A/N: This story is Thesaurus, the sequel to Dictionary. This will focus on GaLe, but may include hints of other pairings as well. You do not have to have read Dictionary to completely understand this work, but I highly suggest you read that one first. Natsu and Lucy are together, and Lucy is a target of another guild, for unknown reasons.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, it belongs to the talented Hiro Mashima.
Thesaurus
Chapter 1: Brute
Mirajane walked into the Master's office, trying to make her movements quiet as she firmly closed the door behind her. "You wanted to speak with me?" She asked politely. Her curiosity was raging. "Yes, have a seat Mira-chan…" something seemed to be troubling the Master, as his grey eyes did not gleam as they usually did.
"I'd like to hear your thoughts on something; it's been three months, but I'm still unsettled. Who do you think we should send to investigate Shadow Claw?" Shadow Claw was a dark guild that followed the Balam Alliance. On a previous mission, they had targeted Lucy for unknown reasons. Natsu had brought the matter to Makarov's attention when the pink-haired boy had told him how uneasy and anxious it was starting to make him feel. The fire dragon slayer didn't want them coming after his girlfriend at all.
"I'm surprised you've waited so long on this," Mirajane said carefully. "But I believe I have the perfect candidates for this mission." She rattled the three names off and waited for a response. "Well…I believe those are acceptable choices. Explain why you'd pair up those three, please?" There wasn't really a problem with those mages, but still. He wanted to hear the barmaid's opinion on this.
"A mission like this will require strength, stealth, intelligence, and teamwork. You've got strength in both Gajeel, the brute, and Pantherlily. Lily will also help in the stealth factor. Intelligence is obviously Levy's area of expertise, and altogether I think they'd make a good team." Her blue eyes shone with happiness: Even if it was serious business, this was still an opportunity to be a matchmaker.
Once business was finished being discussed, Mira chatted idly with the Master, and then bid her goodbye's to go work the bar. Fairy Tail was as crazy as ever when she strolled out the door, and she couldn't help but smile at the normalcy. She got to work.
The barmaid hummed as she passed tankards to her Nakama, her mood increasing as she slid a glass to the brute of an iron dragon slayer at the end of the bar. He sat on his stool next to his trusted Exceed, Pantherlily. The former shot Mira a wary look before taking a sip of his drink.
A few seats from the iron mage sat a very happy and fairy recent couple: Natsu and Lucy. Of course, Happy was next to them too. Ever since they'd returned from Clover, they'd been closer than ever. Neither of the two was overly affectionate in public, but Mira saw the little gestures they made towards each other that made her blissful and proud. It could be Natsu brushing a strand of hair away from Lucy's face, or the duo taking missions where it was just the two of them.
Yes, the former S-class mage had been very successful in her matchmaking, but now she had her sights set on an unsuspecting bookworm and an all too suspicious iron dragon. They may have had a rocky start to say in the least, but there were surefire signs that they had feelings for each other.
Speaking of the bookworm, in walked Levy, struggling with an overloaded satchel full of books. She dragged her load over to a nearby table and sighed triumphantly. Jet and Droy strode behind her, both of them a little frustrated that Levy wouldn't let them help with her load.
Mirajane called her over with a 'hey' and she came over, smiling brightly. "Good Morning Mira-chan! What do you need?" Short, sweet and straight to the point was a description that perfectly fit Levy. And she was pretty oblivious, as she didn't notice how Gajeel had let his eyes drift to her person as soon as he'd heard her cheery voice.
"Well, I think the Master will need you in his office soon, so stick around for a bit. He's got a mission for you," Mira smiled. 'You and someone else…' After Levy had agreed to stay at the guild for a while, they chatted about odds and ends. Then she went back to her table.
Mirajane slid a small cup of kiwi juice to Lily and repeated the message she'd told Levy. "That goes for you and Gajeel." The black Exceed nodded and discreetly sipped his juice. He loved kiwis…not that anyone needed to know that any more than they needed to know of his fear of storms.
"Oh, I'm ready for you brats now!" The master crowed from his door. Levy stood and made for the door, only to almost trip over Gajeel as he, too, went for the office. Lily hovered above the pair, realizing what was probably going on. 'That barmaid is a sneaky one.'
"What are ya doing, shrimp?" Gajeel asked her gruffly. He was trying to cover up the fact that he was starting to panic. Natsu and Lucy had become a couple due to one of Mira's scheme. That he was being paired up with the midget for a mission might just spell trouble. At least if this was going to happen, he'd get to take his cat along this time.
"I'm going to speak with the master…are you going too?" She blinked up at him with large doe eyes and he stared at them for what seemed like an eternity before answering her with a noncommittal 'yeah'. Now that they had somewhat of a mutual understanding, they both shoved their way inside.
"Have a seat," their old man said, taking a breath as if to prepare his next words. "I've chosen you three to go on a very important mission. It's going to help out the guild very much. Do you have any qualms about working together?" A trio of headshakes met his question, so he continued with his speech of sorts.
"Gajeel, Levy, you are both aware of what happened in Clover. Lily, I assume Gajeel has told you, correct?" Lily nodded and crossed his little arms. "Alright. Shadow Claw. As you know, they are after Lucy for whatever reason. We don't want to take the chance that they will strike before we will, so your mission pertains to that."
"How so, Master? What are you going to have us do?" Levy spoke up. She was still shaken about being attacked in that alley with Lucy a few months ago. To have such an unfair fight staged had taken her unaware and could have cost the guild Lucy. Unthinkable.
"Well," a stroke of his silver moustache, "I'm sending you three by train to a small town called Valletta, near Haregon. I have intelligence that Shadow Claw's base is set up in the forest around that area. I want you to find out all that you can about what they want with Lucy." A heavy sigh escaped from his mouth and the master's shoulders slouched. "I may have a friend who runs the town hall that can help you get started. I'd like you to leave around 3 o' clock tomorrow afternoon."
Gajeel shot a side glance at the shrimp, who'd nodded resolutely at Makarov. She sure had a lot of determination for a such a small body. He felt Lily nudge his arm, and grunted. "What?" He nodded his head at the master, who was still waiting for confirmation from Gajeel. "Oh, yeah, whatever."
The iron dragon slayer practically ran out of the guild when he was given permission to go by the old man. He had to pack and think about some things. Some very significant, troubling things. He reached his dingy apartment on the other side of town and threw a spare change of clothes in a duffel bag. He also poked around for pieces of iron to throw in the bag. There was no such thing as too much food for the road.
Now Gajeel began to think. Actually think. He may have been a big, hulking brute, but he was still capable of sorting through the problems life had to offer in his mind. 'I'm going on a mission with Levy. The little one I hurt, who I humiliated. I can't mess this up. She knows that I have changed. The only thing I can do now is get her to believe I have changed even further.' Gajeel rolled his shoulders and slung the duffel on to his shoulder. "Lily," he called. "Ya ready to go?"
Meanwhile, a blunette trudged on the path to Fairy Hills. She had to pack, and then she'd see what information she could find on the little town of Valletta. Come to think of it, she'd never heard the name Valletta before. She would've racked her capable mind further, but she'd arrived at her door.
In her apartment, she carefully selected the books that could be useful and then packed them in her suitcase. On top of those, she just had enough room for her clothes and other necessities. Levy dragged the luggage over to the door and then went back for a map.
"Haregon is right here," she said to herself. Shining brown eyes scanned the area, but became more and more confused as the time ticked away. There was no town called Valletta. "Maybe it's an outdated map?" Oh, well. She could always look at a different map later. Now it was time to eat!
At the bottom of Levy's suitcase, a book rested lightly against another. It was called a Thesaurus. And it was going to teach Gajeel some new vocabulary…
A/N: Hey! Sorry that it took me a while to get this out. I've been busy with sports and school. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and thank you to those who helped Dictionary reach 200 reviews! I've never been so elated. Normally review replies would go right below, but this is only the first chapter out of many, so… *shrugs*
Review, or I'll Juvia you are all pining for Gray's affections… * waggles eyebrows* If you don't review, you'd better hope you can outrun Juvia's wrath!
