Hello my dearies!

Welcome to the first sequel to Understanding My Heart! (If you haven't read it you are welcome to, but it's not necessary)

I asked you guys what you wanted to see, and GaLe got the most votes!

I'm super excited to write this story... I think the plot I came up with is going to be really fun and interesting. It's my hope that ya'll will enjoy it as much as UMH!

A LOT of this is going to be from Levy's POV, since it's going to be pretty necessary to the plot. I think that she's really fun to write so I'm looking forward to it!

I'm going to be working on this alongside my other fic, Trail Testing, so I don't know how often I will be posting yet. But I'll try my best to post regularly!

I'll let you guys get to reading!

Please leave a review or a suggestion, I absolutely love hearing your opinions!

Much love

Sabina

Chapter 1

Levy's POV

Well that was an interesting dream...

Fairy Tail's solid script mage Levy McGarden rubbed her eyes sleepily as she sat up in bed. The bright morning sunlight was shining in through the tall window in her room, and it was this that had finally woken her. She yawned and stared down at her hands for a few minutes, contemplating the dream she had just had. Her cheeks flushed...

Gajeel...

She would never admit it out loud but she was very attracted to the tough iron dragonslayer. Even though they had been enemies and he had hurt her the first time they had met, she had slowly fallen for him after he had joined Fairy Tail. She could tell that he was truly remorseful for what he had done and that he wanted to be accepted by everyone... Every time she saw him sitting off by himself, she saw a deep sadness in his eyes... She wanted to reach out and comfort him, but she knew that he would brush her off like he was fine...

Only in her dreams did Gajeel ever open up to her... At first the dreams had been simple and innocent, just the two of them spending time together and learning about each other... But as time went on they took a different turn...

Levy blushed again, a faint smile curling on her lips. Last night's dream had been particularly interesting... She was sure that the real Gajeel wouldn't have been so...affectionate... If only he would...

The blunette sighed and got out of bed, feeling that it was time she headed to the guild. She showered and dressed, humming a little to herself as she went about her business. When she was finally ready she headed out of her room and made her way downstairs to the Fairy Hills dorm lobby. It looked like she was one of the last ones to wake up that day, because she didn't see any of the other girls on her way out.

She streached happily in the sunlight as she made her way down the path that led from the girl's dorm to the Fairy Tail guildhall. It was a beautiful spring day, and she was glad that it was finally warming up. Levy didn't like the cold, and she had spent a lot of time snuggled in bed with a good book over the past winter months.

Levy smiled as she opened the front doors of the guild and stepped through. The guild was decorated with hundreds of flowers, and the aroma coming from them was lovely. The master had decided that they would be holding a Spring Festival in a few days, and the women of the guild had taken it upon themselves to decorate the guildhall accordingly. Levy smiled at the memory of the previous day. She and the other girls had banished the men from the hall while they worked, certain that they'd mess things up and wanting them gone so they could gossip.

"Levy! Good morning!" called her best friend, Lucy Heartfilia. Levy smiled and ran over to the celestial spirit mage, hugging her tightly.

"Lu! How are you this morning? I assume you had a good night?" said Levy slyly, winking her her friend. Lucy blushed and an embarrassed smile curled on her lips.

"It was very nice... Dinner was lovely..." she said, tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear distractedly. Levy giggled and raised her eyebrows at her friend.

"I'm sure it was... What did you and Natsu do after dinner?" she asked, already knowing what the answer was. Her hunch was confirmed when Lucy's blush deepened and she nervously began rubbing her left thumb across her guildmark on the back of her right hand; more specifically, on the little golden dragon resting at the center of the pink mark. Levy smiled at her friend as she apologized for the teasing and they headed to the bar to get food from Mirajane. Lucy had taken to rubbing the little golden dragon when she was nervous or upset, almost as if she got comfort from touching it.

The golden mark was evidence of her mate bond. Levy had had a hand in making that happen. A few months ago Natsu Dragneel, Fairy Tail's fire dragonslayer, had come to her asking for help. He hadn't been able to understand his feelings for the celestial spirit mage, and Levy and the rest of the guild had helped him to confess to her. That had been quite an event for Fairy Tail, attempting to teach the naive slayer about love had been a challenge, but they had eventually succeeded and had helped Natsu keep Lucy from being snatched away from some jerk from Blue Pegasus. The two had been happily together ever since...

Levy was truly happy for the two of them. They were perfect together. Natsu's childlike antics brought out the fun part of Lucy, and her level-headedness kept the energetic slayer in line. They were the perfect team... Levy's heart clenched as a little bit of jealousy filled her. If only her love life would work out so well... But she couldn't imagine Gajeel doing what Natsu had done for Lucy...

"Levy? Are you ok?" said Lucy, concern in her voice. Levy snapped out of her wistful daydreaming, blushing a little.

"Oh... Yeah I'm fine Lu... Just thinking..." she said, her eyes tinged with a faint sadness. Lucy gave her an all too knowing look and sighed exasperatedly.

"You know you could just talk to him Levy," said the spirit mage, making Levy blush deeper.

"Are you kidding? Its Gajeel..." the blunette hissed at her blonde friend, looking around to make sure that the iron slayer wasn't within earshot. She couldn't see him anywhere so he must not have come to the guild yet... "You really think that talking to him is gonna change anything? I mean... You know how he is! He'll probably just laugh at me..." she continued, sadly. She picked moodily at her food as Lucy gave her a sympathetic pat on the back.

"Okay, so talking to him probably won't be a good idea. I have to admit he probably wouldn't have much tact when presented with a situation like this... But you can't keep putting it off Levy! You're still having the dreams right?" said the blonde. Levy nodded, still blushing. Lucy had insisted on getting all the details when Levy had first admitted having dreams about the iron dragonslayer. She wouldn't say why, but Lucy fiercely insisted that they were important.

"Yeah... Another one last night... No I'm not giving you the details about this one Lu..." she said dryly as the celestial spirit mage opened her mouth to ask a question. The blonde pouted but didn't ask any questions. A faint memory from the end of the dream wormed its way to the front of Levy's mind and she paused, feeling a bit confused... "But... At the end... I swear I heard Gajeel cry out... Like he was in pain..." She looked up at Lucy and saw the blonde's eyes narrow. "Lu?"

"Levy... You're sure about that?" she said, her voice serious. Levy was taken aback by the sudden change in attitude.

"Y-yeah... I'm certain I heard him..." she said, starting to feel a bit worried. Lucy turned to look around the guild and called out when she saw who she was searching for.

"Natsu! Come here, we need your help!" the blonde called to her boyfriend, who was busy arguing with Gray Fullbuster. Immediately his head snapped around and he headed over, a worried expression on his face when he heard the tone of his mate's voice.

"What's wrong Luce?" said the fire mage, placing a protective hand on her shoulder. Ever since the incident with Darius, Natsu had been very protective of his girlfriend. Lucy's expression softened a little and she placed her hand over his before speaking.

"Have you seen Gajeel today at all? Levy... I mean we think that something might be up," said the blonde woman. Levy's heart began to pound painfully. What? When did we decide that? Does Lucy know something about these dreams? Natsu's eyes narrowed as he looked into his mate's eyes. He nodded and sniffed at the air, trying to pick up the iron slayer's scent.

"I don't smell him at all..." said Natsu, his eyes casting about in case his sense of smell was being interfered with. Levy began to get really worried as she saw Natsu shake his head. "He's not here. I don't think he's been here for a few days..." Levy knew that Gajeel had gone out on a job recently, but he should have been back by now... Had something happened?

Her question was answered almost immediately as the front doors of the guild burst open and a very battered Pantherlilly stumbled in, still in his battle form.

"Lily! You're hurt!" exclaimed Levy, running over to him and crouching down as he reverted back to his normal form. The little black cat was bleeding from numerous wounds, and his expression was pained. Levy moved over as Wendy Marvell, Fairy Tail's sky dragonslayer and healer, rushed over and immediately began healing the exceed. "What happened? Where's Gajeel?" said Levy, terror in her voice. Lily managed to open one eye and began to speak haltingly.

"We...got ambushed...had just finished job..." panted Lily, pausing as he winced in pain. After taking a few deep breaths he continued, his strength already returning as Wendy's magic healed him. "We were on our way back... When we got attacked by a dark guild... They outnumbered us... I don't know how... But they seemed to know Gajeel's weaknesses... We fought as hard as we could... But in the end they caught him... He told me to go back to the guild and warn everyone..."

The guild was filled with mutters as everyone looked around at each other, all looking worried. An attack by a dark guild was not good... And they had taken one of their own captive... What did this mean...?

"Lily," said Master Makarov as he approached them, an angry look in his eyes. "Did you manage to find out the name of the dark guild? I want to know who's responsible for attacking my children..." Everyone could feel the rage radiating off the small man in waves... Nobody messed with Fairy Tail and got away with it. Levy cradled the small black exceed as Wendy finished healing him. He was still very weak, but it was all that the sky slayer could do. He nodded slowly and spoke.

"They called themselves... Phantom Reborn..."