A/N- Ah, here we are with Gajeel's point of view. This chapter was a pain in my ass, let me just tell you that. I had to look up the actual dialogue for this, but the chapter makes it worth it.

See you Thursday for Levy's chapter!

Disclaimer- As if.

Gajeel stomped through the underbrush, following Levy, "What's the deal with this exam!? Pick a path, find a grave!?"

He saw Levy put her hands over her ears and mumble quietly, "Ahh. So noisy."

It was quite obvious to Gajeel that Levy was trying to figure out where the grave was, and he decided he'd be quiet, but he couldn't stop himself from saying slightly poutily, "I just want to punch Salamander and Erza."

Abruptly, Levy stopped walking and turned to shoot a glare at him.

~If looks could kill...~ he thought to himself.

"So you don't care about me!?" Levy half screamed.

"What!?" Gajeel replied, jaw dropping, "I'm not saying that!"

"But you always fight with everyone, Gajeel," she said, tears starting to gather in her eyes.

~W-Why is she crying?~ Gajeel thought desperately, ~How do I make her stop!?~

She looked down at the ground, "You never look at me..."

Gajeel sighed in relief. He could fix this. Doing his best to be comforting, he smiled and patted her head, "You want some attention, Shrimp? Then fight seriously with me! Get stronger!"

His words, however, had the opposite effect.

Levy's tears started to fall, and her face scrunched up in anger, "No. I can't. I'm weak, and small..."

She looked up at him, and she instantly went from slightly angry to murderous, "I don't care anymore! Stupid Gajeel!" With that, she ran off.

"What did you say!?" Gajeel yelled angrily. Instantly, he regretted it. With a sigh, Gajeel slowly started to follow the path Levy had made as she ran away from him.

~What did I even say to set her off like that? It's not like I said anything offensive. I just told her to get stronger,~ he said, kicking a tree, ~That's exactly what she's been trying to do, anyway! So how come when I say it, it's suddenly offensive enough to cause her to yell at me and run away? Sometimes, I really don't understand her…~

Gajeel was getting close to where Levy was. He could smell her. She smelled nice, like always, but something was wrong. Something reminded him off something bad…

A small frame, stapled to a tree at night. The air reeked of tears, blood, and fear.

Gajeel cackled, walking closer to the small blue haired girl he'd beaten, "Say my name, little blue fairy."

The girl looked up, tears streaking down her face, "Why?"

He punched her in the stomach, and the girl coughed, a mixture of blood and phlegm shooting out.

"That's not my name, little blue fairy," Gajeel cackled again, "Try it again. Say it with me. Gaaaajeeeeeeel. Come on, say it!"

"Ga-" the girl coughed more blood, "Gajeel."

Gajeel punched the girl again, "Good job! Now this time, I want you to scream it for me. Can you do that, little blue fairy?"

The girl threw up down her shirt, "Why are you doing-"

He slapped the girl across the face, hard enough that her head cracked around and hit the tree she was tied to.

"That's not my name, little blue fairy," Gajeel tsked, "But don't worry. I'll help you."

Gajeel ripped off the blue haired girl's over shirt, exposing her pale, lean stomach.

He ran an admiring hand down her stomach, and she shuddered in fear, "Look at all that unmarred flesh. Wouldn't it be a shame if someone branded something right here?"

He pressed his hand down right above her belly button, and showed her his other hand, the hand he had just changed to be the same shape as the Phantom Lord guild mark.

"No! Please! I'll do anything, just please don't," she screamed, tears running down her face.

Gajeel looked at the brand, and saw that it was hot enough to burn the shape into the girl's stomach. He looked back at her, a sadistic smirk on his face, "Then scream my name."

"GAJEEL!" the blue haired fairy screamed in pure terror.

He soaked in the sound, loving the feel of her fright, "Again, little blue fairy. Do it again."

"GAJEEL!" she shrieked, louder this time.

Gajeel cocked his head to the side, "Sorry, little blue fairy, but you're not scared enough. I guess I have to." He pouted, "Poor you."

"NO! NO!" she yelled, voice rising in panic. The red hot brand pressed into the pale, silky flesh of her stomach, "GAJEEL!"

Gajeel's eyes widened as he snapped back to reality, and he ran toward her, anger giving him the energy to run faster then he ever had before, ~It smells of her blood, her tears, her fear. Someone is hurting her.~

He burst into the clearing that Levy's scent was emanating from, and with the split second he had, saw a sword heading for Levy's frail body. Without thought, he interposed himself between the sword and Levy.

"It's hard looking for someone so small," Gajeel said. He glanced at Levy's hurt face out of the corner of his eye before turning back to the enemy who had dared attack her, "So don't leave my side."

He glanced at the two attackers. One was a large, chicken-like man, and the other was a large, brown, dog-like man. "Who are you guys?" he asked as he felt Levy stand up and press her back to his.

The dog-man replied, "Grimore Heart."

Levy gasped, "A dark guild! How did they get on the island!?"

Trusting Levy to keep her eyes on the chicken-man, he continued to stare at the dog-man, "Did the Master set them up for the exam?"

"Of course not!" Levy yelled. Gajeel could feel her outrage, causing a smirk to appear on his face, "These guys… they must have snuck in from somewhere."

"Well, accidents always accompany work," Gajeel stated matter of factly, trying to see if she was okay without making it obvious, "And if it concerns S-Class mages, that's all the more true. If I can't clean up an accident this small, I guess I don't have what it takes to be an S-Class mage anyway."

"But… this is Grimore Heart we're talking about!" Levy said forcefully, "One corner of the Baram Alliance. We shouldn't attack them so arbitrarily."

"As expected from a normal guild," the dog-man said, "Rules, rules, rules. So suffocating."

"Rules don't exist in war-peron," Gajeel heard the chicken-man say.

"War," Gajeel half questioned, half stated.

"What is your goal!?" Levy yelled out, confidence in her tone. Gajeel instantly felt pride for her, because unless he had felt the trembling she was trying so hard to hide, he never would have known how nervous she was.

~That's my woman for you…~ Gajeel thought to himself, ~Wait! What!? What do I mean, 'my woman'!?~

The dog-man smirked, then screamed out, "To poach all the fairies on this island!"

The dog-man drew his sword, and screamed out a word Gajeel had never heard. Gajeel had time to blink once before, suddenly, a noise of ridiculously high pitch, and ridiculously loud filled his world.

With a groan of pain, he covered his ears, seeing Levy do the same, shrieking, "My ears!"

He looked back at the dog-man, finally noticing the kanji floating there. "Magic from words… it's the same magic as yours!" he yelled to Levy, barely able to be heard over the horrific noise.

He saw Levy glance over his shoulder. "That's Solid Script from the Orient!" he heard her scream.

The dog-man, with a look of annoyance at their ability to still communicate with each other, doubled the level of sound coming from the kanji.

Gajeel couldn't hear anything, and the level of sound nearly knocked him to his knees. His head felt like someone was trying to smash it open with a brick, and he thought he was going to black out from the terrible sound.

~Stop…~ he begged mentally, ~Just make it stop…~

Suddenly, he felt two small, warm hands grab his shirt and pull him to the side, knocking him off his feet. He landed in a crouch, and saw that Levy had pulled him out of the way of an attack from the chicken-man. The noise continued as the chicken-man attacked again.

~Damn it!~ Gajeel though furiously, looking around desperately for either of their enemies, ~Because of this noise, I can't even hear footsteps.~

The word SILENCE appeared before him, and suddenly, Gajeel could hear the wind moving through the trees, Levy's heavy breathing…

"The sound went back to normal…" he said, listening intently.

From the left, he heard the dog-man yell out, "You cancelled out my word!?"

"I heard that!" Gajeel yelled, spinning to his left. He spotted the dog-man, "There you are!"

He shot his iron pole at the man, who flew back and hit a tree.

The fight continued, Levy taking care of the chicken-man, and Gajeel fighting the dog-man. The dog-man landed another hit, and Gajeel looked down at his arm in near shock, ~He's breaking right through my iron scales…!~

The dog-man smiled, "Dark Sword…"

Gajeel heard Levy's gasp, "N-No!"

"NARUKAMI!"

The dog-man's attack hit Gajeel, and with a horrible noise, Gajeel fell to the ground.

"GAJEEL!" he heard, "GAJEEL!"

~No, Levy… don't waste your life on me…~ Gajeel thought, unable to work up any real emotion, his mind still in shock from the strength of the hit, ~Save yourself…~

"If this is the level they're all at," the dog-man said, causing Gajeel to start paying attention, "Then we can probably take care of them before the main squadron even arrives."

"Peron!" replied the chicken-man with a nod.

"Did you say… main… squad…?" Gajeel forced out, struggling past his lethargy to get up.

"Looks like he's still breathing-peron!" the chicken-man said with excitement.

"I'm talking about our guild," the dog-man replied, a smirk gracing his face, "The entire Grimore Heart guild."

Levy gasped again, "Th-That's-"

~I have to get her away from here…~ Gajeel thought, ~I can't attack at full strength if she's here… she might get hurt.~

"Levy, run," Gajeel said, using her name to show her how important the situation was.

"EH!?" Levy yelled.

"This isn't some mundane war," Gajeel said, starting to stand. As he rose to his full height, he glanced at her, "This is going to escalate beyond our wildest imaginings."

"But… I…" Levy said. It was obvious to Gajeel that she was stalling, trying to think of a way to stay here, with him, and help him defeat the Grimore Heart members.

"You need to let everyone know about this as soon as possible!" Gajeel yelled at her, "I can take care of these guys by myself easily!"

He saw tears fill Levy's eyes, before she nodded once and started running as fast as she could.

"Don't let her escape!" the dog-man yelled to the chicken-man.

Gajeel attacked the members of the opposing guild, doing his best to buy Levy enough time to get away from the clearing so that he could unleash his Iron Dragon Roar. The dog-man threw another attack, hitting Gajeel hard. So hard, that he hit the ground, spat blood, and was unable to stand.

"GAJEEL!" he heard Levy's frightened shriek.

"What are you doing!?" Gajeel yelled back, looking at her over his shoulder, "Hurry up and go!"

He saw Levy take a deep breath, and suddenly, a heavy weight hit him in the head. It promptly fell off, and Gajeel stared at it, eyes wide.

~Iron…?~ he thought to himself, staring at it, ~And is that a…!~ Quickly, he ate the iron.

"Please!" he heard Levy's tearful voice as she ran away from him, "Don't die!"

"Yeah," he said, finishing her gift for him. Instantly, he started to stand up.

"Hey!" the dog-man shouted, "You just let that girl get away!"

"Who cares?" the chicken-man asked arrogantly, "It just makes the hunting more fun-peron!"

"You want a full scale war with Fairy Tail," Gajeel panted, levering himself up.

"He… He's standing!" the dog-man screamed.

Gajeel stood fully, glaring at the two men, "This reminds me… of that time…"

"I bet you regret messing with Fairy Tail now!" Natsu's voice echoed in Gajeel's head.

He smirked sadistically, "I'm gonna make you feel the same."

Because they had dared to mess with Levy McGarden, the one thing that made Gajeel worth while.