Part 1 : Goodbyes, Clock, Train.

"Go home and prepare. We'll start your training tonight. It's going to last for a week, so finish all your business here first. I'll meet you at the train station at 8, got it?"

Levy McGarden started packing her things up. Clothes, Trousers and Pants (Gajeel had said not to bring too much skirt, it'll make it harder for the training), and of course, her Books. She can't go anywhere without them. They're her lifetime partner, ever since she was a child. Even if they won't help in training, they'd help before and after it, so when Gajeel allowed her to bring them along, she was relieved, because she won't have to make the first clash against her training partner for the week.

Speaking of which, she wonders again how Gajeel become her partner. She had been chosen as one of the candidates of the S-Class mage exam. She sat on one of the bench in the guild, feeling a bit down after realizing her rivals (who clearly are stronger than her). Then he came. No hi, no chit-chat, he offers her his help to make her an S-class mage. Said things about motivation and making her big, and then told her to prepare and meet him later. It all happened really quick, actually.

She chuckled. Gajeel was not the greatest person at social interaction, but when it comes to speaking to the point, he's really great (he even managed to lift her spirit in what little conversation he made). It's not a bad thing, actually.

After packing her things, she decided to go around the town and say goodbyes to several people. She looked at the clock. 3.00 PM. She still have 5 hours until the meeting time. She decided to take a quick shower, get dressed, and went out of the dorm at 3.20. Not far from the dorm, she met her childhood friends and teammate, Jet and Droy of the Shadow Gear. They were waiting for Levi to get out of the dorm to talk to her.

"Levy, are you sure about this?" Droy asked, outrightly.

"About what? Participating in the S-Class exam? Of course I am! You guys know I've done a lot to get to this point," she answered.

"It's not about the exam. We're asking about your...partner in this exam. Gajeel," Jet said.

"Oh, about that? Well, I was a bit puzzled as to why he'd want to be my partner, but I don't think that's a problem," she responded.

"You do realize that this is the guy who once destroyed our guild..."

"and crucified us to a tree to declare a war between his guild, right?" Jet and Droy quickly asked her again, as if they're can't believe her answers was so casual.

"Yes, and I do realize that he's also the person who saved me from Luxus' attack, protected our Guild from being taken over by Luxus. Plus, he's a member of our guild now, not Phantom Lord's," she replied, with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

Droy and Jet stopped in their tracks. They looked down, guilt could be seen on their face. She then calmed down and speak

"Look guys, I know what he did was wrong, but can't you guys let it go already? From what I've seen, he's trying hard to atone to his past mistake, and that's why I trusted him. Simple as that,"

"...We know, Levy. We're just..."

"We can't forgive ourselves if something happened to you again. We failed to protect you more than once, and we..." Jet and Droy are talking, concern written on their expression, and Levy felt touched by it.

"Jet. Droy. You guys have done your best to protect me. It was me who can't protect myself, so don't blame yourself about it, okay?" she assured her childhood friends

"I might be a girl, and a bookworm at that, but I'm also a mage of Fairy Tail. I need to be able to protect myself, so I won't be failing anyone again. That's why I'm going to train with Gajeel, he knows best about independent way of living, don't you think?"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Droy said.

"...All right then, we won't try to stop you. But promise us, you won't do anything stupid. And if you ever feel in danger, just run and..."

"Call you guys, right? I know, both of you're the people I can depend on coming faster than anyone to help me," She continued Jet's word. She's glad she can make them understand. They're good guys , but sometimes a little bit overprotective. It's good to know they can trust her being able to fend to herself and trust Gajeel, too.

"But just in case, let us know your training place. We'll make a camp near there," They spoke, almost simultaneously

"Jet! Droy!"

After hugging her teammates, she said her goodbye and went to the town. The sky is covered by white flakes of snow, beautiful. But cold, nonetheless. So, she decided to go to the guild, to find a shelter and warming herself. There, she went and said casual goodbyes to the guild mates. She also said goodbyes to Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Elfman, Mest, Fried, and every single guild member. But she can't seem to find Cana and Lucy. After a while, she saw the snow is getting less, so she went out of the guild. Outside, she met Lucy.

"Hi, Levy!" Lucy called her.

"Lucy! I've been looking for you! I want to say goodbye to you,"

"What? Where are you going?"

"I'm going to train with my partner for a week. I need to get as prepared as I can, I want to make sure I'm ready for the exam,"

"Good for you! Actually, I'm going to train too, for the exam. So I want to say goodbye to you, too,"

"What? You're participating? As who's partner?"

"Cana's. I want to make her an S-Class mage, because of a reason..." Lucy trailed off a bit

'A reason?' Levy wondered for a moment. She wanted to ask what this reason is, but seeing Lucy is reluctant to say it, she kept the question in her mind.

"So, I won't go easy on you! You better be ready then, Levy!"

"Of course, let's both do our best! Tell that to Cana, too, okay? I didn't see her in the guild,"

"Okay, I'll be sure to tell her. By the way, Levy, who's your partner? Natsu's got Happy. Gray's got Loki."

"Loki? I thought he was your spirit?" Levy cut her, asking

"Oh, he is. But he can break the agreement by himself. Said he have a promise with Gray or something. Hmpf, selfish one, isn't he?"

"You got that right!" Levy nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, Juvia's with Lisanna, Elfman's with Evergreen, and I don't really know Mest that well, so I don't know his partner,"

"Elfman? With Evergreen? Wow, I didn's see that one coming,"

"Yeah, me too. Although, it might be because she's pissed at Fried who chose Bixlow as his partner, and wanted to show how wrong he is. Anyway, who's your partner? I didn't get the chance to talk to you in the guild because you get home too fast, and Jet and Droy were living dead at the moment, they weren't responding to my question at all,"

"Oh, my partner's Gajeel,"

"...Gajeel?" Lucy blinked.

"Yep,"

"...as if, Gajeel Reitfox?" Blinked twice.

"Exactly,"

"...The Iron Dragon Slayer!" Eyes wide, unbelieving.

"The one and only,"

"...and you said something about 'didn't saw that coming'. Did you asked his help?"

"Nope, he just came to me and told he's going to help. As simple as that,"

"That's another selfish one, just like Loki." Lucy smiled. She's glad that Gajeel can make friends with another guild member, because he seemed a bit inept at social departement. She's also glad that Levy had truly gotten over her trauma with Gajeel, considering what happened to her. It's a good thing for both of them, she thought.

"Well, it's your choice, so I hopeyou both can work together well. Anyway, when are you going to train?"

"Oh, I'm going at..."she stopped talking, staring deeply to her watch, before shrieked with panic

"Eek! It's 7.30 already! I need to go home fast, get my things and meet him at the train station at 8! Sorry Lucy, it's good to talk to you, but I really need to go now!"

Levy gave her friend a huge hug, and rushes down the street to her home

"Goodbye! Don't forget to tell Cana that I wish her luck, too!" she yelled.

She rushed open her room's door. She looked up at her clock, and cursed her bad luck. The clock's still showing 3.00. Of all day of all month and years, why must the clock disfunction at this day? After franctically gathering her packages, she stormed off to the station.

It takes 10 minutes to go from town to the dorm, 5 minutes to gather her things, and 20 minutes to go to the train station. The clock was already showing 8.05. She knows this is bad, the train at Magnolia town always arrive and depart at exact time. So if the departure time is 8.00, 8.05 is already considered a next train ticket. She ran to the 4th station, with little hope that the train haven't depart yet. And her hope was answered. The train hasn't departed yet. She wonder, why is it?

But her question was also answered, as she looked Gajeel in front of the train, holding the train from departing by pushing the it, keeping it at the station.

"Sir, this won't do at all! Even if you're a fairy tail mage, we need to get on with schedule!" The train engineer yelled, more like begged, to him.

"The damn clock's too fast! Another five minutes, is all my clock's sayin'!" He yelled back, effectively silencing the engineer.

She ran even faster to the train. At the train door, she met Lily, Gajeel's partner cat. Lily is watching the scene with amusement in his face.

"Oh ,Levy, you're here?" Lily said.

"Gajeel! She's here!" He yelled to him.

"Oh, get on board with her then, Lily! I'll be in shortly! You there! Open the door!" he yelled to Levy, then the engineer abruptly opened the door in haste.

They gets on board. Not so long after, Gajeel went in, and the train start moving.

"I'm so sorry! I'm late, and you have to-" she started to apologise, when he suddenly cut her off

"The damn clock's too fast at the station. They're the one who should apologize, not you. Now shut your trap, go to your seat and siddown!" is all he said.

And the train moves to the destination.