Chapter 1
Gajeel was sitting on his mountain of scrap metal when he smelled another human nearby.
He sighed. He had to scare them off, which meant he had to get up. The iron dragon slayer heaved up onto his feet and surfed down the mountain of metal, stopping at the bottom and jumping to solid ground. He grumpily stomped to the entrance of the worn down warehouse, sniffing for which way the scent was coming from.
It was coming from around the corner, so he followed it. He stepped around the building and looked around for the intruder. Nothing. He sniffed the air again, catching the scent. This time, it was on the unstable roof of the warehouse. He rose a brow and parkoured his way on top of the building. He stabilized himself as the part he landed on wobbled a bit. He looked around the roof and saw a flash of fiery red disappear into an opening down towards the inside. He growled, how could someone be so fast?
Gajeel carefully walked to the opening and looked inside. He saw a young girl, around 13 years old, fiery red hair with some blonde streaks in it. He quietly landed right behind her and said in a low, menacing voice, “What are you doing here?”
The girl didn’t jump like he thought she would, she just turned around with a straight face. She looked up at the male with wide green eyes. She suddenly smiled and said, “Hi?”
The iron dragon narrowed his eyes in a light glare. She just turned away from him, not affected by the glare at all, and looked around the warehouse. He growled lowly in his throat, “I asked you a question. Answer it.”
She turned back to him and said, “I decided to travel away from home for while, and I came up on this cool place.”
He rose a brow, what 13 year old wants to travel somewhere alone? He glared at her though and said, “Well you need to get lost kid. This place ain’t for tourists.”
She looked at the male with indifference before she smirked, “I like you. I think I’ll hang with you for a while.”
Gajeel’s red eyes widened before he said angrily, “Hell no! Ain’t no way I’m babysitting some kid!”
She shrugged, keeping her smirk, “Tough luck Studdley, you’re stuck with me.”
The black haired male ran his hand down his face and groaned, “I’m losing my touch.”
The red head eyed the male curiously and stated, “If you mean you’re losing your intimidation factor then you’re wrong. I’m just not afraid of anything.”
He looked at the girl in skepticism and asked, “You aren’t afraid of anything?”
She shook her head and he continued, “Not even death?”
She smirked again, “The fact that I’m not afraid of death is probably the sole reason I’m not afraid of anything.”
Gajeel sighed, he wasn’t going to be able to get rid of her so he might as well let her stay. He gave up, “Fine. You can stay, but don’t bother me unless you really need to. I like peace and quiet.”
The girl smiled a bit and introduced herself, “My name’s Grace!”
He mumbled, “Gajeel.”
The black haired male climbed back up his mountain of scrap metal and began munching on an iron pipe.
Grace looked around the warehouse for something to do. She had to use her imagination to make playing with scrap metal fun.
She played with the scrap metal pieces she had began just building random things with for about an hour before her stomach suddenly growled. She had forgotten to eat lunch that day since she was wandering through the forest for so long. She decided to go out and get something to eat.
The red head looked up at the iron dragon slayer and, when she saw him sleeping within his mountain of metal with his arms crossed, just decided to go out without telling him.
Time Skip
Gajeel woke up to the sound of screaming off in the distance. He bolted up, causing him to accidentally slide all the way down the scrap metal mountain. He stood up and looked around for the red haired girl, to find her no where in sight. For reasons unknown to him, panic set in and he rushed out of the warehouse.
His eyes widened when he saw the fiery haired girl running from a Vulcan with a perverted smile on his face. When she saw him she screamed, “Gajeel! Help me!”
He ran towards her, meeting her halfway and pulling her behind him and chanting, “IRON DRAGON’S....ROAR!!”
A vortex of metal shards hurled towards the Vulcan and hit him head on. He was knocked out immediately. Gajeel stared at the Vulcan's body for a little longer before turning around and looking at the red head behind him. She was staring at the passed out monkey with eyes wide and mouth agape. He rolled his eyes, expecting her to be afraid of him now.
To his surprise a huge smile crossed her lips and she said excitedly, “That was totally awesome! You’re the coolest person ever!”
The iron dragon blinked before he smirked and shrugged, “Well I guess. If you say so.”
The red head clapped her hands with stars in her eyes, “Totally! You took that thing out in one blast!! You’re a badass!”
His smirk widened and he patted the girl on her head, “Thanks Little Red.” He suddenly remembered, “Wait why were you being chased anyways?”
She looked down guiltily, “Well...I...got hungry...so I decided to go out into the forest to look for some food. When I came up on a strawberry bush, I started picking them, and that’s when the Vulcan came out of no where and started talking about ‘me like woman’. And now I’m here.”
Gajeel shook his head, “Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?”
Grace glared and put her hands on her hips, “You were sleeping and you said not to bother you unless I needed to.”
He just sighed and said, “Whatever, just tell me next time so I can go with you.”
She scowled at the male, “I can go places by myself. Why do you think I’m out here in the first place?”
He just waved the girl off and looked at the horizon. The sun was setting and it would be dark soon. He stated, “Let’s get back to the warehouse, it’ll be dark soon and you’re probably tired from all that running.”
Grace pouted but agreed and followed the male back to the worn down building.
She wondered where she would sleep, there weren’t very many smooth surfaces other than the ground. Seeing her questioning scan of the warehouse the iron dragon offered, “I have a mattress up there that you can join me on.”
The red head tapped her chin in thought before she agreed with a stiff nod and followed the male over to his scrap metal mountain. He climbed up with steady placements of his hands and feet, her following his movements and where he placed them. They got to the top and walked onto a small bridge that stuck out from the wall. There was a king size, slightly dirty mattress on it. Gajeel laid down on it with his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. Grace followed and laid down next to him. She curled up into a ball and closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep.
