A cold breeze from her open window created goose bumps on her arm. Levy slowly stretched her limbs by pointing her toes and extending her arms, and she let out a large happy sigh. She smiled remembering the events of the previous day. Levy genuinely felt like she couldn't be any help to the guild, she was so small for one thing. It wasn't just her height though, she just felt small. Everyone in the guild was so amazing and strong, that they were practically undefeatable, Levy felt like she stuck out and couldn't help, but get emotional.

The solid script mage was so glad for Gajeel's presence, he always, despite his gruff nature, managed to say something helpful to her and she couldn't have been happier sitting there with him when she felt a little stronger. If Gajeel was by her side then she felt protected, if he was there then Levy knew she would be safe. She smiled to herself as she pulled herself up from her soft bed, brushing the red sheets from her legs, even with the cold breeze sending a shiver down her spine she fought the urge to crawl back into her warm bed and began to get changed. Today was Sunday, which meant they were all leaving tomorrow, and be gone for goodness knows how long. Levy felt comforted knowing the entire guild would be there protecting each other. But the fact that the council felt the need to bring two other guilds in as well set her on edge. Just what was threatening the Council anyways?

She pondered on it for a moment, while standing beside her bed, but just shook it off and decided to get ready first. She pulled her pyjama shorts off reluctantly and picked out a matching pair of underwear and bra. Slipping them both on in the cold, she quickly picked out a yellow tank top and a pair of blue jeans. She looked approvingly in the mirror at her outfit, deciding she looked cute enough. Maybe he thought she was cute...

She shook her head, Levy didn't need to try and impress Gajeel. That was wrong; they were partners after all... She proceeded to brush her hair and wrap her favourite headband around her head. She looked at the clock hung above her door and relaxed as it read `10:12' she was quite early for a Sunday. Usually she'd sleep for a lot of the day, it was Sunday after all. Levy shuffled past her stacks of books to make her way into her undersized kitchen to make a quick few slices of toast. She continued to stuff her face while shutting the open window and heading out to the guild for the day. No one was in the hallways of Fairy Hills and she was grateful, as she still had a slice of toast hanging from her mouth. She shut her door behind her, and made her way downstairs.

The guild would be busy today, she could tell. Most people would be at home packing for tomorrow, or just running around the guild leaving it until later. Levy decided she wanted to find out about who they were facing, and made that the first thing on her agenda when she got to the guild. It would be easier to know them, to try and discover a weakness that way at least she could be some help at the very start. She opened the doors to the main entrance of the Fairy Tail girl's dorm and was greeted by a warm day. Levy smiled making her way to the guild.

"KYAA!" she screamed, as a big looming figure jumped out at her from behind one of the trees that stood in the front garden of the Fairy Hills building. She began choking on the piece of bread she had only just swallowed and started to cough. Thankfully she managed to breathe and steadied herself, to look up at the man and soon calmed herself down as she realised it was just a familiar iron dragon slayer laughing at her. Making her heart beat faster for two reasons this time. She wacked Gajeel on the arm as hard as she could even though she knew that it wouldn't affect his steel body one bit.

"Idiot! Why did you do that?" She asked, trying to calm herself down as her heart was racing. Even though she was slightly relieved that it was Gajeel and not some creepy pervert. Sadly she encountered those kinds of guys quite often. Levy looked at Gajeel but his expression seemed confused and a little bit annoyed he was just looking at her. His eyes glaring at her up and down, she felt vulnerable under his stare, as she could see he looked annoyed.

Why is he annoyed? He is the one that just scared me half to death!

"Uh Gajeel?" She said, waving a hand infront of his face breaking off his stare. He looked a little embarrassed, it looked like he didn't realise he was staring. What was he thinking about? The bluenette thought about that a lot; she knew the way Gajeel thought must be a completely different concept to her.

"Oh... well uhm." He said in a short response, scratching the back of his head. He leaned closer to Levy making her feel a little uncomfortable with the imminence. It was like he had brushed off her question and returned his stare on her body. Levy was becoming frustrated not knowing what on Earthland he was doing. She looked at him, and followed his gaze. To her it seemed like he was studying her outfit, like an artist painting a model. She blushed, as she once again wacked him but this time on the top of his head. Levy wondered if he felt it through that thick bush of messy black hair he had.

"Gajeel, answer me already!" She said; ready to give up on the iron dragon slayer. He seemed different today, and she had just realised that he was outside her home. He was out here... waiting for her. The already present blush deepened to crimson at the thought. Gajeel came to where she lived to well, essentially scare her. That ruined it a little for her, but still. Oh how she wanted to wack herself for thinking like that about him.

"Oh, sorry shrimp... it's just. Your..." He looked like he was fighting himself as he looked truly confused about something.

"My what?" She said, growing tired of him not telling her straight about whatever was confusing him.

"Your clothes, they aren't the usual ones." He said standing up straight, looking like he just had the largest weight in the world taken off of his shoulders. That was it. Levy laughed, she found it funnier than it probably was. Such a big, intimidating guy to most was bothered that Levy wasn't wearing something he was used to seeing. That was it. She continued laughing and Gajeel looked utterly bewildered at her response to his statement.

"That – That's it?" She said, trying to speak properly through her laugh. Then she realised something. He had a problem with her clothes. She thought she looked cute in them. A pair of light blue skinny jeans and a cute yellow tank top, with some nice yellow ballet shoes. What was wrong with it? What if Gajeel thought she looked awful in them...? She'd have to run back up to her room and change! Wait, she didn't have to change just because he had a problem with her outfit. She stopped laughing and thought it through. She didn't care what he thought about what she looked like, right? Well, she shouldn't... but she figured that she must care at least a little. It hurt, knowing he didn't like it.

"Yeah, well no... It's just..." Gajeel said looking at the now calm Levy in confusion; he had no clue of what was happening inside her mind.

"It's just what?" She said simply in frustration ready for his criticism on her clothes.

"It looks really good on you." He said simply, blushing a little but laughing as well. Levy stood there frozen for a moment before she could comprehend what he had just said. So he liked it? Levy began to feel like an idiot at all of her previous anxieties. She really needed to get her thoughts into check. Of course she didn't care for what Gajeel thought and she shouldn't so there was no need to fret. He thought it looked good so there was nothing to panic over. But she soon took that the wrong way again; he thought she looked good in it. Gajeel just complimented her. What was she supposed to do now? Usually when a guy said she looked nice it would be some creepy guy that she would just ignore, or Jet and Droy completely gawking over her and they did that pretty often so she just laughed happily. But she couldn't do either to Gajeel.

"Uh. T-thank you." She stuttered, feeling like slapping herself in the face for sounding so unnatural. Levy wanted this situation to be over with as soon as possible. Deciding that, that response was good enough she began to walk in the direction of the guild, presuming the iron dragon slayer would follow behind she didn't bother to look.

"No problem, I totally terrified you back there. That was hilarious." Gajeel laughed, as he walked behind her a little, speaking to the back of her petit figure. She could tell he was grinning with victory. Sometimes she was sick of the way Gajeel acted towards her; he wasn't like any other guy she had ever been close to. But Levy figured that was the whole reason why she decided to stick around with Gajeel and not try to break off their friendship. He was different, sometimes a nice different rather than a bad one. She tried not to think about what he did in the past, but sometimes just couldn't help it.

"Yeah so? Anyone would be scared if a giant frightening guy jumps out at you from behind a tree on a peaceful morning." She responded before she could let her thoughts trail any further from that. Her efforts to not think about that weren't about to be ruined now. She looked ahead at the now busier streets of Magnolia. The stalls were hectic as usual; mothers were walking around holding their children's hands while salesmen's voices were booming throughout the road. It might have been a nice walk if it weren't for the gloomy thoughts that were still present in her mind. Gajeel had caught up to her pace and was now walking alongside her not speaking. It was weird seeing Gajeel unaccompanied by Panther Lily, his exceed and Levy wandered of his whereabouts for a while.

"You think I'm scary?" Gajeel suddenly spoke, scaring Levy a little as it broke her train of thought. She pondered the question for a moment, realising earlier she might have offended him. For a moment she hadn't realised he would take offense so easily. For such a robust and hard personality calling him 'frightening' isn't the most insulting thing to be called.

"Well... no not really. But most people with one glance might. I didn't realise it was you at first before." She smiled reassuringly to him, finding his small insecurity cute. Levy hadn't seen him act like this before and found it surprising too.

"Oh, in that case that's fine. Anyway you packed for tomorrow Shrimp?" Gajeel said, acting like he hadn't just been a little worried about being scary to her. She chuckled at him; it was moments like that when he revealed a vulnerable side to him that Levy liked. To mostly everyone he was some emotionless man that beat everyone that looked at him to a pulp. But to Levy he was a guy that gave people that impression but to those who were close enough he'd show his softer side to them. If it were anyone other than her or Lily he most likely wouldn't have bothered asking whether she found him scary or not. Levy knew she had a different relationship with Gajeel than the others in the guild, the question was, what was that relationship?

"Nope! Planning on packing later on, but I want to find out about who we'll be fighting against or hunting down tomorrow, to get a rough idea of what kind of strength they have. But by looking at the information now; they've got three guilds coming to protect them as well as hunt down those threatening the council. They are either underestimating guilds or these guys are really strong." She crumpled up her face as she spoke; she was getting a little apprehensive for the next few weeks. It could be more dangerous than the Master had made it sound.

"Yeah, good idea. I wanted to find out some stuff too, be good to know if these bastards have a weakness." He grinned, punching his fist into his other hand's open palm. She giggled at his enthusiasm, she was glad that he was getting into the mission, he might not have fought to his full if he thought lightly of it.

They both reached the courtyard of the guild and stopped at the entrance side by side, taking in the atmosphere of their boisterous guild mates. Levy immediately spotted Lucy standing by Max's counter where he was selling Fairy Tail merchandise. It didn't look like she was buying anything though. Levy looked back at Gajeel and found him looking right at her. She blushed, realising he must have been watching her.

"Uh, I'm going to go find the Master and ask him about the mission, you coming?" She smiled, trying to cover her embarrassment.

"Yeah, sure." Gajeel followed Levy inside the guild as they both looked for the master she was so conscious of his presence behind her, but tried to ignore it. Feeling uncomfortable around him wasn't usually what she felt. Levy looked down at her shoes as she walked through the guild, trying to gather herself together before she made a complete fool of herself by being embarrassed with Gajeel.

She looked up as she reached the bar, where typically Mirajane stood, cleaning some glasses with a white cloth. Mira looked as happy as usual, and greeted them both with a warm smile.

"Good morning Levy, Gajeel!" She said, still smiling at the two of them. Levy knew what she was thinking; Mira was always one for gossip, and putting people in the guild together in couples without them actually being couples. She was a hopeless romantic, and everyone knew it.

"Morning Mira!" Levy replied, pushing her previous anxieties away, getting her priorities straight she asked. "Have you seen Master anywhere?"

"Oh yes, I saw him around an hour ago upstairs in his office but I haven't seen him since. He might be still up there, he is quite worried for tomorrow, I think. He just seems a little stressed, how come you want to see him?" Mira looked at her then to Gajeel, looking a little troubled herself now.

"We just wanted to ask about who we are up against on this mission, Gajeel and I wanted to find out more about them. It would be good to know, and see if they have any weaknesses." She smiled reassuringly at Mirajane and looked at Gajeel. "Thanks Mira, we'll go look for him now."

Levy made her way upstairs and Gajeel followed closely behind. It wasn't that she hated being around him, she really enjoyed his company, and loved doing missions with him. It was just when her mind drifted towards liking him as more than just friends, it made her feel embarrassed, and the worst part is Gajeel never thought about that kind of thing. At least that's what Levy thought; it just seemed really unlikely that kind of thing ever crossed his mind. She glided her hand over the banister on the stairs, and looked back at Gajeel, who was looking right back at her. The solid script mage snapped her head back around and blushed. He was looking at me again.

They got to the Master's office and stood outside. Levy knocked gently on the door, while Gajeel stood beside her. "Uhm, Master?"

For a moment they waited for any movement in the room, but heard nothing. Levy and Gajeel exchanged glances in confusion. "Old man?" Gajeel asked.

"Oh, brats. Come in." Master spoke faintly from the other side of the door, and Levy looked at Gajeel with concern. He nodded for her to go in. They pushed the door open, and first saw their small master Makarov sitting behind his desk in concentration. Deep creases were on his forehead as he looked at a document on his desk. He didn't look up to acknowledge them, but his eyebrows furrowed further.

"Uhm, Master. We're sorry to disturb you bu-" She began, but was cut off by Master.

"Its fine Levy, what is it that you want?" He said, giving them a glance up for a second.

"Oh well, it's about tomorrow. We were wondering who this threat actually is? And just how strong are they?" An awkward silence hung in the room as she finished speaking, waiting for their Master to respond. His old face looked up at both Gajeel and Levy before he spoke.

"I thought someone would ask at some point, the council didn't tell me much because they don't know much about them either. Apparently it's not even a dark guild, more of a dark organisation really. They don't have a name, but they've been forming in secret a group to overthrow the council. Someone found out that they were going to try and capture and kill the council members and destroy the building. Goodness knows what their plan is from there on." He looked at Gajeel in all seriousness. Levy could tell he was worried, which made her worry too. A dark organisation? What does this mean for the guild?

This meant they could be in serious danger, and Levy had to find out more.

"A dark organisation huh?" Gajeel smirked at the challenge. "Should be a good test of strength then."

Levy rolled her eyes at his stubborn nature and bowed to the master. "Thank you, Master. I'm going to try and find out more for everyone." She smiled, trying to comfort the uneasy Master. He nodded in return and Levy made her way past the tall dragon slayer to go out, with him closely behind.

They made their way back downstairs, both thinking on the information their master had given them. Levy wondered if Gajeel was ever scared of his enemies, or if he ever cared so much for his guild mates, he'd do anything for them. She knew he was a good guy, but just how much did he value everyone in the guild? She frowned at herself for doubting him, Levy was positive he'd do pretty much anything for his fellow guild members.

"What're you makin' a face for shrimp?"She looked at Gajeel to answer his question with lie prepared to reply to him with. But she looked at his face, he was concerned. He wanted to know why she wasn't smiling. That very thought made her smile.

"To be brutally honest, I'm just thinking about how you've changed so much." She smiled wider this time, glad she told him the truth. Usually she lied about her thoughts, she knew it was bad that she thought such bad things that she had to lie about them. But this time it was enough to change her words a little more to make it acceptable to say. Gajeel smiled a little at her response.

"Is that for good or bad?" He grinned teasingly, trying to get an annoyed response from Levy. She knew
that he was wanting her to admit she was thinking of him, and he got exactly like he wanted her too. Her face was one with annoyance in it.

"Good of course you idiot." Levy almost shouted. He grinned with satisfaction from her answer, but it was the truth, she truly believed he had changed for the good, and would never go back to that kind of life. She put her anger behind her and forgave him, he was a good person.

Thanks for waiting everyone, I hope it wasn't much of a long wait. I appreciate everyone who is reading my story and I promise I'll update sooner. Please feel free to leave a review and I hope this story is going alright! Of course I'll make the story more romantic with those 'awh' moments in it!