K.K.: I decided to switch things up a little, so this one is from Gajeel's point of view.

Dragon Script

Chapter 3: Resolve

Gajeel noticed the looks on Jet and Drory's faces as soon as he and Levy entered the guild. There was a part of him that really wanted to rub it in that he was with their precious little bookworm and they were not. But that was petty, and though he was a great many things, petty was not one of them. He didn't really need to rub it in anyway; the two ignored males were already starting towards them with clear intent. He wasn't going to just stand idly by however, if their intention was to lay into him or Levy right here. Levy noticed his hackles raised and shot him a pleading look, which stopped the snarl forming on his lips. Sighing, he decided that this was not his fight. He didn't want to abandon Levy, but if he stayed here and listened to this, he was going to do something they would both regret.

"I'm going to get a drink, do you want anything?" he asked in a low voice.

She smiled at him, realizing immediately what he was doing, "Um, sure…lemonade?"

He nodded and headed towards the bar, studiously ignoring the other two mages as he passed them. Once he was behind them, his face fell into a deep scowl. Mirajane had taken in the whole thing with a trained eye, and was now watching him closely as he sat down at the bar, throwing his and Levy's shirts on the stool next to him.

"Can I get you anything Gajeel?" she asked in her sweet voice, keeping half an eye on the confrontation going on behind him.

"I'll have an ale. Levy would like a lemonade," he paused for a moment. "Could you maybe put strawberries in it or something? She's gonna need a treat after this, I think."

Mirajane turned her full attention on him now, raising her eyebrows a little at his thoughtful gesture, "Of course I can put strawberries in it."

He nodded his thanks and gratefully took a long swig from the drink she handed him, washing away the lingering taste of saltwater.

"They are her favorite you know," Mirajane said quietly, as she prepared Levy's beverage.

"Huh?"

"Strawberries. They are her favorite fruit."

"I figured since she smells like them," he replied, not caring if that sounded far too intimate.

Mirajane smiled at him and gave him a knowing look, as if he had just answered an unspoken question, "How is the training going?"

"Good. Her instincts are improving – she almost had me trapped today. She'll be smarter tomorrow, so I'll have to fight smarter too."

"Don't fight too hard," Mirajane warned. "She's not strong like you Dragon Slayers.

"I will never hurt her again," Gajeel said, his voice deadly serious. "And I'll make sure that no one else does either. But I need to make sure that she's not helpless without me – because I know I can't be there every time she's in danger."

The bartender's eyes turned soft again as she heard the resolve in his voice, "I believe you Gajeel. I hear wisdom in your words that I've never heard before; you've surprised me."

"Yeah well, don't go thinking I'm soft, 'cause I ain't," he growled.

She laughed, "I don't think you're soft at all. It doesn't make you soft to care about someone. And taking care of Levy really shows how you stepped up as a man. You're braver than most of the men here because you took the very person you hurt the most, and not only made things up to her – you became her friend."

He regarded her for moment over the rim of his glass as he drained it. Mirajane seemed sweet, but she could be scary as hell too when she wanted to be. But no one else in this guild saw things as clearly as she did. And though he knew from rumor that she was a hopeless romantic, he knew that she had good insight as well. Hopefully she wouldn't set her tongue to wagging about him and Levy – but for some reason, he didn't think she would.

"I'm proud of you," she added with a smile.

"Thanks," he muttered, glancing over his shoulder at Levy and the other two members of Shadow Gear; he hoped he had been right to leave her alone with them.

"Here," Mirajane said, placing Levy's lemonade on the counter. "Give this too her when it's all over."

Raised voices from behind them caught both their attentions. If Gajeel had wanted to, he could have listened to the whole thing, but he decided instead to focus on his conversation with Mirajane and ignore the squabble behind him. Anger boiled up inside of him when he saw the hurt look on Levy's face as she turned and ran back out of the guild, tears streaming down her face. He wanted to make the two of them suffer for making her cry – but that was the old him. If they cared about her enough to be jealous, then hurting her should cause them pain in itself. "Not enough pain," he thought to himself as he grabbed their clothes off the stool again.

"Can I take this outside the guild?" he asked, taking Levy's glass. "I'll bring it back."

"Of course," Mirajane replied in an anxious voice. "Just hurry up and go after her."

He nodded and slipped into his boots, turning to walk back out. He noticed Pantherlily sitting in a corner of the room with Wendy and Charle, playing some sort of board game with them. The little feline caught his eye and nodded, giving a small jerk of his head in the direction Levy had left in. Gajeel responded with a smirk – Lily was going to have some things to say to him when he got back later. His cat had a wonderful way of putting things into perspective for him, and he knew tonight would be no different. As soon as Gajeel's head hit the pillow for bed every night, Pantherlily curled his little frame up next to his hair (sometimes on his hair) and they would talk about their day. Then Lily would hum a little tune from Edolas, and they'd fall asleep to his deep, soothing notes. Gajeel never stopped to think how weird it would be if Pantherlily was his normal huge size and slept in the same bed with him. Somehow, being in the form of a tiny cat made it fine; Natsu and Wendy slept with their cats too.

He attention turned to tracking Levy's scent once outside of the guild. He caught the sweet smell of her hair and clothes immediately – it seemed even a dousing in saltwater couldn't completely wash it away. He followed it up the road and down a narrow alley, then a little ways to a small river that ran through the city aqueducts. At one point the water was divided lengthwise by a stone wall, redirected to a different section of the city via a more narrow waterway. There was a footbridge with no railings that crossed over this waterway, just a couple feet above the surface. Levy sat in the hot sunshine, dipping her feet in the little stream. She had her back to him and he could see her shoulders trembling slightly; she was still crying. Gajeel squared his shoulders and approached her quietly. He was no good at this kind of thing, but he refused to leave alone her again. Maybe the strawberry lemonade would aide his efforts to cheer her up. He took off his boots once more and set them down on the road next to the bridge. She still hadn't noticed him, despite the fact that they were in a quiet section of town. Feeling peculiarly intrepid, he approached her from behind and let his shadow fall over her. When she did not turn around to face him, he settled in behind her, his legs on either side of her body, dangling over the edge as well. She stifled a little gasp at his audacity, but he still heard it. He placed their shirts on the ground beside them, and kept her drink back a little, where she could not see it. He grabbed her little top from beside him and put it over her head. It was still damp from the water, but it would feel good in this hellish heat. She gratefully slipped her arms into it, protecting her fair skin from the sun.

"Thanks Gajeel," she said, her voice still hoarse from her crying.

"Here," he said, producing her drink in front of her.

"Oh," she started, and he could almost see the shape of her lips in his mind when she said it. "It has strawberries in it."

"Yeah, Mirajane said you liked them," he offered, not owning that it was his idea.

She took a sip of it, then a long drink, draining half the glass, "It's delicious."

The glass had no straw, so when she tipped her head back to drink it, her hair fell back against his shoulder. It too was still damp from the water, and felt good on his bare chest and arm. He repressed a shiver from going through his body, not because it was cold, but because she felt so damn good leaning up against him like this. He didn't have the luxury of just sitting here and soaking up her touch however, he needed to know what had happened with Jet and Drory.

"Tell me," he said, bringing his face down next to hers in an effort to maintain some of the contact with her.

She sucked in a shaky breath, "You didn't hear?"

"I was trying not to listen," he said.

"Oh. Well…first they asked me where I had been, even though they knew we were going to be training. I told them we had just been sparing – I didn't tell them where though."

"Good, 'cause it ain't their business," he growled. "Sorry…what else?"

"They said they didn't care if I didn't train with them all the time, but they more had a problem with who I was training with. I said that you were a good partner for me because you're style of attack was naturally harder for me to defend against; it makes me stretch myself and be creative. And then they asked me if I had forgotten what you had done to us…" her voice trailed off.

"Have you?" he asked, trying to hide the hope in his voice.

"I don't think I can ever truly forget," she admitted. "But I forgave you a long time ago. And I told them as much. They just said that they hadn't forgiven you and that I was stupid for accepting you into the guild so readily. They said since you betrayed your old guild, it would be that much easier for you to betray us."

"Do you believe that?" he pressed.

"Of course not. You changed when Master invited you here. He trusted you, and he would not do so lightly. It was because he saw something in you that maybe you didn't even see then. I saw it the day Jet and Drory attacked you and you didn't fight back, not even when Laxus showed up. You've been showing me every day since then," she said quietly. "Anyway, neither of them would admit that. To be honest, I'm not even sure if this is about not trusting you. I think they are just hurt and would say anything to get me to stop being with you."

He wished she really was "with" him, but he couldn't tell that to her yet, so he just said "Maybe" instead.

She continued slowly, obviously she was getting to the part that had made her cry in the first place, and threatened to do so again, "They got mad when I said I would not stop being your friend just because they didn't approve. I don't think they liked that word because they got really mad after that – especially Jet. He asked me how I could trade their friendship for the friendship of…" she stopped again.

"Of what?" he asked bitterly.

She shook her head, "It doesn't matter."

"Levy, it's okay," he said, his voice softer now. "You can tell me."

He felt her body tremble against his as the tears began to flow again, "Of a monster," she finished, almost sobbing.

He couldn't stop his arms from circling around her and drawing her back against his chest as sobs continued to rack her little frame. He wanted so badly to kiss her forehead and her tear-streaked cheeks, but he settled for this act of comfort instead. She gripped her lemonade in her hands so tightly, he was afraid she'd shatter the glass. When she had finally stopped bawling and gotten her cries reduced to the occasional tear, she finished her story.

"Jet said that if that was how things were going to be, then they didn't want to be a part of Shadow Gear any more. They would just be a two-man team from now on. They said to look them up when I stopped acting like a traitor," she sniffed. "I didn't know what to say, so I just ran away. I'm such a coward."

"You are not a coward, Levy. Talking to them at that point wouldn't have done any good anyway. They'll eventually grow up and get over it – it's not like the don't care about you."

"I know, that's the thing; I'm pretty sure that this is more about jealousy than anything else."

"Do either of them like you as…more than a friend?" he finished awkwardly.

"Well, they both have asked me out on dates," she said.

"So 'yes' then. Jealousy can make a man do some pretty stupid things."

"Not just men…everyone gets jealous."

"True. Listen, they'll get over it. And if they don't, they're not worth being friends with in the first place."

She sighed and rubbed the last traces of tears from her face, "You know what? You're right. I haven't done anything wrong. If they're gonna act like jerks, then that's their problem – not mine."

Gajeel chuckled at the fierceness in her little angel voice, "You got it, shorty."

"Hey," she protested, elbowing him in the ribs playfully. "What did I tell you about the nicknames?"

"Oh c'mon, I can't ever call you small? I said your name a couple times today," he offered.

"Yeah I know, but you calling me small just makes me feel weak," she said, looking down.

"Hey," he said in a slightly husky voice. "Just because you're small when you stand next to me doesn't mean I think you're weak. You more than proved yourself today, and you're only gonna get better."

She turned to look at him for the first time since he sat down, her hazel eyes bright and her cheeks flushed from crying, "You really think so?"

She looked adorable. He resisted the urge to kiss her…again. Oh how he wanted to lie back and pull her with him and just cover her face and neck with nibbles. He licked his suddenly dry lips; this train of thought was going to get him into trouble though, so he just focused on her stunning eyes and beautiful hair.

"Yeah," he finally replied, realizing that he was so busy trying not to ravish her that he hadn't answered.

She turned back away from him, a little blush creeping up to her ears. She took a sip from her lemonade and made a little contented sound in her throat. Good grief, she was killing him…slowly. He silently vowed that one day he'd make her make that sound again. He needed to get out this position, quickly, before he really did something stupid.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," he said, slowly and carefully moving his legs out of the water and away from her.

"Okay, where do you want to go?" she asked.

"Well, I promised I'd bring that glass back to Mirajane," he said, nodding to her now empty drink.

"Oh," she said hesitantly.

"But, I can see why you wouldn't want to go back in there with me just yet," he quickly added.

"I don't want to go in there at all, it doesn't have anything to do with going with you. I'd probably feel better going back if I was with you – I'm just not sure I can go back yet."

"Hey, that's fine, don't push yourself. I'll take the glass back, then we can meet up later," he suggested.

"I need to get some groceries at the market, you could come with me if you liked. I know it's not that exciting, but –"

"That's perfect, I need to buy some food too," he interrupted, grinning.

She matched his smile, "Okay, see you in an hour by the watermelon stand with the purple tent?"

"I'll be there," he promised, picking up his now dry shirt and putting it on with his boots.

He grabbed her glass from her and handed her off the bridge, onto the road, "Seeya in a bit."

"Okay, bye," she said, waving as he walked away.

Gajeel took in a deep breath as he turned his steps back to the guild. She was beginning to consume him, and he found himself enjoying the feeling. Never before had anyone ever made him feel the way she did. Of course, he had found other women attractive over the years, but he had been far too focused on training and getting stronger to ever pursue any of them. It was different with Levy; she made him want to be stronger for her instead of for himself. He needed to protect her, to keep her safe from harm, to be close to her, to care for her, to lo- He couldn't quite bring himself to think it, but deep down he knew. Oh yes, he knew.

He entered the guild once more, and went straight to the bar to return the glass. Mirajane popped up from behind the counter and smiled at him, instantly reading his face like a book.

"Better?" she asked.

"Yeah, she's better," he confirmed, although the question seemed to inquire more after him than Levy.

"Good," the silver haired mage said. "Here, could you take this glass of milk to Lily? I think he needs a refill after losing to Wendy four times in a row," she chuckled.

"Eh? My cat is losing?" Gajeel said in mock horror, turning toward the group still in the corner.

Happy had joined them, undoubtedly to make another pass at Charle, only to get slapped down again. Gajeel almost felt bad for him. He briefly wondered if Pantherlily liked her as well. She seemed a little young for him though. Maybe her mother would strike his fancy if she ever showed up again. Playing matchmaker with his cat struck him as a tad bit odd though, so he put it out of his mind. He took the milk from the counter and walked over, offering it to Lily. His little partner accepted it mildly; then turned his attention back to the game. It had cards and a board and dice, probably more like a game of chance instead of skill.

"Oh, I hope you roll a seven this time Lily," Wendy cheered him on, seemingly experiencing winner's remorse.

Gajeel smiled and sat down next to her, giving her a playful tug on one of her ponytails, "What have we got here?"

"It's a game called "Domination" and you have cards and fake money and dice, and you try to build the most houses and hotels. Do you want to play?"

"Can't, I have to go to the market in a bit to get some groceries."

"Are you getting fish?" Happy asked, his eyes going big.

"Yeah," Gajeel answered flatly, unfazed by the little blue cat's obsession with seafood.

"Would you like me to come with you?" Pantherlily offered.

"You don't have to," Gajeel answered. "I'm just grabbing a few things."

"Ah," he said, nodding. "Then I shall stay here and attempt to dominate this little Dragon Slayer once again."

"Who are you calling 'little'?" Wendy asked in a teasing voice.

"I am, in fact, much larger than you," he defended.

"Yeah, he's just travel sized for my convenience," Gajeel added wryly.

Wendy giggled at his quip and rolled her dice again, apparently rolling something in her favor.

"Ugh, it looks like I might be here for a while," Lily sighed. "You go on and get those groceries. Maybe you should stop by the apartment and change your pants though – they have dirt stains on them."

Gajeel looked down to inspect his pants and noticed there was indeed a few smudges of dirt on them, "Oh, yeah – I guess I'll go do that now then. Seeya tonight?"

"Mhmm," the cat replied, distracted with the dilemma of where he should build his next property.

Gajeel got up from the table, said a short goodbye, and started heading for the door. Maybe he'd take a quick look at the mission board while he was here too.

"Say hi to Levy for me," Lily called after him.

Gajeel could hear the smirk in the cat's voice, damn him. He threw a snarl back at him, but the little panther cat never turned around to see it. Wendy did though, and even at her tender young age, seemed to understand exactly what was going on. He thought he even heard Happy make some kind of reference to him liking her and rolled his tongue weird. "Freaking cats." He arrived at the message board and gave it a quick once over; a flyer near the bottom caught his attention.

WANTED:

A powerful mage(s)

to defend an archaeological dig.

Robbers have been stealing the

priceless artifacts.

Reward: 200,000J

At the bottom was the location of the site – about a day's train ride from Magnolia. An archaeological dig site would probably be crawling with ancient runes and all that stuff that Levy loved so much. She could help them decipher some of it if they needed help, and Pantherlily and he could guard the site while she did it. The reward wasn't that much, but the task didn't seem difficult at all. Between him and Lily, they could take care of these so-called "robbers" in a day. "Piece of cake." He snatched the paper off the board and headed toward the doors. He noticed Jet start to get out of his chair out of the corner of his eye, but Drory held him back. "At least one of them has some brains," he thought.

He stopped by his and Lily's apartment quickly and changed into another pair of white pants, then headed for the market, flyer in hand. His timing was good; he ran into Levy just as she reached the purple watermelon tent. She flashed him a big grin as he walked up to her, making his pulse quicken just at the sight of her. She had changed as well into a little blue sundress that matched her hair, with yellow flowers on it. He greeted her and fell into step beside her as she perused the various fruit vendors.

"Do you like blueberries?" she asked.

"They're okay, I like strawberries better though," he said, wondering if she would catch his double meaning.

She smiled and agreed with him – apparently subtle wasn't going to work on her. Not that it mattered; he was not going to start wooing her with any mushy mumbo jumbo any time soon.

"I picked something up for you," he said, pulling the paper out of his belt.

"What's that?" she asked, shifting her bag onto her shoulder so she could hold the flyer.

"It's a job I saw. I thought you might like it," he offered.

Her eyes lit up when she saw the location, "I know where this is! I read something about it just the other day. They are excavating an old city that they believe is nearly three thousand years old. I saw a photo of some of the etchings on the walls – they seem to be a hybrid of ancient glyphs and runes, maybe a transition language long lost. Oh Gajeel, I would love to take this job!"

He smiled at her exuberance, "You know, if you want, Lily and I could run patrols and deal with the thieves if you wanted to focus on helping them dig and translate faster."

"You would do that for me?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Uh, yeah," he said, the 'duh' evident in his voice. "I get to kick someone's ass and you get to do what you love – where's the dilemma?"

She smirked at his sarcasm, but her eyes were still dancing with excitement, "When do we leave?"

"I think the train heads that way around nine in the morning. Let's meet at the station at eighty thirty."

"Perfect, oh I can't wait!" she practically squealed.

She suddenly closed the short distance between them and wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing him tightly. He chuckled and returned her hug, patting her head affectionately. She let go after a moment, smiling up at him. He could so easily lose himself in those big hazel eyes. She took his hand and dragged him a couple vendors down, making sure he bought some vegetables as well as fruits and meats. They spent about an hour together, her flitting from display to display, and him watching her every movement – memorizing every detail of her. Some of the vendors gave them odd glances, but most of them hid their smiles as they saw the couple. Gajeel noticed but didn't care enough to react; he had far more interesting things to occupy his eyes and nose and ears, and if he was lucky, his hands. His feelings for her were growing with each passing second he spent with her. He suspected that her thoughts might be reflecting his, but he would wait and watch and see. When he was satisfied that he held her regard, he would ask her to be his.

The shadows were beginning to grow a little longer when they finally finished at the market. He offered to walk her home, holding most of her bags as well as his. She set an easy pace, seeming to not want this time together to end, just as he did. They talked some more about this and that, and he liked how easy it was to talk to her. Sometimes she would talk about things that he didn't really know anything about, but he didn't mind. He liked listening to the sound of her voice and watching the way her mouth formed certain words. He liked the way she used her free hand to rub her arm whenever she caught him staring at her, a tiny blush creeping into her cheeks. He liked the way her sandals pitter-pattered down the stone streets with light steps; he loved how small her feet were. His arms were aching – not from the heaviness of the bags – but from a desire to hold her in them.

All too soon, they reached the dormitory where she lived. He carried her bags up to her rooms, taking in the familiar scent of leather bound books and the slight tang of mildew from old pages. She set her bags down on a table in the tiny kitchen and he separated out hers from the ones he held. He knew that if she offered for him to stay, he needed to politely refuse and go home; but when she did, he had a hard time sticking to that resolve.

"Do you want something to drink?" she asked, beginning to put a few things away in her pantry.

"Uh no, I'm fine," he replied, trying to keep the longing out of his voice. "I should get back home before this meat spoils."

"Oh yeah," she said, almost sounding disappointed.

He almost choked on his next words, "See you tomorrow morning then?"

Her eyes lit up once again and he felt better, "Yeah! Eight thirty…I'll be at the station."

"Okay. Goodnight Levy," he said, turning to leave her.

"Gajeel," she called after him, and he almost knocked a book off an end table, he turned around so fast.

She paused, as if she hadn't decided what to say next. "Thank you again. Today was…really great," she finished.

"For me too," he answered her, a little more meaningfully than he had meant to.

She smiled at him, and he forced himself once more to turn around and walk out of her living room.

"Goodnight," she said from the door, once he was out in the hall.

"'Night," he answered, loving the sound of the smile in her voice; then he picked up his pace to leave.

This mission was going to be as painful as it was enjoyable if he was going to be forced to hold back his intentions for long. No doubt though, Lily would have some words of wisdom to impart to him when he got home. He was a little afraid of what his cat had to say to him – but he knew Pantherlily approved of his attentions toward Levy, so he didn't let it concern him too much. He got home and entered through the unlocked door, which meant Lily was already there. He stepped into his living room to find his cat not only there, but sitting on the arm of the couch with a snarky grin on his face.

"Oh this is going to be good," Gajeel thought.

K.K: Okay, give it to me straight. Are we liking the inner turmoil? Too much? Not enough? R&R peoples! Love to all!