Mating Season (Mostly Chendy, Erlu, Canajane)

Thirty-Two

A/N: I can't tell if anyone is still reading this except a few of you (tysm btw), but I'm still going to finish it! I'm almost there and I actually think I might finish it this weekend! Before you go, I just wanted to say I'm especially proud of this rescue!

Levy was sucked in through the shadows and deposited in the cave. She shivered and looked around. There wasn't a battlefield as she had been expecting, but instead all she could see were at least five miles of twisting and turning tunnels. It was a maze. Levy gasped. She remained silent, looking around and trying to find the way to her as she was slowly lowered to the ground. It was all for not, however, as a top covered the maze. Levy let out a low curse. Gajeel's going to have to find me through all this! I thought he'd just have to fight a monster or something! That's what he's good at! I'm the one that's good at logic puzzles! Levy sighed. "Ahem, Levy, it's not my place to tell you how to get rescued, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to call out for help." Levy jumped as she heard the familiar voice. It was Smith. Of course. Levy nodded at the invisible voice before taking a deep breath. "GAJEEL!" She cried as loudly as she could.

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Gajeel jumped as he thought he heard and echo reverberate through the cave. He rocketed to his feet and ran off at full speed towards the source of the sound. Levy! He thought, his legs propelling him down the tunnels at speeds he couldn't have imagined before. "I'm coming, Shrimp." The Iron Dragon Slayer muttered under his breath. The others chased after him soon after, but he didn't notice them. He was far too concerned with his beloved to care about what the others were doing at the moment.

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Levy heard heavy footsteps before a loud skidding sound. Gajeel. She thought. "What the hell is this?!" Gajeel called loudly. Levy couldn't help but smile. Of course he'd say something like that. "It's a maze!" Levy shouted to him from her spot in a cage at the very center of it. Levy caught sight of shadows moving and knew that Smith was traveling.

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"Well hello, Gajeel." The Iron Dragon Slayer spun on his heel and swung a punch at the voice. His fist hit an invisible wall and script popped up. "What?!" Gajeel shouted in confusion. None of the others had had something blocking them from entering their caves before. "Not so fast, Gajeel! You have to know the rules first!" The same annoying voice said, but all the sudden it was on the other side of the entrance to the cavern. "Then tell me!" Gajeel growled angrily. "Well, first, no destroying the walls," Gajeel growled, "and no speaking to Levy. Break those rules and Levy is mine for all of eternity." Gajeel growled louder. "Do you agree?" Gajeel thought for a second, but he really couldn't disagree. "Fine." The words sounded more like that of a wild animal than that of a human. "Great!" A snap came from the direction of the voice and Gajeel took a step forward. He passed through the script and entered a large tunnel. "A maze, huh?" Gajeel mumbled aloud, looking around. The top of the cavern was only a few inches taller than him and was darker than the rest of the cave. Small torches lined the walls every twenty paces or so. Gajeel growled out a breath and started down the maze.

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Levy took a deep breath and let it out. "He's going to be fine. He's going to be fine." She muttered under her breath. She had a habit of talking to herself. She could imagine if Gajeel was here. He's probably start making fun of her for thinking aloud... and she'd probably get mad at him... she sighed and sat down in the cage. I hope he remembers that time I started ranting about mazes. She'd been reading a book and the protagonists had got lost in a maze. Who am I kidding? Not even Lucy listens to all my rants. Levy sighed.

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Gajeel took off in the direction of her scent, taking a left hand turn. The Iron Dragon Slayer followed after her scent for a bit before Gajeel found himself at a dead end. Gajeel growled and retraced his steps to his last turn. He could smell her faintly and turned towards her scent. He hit another dead end. Gajeel retraced his steps and found himself lost. The Iron Dragon Slayer couldn't even remember which way he'd come from at this point. Gajeel tried to remember everything Levy had said about mazes. You need to make markers. Gajeel heard her say in his head. He remembered her saying that... Gajeel went back to the last dead end and grabbed the torch, blowing it out. The Dragon Slayer did the same thing as he walked back to the most recent turn. When he got to the turn he had taken to get to the last turn, he had a dark hallway to the left and light ones in front of him, behind him, and to the right. Gajeel was about to go to the right, but he remembered something Levy had told him. Never lose track of the front of the maze. Only when you lose that will you be truly lost. Gajeel looked down the three lit hallways helplessly for a moment before he thought of something. He sniffed the air. He'd followed Levy's scent to get here... so if he went away from it, then he'd be back at the front. He took off in the opposite direction of her scent. After a few turns, he caught the scent of the others. Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Erza, Wendy, Chelia, Mirajane, Laxus, Freed, Happy, and Carla. He'd never been more happy to smell them before. When he reached the front of the cave, he looked to the sides. Well... I'm at the front. Gajeel had three directions to go. Left, right, and forward. He'd already gone forward for about fifteen minutes... so he chose left this time. He'd go through every path in that direction.