Life in Fairy Tail had never been easy, but it seemed like things were down right difficult these days. It was hard to get back into the swing of things after being gone for seven years. When the Tenrou team returned they all had trouble adjusting to the new world they found themselves in. All their friends had grown up without them. Bisca and Alzak had gotten married and had a child. The guild had been a shell of its former self, with only a handful of members left. The people that were left had gotten a lot stronger while everyone was away.
Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Lucy all had each other to help them through that tough time. Cana had Gildarts, not that she had any trouble adjusting anyways, she had always been a go-with-the-flow type person. Laxus had his team with him. Juvia and Wendy had both just started their lives in Magnolia and all their close friends had been on the island with them. Gajeel wasn't exactly one to make friends and he had seemed to adjust to the changes quickly. Levy felt like she was the only one still struggling with things months after returning.
Levy's team hadn't been with her on the island. Her teammates had grown up without her. Droy had grown fat but was still the same sweet man he had always been. He had never given up on finding Levy, but when they had, and she was still her eighteen-year-old self things had changed between them. He was twenty-five now and Levy could tell he saw her more like a little sister these days. Levy was alright with this, it made things easier in their relationship now that he and Jet weren't competing for her affection.
Jet, well Jet was another story entirely. Things between Levy and Jet had become … awkward to say the least. She couldn't even place all the blame for it on him. When she had first got back to Magnolia, her life had been in shambles. She couldn't even think of where to start picking up the pieces. Jet had been there for her then. He had given up on her in the past, believed she and the others were dead. He had tried to make up for that by being there for her once she was back. Jet had grown up well, he was handsome, mature and kind. Maybe that was why Levy had done what she did. Maybe it was because she was desperately searching for some stability. Maybe it was because Gajeel had turned a cold shoulder to her as soon as they returned. She couldn't say for sure what had influenced her to act the way she had, but she wished she could take it back now.
The single biggest regret of Levy's life was the night she had ended up in Jet's bed. She still wasn't sure how it had happened. Well … she knew how it had happened. She remembered every horrid detail. She just didn't understand why she had done it.
Levy was sitting under the rainbow Sakura tree in the park. It was late and the park was empty, which is just want she was hoping for. She needed time away from everyone. The girls back at Fairy Hills were planning Evergreen and Elfman's wedding even though they weren't even officially dating. There was a party going on at the guild hall to welcome Laxus back to the guild. Lucy was visiting her father's grave. As for Gajeel … He was back to his normal aloof self and that hurt a lot more than Levy thought it would.
That was what lead to Levy hiding out in the middle of Magnolia Park, under the Sakura tree, crying. Her life savings, gone. Her guildhall, gone. Her best friends, grown up. Her crush, ignoring her. Her old life, gone. She didn't know what to do anymore and she felt like she had no one she could turn too.
"Levy? Is that you?" Levy cursed herself as she heard the voice of one of the last people she wanted to see right then. She quickly wiped her tears away and looked up to see Jet running over to her.
"What are you doing out here all alone? It's not really safe to do that anymore. I mean, not with Twilight Ogre in town and everything." Jet told her, sitting down beside her.
Levy had to bite her lip to hold back a sob. Even her hometown had changed. She had never felt unsafe in Magnolia, even during everything with Phantom Lord, but now she apparently shouldn't be alone. How could things have changed so much?
"Oh, don't worry, Levy." Jet put his arm around her and pulled her close to his side. He could see the tears she was trying to hold back. "I'll keep you safe."
Levy couldn't help the bitter chuckle at that slipped past her lips. Jet having to protect her, that was a funny thought. "That's just one thing I don't think I'll ever believe." She joked.
"I've gotten a lot stronger, faster too." He gave her a shy smile. "Took seven years, but I might finally be able to hold my own against you. For maybe five minutes."
Levy did laugh at that. She knew Jet and Droy were good wizards but neither were really good at fighting, that has somehow always been Levy's job. They had always teased each other about how Levy was the strongest. Of course, if anyone else said something bad about her boys Levy would kick their butts.
"That's better. You shouldn't cry. Crying won't fix things. It just gives you a headache and ruins your beautiful makeup." Jet said.
Levy shook his head at him. "You know I don't wear makeup."
"So you're just naturally this gorgeous?" Jet smirked at her. Levy felt her face warm. Was Jet flirting with her? Jet had never flirted with her before.
"What are the tears about?" He asked as he brushed a stray one off her cheek.
"Everything. I guess I'm just lonely." She told him, she would never hide anything from him.
"You don't have to be alone. I know how that feels." Jet's arm tightened around her in an awkward side hug.
"You do?" Levy looked up at him, confused.
"I went seven years without the most important person in my life." He gave her a sad smile. "Come on, you can stay with me and Droy tonight."
Something in her gut told her she shouldn't take the hand he offered. She pushed that feeling to the side. This was Jet, he was her closest friend. She could trust him, he wouldn't hurt her. She walked to his apartment with him and by the time they arrived her eyes were dry and she was laughing again. She could hear Droy snoring in his room and she curled up on the couch with Jet to watch a movie. At some point during the movie Levy had ended up in Jet's lap. By the end of it he was kissing her. Alarm bells were going off in her head, but she silenced them. She wanted to feel close to someone, even if that someone was her best friend.
Jet took her virginity that night. It hadn't been a bad experience, he had been kind, gentle even. She had enjoyed herself at the time. The next morning however she regretted it. Part of herself hated what happened, resented it even. It was that resentment that put a strain on their relationship.
She could remember waking up that morning in Jet's bed. If she had thought that night had been a dream her body was quick to point out it had been painfully real. She was naked, her limbs felt like lead, and there was an undeniable ache between her legs. Her only saving grace was the fact Jet was still asleep next to her. She had rushed to get dressed and leave before he woke up. Her shame still ate at her nearly two months later.
Jet had understood quickly that Levy didn't want a repeat. It wasn't hard to misunderstand the obvious signs, as she had disappeared in the morning. She had made a point of avoiding him for the following three days. He had been worried that things between them had been ruined completely by his actions, but lucky for him things seemed to go back to normal after nearly a week. By the end of the Grand Magic Games it seemed like their night together was all but forgotten.
Jet couldn't say he was happy that Levy put that night behind them. He loved Levy, he always had. He thought she finally understood how he felt and returned those feelings. Losing her for seven years had been pure torture. He had tried to get over her during that time, it was why he hated hearing Droy insist that she was alive. Holding out hope that Levy would return only made her being gone that much harder on him. He had felt ashamed and guilty when she had returned and it was why he had tried so hard to be there for her, to help her when no one else would. He had thought he might finally have a chance with her, especially after they spent a night together. He didn't know what he had done wrong. He thought about it often and wished he knew the answer. As it was now, he was just happy she was still agreeing to be on a team with him.
The team dynamic had changed a lot since the end of the games. Jet and Droy hadn't worked together in the seven years Levy had been gone. She was the glue that held the team together and without her the two had fought quite a bit. The best thing they could do for their friendship was not work together. Now that Levy was back, so was team Shadowgear, with a few new additions. Jet didn't understand it, but for some reason Gajeel and Lily were tagging along on their jobs now. Neither he, nor Droy, were particularly happy about this, but neither were willing to say anything about it to Levy. It was agreed between them that they would do whatever made Levy happy. That seemed to include letting the Iron Dragon-Slayer on the team.
Having Gajeel as a part of the team had some benefits. They were able to take on harder job's now with bigger rewards. Jet and Droy were both stronger than they had been when Levy left and were now on par with her ability. Levy didn't have to save them all the time anymore. In fact, they were having to protect her more and more now. Gajeel had a tendency for picking out jobs that involved a lot of fighting and forgetting that Levy wasn't much of a fighter. Jet didn't understand why Levy wanted him on their team anyways. He was always running head first into trouble. In Jet's opinion, he was as bad as Natsu.
They had just got back from another difficult job and Levy was looking forward to a long soak in the bathhouse after maybe a drink or two at the bar. Levy wasn't sure what she was going to do about her team. Things between her and Jet seemed to get harder with every job. She hadn't told anyone about the 'biggest mistake ever' as she like to call her night with Jet. From what she could tell he hadn't told anyone either. She had hoped they could just agree to forget about it, and maybe he had, but with how he fought with Gajeel she doubted it. It was putting a strain on the team and they spent as much time fighting each other as they did working the job. It had finally got to a point on this last job where she had to admit defeat and kick Gajeel off the team.
"I'm sorry, Gajeel, but I don't think this is working. I know you are trying to find a team, but I don't think this is the one for you," Levy had told him after yet another fight that had to be broken up between him and Jet.
"I ain't the problem, shrimp, it's him." Gajeel said, pointing a finger at Jet.
"You keep leaving Levy unprotected." Jet countered. Gajeel had been enjoying the most recent fight against a group of bandits too much and Levy got caught in the crossfire. She had just managed to dodge out of the way of one of his breath attacks in time to avoid getting shredded by the metal. As it was, a few stray pieces had caught her arm.
"If she can't watch out for herself than she ain't got no right taking the job." Gajeel told them. This was often his stance during these disagreements.
"You're the one that picked the job, Asshole!" Jet shouted right in Gajeel's face.
"Ya didn't have to tag along." He growled back at him. "Now get outta my face."
"Would you two just stop!" Levy shouted, jumping between the two of them. She placed a hand on each of their chest to push them apart. Gajeel's chest was hard underneath her palm and her fingers instinctively curled into his shirt. Her other hand was hovering over Jet's chest like it was reluctant to close the distance between them. She fixed her eyes onto Gajeel first.
"Gajeel, you're just not a good fit for this team. Maybe you would work better with Juvia or Cana?" Levy said, facing him. She could see the hurt in his eyes even though he tried to hide it. She didn't know why he was so insistent on trying to work with Team Shadowgear. She assumed he must still feel guilty over pinning them to a tree when he was with Phantom Lord.
"And you," She turned to face Jet when she heard him snicker behind her. "Stop picking fights with Gajeel. You know he could handle these jobs alone. He takes us along so we can get stronger. You are the one holding us back right now, Jet."
"But, Levy …" Jet tried to defend himself but Levy wasn't having it. The two of them had pushed her last nerve.
"Don't, Jet. I don't want to hear it. Don't make me regret my decisions more than I already do." She saw the understanding on his face. He knew she was talking about sleeping with him. She saw how her words hurt him. She had cut him deep, but it had to be said eventually.
"Levy, you don't mean that." Jet said, his voice almost pleading.
"I'm sorry." She couldn't look at him, all the fight leaving her voice. She didn't want to hurt her friend. "Let's just go home."
Now, after one very awkward train ride home Levy was sitting at the bar with her first drink already gone and her second nearly there. It wasn't often Levy drank when at the guild. She didn't even have a book in front of her today. Lucy was gone on a job with her team and Levy's team was avoiding her. Levy didn't know which odd behavior attracted Mira to her, it could have been all of it, but she soon found Mira standing on the other side of the bar from her.
"I heard you got those bandits taken care of in record time." Mira said, trying to start a conversation. Her normal sickly-sweet voice was a little too much for Levy at the moment and she just shrugged at her. "Things not go as well as it sounded?"
"You could say that." Levy made a motion like she was going to close a book only to find there was no book there. She had been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed.
"What happened?" Mira asked, setting down another drink for Levy. She downed half her drink before answering.
"The normal, Jet and Gajeel fighting." Levy sighed before trying to smile at Mira. "Boy's being boys I guess."
Mira gave her a worried frown. "I did have a job request for you but it seems like you might need a little break."
"What's the job?" She asked. The requests for her normally involve translations for obscure dead languages. She had a special skill. She was proud of the fact that, even after disappearing for seven years, she was still the go-to language expert.
"Dr. Windsor has gone missing. His wife was asking for you to find him and his team." Mira's tone was serious as she slid the job request across the bar to Levy.
"Adare! How long has he been missing?" Levy snatched the piece of paper from Mira. Adare Windsor was an old friend of hers. He had been the first person she ever worked for after joining Fairy Tail. He was the reason Team Shadowgear had formed. He was a well-known archeologist who had done extensive research into multiple old religions that had existed in Fiore for the worship of mages. The old temples he worked in were always littered with traps, both mundane and magical, and he would always contract Shadowgear to help in his work. At least he had before Levy had disappeared.
The job request said exactly what Levy had been expecting. Adare had been exploring a new site and he had yet to return. It said he and his two team members had been missing for a week, but Levy knew he could spend a month or more in his digs without contacting anyone outside of his team. It was possible they had been gone a lot longer than anyone knew. Adare had been like a father to her over the years. There was no way she was going to hand this over to anyone else. Team Shadowgear was specially designed to handle this. All they needed was a good tracker.
"I'm taking it." Levy told Mira getting up from the bar, her drink forgotten. She rushed over and told Jet and Droy about it. It came as no surprise that they both felt as strongly as she did. All three were still packed from the last job and had agreed to meet at the train station to take the next one heading east. Levy just had to grab some research notes and convince one last person into coming along. She knew it wasn't going to be an easy task.
Gajeel was at his normal table with Lily. He was making a pointed effort to ignore Levy and the rest of her team. He was aware they were scrambling together for some job, but he acted like he didn't notice them. Only Lily had noticed the change in Gajeel's behavior, of course he had been there to see Levy kick them off the team.
"You're being childish. This is exactly why Levy doesn't want to work with you." Lily told him. Gajeel didn't have a response, he was acting childish, but he didn't care. He wasn't about to admit to anyone, especially Lily, that Levy had hurt his feelings. He was Black Steel Gajeel, he didn't have feelings. Especially soft romantic feelings for a certain blue haired shrimp. Nope, he didn't have those.
Gajeel tried to ignore Levy when she came over to his table. Lily greeted her, but he only grunted in acknowledgment of her existence. Childish, yes, but he already accepted he was being a child. One thing he couldn't ignore was the scent of fear and salty tears mixed in with her normal scent of old books and jasmine.
"What's wrong, Shrimp?" Gajeel asked without thinking about it.
"I need your help on this job… Please." She added the last in a pleading tone. Levy had been working quickly to get this job together. She had struggled to keep her emotions in check since getting the request, but so far, she had kept the tears at bay.
"I thought you didn't want me on your team. I'm not a good fit." He reminded her. He silently cursed himself when he saw her flinch at his words.
"I need a tracker and you're the best in the guild." She tried to hand him the job request, but he kept his arms crossed over his chest. Lily reached out to take it, reading it over.
"Do you know this man? Dr. Windsor?" Lily asked.
"Yes, he is a good man and an old friend of mine," Levy said. She was surprised how normal her voice sounded considering the storm of emotions inside her.
"What can we do to help?" Lily asked her. He forced the paper into Gajeel's hand at the same time.
"The temple is going to be a maze. It would take forever for us to search it from top to bottom and they might not have that kind of time. Gajeel could sniff them out." Levy was looking hopefully at Gajeel.
"You know it don't work like that. Says they have been missing for 'bout a week. Scent trail is cold and dead by now. You'd be better off taking someone like Bickslow who could search out their souls," Gajeel told her, handing the paper back to her.
Levy had considered about that, had thought about anything that would mean she wouldn't have to stand here and beg Gajeel for help. The truth was, if the worse had happened and the team was dead, Bickslow wouldn't be able to find them. Not to mention, he was already on a job and wouldn't be back for who knew how long. She couldn't risk waiting for Bickslow to get back or Natsu. Wendy didn't have the tracking experience Gajeel did and, honestly, most of the members she had known and trusted were gone. Fairy Tail was still working to re-cope the loss of almost all their members. New people were joining every day, but she didn't know them. She didn't know their skill sets or if she could trust them in the dangerous situation they were bound to find in the ruins. She didn't really like it, but Gajeel was her best option at the moment.
Levy decided that she was going to have to switch tactics. "They are the only people to step foot in this temple in at least three hundred years. Are you telling me you can't track the scent of the only humans around for miles just because the trail is a few days old? I guess you're not the great Dragon-Slayer I thought you were. Maybe I should contact Rouge," Levy sighed, playing up the disappointment. "I'm sure he could manage just fine."
"What'd you say?" Gajeel was clearly offended. "Ryos got nothing on my nose."
"But you already made it clear you won't help," She sighed and started to tuck the job request away as she waited for him to respond.
"What's in it for me?" Gajeel finally asked. He reached out and snatched the request back from her.
Levy tried not to let her excitement show. She thought about what she had to offer him, she hadn't even looked at the reward for the job. She hadn't cared, she only cared about Adare. "You can have the full reward, I don't want it and neither does Jet or Droy. Adare has two boys at home, thirteen and ten. Their names are Luke and Dominic." She pulled a photo out of her bag. Her desperation showing in her voice. "If you won't do it for me. If you won't do it for the money. Then at least do it for them, Gajeel, please."
Gajeel looked at the photo. There was a middle-aged man in the center. He had brown hair that was cut short with a full beard. He looked to be shorter, under six feet, with a rounded belly. On his right was a beautiful woman with dark red hair. She looked to be about the same age as the man and from how she was leaning on him he could assume she was his wife. On either side of them were two younger men, in their early twenties at the latest. Both wore glasses and had messy brown hair. In the middle, in front of everyone were two children. The older one had dark brown hair like his father. The younger one had crimson colored hair that was tied into a low ponytail.
He sighed, "Fine, you don't have to get all moppy-eyed. I'll help ya, I guess." Gajeel gave in. He had always had a soft spot for kids. Between the two boys and Levy's barely controlled tears, it was too much for him to continue to try and keep up appearances. "You're just lucky I haven't finished unpacking."
Relief flooded through Levy at his words. "Do you mean it?" She had honestly been starting to wonder if she had completely ruined things with Gajeel.
"We would be honored to help," Lily said, getting a noncommittal noise of agreement from Gajeel. "We will head to the station as soon as we grab our things."
"Thank you!" She pulled Lily into a hug. She was about to hug Gajeel too, but stopped herself abruptly, blushing slightly. "Thank you, Gajeel. I owe you."
"Damn right you owe me and I plan to collect." Gajeel told her before getting to his feet. "Come on Lily, let's get ready."
Levy watched them leave. For some reason his parting words left a feeling of dread in her stomach. Did she really want to owe Gajeel a favor? She shook off the feeling, to help Adare she would do anything. She turned her back to his retreating form and ran off to get her research notes from the guild library. She had notes on every civilization she had discovered and explored over the years. She grabbed the books she needed to help with translations and went to pick up her things.
Thirty minutes later Team Shadowgear was gathered at the train station. Levy was half expecting Gajeel not to show even though he said he would. The train was already boarding and she still had yet to see him and Gajeel didn't hide easily. She was just starting to get really nervous when she saw his unruly black head above the crowd. She quickly waved him over and saw Lily pointing at them as the two men worked their way over.
"What is he doing here?" Jet demanded when he spotted Gajeel. "This is who we have been waiting for?"
"Not my fault you can't handle the job on your own." Gajeel said, glaring at the speed mage.
"Guy's let's not fight about this." Droy muscled his way between the two men who just glared at each other over his head.
"If you don't want me to help find your friend than I'll leave." Gajeel turned his back on them. "Come on, Lily."
Levy rushed forward and latched onto his arm before he could get more than a step away. "Please, could you two just get along for this one job. For me?"
Damnit! Those tears were in her eyes again. Levy had always been so strong. She hadn't cried when he bolted her to a tree. She hadn't cried when they faced certain death against Acnologia. She hadn't cried when they faced a horde of dragons. But she was going to cry now just because he was being an ass about helping find her friends. He really could be a bastard at times.
"I'll behave if he does," Jet answered before Gajeel got the chance. A smug look on his face at being the bigger man and answering first. Levy was giving Gajeel a hopeful look.
"Yeah, fine, let's just do this," Gajeel agreed before he boarded the train. It was going to be a long trip and he didn't even know where they were going. Damn, the things he would do for this woman.