Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima.


"Ehh!? Shrimp, what's wrong! … Shrimp? LEVY?" Gajeel turned himself around, frowning. He couldn't smell her anywhere, even as he tilted his nose up to get a better whiff of the air around him. Stupid Time Mage, gettin' them off their mark!

"Oy! You!" Gajeel's massive hand stopped a passing man with a firm touch to the chest, "What's the year?"

"I-I... Ah! It's the year X784!"

"And the month?" Gajeel scratched his head with the opposite hand.

"August!"

"Well... at least I'm there." He grunted and released the man, narrowing his eyes, "Mmmm..." They were in Magnolia, at the least; he could recognize some of the buildings and some of the people, to a point. This probably wasn't far from Fairy Tail, but he'd never be caught dead in this end of town; the 'nice' end of town. The people there looked too well-dressed to be seen with the likes of him, and the wide girth that they afforded him made him feel more irritated than relieved, at least in this instance. It'd been a while since people treated him like that!


"Gajeel! Gajeel!" Levy turned around, looking in all directions. She didn't have a sense of smell like he did but Gajeel wasn't a hard person to spot, and if she couldn't see him right away then she could only assume that he wasn't there at all. "That's strange... but I suppose it's possible..." Ultear had never tried this kind of magic before, there was no way to predict where they would be; only WHEN they would be. Actually, Levy considered it somewhat of a miracle that they were WHEN they were in the first place.

"Levy!"

Already?! Levy wasn't expecting to see anyone from Fairy Tail for at least a day – she'd been hoping to avoid them temporarily, just to make sure that they had their bearings.

"Lu-chan!" Levy smiled, trying to look as 'X784' as possible.

"Levy-chan!" Lucy panted, having caught up, "... Are you okay?" she asked, scrutinizing her bluenette friend. Levy didn't necessarily didn't look bad, but she certainly looked... different; in a way that Lucy couldn't properly place.

"Me? Of course!" Levy smiled, waving it off with a little swish of her hands, "I feel wonderful!" Of course she looked older; Levy had been caught in the 7 year Tenrou Time lapse but even if it was just a few months, she had to look different! And...

"Where are your bandages? Are you really supposed to be out here?" Lucy frowned, "Come on, let's go to my apartment!"

"Bandages..." that's right... that's what she feared, and she was suddenly grateful that Gajeel was not there with her to see Lucy. Although, that meant that Gajeel could be anywhere, and she was sure that the Iron Dragon Slayer had no idea when they were; he probably wasn't even thinking like that! "Now that you mention it, Lu-chan, I think I should go back to my dorm!"

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"Oh, oh no," Levy shook her head with a bright smile, "I'm just going to lay down. Besides, Natsu's probably setting fire to your apartment right now!"

"Natsu? I CAN'T BELIEVE HIM!" Lucy shrieked and took off running in the direction of her apartment, screaming things about 'stupid dragons,' 'obese cats' and 'shoving him into a fireplace and using him for heat.'

"Gajeel..." Levy whispered to herself, giving a last look around. If she didn't find Gajeel fast... she didn't know what would happen.


Author's Note:

Chapters 4 and 5 are a little short so I'll upload both of them today. I like that they leave off at little cliffhangers so I didn't want to combine them; so here you are!