Firefall || Fairy Tail

43 : o l d . m e m o r i e s

Sting nodded, "I assume the mission went okay?"

"Yeah."

An awkward silence hung in the air between the Twin Dragons. It was unusual to say the least, but the both of them also knew what was causing it.

Rogue was the first to speak, "Are you still having them too?"

"The dreams?"

Rogue nodded causing Sting to sigh, "Yeah. If we can really call them dreams."

The dark-haired Slayer agreed, "They feel too real to just be dreams."

"Yeah."

This wasn't the first time that they had mentioned what was going on with each other, but it was the first time Rogue had sat down across from Sting and asked, "What do you remember?"

The White Dragon Slayer cocked a brow at the question, "Huh?"

Rogue sighed, "From what I've seen, we've always been with each other, even when we trained with Kia. So I thought we could fill-in more of the blanks together."

"That's a good idea," Sting leaned forward to rest his arms on his desk. "After you."

||~x~||

"I know how much you look up to Metalicana, but you don't always have to mimic his tough guy act."

His ruby eyes tried to focus as he blinked the sleep away. Gajeel wasn't sure when the dream had stopped, jerking him awake, but he was glad he hadn't disturbed Lily.

A silent sigh escaped him as he rolled off his stomach to stare at the popcorn pattern across the ceiling. He wasn't completely sure how he knew, but Gajeel was sure that all of these vivid dreams were actually memories. They had started not long after Tartaros, not long after he no longer had Metalicana hidden inside him.

Gajeel would be lying if he said that he didn't have more questions about what they had been told, but the only person he could think to ask was off training with her brother and no one knew where they had gone.

He sank further into his mattress as he rested his arm over his eyes. Immediately, he saw flashes of what he had remembered in his sleep: the young Phoenix Slayer giving him a kind but tired smile. He could almost feel the familiar sensation of her flicking him in the nose.

Gajeel had been slowly piecing together the blanks he hadn't fully realized were in his memory. Fighting with Natsu, Rogue and Sting jumping in until Kia would step in and stop them, usually wearing that kind but tired smile. He never understood that look when he was little, but now he could only imagine how exhausting it must have been for her to train five kids that she was barely older than, especially being the Dragon Slayers.

He thought back to the words that had woke him: you don't always have to mimic his tough guy act. If he had remembered those words maybe he wouldn't have gotten in as deep with Phantom Lord. But if he had remembered that, he would have remembered the other Dragon Slayers too. He would have been out looking for them and not just Metalicana. But would he have ended up where he was now? Would he have still become the person he was?

Gajeel moved his arm, looking around the room. His enforcer jacket was resting on the back of the desk chair he only sat in to put on his boots. A faint purr that told him that Lily was still asleep floated on the air. Sniffing the air, he could tell that Levy was still in her quarters next door.

'Where would I be if I had never forgotten?' he couldn't help it as the words popped into his head. He sighed, rolling back onto his stomach, 'Doesn't matter now anyway.'