Gruvia: Grays curse + Gajevy: protecting mine FT fanfic

chapter 39- the news

Rose had fallen in a raging underground river. There was no sign of her, nor the cage which took her. Gajeel had yelled out to her only to be greeted with the sound of the raging waterfall. He laid down on the ground and lighted the dark abbess beneath him with a torch but came back empty handed. He had to give up. He had chosen Levy with the promise to safe them both, but he failed. Rose was dead.

With heavy feet he returned to Levy. She was still in his body at that moment and he was unable to move her. She was unconscious.
He crawled in a corner of the cave and tried to sort out his thought. He scolded himself in thousand ways and let the burden rest on his shoulders.
It was cold in this part of the cave but Gajeel greeted this cold. It was the only thing that interrupted to non-stop pain in his head. He couldn't be believe it. It went too quickly. He was expecting Rose to appear any moment. But he never came.

It took a while he heard several voices entering the cave after some time. He looked up for a moment and saw Natsu and Erza. Happy flew right behind them.
Gajeel looked at them with pained eyes.

It was a silent march back to the guild. Gajeel walked behind them while Happy carried out his body, aka Levy. Just brought her into the infirmary.
The dragon slayer didn't stay long. He needed to figure out how to tell Levy the news first.

He sauntered through the city. In this body, Levy's body, the world seemed bigger and empty. A feeling of discomfort washed over him.
Several villagers of Magnolia kept an eye on him. They must have noticed the look of discomfort on "Levy's" face. They smiled encouraging at him.

He needed to be alone. Just like he used to, he craved for some solitude.
He turned around and headed for the woods. Just for a moment, he told himself.

Levy woke up with the worst headache she had in a while. A damp towel tested on her forehead. She didn't need to try hard to recall what happened. The bump her head was still hurting.
A rather young girl, not yet a woman, had suddenly jumped from the bushes and hit her with a bat. How long ago did that happen?

Levy felt the bump against the head. She felt one of Gajeels studs and realized that she was still in the middle of the body swap.
He was probably grumpy because he was stuck in her body for a long time. She smiled a little. There was a high chance that Gajeel had saved her. It was kind of funny that he had to safe her, even when she was in the stronger body.

Levy ignored the headache and jumped out of bed, wobbling on her feet for a moment, feeling more dizziness then imagined.

She walked out of the door, only to notice the gloomy aura that circled in the main hall. 'Levy!', Mirajane came running to her. Levy quickly came to the conclusion that Gajeel had told the others about the body swap. 'You should get back in bed', the white haired bartender gently pushed her to the door.

'What happened?', Levy tried to peek over her shoulder but her view was blocked.

Mira bit her lip and looked away. The sound of her voice troubled Levy. The usually strong mage sounded mentally tortured. 'What's wrong?', Levy insisted in a carrying voice. 'Where is Gajeel?'

'Gajeel in fine...', Mira denied her a proper response. 'He is coming. Please wait. He needs to tell you himself'.

'Tell me what?', Levy got scared. 'What happened!?', she raised her voice. But it was still Gajeels voice and it boomed louder then she meant it to be. She flinched herself and allowed Mira to push her back to bed.

It took long before the door would open again. Levy waited all that time alone. She came to several conclusions in the meantime. She was smart; something was wrong with Rose.
Rose was kidnapped and Levy knocked out. She hoped that it was just a minor injury that was inflicted on her sister.