A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail. This is my first fanfic so please read and review, constructive criticism welcomed.
Chapter 1
In the kingdom of Fiore, in a town of Magnolia is a well known guild. That guilds name is... Fairy Tail.
A petite bluenette walks towards the guild doors with a stack of books in her arms, towered so high she can barely see where she's going. Just as she reaches the doors they fly open as 2 bodies rush past in the middle of a fight screaming at each other. "Stupid flame brain!" "Shut it stripper!". Yes it's Natsu and Gray fighting yet again yet the bluenette doesn't pay any mind to it, what she does mind is the fact the boys had just knocked the books out of her arms and they had landed right in a puddle...a rather muddy and deep puddle.
"SOLID SCRIPT: CHAINS!" and at this chains started wrapping themselves round the boys effectively stopping the brawl in its tracks.
"Levy! Levy are you ok?" came a cry from just inside the doors from the busty blonde celestial mage named Lucy as she ran past to try and stop the boys from fighting, not knowing they were already chained up.
"Stupid boys, stupid puddle. They ruined my books!" She muttered while pulling the books out one by one out of the puddle. "Why am I so damned weak that I can't hold onto anything when this stuff happens?"
"LEVY WE'RE SORRY! PLEASE LET US OUT! IT'S CRUSHING US!" shouted the 2 boys but she ignored them as she walked into the guild with the dripping books. She got to an unoccupied table and spread all the books out on the table. She got out her light pen and started to clean off the mud and water with a solid script restoration spell. While she was doing that Lucy, Natsu and Grey came back in, the 2 boys having downcast faces as Lucy was yelling at them for the damage they'd caused yet again. As she flicked them away she slumped down on the bench opposite Levy apologising for what the boys had done. "Lucy, it's not your fault it's theirs. If anything they should be the ones to apologise and to clean these books for me. But!" she said as she put her hands up "I won't let them clean these books because I know that they would come back worse than they are now!" She giggled quietly at the thought of those two actually cleaning without making a bigger mess as she started using her magic again to finish the last few books. Lucy quietly got up and left Levy to it as she could see that Levy would be in her own dream world for the time being.
Hours later Levy had finally finished all but one book and as she glanced up she spotted a glass of strawberry lemonade sitting close to her. Looking around she couldn't see Lucy, Natsu or Grey but she did spot Pantherlily talking to Mira at the bar with Gajeel sitting next to him munching on his meal of scrap iron. Lily looked over at her and quietly excused himself from Mira pushing himself off the bar flying towards Levy. As he settled down on an empty space next to the last muddy book he greeted Levy with a smile.
"Hey Levy, you haven't stopped for hours you know, so I got Mira to at least sort you a drink out for when you came back to our reality" he smirked pointing to the lemonade. Levy blushed and picked up the exceed giving him a hug with her cheek resting on the top of his head. "You're so thoughtful you know that? What would I do without friends like you?" She put him back down on the table top and took a long pull off the drink sighing happily. "How many more books need fixing now Levy? You're looking tired and you don't want to be doing much more if you can help it. Plus it's getting late and I know you don't like walking home in the dark."
She fidgeted looking at Lily. "Just the one left, it shouldn't take me long. Soon as I've done it I will head home so no need to worry about me." A big grin flashed up on her face as she started working on the last, seemingly innocuous book. It was an old leather bound tome that was filled with ancient poems that she had been searching for for months. An hour or so later, with a last SOLID SCRIPT: RESTORATION she finished her cleaning and placed it with the rest of the pile tying them together with some string. Looking around it seemed that most people had headed home and she was virtually alone in the guild. Waving goodbye to Mira, she picked up the stack of books and made her way out of the guild doors. Glancing up at the star filled sky she shivered and started to quickly walk home.
As soon as she entered the nearby alleyway (which was a short cut home even though she detested the darkness within it) she felt a presence following her. Slipping out her light pen from her pocket a shadow dropped from the rooftops behind her. As she was about to scream she spotted the second shadow which looked suspiciously like Pantherlily. "G-Gajeel? Lily?" she whispered shaking like a leaf.
"Yno you shouldn't be walking round in alleys this late at night Shrimp." Gajeel grunted as Lily settled on his shoulder "come on we'll walk you home". She blushed in the darkness hoping Gajeel wouldn't notice "Y-you don't have to, I know its out of your way". As she ducked her head down she felt gentle fingers pulling her head up to face a pair of glinting red eyes. "It's not out of my way if I want to, now is it Shorty? Gi hi hi hi". Looking up at him with a glance at Lily she sighed thinking how she was always being looked after by the stronger members of the guild because they perceived her as weak. She WAS weak but she did have some strengths like her ability to puzzle out unknown languages and rewrite rune spells. She dearly wished she could be as strong as some of her guild mates, strong like the Iron Dragon Slayer but she knew she never would be. Snapped out of her reverie with a quiet "oi lets get going" from Gajeel as he gently took her books to carry them for her, she walked quietly next to him til Fairy Hills came into view.
As they went up to her apartment he was amazed at the sheer amount of books lining every available surface in the place. He put the stack on the only place he could see, her bed. Letting his hand drag over the top of the stack, he started wishing he could do something to help her feel better about herself, feel that she was stronger than she thought she was, wanting to be able teach her some Dragon Slayer magic even though you really needed a dragon or a dragon lacrima to do so. As his hand left the topmost book it dimly glowed for a second or two then went back to normal. Neither Gajeel or Lily noticed it nor did Levy as she was turning the place upside down looking for something. "AHA! Here it is! I found this ages ago but I kept forgetting to bring it into the guild for you" Walking over to Gajeel she placed a small object in his hands then picked up Lily hugging him as she trembled wondering what Gajeels reaction to her gift would be.
As he opened his fist he stared down at the small metal object in wonder. As he inspected it closer he spotted faint engravings of scales all over it. It was a tiny, well made figure of a dragon, not just any dragon but...his dragon... Metalicana. His legs gave out and he slumped to the ground, all the while looking at the statue. Lily hopped out of Levy's arms and walked over to him. "Gajeel?" Lily said poking him. Gajeel had silent tears running down his face as he looked up at Levy with a small smile. "W-where did you get this Bookworm?" he trailed off. She chuckled "I wanted to give it to you sooner but as you can see, sometimes its hard to find things in here" Gajeel found his feet and swept her up in a huge hug, nearly crushing her. As she lifted her face to look at him he brought his face down and started to kiss her. Putting her arms round his neck she started to kiss him back. Just as it started to get heated Lily coughed "We'd better get going before Erza finds us up here, I know men aren't really allowed in here after all."
Gajeel gently set Levy down but not before giving her a last tight hug. "See you at the guild tomorrow?" he asked her gruffly. "Of course! I'll be there for breakfast time" As she watched him leave she touched her lips in wonder. D-did he really just... d-does he really like me like I like him or was it just the statue? She got ready for bed with those sorts of things running through her mind along with the thoughts of not being good enough for someone like him, that he would want someone stronger not a weak little bookworm like her. As she moved the new stack of books to a side table she grabbed the topmost one, which was the old innocuous leather bound tome. She settled into bed and started reading. Soon enough she fell asleep. The book started glowing brighter than before and suddenly glowing golden letters appeared in the room spinning faster and faster round the bluenette. The entire book changed from an old book of poems to the mythical book of Dragons, their Secrets and Legends. As the golden letters disappeared in a shower of sparks so did Levy leaving behind the open books with pages fluttering in the breeze.