the brains, and her sister got the brawns," Gajeel commented, trying to get the boy to talk.

"My sister isn't all brawn. She's highly intelligent, too," Yajeh corrected, feeling strongly for his twin. "It's just a different kind. She's a quick learner in a fight and can read people very well. She's probably got you figured out already." This surprised Gajeel.

Yajeh always gave him quick, dismissive answers to any of his questions. He did not expect such a wordy response this time. Yajeh seemed to be very protective of his family. Gajeel approved of that, even though he was on the wrong end of it. Yajeh's last comment finally sunk in though, and he worried that Shutora already knew who he was to her. If she did, she was not acting as emotionally reserve as he thought she would, unlike her brother.

"So are ya any good at fightin? Yer sister tells me that the three of ya go on independent mage jobs together," Gajeel inquired, hoping to find some common ground. Yajeh smirked and pushed his Gale-Force reading glasses up his nose causing light to reflect on it in a menacing fashion.

"Would you like to find out, old man?" Yajeh retorted, flexing his large muscles. Taking the challenge as an opportunity to bond with the boy, Gajeel leapt to his feet and began doing his stretching routine.

"Ready when ya are, brat," Gajeel smirked. As if he had been waiting to do this all day, Yajeh immediately tackled Gajeel, and they began their grappling. Punches were thrown, and magic was used. The boy had chosen to adopt his mother's script magic but was much more aggressive with it. Gajeel was actually having a difficult time.

"What's wrong, Mr. S-class? Is a teenager too much for you to handle?" Yajeh taunted after his Solid Script: Boulder had hit it's mark and caused a cloud of dust and dirt to form. However, Gajeel had dodged the attack by jumping into the air. Using the dust cloud as cover, he fell towards the boy while aiming a metal punch at him. Yajeh narrowly missed getting his face smashed in and took his opportunity to get Gajeel into a headlock.

"Damnit, boy! Yer good at close combat, huh?" Gajeel growled but was interrupted by the scent of Levy nearing. She stopped at the sight of the two males, Gajeel's head still trapped in his son's arm.

"What's going on here? It was getting noisy out here so I came to check," Levy stated, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Hey, Mom! No worries! Gajeel here decided that I needed a lesson too, that's all," Yajeh grinned at his mother.