Gaining Courage: The Search for the Lost Keys (a Fairytail Galu story)

Chapter Thirty-Three: Beginning Again

Using Carina, Puppis, Vela, and Pyxis in Argo form Gajeel and I made it to Oak Town in no time. Looking around I could see the damage from the war and the repairs they were still doing. Bits and pieces reminded me of my first time here. It was a bittersweet moment for Gajeel and I, as this town was where our own personal adventure first began. As we were making our way through town suddenly Gajeel stopped and spoke.

"Bunny, how could you forgive me?"

Turning to him at first I didn't understand what he was on about, it wasn't until I realised he was looking around the town with shame that I realised he meant from before. As I was about to answer it seemed he couldn't wait.

"I tried to kill yeh, honestly tried to kill yeh. If Salamander hadn't turned up when he did I would da killed yeh. Squirt she told me, she knew I was changed that she saw it when I took that attacked from Spark-plug. But you. you been smiling at me since ya saw me again. How Bunny?"

I could see that this had been praying on his mind, all of a sudden it occurred to me that he must have been doubting my feelings since he joined the guild. Letting out a little sigh I reached out and grasped him by the arms forcing him to face me and ignoring the people moving past us on the street. I had to make sure he heard me.

"Gaj everyone has a past and sometimes they make decisions that they are not proud of. Do you think you are the only one who has done things they are ashamed of; even I have things that I wish I could take back. The man who stands before me today is not the man who stood before me then. Life's choices can make or break you; you chose to start fresh at FairyTail and since then you have been my friend. You never needed to ask for forgiveness as you already had it the moment you said yes to Master Markorov's offer for a second chance. That told me all I needed to know."

Pulling him closer I hugged him, trying to get him to see that I believed wholeheartedly in what I just said. I finally felt him respond, pulling me in and trapping me in his embrace I relaxed and felt him respond in kind. Suddenly the thought appeared, that a relationship between us really shouldn't work; they have so many things going against them from the start, their history, their previous relationships, let alone what the reaction of the other guild mates would be. I was so busy thinking about the problems of a relationship that I almost missed the fact that I wanted an actual relationship with him. Holding him close I finally acknowledged what my heart had been trying to tell me for a while, I had fallen for Gajeel trouble and all.

Pushing my emotional needs aside for now when Gajeel let go I smiled at him and let him ruffle my hair knowing he needed to get back on track. Motioning to the street we continued walking getting ready to start our search of the village. Still holding to my routine even with Gajeel along I headed towards the city hall hoping they would have some information before I went looking for the magic shop or library. Having struck out at the Hall I was coming out of the magic shop after a conversation about keys when I barely dodged in time to avoid having my head cut off.

Jerking into a battle stance I readied my whip as three men tried to surround me. A quick look left told me Gajeel had his own problems as he was surrounded by five other mages. When the man in front wiped his hand back and forward I rolled out of the way as a small fireball flew from his hand to where I had just been. Giving no time to rest the man on my left brought out two long chains that he started flicking through the air trying to hit me and wrap me up.

Cartwheeling back and to the right to give myself room, by the time my feet hit the floor of the second spin I was already in Aquarius stardress and tossing a condensed water bomb towards the fire mage. Now in position spinning in a downward swipe kick I knocked the third man down before he could bring what I now saw was a magic sword to bear. Continuing the spin, I flipped and slammed my right heal on the sword wizard's head, making sure he stayed down.