Reluctant Fairytales (Gale Fanfic)

Chapter 13

"Your Dad was nice," Levy said as they directed their paths towards the Dark Forest, her hands clasped behind her back.

     "Yeah," Gajeel muttered. He hadn't said much since they had left the house two hours previously.

    "He seems like he'd be a good parent," Levy continued, trying to prompt Gajeel into a conversation, unfortunately failing drastically as he was ignoring her. She frowned, giving him a nudge, "Earth to Gajeel. Is there a problem?"

     Gajeel glanced back in the direction of his father's house, even though it had long been out of sight, "Did it feel like...he was hiding something from us?"

     "What?" Levy blinked, "No, not at all. Why would you think that?"

     "When he let us in, he turned a picture frame face down when he thought we weren't lookin'. And I saw him hide some sort of album in the kitchen."

     "Maybe he was just moving it?" Levy suggested.

     "Into an oven?"

     "He put the photo album in an oven," Levy raised an eyebrow skeptically as she frowned.

     "Yeah, think so," Gajeel grumbled, rubbing his forehead wearily. "Hell, now I can't even trust my own father!"

     "I wonder what he was hiding," Levy said thoughtfully, tapping her chin as she considered it.

          "I grabbed the picture frame on the way out," Gajeel produced it from his jacket pocket and shoved it into her hands.

    "You stole it?" Levy began disapprovingly.

     "Yeah, sorry."

     "You are?" Levy blinked in surprise at this.

    He scowled at her, crossing his arms across his chest, "Shut up and tell me what you think of it, shrimp."

 "I highly doubt I can do both."

  " Just look at it." he scowled, looking annoyed.

     Levy glanced down at the picture frame and almost laughed out loud. It was obviously a picture of Gael when he was younger, probably sixteen or so, with one eye closed as he stuck his tongue out at the camera. His arm was around a black haired man with blue eyes who looked a little older, but too was winking and had his hands up in a peace sign. They were both smiling goofily in the picture, looking as if they were trying not to laugh.

     Levy smiled, "So what's the problem?"

     "Does anythin' in that picture look off to you?"

     "The fact that it looks like a selfie taken by an iPhone when those aren't even supposed to be invented yet? Yes, that's pretty weird."

     "No, the background. They look like  they're standing in the throne room or somethin'," Gajeel pointed.

     "Yes, that's true. I wonder who the other man is," Levy said thoughtfully, "Gael's dressed in armor, and the other man looks well dressed."

     "Maybe it's the king?" Gajeel suggested, "He did say he was friends with the king."

      "Maybe, but I don't think so. This man looks just like Gael. Did your father have a brother?"

     "Why're you askin' me? You know him just as well as I do," Gajeel scowled, "Mom never told us anythin', she never even mentioned Dad unless we asked. And she always just told us he was a knight. He coulda been dead for all we knew. Mom kept secrets— what makes you think Dad doesn't?"

    "Everyone has secrets," Levy told him, thinking with guilt of the prophecy. She didn't want to worry him about it when there was so much going on. And it would happen soon... she just had to figure it out!

   They walked in silence for a long time until Gajeel muttered, "Shrimp... remember when we were little... and you and I would always play around in the gardens?"

      Levy smiled at the warm memories, "Like the time we fell in that fountain?"

     Gajeel grinned at the memory, "Though technically, that was your fault. But I meant that one time... the time I found a blue flower that was the color of your hair."

     Levy smiled as she recalled it, "How could I forget? It was really cu-" she broke off as Gajeel offered her a small, blue flower.

     "It was on one of the bushes back there, so I figured you might want it," he shrugged, but he had a small, almost cute smile on his face.

     Levy blinked in surprise, then smiled warmly, "Thanks, Gajeel, that's really sweet." she took the flower, tucking it behind her ear.

     "Don't look into it," Gajeel muttered, glancing hastily away.

      Levy stared at him. Was he... blushing? And why had her heartbeat sped up so much?

     She morphed into a succubi, leaping up and landing on his shoulder wide she gave him a tiny kiss on the cheek. He stiffened, freezing in his tracks. His crimson eyes were round as he glanced over at her, and though she felt a blush rise into her cheeks, she smiled warmly up at him.

     "Wh-why did you do that?" he muttered, trying to keep his twisted tongue from making him stammer as he began to walk again.

 "B-because." Levy mumbled, looking away.

     "'C-cause why?"

   "Because you were being sweet and I wanted to show you I appreciate it."

     "Oh... yeah?" he gave her a small smile, "Thanks, shrimp." He gave himself a shake, "How long till the Dark Forest?"

     Levy pulled her reed pipes from her bag, "I'll summon a griffin or something, it'll make things go a lot faster. Besides, I love playing the reed pipes."

     Gajeel sat down on a rock as she flew into the air, rubbing his cheek where she had kissed him. It had been a long time since she showed him any affection, and he was surprised by it. But he also found himself... liking it.

     He listened to her play, scowling slightly. Shed been acting weird recently. Ever since they'd been busted in Carpagia, shed been a little more secluded, as if she was pulling away from him again. And he hated that he hated that.

     A bronze colored griffin flew up, its wings beating as it came to a halt beside Levy. A few minutes later, they were both sitting on its back, finding themselves dreading their journey inside of the Dark Forest.

     AUTHOR'S NOTE

     Hello again, guys! And a quick shout out to AngelFrisk13.  natsu278 and LevyLily for all being really awesome and supportive! Love you guys! And sometimes I might have to update every other day sometimes, because school has been murdering me. So thanks again for reading this, and being so awesome, I really appreciate it. See you next time! —gajevyx99