"No Gajeel! Repeat yourself!" Levy screams as her face turns increasingly red.

All eyes in the guild were on them as they caused a large scene. Gajeel hung his head, knowing he wouldn't win against the surprisingly stubborn girl.

"Levy I didn't mean it like that.." He mumbles quietly, his long raven locks covering his face as she stares down at the small girl.

"Of course you didn't Gajeel. What the hell did you mean then? huh?" Levy screams as she steps dangerously close to the dragon slayer. Levy was the only one other than the demon, Titania, and the other dragon slayers who would dare to step up to him when he was angry.H normally would have respected her for that, but now it was just making him more angry at her.


REWIND TO 1 DAY AGO

"Hey, Mira! Any new jobs lately?" Levy asks with her usual cheer and infectious smile as she sits down at the bar, her feet swinging from the high stool.

"Oh Yeah! We actually just got a huge bunch in from the Pergande kingdom" Mira says as she thrusts a stack of papers into Levy's hands.

"The Pergrande Kingdom?! You've got to be kidding me. All their jobs are really dangerous Mira. If their men can't take care of them what makes you think that I can?" Levy asks with a distressed look, her self-confidence plummeting just by scanning over the missions.

"Levy, you're so much stronger than you give yourself credit for," Mira says as if seemingly reading her mind. "No one would be able to put up with all the shit that you do and be weak, Especially with Gajeel,"Mira says with a snicker. "I mean if you're so worried about it why don't you take Gajeel with you. You know that he wouldn't let anything happen to you if it came to it," Mira says as a mischevious look passes her usually calm face for a second.

"I can't," Levy says sadly. "He went on that job last week with Lily last week, remember? He's not due back for at least another 5 days."

Mira's eyes widen in surprise. "I wasn't here for awhile remember?. Kinina probably filled that one out for him." Mira says as she takes the documents back from Levy, spreads them out in front of her and begins to read them herself. "Ooo how about this one Levy, the reward is a stack of old tablets and one old book that they can't translate," Mira says as she waves the paper back in forth with a smirk, knowing that Levy could never resist a book reward no matter how small the actual payment was.

Levy snatched the paper from Mira's hands, reading it at lightning speed even without her Gale-Force Glasses. "Oh, My Mavis!" Levy says with a squeal. "These seem so interesting...but I'd have to take down a dark guild on my own Mira," Levy says with a shake of her head as she hands the paper back to her.

"Oh come on Levy. I know that you've taken down dark guilds before" Mira says as she pushes the paper back into Levy's hands.

"I know, but I had Jet and Droy with me then," Levy tried to reason.

"Levy.." Mira says with a tilt of her head. "They got knocked out at the beginning of every battle and you've ended up having to finish the job on your own anyways. I'm sure you're gonna be fine," Mira says with a knowing smile, though she only had to mention the book and Levy would have already been on board. Mentioning how incompetent that the others were in a mission was just a plus since everyone was already thinking it.

"Well I mean..."Levy hesitates, knowing how much Gajeel hated coming home to an empty house. Usually, Levy would make him iron with her signature heart in the O, clean the house, and make sure everything was just perfect. It was more fun if he was coming home alone so that she could surprise him with an extra little treat.

As if reading her mind Mira chimes in. "I can make sure to let Gajeel know as soon as he comes back. There's no need to worry," She says with a smile, knowing how badly Levy wanted to secretly take the mission.

"You know what Mira?" Levy says with a smile. "I'll go on the mission, sign me up," Levy says with a smirk.

"Great Levy, I know that you're gonna love it. You'll need to be at the train station at 1 in the afternoon two days from now okay? The client will meet you there." Mira says as she sorts out the other papers on the bar.

"Wait..he'll meet me at the train station? I thought you said that the mission was in the Pergrande Kingdom," Levy says with a confused tilt of her head.

"Well yes it's originally from there, but the client said that they wanted to meet at the train station so that they can see the wizard who was going to be in charge and to give you more info on the dark guild," Mira says as she turns her back to Levy, pinning the missions on the mission board once again.

"Oh well I suppose that's okay," Levy says with a shrug before looking at the clock in the corner of the guild. "Oh wow! It's already 9. I'd better head home now if I want to have time to pack and sleep a decent amount since I won't be able to on the train. Plus tomorrow I need to clean out my apartment," Levy says as she collects the many books she had brought with her that day. After quick goodbyes to all her friends, Levy left the guild and went home to pack.


1 PM THE NEXT DAY

Levy was walking in for a late lunch, she had been cleaning all morning and completely forgot that she had to eat once she found one of her favorite books hidden in one of her various piles around her room. As she stepped into the guild she dropped her books on the ground with a thud.

"GAJEEL?!" Levy yells in surprise, running and jumping into his arms, ignoring the snickers and passing of whispers and jewels throughout guild. "I thought you weren't supposed to be back for another 4 days," Levy says as she kisses his cheek.

"Gihee, it's nice to see you too shrimp. It was all pretty easy so I was able to get back way earlier than expected," Gajeel says with a smirk.

He puts her down slowly, ruffling her hair as he does before leading her to a seat at the bar.

"Hey Mira, Can I have a salad please?" Levy asks with a smile.

"Sure Levy. Make sure you don't overwork yourself with all that cleaning though" Mira says as she points to the pile of old books next to her. "You're gonna need all your energy for your mission tomorrow and I know how you get when you find a new book," Mira says as she puts a large salad in front of her.

"Mission?" Gajeel says with a confused look as he takes a sip from his pint of beer.

Levy gives Mira a pointed look that would have caused anyone to run away, though it only made Mira smile back sweetly with confusion. Levy knew how Gajeel could get when she went on solo missions since he was so protective, though it was no better than when she went on missions with Jet and Droy since he had no faith in their abilities to keep her safe.

"Oh, it's nothing, just something in Pergrande," Levy says with a smile before shoving some of her salad into her mouth. "Just taking out a dark guild" Levy mumbles as quietly as possible.

" DOING WHAT?" Gajeel yells as he puts his pint into a death grip. "There's no way in hell that I'm letting ya take tweedle dee and tweedle dumb with you to take down a dark guild!" Gajeel yells, drawing all eyes to them.

"You're right," Levy says with a shrug. "I'm not taking them with me. It's a solo mission," Levy says as she continues to eat. Her cheeks going red as she notices all the eyes on them.

"That's even fucking worse Lev," Gajeel growls.

Levy's hard snapped up, knowing that whenever he used any form of her name that he was serious.

"And why is that Gajeel?" Levy asks in a dangerously calm tone, hating when he underestimated her. Everyone always saw a small girl when they looked at her, but Gajeel was different. He made her feel big and powerful.

"You just can't take down a whole dark guild by yourself, you're not ready for that," He says with seemingly angry red eyes. Anybody else would've been running away from getting any sort of look from Gajeel with those crimson red eyes, though Levy was different, they usually calmed her, but not today. Today they fueled her anger, just making her want to continue the argument.

"I'm not ready?.." Levy asks with a tilt of her head, standing up slowly from her seat.

"No! You're not. You need to be strong to take down a goddamn dark guild Levy. I know you're strong but you're not that strong. Your magic isn't meant to be defensive or offensive. I'm just saying that maybe you should leave that job to someone el-"

Gajeel is cut off when by a cold splash, beer drips down his long mane and covers his shirt as a livid Levy stands in front of him, his pint hanging from her hand.

"You make that sound like I'm gonna be an easy target Gajeel! I'm not that easy to take down. Last time I remember it was me dragging your unconscious ass across Tenrou Island" Levy hisses, shaking with anger. By now the whole guild had backed away to the sides of the guild as to not to interrupt, knowing that when Levy started cursing she has either has too much to drink, or she was irate.

"That's only because I had to save your ass from the Grimoire Heart members. What the fuck are you gonna do when no one's there to help out, huh lev?" Gajeel yells, now standing up and towering over Levy. "I remember what happened last time..." Gajeel mumbled before realizing what he was saying and going wide-eyed.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Levy asked angrily.

"Levy...I didn't mean to bring that up," Gajeel mumbles guiltily, hanging his head down.


BACK TO PRESENT TIME

"No Gajeel! Repeat yourself!" Levy screams as her face turns increasingly red.

All eyes in the guild were on them as they caused a large scene. Gajeel hung his head, knowing he wouldn't win against the surprisingly stubborn girl.

"Levy I didn't mean it like that.." He mumbles quietly, his long raven locks covering his face.

"Of course you didn't Gajeel. What the hell did you mean then? huh?" Levy screams as she steps dangerously close to the dragon slayer. Levy was the only one other than the demon, Titania, and the other dragon slayers who would ever dare to do that.

"You swore to me that you would Never. Ever. Bring that day up again!" Levy screams. "I know exactly what day you meant and you know exactly what it implied. I'm not the same as I was back then Gajeel, just like you're not either." Levy yells as angry tears stream down her cheeks.

"No...Levy, it's not like that..it's just.." Gajeel studders, wanting to wipe away her tears and scream at her at the same time.

"It's just that I'm not strong enough right? It's that I'm weak and small and an easy target..right?" Levy says quickly, not giving him any time to answer.

"Forget about it? Okay, Gajeel?" Levy says angrily as she tries to wipe away the seemingly never ending tears.

Before Gajeel could say anything Levy ran through the doors of the guild into the suddenly developed rain.

Looking around quickly and scowling at the pointed looks, Gajeel notices that Juvia wasn't there. Quickly he added two and two together before running into the storm in search of his mate. Gajeel sniffed around for a second to only realize that his senses were just too muddled with all that rain.

Gajeel thinks for a second before realizing that the Shrimp could be anywhere. Under the tree where she always reads, fairy hills, the library, hell maybe even the woods near his house since she liked hanging out around there usually. Gajeel quickly made up his mind and headed towards the library, hoping that she was smart enough to pick a place that wasn't outside so that she wouldn't catch her death in the cold rain.


Levy couldn't believe that gajeel had brought up that day again, he had promised to never do it, but yet he did. And for what reason? To prove a point.?! No, he couldn't be so thick that he would do that. Levy knew that he remembered how it affected her. It wasn't all that long ago that Levy would wake up with night terrors from remembering it. Levy used to wake up with hot tears streaming down her cheeks, her cerulean locks going wild, standing on end. A panic attack would overthrow her and she would have flashbacks of that horrid day. Gajeel would have to sit at the end of the bed, unable to calm her down as his touch only reminded her of what he had done. Gajeel would sit at the end with concern and guilt filling his crimson eyes as he watched her from afar, waiting for her to calm down so that he could hold her tight and apologize for the millionth time over. She would always say that it was fine but he would never stop apologizing fo putting her through that.

A crack of lightning pulled Levy out of her thoughts causing her to jump with surprise. Laxus..it could only be Laxus. Erza had probably dragged the majority of the guild out into the rain to look for her. Of course, they would feel the need to look her her. She was so small and powerless, no wonder Gajeel felt the need to protect her every second of her life. She was just a magnet to danger and she would never be able to defend herself properly. Another loud crack of lightning sounded around her once again. He was getting much closer by every second, probably using his nose to sniff her out like the rest of the dragon slayers. Levy quickly took off in the other direction of the lightning, not wanting to be found. She had to be calm first, she didn't want to be angry and say something that shouldn't be said, she cared about how her word affected others...unlike someone she knew.


"Any luck on finding them?" Mira yells to Laxus as she held the umbrella over her head as she followed Laxus closely.

"Nah, the rain is blocking out anybody's scent way to quickly. I can barely even small you" Laxus says with a grunt, pushing back his soaked locks.

"I guess we should go back then. At leat until the rain gives up. We're all gonna catch our death and that'll be no help to levy" Mira says as she tugs on his large coat.

"I guess you're right, let's call the guild and have the rest of them come in. Mabe someone also found Gajeel so they can try to bring him in also"

"Ha, that's likely," Mira says with a laugh. "Gajeel is gong to be out here looking for Levy until he finds her. There's no way he'll admit it but he cares for that girl more than we would ever know. " Mira says as they walk back through the rain, holding the umbrella higher so that laxus could fit underneath.

Laxus grunts in agreement as he walks under the umbrella with Mira. "I hope we find her soon, though" he mumbles.

Mira smiles and squeezes his arm. "She can defend herself you know."

"Of course I know that, but Gajeel is going to go wild if he can't find her and I don't like that job she's going on. Seems odd," he says as he looks down at Mira with an undistinguishable look.

"Just a little bit, but it should be fine, we always get dark guild help requests," Mira says both a reassuring smile.

"Yeah I suppose you're right," Laxus says with a grimace, silently praying to Mavis to see Levy tomorrow morning and for everything to be well.