Moving on

Chapter 20 : The attack

Gajeel was laying on the bed, eyes locked on the ceiling. For one of the firsts times in his life, he wasn't falling asleep. He let out a sigh that looked more like a growl than anything else. Insomnia had definitely made him grumpy. He didn't even want to imagine how tomorrow would be a pain.

Next to him, he could hear Levy breathing steadily. It took her a while before she finally fell asleep, her fear too present. "At least, she managed to get some sleep" he thought while looking at the blue haired girl. The weapons Makarov had given them were placed on the nightstand, ready to be used if needed. According to the old man, it was only a question of time before his son would attack once more and they had to stay alert. He thought about the events of the past weeks until he, slowly, fell into slumber. At least, he guessed he had fallen asleep because he woke up with a start. Gajeel knew that, because of his numerous years living in a dangerous place, his hearing was sharper than normal. And he had heard something, he was pretty sure of that.

He scanned the room. Nothing. The darkness made the task nearly impossible, but he had the feeling he saw a shadow. Listening to his instinct that was screaming to move, he circled Levy's waist with one arm and rolled on the side of the bed, falling off of it. The young man cushioned their fall the best he could with his legs and free arm to reduce the noise of the impact. Less than a couple of seconds later, a series of gunshots wrecked the bed where, an instant before, Gajeel and Levy were laying.

Brutally woken up, completely disoriented, Levy was about to scream, but Gajeel had his hand already on her mouth.

- Shush! He whispered.

And she did so, fear still in her eyes. Gajeel's mind was on alert. What to do next? They where practically sure the assassins would check if their mission was completed. Soon, the darkness of the room would neither be much use. "Think Gajeel, think!" If only he could reach the weapons without drawing attention on them... A small hand tapped his shoulder attracting his attention to the one he was still holding in his arm. Levy was pointing something on the floor. Folding his eyes for a better view, he finally spotted the carpet she was pointing. "A carpet..." he thought "what a stupid useless thing". Then he smiled understanding what Levy was trying to tell him. She never ceased to amaze him. Maybe the carpet wasn't that useless after all! Levy and him gave each other an understanding look. He gripped the side of it and waited. He had to wait for the perfect moment. A second too fast had their plan would fail. A second later... he didn't even want to think about it.

Two man entered the room and lighted it up. "Now!" Thought Gajeel while violently pulling on the carpet, provoking the fall of the assassins. He barely had time to recover form his move that Levy was giving him a gun she was able to reach on the nightstand during the distraction.

Without hesitation, he pointed the gun on their enemies. However, he was aware that they where in another impasse. He pulled Levy behind him with his left hand even if he knew that, in the worst case scenario, she wouldn't be safe for long. Both sides were staring at each other, their weapon pointed at the other. On the bright side, neither of their opponents seemed to be ready the be deadly hurt. But with the luck they had up to now, Gajeel wouldn't be surprised if more assassins would join the fight. If that was the case, he truly didn't know how they'd be able to get out of this alive. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed another shadow coming towards them behind their enemies. Talking about luck, there it was, failing them again...

***

Mirajane sat on the couch, laying in the numerous pillows she had prepared for Laxus, the later choosing to use her tights rater than one of the pillows. Neither was in the mood for sleeping. They simply had decided to lay like that, waiting for time to pass. The young man had opened the TV a couple of hours ago, but it was simply showing random images, the volume down to zero. It was more an habit than otherwise. The television could have shown commercials since the beginning, neither would have noticed.