Chapter 2
Chapter Two; Devilish
Gajeel turned to look at the door as Team Natsu walked through the doors, all of them splitting up once inside the guild hall. He was hoping that it would be Shrimp and her band of idiots, who were off in some village name Eshco taking care of some curse, but he supposed Flame Brain and Elsa would be good entertainment while he wait for Shrimp to get back. After all whenever they were together, a brawl seemed to always start.
And just like Gajeel predicted, Flame Brain and Icicle Idiot went straight to their normal table, the two of them arguing all the way over. It hadn't resulted in punches yet, but listening to the argument he was sure that fire and ice would be thrown soon. Sure enough, Fire Breath launched himself at the Ice Princess, his fist on fire and aimed at the Icicle's face. Gajeel might join in later, but only after he finished his bolts. He payed a lot of jewels for these damn things, highest quality metal you could find in Magnolia and he was going to savor them. And while he was eating them, he might as well watch the destructive train wreck that was Team Natsu. Speaking of the guild's most destructive force, Gajeel searched the guild for the other powerhouse of the team.
The redheaded demon, made her way to the bar to get her normal order. Right now it looked like the redhead was content with letting them argue and fight but Gajeel was certain that once things escalated, she'd get up and either join the fight or stop it. Gajeel was hoping that she'd join the fight, it'd certainly make things more interesting. Deciding for now that Erza wasn't going to join the fight, Gajeel turned his attention to the other female member of Team Natsu.
Bunny girl, after dropping off the fur ball with the idiot, made her way to the second floor. As she made her way upstairs, Gajeel thought back on how everything turned out this way. After the crap with Tarturus, Bunny girl announced that she was taking time off from being mage. Not long after the old man gave her a job organizing the mission boards and helping him with paperwork. Gajeel wouldn't admit it, but he watched Bunny a lot when she was in the guild working.
Not that he cared about her or anything.
Nope, he didn't care at all.
He didn’t care about the way she looked so sad every day or even the fact that he heard her talking to the overgrown cat about retiring from magic. Hearing her saying that being a mage was too hard after Tarturus and after what she did during the fight with Jackal, certainly didn't worry him and make him curious about what she didn't tell them when she recounted her fight with Jackal and how she freed them alergia.
See, he didn't care at all.
And even if he did care about her, it was only because she was Shrimp's best friend. Yeah, that was the only reason he felt the need to watch her and make sure she was fine. He certainly didn’t feel responsible for Bunny after torturing her, after making her bleed and threatening to murder her. He didn’t see her bruised and bloody face every time she smiled at him and said good morning without a trace of fear or blame. And his instincts definitely didn't tell him to protect her like she was part of his pack. Because she wasn't, because there was no pack. That's right, the other Dragon Slayers in the guild did not accidentally form a pack with each other, a few other select uninformed members of the guild, and then later the twin dragon slayers. Nope, that never happened.
Which is why he wasn’t worried about her at all.
Oh, fuck.
Gajeel was worried about Bunny girl and god dammit, he didn't know how to help her. He didn't even know what was wrong with her, how the hell was he supposed to help her when he didn't even know what happened to her in Tarturus? The other's in the pack noticed too, well most of everyone in the pack that is. Wendy had been the first to notice the change in her "older sister", in fact she was the one who brought it to his and the shadow twin dragon slayer's attention.
"Gajeel-nii." Gajeel turned away from Rogue to stare at little Wendy who, despite her fidgeting and twisting, looked up at him confidently. "I think, no something is wrong with Lucy-nee." Gajeel immediately turned towards Bunny Girl, searching for any sign of injury. When he found none, he turned back to Wendy with a raised brow. Rogue, who had subtly turned to stare at Lucy, turned back when he heard Gajeel growling at him in warning.
"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her." Gajeel pointed out in an uncaring tone as if he hadn't just immediately turned to turn look at her when he thought she was injured nor growled at Rogue when he was staring at her.
"Not physically," Wendy said with a huff, placing her hand to abover her heart. "emotionally." She explained as she turned to look back at Lucy, who was smiling and laughing so unbelievably fake. Gajeel turned to stare at her again, this time drawing her attention. When brown eyes met red ones, she gave him a smile so fake that Gajeel nearly grimanced. Gajeel made a noise in the back of his throat as he turned back to Wendy and Rogue, giving her a nod.
"You might be right, Munchkin."
Gajeel was pulled out of his memories by Lucy's feet pounding quickly across the floor. Turning to stare at the second floor, he watched as Lucy ran up to team Raijinshū and pulled Laxus away from his team and into his office. As the office door began to close, he noticed a flyer clutched tightly in her pale hand. Was she going on a mission? Had she changed her mind about taking a break? Or was she just informing Laxus about a possible mage trap mission?
These questions took a backseat, as they would be answered in a few mintues when Lucy and Laxus left the Lightning Dragon Slayer's office. Instead Gajeel's thoughts turned to Laxus, the pack Alpha.
The older Slayer was an asshole.
Fuck that, Laxus isn't an asshole, he was the fucking devil.
The blond mage, once he found out he was the alpha of the pack, began pushing them to their limits. Which, while it did help them improve their magic containers, the training regamine was still a bitch to do every damn day. Hell he and Rogue looked more like they were a devil, with their dark hair and red eyes, but Gajeel was sure that Laxus was the devil incarnate.
The goddamn devil.
Soon enough, Lucy and Laxus both left Laxus's office and went different ways. Laxus made his way back his team with a heavy shoulders, something obviously weighing on his mind as he sat down and began talking.
Lucy however made her way out of the of the guild with a small smile, an actual goddamn smile, on her face.
Something was up and maybe it would be for the best.
Maybe.