A/N: Ah yes, I forgot to mention that this does start before the Edolas arc. And just for a heads up the romance between the two is going to develop slower than others, so you're going to get a lot more LucyxNatsu before anything else. And it all gets a bit lighter after this, not much darkness I should think. Thank you for your reviews, alerts, favourites, they really make me happy! Enjoy the story.

For a while Lucy just sat next to Levy's bed, watching her friend sleep soundly, a small smile present on the girl's face. She didn't know who it was that had rescued Levy, nor how or why, but whoever it was, she was extremely grateful to them. After all it was thanks to them that the blue-haired mage hadn't been hurt too badly, although she couldn't say the same about Jet and Droy. What would've happened to her if she hadn't been saved was something that Lucy refused to think about.

The blonde was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the door at the far end of the room opening, nor did she notice that someone had walked up behind her until they placed a hand on her shoulder. She let out a loud squeak and would've fallen out of her chair if a pair of strong arms hadn't caught her and held her steady.

"Jeez, Lucy, you scare too easily," Natsu said. Lucy's cheeks turned a deep shade of red and she quickly scrambled out of his grasp. Behind her Levy stirred, obviously disturbed by the noise they had made.

"Shhh!" she ordered, putting a finger over her lips. Natsu raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say a word he was being forced out of the room by his teammate. He stayed quiet until they were on the other side of the door, deciding it would be best not to make Lucy angry.

"You were in there a while," he commented as she slowly pulled the door towards her, allowing herself to breathe only when she heard the 'click' that confirmed it was shut.

"I was talking to Levy-chan," she explained. Heads snapped up at this information, and Lucy could feel all eyes on her as she repeated what Levy had said to her. The guild fell silent and soon the only voice that could be heard was the Stellar Spirit mage's. A bit unnerved by all their stares she continued nonetheless, and when she finished a minute later the whole room was filled with chatter as they discussed what they had just learnt.

"They were jumped in an alley, eh? Shouldn't have been a problem for them."

"Didn't you hear, they weren't just any old thugs, they were mages."

"No man goes and attacks a woman and her friends at night!"

"So what would you call them, Elfman?"

"Never mind that, who do you think saved them?"

Silence ensued at this question; in truth no-one was sure how the Shadow Gear trio had ended up in front of the guild's gates. They had been so shocked to find the unconscious mages that they hadn't even considered it until just now. Soon people were throwing around ideas like 'a superhero!' and 'a ghost!' and all other kinds of nonsense, none of them able to make a good, educated guess because they simply had no idea who could've rescued the three.

Gajeel was sitting on one of the many stools lined up in front of the bar, listening to all the speculations with mild amusement. It would only take a few words from him to clear the confusion, but there wouldn't be any point in letting the guild know that he was the one who had saved Levy and her friends.

In truth, he didn't know why exactly he had saved them. He had been fully intent on walking away and letting them handle themselves, but before he knew it he had gone back into the alley, beat the shit out of the two thugs, only to be met with the question of what to do next. He could have left the fairies, but that wasn't practical. For all he knew they'd probably end up dead if no-one treated whatever wounds had been inflicted onto them, and then he would've been in deep shit. So he had taken them back to the guild and tossed them onto the sidewalk, deciding that someone would find them sooner or later.

"Gajeel-kun, what do you think?" Juvia asked, bringing him out of his reverie. The Dragon Slayer merely shrugged and waved at Mirajane, a signal for her to bring his usual meal of bits and pieces of scrap metal.

"I think it must've been Gray-sama who rescued them," the Element Four mage commented, hearts appearing in her eyes as she pictured Gray heroically defeating the evil villains of the alleys with merely a flick of his wrist. "He must be too shy to admit it, though."

Gajeel smirked at her theory, but Juvia didn't see it, too far gone in her fantasy to notice anything around her. Mirajane brought him his 'food' and he dug in, biting through the chunks of iron as if they were paper. It seemed like for now the only interesting thing there was to do was eat, and he didn't mind at all.


"Well, well, good morning, sleepy head!"

Levy pulled her blanket to the side and sat up straight on her bed, her legs dangling off the edge, causing the tips of her toes to lightly brush the floor as they moved back and forth. She glanced at Jet, who had just greeted her. He was sitting cross legged on top of his bed, his lower body covered by a thick wool blanket. His jaw and the right side of his face were covered in bandages, and although she couldn't see under his clothing she knew there were more dressings.

"How bad is it?" she asked, averting her gaze. He seemed confused for a moment before he realised what she was talking about.

"It's alright, I guess," Jet shrugged, grinning cheekily at her. "Dislocated my jaw but Wendy fixed that right up. A few cracked ribs, a twisted ankle, broken nose, pretty much the same as Droy over there, only it's not as bad on him 'cause they knocked him out first. Then again all these injuries are healing up really quickly! You have to love those Dragon Slayers."

The blue-haired mage looked at Droy, who was still fast asleep. She wrapped her arms around each other but gasped as pain shot up them, the bruised skin underneath the bandages still very sensitive.

"Levy-chan, are you okay?" her partner asked. By the way she refused to look at him he knew that she was feeling guilty for what had happened to them. "None of this was your fault, you know. We chose to go down that alley, we chose to fight, so don't go blaming yourself for what happened to us. Besides, you got hurt pretty badly as well. You should be worrying about yourself."

"But if I were stronger...if I had been more useful...you wouldn't have had to rescue me," she said, her throat beginning to feel constricted. "I should have been able to help you guys!"

"You're stronger than both of us combined! We were caught off guard, it happens! I bet you won't find one mage here who hasn't been jumped and had their asses whooped. In the end, we're sitting here safe and healthy, and just outside the door all our friends our waiting for us to wake up." Jet pushed himself off his bed, and limped over to Levy's side, placing a bandaged hand on her shoulder. "We'll work harder, and push ourselves to get better, together. All three of us."

He flashed a reassuring smile at her and she grinned at him. His eyes widened as she leaned over, placing a light kiss on his forehead. "You're far too nice," she commented, standing up. "Let's go eat? I'm absolutely starved!"

As she walked towards the door Jet collapsed onto his bed, his head ceasing to function properly. The Solid Script mage shook her head and left the clinic, quietly shutting the door behind her so as not to disturb the sleeping Droy. She looked around and realised the whole guild had gone silent, all eyes on her as she nervously ran a hand through her messy blue hair.

"LEVY!"

She barely had time to react as everyone pounced on her, smothering her with their cries of delight and bear hugs. They were all ecstatic; after all, she was finally awake!

"Erm, you guys, that kind of hurts," Levy complained, although not too loudly. Secretly she was really enjoying being embraced by her fellow fairies, even if it was an unpleasant situation for her arms and torso.

"You guys, c'mon now, let's give her some air!" Lucy yelled, pushing through the bodies towards her friend. "I think Jet and Droy might be awake now, too!"

The blonde managed to pull her friend out of the crowd as they all squeezed into the clinic, more shouts of joy as they realised that their wounded companions had finally awoken. Levy and Lucy made their way to the bar, where a certain Dragon Slayer was still eating his scrap iron, completely oblivious to the ongoing chaos.

"Are you hungry?" Lucy asked, manoeuvring her friend onto one of the many bar stools. She didn't wait for an answer and went behind the bar to prepare a meal, since Mirajane had gone off to the clinic with the rest of the Fairy Tail mages. Levy decided to take the opportunity to let her mind drift, finding her thoughts going back to two nights before. What was she forgetting? It seemed like her memory of it was incomplete. She knew she had bitten one of the men, resulting in a stinging blow to her cheek, but why had she woken up in the guild safe and sound?

As Levy's eyes roamed the room as if in search for an answer, they repeatedly landed on Gajeel, who hadn't moved from his spot during all the commotion. She stared at him intently, trying to figure out why exactly she was suddenly so interested in him. All he was doing was finishing off the 'food' on his plate. That wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

From the stool a few feet away from Levy's the ex-Phantom suddenly felt unnerved. He glanced to his right and realised that the bookworm had her eyes on him, unblinking as they scrutinized his every aspect.

"What?" he growled defensively, feeling the need to and hide his face. Realisation seemed to cross her face as she smacked her fist into in her palm decisively, an excited 'That's it!' escaping from her lips. He raised an eyebrow and continued to watch her, deciding that she must still be half-asleep.

"You saved us, didn't you, Gajeel-san?" she asked, satisfaction present in her voice. "I knew I had forgotten something!"

"Wait, Gajeel is the one who saved you?" Lucy exclaimed, nearly dropping the bowl of steaming ramen she had made. She placed it on the bar and walked over to him, ignoring the fierce glare he directed at her. "Why didn't you say anything this whole time?"

He shrugged and stood up, unwilling to be interrogated by Lucy. The Stellar Spirit mage smiled knowingly, and turned to Levy. "Well, well, it looks like Gajeel isn't as bad as he'd like everyone to think. Seems like he cares more about this guild then he lets on."

"Hardly," the Dragon Slayer muttered, walking towards the door. He didn't want to be there when the bunny-girl told everyone about his valiant act. As he opened the door he hadn't realised he had been followed until he felt a small hand brush his arm.

"Um, Gajeel-san, please wait a moment," Levy said, assuming that he would probably ignore her. But he stayed put, and she found the courage to continue. "Thank you for saving me again. For saving us, I mean."

He grunted in response and left, leaving the girl standing in the doorway staring after him. For some reason she felt almost sad to let him leave like that, but she managed to tear her gaze from his shrinking figure and went back to the bar. The smell of the ramen Lucy had made floated into her nose and her stomach growled in response.

The blue-haired girl greedily began to tear into her food, not even bothering to sit down but instead choosing to lean on the bar. "Lu-chan, would you mind keeping the fact that Gajeel -san saved me between us?" she asked, keeping her gaze on her food.

"Sure, I guess," Lucy agreed, a bit confused. Why would Levy have requested that? And what on earth had she just witnessed a few moments before? It seemed like something had passed between her two fellow guild members, but she had no idea what. She didn't have time to think it over, however, as the rest of the guild finally decided to appear, bringing with them a smiling Jet and a dazed Droy.

Led by their master, they all crowded around the bar, moving around so that the three Shadow Gear members where in the middle of the gathering. Makarov jumped onto one of the stools and raised a hand, requesting silence.

"Everyone, this is a joyous occasion!" he yelled. "Let's drink to our friends' quick recovery!" A loud cheer reverberated throughout the room, soon followed by laughter and the handing out of large mugs of sake (of course, Cana took a barrel for herself, but there was still enough left to go around).

The members of team Shadow Gear could only shrug and allow themselves to enjoy their boisterous company, and proceeded to spend the rest of the night getting completely drunk and partying like crazy.