Mating Season (Mostly Chendy, Erlu, Canajane)

Chapter Thirty-Three

A/N: Sorry, but midterms are coming up and I might not be able to update this until Thursday or Friday of this week! Please forgive me! 🙇 🙇‍♀️

Levy and Gajeel finally saw the exit to the maze and both of them grinned. "I can't believe he found her!" Natsu cried. Gajeel glared at him as he stepped across the invisible barrier. Levy was immediately tackled by Lucy with a tight embrace and she laughed. "Hey, Luce!" She greeted with a wide grin. "I was so worried!" She said, pulling back and looking Levy over for any injuries. "I'm fine, Lucy!" Levy said with a laugh. The blonde nodded after finishing a thorough once over look. "Alright." Gajeel seemed to tower over Lucy and the blonde took a step back, seeming to cower behind Erza. Levy laughed at the pair as they started to slowly make their way back to where the others had been undoubtably camping. Levy looked around quickly. Chelia, Erza, Lucy, and Gray were all here. They'd all been successfully rescued. Poor Cana... Levy thought with a sigh. The others were all talking loudly about how Gajeel had backtracked to the front three different times in his search for Levy. The blue-haired Mage couldn't help but smile as she looked over at Gajeel. "Sounds like you were really worried." Levy smiled and Gajeel looked away, slightly red. Levy smirked slightly. She found her hand reach up to her neck as she walked. She fingered the bite on it and found herself smiling just slightly. It was kind of nice to have such a commitment. She looked around and saw that all the other Mates all had different marks along their necks. She smiled. I guess this whole trial did at least one thing. Some of them wouldn't have done it in a million years. Levy thought, looking at Wendy and Laxus.

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Cana flopped on the couch and sighed. "C'mon!" She called, glaring at the clock that hung on the wall with a great vengeance. "Just change to tomorrow!" She cried, sighing and throwing a dramatic arm to cover her eyes. "That won't make it go any faster," Smith said. Cana peaked her eyes out from under her arm. "Really?! Never would have guessed." She muttered sarcastically. Smith laughed and she rolled her eyes, turning over on the couch. Maybe if I get some sleep it'll go faster.

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Mirajane tried to join in on the jokes and joviality, but she just couldn't find it in her. Tomorrow... she thought, the smile she had tried to keep in place the past few days dying and shriveling up on her lips. She went to her sleeping bag early that night while everyone still sat around the campfire and talked.

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Mirajane awoke early and jumped to her feet. She didn't know what time of day it was, what with being in a cave and all, but she knew it was the day. The day she'd been waiting anxiously for as long as Cana had been kidnapped. The day she got to save her Mate. Mirajane heard a distant call and she almost thought she had imagined it. But that didn't stop her from taking off down the cave's narrow passageways like a bloodhound hunting down a rabbit. She didn't know, and frankly didn't care, if the others were awake. She'd been waiting far too long and was ready to whoop some monster a-"MIRAJANE!" The white-haired Take-Over Mage finally heard the voice clearly and any thought of it being her imagination vanished from her mind instantly. She took a left turn and caught sight of a familiar form hanging in a cage in the air above... well, frankly Mirajane didn't care what it was hanging over.

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Cana looked down at the ground with worried eyes. This was most certainly a board/card game field. Cana hated to be rude, but strategical games were not Mirajane's strong suit in any sense. Cana was shocked as Mirajane's eyes suddenly turned cold and calculating. She didn't rush in as Cana had expected her to, but instead she kicked a foot out timidly. It came into contact with a script magic spell. Smith's shadows appeared on Cana's side of the written wall. Cana knew he was speaking, but she could not hear him.