~Levy~
“Are we almost there?” Gajeel grumbled. We had just reached Hargeon, and I could tell Gajeel was annoyed with the crowd of people still out and about.
“This is it, actually,” I told him, stopping in front of an old bar. From the outside, it looked similar to Fairy Tail, but the inside held a totally different world.
“Levy!” A booming voice said as soon as we were inside. Suddenly, I was being crushed by very large arms, and I shrieked in delighted surprise.
“Lily!” I giggled, struggling to breathe. “Put me down!”
“It’s good to see you,” the tall werepanther grinned, causing the scar over his left eye to crinkle at the corner. His dark skin and large frame told of his true form. Actually, all of the members of Extalia had strange markings on their skin to match the markings they would have once they shifted.
“You too,” I smiled. Gajeel cleared his throat loudly, causing both of us to look at him. For some reason, he was glaring daggers at Lily, and was standing quite close to me, almost protectively. Don’t be silly, I told myself when I got a weird flutter in my stomach. The thought of Gajeel being jealous made me feel oddly…good.
“Who’s your friend?” Lily asked, looking back to me.
“Gajeel Redfox,” he said before I could answer. “Werewolf.”
I had never seen a room go silent so fast. I shouldn’t have been surprised by their reaction. It was common knowledge that the were-feline and were-canine breeds weren’t on the best of terms with each other. Other than the cat-dog thing, I really don’t get it, though. They’re both were-creatures, so you’d think they’d get along a little better.
“And why have you two come to Extalia?” Lily asked, his voice quite loud now that the room had gone silent.
“We’re on a mission from Master Makarov,” I said. Hearing Gajeel was a member of Fairy Tail, the tension in the room seemed to melt away, and people went back to their own business.
“Let’s go somewhere private to talk,” Lily told us, walking to the far side of the room and sitting at an empty table. Once we were seated, he grinned at Gajeel. “Sorry about their response. We’ve had a few issues with a rogue werewolf over the last few nights, so everyone is on edge.”
“Rogues don’t usually come into the city,” I frowned. Rogue werewolves weren’t like their ordinary counterparts. Most of the time, they chose to live in packs, or on their own, shifting to go on runs and during the full moon. Rogues, however, chose to live most of their lives as wolves, and slowly lost their humanity. The madness their experienced during a full moon became their entire existence, occurring all the time, instead of just once a month. Because of this, rogues were usually hunted down and killed before they could harm anyone.
“We were also perplexed as to why a rogue would come this far into civilization. That is,” he paused and sighed, “until we learned the reason he had come.”
“What was it?” I asked.
“He was running,” Lily said. “Once we captured him, he returned to his human form and told us what had happened. He was being chased, and had remained in his wolf form for three long days in order to outrun the Oni that was trying to hunt him down.”
Gajeel and I exchanged a look. “Would that Oni’s name be Ivan?” Gajeel asked.
Lily nodded, looking surprised. “How did you know?”
“That’s actually the reason we came here,” I sighed. “Ivan is Master Makarov’s son, and he has been in hiding for a long time. Recently, he came out of hiding and has been hunting down human-born supernaturals.”
“That’s troubling news,” Lily frowned.
“That means you cats need to start traveling in pairs,” Gajeel said.
“I will inform Mistress Shagotte,” Lily told us. “You two are probably hungry and tired from your journey. Stay here tonight. Eat something warm and rest, and then we can leave in the morning to go after Ivan.”
“We?” I asked.
“I will accompany you,” Lily nodded. “I know this area well, and will be able to assist you should anything happen.”
“We can handle it just fine on our own,” Gajeel snapped, crossing his arms.
“We’d love your help,” I said, frowning at Gajeel. “Thank you, Lily.”
~Gajeel~
I watched the werepanther leave before turning to the Shrimp, finding that she was already glaring at me. “Don’t be so rude.”
“I wasn’t being rude,” I growled, looking away from her as a young woman brought two bowls of steaming soup for Levy and me.
“Lily was kind enough to offer us a place to stay for the night, and some hot dinner, so you could have at least thanked him,” she huffed.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had a thing for that cat,” I frowned. At the thought, my stomach knotted itself uncomfortably, and I had the sudden urge to punch something—preferably the cat.
That was all replaced by shock when she burst into laughter, actually doubling over as tears shined brightly in the corners of her eyes. “Sorry,” she gasped as she calmed down, wiping the tears from her eyes. “No, I don’t have a thing for Lily. I’ve known him since I was little, so he’s like a brother.”
I nodded. “That’s good.”
“What?” Her eyes widened in surprise as she stared up at me. Hell, I didn’t even know why I had said that.
“Nothin’,” I grumbled. “Eat your soup before it gets cold.”
Frowning slightly at me, she ate her dinner. Lily returned soon after and led us to our rooms. Mine was directly beside hers, and for some strange reason, that was calming. Knowing she would be near me all night sent strange shivers down my spine, ones I blamed on the full moon in just a couple of nights. However, I knew deep down that wasn’t what had caused them. Just like it wasn’t the full moon that was causing my entire nervous system to light up like a damned lightning storm every time her scent drifted into my nose.
This is bad. There’s definitely something wrong with me. I had never reacted to another person like this, and it unnerved me.Whatever it is, I don’t like it.
