Beneath the Surface (A GaLe story)

A Hero Appears

I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters unless I made them up myself. All rights to Hiro Mashima.

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-Levy's POV-

"Levy, duck!" Lucy screamed from the table she was taking cover underneath. Wait. Taking cover?!

I glanced up at my rioting guild mates. "Not again..." I muttered under my breath. But why duck? A shadow fell across the book I was reading on maintaining inter-guild relations. In horror, I snapped my head up, just to find a giant beer barrel flying at me.

I fell out of my chair, scrambling back only to hit the battered guild wall behind me. "Wh-- Lu-chan!" I screamed, squeezing my eyes. No way I could avoid this. I brought my heavy manual in front of my head as a sort of protection.

Seconds before it hit, a dark form appeared from the corner of my vision, deflecting the barrel, although not completely. As it spun out of control in mid-air, it nailed me in the stomach, soaking me through my clothes and sending me careening into a table.

"Levy!" Lucy shrieked. The familiar forms of my guildmates surrounded me as the world turned dark.

* ** ** ** ** *

A sharp pain shot through my forehead like a lightning bolt. "Ugh..." I groaned, cradling my head.

"She's awake!" Natsu bellowed, making me jump. I groaned again in pain. I heard the sound of someone smacking a certain pinkhead in the head.

"Natsu! She hit her head! Don't be so loud..." Lucy sounded worried. I felt a pang of guilt.

"It's okay..." I said quietly, struggling to sit up, only to be pushed down again. "I'm fine, really. Thanks Lu-chan."

Her eyes filled with tears, and she threw herself on top of me, evidently not able to control herself any longer. "I was so worried! I- I thought you were going to die! If Gajeel hadn't pushed that barrel out of the way like he did, it would have hit you straight o--"

"Wait," I said, shifting Lucy over so I could sit up. "Gajeel saved me?"

"Well yeah," she laughed, rolling her eyes. "It's not like he would just let it hit you. He l--" She stopped abruptly, looking down, cheeks flushed.

"He... what?" I said, cocking my head to the side, my bright blue locks falling across my face. I cringed inwardly, thinking about how much of a mess my crazy mane would be in after this incident.

"Nothing, never mind..." she said, waving off the comment with a flick of her wrist. I opened up my mouth to say something before the infirmary's doors were blasted open.

"Where's Levy!" My guildmates bellowed, shoving each other out of the way to clamour into the small room. Umm... claustrophobia, anyone? "Is she okay?"

"I'm fine," I tried to say, but no one heard me over all the shouting. I looked around helplessly. All at once, a giant, hairy hand smashed through the wall and dragged the rioting crowd out of the room. I sighed in relief and exasperation.

"Hi, Master." Makarov Dreyar stood in the doorway, so small in stature that his nose was level with the height of the hospital bed.

"How are you feeling, child?" he asked, taking my hand.

"Fine, thanks," I said, smiling.

"That's good," he said, grinning back warmly. "Now," he said as he turned to face the rest of the guild still huddled outside the room, the sudden darkness in his voice making me jump. "Who was the one who threw the barrel?"

"It was probably flame-brain over there..." Grey muttered.

"What did you say, ice-princess?!" Natsu said, hands bursting into flames.

"You heard me!" Grey yelled, pulling out an ice spear.

"Shut UP!" Master shouted, making the guildhouse shake and the lights flicker. Everyone stopped talking, looking down fearfully.

"Um..." I said quietly, getting the attention of the master.

"Yes dear?" Makarov said, turning to smile at me once again.

"Um... It's okay... It doesn't matter who threw the barrel anymore, it already happened, so..."

I heard familiar chuckling from the corner. The two other members of my team, Shadow Gear, were there. Jet chuckled. "That's just like you, Levy." I smiled.

"Hey Jet, Droy," I said, smiling. Droy was wiping away tears.

"I- I'm sorry we didn't protect you, Levy!" He sniffled, looking down.

"HEY!" Elfman yelled, appearing behind him suddenly. "REAL MEN DON'T CRY!" I winced as the shouting set off another headache.

Lucy noticed, glaring at Elfman. "No yelling!" she admonished. "You're making Levy's head hurt."

"YEAH, ELFMAN, YOU'RE SO OBNOXIOUS!!!" Natsu shouted.

"YOU'RE BEING EVEN LOUDER THAN HIM!" Grey yelled back. I cradled my head in my hands.

In seconds, the guild had erupted into chaos once again. In a smooth gesture, Makarov shoved them all out of the room and patted me on the head. "Get well soon!" he said, walking out of the room.

Lucy followed in suit, patting my arm and promising to get me some books to read while I was still stuck in bed. When the door shut-- Mirajane had propped some wood against the hole in the wall to give me some privacy and I had no idea how the door stayed intact-- I fell back on my pillows in relief, staring at the ceiling.

"Ah- ah..." I winced, touching my forehead. Obviously, I hadn't wanted anyone to worry, but my head really, really hurt. I blinked back pain induced tears. Well, at least I was alone now...

Or so I thought. As I closed my eyes to get some shut eye and hopefully sleep through this awful headache, a shadow fell across my face. My eyes shot open.

"S-sorry!" I blabbered, pushing my bangs out of my face to see who my visitor was. "I didn't know anyone else was..."

Of course, it had to be him. "Hey, shorty," he said, staring at me with those eyes that always made him look like he was glaring at you.

Gajeel.

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What do you guys think is going to happen?!
YAAAAY I've been wanting to start a fanfic for forever!!!!! And GaLe is my favorite ship OF ALL TIME.
Tell me what you guys think!

~Sky Bubblecloud