Our Idiots

Chapter 23 // Our Biggest Fear

Chapter 23- Our Biggest Fear

Gajeel's POV
I felt bad about ditching Levy, but I had to find Panther Lily.
As I was following her from the library it hit me that I'd been so busy with shrimp that I'd forgotten about the exceed. He was probably off crying about how lonely he was without me.
No way was I going to admit I was lonely without him too.
"Oy, Lily, you big pussy!" I called, wandering around in circles as I tried to figure out where the damn cat could be hiding. He hated it when I called him that (even though it's true- I mean he turns into a massive buff cat when he fights right) so I was hoping the insult would draw him in.
No response.
Where would Lily go?
Stopping suddenly, I remembered something. The last thing he'd said to me.
"I have a bit of a head ache- think I'll go get some fresh air."
Lily loved mazes.
I spun on the spot, changing direction and picking up my pace to a hurried jog. My boots crunched on pebbles as I refused to let any panic cloud my mind. Sure, I'd never lost Lily before, and he usually came when I yelled from him, and he wasn't a fan of hide and seek- but that didn't mean he was in trouble. It just strongly suggested he was.
"Don't panic!" I reminded myself.
Even so, the jog became a run.
Even going as fast as I could it took five minutes to reach the maze. He had this weird thing about navigating his way through the bushes until he reached whatever fountain or statue lay at the centre of these labyrinths and then sitting there meditating. Said he found it peaceful, right in the middle; said he liked how alone you can be surrounded by walls of foliage. Where better to go if he wanted to clear his head?

Levy's POV
Me, Lucy, Juvia and an incredibly anxious Natsu were wandering around outside calling for Happy and Gajeel when we spotted Gray and Wendy.
Gray had a hand on Wendy's shoulder, and was murmuring something that didn't quite reach us, whilst Wendy scrapped desperately at the ground. Lucy raced to her, and I was quick to follow.
"Wendy, this isn't getting anywhere-" Gray pleaded, but Wendy shook his hand off.
"She trusted me to look after her and I didn't." she sobbed, and I saw her bleeding, dirty fingernails where she'd been scrabbling at the edges of a stone slab.
Lucy, after pausing only for a second to take in what was going on, grabbed Wendy's wrist and pulled her into her chest.
"Shhh, Wendy. I've got you."
The bluenette stopped struggling and buried sobbed brokenly into Lucy's shirt.
Gray quickly explained the situation, and I got down on my hands and knees to examine the damaged slab. The crack looked deliberate- it was a little too perfect for my liking.
Suddenly Natsu was at my side, inhaling deeply with wild eyes.
"I smell them- the exceed's I mean."
As I thought.
"Natsu, I need you to pry open the crack. If you press, then add a little heat..."
He was already doing it, and sure enough the trap door swung open. Lucy, having let go of a now calmer Wendy, grabbed the fire dragon slayers shoulder to stop him leaping straight into whatever lay beneath- wrapping both arms around his chest.
"Wait, we need to think about what to do. It could be dangerous." her voice was thick with worry, and Natsu turned to examine her expression.
"I don't doubt that, Luce, but it's Happy."
"I'm scared for him too, but if we just rush in there without thought what use will it be?" She was almost pleading, and I heard the meaning behind those words as clear as day.
I can't take it if you're gone too.
At the end of the day, that was our biggest fear as Fairy Tail wizards.
The fear that we'd lose comrades, watch those we loved die. We all pretended like we were immortal, but all it would take was a job that was a little too ambitious. A momentary lapse in concentration.
Perhaps that was what made us formidable, what had protected us so far. The fear that if we weren't strong, if we didn't succeed in protecting one another, the enemy might steal a brother or sister. So we go into each battle burning with the desire to all come back together, and laugh in the guild hall once again.

Gajeel's POV
I knew he'd been there. I could smell him on the leaves, leading me to the core of the maze. But he wasn't sat cross legged, eyes shut tight against the world as I'd hoped.
I crouched close to the ground, tracing my finger along a claw mark that had torn up the grass. He'd fought- had braced himself against an attack and slid back against the impact, trying to dig into the ground to stop himself toppling backwards. I smelled his sweat as he'd lunged for an attack, but the splatter of blood I saw was his own. Th blow hadn't landed- it had been countered.
Lily had been defeated.
The enemy had left a lingering oder too- a bleak, rotten scent that had me gagging. It had left no foot prints, but I saw claw marks unlike Lily's. These seemed more like those left by a birds talons.
Holy Mavis.
But now I'd caught the scent, I could follow it. I spun on my heel and, though my legs ached a little from the run I'd taken to reach the maze, I set of at full speed once again.
I'm coming, Lily.
And I'm gonna teach this thing a hell of a lesson.