~Gajeel~
I clenched and unclenched my fists as I made my way through the darkening forest to meet up with Levy and Lucy. It would be dark in a little less than an hour, so I was getting anxious. I still didn’t like the whole I had to shift during the full moon right in front of an unprotected Levy thing, but I had no choice but to trust her. If the spell really did work, then I wouldn’t be cursed by the full moon madness any longer.
“If it works,” I reminded myself, knowing not to get my hopes up too far. There was always a chance that the spell wouldn’t work. If it doesn’t, I might hurt Levy again. The thought sent pain like a searing hot blade straight through my chest. She had reassured me over a dozen times over the last week that things would turn out fine, but I was still nervous.
“Gajeel!” Levy waved, spotting me as I entered the small clearing. I smiled at my mate, pulling her into a soft kiss. “Are you ready?” She asked, blushing slightly when the blonde cleared her throat loudly.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I nodded.
Grabbing my hand, Levy led me to the center of some sort of magic circle. There were candles of all colors surrounding it, and they let off a strange scent. I wrinkled my nose against it, causing Levy to chuckle. “Sorry about the smell, but it’s part of the set-up for the spell. You’re supposed to take a few good deep breaths of the smoke.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” I sighed.
“Hey,” she said, looking up at me with a smile, “it’s going to be fine. We just have to believe it’s going to work.”
“It’s going to,” Lucy said, confidently. “As much research as we put into this, I think it will work.”
“For the spell,” Levy instructed, facing me while making sure to hold onto one of my hands, “we have to maintain contact until after the seal has been drawn. After that, I’ll let go of you and leave the circle while Lucy finishes the spell.”
“And then what?” I asked.
“Then we see what happens,” she smiled. “If you turn back into a human, we’ll know it worked. And if not—“
“—if not, use that,” I said, pointing to the gun on her hip.
“What?” Her eyes widened. “Gajeel, I can’t—“
“Shrimp, if I lose control, I’d rather it be my life than yours. If I come out of that circle still effected by moon madness, I want you to shoot me. You don’t have to kill me, just wound me enough that you can get to me without getting hurt.”
“But—“
“Promise me,” I urged, staring into her large hazel eyes.
Finally, she looked down and sighed. “Alright. It won’t come to that, though.”
“Let’s hope not,” I nodded.
“Well, let’s get this started,” Lucy said, pulling out a small dagger and handing it to Levy. I cringed at the sight of it, knowing what she was going to do with it.
~Levy~
“Are you ready?” Lucy asked in Stelian, looking hesitantly at the dagger after she handed it to me.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “If I’m going to meet Ivan at midnight we should probably get started.”
“Right.” Lucy grabbed her spell book and flipped to the page containing the sealing spell. We had modified it a little based on our research, and I began praying silently that it would work. I knew that, if it came down to it, I wouldn’t have it in me to shoot Gajeel. Even wounding him would be impossible. The thought of shooting even his damned wolf whiskers made my stomach churn uncomfortably. No, I wouldn’t be shooting anyone but Ivan tonight. And I will be shooting him.
